Council Meeting, 24 July 2013

HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
All Councillors are summoned to the Ordinary
Meeting of Helmdon Parish Council to be held in the
Reading Room, Church Street, Helmdon on Wednesday 24th July 2013 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. Declarations of Interest
3. Approval and Signature of the Minutes of both the Ordinary Meeting and Annual
General Meeting held on 22nd May 2013
4. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Meetings of 22nd May 2013
5. Presentation from Tove Valley Broadband Project to the Parish Council
6. Open Forum
7. To receive an update from the Fast Internet Service for Helmdon (FiSH) project team and to resolve whether to send a delegate to the Tove Valley Broadband meeting on
19 September 2013
8. To receive updates from the Clerk regarding water related issues: NCC, Anglian Water and MGWSP, Bulkhead Properties and to consider issue of blocked ditches
9. Finance a) Financial statement b) To consider request from the Clerk to purchase a new laptop c) To note payments received d) To consider bills for payment e) To consider any issues arising from the Internal Auditor’s Report f) To consider whether to apply to list any assets of community value under the Community Right to Bid.
10. Planning:
a) To receive update regarding the Broadview Energy Ltd Wind Farm development b) To receive decisions of Planning committee on applications since 22/05/13
c) Update from Parish Clerk regarding outstanding applications
11. To receive an update from the Helmdon Parish Plan Group on:
a) The proposed cycle route from Helmdon to Brackley b) Progress of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy and Site
Specific Development Plan Documents
12. Correspondence Review
13. To receive update on works to bridge on Station Rd
14. To receive update on Best Village Competition
15. To receive update regarding the Jubilee Wall
16. Update from Playground Committee including proposal to replace the slide steps

17. To receive recommendations from the Allotment Committee
18. To consider the impact of the new recycling scheme
19. Councillors’ Questions
Signed _______________________
Dated________________________
Liz Hart, Parish Clerk
[address removed]

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HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Ordinary meeting of Helmdon Parish Council held on
Wednesday 24th July 2013 at the Reading Room, Church Street, Helmdon at 8:10pm
Present: Councillors Burns, England, Simpson, Garner, Coatsworth, Duncombe, Moody
Parish Clerk: Liz Hart
Six members of the public were present.
Action
1 Apologies for Absence
Cllr Adhemar, Cllr Duncombe and Cllr Barnes had sent due to family, work and family commitments respectively; these were accepted by the meeting.
2 Declarations of Interest
Cllr Moody declared an interest in items 5 and 7 due to being on the NCC Superfast Broadband
Committee and a member of the “Fish” project and item 9e concerning the NCALC Internal
Audit Service as Chief Executive of Northants CALC.
3nd Approval and Signature of the Minutes of the AGM and Ordinary Meeting held on 22
May 2013
It was resolved to approve the AGM Meeting Minutes with one amendment:
Item 10d insert “not” after “but”
It was resolved to approve the Ordinary Meeting Minutes with no amendments (the Clerk having confirmed that she had corrected the date).
.
4 Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Meetings of 22nd May 2013
AGM Meeting Minutes
Item 8j – The Clerk confirmed Philip Ward was happy to continue as Tree Warden.
Ordinary Meeting Minutes
Item 4 – the Clerk was asked to re-confirm with Highways why the Cats’ eyes on the B4525
had been removed.
5 Presentation from Tove Valley Broadband Project to the Parish Council
Eric Malcolmson was welcomed to the meeting by Cllr Burns and explained the history of the original Broadband project in Abthorpe which has used a satellite in Belgium. The community project commenced in 2003 and in 2007 it converted to ADSL links in Abthorpe and Slapton with 50 registered clients. The decision was then made to have a fibre optic cable and the villages of Wappenham, Weston and Lois Weedon were asked if they wished to participate. An expression of interest was made to Defra and the project was given approval with conditions.
There is now a beamed link to Wappenham Church and area (of around 450 eligible properties,
138 are registered). Costs are £100 membership, £120 per year for the service and a £70
equipment cost. It is up to volunteers to distribute signal, with a plan to install fibre optics next year.
Eric confirmed that in the current situation (with no repeaters in Helmdon) he did not consider there to be any impact on the BT rollout as only Lukes Close and houses near the church could
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be set up. He estimated that if repeater stations were set up in Helmdon that up to 75% of properties could be setup.
Cllr Moody asked when BT might come to Helmdon; Eric replied that he had no information and that BT require a minimum of 1 property in 12 to register. Eric clarified that a team of enthusiastic volunteers are responsible for addressing any issues but that continuous monitoring of the system means that a rapid response is usual.
