Minutes HPC Meeting 5th December 2024

HENHAM PARISH COUNCIL

 Minutes (unapproved) of a Parish Council Meeting

Date: Thursday 5 December 2024

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: OSCA, Henham

Present: Cllrs N. Baker, S. Lee, C. Walker, J. Leech, P. Franklin, G. LeCount, Z. Rutterford, M. Fisher and clerk M. Dacey

Declaration of interests: The Chair reminded Councillors of their duty to declare any relevant personal or pecuniary interests.

1. Apologies for Absence: County Cllr R. Gooding, District Cllrs P. Lees and B. Donald

2. Approval of the Minutes of the Last Meeting

The minutes of the 7 November 2024 meeting was approved and signed by the Chair.

3. Matters Arising –

4. Reports and Recommendations

• Greens and Village Estate – Cllr. Baker:
• Greens damage – Village greens particularly by along Crow St will be monitored over the winter months and any necessary repairs carried out in the Spring. Cllr Leech will look into dealing with the weeds in large pond.
• Greens Bylaws – Bylaws submitted to Secretary of State for approval by our solicitors and receipt acknowledged. An initial response from Secretary of State expected shortly, our solicitors have chased SoS again on 14/11/24 for a response. The Government have replied to our solicitors with a holding email – they are due to respond in a few weeks.
• Coronation commemoration – Cllr Fisher will look into organising an opening ceremony. Clerk to provide details of commemorative plaque.
• Church works – The Parish Council to monitor the state of greens following the works.
• Greens Access – The clerk has previously circulated our barrister’s advice regarding greens access together with our current Greens Access policy which was last reviewed in 2017. It was agreed to update the Greens Policy. Cllr Lee proposed to adopt the updated Greens Policy, seconded by Cllr Leech, approved nem con. The policy will be put on the village website.

Village ponds/Woodland – Update Cllr Walker – wildlife will be monitored over the winter months. Cllr Walker to liaise with Bellway regarding benches.

PCSO – The clerk will circulate the monthly reports to all Councillors for review.

Parish Council Facebook – Cllr Fisher has set up a separate Henham Parish Council Facebook page.

Management of Pledgdon Green – (a) Common Land – Nothing to report (b) Conservation Area Status – Place Services will be issuing the CAAMP report imminently.

Christmas Tree – the Parish Council thanks the volunteers who helped set up the village Christmas Tree. The Chair will organise dismantling the tree in the new year.

Enforcement Training – Cllr Baker attended the training on behalf of the Parish Council held at UDC. Clerk circulated the presentation slides to Councillors prior to this meeting.

           (ii) Finance

Treasury Management Investment Policy and Strategy 2025/26 – Cllr Fisher Draft policy for 25/26 has been circulated by Cllr Fisher to all Councillors for review prior to this meeting. Cllr LeCount proposed to adopt the policy, seconded by Cllr Franklin, approved nem con. The policy will be put on the village website.

2025-2026 Draft Budget/Expenditure Forecast and Precept discussion for setting of Precept – deadline 22 January 2025. The Clerk distributed a draft budget and draft expenditure forecast to all councillors for their appraisal during November 2024. Councillors were previously advised by the clerk to consider the draft expenditure forecast for Henham for the 2024-2025 period and this would help them arrive at an income requirement for the coming financial year. Having previously increased the precept for two years running, the precept was held in the preceeding 2 years (23/24 and 24/25) as the Parish Council was aware of the cost of living crisis. Following a discussion, it was agreed to increase the precept by 3%, 7 Councillors voted in favour of the increase, Chair voted against.

• Planning and Developments –

• UTT/24/1141/FUL – proposed development of 3 no. detached houses, creation of wildlife garden and pathway route (privately owned and maintained public open space), landscaping, driveway access and associated works, Land Adj Grind Hall Wood End Green Henham Hertfordshire RECONSULTATION. Barrister’s advice has been received regarding greens access. Chair has written to both UDC planning and the owner’s planning consultant on 18/11/24 in response to the Town and County Procedure Order 2015 notice. UDC planning meeting 11/12/24, site visit on 6/12/24.

• UTT/24/2909/FUL – proposed manege – Land East Of Springfield House Henham Road

• UTT/24/3045/HHF – proposed Single storey front extension, Caldecote, High Street – the Clerk declared an interest and absented herself from any discussion.

