Draft Minutes
Minutes of a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 9th April 2025 in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
PRESENT Cllr M Caton (Chair), Cllrs A Barnes, A Guney, J Hardy, P Jones, J Kavanagh, A Love, J O’Brien and T van de Bilt
ATTENDING Mrs Emma Philbrick – Deputy Clerk, District & County Councillor Ray Gooding, 3 members of the public (1 via Zoom)
384 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Sell – Unwell
RESOLVED To approve the apologies for absence from Cllr Sell
No apologies for absence were received from Cllr Braeckman and Cllr Khan
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
One member of the public spoke regarding Anglia In Bloom and asked the Parish Council for support financially and with publicity as they would like to achieve Gold this year. Cllr Barnes supported this and said that they would like the Parish Council to make the village look better especially with the hanging baskets and the area on the corner of Crafton Green. Cllr Jones commented that we would need to know how much they would want and what it would be spent on.
One member of the public spoke regarding the lack of progress with the Manor Road flats and urged the Parish Council to help. Cllr Caton advised that she has had communication with UDC on behalf of a resident and they had advised her that a new company have taken over from Norse and they have been tasked with having everything completed by September 2025. Cllr Gooding commented that he had held a meeting and had made a further complaint about the safety of work that had been undertaken so far. Now a new company is in place, the progress needs to be monitored to ensure that everything will be completed by September and that the standard is properly administered.
385 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None
386 TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 19TH MARCH 2025
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19th March 2025 as a true and accurate account.
387 TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS FROM THE LAST MEETING
346 Cllr Sell to look into the issues of the Garden Waste Service in Mill Hill/Brook Road – No update received and Cllr Sell not at the meeting.
346 Cllr Gooding to send further information received regarding the yellow box on Grove Hill – See District & County report in minutes
347 Cllr Caton to look into Annual Parish meetings in other places – Update on this is in the Chair report
352 All councillors to send feedback re Devolution to the Clerk by 31st March 2025 – A handful of responses received from Councillors
352 Cllr Khan to submit the Parish Council’s comments on the Devolution consultation – Not present at the meeting and copy of submitted response still awaited
352 Cllr Caton to invite Kemi Badenoch to a Full Council meeting to talk about Devolution – Emailed but no response received so far
388 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM THE CHAIR, CLLR MAUREEN CATON
Report Starts: Forest Hall School have informed governors and parents that they are in negotiations with the Football Foundation and Essex County FA to provide a 3G football pitch; and that they are currently consulting with local youth football clubs to see what take up there will be from the community to use such a facility. The Clerk and I have a meeting with a representative of the Essex County FA to clarify what consultation will be expected to formally take place and what, if any, impact this will have on the grass pitches planned for the site next to the Romeera Centre – the Columbia Threadneedle section 106 agreement outcome for subsequent removal of the playing pitches used by Elsenham Youth Football Club on the Northside of the airport. We have also been contacted by a representative of Columbia Threadneedle who wishes to attend a future Council Meeting to talk about the provision of a renewable energy supply to the Northside development via PV installations, and we also need to now check on the status of the previously agreed grass pitches.
We will keep you posted on this and will consider when we have further information whether we need to reinstate the Sports Strategy Group.
Unfortunately, Councillor Ghosh has tendered her resignation as she is relocating away from the area, and is also still currently working in India, following an extension to her contract there. In her correspondence with me she wishes to thank you all for welcoming and supporting her during her time with us. We thank her for her input and wish her well for the future.
The time is also approaching for our Annual Council meeting and I encourage you to think about what committees and working groups you wish to be part of, and the election of Chair and Vice-chairs.
As mentioned previously, I have been looking into what other towns and parishes do with regard to their Annual Parish Meeting. These are generally poorly attended, and some councils no longer bother to call the meeting. However, it is a statutory requirement that we call a meeting if one is not called by parishioners. Having said that, no council has yet been prosecuted for not holding one. I suggest we continue for the present and perhaps discuss this further with EALC/NALC.
The litter pick last weekend could have benefitted from more support from councillors – but was reasonably well supported by the community.
Interestingly waiting restriction proposals ( as previously requested by ourselves) have been agreed for Walson Way on Foresthall Park. This was in relation to a proposal from the bus company – which may be of benefit to other areas in Stansted e.g. the Mountfitchet Estate area.
