Dedham
Parish Council

DEDHAM PARISH COUNCIL 

Minutes of Meeting held on 13^th June, 2007
in the Assembly Rooms

Present:   In the Chair       Cllr Mrs. V. Guglielmi

                 Councillors        Mrs. A. Cannon, R. Cannon,  R. Cort,

                                            R. Laverick, P. Moorhouse, J.Osborn,.

                 Ward Councillor C. Garnett

                  Parish Clerk       Mrs. J. Flewin

                  Electors              5 Electors

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE received from Mrs. L. West.

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING having been previously circulated were approved.

3. MATTERS ARISING

   (a) War Memorial  The third quotation has been received and an application made for a grant.  Unfortunately this will not now be considered until October.  Friends of Dedham Church have indicated that they will consider making a donation towards the overall cost of the refurbishment of the War Memorial. 

  (b)  Royal Square Barrier   This work has now been completed to the satisfaction of all concerned. 

  (c)    PCSO  Natalie King has been appointed as PCSO for Dedham and will begin her full duties on the 21^st July having completed her training programme.   Due to the start of duty being later than expected the charge to the Parish will be adjusted.  Arrangements have been made for her to use a lockup inside the Duchy Barn and it is proposed that her bicycle should be kept overnight in the Duchy Barn shed.  Keys to both have been provided with the agreement of the Duchy Barn Committee.  The main arbiter so far as duties are concerned will rest with the Parish Council with the co-operation of the police and Neighbourhood Watch.

 (d) Lighting   Cllr. Mrs. Cannon reported that Just Lamps had installed time switches to the two car park lights and these were now working satisfactorily.  Upon investigation it was found that the two street lamps had had their time switches removed at some point and new ones have now been fitted.  One seems not to be functioning correctly and Cllr. Mrs. Cannon will contact Just Lamps.                                  

 (e)Toilets  There appears to have been no problems with the temporary toilets installed in the car park for the May Bank Holiday.  Toilets for the August Bank Holiday have already been arranged.

 (f) Re-cycling units   The Chairman had contacted a private provider who was also employed by CBC and had obtained details of costs of their re-cycling units. This information was passed to Cllr. Garnett.   There continued to be a problem in the car park with broken glass and Cllr. Garnett had arranged to meet with Mr. English (CBC) in the village on 14^th June to discuss this and other waste bins.

 (g) New Model Code of Conduct  There was no objection to the Parish Council adopting the new Code of Conduct unamended and the Standards Board for England will be officially advised as requested.  All Councillors will be required to complete fresh Notices of Registerable Interest.   

4. CORRESPONDENCE 

   (a) August Bank Holiday Event   Mrs. Fowles advised that there will be an August Bank Holiday event in the village this year which will follow the same pattern as the last.  CBC will be asked to lift the two-hour parking restriction in the High Street and there will be the usual market in Royal Square.

  (b) Village Design Statement    A letter from the Dedham Village Design Statement committee requested support from the Parish Council and Cllr. Cort was asked to report.  At their last meeting a comprehensive presentation of the draft VDS was given and approved and with the support of the Parish Council is ready to go forward to the next stage.  Mrs. Fowles has met with CBC and received a favourable response from them.  The Parish Council was happy to accept the recommendations of the VDS committee. Cllr. Laverick said that specific maps were required for the Parish Plan and a licence was necessary to reproduce Ordnance Survey Maps.  It was agreed that it would be advantageous for the Parish Council to make their own arrangements in this respect.

  (c)  Sports Club Rent   A letter of objection from the Sports Club in respect of the increase in rent was read to the meeting.  After some discussion the chairman decided that rather than write a letter she would attend the Sports Club AGM on 30^th July at 8 p.m. in order to respond verbally.

 5.  DEDHAM SURGERY    Matters were progressing in respect of the footway, albeit slowly, and there was considerable interest from the Dedham Vale Network (Complimentary Medicine).  Mr. Bernard Jenkin, MP, has raised in the House the whole question of the surgery and the problems with the PCT’s over its financing, and there was coverage in the local press.

 6. FOOTPATHS/PLAY AREA  The annual ROSPA inspection has been carried out on the play area and sports field and as a result there must be some minor adjustments and repairs to equipment.  There was nothing major, but the storage of field maintenance equipment must be given consideration as these items could constitute a hazard if left outside.   Playsafe Construction have commented that although they have carried out minor repairs to the old wooden playpiece in their opinion it was nearing the end of its life.

 There was general discussion on the vandalism in and around the sports field and concern expressed at the numbers of youngsters causing a disturbance in the High Street in the evenings whilst hanging around outside the Co-op, in the road on bikes scooters (and sometimes cars) and around the war memorial.   This was particularly bad on a Friday night when the youth club was in session  although it was appreciated that much of the aggravation was by young people who were not members of the youth club.  It was hoped that the presence of the PCSO will help alleviate the problem and the Vicar has taken the initiative to try to find alternative arrangements for the Youth Club on a Friday night.  The Parish Council had not been made aware of this or any progress which he has made and it was agreed that some information be sought from the Vicar.  Cllrs. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon have been invited to attend the Youth Club at any time to make an assessment. This they will do and report back.

