CouncillorsParish Council - Meetings minutes
28 August 2008 - 8PM
ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting at
8.00 p.m. 28 August 2008
in the Village Hall Committee Room
Present: Councillors - Audrey Cartwright, (Chairman), Geoff Herbert, Anthony Sheppard
Co-opted Members-, Len Hands, Rukshana Master
Parish Clerk - Freda Collins
1 member of the public
Cllr Audrey Cartwright, Vice Chairman chaired the meeting in the absence of the Chairman, Cllr Manley.
1. Apologies for Absence
Cllr Carol Manley who was on holiday
Vanessa Relleen, Jean Griffiths
These were accepted
2. Declarations of Interests
Cllr Sheppard declared that he has a personal interest in the HGS items as he employs the contractor in a personal capacity.
Rukshana Master declared that she is on the Committee of Claygate in Bloom.
3. Remit
The remit was amended to include:-
To respond to public consultation on environmental issues which affect Claygate.
The amended remit has been circulated by the Clerk.
4. Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the meeting of the 12 June 2008 have been circulated. They were confirmed by the meeting and signed by the Chairman.
5. Actioning of items from previous minutes
Re AP4- Cllr Cartwright to speak to the owners of the empty house on the corner of The Blakeden Drive/The Causeway which has become a dump for old bicycles and junk.-done.
Re AP5- there has been a Neighbourhood watch meeting.
All action points have been actioned or are agenda items.
6. Vandalism, Graffiti, Fly tipping & Litter
Len Hands gave a report to the meeting.
5.1 Vandalism
i. The Clerk reported the damaged bin at the Recreation Ground and the unrepaired seat outside the Village Hall to Colin Flexman who forwarded the email to the new Technical Services Officer, Paul Dawson,
The litter bin has now been fixed and has a weighted base but the seat has not been mended. It was agreed to thank Paul Dawson for fixing the bin and ask about the seat.
AP8 The Clerk to action
iv. The litter bin in
AP9 The Clerk to action
v. The house with the green shutters in Torrington Close has become a target for vandalism. The wall has been knocked down, the temporary fencing has been broken and there has been graffiti.It is not known who owns the building.
5.2 Graffiti
i. Two communications cabinets in
ii. No further instances of graffiti have been noticed.
5.3 Fly tipping
i. Cllr A Cartwright to spoke to the owners of the empty house at the corner of Blakeden Drive/The Causeway which has become a dump for old bicycles and junk. They did not seem interested, but Len Hands reported that some of the rubbish was removed. Unfortunately, dumping has begun again. More litter is now accumulating and it is difficult to prevent this unless grounds become totally fenced off, or house becomes occupied. It was noted that both this house and the house in Torrington Close could become a safety hazard and may have to be reported to Environmental Health at EBC. It was agreed that Cllr A Cartwright should speak to the owners of the
AP10 Cllr Cartwright to speak to the owners
ii. A large heap of concrete blocks which were tipped at the far end of
iii. There was litter and a bicycle frame dumped in the alley at the end of
5.4 Litter
i. General litter around Claygate is as bad as ever.
ii. Dog fouling seems to have reduced.
iii. Part of a child’s bicycle has been dumped at the
AP11 The Clerk to report to EBC
iv. The date for the September Clean-up is 27th. Vanessa Relleen still has the litter pickers etc, Cllr Sheppard will organise the event this time. Cllr A Cartwright agreed to store the equipment in future. At the last clean up the emphasis was on
AP12 The Clerk to prepare posters, flyers and contact the Guides etc.
7. Finance report
Cllr Sheppard has circulated a current finance report (attached)
Just under 60% of the budget has been spent. 2/3 will have been spent by October, so it is obvious that the total budget will be spent by the end of the financial year. If the proposals for the HGS go ahead, more money will have to be sought from the full Council.
8.
Cllr Manley put a resolution to the July PC meeting for funding for HGS projects. The resolution has the general agreement of the Council, but was withdrawn for further research and investigation into other sources of funding. Cllr Manley has circulated a revised, detailed list of the projects with the estimated expenditure; the total being in the order of £11,000. Cllr Manley approached SCC Councillor, Mike Bennison who has agreed, in principle, to funding of £3,000, but this is subject to a review of his finances. This matter will be reviewed at the next full Council meeting in November.
9.
9.1 Weeding of the sites is required, particularly The Green.
9.2 Graham Gowens has joined the Green Team.
Actions:-
Re AP65 Cllr Manley &
Re AP87 Cllr Manley to contact Doug Bamforth. to find out more details about the work to be done and ascertain whether the road will need to be closed. She is awaiting a reply-action ongoing.
