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FOXTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 6th November 2017

These are draft minutes, and have not yet been agreed by the Parish Council.

Present – Ron McCreery, Simon Buggey, Colin Grindley, Peter Sutton, Caroline Ilott, Liam Elliott, Christine Eckers and Jane Trevanion. County Councillor Peter Topping and District Councillor Deborah Roberts were in attendance. There were 12 members of the public present.

1 Apologies for Absence – Malcolm Bore.

Before starting the meeting, Ron McCreery welcomed the new parish clerk, Annabel Wright to the Parish Council.

2 Members Declarations of Interest for items on the Agenda – None.

3 To approve and sign the minutes of the Meeting of 2nd October 2017 –

There were no amendments to the minutes. Proposed CI, seconded CE. Approved.

4 Matters arising from these minutes

Station Road

Ron McCreery advised that he had written again to the Chairman of SCDC’s scrutiny committee and had still not received a response.

Trinity School Site

Ron McCreery advised that there was still no response from the County Council on this matter. They had agreed to discuss any development plans for the site with the Parish Council.

Townlands Trust

The Parish Council have received a valuation for the land owned by the Townlands Trust which differed considerably from that proposed by Mr Mead who rents the land. The Parish Council will continue to rent the land to Mr Mead. There are difficulties in moving a sitting tenant. The annual rent for the land has increased to £600.

5 Infrastructure Report by Ron McCreery

Roads & Pavements

Ron McCreery reported that he was still waiting for a response to the application for Priority Road Narrowing and the moving of the 30mph signs on the entrance to the village on Fowlmere Road. He expected to receive this next month.

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Rural Travel Hubs

Ron McCreery advised that Caroline Ilott had brought to his attention a misleading quote in the minutes of a meeting of the Cambridge Partnership Joint Assembly on 13 th

September. The quote implied that the Foxton Parish Council had in principle agreed to a park and ride site at Foxton.

He had spoken to Bridget Smith of the Cambridge Partnership Joint Assembly about this and she had agreed that the minutes were misleading and she would rectify this.  She had meant that the board had agreed to support improving Foxton as a transport hub but not that it was destined to be a Park and Ride.

The Parish Council have advised Bridget that they are not supporting any travel hub at Foxton and that their main concern was the level crossing.

Caroline Ilott reported that the minutes of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Board for a meeting held on 27 September had listed its priority transport schemes and there seemed to be funds set aside for a feasibility study for the replacement of the Foxton level crossing.

Ron McCreery advised that one feasibility study had already been done at a cost of £250,000 and the next stage would cost £300,000. Railtrack had not been willing to spend this additional money to date. In the past there had been some discussion that the county council might contribute funds. The combined authority may be offering to assist. Caroline Ilott will email the link to the minutes to Ron McCreery to review. Action CI

Pot holes

Caroline Ilott advised that quite a lot of pot holes had been reported. To date only 9 or 10 serious potholes had been filled in by the council. Pot holes have to be a depth of more than 50mm to be considered for repair. Caroline Ilott was hopeful that Peter Taylor would install a gully in station road where it kept flooding. She will remind him by email. Action CI

It was noted by Peter Sutton that it was important to install a gully before the winter set in.

Simon Buggey added that part of the problem was that the leaves in the area were never cleared.

District Councillor Deborah Roberts advised that South Cambridgeshire District Council used to clear the leaves and that she would enquire about this. She would also enquire about the cutting of the hedge at Hillfield carpark. Action DR

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6 Committee and Working Party Reports:

a) Recreation and Amenities by Jane Trevanion and MAYD by Christine Eckers

Recreation and Amenities

Jane Trevanion reported that she and Ron McCreery had attended a meeting of the sports clubs on 16 October and that the minutes would be issued shortly. Topics discussed were grass cutting and seeding, splitting of the cost of repairing the Bowls Club fence between the clubs and RGT and the removal of the litter bin outside the village shop. Ron McCreery reported a proposal to have a table tennis table installed on the recreation ground but this was met with mixed feeling. The lack of football pitches on the recreation ground was discussed. This was causing Dynamo Foxton to use facilities outside of the village. Tree work had been completed by Charlie Vince. No wood chippings were provided this time; however, Mr Vince will provide free wood chippings the next time tree works were carried out.

