|
HALSTEAD TOWN COUNCIL |
|
|
|
MINUTES OF TOWN COUNCIL MEETING |
Membership:
| Councillor M Radley | Chairman | Present |
| Councillor D Gronland | Vice Chairman | Present |
| Councillor Miss J Atkinson | Apologies | |
| Councillor P Caulfield | Present | |
| Councillor P Claydon | Present | |
| Councillor Mrs S Dingle | Apologies | |
| Councillor M Fincken | Present | |
| Councillor D Hume | Present | |
| Councillor A Munday | Present | |
| Councillor Mrs J A Pell | Present | |
| Councillor Miss L Smith | Apologies | |
| Councillor G Warren | Present |
Also in attendance: Robert Richmond, Helen Wolf
Sarah Greatorex (Town Clerk)
036. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Cllr Smith sent her apologies, due to work commitments. Cllr Dingle and Cllr Atkinson sent their apologies as they had previous engagements.
Cllr Radley proposed acceptance of these apologies, seconded by Cllr Caulfield and unanimously agreed.
037. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS: .
Cllr Pell declared NPI Item 5, 21/01479/FUL as H4C owns adjacent land, 21/01407/HH as she was related to the architect, item 7 various, item 8 as a member of H4C, and item 9 as a member of BDC. Cllr Munday declared NPI item 5, as he is a member of BDC planning committee. Cllr Claydon declared NPI item 7e, as a member of CSGMC. Cllr Warren declared NPI item 7e, as a member of CSGMC.. Cllr Caulfield declared NPI item 5 21/001591/VAR as he lives close by. Cllr Hume declared NPI item 7 as a member of CSGMC.
038. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Helen Wolf made a statement relating to planning application 21/01479/FUL, lamenting the fact that most of the trees on the site had been removed in January 2021. She asked that HTC should mention the need for tree planting in their comments, and also more widely explore a district-wide tree strategy, and find out more about regulations and local policies on hedgerows and trees. She reminded the council that it had signed up to the Tree Charter.
Cllr Pell suggested that it was time to re-appoint a tree warden to look at planning applications in terms of trees. Cllrs Fincken and Caulfield both said that more should be done, that the Town Clerk should do research on regulations on trees, and reminded the meeting that HTC had declared a climate emergency.
039. MINUTES To approve the minutes of the Town Council Meeting held on 17 May 2021. Minutes had been circulated and proposal to adopt minutes of May 2021 was put forward by Cllr Fincken, seconded by Cllr Gronland.
The Minutes of the Staff Advisory Committee meetings of 12 May 2021 and 1 June 2021 were noted.
040. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
Cllr Hume led discussions for this part of the meeting. Cllr Munday left the meeting.
21/01390/FUL – 43 Winston Way, Halstead, CO9 2TH – Retrospective application for the proposed conversion of an existing three bedroom semi-detached dwelling house into 2 No. two bedroom maisonettes.
Cllr Warren proposed objection to this application, seconded by Cllr Gronland, on the following grounds:
- The application was very badly put together and included inaccuracies
- There would not be enough parking for 2 dwellings
- The garden had been designed obtusely to be divided across the width of the property rather than lengthwise
- There is no dropped kerb
- This is a retrospective application and therefore neither BDC nor HTC could make a comment/examine plans before the work was done
The objection was agreed unanimously.
21/01407/HH – North Hill, Howe Chase, Hedingham Road, Halstead, Essex – Proposed side extension.
21/01432/HH – North Hill, Howe Chase, Hedingham Road, Halstead, Essex – Roof Extension
Cllr Pell proposed no objection to these applications, seconded by Cllr Caulfield and unanimously agreed.
21/01423/HH – 1 Warren Road, Halstead, Essex – Construction of ground floor front extension, infilling of garage door openings / replacement of flat roof to facilitate conversion of existing garages and provision of decorative boarding to front elevation of existing dwelling.
Cllr Warren commented that the loss of a garage meant loss of parking.
Cllr Gronland proposed no objection, seconded by Cllr Caulfield. The motion was carried by 6 in favour, 1 abstention and 1 against.
20/01493/OUT (Revised) – Land at Mount Hill, Halstead, Essex – Outline application with all matters reserved except access for up to 130 dwellings with new landscaping, open space, access and associated infrastructure.
The number of houses had been reduced to 73 by the time the application came to Council.
