A PDF file of the Minutes displayed below may be download at this link: PC Minutes January 2024
BLACKMORE, HOOK END & WYATTS GREEN PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES
Of the Ordinary Meeting of the Blackmore, Hook End &
Wyatts Green Parish Council held on
THURSDAY 18th JANUARY 2024 at 7.30pm
At Tipps Cross Remembrance Hall
MEMBERS PRESENT – Cllr’s R Keeble (Chairman), N McCarthy, K Bennett, T Lockhart, T Hinton, J Swettenham, H Eltham, K Parkinson, K Wood, J Clarke. S Clapham (Parish Clerk). Borough Cllr’s T Bridge and R McCheyne.
0622 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – Cllr’s H Cannon, V Dean, T Thomas. County Cllr L Wagland. Mrs Nelson (RFO).
0623 APPROVAL OF MINUTES – 21st December 2023
The minutes were signed by the Chairman as a correct record with no amendments.
0624 DECLARATION OF INTEREST (for items on the agenda) – J Clarke, H Eltham (Affiliate members of the Tennis Club) – In relation to item 0627).
0625 OPEN FORUM – There were four members of the public in attendance to bring to the Parish Council’s attention the three metre fencing which had been erected by the Tennis Club. The Clerk confirmed that there had been no prior contact or consultation with the Parish Council to approve a request for fencing from either the Tennis Club or the Blackmore Village Hall Committee. A three metre fence required Planning consent as well as the PC’s permission as the legal land owners. The resident’s/affiliate members attending the meeting asked why the PC would approve such fencing which was totally unnecessary for such a small village Tennis Club. It was unattractive and in their opinion totally unsuitable. It also blocked the pedestrian footpath onto the Millennium field. The current route meant that pedestrians had to navigate the small space between the rear of the club house and the Millennium field hedging. This was not possible for any visually impaired person or person(s) with impaired or restricted mobility.
The PC advised that they had not given consent, neither had there been any consultation process with them. The PC was not aware that a fence had been erected or that the Tennis Club had previously discussed this with the Village Hall Committee. Cllr Keeble said that the Tennis Club had approached the BVH Committee to enquire if they could erect what was considered to be a small low-level fence around the pavilion/hut, as the Tennis Club wanted to deter trespassers as they claimed they had been experiencing this from time to time. Cllr Keeble stressed that at no point had they mentioned that the fence would be three metres in height which he knew would require planning permission and PC approval. The PC suggested that in the first instance, the Club Members should voice their dissatisfaction with the Tennis Club Committee Chairman. The PC would contact the Tennis Club Chairman and ask them to stop work and take down the ‘illegal’ fencing with immediate effect. The Tennis Club would then need to put in writing any new request for fencing with full specifications to the PC for consideration.
Note: After receiving a telephone call from a resident prior to the meeting, the Clerk had contacted Brentwood Borough Council’s Planning Department to check if a Planning Application had been submitted, which it had not. The Planner explained that a retrospective application could however be submitted. The Clerk put in writing to BBC that the PC did not consent to, or were in support of, the 3 metre fencing which had been installed. Without permissions being sought, and until such time that the correct consultation process had been undertaken, the PC would not approve a retrospective application at this time.
Action: The Clerk was asked to write to the Tennis Club Chairman advising them of the above and that they should stop all work and undertake to remove the fencing within a 14 day period. Any future consent must be first be sought with the Parish Council.
It was also agreed that the lease agreement with the PC and Village Hall Committee should be updated to include terms of reference and specific delegated powers to prevent this happening in the future. The BVH Committee would then be reminded when it was necessary to consult with the PC should any such requests be made or alterations discussed to upgrade the land or facilities therein.
0626 Progress Check/ReporT–
- Ex BT Phone kiosk/lending library, Wyatts Green road – The Clerk had obtained a quotation from Mr Phil Arnell to re-paint the kiosk in the BT issue red, which the Clerk will provide stockist details of to Mr Arnell. Approval of the quote of £320 – £480 for the 2-3 day’s work was proposed by Cllr Hinton and agreed. Action: Clerk to instruct Phil Arnell.
0627 Correspondence/Communications–
1. Complaints had been received by Cllr Keeble and the Clerk from a local resident and affiliate member of the Tennis Club at Blackmore. The Clerk had been notified of a possible planning breach with the erection of a three metre metal fence around the Tennis Club facilities. The Parish Council had not been consulted and had received no application from either the Tennis Club or Blackmore Village Hall Committee. This was covered under item 0625) Open Forum.
0628 Reports of Borough & Essex County Councillors–
Cllr Bridge gave an update on the planning process at BBC. As a PC, we have the right to speak at BBC Planning meetings as well as neighbouring parishes. He reminded the PC that if planning referrals were made by the PC then these should be directed to the Planning Committee rather than the ward members who are on the Planning Committee because of possible conflicts of interest. Cllr Bridge also confirmed that Cllr Wagland had submitted the pot holes for the parish under the pot hole initiative, as previously reported by the Clerk. In the first instance they need reporting on the ECC online report it tool. He suggested when taking photos of any pot holes, inserting a150ml miniature drinks can into the hole to show the depth which ECC can use as a reference point.
