Halstead Town Council

Membership:

Also in attendance:  Cllr M Fincken
                                 Cllr Mrs L Hilton
                                 M C Murkin Town Clerk, 
                                 Mrs. J. Smith, Minute Clerk
                                 Mr S. Wenlock - Braintree District Council Landscape Architect
                                 2 members of the public:  Mr D Johnson and Mr T Hawkes

Cllr G Howlett took the Chair for this meeting

317.    APOLOGIES  FOR  ABSENCE.  
Received from Cllr M Gage and Cllr K Paisley

318.    DECLARATION OF  INTERESTS
To declare any ‘personal' or ‘personal and prejudicial' interests relating to items on the agenda having regard to paragraphs 7 to 11 inclusive of Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for  Members and having taken appropriate advice (where necessary) before the meeting.  
Cllr Mrs J A Pell declared interest in Agenda Item No. 4 as has been dealing with some development of the river walk in Halstead.
Cllr S Diver declared interest in planning item 11/00121/FUL, The Essex Arms as she lives nearby.

319.    PUBLIC  QUESTION  TIME
Mr D Johnson was concerned about the article he had read in Halstead Gazette regarding a proposed car park merge with Colchester and Uttlesford.  He hoped that Councillors had considered residents' views and hoped that there would be broader discussion before decisions were made.
Cllr Mrs J Pell said that decisions on this matter had been made, and that further discussions could not now take place on this same item for at least six months.

320.    PRESENTATION BY MR S. WENLOCK. Section 106, Halstead River Walk.
Mr Wenlock passed round some plans and a report that was the body of his presentation and is public information.
The plans will be presented to the Halstead Local Committee on 16^th March and Mr Wenlock wanted to appraise Councillors of the plans before this committee meeting.  It was explained that there is some Section 106 money available from the development at Adams Brewery site that has to be committed by summer           2011 for the purpose specified at time of plan.  The Braintree Open Spaces action plan that lists proposals for open spaces in the District has now been passed by the Halstead Local Committee and endorsed by             Cabinet and Mr Wenlock will be overseeing implementation of the plans.
An assessment has been carried out on the first priority site, the River Walk, and the Local Committee will be asked to recommend that the first expenditure of 106 money will go to the river walk.  Further money will be available, with a later deadline for commitment, and this could be spent at the park in King's Road and             at the Mill Chase playing field.
For the River Walk, it is planned to put down some hard surface on the BDC owned section of the River Walk, possibly as early as March.  Mr Wenlock said that there is still some discussion over where this land is situated, but he hoped that there would be resolution soon.  The aspiration, Mr Wenlock stated, is to have hard surfacing to the whole of the River Walk to give good access for workers at industrial sites in the Town and to the open countryside.
Cllr J Pell informed the meeting that some new interpretation boards have been ordered and will be purchased with grant money from Essex County Council and these would be placed on the river walk as follows:
1) on the wall of the Solar building, near to the river side, and this will be in Co-operative corporate colours.
2) along the footpath that leads from Factory Terrace to Parsonage Street
3) near to the entrance to allotments in Parsonage Street at the beginning of the riverside walk in that area
4) another to be placed in Butler Road Car Park.
Cllr Mrs H Catley asked if matters regarding Section 106 money from Barretts for the Nether Court development had been resolved, and was told that this is a very complicated arrangement and resolution of difficulties has been protracted.  It is hoped that matters will be resolved in the near future, but plans will be put in place to transfer the land and Mr Wenlock said he will be happy to come back to Council to explain the details when firm plans are in place.
It was requested that Mr Wenlock appraise the Council at all stages of negotiations and that the Town Clerk should be the liaison point.
It was said that Halstead in Bloom had planted some wild flowers along the River Walk at Parsonage Street, and Mr Wenlock said he would be happy to meet with Halstead in Bloom to take their views into account, but that he was concerned to go forward with plans for the River Walk before the deadline on spending the            Section 106 money expires.
Chairman thanked Mr Wenlock for his presentation.

Mr Wenlock, and Mr T Hawkes left the meeting.

321.    MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 11^th January 2011 were unanimously adopted.

Cllr Mrs S Diver took the Chair for the next part of the meeting.

322.    PLANNING  APPLICATIONS
Cllr Mrs H Catley spoke about application no.11/00122/FUL, 114 Gardeners Road Halstead CO9 2TB and said that plans seem to indicate that existing parking spaces would be eliminated in favour of spaces for cycles;  Cllr Catley objected to this and note had been made to Braintree District Planning Committee to this effect.  Cllr Mrs J Pell had objected to over intensification of site.
Cllr Pell noted that a resident had raised concerns about planning application no. 11/00121/FUL the Essex Arms, but this had now been resolved.
It was noted that Members comments had been passed to Planning Dept.
Report was noted.