Cllr Moody congratulated Eric on the project and commented that the indications are that
Helmdon will be covered by BT by 2014.
Eric emphasised that the project has enhanced the community spirit and that if Helmdon join up speeds and bandwidths would be increased. He confirmed that there would be no minimum of properties required to make it viable in Helmdon. If two or three repeater stations were set up in the village, he felt that up to 75% of properties could benefit from the Tove project.
Eric was thanked for his interesting presentation.
6 Open Forum
It was commented that there are branches and vegetation in the stream which need removing.
7 To receive an update from the Fast Internet Service for Helmdon (FiSH) project team and to resolve whether to send a delegate to the Tove Valley Broadband meeting on 19
September 2013
Cllr Moody emphasised that the issue of timing is very important; it is not known when BT will be available however the current indications are that Helmdon is in the group for 2014. He commented that the Tove Valley community are backed by European funding and so are NCC.
As more than one stream of European funding may not be spent in one place he felt there was a danger of being de-listed from the BT queue if the village signed up to the Tove project.
It was resolved that Cllr Moody would attend the Tove Valley Broadband meeting in September and report back to the next PC meeting (Clerk to agenda this item)
In addition it was resolved to clarification the issues on the website and ask parishioners for their opinions.
8 To receive updates from the Clerk regarding previous water related issues: NCC,
Anglian Water and MG WSP, Bulkhead Properties and to consider issue of blocked ditches
The Clerk gave an update regarding Anglian Water’s reports. It was obsevered that there may be a new landowner (Faccenda) with riparian responsibilities. Cllr Burns will approach the company to verify this.
Bulkhead Properties have undertaken to complete work within two weeks.
The Clerk was asked to request a completion date from Anglian Water for the various works.
Cllr Burns closed the meeting for comments by the general public.
A member of the public commented that Anglian Water’s top priority should be to dig the ditch out in Grange Lane. Cllr Moody felt that Bulkhead Property’s work is more important.
The private drain outside Cllr Simpson’s house was discussed. It was suggested that the landowner may consent for work to be done to increase its capacity. Chris Thorpe would speak to the landowner. Val Eyre requested that consideration be given by the Parish Council to providing funding towards this work.
Cllr Burns re-opened the meeting.
Cllr Moody
Clerk
Cllr Moody

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9 Finance a) Financial statement
It was resolved to accept the following financial statement:
Current Account (Coop) 21,655.66
b) To consider request from the Clerk to purchase a new laptop
It was resolved to authorise the Clerk to spend up to £350 ex VAT on a new laptop plus up to
£160 ex VAT on appropriate software.
c) To note payments received
The following were noted:
Payments Received Amount
Interest (July) 2.88
Interest (June) 4.20
d) To consider bills for payment
It was resolved to pay the following bills:
Accounts Payable NET VAT GROSS Cheque
Brown and Barden – 3595 195.71 39.14 234.85 500345
Brown and Barden – 3610 195.71 39.14 234.85 500346
E Hart – Clerk’s Wages 750.74 0.00 750.74 500347
CPRE 29.00 0.00 29.00 500348
E Hart – expenses – office and virus protection 32.49 2.71 35.20 500349
Vanessa Vicars (war memorial plants) 22.28 4.45 26.73 500350
SLCC 20.00 0.00 20.00 500351
LexisNexis 60.00 0.00 60.00 500352
EON UK 104.11 20.82 124.93 500353
Playsafety Ltd 65.00 13.00 78.00 500354
e) To consider any issues arising from the Internal Auditor’s Report
It was resolved to accept the report, noting that there were no issues requiring attention.
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f) To consider whether to apply to list any assets of community value under the
Community Right to Bid.
Cllr Moody explained that Parish Councils have a new power: the community right to bid. It was clarified that the power does not give the Parish Council the first refusal should an asset become available; if listed the owner would need to make a notification if an intention to sell an asset and the Parish Council would then have six weeks to express an interest and then six months to propose an offer. It was felt that this power needs to be considered in light of the
Joint Core Strategy and subsequent Neighbourhood Plan and therefore it was resolved to defer making an application under this power.
10 Planning:
a) To receive update regarding the Broadview Energy Ltd Wind Farm development
The Clerk updated the meeting on the preparations being made by HSGWAG for the inquiry.