I hope councillors will support and view the “ I Am More “ display that has been put up in our library.
I hope to give a clearer indication of any proposals we may or may not wish to make in relation to the local government restructure plans , by the next Full Council. In the meantime, we are seeking clarification on the impact, if any, of these changes on the Local Plan and our neighbourhood Development Plan – given that information remains very “Blue sky” at present.
Dean Hermitage has published the presentations from the recent Parish Forum – the highlights from which were:
- UDC’s housing target rising to 805 (from 675)
- Definition for permissive development in the Green/Grey belt
- Local Plan examination expected in June/July – issues letter awaited
- UDC are retaining S106 but CIL can operate alongside:
- Charge is per sqm of new development – also applies to commercial development
- The charge is mandatory – based on viability
- Spend can be flexibly applied
- 15% of the charge collected in each Parish is passed to the Parish each year – 25% if a NDP is in place.
The slides will be sent round to you all post this meeting. Report ends.
Cllr Barnes asked if the Parish Council could approach the bus company and ask them to put in an application for yellow lines at Bentfield as this is on the bus route and they do not need to achieve the 75% that the Parish Council have to. It was agreed that the office would approach them regarding this.
Cllr Jones asked for clarification as to whether the housing target rise would only be implemented if the current draft plan is thrown out but that if it goes ahead, it will stand at 675. The office will ask UDC to confirm
389 TO RECEIVE WRITTEN DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS
District & County Councillor Gooding reported the following:
Grove Hill Yellow Box – he has been sent drawings as to what the proposals are and he has some misgivings which he is in discussions about. He has requested a separate meeting with the Chair regarding this.
Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation – The District held a meeting in March and agreed to go forward with it. He has concerns about the significant lack of understanding of what will be involved if it becomes part of a Unitary Authority and the lack of understanding by the people who will become elected members as they will have significantly different tasks.
He feels strongly that the available tax base is a very important consideration as if the tax base is too small then the funding will be less and they will not be able to provide the services needed.
Cllr O’Brien said he thought it was a very worrying situation and that services such as the library could be at risk as some services are bound to go and also social services will suffer.
Cllr Hardy commented that in his opinion it seems that UDC are waiting around for everything to be done for them and asked if Cllr Gooding had faith in the current leadership to take this forward with the best interests of parishioners. Cllr Gooding admitted that no he didn’t have confidence in UDC and said that we will need a strong leadership going into this.
Cllr Kavanagh advised that she had recently seen Cllr Cunningham on TV talking about highways and funds available and will any of this go towards getting the roads in Stansted done? Cllr Gooding said that money has been set aside and this means they have been able to bring in more teams to undertake the work. This has meant that rather than doing temporary repairs, they will be able to resurface roads in the first instance. He is currently awaiting dates when the white lines, roundabout and zebra crossing on Lower Street will be done.
390 TO RECEIVE A WRITTEN COUNTY COUNCILLOR REPORT
See report above
391 FINANCE – TO APPROVE THE LIST OF PAYMENTS
The list of payments was checked against the invoices before the start of the meeting by Cllr Jones. With no questions, the list of payments was approved.
392 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
1 UTT/25/0687/FUL – BENTFIELD MILL BARN, WATERMILL LANE
Conversion of domestic garage (with office) to one independent dwelling
No Comment
2 UTT/25/0718/CLE – THE OLD BRICKYARD, ELSENHAM ROAD
Change of use of land from agricultural to a sui generis use in association with a landscaping construction business and operational development comprising the erection of Buildings 6,7,9,10,12,15 and 18 as identified on plan reference 2244092 CLU 001
The Parish Council is concerned from an environment perspective about the loss of tress on the site and also the effect this will have on potential flooding as the trees absorb an amount of the run-off water minimising the flood risk at the Brook.
3 UTT/25/0725/HHF – ASHMOUNT, 8 BREWERY LANE
Erection of single storey side and rear extensions and new front porch (amended scheme to that approved under planning permission UTT/24/2463/HHF)
No Comment
4 UTT/25/0736/HHF – 17 WETHERFIELD
Proposed two storey side and rear extension, garage conversion with a new flat roof, entrance hall canopy and driveway to be enlarged for additional off street parking.
