Meeting 19 December Parish Council

Agenda for Parish council next week.

I HEREBY GIVE YOU NOTICE that a meeting of the above named Parish Council and its

Committees will be held at Holywell School, Red Lion Close on

Wednesday 

19 December 2012 at 8.00pm

All members of the Council are hereby summoned to attend for the purpose of resolving upon the business to be transacted at the meeting/s as set out hereunder.                                                                              

                  …………………………………….

                  Clerk of the Council

BUSINESS TO BE DONE

7.45pm – To review planning applications received

 

Meeting 8.00pm

^1.            To receive apologies for absence  -  A Morris

^2.            To receive declarations of personal and/or prejudicial interests in any matter

^3.            To confirm the minutes of the last meeting[s] [copy herewith]

^4.            Clerks Report

^5.            Health & Safety

^6.            Reports from Committees

6.1.    General Purposes Committee

6.2.    Burial Grounds Committee

6.3.    Environment Committee

6.3.1.    Grass Cutting Contract – to finalise specification

6.4.    Planning Committee

6.5.    Finance & Grants Committee

^7.            Financial matters and accounts for payment

^8.            Correspondence

^9.            Reports from unitary councillors (and any other representative)

^10.        Highway matters

Staying chilly

Freezing - minus 3 degrees in Cranfield overnight. Plus fog to contend with. Hope everyone was  very safe and very legal

True grit

Brrrrr...getting cold again. Check out the BBC weather for Bedford it will be roughly the same in Cranfield.  CBC reported at 14.57 (that's nearly 3 PM in old money)the following:



Full gritting run tonight
Bedfordshire Highways will be salting tonight as temperatures are expected to drop to around -2. 
We are expecting long clear periods overnight with patchy mist and perhaps freezing fog forming around daybreak. Mist and fog slowly clearing most places during the morning.

Former Holywell teacher

From Beds on Sunday online - former Holywell teacher dies:

Committed headteacher passes away 

 

BY KATHRYN CAIN

A FORMER Bedford teacher who was well liked by both her colleagues and students died suddenly in hospital last Friday.
Maxine McHugh, 80, from Bedford who taught in schools across the county for 17 years between 1974 and 1991, passed away at Bedford Hospital on Friday, November 30. Mrs McHugh went to Nonnington College in Kent, where she qualifed as a teacher in 1953. Locally she taught at Holywell School, Cranfield, Edward Peake Middle School and briefly at Kempston’s Up End Infants School in 1974. She was the headteacher at the former Park Wood Middle School in Bedford, before it became Beauchamp Middle. Following her retirement she contributed to Bedford College’s teacher training programme. Maxine’s funeral will take place on Monday, December 17 at 10am at St Andrew’s Church, Kimbolton Road, Bedford and all are welcome. Family flowers only, donations to Alzheimer’s Society (Bedford branch) via Arnolds Funeral Directors.

Christmas Market

Cranfield's Christmas Market went off on Friday in Court Road  with a selection  of stalls, a mini-ice rink and singing from Sounds Familiar.  There was tea and coffee in the village hall. A giant snowman welcomed visitors but alas he ran out of puff and deflated gracefully. Revelry continued, nonetheless, and the weather was kind. The only ice worth mentioning was in the rink set up outside the Swan. All photos courtesy of David Moyes

The event was staged to raise funds for the Lower School Academy parent teacher association (PTA).  Other Christmas events this month include Hands Across Cranfield Christmas Dinner and singalong at the University Social Club on Wednesday 19th December;  Carol Service at St Peter and St Paul,  Sunday 16th December  and Carols by Candlelight at the Baptist Church on Sunday 23rd December. See listings in Cranfield Express for full details. 

