BELPER TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 9th DECEMBER 2003
PRESENT: Councillor Jim Anderson (Town Mayor) - in the Chair
Councillors: Peter Arnold, Deborah Biss, Joseph Booth, Alan Cox, Jackie Cox, Les Dorey, Colin England, Anna Hingston, Russell Horsley, Peter Makin, John Nelson, Mick Nelson and Martin Tomlinson.
The meeting commenced with prayers led by Canon Robert Parsons.
- APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from Councillors Melvyne Cluskey and Mark Robertson.
- 148 CHANGE IN ORDER OF BUSINESS
The draft budget to be considered as item 16 on the agenda was circulated.
The recently published Belper Celebration was commended and copies were given to members who had not already received one.
As Inspector Hicklin had been called away on an emergency item 4(i) would be deferred until the next meeting.
As a representative of Belper Meadows Sports Club (Mr Owen Chadwick) had been requested to attend in respect of item 21 this would be brought forward and taken immediately after item 6 (Declarations of Interest).
As there was no need to consider item 33 in camera any longer this would be taken immediately after item 28 (Future Meetings).
- DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Mick Nelson declared an interest in item 21 (Car Boot Sales - The Meadows) and left the Chamber whilst it was under consideration.
- CAR BOOT SALES - THE MEADOWS
In response to questions posed by members Mr Chadwick outlined the proposals for the future development of the sporting facilities on the Meadows. In order to obtain grant aid from Lottery funds the Meadows Sports Club would have to raise £80,000 themselves. They were pursuing various ways of amassing such a sum and one of these was to hold monthly car boot sales in the period April to October. He referred to the conditions imposed by the Borough Council which, inter alia, precluded traders from attending.
Because of their concerns about traffic generation, the effect on other organisations wishing to hold car boot sales and possible interference with the morning service at Christ Church it was decided to allow the car boot sales to take place for a trial period of three months from April to June and then the situation would be reviewed.
- FARNAH GREEN - TRAFFIC SPEEDS
Mr Keith Ratcliffe of Farnah Green had complained on several occasions of traffic speeding through the village and had requested that steps be taken to prevent this. The Town Clerk would ask the Police and the County Council to assess the problem and if thought necessary introduce calming measures.
- PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
There were no members of the public present.
- IN CAMERA
It was agreed to take items 30-32 in camera, in accordance with the agenda.
- MINUTES 125 -144 OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL HELD ON 4th NOVEMBER 2003
Minutes 125 - 144 of the Council meeting held on 4th November 2003 were received and adopted.
- MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF 4th NOVEMBER 2003
Minute 140 - Quality Council Scheme
The Assistant Town Clerk wished to gain the AQA Certificate in Local Council Administration and as the Derbyshire County Training Partnership was going to run a further course beginning in January the Town Clerk recommended that she should be allowed to attend. He had attended the original course which had proved very successful even though some of the methodology enshrined in the "Quality" approach he considered questionable. It was agreed that Mrs Hibbert should be enrolled on the course and the cost of attendance should be met from the training budget.
Minute 143 - Coppice car park
It was reported that emda now appreciated that the imposition of a deadline for completing the works by the end of this financial year was impracticable. It was confirmed that the improvement scheme for the Coppice car park would still be classified as a high priority scheme even if the bulk of expenditure fell in 2004/5.
Councillor Deborah Biss reminded Council that the car park could well be the site of the old Belper manor house and therefore provision should be made in the project timetable to allow some archaeological excavation of the site.
- MINUTES OF THE FINANCE WORKING PARTY HELD ON 27th NOVEMBER 2003
The minutes of the Finance Working Party held on 27th November 2003 were received and noted.
- MINUTES OF THE CHRISTMAS WORKING PARTY HELD ON 25TH NOVEMBER 2003
The minutes of the Christmas Working Party held on 25th November were received and noted. There would be a meeting of the Working Party after Christmas to review the various activities in which it had been involved. Particular attention would be paid to the illuminations and possible developments for next Christmas. This review meeting could look once again at the possibility of putting pea lights in the tree at the Triangle.
