Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on

Wednesday, 14th May, 2003 in the Village Hall

after the Annual Parish Assembly.

Present were:

Mrs Burton, Mr Clark, Miss Collinson, Mrs Flook, Mrs Kesterton, Mrs Oliveira, and Mrs Clark (Clerk).

In Attendance:

Cllr Whitehead

1. Signing of Declaration of Acceptance of Office

   This was duly signed by all members.

2. Election of Chairman and Other Officers

   Mrs Oliveira was unanimously elected as Chairman, proposed Mrs Kesterton and seconded by Mr Clark. She then signed the declaration of acceptance of office. The other officers of the council were then unanimously elected as follows:

   Position	Nominee	Proposed	Seconded
   Vice Chairman	Mr Clark	Miss Collinson	Mrs Kesterton
   Community Assoc	Mrs Kesterton	Mr Clark	Mrs Flook
   Village Hall	Mrs Oliveira	Mrs Kesterton	Mrs Flook
   Footpath Rep	Mrs Burton	Mrs Flook	Mrs Oliveira
   Public Transport Rep	Mrs Oliveira	Mrs Flook	Mr Clark
   Tree Warden	Miss Collinson	Mrs Burton	Mrs Oliviera
   Dunmow & District Road Safety Committee	no nominations

3. Apologies for Absence

   These had been received from Mrs Down, our recently elected District Councillor.

4. Membership

   Various names were suggested of people who might be interested in filling the vacancy caused by Dick Knowles' standing down. Uttlesford had advised that the vacancy should be filled by 20th June. It was agreed that Mr Knowles be presented with a certificate to mark his years of service and that flowers be presented to Mrs Knowles. These would need to be funded by members themselves since the Parish Council had no powers to pay for it from funds. Members were reminded to return their expense claims to Uttlesford.

5. Approval of Minutes of the Previous Meeting

   The minutes of the meeting held on 12th March, 2003 were agreed and signed.

6. Matters Arising

   1. Common Land

      Miss Collinson reported on the course on Greens & Commons which she had attended. It was confirmed that although the Parish Council had jurisdiction over the Common Land in the Parish it was not the registered owner and therefore unable to grant rights of access over it. The Parish Council is a custodian only, with a duty to maintain the land

   2. Dumping of Cars at Brick End

      The cars were finally removed by Uttlesford on 26th March, 2003, bringing to an end a saga which had first been minuted on 27th November, 2000. As requested by Uttlesford, the Clerk had provided a history of how the vehicular access to the site had been created.

   3. Jubilee Village Sign

      Mr Clark had been unable to take the matter further. Mrs Oliveira agreed to talk to Pleshey Forge who had made the sign for a neighbouring parish from whence the idea had evolved.

   4. Recreational Land

      There had been no reply to the second letter sent to the family of the late Arnold Willis.

   5. Emergency Plans

      A revision to the Parish Emergency Plan was in hand. The Rector, Gillian Greenslade, had requested a copy.

   6. Postal Deliveries

      The Clerk had written again to the Royal Mail at Dunmow, but still no acknowledgement or reply had been received. She was asked to take the matter up with PostWatch

   7. Prince of Wales Public House

      The lease had recently been transferred and business in the pub and Indian restaurant seemed to be booming.

   8. Hedge and Grass Cutting

      Peter Freeman had quoted £185 for hedge and grass cutting in 2003, the same amount as in 2002. The Clerk was asked to formally accept this price.

   9. Highways Signs

      The Clerk had advised Highways of the specific location of the missing signs. Replacement was in hand.

7. Stansted Airport and Fund Raising Events

   1. Slide Show

      The slide show had raised a total of £382.61 which had been passed to SSE. Everything, including the hire of the hall, had been donated, with a magnificent £84.95 being raised on the refreshment/cake stall. Thanks were extended to Mrs Flook for organising this.

   2. Open Gardens – 29th June

      Arrangements for the Broxted involvement in this event were outlined. With the consultation period ending on 30th June, the afternoon was now being used by SSE as part of a much larger event which it was hoped would attract national media interest.

