5 MARCH 2007 IN THE VILLAGE HALL

Present:  Cllrs Wright (Chairman) Ashby-Swain, Barradell, Fleming, Randall, Robinson, Shardlow and Ward.

In Attendance:  Mr Thomas, Clerk to the Parish Council, District Councillor Bates and four parishioners. 

1.            To note Apologies for Absence.  Cllr Stott.

2.            To Approve the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 5 February 2007.  Approved unanimously:  RESOLVED

3.            Parishioners Open Session (10 minutes).  The Chairman closed the meeting

Mr Peter Burton of Lattenbury Farm announced that he was prepared to erect an earth bund to help screen the sound and visual impact of the new A14.  He asked the Council to support his proposal, especially for his moves to obtain early outline planning permission for the structure.  This matter was discussed at Agenda Item 6.

The Chairman re opened the meeting.

4.            Declarations of Interest.   Cllr Randall stated an interest in items 10,11 and 12 and left the meeting for discussion on these items.  Cllr Barradell declared an interest in Item 11..

5.            To Authorise the Payment of Accounts.

a.            £120.97 J A Thomas New Copier

b.            £249.76 CALC Subscription 2007

c.             £851.88 S Barnett Ditch Work

d.            £1914.00               J A Thomas Salary

e.            £192.74 J A Thomas Clerk's Expenses

f.              £580.00 JCS Grass cutting for Oct 06

g.            £35.70                   Handyman's Salary Feb 07

h.             £45.00                   RBL Wreath

Payment of the above accounts was proposed by Cllr Randall, seconded by Cllr Fleming and approved unanimously.  RESOLVED.

6.         Review of A14 Consultation Process.

The Chairman summarized an exceptionally busy period which involved both the Council and the A14 Action Group.  The Council had formally responded to the Highways Agency Consultation exercise and had expressed its support for the "Brown" route and its objection to the "Orange" option.  Residents had been urged to respond individually and a petition of support for the Council's line had been obtained.  In addition, the Hilton initiative to join with other local communities had been very successful and 16 villages had agreed to be joint signatories of a letter urging the Highways Agency to introduce adequate measures to mitigate the environmental impact of the road.  This letter had been widely circulated and had been discussed in committee by Huntingdonshire District Council.  The Chairman had also made a presentation to the Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet who had agreed to support the call for environmental protection.  The forthcoming challenges for the Council and the A14 Action Group will be to ensure that the Highways Agency takes action to deal with the environmental issues and also how to respond to a Public Enquiry, should one be called.

The Council discussed Mr Burton's interesting suggestion introduced at Item 3 for an earth bund and the Clerk was to add this topic to an early F&GPWG for detailed consideration.  In preparation for the F&GPWG, Cllrs Wright, Randall and Robinson agreed to meet with Mr Burton to establish more detail of his proposals.  In addition, the Council had been made aware of the services of an acoustic specialist who was willing to prepare a report on the problems facing Hilton and possible solutions on a professional consultancy basis.  This item was also referred to the F&GPWG for detailed discussion.

7.         PARC Project   

The Clerk advised that the ‘Young Lives' organization had advised that the PARC Project pilot scheme was to end in June.  Thereafter, individual communities would be responsible for the support and organization of the scheme.  Young Lives would continue to offer advice as required.  The Council agreed that it was not an appropriate body to be directly involved in running the project but would be happy to see a group of volunteers who could take it forward.  The Clerk was asked to place a notice in Specrum asking for volunteers. The Clerk was also to ask Cllr Stott, as the Council's liaison with the project, to consider the way forward. 

8.         Parish Electorial Review

The Council noted that the recent Parish Electoral Review undertaken by Huntingdonshire District Council had recommended no changes to either the Hilton Parish boundary or the number of Councilors which was to remain at nine.

9.         Village of the Year Competition

The Council noted that a replacement Village of the Year competition had recently been announced under the sponsorship of Cambridge ACRE.  The Clerk was to establish the exact lines of responsibility for the village entry and also to approach Mrs Potter and Holdaway to see if they would be willing to assist in the competition.

10.       Wayleave Clare Cottage

The Council noted that the Licence for access to Clare Cottage required the Council to set the fee on an annual basis.  The Clerk was to add the matter to the agenda of the next F&GPWG for a recommendation and to consider whether to ask the District Valuer for advice on the fee to be levied.

11        Gate to the Wilderness.  The Clerk advised that he had obtained a quotation from Lattenbury Farm for a new gate at a cost of £975 plus VAT but without a detailed specification he had had problems obtaining a competitive price from other suppliers.  He had obtained a verbal price from Huntree fencing which was of a similar order of cost to that from Lattenbury Farm.  Cllr Robinson advised that he should be able to obtain further information on similar gates.  In view of the urgency of the requirement, it was proposed by Cllr Fleming that the Clerk and the Chairman were to place an order for a suitable gate up to a value of £1000.  This was seconded by Cllr Robinson, and with the exception of Cllr Barradell, was approved.