Cllrs Burns and Coatsworth had recently attended a forum hosted by Andrea Leadsom at which she had highlighted that financially the project was becoming less attractive for Broadview (she had met with Jeff Corrigan). She was urging the parish to show Eric Pickles its view on the development as would pass on any correspondence received. It was noted that the Statutory
Instrument regarding the policy changes was due out later in the week. It was resolved that the
Clerk should write to Andrea to emphasise the high number of parishioners opposed to the project, b) To receive decisions of Planning committee on applications since 27/03/13
Application: S/2013/0581/FUL
Location: The Old Dairy Falcutt
Proposal: Two roof lights on East facing kitchen roof.
It was resolved to support the application.
Application: S/2013/0561/FUL
Location: 56 Station Road, Helmdon
Proposal: New dwelling and detached double garage
It was resolved to object to the application for the following reasons:
The development would impact negatively on the street scene: its building line is much closer to the highway than the other properties and its elevation means that a large mass of roof with little relief would be visible from Station Road. The development would result in the property being sunk to such a depth that problems with the water table as likely to occur. As previously noted with an application on the same site, the Parish Council is extremely concerned with the impact of the proposal with regard to surface water issues present in the village.
The site is very wet and indeed there is an identified historical watercourse to the rear of the site – see Appendix C of this NCC Flood Management report:
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Environ/flood/Pages/Flood-Investigations.aspx
As the site is within 20m of this area the Parish Council would expect a Flood Risk Assessment to have accompanied the application.
The Parish Council has had notification from Anglian Water that it is extremely concerned about instances where land drains have been piped into its assets. Its is aware that Anglian
Water is consulted on applications but normally only responds regarding single properties if specifically requested to by SNC; the Parish Council would ask SNC to ensure this is done.
The Parish Council notes that the applicant states a soakaway would be used for surface water drainage but, given the elevation of the property, this would not appear to be a feasible option meaning it is likely that water would be introduced directly into Anglian Water’s systems,
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Application: S/2013/0639/LBC
Location: Lilac Farmhouse 55 Wappenham Road Helmdon
Proposal: New roof light to east elevation
It was resolved to support the application. It was noted that the proposal achieved balance of the roofscape.
Application: S/2013/0744/FUL
Location: Shortlands Cottage 41 Church Street Helmdon
Proposal: Conversion of existing lean-to into kitchen to include a new window, other fenestration changes and internal alterations. New detached garage and erection of a post and rail fence.
It was resolved to support the application
Application: S/2013/0745/LBC
Location: Shortlands Cottage 41 Church Street Helmdon
Proposal: Removal of internal partition wall, conversion of lean to into kitchen and installation of en-suite to second floor. New window to east elevation and other fenestration changes.
It was resolved to support the application
Application: S/2013/0751/FUL
Location: 33 Station Rd Helmdon
Proposal: First floor side extension
It was resolved to support the application c) Update from Parish Clerk regarding outstanding applications
The Clerk provided an update summary on the planning decisions.
Cllrs Burns and Coatsworth had attended a planning meeting organised by Cllr Digby. Andy
Preston and Adrian Colwell were not in attendance; the seminar was led by Robert Fallon. He had emphasised that SNC did take into account Council view but that they also had to ensure policies were adhered to and be mindful of the risk of subsequent appeals against decisions. If
Parish Councils were unhappy they should contact him directly.
The current call-in procedure was discussed; it was resolved that the Clerk should request SNC
to amend policy to automatically call in cases which the Parish Councils objected to.
11 To receive an update from the Helmdon Parish Plan Group on:
a) The proposed cycle route from Helmdon to Brackley
Although Natural England have objected to the proposal, Sustrans are keen to support the th project. A meeting is scheduled for 27 August with Adrian Colwell to discuss the plan.
b) Progress of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy and Site Specific
Development Plan Documents
Cllr Coatsworth informed the meeting that the Draft Strategy had failed public examination mainly regarding housing provision and was being re-written for the end of 2013 with adoption anticipated in early 2014. Once adopted the process to formulate the Neighbourhood Plans will begin including the review of green spaces and the village confines boundary.
12 Correspondence Review
All correspondence as Appendix A was noted.
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13 To receive update on works to bridge on Station Road
It was noted that Cllr Barnes had expressed his satisfaction that the works were finally completed and appeared to have be done to a good standard.
14 To receive update on Best Village Competition
Helmdon had been placed runner up in the medium village section; Crick were the overall winners. 29 villages had taken part in the competition. It was felt that other media such as presentations and video clips would be beneficial to the village’s entry in the future.
15 To receive update regarding the Jubilee Wall
Cllr Coatsworth had spoken to Les Finn regarding the coping stones and plaque as no contact could be made with the tradesman who had quoted. Refinements had been made from the original plans: the plaque is to be recessed, smaller and made of bath stone (lighter than
Helmdon stone) The coping stones are to be a single thickness in a darker stone than Helmdon stone. £590 +VAT. It was resolved to accept Les Finn’s quote of £590 + VAT.
