Godmanchester Town Council Minutes.

The Minutes of the Godmanchester Town Council are provided simply to increase ease of access for fellow residents here in GMC. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster (Stuart Bond) or Godmanchester Community Association. The Minutes are released to the public once they are approved.

Please note that the financial details are not held on this website and that only the entire Minutes as recorded in the Minutes Book have legal standing. Hard copies are posted around the town on the noticeboards and also sent to Huntingdon Library. If you have any queries please contact the Town Clerk by e-mail or telephone / fax 388 870.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN THE GODMANCHESTER TOWN HALL ON THURSDAY 17 JUNE 2004

PRESENT: Mrs A LOOKER Town Mayor, W D BUTTERWORTH Deputy Town Mayor
Councillors: H R BUTCHER, D BROWN, M COHEN, R COXHEAD, A GOFF, L HOLGATE, Mrs H HULL, C R HYAMS, E KYNOCH, C VANE PERCY
Town Clerk: A J WELTON
Mace Bearer: M WILLIAMS
Chaplain: Rev P MOGER

APOLOGIES: Councillors: Mrs C A GODLEY, Mrs B MOORE

There were 5 members of the public present.

APOLOGIES

Apologies had been received from Cllrs Mrs GODLEY and Mrs MOORE who were both on holiday.

OUTGOING TOWN MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The outgoing MAYOR, Cllr Mrs Ann Looker, advised the Council that she had represented the Town on 7 occasions since the last meeting. She had visited Salon to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Twinning with Godmanchester and had been presented with two pictures and a doll. The outgoing DEPUTY MAYOR had represented the town on 4 occasions.

The Wertheim “Feelings” Choir, together with the Huntingdon Male Voice Choir had given a performance in the parish church and had raised some £600, which she presented to the Vicar towards the church fabric fund.

Other fund raising activities, the Mayoral Quiz Night and the Civic Ball had each also raised £600 and she was pleased to announce that she had sent a cheque for the £1200 to her charity for the year, the Hinchingbrooke Keyhole Appeal.

Cllr Mrs LOOKER said that it had given her great pleasure to have represented Godmanchester as Mayor and she had been grateful for the experience. She expressed her thanks to the Town Clerk and the Town Clerk’s Assistant for the support they had given her during her term in office. She also expressed her thanks to all councillors, both past and present, for giving so freely of their time and skills for the benefit of the Godmanchester community and conveyed her best wishes to her successor as Mayor and all the Town Council.

04/033 ELECTION OF TOWN MAYOR

There had been only one nomination for Town Mayor; Cllr BUTTERWORTH. In the absence of any other candidates Cllr BUTTERWORTH was elected unanimously.

04/034 ELECTION OF DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR

There had been only one nomination for Deputy Town Mayor; Cllr COHEN. In the absence of any other candidates Cllr COHEN was elected unanimously.

04/035 DECLARATIONS FROM TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS

All members of the Town Council present signed the formal acceptance of office declarations, which were witnessed by the Town Clerk. The MAYOR and DEPUTY MAYOR made their formal declarations and signed the certificates, which were witnessed by the Town Clerk.

04/036 PRAYERS

The Rev Peter Moger, vicar of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Godmanchester blessed the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor and the Town Council.

04/037 INCOMING TOWN MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The new Town Mayor, Cllr David BUTTERWORTH, promised to represent the views of the Town Council and the best interests of the people of Godmanchester. He then praised Cllr Mrs LOOKER for her commitment and efforts as Town Mayor and wished to record a formal vote of thanks. He then made the following announcements:

His charity this year would be the Carers Support Project, which brought together some 6 charities and was aimed at helping the many unpaid carers in the area.

He felt that now there was a new Town Council, Cllrs should let the people of the community know who they were and what the Town Council could and could not do on their behalf. He asked Cllrs to encourage people to get involved. He also reminded the Council that, traditionally, notwithstanding party political affiliations, the Godmanchester Town Council had been functioning on non-political lines and he wished that tradition to continue.

He reminded the Council that there was a vacancy for the 15th member of the Town Council as there had been insufficient candidates nominated at the local elections. Any nominations should be forwarded to the Town Clerk so that candidates could be invited to state to the Town Council, their reason for wanting to be on the Town Council. The closing date for anyone to be co-opted onto the Council was 29 July 2004.

The Mayor reminded Cllrs that they had received notification of the church service at 10.30am on Sunday 20 June 2004 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Godmanchester Community Primary School and hoped as many as possible would be able to attend.

The Civic Service on 19 September 2004 would be themed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the granting of Godmanchester’s second charter in 1604 and the MAYOR would be liaising with Cllr VANE PERCY and the Vicar to devise the form that the service would take.

