BURY PARISH COUNCIL

The Annual Meeting of Bury Parish Council held at Bury Village Hall, Brookfield Way, Owls End on Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

AGENDA

AM0314.01 APOLOGIES

AM0314.02 COUNCILLORS INTERESTS

AM0314.03 MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING 6h March 2013

AM0314.04 MATTERS ARISING

AM0314.05 PARISH COUNCIL ACTION 2013/14

AM0314.06 REPORT FROM HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL

AM0314.07 REPORTS FROM LOCAL ORGANISATIONS

AM0314.08 DATE & TIME OF NEXT ANNUAL MEETING

AM0314.09 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

AM0314.10 CLOSE OPEN MEETING

The Annual Meeting of Bury Parish Council to be held atBury Village Hall, Wednesday 5 th March 2014 at 7.30 pm.

Present Cllr.J.Prestage ChairpersonCllr.P.Hazell Vice-ChairpersonCllr.D.Wakefield Cllr.K.PrestageCllr.R.ScantleburyCllr J.Hayes Cllr.A.JohnstoneCllr.K.TurnerCllr.P.Levi

C.Cllr.M.TewD.Cllr.P.Bucknell

Clerk D.Yardley

Mrs.K.Hazell

AM0314.01 APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from D.Cllr.J.Pethard.

AM0314.02 COUNCILLORS’ INTERESTS

To receive from Councilors’ declarations as to personal and or prejudicial interests and the nature of those interests in relation to Agenda items.

AM0314.03 MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING 6 th March 2013

The minutes of the above meeting have been approved

AM0314.04 MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

AM0314.05 PARISH COUNCIL ACTION 2013/14

A report on the actions taken by the Council was presented by the Chairman, see appendix No.1 below.

AM0314.06 REPORT FROM HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL

A report was presented to the Council by D.Cllr.P.Bucknell, see Appendix No.2 below

AM0314.07 REPORTS FROM LOCAL ORGANISATIONS

The Clerk received reports from the following Village organizations,:

Abbey WIBury Village ClubBury Residents Charity

AM0314.08 DATE & TIME OF NEXT ANNUAL MEETING

The next Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday 4th March 2015 at 7.30 pm at the Village Hall

AM0314.09 ANY OTHER BUSINESSThere was no other business.

AM0314.10 CLOSE OPEN MEETINGThe Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.03pm.

Appendix 1

Chairman’s report 2013 – 2014

This year has been one of consolidation, building on the achievements of last year. Once again the high spot was the Christmas lights. We ran a quiz to raise more funds to extend the illuminations as promised last year. We continue to be most grateful to Terry Robbins for his technical expertise and cheerful disposition. The lights were installed in the trees opposite Bury Stores, by a team of parish councillors led by David Wakefield, ably supported by Peter Levi and friends. The switch on was by Lord Brain Mawhinney, with musical support from the Bury school choir and refreshments provided by Tushi of Bury village stores. There was unanimous approval of the lights with many thanks to Tushi for his generosity.

The saga of our street lights continues, we are still engaged with CCC through their complaints procedure. However we have made progress and recently had confirmation that 2 street lights would be reinstalled, one in Grove Way near the school entrance; though as yet we have no date for this work.

Your council has been stable, comprising of 9 members and we have met officially 11 times in the committee room of Bury village hall – our minutes are on the village web-site.

There have been numerous planning applications and the saga of RAF Upwood rumbles on –with outline planning consent recently given by HDC. We will continue to work with the developers to ensure that this development is sensitive to the needs of Bury village. We are aware of the impression of the village when considering all applications and discuss contentious applications in council. We welcome input from villagers either in writing to the parish clerk or through attendance at our monthly meetings – your voice will always be heard.

We are capably supported by our 2 district councillors and our new county councillor. Our thanks and gratitude to Peter,John and Michael.

The village is superbly reported and promoted by the Bury Bugle, our most excellent magazine, ably produced each quarter by Ali and the editorial team and distributed in the village by numerous volunteers; thanks to all it is an excellent advert for the village.

The play area continues to be well used along with the BMX track, weather permitting. Unfortunately the Bury Rangers football team have moved away as the pitch does not comply with FA rules.

Finally we cannot stand still and so to take the village forward we have decided that Bury needs to define its vision of the future which will be embodied in a community led plan. However for this to happen we need to establish the forum which will be a small group of villagers, led by someone independent of the council, to formulate the ideas and deliver a plan with the council committed to providing its support and guidance

I would like to thank my council for all their support and good humour, the Bury Residents charity for making this room available to us, our village handywoman, Stephanie, for keeping the play areas tidy but most of all my heartfelt thanks to David the parish clerk who works tirelessly and continues to keep us all in order.

