Meeting documents

Southern Rural Committee
Thursday, 16th June, 2011 7.30 pm

Time: 7.30pm Place: Committee Room 1, Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City
 PRESENT: Councillor D.J. Barnard (Chairman), Councillor A. Bardett (Vice-Chairman), Councillor John Bishop, Councillor Tom Brindley, Councillor Jane Gray, Councillor Cathryn Henry and Councillor Mrs C.P.A. Strong.
 IN ATTENDANCE: Claire Morgan (Community Development Officer) and Hilary Dineen (Committee and Member Services Officer).
 ALSO PRESENT: At the commencement of the meeting 1 member of the public.
Item Description/Resolution Status Action
PART I
4 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tricia Cowley, Lee Downie and David Miller.
 Noted   
5 MINUTES
Minutes

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 March 2011 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.
 Agreed   
6 MINUTES
Minutes

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 May 2011 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.
 Agreed   
7 NOTIFICATION OF OTHER BUSINESS

No other business was discussed at the meeting.
 Noted   
8 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

(1) The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting;

(2) The Chairman reminded the Members that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda should be declared as either a prejudicial or personal interest and are required to notify the Chairman of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a prejudicial interest should leave the room and not seek to influence the decision during that particular item.
 Noted   
9 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There were no public presentations to the Committee.
 Noted   
10 CHAMPION NEWS AND FINANCE REPORT
Report
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
Appendix 7

The Chairman welcomed Claire Morgan (Community Development Officer - Letchworth) to the meeting and thanked her for standing in for Garry Gover the Community Development Officer for the Southern Rural Area, who had been unable to attend meetings for several months. The Chairman asked that best wishes of this Committee be relayed to Mr Gover.

The Community Development Officer presented the report entitled Champion News and Finance Report and drew attention to the following:

HIGHWAYS WORK PROGRAMME
Members were advised that all previous schemes submitted to the North Hertfordshire Highways Partnership - Joint Member Panel had been accepted and that there was now an opportunity to suggest further schemes.

Members considered the parking review which had taken place in Knebworth and noted that the recommendations regarding this would be implemented over the next few months. They considered various parking issues in Great Ashby and agreed that these issues should be presented once they had been clarified and prioritised by the Ward Councillor. Members agreed that funds should be made available to match fund the highways projects being submitted to the North Hertfordshire Highways Partnership -Joint members Panel, and, in the absence of costings for specific projects, agreed that the JMP be advised that a sum of £5,000 will be made available for this purpose. Members considered that schemes in Great Ashby may be given priority. They agreed that Members should liaise with the Vice-Chairman and Councillor Brindley regarding any schemes to be submitted to JMP and that they would present these on behalf of the Committee.

FINANCE REPORT
Members were concerned that the grants being presented at this meeting had already been recorded in the budget sheets and that budget sheets contained several errors and asked that they be reviewed, checked and updated in time for the next meeting of this Committee. They also requested that pre-allocated funds brought forward from 2010-2011 for Ward Councillor Budgets be double checked and, where projects were not going ahead, the money be returned to the discretionary budget.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the actions taken by the Community Development Officer to promote greater community capacity and well being for rural communities be endorsed;

(2) That the Committee's budgetary expenditure, balances and carry forwards from the Ward Development Budgets and the allocated Visioning Budgets be noted;

(3) That the good wishes of the Southern Rural Committee be passed on to Garry Gover (Community Development Officer);

(4) That Members liaise with the Vice-Chairman and Councillor Brindley regarding any highways schemes that they would wish submitting to North Hertfordshire Highways Partnership - Joint Member Panel, who would then be authorised to present these schemes on behalf of this Committee;

(5) That £5,000 be allocated to Highways Projects recommended to the North Hertfordshire Highways Partnership - Joint Member Panel;

(6) That the Community Development Officer be requested to review, check and update the budget sheets to ensure an accurate summary is presented to the next meeting of this Committee, due to be held on 28 July 2011;

(7) That pre-allocated Ward Councillor Budgets be checked and, if projects not going ahead, those sums be returned to the Discretionary Budget.

RECOMMENDED TO NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE HIGHWAYSPARTNERSHIP - JOINT MEMBER PANEL:

(1) That the Vice-Chairman of the Southern Rural Committee and Councillor Brindley have been authorised to present schemes for inclusion on the 2011/12 Highways Work Programme;

(2) That the Southern Rural Committee have committed £5,000 as funding towards schemes that may be presented (see (1) above).

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure that the Committee is kept informed of the work of the Community Development Officer and to inform Members of the financial resources available to the Committee.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
11 GRANT APPLICATION - RURAL YOUNG CARERS ACTIVITY PROGRAMME

Prior to the item being heard Councillor Mrs C.P.A. Strong declared a personal interest in that the Rotary Club, of which she is a member, gave support to the Young Carers.

