Posted inmeetings minutes

Minutes of the December 2024 meeting

01/01/2025

The minutes of the December 2024 meeting, below, are available in PDF form, primarily for offline reading and printing. Please note that all minutes are draft until approved at a subsequent Parish Council meeting, and in any conflict between the version below (provided for ease of access online) and the PDF version, the latter shall be deemed authoritative.

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 2nd December 2024

Those present were:

  • Parish Councillor Nick Ginn (chairman)
  • Parish Councillor Michael Capps
  • Parish Councillor James Catmur
  • Parish Councillor Cathy Davis
  • Parish Councillor Nigel Day
  • Parish Councillor Paul Greenland
  • Parish Councillor Andrew Pett

Also present: District Councillor James Catmur and 3 members of the public.

  1. The meeting was opened with a silent prayer.
  2. Apologies for absence:
    Parish Councillor Chris Bane, Parish Councillor Alan Rowbotham and clerk Sharon Brown
  3. Declarations of Interest:
    None.
  4. Minutes of the previous meeting held on 4th November: the Minutes were proposed by Councillor Ginn, seconded by Councillor Pett and unanimously approved.
  5. Open Forum:
    • Report from District Councillor James Catmur highlighted:
    a) E-W Rail: noted, the informal consultation 14/11 – 24/1/2025, with local events and online.
    b) CIL funding round: 4/11/24 – 19/1/2025.
    c) CPCA Climate Opportunity Fund: open 25/11 – 17/1/2025.
    d) Local Plan Engagement
  6. Matters Arising:

6.1 Winchfield ‘green space’: Several residents came to the meeting on 12th November and because of their documentation it has been proven that CCC Highways has responsibility for the ‘greenspace’.

6.2 Reading Room veranda drain: Work on this is due to begin on 2nd December 2024 to solve the damp problem in the Reading Room and the Cottage.

6.3 Crown & Cushion update: An external survey has been undertaken and details of this have been sent to the agents managing any sale of the public house.

  1. Meeting with Ian Sollom, MP: An online meeting has been set up for January 6th at the next Parish Council meeting. Questions by Councillors must be sent to the clerk before Christmas so that the meeting can be structured around these.
  2. RoSPA Play Safety Inspection Reports: A further quote for the necessary works in the playground has been obtained from Wicksteed and Councillor Davis is seeking a third quote before the Council can make a decision and work can commence.
  3. Reading Room Cottage:
    • Electricity monitoring: data has now been obtained for readings when occupied and now, when not. These readings show that the daily usage is around £1.10 and Council agreed to keep the electricity on to maintain a minimum of about 10 degrees in the Cottage during the winter months. (Proposed by Councillor Ginn, seconded by Councillor Pett, carried unanimously)
    • Electricity Bills: An account has now been set up with Octopus and monitoring will continue.
    • Agreed: This item would return to the January Agenda to discuss the work required before tenanting can re-commence.
  4. CIL Funding: the new round of funding is from 4th November 2024 to 19th January 2025. It was agreed to proceed with a bid for the resurfacing of the Sportsfield car park. Matched funding is needed. The GSRA will meet to discuss a business plan and the next meeting of the Parish Council will agree a way forward should the funding be available.
  5. RFO’s Financial Statements and Budget Review:
    The Financial Reports for November 2024 and Budget Review November 2024 were unanimously approved.
  6. Payments for Approval:
    The payments were proposed by Councillor Capps, seconded by Councillor Pett and unanimously approved.
    A question was asked on the price of the defibrillator pads and how many had been purchased and it was noted that the Clerk’s salary and that of the RFO included back pay from April 1st 2024 due to the recent approval of the Local Government pay scales.

Payments for approval at the Parish Council Meeting on Monday 2nd December 2024
Cheques/ Bank Transfers payable November 2024

  1. Mr R McIntosh (Garden of Remembrance) £7.50
  2. The Mower Shed (additional cut & strim churchyard) £144.00 *
  3. The Mower Shed (additional cut & strim cemetery) £156.00 *
  4. Huntingdonshire DC (cottage council tax for December) £176.00
  5. Fenland Leisure Products (cradle swing) (Paid 25/11 as agreed Nov meeting) £458.88
  6. The Defib Store (replacement defib pads) (Paid 2/11 as agreed Nov meeting) £252.00
  7. Mr Andrew Pett (Microsoft 365 December) £1.99
  8. Clerk’s Salary – December 2024 £967.70
  9. RFO’s Salary – December 2024 £501.41
  10. HMRC Tax & NI (Month 9 ending 5 December 2024) £120.00