Cllr Fincken proposed that HTC should repeat its previous objections from October 2020, but more forcefully.
- It lies within the boundary of Greenstead Green and Halstead Rural, which would mean there would be no council tax income for Halstead, but the development would be dependent on the Halstead infrastructure of schools, doctors’ surgery and transport, which is already inadequate for the size of the town
- The applicant refers to the boundary of Halstead at the Oak Road development. All of Oak Road is within the Halstead boundary
- The area is not suitable for a development of this size and the density is too great
- It is susceptible to flooding at the junction with Blamsters, and any connection for surface water onto the A131 would exacerbate this problem
- This junction is also an accident blackspot
- There is already queuing of traffic at peak times when entering Halstead. Introducing a roundabout or traffic lights would increase congestion
- Some bus stops indicated on plans do not exist and it would not be safe to locate them in these positions
- The parking planned would be inadequate
- This area is not designated for development in the Local Development framework core strategy of 2011. The growth potential of Halstead is limited by its isolated location and high quality landscape setting. The services and infrastructure are of a lower quality than in Witham and Braintree
- There would be a loss of fauna and flora on a greenfield site
- There would be a loss of trees
- This development represents a loss of valuable countryside as visitors enter the town
- It would have no identity of its own, being tagged onto Halstead, but not close enough to be part of its parish of Greenstead Green and Halstead Rural
- Error on p.32. The highway is A131 not A133 (transport assessment)
- the NHS proposal of £27,600 is inadequate as the surgery is oversubscribed. This and the rest of the infrastructure is already overloaded
- The flooding cannot be looked at in isolation due to the elevation of this site being higher than the land West of Mount Hill that is being investigated by ECC Suds as this site will flow into it making a bad situation worse.
- HTC understands that BDC has reached its 5-year housing supply
The objection was seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
21/01482/HH – 10 Gardeners Road, Halstead, Essex – Erection of single storey rear infill extension and first floor extension over existing ground floor extension.
Cllr Pell proposed no objection, seconded by Cllr Gronland, and unanimously agreed.
21/01516/HH – 144 Tidings Hill, Halstead, Essex – Construction of a porch with WC to the side of the house.
Cllr Pell proposed no objection, seconded by Cllr Claydon, and unanimously agreed.
21/01591/VAR – 83 Chapel Hill, Halstead, Essex – Variation of Condition 2 (Approved Drawings) of permission 20/01483/FUL granted
05/03/2021 – Erection of 5no. dwellings with associated parking and garaging and alterations to previously approved and part implemented scheme for the erection of a replacement dwelling.
Cllr Pell proposed no objection to this application, seconded by Cllr Gronland, and unanimously agreed.
Cllr Pell left the meeting.
21/01479/FUL – Land West of, Rosemary Lane, Halstead – Erection of 2no. buildings comprising 7no. commercial units (B2) with associated access road, paths, bin stores and electrical substation.
Cllr Fincken proposed no objection to this application, but pointed out that this was an opportunity to improve the area, through landscaping and tree planting. He also noted the risk of flooding and the possibility of contamination. This was seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
Cllrs Pell and Munday returned to the meeting.
The planning policy information sent by BDC was noted.
041. MAYOR’S APPOINTMENTS
Cllr Radley reported that he had 4 events taking place over 2 months, and said that he was very pleased that events are now returning.
042. FINANCE Cllr Claydon took this part of the meeting
Cllr Claydon expressed his thanks to Cllr Radley and the Town Clerk for all the work they had done to produce the financial documents. He also explained that the overall situation with the earmarked reserves was good in view of the past year’s events, and was finally approximately £8k short of what had been expected. This would mean that not all planned expenditure could be undertaken, but indications for 2021-22 were already more encouraging.
a) To approve the Financial accounts and current assets
Cllr Gronland proposed approval of the Financial accounts and current assets, seconded by Cllr Fincken and unanimously agreed.
b) To approve the internal auditor’s report
Cllr Radley thanked the Town Clerk and her team for their work on the audit.
Cllr Claydon proposed approval of the internal auditor’s report, seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
c) To approve the annual governance statement
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the Annual Governance statement , seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
d) To approve the Accounting statements for audit
Cllr Fincken proposed approval of the Accounting statements for audit, seconded by Cllr Claydon and unanimously agreed.
e) To approve the List of payments to be made in June
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the list of payments, seconded by Cllr Claydon and unanimously agreed.
f) To approve the Bank reconciliations
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the year-end bank reconciliation, seconded by Cllr Caulfield and unanimously agreed.