- MAYOR'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Mayor outlined the engagements he had undertaken since the last meeting on behalf of the Council. He made particular reference to the Remembrance Day service and parade which was followed by the civic reception for the party from HMS Brocklesby.
He then reminded members of the forthcoming Christmas events which included the arrival of Santa Claus at the River Gardens, the Council's own Christmas Festivities Day on Sunday 14th December which was the day after the Christmas Farmers' Market and the Christmas Eve carol service in the Market Place.
It was reported in the current Navy News that Commander Wayne Keble and Lieutenant Commander Phillip Ireland had just been awarded Operational Honours. The former who was the commanding officer in 1995 when the Town Council re-established contact with HMS Brocklesby was awarded the OBE and Lieutenant Commander Phillip Ireland who was in command of the ship whilst she was engaged in Iraq was awarded the DSC. The Town Clerk would write to both officers sending the Council's congratulations on behalf of the people of Belper.
The Annual Council Meeting and the Annual Assembly of the Parish Meeting were scheduled to take place on 4th May next year. However that week had now been chosen to celebrate the Market Towns Initiative. As the Mayor would be heavily engaged in a series of events throughout the week including a special concert on 4th May it was suggested that the annual meetings should be postponed for a week until 11th May. Council agreed to the suggestion.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
No comments were made on either the schedule of applications that had been circulated with the agenda or on those that had been received since then. As there had been no time to prepare a schedule the various applications received in the previous nine days were read out.
- TREE WORK IN CONSERVATION AREAS
The proposals contained within the letter from Amber Valley Borough Council's Principal Arboricultural Officer, which aimed to speed up the process of dealing with requests to cut down or prune trees in Conservation Areas was agreed. However as no reference was made to the involvement of the Tree Wardens under the proposed approach this would be raised with the Borough Council.
- JUSTICE'S AND ENTERTAINMENT LICENCES
No comments were made on the three applications itemised on the schedule.
The Town Clerk reported that under Section 183 of the 1964 Licensing Act the name of the current licensee should be displayed above the main entrance to licensed premises. If this was not done then the Police could issue a formal caution and if this was not acted upon a prosecution could take place.
- PAYMENTS AND RECEIPTS
The schedule of payments and receipts covering the period from 14th October to 26th November2003 was received and approved. The schedule is attached to these minutes and shows net expenditure of £13,667.79 and net income of £4,850.98.
- BUDGET 2004/05
The Chairman of the Finance Working Party tabled a schedule he had prepared which identified the Council's expenditure and income under its various heads. The schedule analysed each item of expenditure and income into six columns. The first three showed the actual income or expenditure in the current year for the first quarter, the second quarter and the first six months. The fourth column showed the budget for 2003/04, the fifth column the estimated outturn for the current year and the sixth column the draft budget for 2004/05.
In introducing the Working Party's proposals Councillor Alan Cox highlighted those heads where there was a significant change from the figures for the current year. Thus as there would be no elections in the next financial year there was no need to make a provision in the Budget for this item. Similarly a saving would be made on vehicles and equipment now that the pick-up was fully paid for. However to counterbalance such savings some other expenses had increased well above the level of inflation. Thus the Citizens Advice Bureau would need £10,000 next year to maintain the same level of service as this year when a grant of £7,000 had been made. However by reducing the reserves brought forward from £49,374 to £33,186 it would be possible to maintain the precept at the current year's level of £222,000 and at the same time more than double the contingency figure to £4,796.
The Council's thanks to the Chairman and members of the Finance Working Party were recorded and the proposed precept of £222,000 was approved. The appropriate procedures would be taken to inform Amber Valley Borough Council that the precept for 2004/05 would remain at the same level as in the current year.
- USE OF E-MAILS
The Finance Working Party's suggestion that members should be encouraged to take Council papers and correspondence via e-mail was the subject of a lively debate. Though it was recognised that there would be savings in postage the practicalities of scanning the many enclosures accompanying the agenda and the cost for individual members of printing this material together with the fact that some members had no e-mail facility precluded the adoption of the Working Party's recommendation. However correspondence via e-mail between individual members and officers would be encouraged.
