MINUTES
Minutes of a meeting of the OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE held at 7.45pm on Wednesday 15 January 2020 in the Mountfitchet Exchange, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
PRESENT: Cllr A Barnes (Chairman), Cllrs D Brett, M Caton J Harding, J Hudson, J Kavanagh, F Richards, and D Wallace-Jarvis
ATTENDING:
Mr T Lloyd (Assistant to the Clerk)
2 member of the public
1 member of the press
236 TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Cllrs T van de Bilt and Mrs R Clifford (Clerk)
237 TO RECEIVE DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – none
238 TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2019
The minutes had been approved at Full Council meeting on Wednesday 11 December
RESOLVED to accept the minutes (187 amended) as a full and accurate record.
239 MATTERS ARISING AND ACTION POINTS
All office action points completed.
(189) – Churchills have agreed to donate 50 vouchers for the volunteers that take part in the litter pick.
(196) Cllr Brett requested a petrol strimmer for the Footpath Group. Gareth Broad to be approached for training volunteers and undertaking risk assessment. Once this has happened there was support for buying the strimmer.
(192) Mercers to be chased up for report.
240 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
- Negotiations on the cemetery extension are ongoing.
- There are still drainage issues on Walpole Meadows that the developers need to resolve and we are awaiting a proposal from Bloor Homes on how this will be rectified. The problem appears to be caused by vegetation being washed into the drains resulting in blockages.
- Site visits to the windmill and Blythwood Garden junction with Gareth Broad have been undertaken. No proposals or quotes have been received. Cllr Barnes will chase up. Trevor Lloyd has also met with Honours to obtain a quote for Blythwood Gardens so they can be compared.
- Development plans for Elms Farm and Walpole Meadow are not progressing quickly enough and the Chairman wants to inject new momentum into the process
- The Chairman has spoken to Bill Stiles about his footpath reports. Bill is still active and happy to submit reports on a regular basis.
- The Chairman asked for a volunteer to look at existing notice boards and make recommendations on possible locations for new boards. Cllr Kavanagh agreed to undertake this task.
- The Chairman has been contacted by a resident who has raised funds towards a defibrillator and Dist Cllr Geoffrey Sell will make up the difference. This will be situated at the Rose & Crown pub who will fund the installation. The defibrillator will be available 24 hours a day. Discussions took place on how the location of defibrillators in the village can be advertised.
- The Chairman encouraged and requested that committee member agenda items are submitted to the clerk at least 10 days before the meeting date.
241 LITTER
Forest Hall School have started a Litter Picking group that will be active in the vicinity of the school site and they have been put in touch with the Stansted Mountpickers.
Cllr Kavanagh raised concerns about litter in Ugley Brook near the bus stop located on the left -hand side just after the Walpole Meadow roundabout. The Assistant to the Clerk will seek action from the Environment Agency.
242 FOOTPATHS
The report from Bill Stiles was considered. Cllr Brett has taken action on FP17. The Assistant to the Clerk will contact Highways in relation to the issues with FP24 and Cllr Barnes will seek the support of County Cllr Gooding in the hope that Essex Highways will take action.
Cllr Wallace-Jarvis raised concerns about flooding on the footpath that connects into Normans Way. The Assistant to the Clerk will undertake a site visit and consider signage options.
Cllr Barnes understood that footpath 23 was in the process of being re-routed and encouraged this so that the stepped entrance to footpath 23, just after the railway bridge, could be closed off and the marker post re-sited as he considered the steps to be a safety issue. Walkers should be able to use the rerouted path through the Elms Farm estate. The Assistant to the Clerk to find out the status of the diversion order.
243 CEMETERY
The interments of Patrick Deehan and Tilly Davies were noted.
Cllr Brett raised the possibility of creating a woodland burial area. Cllr Barnes offered to look into the feasibility of incorporating this idea into any new cemetery site. Once a new site has been found he would also look at setting up a working group to develop the site.
244 TREES
- a) GENERAL
The Assistant to the Clerk reported that fruit trees donated by the airport and Woodland Trust would be planted on the Elms Farm Allotment Site.
Cllr Kavanagh raised concerns about trees on the bank of the Brook near the Water Lane/ Station Road junction because they are leaning over resulting in vehicles catching them and damaging the wall. Cllr Brett agreed to make a site visit and report back.
