Minutes
Minutes of the meeting of the FULL COUNCIL held on Wednesday 3rd July 2024 at 7.30pm in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
PRESENT Cllr M Caton (Chair), Cllrs A Barnes, G Braeckman, S Ghosh, A Guney, J Kavanagh, A Khan, J O’Brien, L Prior and T van de Bilt
ATTENDING Mrs Ruth Clifford – Parish Clerk, Mrs Emma Philbrick – Deputy Clerk, 2 members of the public via Zoom
85 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr P Jones – holiday, Cllr A Love – prior engagement and Cllr Sell – holiday.
RESOLVED to accept the apologies for absence from Cllrs Jones, Love and Sell.
Apologies were also received from District Cllr Dean and County & District Councillor Gooding
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – None
86 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None
87 TO RECEIVE THE MINTUES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 12TH JUNE 2024
RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the meeting held on 12th June 2024 as a true and accurate account.
88 TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS FROM THE LAST MEETING
61 – Office to post position statement on website – Done
63 – Cty Cllr Gooding to let SMPC have final list of maintenance jobs – Nothing received. Cllr Caton asked for him to be chased again.
89 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM THE CHAIR, CLLR MAUREEN CATON
Nothing to report apart from the Youth Club is doing very well. A monitoring meeting took place with the provider on Friday, and he reported that one session had been attended by 32 youths.
90 TO RECEIVE WRITTEN DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS
This is the eve of the general election and it is of great concern that a total of approximately 2600 postal votes were not sent out to electors. predominantly in the Writtle areas of the constituency and this has been reported on National news. However, I have also received complaints from a few people in this area who have not received their postal votes on time. This is clearly unacceptable, and it is potentially detrimental to all candidates. The chief executive of UDC, who is also the returning officer, has blamed “Human Error” but such excuse appears to be a returning theme. – District Cllr Ray Gooding. Report ends.
91 TO RECEIVE A WRITTEN COUNTY COUNCILLOR REPORT
No written report received. [A written report was received after the meeting and is attached to these minutes]
I hope that everyone is now aware that the water leak and the drain clearance on Grove Hill is now completed. Highways attended the location on the 13th June and after representation from me Affinity were also present at the same time. Highways cleared the blocked drains of concrete and asphalt and also dug out the drains on the eastern side of the road. That work was completed on the 13th and they returned on the 14th to carry out the repairs to the road surface. Affinity water, having previously denied that the water was from their infrastructure carried out investigation and repairs over the two days whilst highways were present and having completed their work on the 14th the site was handed over to Affinity Water and they carried on with their inspection and repair through to the afternoon of the 15th June. Highways returned to inspect the site on 17th June and confirmed that the drains were operating properly and the leaks from the water mains had been repaired.
However, it appears that we have another instance of this and in Cawkell Close there is evidence of a leak from the Affinity Mains that, having carried out their tests, deny is their responsibility. Investigation has shown that there is no other possible source of a leak in that location so I will again be liaising with their senior management to ensure that the repairs are completed in a timely manner.
I can also confirm that a package of reparation works to the roads in and around Maitland Road is planned for the coming weeks under the Member Led scheme. – Essex County Cllr Ray Gooding. Report ends.
92 FINANCE – TO APPROVE THE LIST OF PAYMENTS
The invoices were checked against the payment schedule by Cllr O’Brien before the start of the meeting. The list of payments was approved.
93 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
1 UTT/24/1405/FUL – LAND AT ELEVENTH AVENUE STANSTED
The installation of 1 no. new Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) enclosure adjacent to the existing substation.
No Comment
2 UTT/24/0897/DFO – LAND NORTH OF STANSTED AIRPORT, THIRD AVENUE
Reserved matters comprising external appearance, layout, scale and landscaping for Option 4 of Phase 2 pursuant to Outline Planning Permission ref: UTT/22/0434/OP; comprising commercial/employment floorspace predominantly within Class B8 Classes E(g) and Class B2, car parking, cycle storage servicing, plant areas, landscaping and other associated works. Part Discharge of planning conditions 5 (Landscaping Management Plan), 7 (Materials), 21 (Cycle Access), 38 (Drainage), 78 (BNG) and 79 (Landscape and Ecological Management Plan) pursuant to Outline Planning Permission ref: UTT/22/0434/OP.
