Minutes of the village meeting
Minutes of Wicken Bonhunt Village Meeting
Date: Wednesday 8th November 2017 Venue: St Margaret’s Church and Community Centre.
Parish Committee. Joan Morgan Chair, Gary Newman Secretary, Richard Taylor Community Champion, Roger Turner Treasurer, Fabian Bullen Highways
Attendee’s: Peter Janke, Marion Janke, Anna Arend, Peter Stock, Lesley Stock, Maggie Perry, Carolyn Rogers, Anthony Rogers, Jim Alexander, Anil Taylor, Rosemary Nash, Jill Turner, John Matheron, Jane Matheron, Madeline Radford, David Radford, Jenny Burgess, John Burgess, Peter Bowyer, Bars Bullen, Rhidian Morgan, Chris Bull, Joan Bull, David Tyrrell, Marion Tyrrell.
Apologies. Carol Collins, Paula (The Willows), Cath Taylor.
Guests. Councillor Edward Oliver, County Councillor Ray Gooding
Greetings & apologies Joan Morgan opened the meeting by thanking all attendees and noting apologies.
Committee Members – Re-election
Joan Morgan opened the meeting by stating that no committee nominations had been received and that all the committee members were duly re-elected.
Finance Report
Roger Turner gave a summary of the village finances concluding that the village account is currently £2,223 in credit.
A full breakdown of the annual financial report can be found on the village web site. www.wickenbonhunt.org.uk
Roger pointed out that the village should not accumulate an in-credit balance of more than £4,000 so the committee will decide if we should:
• Reduce the annual Precept to £1,000 PA
• Stop the Precept altogether
• Spend some of the accrued balance and continue with the current £2,000.
Some spending suggestions were:
• A good quality imitation Christmas tree for the village.
• A real Christmas tree to be planted on the verge adjacent to the telephone box.
• Two dust bins to be sited in the laybys on the Newport road.
• An additional VAS speed sign.
• A village sign.
Any further suggestions to any member of the committee please.
Highways update
Fabian gave an update on the recent patching to the B1038. According to Essex highways surface dressing will take place at some point next year.
Enquiries have been made regarding the installation of an additional VAS sign at the west (Clavering) end of the village.
Cost is a major issue but the village can contribute towards the cost that could be in the region of £4,000 plus some maintenance costs.
Neighbourhood Watch
Joan reported that in order to maintain our participation in the Neighbourhood Watch scheme we need a coordinator as Dominic had moved away.
Anthony Rogers volunteered and was duly appointed.
Update from Edward Oliver
Edward reported that the Travellers Site previously proposed at the 5 acres site in Poore Street is not included in the Uttlesford local plan and will not be pursued. It is understood that the land owner plans to sell the land via auction.
There are no plans to develop in Wicken Bonhunt by there are plans for some small development in Clavering and a much larger development in Newport.
It was agreed that Joan Morgan should object to both developments as Wicken will be impacted by the additional through traffic and all the associated environmental issues.
Other local points were:
• A new sports facility will be built at Carver barracks in Wimbish
• Uttlesford District Council had taken a 50% stake in Chesterford Research Park. This investment is intended to generate a revenue stream that will help fund local employment initiatives such as the new Aeronautical College based at Stansted Airport.
Update from Ray Gooding Ray gave a high-level overview of the ECC spend covering:
• Adult Care - Increasing costs
• Education - some schools are oversubscribed but others are closing
• Libraries – under review with an aging mobile service with high replacement cost
• Travellers sites – work is ongoing to identify suitable sites following the change in government guidelines re-defining the term traveller.
• Crime – across the county organised gang crime is on the increase.
Village sign. Some suggested designs for a village sign were circulated with indicative costs in the region of £2,000 to £3,000 for one sign.
A show of hands indicated that it was a good idea and Joan will explore the possibility of securing some community funding towards the cost.
Please contact Joan Morgan with suggestions for a suitable location ideally in the centre of the village.
AOB
Defribulator training – some refresh training would be helpful
Village calendars are available to purchase for £5.00
All the village events and activities can be found on the “What’s on in Wicken” on the village web site and Facebook
Useful links Uttlesford website https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/home
Date of the next village meeting to be confirmed. Autumn 2018