Home Farm-lite

Debate grows over Persimmon's plan for a second "Home Farm-lite" planning application that fails to tick key boxes for the controversial site - eg school playing field and access to Church Walk. The Parish Council, following its open-to-the-public meeting with Persimmon recently put out a press release. This was picked up by Beds on Sunday and you can read the full story at "Housing island fears"

Andrew Hammond of Persimmon is quoted saying "This may involve a new planning application; however it is premature and unhelpful at this stage to speculate what may or may not be included in such an application." Well, company reps went into some detail when they visited the PC in November and it was all written up and put into Cranfield Express (world exclusive).

Mr Hammond also said "Unfortunately the Parish Council has written to us refusing to have any further dialogue on the proposals". The Parish Council is happy to have Persimmon come to any public meeting to talk about their plans. The operative word is "public".

Parking in the village

I have blogged about parking problems in the village recently and issues have been raised about Lordsmead. It must be specially difficult with houses that were built with access to just a footpath as some in Lordsmead are. CBC responded to one resident and a copy was sent to parish councillors.

It stated:


"Local Area Transport Plans (LATPs) have been produced that reflect the key highways and transport priorities of communities on an area by area basis. The work programmes within them are developed in consultation with communities, stakeholders and elected representatives, and the projects included reflect those priorities. I can confirm that the additional parking restrictions you have requested are not currently identified in the Marston Vale LATP which covers Cranfield.

"Traffic Regulation Order works such as additional parking restrictions will generally only be taken forward outside that process if they will provide either a significant improvement to the traffic flow on key routes or offer a measurable improvement in road safety. These criteria are not met in the case of your request. Therefore, for any certainty of scheme funding, it would normally be necessary to put forward your request for consideration in a future LATP.

"However, since the approval of the council’s parking strategy earlier this year, Central Bedfordshire Council is providing some funding specifically for additional parking restrictions. This will be taken forward in partnership and cost sharing with town and parish councils. I have copied this email to the clerk of Cranfield Parish Council with a view to establishing a dialogue about the priorities for additional parking restrictions in the parish, and to establish cost sharing arrangements. You may wish to contact the parish council direct about your concerns.

"In the meantime, if you are experiencing problems due to unlawful behaviour by drivers, you may wish to report this to Bedfordshire Police on 101 or 01234 841212."



So, as I understand it, your area may not be included in the local area transport plan BUT there could be some matched funding requiring parish council involvement. It’s back to the parish.  

Cycling and electric vehicles

I don't know if you are facebook junkie - I am a purely social user LOL (that's laugh out loud not the Dave Cameron 'lots of love' version). CBC now has a facebook page for its Travel Choices project in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. It's obviously a bit further away than Junction 13, the end of the known universe for Cranfield but there is interesting stuff about cycling road safety and electric vehicle charging.


Visit Travel Choices  to find out more

Carpenters Arms

The planning application to turn the Carpenters Arms into residential accommodation has been refused by CBC. It gives the reasons as follows:
 



The proposed development would result in the loss of a significant community facility in the centre of Cranfield, a Minor Service Centre which will be subject to housing growth. 

Insufficient clearly substantiated evidence has been provided by the applicant to demonstrate that there is no longer a need for such a facility, the loss of which would undermine community and sustainability objectives. 

The proposal is therefore contrary to the objectives of the NPPF and Central Bedfordshire Core Strategy (2009) Development Management Policy DM4 & DM8.

Neat n tidy

Pictures below show the Broad Green hedge after getting a proper short back and sides yesterday. We are aiming to keep it to the height of the gates to ensure visibility and ease of policing. Cutting is carried out outside of March to August to assist nesting birds.

Statement from the MP

Nadine Dorries has criticised the MP who complained about her trip to Australia for having a poor attendance record himself. Read Mid Beds MP criticises heart surgery colleague
He actually was having open heart surgery.  I'm sure she was unaware of this and is therefore mortified.

Waste awareness

Calendars out everyone to check your waste collections over Christmas & New year. This info comes from CBC's 'waste awareness officer'. Great job title.





The changes to the collection days for Cranfield are

Scheduled collection       New revised collection day

Monday 24th Dec               Saturday 22nd Dec
Monday 31st Dec               No change


Additional information

The green waste collection will be suspended from Monday 24th December, with all waste collections resuming as normal from week commencing Monday 7th January 2013.