04/039 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 May 2004 were APPROVED and signed as a complete and accurate record by the outgoing Mayor.

04/040 MATTERS ARISING

The Outstanding Actions List dated 17 June 2004 was reviewed. The Mayor reminded the Council that it had been decided to consider at this meeting the re-instatement of the joint liaison working group between the Town Council and the Friends of QES. The decision to reinstate this joint group was deferred for a further month.

04/041 APPOINTMENTS

The following Town Councillors were appointed to be chairmen of the various Working Parties (WP):

CHUMMS/A14 - Mayor
Cemetery - Deputy Mayor
Environment - Cllr Butcher
Finance - Cllr Mrs Moore
Flood Defences/Police Consultation - Cllr Mrs Hull
Property/Judith’s Field – Cllr Goff
Twinning - Mayor
Planning - Cllr Brown
CAB/CALC - Cllr Kynoch
Other Representative Groups – Cllr Mrs Looker

The MAYOR suggested that there should be a new WP to cover Health and Safety. It was DECIDED that the chairman of that WP would be selected at the next Town Council meeting. Cllrs were invited to volunteer.

An additional item for the monthly agenda would be a “District Council Report” from Cllrs HYAMS and Mrs GODLEY on matters of moment affecting Godmanchester and any other items of general interest.

04/042 CORRESPONDENCE

The correspondence listed at Appendix A, not covered by the WP reports, was addressed.

The WEA had asked for a rebate on the cost of renting QES as there had been major electrical outages affecting the presentations made on the courses held during April and May. It was DECIDED that a rebate of 50% (£19.70) of the cost for those two months would be paid to WEA. In the light of the continued electrical problems in QES, the Town Clerk was to press Moore Electrical for completion by 25 June 2004.

Referring to the letter from the MP for Huntingdon, the Town Clerk was to contact GOEast for an update on proposed dates for public presentations on the A14 re-alignment and for an early sight of the consultation documentation.

The Mayor referred to the letter from the Cambridgeshire Police Authority and Cllr Mrs HULL drew the Council’s attention to the lack of programmed involvement in local events by the Huntingdon Sector. The Town Clerk was to contact the Huntingdon Sector to remind them that the Godmanchester Gala week, culminating in Picnic in the Park, would take place during the last week of June and that they might like to consider having a PR caravan present at that time.

Cllrs Mrs LOOKER and KYNOCH would represent the views of the Godmanchester Town Council at a meeting to be hosted by St Ives Town Council to discuss the maintenance of the public toilets. This had been a subject for discussion at the Inter Town Forum held in St Ives earlier this year.

04/043 ACCOUNTS

The accounts set out in Appendix B were APPROVED.

04/044 S137 ALLOCATIONS

The MAYOR reminded Cllrs of the rules governing S137 allocations. The Council re-approved the policies of a maximum donation of £50.00 to national charities and the previous council’s procedure of awards being granted in June and December each year. The Town Clerk had prepared a list of S137 applications for consideration by the Town Council and these were APPROVED as shown:

The Children’s Society - £50.00
Airspace – No grant
U3A Huntingdon Branch - £500.00
St Mary’s 0-5 Group - £300.00
EACH - £50.00
Macmillan Cancer Relief - £50.00
Childline - £50.00
GMC Rovers FC - £400.00
3rd GMC Rainbows - £150.00
Riverside Rangers FC - £400.00
DISH - £500.00
GMC Baptist Church Holiday Club - £500.00
WINGED Fellowship Trust - £50.00
2nd GMC Rainbows - £100.00
St Anne’s School - £400.00
Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin - £1200.00
Cambs’ Youth Service - £300.00
Muir Group - £2000.00

In discussion of the bid for the GMC Rovers FC grant, Cllrs HOLGATE and COXHEAD declared an interest and took no part in the debate or voting. In voting for the award to DISH, Cllr Mrs HULL wished to record her vote against making a grant. For discussion of the bid from St Anne’s School, the MAYOR declared an interest and the DEPUTY MAYOR chaired discussion for this item only, the Mayor taking no part in the discussion or voting.

It was DECIDED that, although in the past there had been little advertising of the grants to local organisations, it would be appropriate to make the community aware of where grant monies were allocated. Cllr COXHEAD volunteered to provide press release details for release through the Town Clerk.

04/045 PLANNING APPLICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE

The applications and correspondence set out in Appendix C were considered. The Town Clerk was to advise HDC of the Council’s recommendations.

The Town Clerk was to forward the letter from Mr Lyon to the CCC Highways Department to seek assistance in resolving the problem of providing a “drop down” kerb in Fox Grove.