Jane Trevanion advised that she had received a quote for the biannual tree inspection for £901.50 before VAT. This figure was similar to the amount paid for the previous inspection and it was questioned why the quote wasn’t lower now the trees had been identified. It was considered that the inspection needed to be carried out every 2 years for health and safety reasons and therefore the inspection should be carried out. Jane Trevanion advised that she would challenge the quote to see if it could be reduced. Proposed RM, seconded LE. All agreed. Action JT

Christine Eckers advised that she was waiting to hear from the Play Inspection Company to confirm a date for the play equipment inspection. Christine Eckers to chase. Action CE

MAYD

Christine Eckers reported on the youth club in Melbourn which has attendees from Melbourn and the surrounding villages. She advised that there was a new youth leader and numbers of attendees had increased considerably this term which was putting some strain on resources. However, most attendees came from Melbourn with recently only a single attendee from Foxton. MAYD would like to know what the reason is for the poor attendance from Foxton and if there is anything that can be done to encourage greater attendance at the youth club from Foxton.

It was discussed that Foxton’s contribution to MAYD was considerable for only one attendee and this should be reduced if the number of attendees continues to be this low.

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Last year there were 5 to 6 attendees from Foxton and the contribution was increased from £300 to £800.

It was considered that there may be a transport issue, however transport had been offered in the past and not taken up.

Liam Elliott reported that MAYD had recently attended an assembly at Melbourn Village College which may encourage pupils from surrounding villages to attend. The majority of attendees to the youth club will be from Melbourn Village College. It was suggested that MAYD may be able to ask the college for their advice and to write to those who no longer attend to find out why this is. Action CE

b) Finance Report by Peter Sutton (see appendices attached)

Peter Sutton advised that the balance was split between Barclays Bank and Metro Bank. The balance in the Barclays Deposit Account had been increased by the second instalment of the precept to £31,050.18 in October. In the past month there had been a VAT refund paid into the Barclays current account of £1104.32 and a further grant from Groundworks of £2920 to fund the neighbourhood plan leaving a balance of £4076.45.

Approximately half of the S106 money was transferred into the Barclays Base Rate account leaving a balance of £65428.86 plus interest of £13.44 leaving a final balance of £65442.30.

In the past month, 2 accounts were opened with Metro Bank, as the Barclays 10-day notice account was not providing any interest. The Metro Community Instant Access Deposit Account with a monthly interest rate of 0.25% earned £5.02 interest as of 1st November 2017 leaving a balance of £23,641.59.

Approximately half of the S106 money was deposited in the Metro 100-day Tracker Notice account leaving a balance of £60,042.50. Interest earned as of 1st November was £28.05 leaving a final balance of £60,070.55.

The cheques were approved for payment. It was agreed to transfer £980 from the Current account to the Deposit Account leaving a balance of £31.13 in the Current account. Proposed LE, seconded SB. All agreed.

S106

The parish councillors discussed the time limit of 10 years to use the S106 money. It should be used for funding of village amenities for capital items rather than services. There was £7,500 granted for art work, however the parish council needed ideas of how this could be spent. It was considered that it might be worth contacting South Cambridgeshire District Council to find out how other parishes had used this money.

c) Neighbourhood Planning by Liam Elliott (see appendices of minutes attached)

The Neighbourhood Plan working party met on 9th October.

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Liam Elliott reported that:

The chair, Catherine Cairns had secured another grant from Locality for more of consultant Rachel Hogger’s time.

Rachel had 11 possible objectives for the neighbourhood plan which will be refined into more detailed policies.

Aecom had finished their housing needs assessment, which will form part of the evidence base for the Neighbourhood Plan.

Catherine Cairns had created a draft Landscape Character Assessment, in conjunction with landscape architect consultant Alison Farmer. Catherine and James Lord would be putting together a final evaluation which would form part of the evidence base. Another meeting would be held on Wednesday.

Ron McCreery asked the parish councillors to consider the financial support needed for the neighbourhood plan in the next year and whether the budget should be increased from £2000 to £3000. The budget for this would need to be agreed by January for the next financial year. Liam Elliott confirmed the meeting in December will discuss the budget required. Action LE

Conservation Area by Colin Grindley

Colin Grindley reported that there had been a meeting today with South Cambridgeshire District Council, which he attended with Ron McCreery, to discuss the final stages of the South Cambridgeshire draft report. The report was now nearing the stage of the second public exhibition to be held on 21st November, 3pm to 7.30pm in the Pavilion.

An encouraging response had been received from English Heritage highlighting 2 areas to be reviewed. There was still further work needed to make changes to the mapping in the report. Another meeting with South Cambridgeshire District Council had been organised for next week. However, one person working on the project at SCDC will not be able to attend the meeting nor the public exhibition due to undergoing an operation.

Ron McCreery advised that a letter was being sent out tomorrow to all households in, immediately adjacent or overlooking the conservation area. The public exhibition would be an informal consultation to encourage feedback on the conservation plan. There would be a formal consultation in December / January with the aim that the plan is adopted in February 2018.

7 Planning Committee Report by Liam Elliott (see appendices of minutes attached)

There had been 2 planning meetings held on 17th October and 31st October.