Automated Payments payable December 2024

  1. DD BT – Broadband Reading Room (11 December 2024) £47.86 *
  2. DD SSE – Street lighting (2nd December 2024) £196.82

*Invoice expected, but not available in time for meeting

  1. Virtual GGPC (Great Gransden Parish Council) debit card:
    It was agreed that in the absence of the clerk this item would be held over until the next meeting in January.
  2. GGPC email accounts for all councillors:
    Councillor Day has fully investigated the idea of all Parish Councillors having a designated email account. There are currently 3 ggpc.org email accounts for the IT Manager, the Clerk and the RFO. Increasing these to 11 (to include all Councillors) would cost approx. £100 this year and annually £214. A robust discussion followed with Councillor Pett stating that if this was not mandatory then he would not participate on cost grounds. It was proposed by Councillor Ginn and seconded by Councillor Greenland that it should go ahead for those Councillors wishing to do so. This was carried by 5 votes for with 2 abstentions
  3. Purchase of government domain name for GGPC
    A proposal was put forward by Councillor Day to purchase a gov.uk domain for Great Gransden Parish Council. This was seconded by Councillor Ginn. The 40% increased cost of this over our existing domain name as well as the feeling that big brother is taking over local government was outlined by Councillor Pett, but the proposal was carried by 6 votes to 1.
  4. Draft Budget 2025-26
    It was noted that the draft budget is higher than the precept but it was pointed out by Councillor Catmur that this was a conscious decision to use some reserves, if necessary, rather than raise Council Tax to even higher levels. The draft budget was proposed by Councillor Pett, seconded by Councillor Catmur and agreed unanimously.
  5. Highways & Rights of Way
    • Any repairs or maintenance needed:
    • Eltisley Road footpath: Some of the footpath to Eltisley has been ploughed over and the cross field one to Leycourt Farm needs re-instating. These have been reported.
    • Little Lane: Councillor Ginn had improved the visibility on the Little Lane/West Street footpath junction and the question of ownership of the rest of that green area has been referred to the Green Team at CCC.
    • Capitally Funded Highway Maintenance Schemes: Waresley Road proposal – it was agreed that whatever works were, that were undertaken in Waresley Road appear to have mitigated the worst of the flooding so far, but the road still is very wet because of its low lying nature. Councillor Catmur stated that he has put forward an idea to the Capitally Funded Highway Maintenance Schemes to raise the height of Waresley Road.
    • LHI round 2025/26: The two items that were discussed in relation to this round of bidding were: double yellow lines on the bend opposite the school on safety grounds and a possible 30mph buffer zone on Caxton Road. It was agreed that as we had not been successful last year that the £2,000 set aside for that bid should be reallocated to one for double yellow lines on Middle Street opposite the yellow zig-zags that should be repainted. Councillor Catmur agreed to take this forward.
  6. Correspondence & Consultations:
    18.1 CPCA Climate Opportunity Fund: This is open from 25th November 2024 to 17th January 2025. Bids of £50K to £150K are welcome with 10% match funding required. Eligible bidders are not for profit organisations (including parish councils, social enterprises and voluntary organisations) and there is an Information webinar at 5.30 pm on 4th December 2024. It was agreed that Councillor Catmur’s idea of solar panels over the Reading Room car park was one with which to proceed and this would re-appear on the January Agenda for discussion.

18.2 National Highways A428 Funding, A new round of funding is available from 1st November 2024 to 15th January 2025. The two funds available are:
• A social value fund with grants of between £15,000 and £200,000. Expressions of interest are being accepted.
• A community fund with grants of up to £15,000.
Any ideas need to be submitted quickly.

18.3 East-West Rail non-statutory consultation: Councillor Catmur agreed to attend the nearest meeting to us in Cambourne on 3rd December 2024.

  1. Planning Applications:
    19.1 REF. 24/01990/HHFUL – Construction of a garden building – 48 West Street, Great Gransden, Sandy, SG19 3AU. Acceptance was proposed by Councillor Ginn, seconded by Councillor Day and agreed unanimously with reservations about the chimney of the building being a hazard to thatched rooves in the area due to its low level compared to houses.

19.2 REF. 24/02020/HHFUL – Single/two storey side extension, first floor side extension, rear veranda and raised deck, renewable energy apparatus, car port against outbuilding and ancillary development – 63 Meadow Road Great Gransden Sandy SG19 3BB. Acceptance was proposed by Councillor Greenland, seconded by Councillor Pett and agreed unanimously as it is not intrusive and set well back from the road.

19.3 REF. 24/01924/LBC – Erection of new wall and gates to front boundary following demolition of existing wall (Retrospective) – 25 Fox Street Great Gransden Sandy SG19 3AA. Acceptance was proposed by Councillor Ginn, seconded by Councillor Pett and agreed with two abstentions.

19.4 REF. 24/01923/HHFUL – Erection of new wall and gates to front boundary following demolition of existing wall (Retrospective) – 25 Fox Street Great Gransden Sandy SG19 3AA. Acceptance was proposed by Councillor Greenland, seconded by Councillor Pett and agreed with two abstentions.

  1. Dates of meetings Jan 2025 – Jan 2026:
    It was agreed that the dates of the Parish Council Meetings would be as follows:
    January 6th, February 3rd, March 3rd, April 7th, May 12th, June 2nd, July 7th, August 4th, September 1st, October 6th, November 3rd, December 1st, January 5th 2026.
  2. Date of Next Meeting: Monday 6th January 2025 which will commence at 7:30pm.

The meeting ended at 9:15 pm.

Last updated on 01/01/2025