POLICY & RESOURCES-
0629 Finance – Payments made online:
S Clapham –
Essex Pension Fund –
HMRC –
R Nelson –
L Cooper – £60.00 – Xmas lighting electricity
Leather Bottle – £60.00 – Xmas lighting electricity
Town & Country Landscapes – £2196.00 (inc VAT) – inv.8.12.23.
“ “ “ – £720.00 (inc VAT) – inv 8.12.23
“ “ “ – £720.00 (inc VAT) – inv 8.12.23
Total Landscapes – £732.00 (inc VAT) – installation of seat and bin at Elkins Green – (£850 reimbursed by resident for the seat)
Broadmead Leisure – £902.00 (+VAT) – nest swing replacement – (reimbursed by K Troster)
“ “ – £580.00 (+VAT) – safety inspections & maintenance to junior climber & aerial runway
Blackmore Parochial Charity – £610.00 – field rent
Payments made on the PC Credit Card: W Hart cars – £380.57 (inc vAT) – Replace two batteries – Parish Mini Bus.
Amazon – £37.96 – printer cartridge and £9.99 – Wireless laptop mouse.
NALC – £39.22 (inc VAT) – “The Levelling Up Agenda” Clerk’s seminar 31.1.24
Cash drawn: nil
Transfers: nil
Memberships: ALCC Renewal – £50.00 & SLCC Renewal – £238.00 – (Credit card)
Income/receipts/Reimbursements:
Bank Interest – £322.00 (Barclays) and £119.00 (Unity).
Allotment tenancy deposit – £50.00
Mini Bus hire fee (January) – £45.00
0630 Financial Report to 31st December 2023:
All in accordance with the Finance reports circulated ahead of the meeting, with no amendments.
0631 Financial Powers:
a) Draft budget 2024-25 – Cllr Bennett summarised details of the draft budget circulated by Mrs Nelson prior to the meeting. He said that the 9 months up to December 2023 we spent £69,900. We have forecast that to the end of 2024, that is likely to be around £99,500. This is less than budgeted for and there should be an underspend of approximately £16,000. This is because we have been reimbursed for certain items, ie. vandalised play equipment, new seating and new planter donations. We also allocated £5,00 towards Legal expenses which were unspent.
b) Precept setting – Cllr Bennett went on to say that we had managed to keep the 2023-24 parish precept at the same rate as the previous year, as we managed our resources very well. For next year however, it is anticipated that our costs will increase somewhat. Cllr Bennett therefore suggested that next year’s annual precept be increased from the current £66.75 to £69.20 for a Band D property. This shows a reasonable 3.7% increase for 2024-25. This should cover all of the PC’s projected costs with a small surplus of approximately £4,000. The guidance given on reserve funds is that we should have between 3-24 months annual precept in reserves and we have 6 months, which was felt to be a better position to be in. Cllr Lockhart proposed approval of the above which was unanimously agreed. Action: The RFO will inform BBC of the Precept amount ahead of their own budget setting process.
PLANNING COMMITTEE-
0632 There had been no Planning Applications received for January and therefore no Planning Committee meeting had taken place since December.
PARKS & OPEN SPACES (POS)-
The minutes of the meeting held on 15th January 2024 at 10.00am were circulated prior to the meeting. The Minutes were accepted and the following items were discussed/approved:
Walter Hobbs-
0633 Junior swing seat – damaged:
Paul Tucker of Broadmead Leisure had advised that some of the rubber swing seats had been vandalised/damaged, and dog teeth marks were evident. He had quoted £65 to replace each seat and he would investigate how many seats were damaged and in need of replacement. He would also investigate if more durable plastic seats were available, although the product search so far had proved fruitless due to Industry standards seeming to favour rubber seating. Action: Subject to availability, the PC agreed that suitable replacement seats should be organised. In hand with the Clerk and Paul Tucker.
0634 New fencing to play area: Total Landscapes had provided a quotation of £800 (+VAT) for
Supply and installation of 3 x 3ft bays and 1 x gate of pressure treated timber picket fencing with a self-closing latch. Approval of this expenditure was proposed by Cllr Parkinson and unanimously agreed. Action: Clerk to instruct Total Landscapes.
0635 Items pending:
- Quotation for 2 x new signage – Stuart Allen
- Installation of new Proludic see-saw with Paul Tucker.
Ted Marriage-
0636 Cabin slide – new grass mats to be installed:
As recommended by Paul Tucker, he suggested grass mat safer surfacing be installed. He had quoted £750 (+VAT). Expenditure approval was proposed by Cllr Hinton and unanimously agreed. Action: Clerk to instruct Paul Tucker (Broadmead Leisure).
0637 Items Pending:
- Repair of decaying timbers to the play area fencing – This work is in hand with Paul Tucker.
Mill Lane–
0638 Junior swing seat replacement:
As per item 0633.
0639 Broken/rotten fencing to play area: The following quotes were received:
- Total Landscapes – £1,000 +VAT
- Broadmead Leisure – £800 +VAT.