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the bank reconciliation for the first 2 months of the financial year 21-22, seconded by Cllr Warren, and unanimously agreed.
g) To approve the transfer of funds between accounts
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the transfer of £60k between the Lloyds and Barclays current accounts, seconded by Cllr Gronland, and unanimously agreed.
h) To approve ticket prices for trips in 2021
Cllr Radley proposed approval of ticket prices for 2021 only of £18 pp for Halstead residents and £22 pp for those coming from outside Halstead, for 2 outings to Worthing and Norwich in September and October, to be managed in line with the Covid regulations at the time. Cllr Munday seconded this proposal, which was unanimously agreed.
i) To approve the income and expenditure report for May 2021
Cllr Radley thanked the Town Clerk for the extra work put in to manage the accounts, and thanked Cllrs Claydon and Gronland for all the work they had done on this as well.
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the income and expenditure report for May 2021, seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
043. H4C
Cllr Pell reported that H4C has been exploring ways in which they could develop the land, and will shortly be sending a commercially confidential report to councillors.
044. To receive reports from District Councillors
Cllr Munday reported that he had attended 2 planning meetings, a licensing meeting and Full Council. He and Cllr Pell had tried their best to prevent the Land West of Mount Hill application from going through for Halstead, but had been unable to prevent it.
Cllr Hume reported that in addition to attending Full Council he had attended a meeting on the Local Plan at the Local Plan cabinet Sub committee
Cllr Pell reported that she had attended skills training, licensing, a cycling strategy meeting, membership development, Full Council and the monthly leaders’ meeting, which had addressed the reorganisation of Parliamentary seats.
Cllr Fincken proposed that the Town Clerk should submit a carefully worded statement to the Boundary Commission to object to the inclusion of Halstead in the Haverhill constituency. This was seconded by Cllr Gronland and unanimously agreed.
Cllr Radley reported that he had chaired a meeting of the Performance Management Scrutiny Board, which was looking at the commercialisation of BDC. Evidence was presented by James Sinclair, Commercial Manager at BDC. He had also attended Full Council. He promised that he would have the 5-year housing figures for Braintree District for the July meeting. Reports were noted
045. To receive reports from Champions
Police – Cllr Warren said that there was nothing to report.
Surgery – Cllr Gronland reported that the project to increase capacity at the surgery was moving slowly forward.
Cllr Pell commented that talks were ongoing about bringing Halstead Hospital back into use.
Open spaces and environment – Cllr Fincken reported that there was no update.
Education – Cllr Caulfield reported that children at Holy Trinity had been asked to name roads in the Mount Hill development. It was agreed to ask for Cllr Chris Siddall’s help in helping to get large sums of S106 monies released for schools.
Tourism – Cllr Pell said there was nothing to report.
Champions’ reports were noted
046. FOOTBRIDGE UPDATE.
Cllr Munday reported that the bridge was open but there was still work to be done under the water. ECC had been asked to remove the Harris fencing. It was suggested that a BDC street operative might be asked to keep the bridge swept clear of leaves.
Cllr Warren left the meeting.
047. Wording of the Scheme of delegation
Cllr Munday proposed approval of the minor changes in wording to the Scheme of Delegation, seconded by Cllr Caulfield, and unanimously agreed.
048. Update to the Member & Officer protocol
Cllr Pell proposed approval of minor changes to the Officer and Member protocol, seconded by Cllr Hume and unanimously agreed.
Cllr Munday moved the extension of Standing Orders until the completion of business, seconded by Cllr Fincken and unanimously agreed.
049. To approve the holding of Christmas parties in 2021
Cllr Radley proposed approval of the holding of Christmas parties on 25 and 26 November 2021. This was seconded by Cllr Pell and unanimously agreed.
050. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS
To give consideration to adopting the following resolution: – “That in view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted and pursuant to the provisions of section 1(2)-of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, as amended, the public and the press be temporarily excluded from the meeting”.
Cllr Radley proposed, seconded by Cllr Pell, that the public and press be temporarily excluded from the meeting, and this was unanimously agreed.
PRIVATE SESSION
051. Interviews for an appointment were discussed.
052. Cover for sickness was discussed.
053, 054. Action on a staff matter was agreed.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 21.52