Meeting Minutes 29.05.2014

Meeting Minutes 29.05.2014

Albury ANNUAL PARISH meeting

Minutes of a meeting held Thursday 29th May 2014 at 19.15 hrs at the Village Hall

 

Present:

Abigail Muller (chairman), Brigitte Webster (vice chairman), Nuala Barrett,

Jane Pettitt (Clerk)

Members of the public (MOP) present: 3 

1.      Chairman’s welcome.

The Chairman welcomed and thanked all those present for attending.

2.      Apologies for absence. Cllr Benton

3.      Report from the chairman

The chairman offered thanks to the following people:

  • Maggie Vicary for her continuing efforts in keeping the village tidy
  • Reg Crafter for his assistance with many maintenance tasks including the new finger post, the refurbished notice boards and painting the playground equipment
  • Mr Smith for his help clearing the allotments
  • Derek Kendle for his many years service as a councillor and Financial Officer
  • Pam Blevins for publishing our minutes and notices
  • Jez Donaldson for his continuing support of the village website
  • The current councillors for their hard work and support 

She listed the activities the council have been involved with on behalf of the parish over the last year, which include:

  • Clearance of the allotments
  • Ash River bridge repairs
  • Replacement of the finger post at Clapgate
  • Arrangement of the annual safety inspection of the playground
  • Painting of the playground
  • Raising an enquiry with Thames Water asking them to resolve the issue of flooding from Clapgate pumping station and asking residents of The Bourne to report any further floods immediately to Thames Water
  • Keeping residents updated via the notice boards, Facebook and the Albury newsletter
  • Investigating a Drivesafe campaign to address speeding through the village
  • Setting up a talk for residents with HMWT at Patmore Heath
  • Developing a much closer relationship with HMWT to ensure we are made aware of future management plans for Patmore Heath
  • Creating an email distribution list of residents who wish to receive council agendas, minutes and other notices by email
  • Plans to update the village website to show more APC information such as parish council responsibilities, news, minutes and agendas
  • Instigating the tidy up of various road signage around the village which is to commence soon
  • Instigating repairs to fencing at Parsonage Lane pumping station, which Thames Water have said they will schedule as soon as possible 

4.      Flock of Sheep

The councillors discussed with the members of public present the possibility of the parish purchasing a flock of sheep to graze at Patmore Heath. It was decided that the purchase price, vet costs, shepherd costs and liability insurance costs would need further investigation. Cllr Muller will speak to HMWT who currently graze sheep at the Heath with regards to these points. 

5.      Summer Fun Day

The council wondered if Albury would be interested in participating in Summer Fun Day or arranging something similar to the Furneux Festival. This would require a dedicated committee. Cllr Muller said she would prepare an article for the newsletter to test the response from residents. 

6.      Public discussion

The members of the public who had also attended the HMWT talk agreed it had been a worthwhile exercise. As the talk of heath management overtook the last talk somewhat, it was suggested that two further talks be arranged, one educational and one to discuss heath management plans.

The subject of poor broadband service was raised and APC said they will write to East Herts to establish if there are any plans or not for improving broadband service to Albury in the near future. Residents can then decide whether or not to explore other options.

One resident mentioned Albury having an Open Gardens day which could coincide with a ‘summer fun day’ event culminating in a hog roast, or such like, at the village hall. Everyone present liked the idea.

The Clerk talked about the difficulty of squeezing the minutes into the newsletter, which is very popular and often tight for space. She asked if a monthly summary would be acceptable and the members of the public thought it would be. One resident suggested the word ‘Minutes’ in itself can be off putting. The council said they will trial this summary approach, but will still publish full minutes on the notice boards, Facebook, via a residents email distribution list, and soon on the updated website.

There was a discussion about the importance of The Catherine Wheel to the community and a suggestion that it should be registered as a community asset, which would give the community an amount of time to put together a bid to buy it should it ever come up for sale. This is to be raised as a future APC meeting agenda point.

 

 

Signed…………………………………..                   Date………………………..

 

Abigail Muller  (Chairman)