As in previous years the four Household Waste Recycling Sites will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day and will close early at 1pm on both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. The sites are open from 9am - 5pm on all other days.


 

Parish council meeting 5 December

Parish council commitees on 5 December. I note that Home Farm is on the planning committee agenda - Deep joy, it is never far away from our thoughts. I wonder why

I HEREBY GIVE YOU NOTICE that meetings of the under-mentioned Committees of the above named Parish Council will be held at Holywell School, Red Lion Close, Cranfield, MK43 0JA.

Wednesday 5^th  December 2012 at 7.30pm

All members of the Committees are hereby summoned to attend for the purpose of considering and recommending upon the business to be transacted at the meetings as set out hereunder.

BUSINESS TO BE DONE

7.15pm.   Examine planning applications

In attendance: 

To receive apologies for absence:  CB/PCllrs: 

To receive declarations for Members in relation to: (a) Personal Interest or (b)   Prejudicial Interest in any Agenda item.

1.     General Purposes Committee

1.1.  Photographic competition

1.2.  Meeting with Vale PCs and police commissioner Olly Martins.

Reports - Correspondence - Agenda Items

2.     Environment Committee

2.1.  Grasscutting Contract

2.2.  Digley report and RFQ’s.

2.3.  Outdoor Access Improvement Plan Consultation – deadline for comments 18^th January 2013

2.4.  Tree roots – Damage to drive at 46 Lincroft

2.5.  Flooding

Reports - Correspondence - Agenda Items

3.     Burial Grounds

3.1.  Church Wall

3.2.  Policy - removal of wreaths from War Memorial

Reports - Correspondence - Agenda Items

4.     Planning Committee

4.1.  General Planning Matters

4.2.  Home Farm

Reports - Correspondence - Agenda Items

5.     Finance & Grants Committee

5.1.  S137 Grants

5.2.  Budget

Brrrr its getting colder

Wow, a freezing day today - and last night. It was minus 5 overnight according to my thermometer 'lowest' marker and still minus three at 9 am. Bet there's more to come tonight if the BBC weather guide is anything to go by.

Find out about salting by CBC by clicking  Central Beds Salting

Of course you may be on a route that doesn't get salted and want to know where your nearest salt bin is.
CBC advises:


There are over 200 salt bins set out on the public highway across Central Bedfordshire. The salt bins are provided for the public to use on the roads and footways and are generally sited at bends or hills where the risk of slipping on ice is greater.

Salt bins are not provided for people to use within their own private property. If you wish to do this, most supermarkets and builders merchants hold good stocks of de-icing salt for you to buy.

Here are the locations given by CBC for Cranfield

Harter Avenue, junction with Wood End
Marston Hill half way up near White Cottage 

Flitt Leys

Cranfield Express bang on time this morning. Well done Peter Hinson - we know you have had difficulties with the printer and IT issues lately. Hope you are getting it all sorted.

I was very struck by Anita Beal's article about proposals for new housing development at the old Central Motors with access via Flitt Leys. Anita has strong views on a range of planning issues but the most live one at the moment ( i.e it isn't done and dusted) is Flitt Leys and the 135 home development (Central Motors) by Bellways just behind.  

Villagers should be aware that the Parish Council preferred Central Motors in the local development framework over the airfield site and the bit of the village which takes an interest in planning probably shared this preference. This was on the basis of 135 houses over 160. However, I have been concerned for a while that we are creating a sticky mess of roads, facilities (planned school and health centre) and housing plus retail all clustered round the Mill Road, Bedford Road, High Street junctions. The Coop is there to stay, thank goodness but the rest is in the pipeline.

So the worries about Flitt Leys are entirely justified, in my view. CBC and its predecessor authority Mid Beds ignored residents about access to Home Farm via Lodge Road. I suggest they pay closer attention to the Flitt Leys issue.