Liam Elliott reported that the meeting on 31st October was to discuss Thriplow Farms’ controversial application for a grain store on Fowlmere Road which will be approximately 200m long and 18m high at its highest point. The Parish Council had recommended refusal, based on the following:

The negative effect of such a large building on the open arable landscape, in the Green Belt. This area was identified as important in the recent Landscape Character

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Assessment done for the Neighbourhood Plan, and sections from this document have been used in the parish council’s response.

The effect of the extra traffic on the already-dangerous junction between Fowlmere Road and the B1368 Newton Road.

The decision to site the grain store on Fowlmere Road was entirely down to pre-application advice given, which the Parish Council felt was incorrect, as it wrongly stated that it would be in keeping with similar-scale agricultural buildings in the area.

A previous refusal for a smaller grain store on Fowlmere Road, due to its effect on the landscape.

Liam Elliott advised that the parish council needed to decide whether to employ the services of Philip Kratz to represent them at the SCDC planning meeting possibly on 6th December.

It was considered that December would be the earliest the application would be considered by South Cambridgeshire District council and that it would be more likely to be considered at the meetings in January or February.

It was proposed that £1000 be provided for the employment of Mr Kratz. Proposed CI, Seconded CG. All Agreed.

The planning committee had recommended refusal of the associated application for 36 houses at the existing grain store site in Thriplow, on green belt land.

Ron McCreery advised that there was a parish meeting at Thriplow on 9 November 2017 to discuss the application for 36 houses on the grain store site. There should also be another application for relocating the garage on that site which Foxton Parish Council hadn’t seen. This may be discussed at the Thriplow meeting.

Ron McCreery advised that individuals could send their responses to the application for the grain store via the South Cambridgeshire District website by searching for the application and posting their comments. Caroline Ilott confirmed she would post the link to the Foxton Facebook site and a link would be provided on the Foxton Parish website. Action CI/LE

8 Open Forum for Public Participation

Ron McCreery moved the open forum for public participation forward to allow their response to the planning application for the grain store.

One member of the public asked how many lorries would be associated with this application. Liam Elliott advised that 650, 30 tonne lorries had been estimated.

Roger Frost, a Foxton resident, advised that he had attended a planning meeting at the District Council in Cambourne. There was a professional planner in attendance, as well as consultancies employed and a number of parish councillors. He thought the representatives present had helped to support the decision made.

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Ron McCreery advised that the Parish Council are allowed 3 minutes to speak at the planning meetings and members of the public also have the right to speak for the same amount of time.

Ron McCreery added that the Parish Council often employ an expert to speak at the meeting to get the message of the Parish Council across within 3 minutes.

If an individual member of the public would like to speak at the meeting they must first register their objection to the planning process through the planning link on the South Cambridgeshire website. Once the planning meeting date and time is set an individual can apply to speak at the meeting up to 2 clear days prior to the meeting. They could also have an expert speak for them on their behalf. Ron McCreery advised that notice of the meeting date would be posted on the parish council website.

Mrs Frost, a Foxton resident, said that her understanding was that people affected by the planning application should be notified first by the planning authorities. District Councillor Deborah Roberts advised that they were under no legal obligation to do so. South Cambridgeshire followed this procedure as best practice. They card those properties most likely to be affected. If the planning application involved a listed building or conservation area, a notice would be put up on a nearby lamppost. Mrs Frost confirmed that she had not received any notification of the planning application and was going to contact the District Council about this. District Councillor Deborah Roberts advised they should have been notified and that they should complain to Pippa Corney, chairman of the planning committee. Mrs Frost advised that she had spoken to villagers in Foxton and Fowlmere and there was considerable concern about the grain store. It was difficult to imagine the size of the grain store which she thought would be larger than the Tesco store in Royston. She asked if a local petition to send to the planning committee would be useful. District Councillor Deborah Roberts advised that petitions do not carry much weight and that it would be better for individuals to put their comments directly to the planning committee and this way each objection would be looked at.

It was noted that each member of a household could leave a comment. Objections should be of a material and individual nature. It was recommended to look at the Parish Council planning minutes to consider the material objections put forward by the Parish Council.

District Councillor Deborah Roberts advised that Fowlmere Parish Council had not been consulted for their view on the application although it would impact their parish. She had voiced her concerns to the District council planning committee last Wednesday but had not heard anything back.

Another Foxton resident added that on the South Cambridgeshire website the Transport Planning Association had quoted that there would be 860 vehicles generated by the grain store. Liam Elliott commented that this differed from the 650 lorries that David Walston from Thriplow farms had advised.

Another Foxton resident asked if the grain store would have a drier as having lived in Haslingfield he had experience of a grain drier keeping him awake at night.