245 ALLOTMENTS
The Assistant to the Clerk reported:
- The process of renewing tenancy agreements for 2020 was nearly complete.
- The entrance way to the Elms Farm site has become hazardous due to heavy rain. A quote to make good the surface has been requested.
- The construction work on the Walpole Meadow site is scheduled for completion by mid-February. Cllr Barnes confirmed the handover of the allotments was not dependent on other facilities being completed.
- Human Roots have secured offer of 20 fruit trees for Elms Farm. The Airport will be supplying these, and they are sourcing them from the Woodland Trust.
246 ANGLIA IN BLOOM/Stansted in Bloom
The Assistant to the Clerk reported that he was working with two winners of Stansted in Bloom. Julia Smith from Anglia in Bloom will be invited to their next meeting after which they would be in a position to determine if we had a realistic chance of satisfying all the categories. He requested that the Committee delegate the authority to him to enter the competition if the group deemed it was appropriate.
After a brief discussion Cllr Richards proposed the following:
RESOLUTION That the Assistant to the Clerk be delegated authority to enter the village in Anglia in Bloom
The proposal was seconded by Cllr Harding and agreed unanimously.
Stansted in Bloom
The assistant to the clerk confirmed that it was still the intention of the working group to continue with Stansted in Bloom in 2020 and ways of further promoting public participation in the event were under consideration. Competition judges were being sort.
247 TO CONSIDER THE REINSTALLATION OF THE REEVE ROAD PLAY EQUIPMENT
It was agreed that once UDC have confirmed that they have appointed a contractor to reinstall the equipment a notice would be posted to inform residents of what would be happening. It was suggested that any equipment not going back on Reeve Road could be used in some of the other play areas.
248 WORKING GROUPS
Newman’s Plantation
Cllr Brett advised that they were still awaiting the survey. It needs to be sped up so that decisions can be made. Work needs to be completed by March. Once the condition report has been received then the decision might need to be taken to Full Council on what contractor to use so that they work can start before the next Open Spaces Committee meeting.
Elms Farm working group
Cllr Wallace-Jarvis was invited to join the group. A review plan has been prepared by Cllr Barnes for consideration and he suggested that the group needed to develop a vision of what the site could be in the future and then put together a strategy to deliver the vision. Councillors were encouraged to contribute their views and focus on the long-term management of the site.
Cllr Caton advised that she thought it be a good idea for working groups to meet outside of the Committee meeting to discuss and come up with strategies which they can bring to the Committee meeting. Once these meetings have taken place then Cllr Barnes can speak to Peter Jones to ensure this ties in with what the Climate Change group are working on.
Walpole Meadows working group
A review plan has been prepared by Cllr Barnes and will be circulated.
Meeting closed 9.35pm
ACTION POINTS
- 239 – Clerk to chase up Mercers for report.
- 240 – Cllr Barnes will chase up Gareth Broad
- 240 – Cllr Kavanagh to report on noticeboards.
- 241 – The Assistant to the Clerk will seek action from the Environment Agency.
- 242 -The Assistant to the Clerk will contact Highways in relation to the issues with FP24 and Cllr Barnes will seek the support of County Cllr Gooding in the hope that Essex Highways will take action.
- 242 – The Assistant to the Clerk will undertake a site visit and consider signage options.
- 244 – Cllr Brett to make a site visit and report back
- 245 – The Assistant to the Clerk will report on the cost of re-surfacing the allotment entrance
- 242 – Assistant to the Clerk to find out the status of the diversion order for Footpath 23
- 247 – Cllr Barnes will be circulated the review reports for Elms Farm and Walpole Meadows POS to appropriate working group members.
AGENDA
NOTICE OF MEETING A meeting of the OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE will be held on Wednesday 15th January 2020 at 7.45pm in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.
1 To receive apologies for absence
2 To receive declarations of interest
3 To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 27th November 2019
4 Matters arising and action points
5 Chairman’s report
6 Litter
7 Footpaths – to receive a report from Mr Stiles
8 Cemetery – interments and memorials
9 Trees
10 Allotments – to receive an update
11 To consider entering Anglia In Bloom 2020
12 Stansted In Bloom – To receive an update
13 To consider the re-installation of the Reeve road play equipment
14 Working Party reports
8th January 2020 – Ruth Clifford Clerk to the Council