No objections but, as previously discussed, members would like to see an illuminated cycle and footway provided alongside Bury Lodge Lane to enable safe passage from the village to the site. Using the public rights of way network is not considered a safe route.
3 UTT/23/3208/FUL – FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE CANADA SHED, PARSONAGE LANE
Removal of lorry bodies and other paraphernalia. Replacement of existing building with 2 no, storage units (Use Class B8), with associated engineering operations to set new building into the ground.
No objection assuming the relevant ecology survey is undertaken.
4 UTT/24/1503/FUL – LAND ADJ. 1 MOUNT DRIVE
Erection of 1 no. self-build bungalow with new highway access.
No objection but would seek a condition preventing future expansion of the property.
94 TO CONSIDER AN EXCEPTION TO THE INVESTMENT POLICY TO ENABLE AN ADDITIONAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT TO BE OPENED
The Clerk explained that the current policy allows her to invest up to £300,000 but the Council currently has a large surplus sitting at the bank and, along with the Chair and Vice-Chair of Finance, she believes this money would be better invested so that it earns a higher rate of interest. She is seeking to invest up to a further £85,000 with a building society and £25,000 into the CCLA Local Deposit Fund.
Having been proposed by Cllr O’Brien and seconded by Cllr Kavanagh, it was unanimously
RESOLVED to approve an exception to the Investment Policy to allow the Clerk to invest as detailed above.
95 TO CONSIDER A REQUEST FROM A NEIGHBOUR OF THE WINDMILL TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A FLOWERBED AT THE WINDMILL
The Chair proposed that this item was deferred as, since the Clerk circulated the request, new information had come to light and the ownership of the boundaries and the wall needs to be checked before any decision is made. This was unanimously supported.
Cllr Kavanagh asked for the Clerk to find out why the current boundary is not cut by the contractors when they do the other areas of the cutting and what would happen if the neighbour who is making the request moves. Cllr Prior asked if the office could find out how the grant money that the Parish Council gave to the Millers for planting was spent.
96 TO CONSIDER ADOPTING THE DRAFT BIODIVERSITY POLICY
This was circulated to members with the agenda. The document was written by the Working Group after they were tasked by the Open Spaces Committee to do further research into the use of glyphosate and the alternatives available.
Cllr Braeckman commented that he was unhappy with the approach to stop the use of glyphosate as this is industry standard for gardening and farming. Cllr Barnes explained that they had done extensive research into this, and they had found at least 80 other councils who were taking a similar or stronger approach. He agrees that there are contradictory views on the likelihood of it being cancer causing but that there was a good argument that its usage should be kept to a minimum and only used when absolutely necessary.
Cllr Barnes advised that the Clerk had consulted with our current contractors, and they were happy with this move. There will be small increases in the gardening costs but environmentally we need to follow where the Council should be going and where the industry seems to be going. The document allows that glyphosate can be used when necessary but that its usage will be tracked.
Cllr Khan arrived at the meeting and gave apologies for his lateness.
Further discussion took place between members and a couple of amendments to clause 4 were agreed. 4.1 should be amended to say working towards elimination and the target date for 4.6 amended to the end of this council’s term (2027).
Having been proposed by Cllr O’Brien and seconded by Cllr van de Bilt, with 9 votes in favour and 1 abstention, it was
RESOLVED to adopt the draft Biodiversity Policy with the suggested amendments.
97 F&GP COMMITTEE – TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 26TH JUNE 2024
The minutes of the meeting were received
Meeting closed at 8.07pm
ACTION POINTS
88 Chase Cllr Gooding for the final list of maintenance jobs as promised
95 Defer the item to a future meeting and find out:
- a) Why the gardeners don’t currently do this part when they do other work around the Windmill
- b) What would happen if the neighbour making the request moves?
- c) What did the Millers spend their grant money on?
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 3rd July 2024 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 12th June 2024
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 an exception to the Investment Policy to enable an additional savings account to be opened.
11 To consider a request from a neighbour of the Windmill to establish and maintain a flowerbed at the Windmill
12 To consider adopting the draft Biodiversity Policy
13 F&GP Committee – To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 26th June 2024
Parish Clerk 27th June 2024