Ron McCreery advised that the initial figures provided on decibel output were quite low for the grain store. As it would be placed in a hollow, Mr & Mrs. Frost would hear more noise

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than anyone else. The nearest property was 925m away and the noise output at this point would be 31 decibels. The member of the public advised that he lived over 1 mile away upwind from the corn drier in Haslingfield and the noise was very noticeable. Ron McCreery added that the Parish Council could only rely on the noise assessment already undertaken. 90 decibels was the maximum you could go to without it being an offence.

District Councillor Deborah Roberts noted that the application for the new houses in Thriplow and re-siting of the grain store cited noise and dust as a reason for moving the grain store out of Thriplow. If this was a pertinent point why had it not been included in the application to move the grain store to Fowlmere Road.

Another member of the public added that Foxton was unusual in that it had little background noise, unlike Thriplow which had the noise from the motorway. Foxton was a quiet village.

Ron McCreery advised that this was another good point to make. The fact that the land was green belt was also an issue but not such an issue for agricultural buildings.

Ron McCreery reiterated his advice to use the South Cambridgeshire District website planning link to post individual responses and that notice of the District Council planning meeting for the grain store would be posted on the Foxton Parish Council website for those that wished to register to speak at the meeting. Anyone could attend the public Thriplow parish meeting at Thriplow village hall at 7.30pm on 9 November 2017.

9 County Councillor’s Report by Peter Topping (see appendices attached)

Mr Topping made the following points:

He was still trying to arrange a site visit for the Trinity School Site and would advise when a date had been confirmed for this.

He had attended the Neighbourhood Plan group meeting and it was his opinion that Foxton were making good progress compared to other villages.

The Milton water treatment centre was to be relocated to free up a brownfield site for housing which could cater for 1500 houses. This should reduce the need for houses to be built elsewhere.

In the next few weeks he would be getting a briefing on the Oxford to Cambridge railway. There were a number of routes under discussion and when this was confirmed he would report back. This could be significant for Foxton.

There had been a difficult debate at the county council regarding relocating, closing or building new children’s centres.  The centre at Melbourn wouldn’t be closed but would be relocated with health services.

10 District Councillor’s Report by Deborah Roberts

Deborah Roberts reported that she was dissatisfied with the planning department at South Cambridgeshire District Council who seemed to be losing officers rapidly. She voiced her

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concern regarding the large cost of public appeals and enquires relating to speculative applications (in the last year 5/6 major applications cost the council approximately £250,000). She noted that the Gladman appeal, although won by South Cambridgeshire District Council, cost them £50,000 due to errors in their case.

It is hoped that the local plan will dissuade costly, speculative applications. However, it was not clear when the local plan was likely to be put in place and it could be again delayed. Deborah Roberts was informed by the District Council that the inspectors’ views on the local plan would be reported in October and that the local plan would be completed by March 2018. The inspector has since advised that she could not promise a response within this timescale and that she may have a better idea around Christmas and hopefully before the elections in May 2018.

Peter Topping advised that there would be a parish liaison meeting at South Cambridgeshire District Council on 29 November in order to report on the progress of the local plan.

11 Police Liaison Report by Simon Buggey

Simon Buggey reported that 2 issues had arisen from the sports club meeting. There were 2 reported incidents at the skate park: (i) an incident with metal detectors and (ii) antisocial behaviour and drug misuse; both of which have been reported to the police.

The police had focused on the metal detector incident and this may have been because there was a witness to this. They had advised that a value couldn’t be put on the cost of hole filling and therefore there was no criminal damage. The best approach would be a polite word with those involved!

12 Recreation Ground Trust Report – Nothing to report

13 Correspondence – Annabel Wright advised of the following correspondence:

Email from Barrington Parish Clerk, Val Tookey, dated 30 October 2017 regarding local CAPALC training for councillors

Email from Martie Smit dated 6 November 2017 regarding her concern about the grain store application.

Call from John Palmer, Royston on 26 October 2017 regarding broken glass and litter at the skate park, reported to police.

Call from Mr Cook, Foxton on 2 November 2017 regarding the website contact form not working, reported to Mr Elliot who had taken this up with the website provider.

Email from Neil Perrin, Foxton on 6 November 2017 regarding the Community Partnership Application for broadband – Open Reach had confirmed superfast broadband should be available next year for Chardle Field.

Email from Paul Driscoll, Foxton dated 2 November 2017 regarding traffic calming measures and dog waste bins.

Various correspondence regarding services and supplies that might be useful to the parish council in the future – this will be filed for future reference.

14 Any Other Business

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Ron McCreery referred to the Good Councillors Guide to financial transparency and the question of keeping a risk register.

15 Date and time of the next Parish Council Meeting:

Monday 4th December at 7.45pm in the Village Hall

The meeting closed at 9.20pm.

