1. Apologies for absence - James Duberly, Eileen Gilbert - Parish Charities
2. Parish Councillors attending: Bob Jewell, Nicole Yates, David Moore,
Will Mumford, Giles Brittain, Helen Glanville, Helen Hopperton, Lorraine
Goody
3. County Councillor and District Councillor: Ian Gardner and Stephen
Cawley
4. Chairman's Welcome - BJ thanked everyone for coming and explained
that he had asked Natalie Blaken to attend tonight as she was helping with
the Neighbourhood Plan. There were documents at the back for people to
comment on as part of the consultation. People were asked to consider and
comment on the proposed sites - see attached document listing each of
the sites.
5. Neighbourhood Plan - BJ explained why we were preparing a
Neighbourhood Plan. The advantage in doing so was to consult with the
community and shape development in the village. It could look at what
type of future development there would be and also look at what views the
village would wish to maintain.
a. Consideration of call to sites Assessment - 8 sites have been
assessed in total. Attendees are asked to indicate on the sheets
at the back of the room which 1 or 2 sites they have a
preference for. It is possible to develop another site in the
future. All the responses will be considered at the next Parish
Council Meeting on 25 May and a final decision made based on
the results.
b. Views and Vistas - people are asked to consider this section and
then let BJ know if there are any other sites to list here.
c. Landscapea nd TownscapeA ssessmen-t this section lists the
following so far: The Highway, The Town, Dillington,
Beachampstead- modern built up area, The Moor, KymV alley
Meadows, Ridge and Furrow Fields. Can people let BJ know if
there is anything else that needs to be added.
d. Non-Designated Heritage Sites - these sites are ones that are
important to the village but are not listed.
e. Safe and Sustainable transport - the PC is looking into the
possibility of a footpath from the village up to Dillington. The
draft plan also mentions having a safe cycle route fromKimbolton to St Neots and a pedestrian crossing in Great Staughton.
Can people please provide their comments on these proposed sites in the next 3-4
weeks so that the PC has all the information to make an informed decision on 25
May. This is a key date as the Neighbourhood Plan can be finalised once we know
what sites have been nominated. The next stage is for HDC to see the plan to
ensure that it does not conflict with their policies. Once this has happened the Plan
can be finalised and the Consultation period can begin - which is a 6-week process
where people can comment on it. The Plan will then go to HDC and they do a 6-
week consultative period before an examiner is appointed. There will then be a local
referendum and if more than 50% of the votes are in favour then the Plan will be
adopted.
6. Chairman's review of the 2022/23 and preview of 2023/24 - BJ
thanked Phil Yates for keeping the village tidy and neat. The PC has been
very busy and a number of projects have been completed. There are new
streetlights, halos on the crossing, the crossing has also been painted,
website improvements, a litter pick, the bus shelter has had some
main~enancep, avilion has had new windows and doors and the village hall
has had some improvements too. This year we have been applied for LHI
funding for another speed sign, we have had holiday activities for children
on the playing field and applied for there to be a 20mph speed limit in the
village.
7. Parish Accounts
• Parish Council - Bob Jewell - the precept was kept at £22,000 as
per the previous year. The PC has about £20,000 of ongoing
expenditure per year and there will be a couple of one-off payments
for the new streetlights and road improvements (see attached
accounts).
• Playing Field - Giles Brittain - the pavilion's main income is from the
Buckden Football Club and Girl Guides now that Piglets have closed.
Total income was £1045 and expenditure £4570.47. The works on the
pavilion have been paid for out of the covid grants received and the
closing balance for the year was £22,266.57 (see attached accounts).
• Parish Charities - BJ reported that Eileen Gilbert sent her apologies
for the meeting but she has sent in the accounts. She also said that
they were looking for applicants to make grants to which should be
used for educating young people. There was a discussion as to
whether the Parish Charities should broaden their objectives in how
they can spend their monies and it was suggested that it could perhaps
be better advertised so that more applications for grants are received
(see attached accounts).
• Village Hall - Helen Glanville - thanks to Phil Yates for arranging all
the trades for the various work that has been done in the village hall.
He has worked very hard to fix any problems. Accounts are very
healthy due to the village hall being in full use and due to the covid
grants. (see attached accounts).
• 'Life' Magazine - Helen Glanville - this is now a quarterly magazine.
Advertising is picking up now and thanks to Great Staughton PC and
Perry PC for donating funds. There is now a £2k surplus. Helen also
took the opportunity to ask users to turn down/or up the heaters using
the remote control and not by touching the heaters themselves. If you
physically turn them off then the hall is not heated for the next
users. If you turn them down by the remote control then the next
users have the option of altering the temperature to suit their activity
(see attached accounts).
• Community Land Trust - Bob Jewell - the CLT has spent £900.
There has been no income received. The balance in the bank is £12610
(see attached accounts).
8. Affordable Housing Project - Bob Jewell was pleased to report that 11
out of the 12 properties are now occupied and the last property will be
occupied at the end of May. People may be interested to know that we
satisfied the local connection - 6 people were from Great Staughton, 3 had
family connections to Great Staughton, 1 was employed in Great
Staughton, 1 was from Perry and 1 from St Neats. There was much less
demand for the shared ownership properties. There has also been some
water damage and mould problems in one of the properties. This
information will be passed to the CLT who will take it up on behalf of the
residents. Nicole Yates wished to thank Bob Jewell on behalf of everyone in
the village for providing housing to people who otherwise would not be
able to live here.
9. 20mph scheme - Bob Jewell explained that CCC were offering funding
for a few schemes across the county to apply for funding to put a 20pmh
speed limit put in place. There has not been a huge amount of money
allocated for this though. GSPC have now applied for this and we are
waiting hear if we have been successful. The application was for whole of
the village through to The Town but excluding B661 up to Dillington from
the Snooty Tavern. The advice from IG was to apply for the whole village
(like Hail Weston) rather than separate streets. Results of the application
should hopefully be publicised in June. Residents of The Town, Dillington
and The Highway have all previously requested that something be done
about the speeding in the village and this would obviously deal with that
problem, if we were successful in our application. The PC were now
seeking views of the community at the Assembly. A map of the areas in question were shown. Parishioners generally agreed that the 20mph limit was a good idea for the village.
10. Reports from County & District Councillors & Police - see attached
reports. There was no report received from the police.
11. Reports from the School, Church and other local societies - see
email from school attached. The Church reported that they were now
raising funds for the improvements to the interior of the church. The tower
was now complete. They also wanted to thank Piglets who passed on their
equipment to the church after their closure. Horticultural Society plan to
have the plant sale the last weekend in May. There is a garden talk in
October.
12. Parish matters: no issues raised apart from a resident raising the state of
the footpaths around the village. GSPC have raised this with CCC on
several occasions but unfortunately Great Staughton is not a priority and
there is a general lack of funding. The PC will keep up the pressure on CCC
though.
Please see more info and attachments in the PDF below.
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