Council Meeting, 11 August 2010

HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
All Councillors are summoned an Extra Ordinary Meeting of Helmdon
Parish Council to be held in the Reading Room, Church Street, Helmdon on Wednesday 11th August commencing at 7:30 pm
Members of the public and Press are invited to attend and to participate in the Open Forum
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence
2. To consider response to NCC consultation to planning application from
Helmdon Primary School to erect a 1.8m boundary fence
3. Finance a) To receive bills for payment b) To receive an update from the Clerk regarding VAT procedures and determine further action
Signed _______________________
Dated________________________
Liz Hart, Parish Clerk
[address removed]

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HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
Draft Minutes of the Extra-Ordinary meeting of Helmdon Parish Council held on
Wed. 11th August 2010 in the Reading Room, Church Street, Helmdon at 7:30pm
Present: Councillors Barnes, Burns, Duncombe, England, Coatsworth,Crouch
Parish Clerk: Liz Hart
Eleven members of the public were present including Cllr Andrew Grant
Action
1 Apologies
The following apologies were received and accepted:
Cllrs Earl, Thorne – work commitments
2 To consider response to NCC consultation to planning application from Helmdon
Primary School to erect a 1.8m boundary fence
Cllr Burns closed the meeting to allow members of the public to speak.
Representatives from the School (Jacqui Johnson, Head Teacher and Cec Harrold, Chair of
Governors) responded to queries regarding the proposed location of the fence as the application was not clear on this matter. It was clarified that it was intended that the wooden fence facing the road in front of the school would remain and a replacement fence be sited along Station Road from the car park entrance as far as the Old Police House and eventually along the perimeter with Gravel Path. In addition a boom barrier across the car park entrance was proposed.
The continued need to have the playing field accessible to the public outside school hours was emphasised.
Cllr Grant stated that SNC had made no objections to the application but did raise comments regarding preserving existing trees.
Cec Harrold informed the meeting that changes to the Ofsted framework meant that the fence was necessary – this point was further queried by the Parish Councillors.
Neighbours adjoining the school stated that they had not been made aware of the proposal.
Councillors felt that it would be helpful to have the costing of the project as this would demonstrate the importance placed upon it by the school; Cec Harrold undertook to provide this information to the Parish Council.
Discussion took place as to whether the proposal was the best option with regards to material bearing in mind the anticipated visual impact of the fence, especially when viewed from an oblique angle.
Cec Harrold queried whether the Parish Council was in favour of the proposal as a letter received from the Clerk in 2007 had requested the Governors consider installing fence; Cllr
Burns clarified that no resolution on the matter had yet been made. Cllr Burns commented that it would have been beneficial if discussions with the Parish Council had taken place at the pre-application stage.
Jacqui Johnson confirmed that the trees behind any newly erected fence would remain the responsibility of the school.
Cllr Burns re-opened the meeting.

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Concerns were raised with a) The detail of the application – from the site plan it is not clear where the proposed fence is actually to be built especially with regard to the boundaries on the northern and eastern side.
b) The nature and height of the proposed fence – it was felt that there may be other solutions which are more in keeping with the village street scene and that the height of the fence may be excessive.
It was felt the boom barrier proposal was beneficial.
Cllr Coatsworth proposed, seconded by Cllr Barnes that the Clerk request that NCC defer their planning decision until a meeting had taken place with representatives from the
School, neighbours and the Parish Council present to review the application with a view to the School subsequently providing NCC with updated information. All were in favour.
Representatives of the Primary School (Head teacher and Chair of Governors) indicated that they were agreeable to this proposal. The Clerk that the School would be copied in on correspondence with NCC.
3 Finance a) To receive bills for payment
Accounts Payable NET VAT GROSS Cheque
Brown and Barden – invoice 3234 110.00 19.25 129.25 500178
E.ON 151.41 7.57 158.98 500179
E HART (laptop from Dabs.com) 297.00 51.97 348.97 500180
Total 558.41 78.79 637.20
Cllr Barnes proposed, seconded by Cllr Duncombe that the above bills be paid. All were in favour.
b) To receive an update from the Clerk regarding VAT procedures and determine further action
Documentation provided by the Clerk was reviewed; the Clerk was asked to query the situation with the external auditor and report back to the September meeting.
The meeting closed at 9.05pm
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