Councillors were delighted to welcome Marilyn Strand, the Parish Clerk, back from her leave. She had attended the SLCC National Conference which had been held on 13th and 14th October which had proved very useful. Councillors Hadlow and Day were thanked for undertaking production of the minutes in her absence.
Councillor Alan Sharp reported that the County Council is investigating new technology that will help to identify problems with gullies so that these can be cleared more quickly and so, hopefully, reduce incidents of localised flooding.
Councillor Alison Day reported that although the bulk of the work on the Neighbourhood Plan had been undertaken by Councillors James Hadlow, Richard Fullerton and herself there are still a number of stages that we need to go through which will generate further work and administration along with detailed project management to ensure that it is delivered properly. It was therefore decided to recruit the services of an experienced consultant. There was a possibility that a grant to help with the funding of this would be available and this would be looked into further.
The proposed budget for the year 2022/2023 was examined in detail and agreed resulting in the precept being held at £80,000.
The next Parish Council newsletter was now due to be issued and the Clerk and Chairman would liaise to produce a draft to be considered at the next meeting.
Asset inspections would be carried out throughout the Parish and all Councillors would be allotted areas to undertake these.
It had been intended for a Duke of Edinburgh award candidate to remove ivy growing on a multi stemmed self-seed growing on the boundary with the neighbouring property at the parish hall. However because of the potentially dangerous condition of this the tree would have to be removed so it was decided against this. The candidate would be given other jobs around the Parish.
To celebrate HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee it was hoped to stage an event on Thursday 2nd June 2022. Full details would be available in due course. A meeting of representatives from various Parish groups was due to be held on 11th November when they hoped to produce a plan of events throughout the Bank Holiday period of the celebration.
Much of the meeting was taken up with items relating to the Parish Hall. The clerk reported on discussions she had had with the Surveyor and Contractor regarding work on the retaining wall. They both agreed that using Gabions would not work in this location. There appeared to have been a deterioration in the condition of the wall recently. Most of the snagging issues were in hand. At the previous meeting it had been agreed to look further into the possibility of having a key safe for users of the hall to gain access. However the insurance implications of this made it impracticable. It was decided to allocate keys to some of the regular users of the hall for a trial period. Councillor Fullerton presented details of the cost and feasibility of purchasing a microwave/combi oven and it was agreed to purchase the chosen model.
It was decided to proceed with laying spare vinyl in the storage room, installing an additional CCTV camera, installation of fire extinguishers and repositioning of the Fire Control Panel. The wooden chairs would be retained. A storage area in the Garden Room would be fitted.
A Christmas Fayre will be held at the Parish Hall on Sunday 12th December from 1p.m to 3p.m. There had been a good demand from organisations and individual wishing to have a stand at the event and to date at least 10 would be present. The Council agreed to the purchase of small gifts for children attending the event.
At the meeting of Cheveley Pavilion & Recreation Ground Charity that followed the Council meeting it was reported that once again some vandalism had occurred whereby some of the benches had been moved and damaged. CCTV would be installed very soon and it was hoped that this would deter this happening in the future.
Councillors Fullerton, Hadlow and Treanor had planted a large number of daffodil bulbs at the recreation ground and Councillor Marvin had planted bluebell bulbs in the woodland area.
An application to hold dog training classes in the pavilion had been received. This could go ahead pending further investigation by the applicant.
It was agreed to plant approximately 10 new trees at the Recreation Ground in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and as part of the national Queen’s Green Canopy subject to the cost being agreed at the next meeting.. Anyone interested in helping with the watering of these during the summer months should contact the clerk.
The next meetings would be held on Tuesday 14th December at 7.30 p.m. in Cheveley Parish Hall.