Brogborough wind turbines

This has just come in from Proteous PR addressed to parish councillors:


We are getting in touch to inform you of a public consultation by FCC Environment regarding proposals for a wind energy project on land at its Brogborough site, located in the Marston Vale on the A421 Woburn Road.

The company has been undertaking detailed feasibility assessments for over a year, to ensure the Brogborough site is appropriate for a wind energy development. It is proposed to site up to eight turbines on solid ground, off waste, at its Brogborough site which would be able to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of over 4100 homes per year*. 

FCC Environment takes its responsibilities as a developer seriously and is committed to open and transparent consultation regarding these proposals for the Brogborough site. A thorough pre-application consultation is being carried out from November 2012 until the end of January 2013 to ensure that members of the local and regional community have an opportunity to view the proposals and share their feedback.

Public exhibitions are due to be held w/c 7th January 2013 where full details of the proposals, including the findings of our Environmental Impact Assessment, will be on display and members of the project development team available to answer questions and listen to feedback from the local community. These exhibitions will be publicised through a range of means including newspaper advertising, leaflet distribution and posters.

As part of the consultation process, and in advance of the public exhibitions, we would like to invite you to join other members of the Marston Vale Community Liaison Group and invited local stakeholders at a project presentation on Wednesday, 12th December at Cranfield Management Development Centre, Wharley End.

Customer service

Flooding is showing up some issues with the recently installed  traffic calming. 

However the churned up grass verge is nothing to do with flooding. See below extracts from the most recent  CBC customer service bulletin with Amey's response in red.


Flooding during heavy rain at the newly installed "raised platforms" at the junction of Bedford road  and Crane way.

this is being assessed.

High Street opposite Marshall's hardware shop and in front of some cottages there was a flood over part of the road- this is not far from the new raised platform at the Merchant Lane junction.

thanks, this is being assessed.

Following traffic calming works, footpath was extended and grass verges implemeted as well. A lorry from Cranfield Haulage mounted the pavement, churned the newly laid verge dragged a lot of mud around, and drove off. This verge is now an eyesore, can this be inspected with a view to be re instated?

work is in hand to repair this.

Christmas Tree Festival

The latest issue of the Marston Forest Centre's Commentree (what an awful pun) is out and there are loads of good ideas and activities. Watch out for Christmas Tree events this weekend.



Christmas tree festival

Saturday 1, (1-8pm) & Sunday 2 December, (1-6pm)
Final plans are being put in place right now for the first, fantastic Christmas tree festival at the Forest Centre. Have a great time as you buy your own tree.
Both inside and out, the Forest Centre will be replete with wonderfully decorated Christmas trees. There will be craft stalls selling wonderful things; loads of great activities for kids (including a funfair), a band (Saturday) a choir (on Sunday) and a chance for children to meet Santa (£3/child).
The Lakeside Café will be open for business, selling hot seasonal treats plus mince pies, mulled wine and other wines, beers and soft drinks.
ENTRY IS FREE
  
Read more

Cemetery development

This is a pretty unexciting picture I agree. But it is the outcome of vital work on one of the village's most important resources, its beautiful, tranquil cemetery. The main gates were no longer aligning because one of the the brick pillars, built more than two decades ago, is now out of true. The solution was steel posts installed just behind the pillars to take the weight of the gates. These projects always seem to take forever. However we are spending other people's money (yours) and we need to ensure that the spec is right and it has been competitively tendered. We are confident this will stand the test of time. 




Meanwhile, those who were associated with the village before their death but are not interred in the cemetery, continue to be commemorated with special brass plaques in our memory arch. This is an imaginative and poignant addition to the memories evoked by reading the headstones in the cemetery itself. I was particularly touched when we received the plaque (bottom right, lower picture) for a one-year-old child who died in 1944. I hope this memorial has helped to ease decades of loss and pain.

 If you wish to have a plaque commissioned and installed contact the clerk of the council Mrs Rosie Davy Hunt for details and costs