16 Update from the Playground Committee
More tenders are needed for the slide steps; the Clerk will email Cllr Garner with the requirements. It was suggested that Dan Phillips may be interested in quoting.
Clerk
17 To receive recommendations from the Allotment Committee
A request from a non-plot holder to site a greenhouse on the site was discussed; it was resolved that the applicant should attempt to come to an arrangement with another holder.
18 Recycling scheme
Comments received regarding the scheme had been passed to SNC; a response from Louise
Gibney was awaited.
19 Councillors’ Questions
Cllr Coatsworth highlighted the new NorthantsCALC training schedule. There was new th Councillor training on Wednesday 11 September; Councillors should inform the Clerk if they wished to attend.
All Cllrs
The issue of dog fouling was raised; dogs had also been seen on the School Field. The Clerk would contact the Dog Warden for advice.
Clerk
The Clerk was asked to contact BT to reinstate the public phone. Clerk
Cllr Burns informed the meeting of the Garden Extravaganza and Village Fun Day being held at th Peter’s Farm on 24 August to raise funds for HSGWAG.
The meeting closed at 9:58pm.

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Appendix A – Correspondence Received–– 22nd
18
st May – 21 July 2013
South Northamptonshire Council
• Weekly Planning Application listings
• Press releases regarding company prosecution for Council Tax issue, Brackley Music Festival, mouse infestation in a pub, rogue landlord campaign, Council's ICT team achieving best practice standard, 2013 MJ Achievement Awards, Radstone Fields, demolition works at Moat Lane in
Towcester, Brackley pool relocation.
• Planning Applications:
o S/2013/0639/LBC -Lilac Farmhouse 55 Wappenham Road Helmdon – New roof light to east elevation o S/2013/0744/FUL- Shortlands Cottage 41 Church Street Helmdon – Conversion of existing lean-to into kitchen to include a new window, other fenestration changes and internal alterations. New detached garage and erection of a post and rail fence.
o S/2013/0745/LBC – Shortlands Cottage 41 Church Street Helmdon – Removal of internal partition wall, conversion of lean to into kitchen and installation of en-suite to second floor.
New window to east elevation and other fenestration changes.
o S/2013/0751/FUL – 33 Station Rd Helmdon – First floor side extension
• Recycling changes information pack
• Update Re Progress on SNC Settlements and Development Management Local Plan
• Confirmation of closure of Helmdon Recycling Centre
Northamptonshire County Council
• Various communications regarding Station Road Bridge works
• Policing updates
• Notification of Station Rd closure due to bridge works
• Highways Newsletters
• Healthwatch Northamptonshire details
• Superfast Northamptonshire – Newsletter No.9
• Details of free tree packs for communities
NCALC
• Update May/June
• Training Schedule
• Notices of Parish Clerk Vacancy in Greens Norton, West Hunsbury, West Haddon Parish Council
• Details of New Proceeds of Crime Act Fund
• Notice of pay award
• Information regarding discount available for new edition of Charles Arnold Baker L.C.A.
• West Northamptonshire Parish Forum details
• Internal audit report (David Harries)

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Miscellaneous
• SNVB information and newsletters
• Keith Jones – confirmation of attendance at South Northamptonshire HS2, Wind Farm & Planning
Roadshow
• ACRE – offer of presentations on NHS Dementia Care Advisor and Warm Homes Project
• Eric Malcomson – details of Tove Valley Broadband project
• BDO – query regarding asset figure on the Annual Return
• Clare Nash – request to erect a greenhouse on the allotment (non allotment holder)
• Phillip Ward – expressing concern over closure of recycling site
• An Invitation from Tove Valley Broadband to a meeting on 19 September
• Coop : bank statements – June and July 2013
• Eon – lighting update
• Grand Union Housing – retirement scheme swap
• Came and Company – updates on insurance issues
• Harvey Ingram Shakespeare – notice of regret regarding grant application
• Friends of Helmdon Churchyard – letter of thanks for grant of £300
• HMRC –confirmation of RTI submissions
• Note from allotment holder regarding gate being left open
• Northants 50+ network newsletter
• CPRE – membership renewal details
• Anglian Water- emails regarding pre-needs
• SNAG updates
• Astwell Benefice – arrangements for new Rector Institution and Induction Service
• Letter of introduction from Revd Carole Peters
• RoSPA Play Safety Inspection Report th