Annabel WrightFoxton Parish Clerk16/11/2017

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Finance Report

FOXTON PARISH COUNCILFINANCE REPORT –6 November 2017 £ £BARCLAYS BANK

DEPOSIT ACCOUNT -10359939 Sort Code 20-17-19At 2 Oct 2017 19,430.18

Add transfer to Current Account 11,620.00 31,050.18

CURRENT ACCOUNT - 70374067 Sort Code 20-17-19

At 2 Oct 2017 14,301.

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Add: Transfer to DepositLess: Cheques Paid Add ; VAT refundAdd : Groundwork UK Grant – Neighbourhood Plan

11,620.00 2,629.341,104.322,920.00

4,076.45

BASE RATE REWARD ACCOUNT – 23390160 Sort Code 20-17-19 At 2 Oct 2017 65,428.86Add: Interest 1 Nov 13.44 65,442.30

METRO BANK – Sort Code 23-05-80COMMUNITY INSTANT ACCESS DEPOSIT ACCOUNT-24737942 - Interest 0.25% Monthly 23,636.57

Add; Interest 1 Nov 5.02 23,641.59100 DAY TRACKER NOTICE ACCOUNT-24738019 -Interest 0.55% Monthly 60,042.50

Add : Interest 1 Nov 28.05 60,070.55Cheques for Payment

Foxton Village Hall - 109.14+40.70 – 2 months 149.84

D P Garden Services 185.00

Annabel Wright - Salary 32.00 hours 430.40

Annabel Wright - Expenses 158.80

Society of Local Council Clerks-Membership for Annabel

101.00

Frances Laville – Salary 28.5 hours 353.78

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Frances Laville-Expenses – Computer & Travel 38.90

T J Austin– Hedge Cutting VAT 9.00 54.00

Foxton Cricket Club – Grass Cutting - £2,000 for year 1,000.00

SLCC Enterprises – Training Course for Annabel-VAT 19.80

118.80

SLCC Enterprises – Manual-VAT 0.80 78.40HMRC – income tax-Frances 30.40Charlie Vince Tree Surgery VAT 61.00 366.00Total 3,065.32Transfer £ 980.00 from Current leaving £31.13

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Appendix 2: Neighbourhood Plan Minutes

NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN WORKING GROUP

Notes from the meeting held on 9th October 2017 at 7.30pm.

Present: Catherine Cairns (chair), Tony Airey, Malcolm Bore, Rachel Edgar, Liam Elliott, Mark Howard, Caroline Ilott, James Lord. County Councillor Peter Topping was also in attendance from agenda item 4 onwards.

1. Apologies

Simon Buggey, Laura Finnemore and Bob Pettigrew.

2. Matters arising from meeting on 23rd August

The Conservation Area document is progressing. Colin Grindley is handing over to SCDC and there will be a public consultation meeting on the draft document on the afternoon and evening of the 21st November. The Conservation Area document, together with the Landscape Character Assessment, will be integral parts of the evidence base for the Neighbourhood Plan.

3. Grant applications

Catherine has secured a grant from Locality for another 7 days of consultant Rachel Hogger’s time between September 2017 and March 2018, together with meeting room hire costs which can now be claimed for. Catherine will invite Rachel to our next meeting.

Action: CC

4. Rachel Hogger’s feedback on draft objectives.

Rachel has commented favourably on the work done so far, and consolidated the work into 11 possible Objectives. Each of these will lead to one or more Policies. Her consolidation is as follows:

Theme ObjectivesTransport 1. To reduce the impact of traffic in the village, improve safety of all road users.

2. To encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport in preference to the car.3. To support use of more environmentally friendly cars.

Community Facilities including Green Infrastructure

4. Retain existing infrastructure and secure improved provision.

Housing 5. To support modest growth, commensurate with Foxton’s status in the wider settlement hierarchy where this growth contributes to meeting local housing needs.

Environment and Character

6. To maintain the historic and rural nature of Foxton.

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7. Protect and enhance landscape character.8. To enhance and add to existing biodiversity assets.9. To improve the built up environment of Foxton where opportunities arise.

Employment 10. To provide appropriate high value local employment.Transport Hub 11. To maximise benefits to the parish in the event of a transport hub/A10 interchange

taking place.

There was some discussion on a few of these items:

Item 3 was felt to be not appropriate for a Neighbourhood Plan. Item 9 needs rewording to make it clearer what this means. There was some question over whether Green Infrastructure should be bundled together with

Community Facilities; in fact there was general agreement that “green” policies should be present throughout all themes where appropriate.

Catherine will raise these issues with Rachel, and ask her to propose some draft policies as the next step of the process.

Action: CC

5. Aecom report on Housing Needs Assessment

Aecom have now apologised for the mistakes in the final draft, and have supplied Catherine with a new version with these corrected. It was agreed to keep the contents of this document confidential amongst working party members, until we have analysed it thoroughly and fed it into the NP as evidence.

