Minutes of a meeting of the
AMENITIES & BUILDING DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE held on
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PRESENT: Councillors C Everard Chairman
Mrs
J Boulton
Mrs T Travell
Mrs M Race
W A Storey
V Weeks
Clerk Mrs J A Schettino
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1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies
for absence were received from Councillor P Hastings.
2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
Minutes
of a meeting of the Amenities and Building Development Committee held on
3.
MATTERS ARISING
a) Purchase
of Land at Little Heath
A schedule of works had been received from Mr R Dixon
but settlement of the invoice from North Mymms Parish Council was still
outstanding.
b) St Mary’s
School Drainage Easement
Councillors C Everard and Mrs J Boulton agreed to
arrange a date to meet and prepare a drawing of the
c) Youth
Shelter
Councillor Everard said that the groundsmen were
monitoring the youth shelter following a significant amount of rubbish being
left there, not by youths, but probably by football supporters. It was agreed that if necessary the Parish
Council would write to the football teams asking them to clear up their own
rubbish following matches.
d) Allotment
Tenants
Councillor Mrs Boulton said that following a complaint of vandalism on the
allotments from a tenant and after conferring with Councillor Storey and the
Clerk, she had requested that a notice be put on the allotment notice board
stating the Parish Council’s stance on vandalism committed by other allotment
tenants and advising of the police telephone number, to whom all offences
should be reported by the relevant plot holder.
The Clerk said she had spoken to another tenant who
had also suffered vandalism and he suspected that young people were to blame
and this view had been confirmed, he said, by another tenant. He had been extremely reluctant to report
this to the police.
Although all complaints to the police had to be
reported by the actual tenant and NOT the Parish Council, the Clerk said she
had asked the local PC to check on the allotment site periodically to try and
deter any further problems.
e)
Councillor Storey reported that the Clerk had been
approached by Highfield Park Trust after they had been informed that there was
an Orchard at
f) Tractor
Shed Roof
Councillor Everard reported that the Tractor Shed roof
replacement was presently underway and should be completed by the end of the
week.
4. ANY
OTHER BUSINESS
i)
Drainage Works
at Gobions Open Space
Councillor Everard said the drainage works at Gobions
Open Space had been completed last week.
ii)
Bushwood Close
Councillor Everard said that the Parish Council had
received an e-mail from the Legal Department at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
declining our offer to give them Bushwood Close and Merritt Walk. It was agreed that Councillor W A Storey,
accompanied by Councillor Mrs J Boulton, would request a meeting with the Chief
Executive to further discuss the matter.
iii)
Allotment
Judging
The Allotment Judging Panel comprising of Councillors
Mrs T Travell, R Horrocks, Vivian Weeks and Mrs Weeks had inspected the
allotments on
1st Plot 19 119 points Mr
Anthony Hussey
= 2nd Plot 10A 118 points Mr Tim
Fleming
= 2nd
Plot 13(ii) 118 points Mr
Henry Gilham
The Chairman of Amenities thanked the panel for
judging the allotments and in particular, Mrs Jean Weeks for her contribution.
iv) Horse
Chestnut Tree
Councillor Mrs Boulton said that she had not forgotten
the Horse Chestnut Tree she had agreed to donate for erection at the War Memorial
but she needed a second opinion of the specimen’s suitability for the purpose.
v) Allotment
Applicants
The Amenities and Building Development Committee
reviewed the Council’s Policy regarding the allocation of allotments and it was
agreed to recommend to full council that the policy of the last forty years be
recorded that Allotments should be allocated only to residents within the
Parish unless there is no waiting list, when applicants just outside the Parish
may then be considered.
In response to a query regarding the overgrown state
of a couple of allotments the Clerk said that they are inspected regularly and
the Parish Council writes initially asking for a reason why they are
neglected. Depending on the reason given
the action varied between waiting a while for a tenant to regain full health
and ending the tenancy following a series of letters regarding non-compliance
with the Allotment Agreement Regulations signed by all tenants.
vi) Little
The Clerk said that following an approach by the North
Mymms Parish Council the school PTA were asking the Parish Council for a
donation towards their celebrations.
After a discussion it was agreed that regretfully, under Section 137
LGA, donations could only be made to registered charities and applications for
these needed to be received before the Council’s Budget Meeting in November,
when the next year’s budget is set.
vii) Rotary
Club of Brookmans Park
The Clerk reported that the Rotary Club of Brookmans
Park were hoping to stage a May Day event in 2009 on Bradmore Green and were
also proposing to change the day of the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. They were inviting a member of the Parish
Council to attend a meeting at the Brookmans on
Following a discussion it was agreed that Councillors
Mrs Boulton and Mrs Travell would attend although Mrs Boulton had a prior
meeting and may be delayed.
viii) North
Mymms Bowls Club
The Clerk said that the North Mymms Bowls Club would
like to arrange a meeting with some members of the Amenities Committee during
the day. It was agreed that three
members and the Clerk would be available on Tuesday, Wednesday,
Meeting closed at 8.45 pm