Cllr G Howlett resumed Chair of the meeting 
            

323     REFERRALS  FROM  AMENITIES  COMMITTEE
There were no referrals from Amenities committee

324.    FINANCIAL  MONITORING
Cllr Mrs J Pell asked if there were any plans to put financial details on the Town Council web site and Town Clerk informed the meeting that details were being sought on how this could be done.  It was said that there would be some cost implications and Cllr Mrs H Catley asked when figures might be posted, and it was decided that they should be posted when Agenda were made public.
Report was noted.

325.    MONTHLY   PERFORMANCE
Cllr Mrs J Pell asked if the Council was likely to meet targets set for the financial year, and Town Clerk reported that on Car Parks the budget had been set, perhaps optimistically, high as receipts had been distorted by the opening of the new Sainsbury's store the previous year.  It was agreed that the figures were still pleasing in a year of recession, perhaps due to residents staying in the town to shop.
Cllr D Hume asked about the reliability of the Chapel Street ticket machine, and asked if the many failures had an impact on car park receipts.  Town Clerk said that the whole machine had been replaced recently, and he was pleased with the response from Parkcare when failures had occurred.  It had been questioned whether a solar-powered machine was suitable during the winter months, it was the coin acceptance machinery that had failed. Town Clerk agreed that machine failures had a small impact on receipts, and Cllr Mrs S Diver asked if there was any recourse to compensation.  It was said that there was no compensation to be had and that the new machine seemed to be working well.
Cllr M Fincken noted the increase in Mill House bookings, and asked if financial figures could be given for Mill House and Queen's Hall bookings in future rather than just numbers of bookings.  Town Clerk said that this could be done.
Cllr Mrs H Catley asked if there were any vacant permit places in Rosemary Lane, and it was said that were places in Rosemary Lane and Butler Road with no waiting list for either car park.
Report was noted
          

Cllr Mrs H Catley left the meeting at this point for another appointment.

326.    RECEIPTS  AND  PAYMENTS  SINCE  LAST  MEETING
Cllr G Howlett noted a number of uncashed cheques at the end of December, and it was said that these had been posted out before Christmas but had obviously not been dealt with by recipients over the Christmas period.  Town Clerk said that cheque runs are usually prepared early in the week for signatures during the week and  posted out on Friday.  Cllr Mrs J Pell asked if all outstanding cheques should be cleared before the end of the financial year, and was told that as long as cheques had been raised it was of no advantage or disadvantage  that they be cashed.
Cllr Mrs J Pell asked if the interim internal audit report carried out recently had been successful, and the meeting was told that the Auditor had given a good report saying that Council finances were being well managed.  A full report will be presented in due course. 
Cllr Mrs J Pell asked if some publicity should be given to this good report, and it was agreed that the interim report will be circulated to Members, and the Final Report will be made available to the public.  Cllr Pell said that it was pleasing that the new system was working well.
Report was noted

327 &
328.    REQUESTS  FOR  GRANTS - Scouts and Halstead Model Railway Club
Letters had been received from both organisations asking for grant money for a  party of Scouts to visit Oslo and for the Model Railway Club to obtain planning consent for a new Club House.
It was said that there is no money left in the budget for community grants, and Cllr D Hume said that he had some reservations about making small grants ad hoc, especially as requested presentations to Council had not been forthcoming in the past.   Cllr G Howlett felt it important that some criteria for awarding grants             should be laid down to assist future Councillors in being consistent when awarding grants.  It was agreed that the new Council should look at how these criteria should be formed and it was thought that a Task and Finish group might be set up for this purpose with findings being presented to Full Council for discussion.
It was agreed that Town Clerk should write to Scouts and to the Model Railway Club explaining the current situation and that the matter was under review.

329.    DATA  TRANSPARENCY
A proposal had been made by the Department for Communities and Local Government regarding requirements for local authorities to publish details of all payments over £500.
Town Clerk had discussed this document with the Internal Auditor who was happy that this would easily be possible and asked if the Committee would require any representations to be made on this subject.
It was agreed that data transparency should be the norm and that this Council was at present meeting all criteria.
Report was noted.

330.    ACCEPTANCE OF DEBIT/CREDIT CARDS
This matter had been discussed previously, but at the time cost was prohibitive.
It was said that the Staff Review Group had recommended that this service should be set up to reduce cash taken and in the light of cheque services being withdrawn in the future.  It was said that Barclay's Bank was offering a free set up service and Cllr J Pell moved a motion that Barclay's Bank should be approached to set up a card payment service. 
Motion was seconded by Cllr D Hume and the motion was unanimously carried.

331.    EXCLUSION  OF  PUBLIC  AND  PRESS
The following resolution was proposed and sconded:
RESOLVED:  That pursuant to the provisions of section 1(2) of the Admission to Meetings Act 1960, in view of the next items to be conducted, the press and public be excluded from the meeting.

Meeting closed at  8.14 p.m.