No objection subject to parking standards being met
5 UTT/25/0744/HHF – 6 HARGRAVE CLOSE
Rear loft dormer for loft conversion
No Comment
6 UTT/25/0777/LB – BREWERY HOUSE, 61 LOWER STREET
Widening French doors within existing rear kitchen extension and formation of new gateway opening within the attached masonry wall to east boundary.
No Comment
7 UTT/25/0776/HHF – BREWERY HOUSE, 61 LOWER STREET
Widening French doors within existing rear kitchen extension and formation of new gateway opening within the attached masonry wall to east boundary.
No Comment
8 UTT/25/0745/FUL – THE MANOR HOUSE (STABLES) CHURCH ROAD
Demolition of existing Stables and construction of 2 no. dwellings and associated works.
No objection subject to the footprint of existing stables not being exceeded
Replace up and over garage door with patio door
No objection but should this be a change of use?
10 UTT/25/0837/FUL – EASTFIELD STABLES, MAY WALK
Extension to existing Wellness Hub
No Comment
11 UTT/25/0845/HHF – TURNERS SPRING, BURTON END
Single storey apex roof addition, demolition of lean-to structure and garage
No objection as long as the design compliments the Arts and Crafts deco style.
393 TO CONSIDER OUR RESPONSE TO A CONSULTATION TO REMOVE THE PHONE BOX IN BURTON END
UDC have been asked to respond to a consultation by BT on removing the telephony and the box in Burton End as this has only been used 3 times in the last 12 months.
As part of the consultation response, UDC have asked for the views of the Parish Council. Members commented that it is not noted whether the 3 calls made were emergency calls or not. BT have also advised that communities can adopt phone boxes and turn them into something different or to house a defibrillator. Cllr Guney advised that she would like to see the box kept and turned into a library or to house a defib. It was agreed that the Parish Council would post on social media to gauge the views of residents in Burton End and see if anyone is willing to adopt. Cllr Gooding urged caution as if the box is on Highways land, which it is, they have previously been known to send invoices for rent charges for the use of their land.
394 PERSONNEL SUB-COMMITTEE – TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS HELD ON 17TH AND 31ST MARCH 2025
The minutes of the meetings were received
395 WINDMILL SUB-COMMITTEE – TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2ND APRIL 2025
The minutes of the meeting were received
396 F&GP COMMITTEE – TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2ND APRIL 2025
The minutes of the meeting were received
397 TO CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION FROM THE F&GP COMMITTEE IN RESPECT OF THE DRAFT INVESTMENT POLICY
A draft Policy with suggested changes was circulated to members with the agenda.
Having been proposed by Cllr O’Brien and seconded by Cllr Jones, it was unanimously
RESOLVED to adopt the draft Investment Policy with the suggested changes.
Meeting closed at 8.37pm
ACTION POINTS
387 Cllr Sell to look into the issues of the Garden Waste Service in Mill Hill/Brook Road
387 Cllr Khan to share the Parish Council’s submitted response
388 Approach the bus company to see if they would be willing to put in an application for a No Waiting Restriction on Bentfield Road
388 Office to seek clarification on the housing target rise
389 Cllr Gooding and Cllr Caton to meet to discuss the Grove Hill Yellow Box
393 Use Social media to ask the Burton End community on their thoughts on the phone box and if they are willing to adopt
Agenda
Members of the Council you are hereby summoned, and members of the public and press are hereby invited, to attend a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL which will be held on Wednesday 9th April 2025 at 7.30pm in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted, Essex, where the following business will be transacted:
1 To receive and approve apologies for absence
Adjourn for public participation
2 To receive declarations of interest
3 To approve the minutes of the Full Council meeting held on 19th March 2025
4 To receive an update on action points from the last meeting
5 To receive a report from the Chair, Cllr Maureen Caton
6 To receive written District Councillor Reports
7 To receive a written County Councillor Report
8 Finance: To approve the list of payments – to be tabled
9 To consider the list of planning applications received
10 To consider our response to a consultation to remove the phone box in Burton End
11 Personnel Sub-Committee – To receive the minutes of the meetings held on 17th and 31st March 2025
12 Windmill Sub-Committee – To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 2nd April 2025
13 F&GP Committee – To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 2nd April 2025
14 To consider a recommendation from the F&GP Committee in respect of the draft Investment Policy
Parish Clerk 3rd April 2025
Any intention to record, film or take photographs during a meeting must be notified to the Clerk prior to the start of the meeting.