12.       Management of The Green

The Chairman explained that it was felt that the stakes and ropes along Wraggs Row had eased the off road parking problems.  In addition, Monach Farm had amended their weekend schedules in an attempt to further ease the parking problems.  The Clerk was to obtain a cost from the grass cutting contractor for repairing the joy-rider damage on the Green and was to report this to the Council.  The Council noted that local parents had innovatively negotiated for the primary school bus to meet school children at the Village Hall rather than outside the cricket pavilion and this should help ease damage to the grass at that point.

The Council noted that the area immediately in front of Punch's Grove had been planted with inappropriate grass species contrary to an earlier agreement with the owner of that house.  Cllr Stott was to be asked to advise what action was possible to restore the required species mix and, as a minimum, a letter was to be sent to the owner making him aware of the Council's disappointment.  The matter was to be further discussed at the next F&GPWG .

13.       VAT for JCS Services

The Clerk briefed that JCS Services had incurred retrospective VAT charges for work undertaken during 2005 and 2006 but would not be VAT liable for 2007.  The Clerk had obtained the agreement of HM Revenue and Customs to claim the outstanding VAT for these years as part of the Council's annual VAT claim.  Cllr Randall proposed, Cllr Robinson seconded and approved unanimously that the Clerk was to claim for the VAT and to reimburse JCS services when payment had been received from HM revenue and Customs. 

14.       Lorry-Watch

Ms Charlotte Wilson from Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards gave a short presentation on a new scheme aimed to reduce the numbers of HGVs breaching weight restrictions and asked the village to take part in the pilot.  Under the scheme, notice of Lorry-watch would be circulated to local hauliers and appropriate road signs displayed.  Residents would be asked to report breaches of the restriction to Trading Standards on provided proformae.  Trading Standards would then take action with firms and the various transport associations, including issuing warning letters, seeking to reduce out of hours transits through the village.  This scheme would be complementary to the ongoing work of Trading Standards.  Ms Wilson clarified that Trading Standards would pursue prosecutions but only when they were involved in witnessing the breach.  She also said that the scheme did not cover speeding.  The Council agreed to support Lorry-Watch and would respond to Trading Standards with suggested names of volunteers and places where the scheme could advertise for further volunteers.

15.       The Clerk's Report on Parish Matters.

a.         Crime Report.  There had been no crimes reported since the last meeting.

b.            Ditches  Cllr Stott had drawn up a full report on the condition of the ditches in and around the village and this was circulating.  The Clerk was to take action to remove the washing machine from a ditch near Rogues Lane and the F&GPWG was to consider the way forward for the remaining ditches.  It was noted that although there was some build up of dead vegetation in some of the ditches within the village, these were not sufficient to seriously impede water flows.

c.             Standing Orders  The Clerk advised that all the comments received had been incorporated in the 2007 update of the Council's Standard Orders.  Cllr Barradell proposed, Cllr Shardlow seconded and the meeting approved the orders (version 2007).  The Council noted that a new Annex to cover Section 137 was currently being prepared for comment and would be incorporated at a future date.

d             Sign at Wragg's Row   The Clerk advised that the sign ordered on HDC was ready for installation and asked for siting instructions.  The Council agreed to site the sign outside Park Farm but the Clerk was first to ask the CRO for their comments.

e.         Date of Annual Meeting  Agreed that the Annual Meeting should be held on 30 May 2007.  Cllrs to consider a potential speaker and pass suggestions to the Clerk.

f.              Resurfacing Rutland Green.  In reply to an action at the last meeting, the Clerk advised that West Highways had confirmed that the work would be undertaken in the near future and would advise a date when the current negotiations with their contractor were complete.

17.       Councillors' Items    

a.            S106  Cllrs Shardlow and Randall had drawn up a list of candidates and the Clerk was to add these to the agenda of the next F&GPWG to recommend the next steps.

b.            Countyside Watch Cllr Randall advised that the recent meeting had been interesting and that the authorities present were very open to hearing about current rural issues.  He also asked the Council to note that the meeting had clarified that fly tipping was the responsibility of the local authority or the Environment Agency, but not the police

c.             Resignation Cllr Ashby Wright.  The Chairman announced that Cllr Ashby Swain had recently resigned her position as a Cllr due to work pressures.  The Council thanked her for all her work with the Council and wished her well for the future.  The Clerk was to take appropriate action.

d.            Appreciation Mr George Brittain.  The Council noted the recent death of Mr George Brittain and wished to record a note of appreciation for all the work he had generously done within the village for the benefit of residents.

F J Wright

Chairman of Parish Council                                                                                                           2 April 2007