- BELPER LEISURE CENTRE TRUST
The Leader, Councillor John Nelson, outlined the history of the Trust and the reasons for setting it up in the first place. He recommended that it should be treated in the same way as any other organisation in the town and now that it was firmly established and had a good financial base the Council could withdraw its financial contribution so that it could be used elsewhere. Accordingly he was recommending to Council that notice should be given to the Trust stating that the Council, whilst wishing to remain a member of the Trust, would cease to make a financial contribution to the Trust after the end of next financial year (31st March 2005). However, just as with any other organisation, the Trust could apply to the Council for financial support in the event of an emergency or for the development of an existing one.
Some members were opposed to the proposal and as a compromise suggested that the contribution from this Council could be phased out over two or more years. Following a robust debate the Leader's proposal was carried.
- PROPOSED CLOSURE OF BRANCH POST OFFICES
The proposed closures of the branch post offices at Windmill Lane, Nottingham Road, Bridge Street and Parks Road were deplored. Though leaflets had been placed in each of the four post offices there had been no consultation with the Council even though the leaflet claimed to have "consulted your local community representatives". Indeed the Post Office appeared to regard the closure as a fait accompli and were merely paying lip-service to the process of consultation.
The closure of each individual post office would mean a deterioration in service to the community living in the vicinity of that post office as users would have to travel a greater distance to secure the same service. It was difficult to understand the Post Office's claim, in their leaflet that " we are confident that we can continue to provide the current level of service with fewer branches".
It was agreed that the author of the leaflet, Mr Paul Maisey, be invited to the next Council meeting to justify the proposed course of action and explain why there would be no deterioration in service even if only one of the four branch post offices were to be closed.
- PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY BOUNDARIES
The final recommendations of the Boundary Commission in relation to the Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries for Derby and Derbyshire were noted.
- TWINNING ANNIVERSARY
It was noted that provision had been made in the Budget to mark the 10th anniversary of the twinning agreement with Pawtucket in June 2004. At the same time that Belper twinned with Pawtucket Amber Valley twinned with Blackstone Valley and the Borough Council is anticipating inviting a party over from New England towards the end of June. It would be appropriate for Belper's celebrations to coincide with those of Amber Valley. It was likely that Blackstone Valley and Pawtucket would be celebrating the anniversary with various activities at the beginning of May to coincide with their tourism initiative week.
- BUS SHELTER - FAR LAUND
As a result of the efforts of various Councillors the bus shelter had been refurbished by the Borough Council and so there was no need to consider replacing it.
- GRIT BINS
As there had been no response to the Town Clerk's letter to the residents of Eagle Close and it was unclear whether this road was to be adopted or would remain private this item was deferred until the next meeting, when the status of The Woodridge would also be ascertained.
- GREEN WATCH AWARD SCHEME 2004
It was agreed to nominate Adshead Ratcliffe for an award in recognition of the work they carried out in helping to conserve the water meadow in the land between their factory and the River Derwent.
- STAFF WORKING PARTY
Council confirmed that Councillor Mick Nelson should be a member of the Staff Working Party and that Councillor John Nelson should replace Councillor Joe Booth on the Working Party.
- PRIVATE STREET WORKS
It was noted that the following streets and footpath have been adopted by the County Council as highway maintainable at public expense:-
Barley Croft off Snowberry Avenue - 84 metres
Mill Dale Court off Snowberry Avenue - 33 metres
Birchview Close off Snowberry Avenue - 47 metres
Footpath from Walnut Road to Barley Croft - 229 metres
- FUTURE MEETINGS
In addition to the approaches made by the Healthier Communities Project Manager and the Borough Council's dog wardens a further letter had been received from the Borough Council offering the opportunity to discuss the public conveniences in Strutt Street and at the Triangle as part of the consultation process that Council was going through in formulating its Strategy for Public Conveniences.
- FLORAL DISPLAYS - SUMMER 2004
It was noted that as Mr and Mrs Walker of Broadholme Nurseries were retiring the Council would have to go out to tender for its requirements for summer bedding.
- CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED
The schedule of correspondence received was noted.