MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF GRAFHAM PARISH COUNCIL
HELD ON TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2012
IN THE VILLAGE HALL
Present: Mr P Allingham (Chair), Mr I Gardener, Mr A Watson, Mr K Sharp, Ms T
Lord and Mr A Duckworth. Cllr Peter Downes was also in attendance.
The meeting of the Parish Council was convened at 7.30pm.
11/106 Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from David King and Mrs Patricia Jordan
11/107 Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the meeting held on 10 January were approved and signed.
11/108 Matters arising from previous minutes
It was stressed by Cllr Peter Downes that Cambridgeshire CC are pushing for
broadband improvements for the whole of Cambridgeshire by 2015.
11/109 Parish Plan Summary
It was suggested that some additional information might be useful, concerning
how the priorities were set and the need for resident involvement in the process.
The Council accepted the Parish Plan as a working document for prioritising
future plans.
.
11/110 Community Transport
At a public meeting held in Grafham Village Hall at the end of January,
members from 4 local Parish Councils together with 3 Grafham residents met
with the District Council to discuss existing services, what cuts were to be made
and how the communities might best be served by community transport. It was
clear that people would want a regular service, rather than an “on-demand” bus
and that a service was likely to be most useful when going to St Neots and the
train station; the suggested route being Grafham- Perry - Gt. Staughton - Hail
Weston – St. Neots and return. There was also the suggestion that the prison
visitor bus could be put to use at weekends, instead of just waiting several hours
to return visitors to Huntingdon Station. There has been no feedback to date on
the ideas put forward, but Peter Downes is hoping for a further meeting to
discuss outcomes in more detail.
11/111 Village Hall Refurbishment
It will not be clear until at least March this year what goods/furniture might be
available to the Parish Council from charity donation. Further information will
be provided as it becomes available.
11/112 Jubilee 2012 Celebrations
A joint committee from the Parish council and SAS will meet to discuss ideas
for celebrating the jubilee. Progress to be reported at next meeting.
11/113 Village shop
The idea of setting up a community shop was discussed and it was agreed that
the basic ideas be communicated to the residents via the Grafham Gossip. The
first requirement would seem to be to set up a managing committee to take the
idea forward. The Parish Council will be kept informed of any progress.
11/114 Banking and Audit
1.
Outstanding accounts presented for payment were authorised.
2.
The current financial position shows a balance of £10,0058.67
11/115 Other items for information only
Cllr Watson advised that a lot of heavy traffic is using Church Hill during the
work on Grahfam Water. Any damage to the road will be reported to Anglian
Water.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.30pm.
The date of the next meeting will be Tuesday 13th March 2012.
ADDENDUM
Cllr Peter Downes informed the meeting of the budget plans of Cambridgeshire County
Council. There is a plan to borrow £100m over 25 years, while interest rates are so low.
This money will be invested in roads, a new railway station at Chesterton, an Ely bypass and new schools.
There will be reductions in services to special needs and disabled children among
others.
Voluntary sector grants will be cut by 28%.
A small community chest will be set up for community projects.
The decision has been taken not to take advantage of funds made available by the
government to subsidise council tax (Pickles money) as this could potentially impact on
increases required in the following year when this money would not be available..
A new homes bonus is being granted by the government to encourage the building of
new homes. This could, potentially, bring in income of £6m.
Cllr Downes thanked the PC for hosting the Community Transport meeting.