6. Landscape Character Assessment

Catherine has consolidated the photos, sketches and forms completed on the LCA day into a document based on a template from our landscape architect consultant, Alison Farmer. Alison was pleased with the results but work still needs to be done on the ‘evaluation’ chapter: This is a summary of what we are actually going to do about the results of the assessment.

James will put together a map-based summary of the important views, boundaries and areas of character in the village and its surrounding landscape, based on the LCA results, for discussion within the working party.

Action: JL

On these maps, we can layer other evidence such as the green belt, Conservation Area, employment development, etc. All this evidence should be used in conjunction with that obtained from our consultations, to look objectively at where development could or should not take place (this can include sites that have already had planning permission granted, and we also may want to be specific about the type of housing at a particular site – for example, accommodation for the elderly on the old Trinity school site). This process will also involve gathering criteria for developers to adhere to in a call for sites (see below).

The wider community will then be consulted on possible sites for development; this will be a very sensitive issue and so much care will be needed with the consultation. It was agreed that a drop-in consultation was

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best, with additional information (and an interactive response page) on the web site for those who cannot attend the consultation. Personal invites are the best way of making sure as many as possible attend.

After this consultation, there will need to be a call for sites – this has been recommended by SCDC and Peter agreed that this would be necessary to avoid problems in future, where developers of potential sites could use the fact that they were not asked during this process. SCDC can help with the process, and Aecom can be used to independently assess sites against the NP criteria (another grant can be obtained for this work). It was agreed to do this call for sites after the emerging SCDC Local Plan has been adopted (which should be around March 2018) – provisionally in April 2018, with assessment in May.

7. Next steps

Refine and draft policies: Rachel Hogger.

Complete LCA report: Catherine & James.

Identifying potential sites: To be done after LCA is completed.

Focus groups: Catherine and Louise Lord are meeting at the school on Wednesday. The head teacher, Carole Davies, is supportive.

Local consultation on draft policies and potential sites: To be discussed at our next meeting; the proposal is to consult at the start of 2018. There will be a lot of questions in the questionnaire, based on the draft policies that will be put together by Rachel Hogger, and also to narrow down some areas (for example: there was some support in the last consultation for housing and facilities for the elderly, but what specifically do people want?).

8. AOB

Liam will ask Elaine McCarthy for the raw data results from the questionnaire.Action: LE

9. Date of next meeting

Tuesday 7th or Wednesday 8th November, to be confirmed.

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Appendix 3: Planning Minutes

Minutes of a meeting of the Planning Committee of Foxton Parish CouncilHeld on 17th October 2017 at 7:30pm in the Parish Council Office.

Present: Malcolm Bore (chair), Simon Buggey, Liam Elliott.

Apologies: Caroline Ilott.

No members of the public were present.

Declarations of interest

None.

Application S/3356/17/LB – 1 The Green, Foxton (Mr Daniel Lester)

This application is for repairs to the modern pantiled roof – securing pantiles and improving insulation.

The Parish Council recommend approval.

Application S/3461/17/TP – 14 Shepreth Road, Foxton (Shelford)

This application is for the reduction of the size of some trees. There is no need for the Parish Council to respond to this, as there are no objections.

The Parish Council recommend approval.

Application S/2961/17/FL – 28 Station Road, Foxton (Williams)

This application has already been discussed; the amendment is simply an updated site location plan which has no bearing on the application or the Parish Council’s previous recommendation.

Correspondence

Notification of approval was received for application S/2692/17/LB (3 High Street, Foxton – Listed Building consent for extension; Rachel Edgar).

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Notification of approval was received for application S/1826/17/FL (Orchard Farm, Fowlmere Road, Foxton – portal frame building for long term car storage; Mr Jonathan Sturgess).

Notification of approval was received for applications S/1174/17/FL and S/1174/17/LB (18 Station Road, Foxton – proposals to alter and extend grade 2 listed cottage; Richard Lloyd).

Notification of approval was received for application S/2820/17/FL (21 Cambridge Road, Foxton – grain store; Mr P Mead).

AOB

The expected application for the Thriplow Farms’ grain store had just been received. Mr Elliott agreed to ask SCDC for an extension to the 21 days response time, due to the amount of paperwork, the potential strong feelings with local residents, and the requirement to obtain professional help from Philip Kratz as well as hold a meeting to which all villagers could be invited.

Mr Bore agreed to contact the Parish Council and ask for agreement in principle to ask Mr Kratz for his help, and in the meantime to contact Mr Kratz and get some idea of what (if anything) he thought he could add to our case.

A next planning meeting was pencilled in for Tuesday 31st October at 7:30pm. Mr Elliott agreed to try and book the Village Hall lounge or meeting room for the evening.