8. County Councillor's Report

   County Councillor Whitehead gave a report on his activities as our representative. He detailed the reasons for the very high increase in the County share of Council Tax for 2003-2004. He also noted that the footway in Chapel End had finally been completed and that a speed reduction scheme for Chapel End was in hand.

9. Correspondence

   1. Police and Community Consultative Group

      Details of a meeting to be held in Dunmow on 27th May had been received.

   2. Society of Local Council Clerks

      The Clerk had taken out membership of the society. It was agreed that she be re-imbursed the £43 annual membership fee.

   3. Accounts & Audit Regulations 2003

      Details of the above which came into force on 1st April, 2003 had been received. The Clerk was asked to purchase a copy of the revised Practitioners Guide at a cost of £11.99.

10. Finance

    1. Balances

       Balances as at 30th April, 2003 at Barclays Bank, Dunmow were reported as follows:

       Community Account (current)	£3,485.17	*
       Business Reserve Account (high rate deposit)	£1,542.14
       TOTAL	£5,027.31

       * Includes £105.35 refund of VAT 2002-3 and first half year precept of £2,750.00 both just received. Transfer to the Business Reserve Account is to be made shortly.

    2. Budgets

       As at 31st March, 2003 these stood as follows:

       	Allocated	Spent
       General Admin inc S.137	£5,500.00	£3,863.72
       Contingency Fund	£1,000.00	£1,000.00	(donations to SSE)
       Village Hall	£1,000.00	£1,000.00
       Queen's Golden Jubilee (balance)	£900.00	£693.84
       Capital Fund	balance of funds	£480.88

       It was agreed not to set budgets in future as expenditure generally was very carefully controlled by statute.

    3. Signing of Cheques

       It was agreed to sign the following cheques:

       Peter Freeman – first half year hedge & grass cutting	£ 92.50
       P. Clark – reimbursement annual subs Society of Local Council Clerks	£ 43.00
       Allianz Cornhill Insurance – annual renewal premium	£289.80
       EALC – Annual subs	£107.74
       Council for Voluntary Service Uttlesford – annual subs	£ 10.00
       Society of Local Council Clerks – update A Practitioners Guide	£ 11.99
       SSE – Donation as pledged (page 406 of Minutes)	£500.00

       A request had been received to renew membership of the C.P.R.E. It was agreed not to renew this and to write and explain that this was in protest at its decisions not to support the SSE view on Offshore Airports, and to withdraw from SSE abruptly.

    4. Annual Review of Clerk's Salary

       It was agreed that this be deferred until the next meeting.

    5. Accounts 2002-03

       The Clerk gave a brief presentation of the accounts. It was unanimously agreed that these be adopted, proposed Mrs Kesterton, seconded Miss Collinson.

11. Planning Matters

    The current position on planning matters is:-

    1. The Rise, Brick End

       extension to workshop to provide new offices and welfare facilities

       conditional approval.

    2. Peartrees, Brick End

       single storey rear extension

       conditional approval

    3. Moor End Farm

       conversion of barn to dwelling

       awaited

12. Any Other Business

    1. Delfits Lane

       Highways had advised that the voluntary ban had been widely ignored during the winter with the result that the surface of the lane had deteriorated further. Highways would put the lane on a list of those needing remedial work in the summer to restore the surface and improve drainage. Mr Clark had spoken to Highways to advise that this was not what we wanted. We would rather the lane be impassable for motor vehicles and be used only by horse-riders and walkers. The lady at Highways sympathised but said that they were under a statutory duty to maintain the lane, and that it was in the top two or three on the list for such work. She also advised that a decent surface would deter 4x4 drivers who preferred the challenge of a rough track, and that there was nothing anybody had yet discovered that would prevent motorcyclists from using tracks like this, or indeed, footpaths.

13. Date of the Next Meeting

    The date of the next meeting was confirmed as Wednesday, 9th July in the Village Hall at 8.00 p.m.

Mr Whitehead was thanked for his attendance, and the meeting closed at 10.00 p.m.