Re AP88 The Clerk to contact Alex Needs regarding the intended work to the trees on The Green as the trees are in the Conservation Area. Mr Needs confirmed that planning permission is required to carry out work on these trees. A detailed report is required from Doug Bamforth; Cllr Manley can then apply for permission. -action ongoing.
Re AP89 The plaque to John Swingler. Cllr Parks has re-fixed this into the Firs verge.
Re AP90 Cllr Manley to research a plant for the HGS bed in the triangle of
Re AP91 Cllr Sheppard to progress the quotes for the extra tarmac on the HGS outside the Youth Club. Cllr Sheppard has now received a third quote. Cllr Huddart has the underground searches, although they are slightly out-of –date, they will be useable. Since the last meeting, it transpires that Borough Councillor, Steve Wells has asked for a bus shelter at this site. Obviously CPC do not want to carry our work if it will be disturbed if a bus shelter is erected. We need to find out EBC’s intentions. It was agreed that this is a central site and very untidy, so we need to progress this project. -action ongoing for the Clerk to contact Cllr Wells to ascertain if a bus shelter will be installed.
i.
The hard landscaping around the edge of the bed at the
ii. Station Flower beds
No report
11. Claygate in Bloom
11.1 The judging seemed to go well and the judges made favourable comments. The results are announced at a ceremony on 3 September 2008. Jean Griffiths and Cllr Manley will attend. Once they know the results they will publish them.
11.2 The Hug-a-tub scheme is going well.
12. Recycling and Waste Management
EBC are holding recycling road shows around the Borough, but not in Claygate. More streets now have the food waste bins.
13. Go Green in Claygate
13.1 The exhibition is progressing, many of the exhibitors have confirmed. There are 10 exhibitors inside, 2 caterers and 7 spaces in the car park. There is a mixture of local and non-local exhibitors.
13.2 The following will be attending:-
i. Garson Farm will man a stall with local produce.
ii. Honda and
iii.
iv. CPC will have stall with water saving ideas
v. CIB will have a stall with water hippos, low wattage bulbs, plastic bag reduction. Local shops are trying to reduce plastic bag use. Williams provide a cotton bag for £2 or free with £20 of goods. The baker, the butcher, the fruiterer and the fishmonger are investigating the use of jute bags. Cutting down plastic bag use will be a long-term project.
vi. The Smoothie bike will be collected from EBC by Paul Cartwright. The Clerk has paid the £50 deposit. Waitrose came to the Flower Show and seem keen to establish links. They may provide the fruit for the Smoothie bike.
vii. Thorncroft is providing soft drinks
viii. White Lodge farm with pig butties
13.3 There are still matters to be attended to:-
i. Cllr Manley is doing the hall lay-out
ii. The final confirmation of the exhibits
iii. Draw up a simple catalogue and arrange for printing. It is expected that this will cost in the order of £200.
iv. The posters and flyers need distribution soon. Thanks were given to Vanessa Relleen for producing them.
v. The profile of the project needs to be raised quite soon. An article has been put in the Courier.
vi. The banner needs to be re-worded and displayed. It was noted that there is a CDS production in October and they also usually have a banner, Cllr A Cartwright agreed to contact Brian Sapstead and ask if he can fix both banners together. If not, the GGIC will have to be displayed before and after the CDS banner.
It was noted that Cllr Manley has put a great deal of work into this project and Cllr Round has been very helpful about the use of the village hall.
The questionnaire has now been finalised. It was agreed to include a question from Cllr Sheppard on highway trees. The printer has been agreed. The document will be hand-delivered after the Courier.
Cllr A Cartwright has left a message asking Hugh Gostling of the Scouts if we can borrow the Scout posting boxes to use as collectors for completed questionnaires. She is waiting to hear. The banner will have to be re-worded after using it for GGIC and then used to advertise the questionnaire.
The Notices of Application had to be displayed on or around the site for a period of 6 weeks from 4 June 2008 to 18 July 2008; this has been done. We are now waiting to hear from Helen Gilbert of SCC.
16. Matters for the Courier and Website
The draft Courier has been agreed and will go to print next week. It contains articles on the last Clean up day, dog fouling, the Green Team, CIB, a report from the Environment Committee and an advertisement for GGIC.
The Committee congratulated Jehan for all of his work on this edition.
17. Matters for information only
A cherry tree planted in the footpath outside Rukshana shop has died. She has reported it to Vanessa Relleen. The Clerk will report this to Cllr Huddart.
18. Date of next meeting
Next Meeting: Thursday 8.00pm on the 16 October
…………………………………………………………..Chairman…………………………Date