Appendix 2

AOM 2013/14 REPORT to BURY PARISH COUNCIL I’m pleased to submit another annual report from the District Council with some of the highlights in Huntingdonshire for 2013/14. HDC COUNCIL TAX 2014/15 There will be NO increase in Council Tax for 2014/15 i.e. the Band D charge will remain the same at £133.18, as confirmed at HDC Full Council meeting on 26th February 2014. For the first time in many years, high level of savings (see more details in the paragraph below) and efficiency improvements achieved. The Government has also offered a “Reward Grant” equivalent to a Council Tax rise of 1% for two years to any Council that reduces or maintains its current Council Tax level. COUNCIL PLANS TO MAKE SAVINGS Huntingdonshire District Council has made significant steps towards reducing costs and increasing revenue streams over the last 12 months, but as local authorities are faced with an increasingly difficult financial environment the council is now exploring a wide range of options that will make further financial savings. The council’s aim is to reduce costs, as far as possible, without compromising the delivery of services to residents. Initiatives such as joint procurement on the IT network, is estimated to save at least £250k over the next 6 years. The specialist skills and advice of council officers has been used by neighbouring authorities, bringing in additional income and the installation of PV panels on council buildings has not only supplied electricity to the council’s Eastfield House site, but has also generated revenue. The recent Comprehensive Spending Review highlighted that central government is seeking further cuts of around 10% from local authority budgets. Senior management and staff have been working together to look closely at their services and to review how they can operate more efficiently based on the knowledge that the base budget needs to be reduced by £2.6 million within 5 years. Change in Collection Rounds Shows Huge Fuel Cost Savings Following a review of its refuse collection rounds last year, Huntingdonshire District Council was able to work out more efficient ways to collect residents’ refuse and recycling, and make sure additional capacity is available for future developments. As a result of implementing changes to collection rounds from February 2013, the council has recorded a 29% reduction in the first quarter’s fuel consumption compared to the same period in 2012.

RAF UPWOOD 1201274OUT On 2nd August 2012 Strawson Holdings, which owns a substantial part of the former airfield applied for Outline Planning consent, this means the company would still require a further Application for Reserved Matters (REM) with full details of any development. The present outline application (OUT) is for selective demolition and clearance of existing former defence buildings, environmental remediation and the carrying out of employment-led mixed use development comprising about 2 hectares of employment (Use Class Order B1 uses) (including the conversion and change of use of some buildings) and residential (not more than 160 dwellings, mostly in Bury Parish) development, together with the provision of infrastructure and the laying out of ancillary open space. Planners at Huntingdonshire District Council recommended approval for the redevelopment and on 16th December 2013 the Council Development Management Panel (Councillors) confirmed the Planners recommendation (subject to additional proviso *Heritage statement). DOG FOULING Unfortunately, again I have to report on receiving numerous complaints of dog owners allowing their dogs to foul in public places. If dog fouling occurs away from the home, the responsible owner will clean up after the dog. Any suitable plastic bag can be used or a special poop-scoop which can be purchased from pet shops. Disposal of dog faeces should be into an allocated dog bin or the bag taken home. Please notify us of offenders on 01480 388302 during normal office hours. NEW HUNTINGDONSHIRE LOCAL PLAN TO 2036 The Local Plan will cover the period up to 2036 and, once adopted, will replace all current parts of the development plan, including the Core Strategy 2009 and the saved policies of the Local Plan 1995 and Local Plan Alteration 2002. An updated Local Development Scheme, which will outline the timetable for preparing and delivering the new local plan, is being prepared and unfortunately will be a little delayed due to Traffic modelling by CCC, but should be presented in late 2014.

Appendix 3

Report from Abbey WI to Bury Parish CouncilIt was Abbey WI’s 25th birthday last year and we marked the event by holding a lunch for all our members at the Windmill in Somersham in July, and then a beetle drive and cream tea in August to which we invited members of our Board of Trustees, past Presidents and local WI’s.We had two very successful fund raising events out of which we were able to donate sums of money to Bury Christmas Lights and The Food Bank in Ramsey.We have a well attended monthly Book Club where we discuss the book we have just read and put the world to right. We also have a monthly WI Lunch Club where we try out local restaurants. We try to alternate between a special venue and say a Pub lunch so there is something for everyone. Once a month we all gather at a member’s home for Tea and Chat which is always well attended. We also hold a coffee morning on a monthly basis at local venues again very well attended. Our annual outing was to the Romany Museum in Spalding which was extremely interesting and then onto Springfields for some retail therapy and lunch. Our outing this year is to Barnsdale Garden Centre and Rutland Water.Our 2013 Christmas Lunch was held once again at the Ramsey Golf Club and was a huge success and this venue has been booked for 2014.In November we held our AGM the President and committee remain the same.Abbey WI has a very enthusiastic committee and currently we have 39 members. We hope that 2014 will prove to be another successful year.

Kate Temprell President Abbey WI

Report of Bury Residents Charity 2014The main function of the above Charity is to run and maintain the Village Hall. It is run by a small committee who give of their time freely.We continue to make improvements to the Hall:

1) Fitting a new hand wash basin in the Ladies toilet, this is for the Play Groups’ children so that they can wash hands at a low level.

2) We have also installed a new electric cooker.

The Judo Club decided to leave after 15 years at the Hall, the reason being that the British Judo Society have now got their own premises and the Club do not have to hire a venue. This has resulted in a loss of income for the Hall.

We are in the also in the process of building a new outside store. Plans have been approved and we thank the Parish Council for submitting the plans for us. At the moment we are held up by H.D.C.’red tape’ involving a nearby tree. Mr Brian Woodward is trying to sort this out for us.

We will continue to hold our monthly Bingos, 1st Friday in the month, another source of income.

We look forward to another successful year.

Bury Residents Committee