It was proposed by Cllr Parkinson and unanimously agreed that Broadmead Leisure’s quote be accepted. Action: Clerk to organise.
Millennium Park–
0640 No reports received.
Blackmore Village Hall-
0641 Sports & Social club Roof Repairs:
Cllr Keeble reported that the roof repairs were now underway.
GENERAL PARKS & OPEN SPACES-
0642 Fingerposts:
There had been a recent road traffic accident at the end of December 2023. A car had veered off the bend at the junction of Hay Green Lane and Mountnessing Road. It had crashed into, and destroyed, the resident’s fence along with destroying the black and white directional fingerpost. Cllr Keeble was able to obtain the driver’s details and the Clerk is in the process of making an Insurance claim through the PC’s Insurers. The Clerk had discussed the lack of road signage at a recent meeting with Cllr Wagland and Ann Cocklin, ECC. Cllr Wagland agreed that there should be appropriate warning signage, such as the black and white chevron Highways sign alerting drivers that they were approaching a sharp bend. Action: Cllr Wagland advised she would take this up with Highways.
0643 Seating upgrades:
The Clerk had sought a quotation for back-less small wood effect seat options to replace the missing or damaged seats around the parish. These include:
- The broken seat at the Mill Lane bus stop going towards Mill Lane and Wyatts Green. The old broken wooden seat which the PC had removed for safety reasons, had been installed many years ago and it was unknown who had installed it (PC or ECC)? In light of the recent communications between residents on Wyatts Green road and ECC Highways in relation to the bus stop ECC had installed directly outside a resident’s driveway, which ECC had subsequently agreed to remove, the PC did not want to install a new seat which would require the installation of a concrete base directly outside a resident’s house. The PC agreed it would review this if appeals for a seat were made.
- Cllr Keeble said that two backless seats were required to replace the two old ones around the perimeter of the Walter Hobbs field and one on the Millennium field. The Clerk had received a quote from NBB Recycled furniture of £165 per seat, plus Total Landscapes quoted £300 to install a concrete base and install the seats with the suitable ground fixings. Cllr Clarke proposed that this expenditure be approved which was unanimously agreed. Action: Clerk to organise the three new seats.
0644 Blackmore School Parking:
As discussed at the POS meeting, the Clerk is in the process of liaising with the School, Safer Essex Roads Partnership and the new Rural Engagement Police Officer concerning the inconsiderate and illegal parking across the yellow lines outside the School which is a hazard to school children and parents crossing the road.
CLERK’S REPORT-
0645 Email Policy:
As part of the adoption and implementation of the new .gov.uk email domain and website upgrades, Cllr McCarthy had circulated a draft Email Policy for inclusion on the PC website. The content had been duly considered and its adoption was proposed by Cllr Clarke and unanimously agreed. Action: Cllr McCarthy will add this to the PC website.
0646 New gov.uk domain name: bhw-pc.gov.uk
All PC usernames and passwords had been created and disseminated and it was proposed by Cllr McCarthy and agreed that all members and Officers will be using only their new gov.uk email addresses before the next PC meeting. All PC business was to be conducted via the PC email addresses and not Councillor’s personal email addresses after that date.
0647 Use of Blackmore defibrillator:
The Clerk had been told by a Cllr that they suspected the defibrillator at the Blackmore Village Hall complex may have been removed and incorrectly used by a resident. They had first been made aware of this when it had been taken and used and yet no Emergency Service update advising that the defibrillator was deployed had been received, as is usually the case. This led to the impression that the person may have taken it during an episode and had remembered the pin number from a previous use and bypassed the Emergency Services route. The person had also returned it to the Sports and Social Club during an event being held there. The Clerk was asked to contact the East of England Ambulance Co-Ordinator to enquire about changing the pin number. They had immediately responded with the legal standing on the mis-use of defibrillators, which the Clerk read out to the meeting. Action: The Clerk was asked to write to the resident making them aware of the legal repercussions, as was suggested in the response, if they failed to notify the Emergency Services to enable the correct deployment of the defibrillator. This information must be held with the Emergency Services who hold all records of local available defibrillators in the event of a person requiring its use during a heart attack who go into cardiac arrest. The emergency services are responsible for providing the pin code and deploying the closest defibrillator to that person as well as notifying the registered custodian of the defibrillator that it has been used. Each time it is used or handled new pads are also required to be purchased by the PC.
0648 Date of next meeting(s):
POS – Monday 12.2.24– 10.00am – Zoom
PC – Thursday 15.2.24 at 7.30pm – Tipps Cross R Hall Committee Room
Planning – TBC subject to planning applications being received.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE/NEXT AGENDA ITEMS-
0649 Cllr Keeble advised that he had recently met with Tim Chilvers from Andersons. They anticipated they would be making the first cut into the field during the first or second week in February. They would then have a week undertaking archaeological digs. During late Spring/early Summer they anticipated work would commence on preparing the land for development. They advised we could expect to receive a letter from them soon. The Clerk will monitor.
CLOSE OF MEETING –
There being no further business, the meeting was closed by the Chairman at 8.45pm.