Parish Annual General Meeting
Minutes of the Bartlow Parish Annual General Meeting
held at 8.00pm in The Three Hills, Bartlow
on Monday 15th March 2010
Present: Duncan Ogilvy in the chair, Jo Baily, Henrietta and Tim Breitmeyer, Linda and Stephen Bugg, Mollie and James Haggie, Bob Hill, Graham and Denise Howat, Christine Ogilvy and Catriona Ogilvy. John Batchelor and Trisha Bear, our District and County Council representatives, were also welcomed to the meeting.
1. Apologies for absence
Nigel May, Michael Neald and Cathy Faithfull
2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting dated 24th March 2009
These were agreed as a true record
3. Matters arising :
Linton Wind Farm
John Batchelor reported that following various meetings, a decision will be made before Christmas, but he believed that the enquiry was going well in terms of being likely to uphold the District’s refusal of the application. Noise issues are still to be discussed and also Linton Zoo. It has been a very expensive process with the costs of the Stop Linton Wind Farm being between £70,000 and £80,000. He stated that if anyone is in favour, they can still put their point of view but most decisions have already been made.
4. Election of officers
Duncan Ogilvy and Linda Bugg were unanimously re-elected.
5. Neighbourhood Watch
Mollie asked that we put up more signs. Contact has been made with the Police Community Support Officers but there is nothing to report. Mollie Haggie and Duncan Ogilvy are the village representatives.
6. Speed Watch
Graham Howat reported that Bartlow are the co-ordinating group, having been the first to receive training. He confirmed that the process works well and that it does not have to be done very often to be effective. Our experience has been that the level of reportable speeding is c10%. He suggests we set it up every 4-6 weeks during the better weather. To date we have concentrated on Camps Road so it is planned that the next site will be Dean Road outside Linfield House and the team will thereafter move to the Ashdon Road. Jeff Timmons-Brown has offered to help our existing team of three and any more volunteers would be welcome; we tend to do it on a Friday morning. It takes a team of three; as West Wratting, for example, trained 10 people, they are able to be more active.
7. Any other business
Tim Breitmeyer asked about the Ashdon Road potholes. Also the steps up to the three hills have not been repaired and one of the planks on the bridge is actually rotten. Linda agreed to chase this up.
Tim Breitmeyer asked if the collection at Westoe Farm could be checked out as it is not always taken correctly. The next recycling will be from a new blue bin with an insert for papers. This will replace the green bin. Philip Gibson asked if there was a chip in the bin; the answer is no as it is thought not worth while. Tim Breitmeyer also asked that we should report all fly tipping as it is only taken away from a Council road.
John Batchelor reported that the County Council were doing all they could regarding the potholes with the limited money available. The County Council congestion fund of £520m might have helped but last week the Government rejected that bid. They are going to bid into another fund, called something like Urban Transport Renewal.
He also stated that there was no chance of the Guided Bus opening in the near future. There is a dispute between the Contractor and the County Council which limits our liability to £1.5m out of a possible £50m. It will probably end up in the High Court. It might be open by the end of the year. Arbitration is now going ahead. The Contractor has lost control of the costs but hopefully it will be down to him and not the Council. The contractor is bidding for a lot of other Government contracts.
8. Date of next meeting
Another meeting will be held next year but an extra meeting could be organised if required.