Mr Elliott also agreed to ask Catherine Cairns (chair of the Neighbourhood Plan working party) for a copy of the draft of the Landscape Character Assessment document, which will contain an objective assessment of the area in which the grain store is to be situated.

The meeting closed at 7:50pm.

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Minutes of a meeting of the Planning Committee of Foxton Parish CouncilHeld on 31st October 2017 at 7:30pm in the Village Hall Lounge.

Present: Planning Committee: Malcolm Bore (chair), Simon Buggey, Liam Elliott, Caroline Ilott. Other Parish Council members: Ron McCreery, Jane Trevanion.

Apologies: Christine Eckers, Peter Sutton.

District Councillor Deborah Roberts and two members of the public (Mr & Mrs Frost) were also present.

Declarations of interest

None.

Application S/3566/17/FL – Land east of Fowlmere Road, Foxton (Thriplow Farms Ltd)

This application is for construction of a new grain store and creation of an access from Fowlmere Road together with planting and formation of an acoustic bund.

Based on previous consultation meetings and discussions, Mr Bore proposed that the Parish Council recommend refusal of this application, and had prepared some notes on our reasons for objection which he shared with those present. Mrs Ilott also shared some additional notes. The main points of the Parish Council’s objections are the effect of the overwhelming size of the building on the landscape, the potential traffic problems at the junction with Newton Road, and the fact that this site was chosen based on incorrect pre-application advice. The Parish Council will vote at the next full meeting whether to employ the services of our consultant Philip Kratz.

Mr and Mrs Frost emphasised the hugely detrimental effect that the new grain store will have on their quality of life.

The Parish Council’s response is lengthy, and so is included as an appendix to these minutes.

Application S/3591/17/FL – Thriplow Farm, Lodge Road, Thriplow (Hill Residential Ltd and Thriplow Farms Ltd)

This application is for Demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment for 36 dwellings together with new vehicle access from Lodge Road, parking, drainage infrastructure and public open space to include children's play facilities.

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Notice of this application was sent to Foxton Parish Council as an adjoining parish. Mr Bore agreed to contact Thriplow Parish Council (via the clerk) to find out whether they were recommending approval or refusal, so we could support their views. The Parish Council will also write a response to SCDC, insofar as it pertains to the Grain Store application (S/3566/17/FL):

Foxton Parish Council note that this application is closely linked to the re-siting of the grain store to Fowlmere Road, and wish to point out some anomalies between the two applications. The application for the housing development admits the inconvenience to local residents caused by noise and dust from the existing grain store, but does not mention this in the application for the new grain store, which will also be close to a residential property. It also includes a Landscape Visual Assessment for the housing development, but the new grain store application (which will have much more of an impact, visually) does not have such a document.

The Parish Council also note that a previous application (S/0713/05/O) was refused on several grounds, the most pertinent of these being the fact that it would create the need for new replacement buildings in the green belt, detracting from its openness and character. This is still the case, and should be a reason for refusal in this instance as well.

Correspondence

The following notifications of approval have been received:

S/3064/17/FL – 2 Illingworth Way, Foxton (Replace white UPVC windows with aluminium grey; Construct new 1.8m fence)

S/1646/17/FL – Land to the rear of 57 Fowlmere Road, Foxton (erection of 1 dwelling and associated works)

S/2961/17/FL – 28 Station Road, Foxton (Alterations to the kitchen area and the provision of a new extension to replace an existing adjoining brick outbuilding)

S/3118/17/FL – 16 Barrington Road, Foxton (Removal of existing windows and replacement with new, installation of new front door, installation of cladding to front elevation and new hardstanding).

The following new applications have been received:

S/3712/17/LB – 53 High Street, Foxton, Cambridge (Internal and minor fenestration alterations)

S/3817/17/FL – Bartholomews, Shepreth Road, Foxton (Demolition of existing car port and store then the erection of a new barn style structure and separate covered car port)

S/3118/17/TP – Land Adjacent to 7 Station Road and Unit 8, 1, High Street, Foxton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB22 6SP, Foxton (Mature Aesculus hippocastunum (Horse Chestnut) - 30% crown reduction to suitable growth points, maintaining natural shape. Work needed to reduce weight and sail of crown due to proximity to houses and road as a precaution).

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AOB

The next meeting, to discuss the three new applications listed above, will be on Monday 13th November at 7:30pm. Mr Elliott gave his apologies in advance.

The meeting closed at 8:40pm.

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Appendix: Foxton Parish Council’s response to application S/3566/17/FL

Foxton Parish Council (FPC), representing the views of village residents, strenuously object to this application for the following reasons:

Its visual intrusion into an important landscape area and Green Belt; The pre-application advice (on which the choice of site for the grain store was entirely

based) was inaccurate and unsound; It will create unnecessary heavy traffic use of the junction of Fowlmere Road and the

B1368, with associated environmental issues.