Members were reminded that a grant of £500 had been agreed at the last meeting of this Committee held on 24 March 2011 and debated whether the young carers in the group would specifically be from the Southern Rural Area. They expressed concern that the focus of concentration would be on schools in Hitchin, when many young people in the rural areas attended schools out of the area such as Welwyn Garden City and were uncomfortable at funding activities rather than group meetings. They considered that the Young Carers Group should be asked to provide further information regarding fund raising and how they will identify young people from the Southern Rural Area and attend a future meeting of the Committee to present and be available to answer questions.

The Community development Officer advised that the young people involved would be identified as being from rural areas and that the Committee could require the Young Carers to visit other schools

RESOLVED: That the Community Development Officer advise the Young Carers Group that, should they wish to pursue their application for grant funding, they provide further information (as listed below) and be invited to attend a future meeting of this Committee in order to be available to answer questions:
(1) Whether applications have been made to other organisations for funding and whether these have been successful;
(2) Whether the group could become self-sustaining and if so how;
(3) Details of how young carers throughout the Southern Rural Area would be identified, particularly in the knowledge that many attended schools outside of the North Hertfordshire Area;
(4) How the particular needs of young carers in rural areas would be identified and met.

REASON FOR DECISION: To improve services provided by local organisations and groups which are accessed by the community.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
12 GRANT APPLICATION - ST IPPOLYTS PARISH HALL

RESOLVED: That a grant of £500 be awarded to St Ippolyts Parish Hall from the 2011 - 2012 Discretionary Budget, as support funding towards the installation of a sound and hearing loop at the hall.

REASON FOR DECISION: To improve services provided by local organisations and groups which are accessed by the community.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
13 GRANT APPLICATION - HOLWELL PARISH COUNCIL

Members expressed concern that a Parish Council was asking for grant funding, when they have the ability to raise funds through the precept, although acknowledged that this was a small parish. It was proposed and seconded that a grant of £200 be allocated, which would then require the Parish Council to raise the remainder of the funds and that it be made clear that in future they would be expected to raise funding through the precept.

RESOLVED:
(1) That a grant of £200 be awarded to Holwell Parish Council from the 2011 - 2012 Discretionary Budget, as support funding towards the costs of reinforcement of the storage area at Holwell Pavillion;

(2) That Holwell Parish Council be advised that future funding for purchase and maintenance of parish owned equipment and buildings should be raised by way of the Parish Precept.

REASON FOR DECISION: To improve services provided by local organisations and groups which are accessed by the community.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
14 GRANT APPLICATION - ROMPERS MOTHER AND TODDLER GROUP

The Community Development Officer drew attention to paragraph 10.10 of the report, which detailed the list of equipment required by the Rompers Mother and Toddler Group

Members noted that the group was run by volunteers and were keen to support the group on this occasion, but would expect them to raise funds themselves for future purchases and suggested the group consider an increase in fees to cover this. It agreed that a grant of £1,000 be allocated from the Community Projects Budget on this occasion.

RESOLVED: That a grant of £1,000 be awarded to Rompers Mother and Toddler Group from the 2010 - 2011 Community Projects Budget, as support funding towards the costs of replacement of play equipment.

REASON FOR DECISION: To improve services provided by local organisations and groups which are accessed by the community.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
15 GRANT APPLICATION - ANTI FLY-TIPPING MEASURES

The Chairman advised that fly-tipping activities in the Southern Rural area had increased and that NHDC had been given the opportunity to purchase a higher definition camera, which could be used with existing equipment in the fight against fly-tipping. The camera would cost £650 plus VAT and additional signage would cost £200. He asked that consideration be given to funding the purchase of these items and to identifying a sum of money to allocate towards anti fly-tipping measures during the coming year. NHDC Enforcement Officers were being flexible in their hours of work in order to help combat the problem

RESOLVED:
(1) That £2,000 be allocated to Anti Fly-Tipping Measures from the 2011 - 2012 discretionary budget;

(2) That a grant of £650 plus VAT be awarded from the Anti Fly-Tipping Measures Budget, as support funding towards the purchase of a camera for use in combating fly-tipping;

(3) That a grant of £200 be awarded from the Anti Fly-Tipping Measures Budget, as support funding towards the purchase of additional signage regarding fly-tipping.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM
16 GRANT APPLICATION - HIGHWAYS - FLOODING SITES LILLEY AND LILLEY BOTTOM

In regard to flooding areas at Lilley the Committee agreed to match fund investigation and design in the amount of £2,000 and wished to clarify the exact location of the flooding sites.

RESOLVED: That a grant of £2,000 be awarded to Hertfordshire Highways from the 2011 - 2012 Discretionary Budget, as support funding towards the costs of investigation and design to identify problems and propose measures to prevent flooding at the following places:
(i) Lilley Bottom Road, Lilley adjacent to the pumping station;
(ii) Luton Whitehill, Lilley approximately 100 metres from the junction with Lilley Bottom.

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure that highways issues in the Southern Rural Areas are addressed effectively.
 Agreed  Community Development Officer - CM