7. ACCOUNTS   It was agreed that the following accounts be paid:

                                                                                                       £

A. Hodson  -  Hours worked in May  -  Maintenance                  130.00

                                                                PPP                             275.00

Mrs. O. M. Ruff  - Litter                                                              156.00

Clerk – Qtrly Account – April/July                                              787.88

Norman & Gardiner – Royal Square Barrier                                844.08

Capel Plant Holdings – Temp. Toilets                                         176.26

Playsafe Construction                                                                 111.62

Zurich Municipal – Insurance                                                    1,824.31

Just Lamps – Annual contract                                                      106.60

E. Tanner – Internal audit                                                               25.00

J. Osborn – Keys for PCSO                                                         18.50

Playsafety Ltd. (ROSPA)                                                           141.00

Income:  Football Club - £80 (Ground rent 2006/07, 2007/08)

 8. PLANNING   The Planning sub-committee has dealt with the following applications.  Cllr. Moorhouse had been unable to attend the meeting due to a time change and asked that  meetings be arranged for out of working hours.  Cllr. Cannon explained that on occasions it was necessary to change times but he did try to give as much notice as possible.  

COL/07/1359   Church House, The Heath, Dedham.

                      New garage and convert part of existing into living accommodation.

 Comment:    Recommend approval. Conditions re garage doors.

COL/07/1360  Courdene, The Heath, Dedham.

                     Proposed extension and alteration to existing.

 Comment:   Meeting with Planning Officer - awaiting new plans to be submitted.

COL/07/1386  Garden of Berryfields, Coggeshall Road, Dedham.

                       Erection of detached dwelling.

 Comment:   Meeting with Planning Officer – new site plan to be submitted.

COL/07/1383  Lea House, Colchester Road, Dedham.

                   First floor extension.

 Comment: Recommend approval.

COL/07/1442  The Grove, Grove Hill, Dedham.

                  New and replacement walls.  Replace two windows with one large one.

 Comment: Recommend approval for wall. Require Listed Building Officer to clarify Window details.

COL/07/1460  13 Dedham Meade, Dedham.

                   Double garage with storage above. Re-submission of 06/1732.

Comment:  Recommend refusal.  Outside village envelope.

COL/07/1478  Land to rear of Sundowne, The Heath, Dedham.

                   Certificate of Lawfulness.

 Comment:  Deferred.

Cllr. Laverick gave a resume of the Environmental Agency requirements in respect of the business unit to be sited at Lower Barn Farm in the AONB.  Howard Homes have agreed to take all suitable measures to ensure that the brick wall is disguised so as not to affect the overall landscape.

9. REPORT OF BOROUGH COUNCILLOR Cllrs. Garnett and Osborn had met with Mr. Maplestone,(ECC) for a “walkabout” mainly in the High Street area looking at signage.  He was due to meet with Mr. English, CBC, in the village this week when street cleansing would be discussed.  So far as brown signs were concerned Cllr. Garnett will be able to move forward with this project once the needs of the village are made known to him.

 10. PUBLIC REPRESENTATION   A resident pointed out that whilst there was considerable discussion about a footway to the new surgery building there were other areas, such as in front of the Barfield Almshouses, where there was also a need for a footway.  It was agreed that this was a matter which should be looked at separately.

Attention was drawn to a meeting of the Neighbourhood Action Panel which was scheduled for 16^th July at 9.30 a.m. in the Assembly Rooms.  The local Divisional Commander plus other police officers will attend and it was hoped that residents would take this opportunity to bring matters of concern for discussion at the meeting.  Cllr. Osborn and Mr. Hindley (Neighbourhood Watch) can be contacted over any matter relevant to the meeting. 

11.  ANY OTHER BUSINESS   Cllr. Osborn has put in the Parish Council’s bid for a grant under the Town/Parish Grant Scheme for five new noticeboards. Applications will be considered in August.  Cllr. Laverick  had received a letter from Miss Rutter of Eastdene, Grove Hill, detailing a number of accidents since 2005 involving damage to her property by speeding vehicles.  Some had ended up in her garden where her small children play which could have had even more serious results, and one accident had occurred whilst the police were already in attendance dealing with an earlier incident.  Miss Rutter feels it is appropriate that an “Armco” type barrier be erected around the southern extremity of her garden, such as installed at Birchwood Farm House, and the Parish Council would support this.  It was agreed that ECC be contacted and asked to give early consideration to this request.  Cllr. Mrs. Cannon reported that refurbishment of the village seats had been delayed because the person who had agreed to undertake the work was moving away.  A new general handyman is being sought.  Cllr. Cort felt that fly posting was getting out of hand particularly on road direction posts.  It was hoped that new notice boards on which the public would be allowed (on request) to post notices would help alleviate this problem.

12.  DATE & TIME OF NEXT MEETING   The next meeting will be on Wednesday, 25^th July, at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Rooms when Mr.McManus, CBC, will attend.  Please note earlier time and date.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 9.45 p.m.