Present: Marshall Ferguson - chair, Ailsa Dempster, Vic Clark, Barrie Woolley, Tim Fox, Andrew Royle, Mark Thompson, Terri Meechan, Paul Seaton - pert, Phil Bromhall - Borough Councillor - part, Stan Heggs - County Councillor - part, Lucy Fox - Jnr. Councillor - part, Lewis Holdsworth - Jnr. Councillor - part, Phil Oram - clerk, Camilla Cobb - ACRE - part, two members of the public.

Before the meeting proper Camilla Cobb discussed various items with the two Jnr, Councillors, this took place at 7 p.m. She then stayed for part of the Parish council meeting.

Mark Thompson, the new Councillor, was welcomed to the meeting and introduced to everyone present. He signed the "Declaration of Observance of Code of Conduct".

1      Apologies - none

2      Meeting open to public

Jnr. Councillors asked if it was possible to arrange transport from Gretton to Uppingham at weekends, going to Uppingham around mid-day and returning around 7 p.m. The possibility of the Community Transport was discussed and the cost of using it, agreed clerk write to Volunteer Bureau to find out what can be done. There is a possibility that funding can be obtained through Borough Councillor's funds.

3      Declaration of Councillors' Interests

Chairman reminded Councillors that they should declare an interest where this was involved.

4      Minutes of meeting held 8 August 2005 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the chairman.

5      Report from Borough Councillor

Phil Bromhall reported that two ladies from the village had attended the Corby Area meeting to complain about the traffic speeding on Corby Rd, Gretton, this was being taken up by that meeting.

He also reported that there is a quarterly meeting of "Government for Older People"; the next meeting will be an "Over 50 Safety Meeting" where "Home Fire Safety Check" leaflets village handed out.

He had leaflets from Welfare Rights to hand out and/or display.

Under Corby Housing Strategy allocation of village housing had not been taken into account by "appropriate criteria and allocation policies".

The resident of 63 High St had asked him to look at the footpath and road outside her house; he also reported the light between the Post Office and no 38 High St was not working properly - clerk to report to Street Doctor.

6      Report from County Councillor

Stan Heggs reported that he had been involved with litter in Geddington Rd, Corby where a dead dog was found in the hedge.

Items that had been discussed and hopefully would be implemented were as follows: £5 million had been allocated to repair roads in the county, Provision of flags to all schools in the county - this was being sponsored so no cost to county; looking at clean up gangs to clean up the villages; Operation Springclean was to be re-introduced; there was to be a tree planting programme for Parish Councils; more use of re-cycling centres was being encouraged.

In answer to the question of who is responsible for replacing street lighting in the village he suggested that the Borough Councillor was the person to sort this out.

a      Clerk had replied to consultation on the Mobile Library Service and had a reply saying they did not think the Village Hall car park was a good place, however they will try out the revised timetable and look at it again after six months.

b      Clerk had checked if the Village Green was registered as "Common Land" and yes it was registered under the 1965 act but under the 2005 act Village Greens are still registered but do not have to show on the map.

8      Village Plan - nothing to report

9      Correspondence

a      NCC provisional local transport plan 2006/7 - 2010/11 - Tim Fox agreed to look at it and make any comments.

b      Leics. C.C. Waste and Minerals plan - they are looking for comments from Parish Council - the document can be viewed on the website - circulation file.

c      Anglian Water replied to letter regarding tidying up brambles etc. on their site next to the Water Tower - this would be done within two weeks of the date of letter.

d      Sustainable Communities Bill - asking for support from all councils - agreed clerk should write in support.

e      Details of the marks gained and comments made about Gretton in the Village of the Year competition - Tim Fox asked for a copy for the Village Plan.

f      Letter from Peter Weston regarding the War Memorial - Mr Clarke from Lyddington had been asked to look at War Memorial and say what should/could be done and give P.C. a quote/estimate - clerk to chase this and write to Peter Weston informing him of the situation.

g      CPRE action on government housing plans - Tim Fox to look at this.

h      Letter from Phil Hope MP thanking P.C. for support during the last year and asking for continuation. Also advised he would be willing to come to any P.C. meeting if invited.

i      Voluntary Sector Support Unit asked if we wanted to continue to receive information from them - clerk to reply.

j      NCC draft Rights of Way improvement plan - agreed to ask Mel Jarvis to look at it

 

circulation file:

NCC community funding advisory panel

Community planning network news

Campaign for Sustainable Communities Bill

Dev. Control meeting 23 August

Full council meeting 8 September

Corby Area meeting 7 September

Clerks & Councils Direct

P C mins - Middleton, East Carlton, Stanion.

10      Highway Matters

a      NCC Local Transport Plan 2001-2006 - information and request form - clerk to reply.

b      Reps Review - circulation file

c      Following a letter to Debbie Strong about speeding a reply from received with no great hopes that they would do anything.

d      A reply from NCC regarding our letter about access to 2 Caistor Rd informed council that no licence had been granted yet. Agreed to write asking them to note that the Parish council has an interest and will they contact us when licence is being granted.

11      Planning Matters

a      Information received regarding proposed work to trees within Gretton conservation area at 1 Craxford Rd. Permission has been granted - this is for information only.

b      Conversion and extension of buildings - Avenue Farm, Corby Rd - permission granted subject to certain conditions.

c      Two storey and single storey extension to rear of dwelling and porch to front and garage to rear - 18 Kirby Rd- concern was expressed over the size of extension and building line and how it will affect 20 Kirby Rd. Also concerned about proposed access to garage in new position.

12      Finance Matters

	a	Current balance		15327.74
	b	Payments received		Nil
	c	Payments due	Copy shop - newsletter	166.56
			BDO Stoy Hayward - Audit	141.00
			P A Oram - Petty Cash	11.20
			P A Oram - Salary (end Sept)	719.10

d      External Audit Report

There were no matters which came to the auditor's attention which required additional issues arising letter, the Auditor's signed the Annual Return and this was approved and accepted by the council.

13      Police Matters

Correspondence received was - Annual Report, PCSO details, Stats for year and Front Line first -all of these were put in the circulation file.

14      Any Other Business

Barrie Woolley asked if the Village Hall was applying for a drinks licence - Ailsa Dempster replied that Thrapston was co-ordinating all Village Hall licences to present to C.B.C. but drinks licences would be as before.

Terri Meechan informed the council that the Cricket club had received a letter from Northants Fixtures stating that the club must provide facilities as given on the fixture list. As the Football club only received their fixtures a month in advance it would cause problems with clashes of fixtures at beginning and end of season. Agreed that Andrew Royle and Paul Seaton from P.C. should meet with representatives from Cricket and Football clubs to sort out this problem.

Ailsa Dempster informed the council that the Village Hall had come through the first round of application for £250,000 towards the new Village Hall; she also said that Jeremy Sharman was helping in the fund raising. She also said that Auriel Swan was helping with various aspects to do with the Village Hall.

She asked if anyone knew why we had had power cuts recently - apparently due to twigs growing in the generator.

Marshall Ferguson asked if we could have the Notice Board painted and suggested Jim Milligan be asked - clerk to pursue.

A member of the public asked if the Scouts could use Pick Playing Field for overnight camp, also requested that the large circle, previously used for a roundabout, be taken up and sand put down so they could use that area for cooking. This was agreed and clerk was asked to contact C.B.C. with regard to obtaining funds to take up this circle.