Referring to the letter covering a retrospective planning application from Mr Martignetti, it was confirmed by Cllr BROWN that there would be no conflict with any vehicular movement along the road when using the gates to enter or leave Chadleigh House.

04/046 WORKING PARTY (WP) REPORTS

CHUMMS and A14. The WP had not met but the outgoing Chairman, Mr ASHWORTH had contacted the Town Clerk to advise that a representative of the Highways Agency was making a presentation to Brampton PC on 21 July 2004 at 7.30pm.

Town Clerk’s Note: Brampton PC has indicated that it has no objection to an observer from GMC Town Council being present at that presentation.

Cemetery. There had been 2 complaints about the state of the cemetery, following grass cutting. The contractor had advised that to clear the grass-cutting arisings from the cemetery would cost an extra £30.00 per cut. This sum was APPROVED and the Town Clerk was to write confirming acceptance of this extra cost. The Town Clerk was also to write to the complainants to advise them that the contractor would clear grass-cutting arisings in the future.

The DEPUTY MAYOR had visited the Huntingdon Primrose Lane cemetery, which is also a lawned cemetery. He suggested that, when it became necessary to expand the present plots to the west of the pathway, it might be appropriate to copy the idea of having a gravel base for setting the headstones in lines. In the meantime, the spoil from new graves was growing and it would soon be necessary to consider a new location.

Environment. Cllr BUTCHER reported that the Old Mill car park had been resurfaced but the rubbish was accumulating. HDC were responsible for clearing the litter bins and the Town Clerk was to contact HDC with a view to the installation of an extra litter bin.

Cllr BUTCHER had evaluated the Wicksteed playarea inspection report and had requested a revised estimate of the costs. This had been received and the revised estimate for all parts and works was £2192.50. This sum was APPROVED and the Town Clerk was to write to Wicksteed to ask them to carry out the work preferably before the school holidays started.

The second concrete base for the benches in Buttermel Meadow was still awaited.

Town Clerk’s Note: Concreting in Buttermel began on Tuesday 22 June 2004.

Tree related subsidence in both Roman Way Small Business Park and in Thickwillow was still being progressed. Indications were that the Thickwillow trees were part of the CCC adopted pathway between London Road and Grainger Avenue and information was still awaited from OCA Ltd on the Roman Way subsidence.

Work had started on the reconstruction of the footpath in Lancaster Way and it appeared to be full-width tarmac.

The Town Clerk was to write to the contractor to ask them to cut the hedgerow overflowing the footpath in Buttermel Meadow.

Finance. The WP had not met since before the last Town Council meeting and there was nothing to report.

Flood Defences. The WP had not met since before the last Town Council meeting and there was nothing to report.

Cllr VANE PERCY left the meeting at 10.40pm.

Property/Judith’s Field. Cllr GOFF indicated that the walls of the hall and entrance of Judith’s Field building were in need of repainting. Cllr BROWN volunteered to do the work.

Costings for the hardstanding for the kick wall were still awaited. However, it appeared, from a report received about youth activities in Godmanchester, that there was some confusion about whether a kick wall was still required. Cllr GOFF was to liaise with the Youth Leader, Steph Webb and report back to the Town Council.

Other Representative Groups/Twinning/Inter Town Forum/Detached Youth Initiative. Following the setting up of a Problem Solving Group on youth and anti-social behaviour matters, the Town Council representative, Cllr Mrs HULL asked that the Town Clerk write to Inspector Laura Hunt, who had chaired the first such meeting, to express concern at the apparent diminishing level of Police involvement. Any meetings being held which involved the attendance of Town Councillors should be scheduled to held in the evenings as most Cllrs had full time jobs.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS.

The Town clerk was to send up-to-date Town Council address lists to all Town Councillors.

Town Clerk’s Note: Details sent to all by e-mail.

Discussion of the S106 Agreement system would be an agenda item at the next meeting.

Town Clerk’s Note: Copies of notes taken by Cllr Mrs LOOKER at a meeting to discuss S106 Agreements have been forwarded to all Cllrs by e-mail.

The DEPUTY MAYOR announced that another Community Governor was required for the Community Primary School and asked Cllrs to encourage suitable members of the community to consider applying.

Cllr COXHEAD asked that the Town Clerk write to Huntingdon Housing Partnership to enquire about the timescale for renovation to their properties in Anderson Crescent, as they were an eyesore.

The Mayor advised the Town Council that the Town Clerk would be on leave from 30 June to 18 July 2004 inclusive. His Assistant, Mrs Moorhouse would run the Town Office in his absence.

THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING WILL BE HELD ON 22 JULY 2004

The meeting ended 11.00 pm Mayor

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