• UTT/24/3046/HHF & UTT/24/3047/LB – proposed Proposed external changes to dwelling (painting of walls and window frames/detailing) and replacement of timber entrance gates, Sucklings Cottage Crow Street

Breaches:  none

Appeals:  APPEAL Ref, APP/C1570/W/24/3353759: Ref. UTT/23/1732/FUL. Change of use from paddock to residential and construction of 3no. residential dwellings on land at Tudor Hall, Brick End Road, Henham, CM22 6BN, sub planning committee submitted a written representation on behalf of the Parish Council. Cllr Rutterford declared an interest and absented herself from any discussion.

Developments:

UTT/24/0670/DFO (Re- Consultation) Mill Road Development (45 houses): UTT/24/2419/DOC proposed Application to discharge condition 17 (lighting design scheme for biodiversity) attached to UTT/20/0604/OP (approved under Appeal APP/C1570/W21/3272403).

Cllr Walker is liaising with Bellway on behalf of the Parish Council. Revised Condition 17 Lighting scheme is under discussion, the Parish Council’s wishes are for a further reduction in the number of lighting bollards to less than the proposed 6, effectively reducing the illumination around the perimeter of the SUDs area.  In addition with a timer control to further reduce the lighting late at night. Deadline for comment 6/12/24. The developer has proposed an updated lighting layouts and reduced them to 2 bollards, which are located by the main entrance. Note that these are also specified to work on a timer to reduce their use throughout the night.

Proposed development Land South of School Lane – The Parish Council has been approached by Magenta Planning Ltd regarding a meeting to discuss the proposed promotion by Montare LLP (developer) of a development of land south of School Lane. A proposed development on this site was previously turned down on Appeal in 2017 (previous developer was Persimmons). Chair and Cllr Walker met with the school governors on 11 November 2024. A meeting with the Developer’s agent took place with the Chair and Cllr Walker thereafter.

Decisions: none

• Highways – Nothing new to report other than:

Diversion route through Brick End Lane/Road Condition of Brick End Lane – Cllr Rutterford has been liaising with ECC/EH throughout the summer recess requesting clear diversion signs are installed to avoid the chaos on previous occasions when Hall Road to airport is closed and Sat Navs direct traffic through Brick End Lane/Pledgdon Green. Cllr Rutterford has chased County Cllr Gooding for a date for a meeting at County Hall with Cllr Rutterford, County Cllr Gooding and the deputy to Tom Cunningham at Essex Highways, to discuss the serious ongoing issues. No meeting set up as yet. Chair chased County Cllr Gooding 8/11/24 for an update, no response received. Cllr Rutterford also report Brick end Road being blocked this week by a lorry recovering a vehicle that had been damaged by pot holes.

5. Correspondence

Sent/Received:

Planning Applications  – see 4(iii) above

• Clerk – approximately 250 emails in November.

6. Waste and Minerals Development Issues – Local Plan Review – 2025 to 2040 Nothing to report.
7. SAW (Stop Stansted Expansion) – Nothing to report.
8. Governance – Over the coming months Councillors will be reviewing and updating existing Parish Council policies. Updated Greens Access and Treasury Management Investment Policy and Strategy policies were ratified at today’s meeting.
9. Local Plan – Documents related to the local plan can be found at: www.uttlesford.gov.uk/new-local-plan. (1) Local Plan numbers allocation – No update.

(2) Neighbourhood plan – No update

(3) RCCE- Introduction to Rural Affordable Housing – Cllr Franklin has written to RCCE on 22/11/24 for some initial guidance. A process guide has been received. Cllr Franklin agreed to be the main point of contact and will be liaising with RCCE in order to commence the process for obtaining a quote from RCCE in due course.

10. Henham SOV 100 Club draw –

November Draw

Cllr LeCount conducted the Nov draw. He drew from a black bag containing all current members lottery numbers. The winning numbers were:

1st Prize Number 66  (S Miley)  £242
2nd Prize Number 124 (Mr & Mrs J Smith)  £124

3rd Prize Christmas Bonus Ball Accumulator Number 128 (E Hill) £650

Total funds received per draw were £835. Half will be paid in prizes plus the cumulative Christmas Bonus Ball with the balance of £418 paid to Henham Parish Council SOV Funds.

10 Year Anniversary Draw

J Franklin conducted the Special 10 Year Anniversary draw. She drew from a black bag containing all current members lottery numbers.

Number 44 (M Gammage) £100
Number  53   (M Palmer)    £100

Number 73  (S Coke)          £100

Number 134 (A&K Eardley) £100

Number 163 (K Shipp).        £100

This was a special one off draw to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary with £500 paid in prize money and £500 paid to Henham Parish Council SOV Funds.

11. 
    Date of Next Meeting

The next Parish Council meeting is on Thursday 6^th February 2025 at 7:30pm. There is no meeting in January 2025.Everyone Welcome

Mareike Dacey, Clerk