Visual intrusion

The application form refers to “Construction of a new grain store and creation of an access from Fowlmere Road together with planting and formation of an acoustic bund”. However, the plans and access statements include the following:

Implement store 1400 m2 (15,069 ft2) Ridge height 10m (32.8 ft) Mono pitched fertilizer store Two 13m high silos 5,000 litre water tank Weighbridge Five liquid fertilizer tanks

Together, these buildings and plant constitute a much larger development than described on the application form.

Foxton Parish Council are in the process of developing a Neighbourhood Plan, and as part of the evidence base, have employed an independent landscape consultant to aid in creating a Landscape Character Assessment document. Although this document is still in draft form, it emphasises the importance of this character area as follows:

“This character area to the south of the village is an open rolling arable landscape that emphasises the rural setting of the village. The land slopes gently south and east, and it provides separation from adjacent villages, not just Fowlmere to the south, but also Newton to the north east and Thriplow to the south-east, all just visible thanks to their church towers.

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The chalk landscape has very occasional small agricultural buildings and the road interrupting its openness and tranquillity. The small 2016 housing development on the brow of the hill, at the southern edge of the village, also provides some visual intrusion. Its siting bears no relationship to the chalk landscape, and it creates a new village edge escaping over the brow of the hill from the otherwise hidden settlement. External tree screening may in time ameliorate its visual impact.

The stretch of gently rolling chalk landscape between villages of Foxton, Newton, Fowlmere and Thriplow is very open and tranquil in character with large arable fields, occasional field boundaries and low hedgerows along highways and is characterised by long open views across the landscape. Occasional wooded areas are limited to the course of Hoffer Brook between Newton and Foxton and the new plantation of woodland on Chalk and West Hill, Foxton. A single line of trees runs approximately east west, east across fields halfway along Fowlmere Rd.

This landscape is particularly sensitive to development because of its open nature and long views across it from villages, public rights of way and highways that sit in and cross it. The open nature of the landscape means that any development, specifically one of substantial height and mass, will be highly visible from a significant distance. Furthermore, opportunities to mitigate this impact are limited given the mitigation itself may further negatively impact on the openness of the landscape character.”

Pre-application advice

Thriplow Farms have confirmed to FPC in writing that a location off the B1368 Newton Road was originally their preferred location, and that the decision to concentrate on the Fowlmere Road location was entirely based on the pre-application advice dated 11th April 2016. However, FPC believe that the pre-application advice given was unsound for the following reasons:

Page 1 states that “The site on Fowlmere Road is considered most suitable as although fairly open has a number of existing agricultural buildings that contribute to its character”.The proposed site is a very open landscape. There is only one small brick-built agricultural building to the west of Fowlmere Road, approx 300m from the site. The only other buildings in the area are a range of buildings forming a car storage business, with heights that would be dwarfed by the proposed grain store. There is no development to the eastern side of Fowlmere Road. The establishment of a large grain store and associated buildings will adversely affect the important open landscape and not contribute to its character.

Page 2 states that there is no relevant planning history. However, application S/0374/06/F (for a small grain store adjacent to the brick built agricultural building previously referred to) was refused on landscape grounds as follows:

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FPC agree with the statement on page 2, “The group of agricultural buildings would result in a loss of openness and visual intrusion into the Green Belt and countryside given the site is undeveloped”. However, the statement “However the development is considered to be in keeping with the character and appearance of Fowlmere Road that comprises similar scale groups of agricultural buildings set in open arable land” is clearly inaccurate; as previously mentioned, there is no development to the eastern side of Fowlmere Road, and the only other agricultural building in the area is one small brick barn. This barn is to the western side of Fowlmere Road, and not in the Green Belt.

The advice goes on to state that “The sites at Brook Road and Newton Road have a greater rural character and appearance due to the presence of landscape features and lack of groups of agricultural buildings. These sites are therefore considered to be more sensitive in landscape character terms in comparison to the site on Fowlmere Road”. FPC suggest that the very existence of landscape features (woodland at the Newton Road site) would serve to disguise the bulk of the structures, and therefore would be less intrusive than the proposal to build in very open countryside and then try to disguise the buildings with inappropriate earth bund walls and planting.

Notes from the pre-application meeting on 10/04/2017 state (2.4) that “…further evidence including consideration of other sites will be required for the application”. However, the application focuses entirely on the Fowlmere Road site, without consideration for the other sites previously proposed.

Unnecessary heavy traffic use of the junction

The site proposed is on the western boundary of the farm’s land. Thriplow Farms have confirmed in writing to FPC that there is the potential for 650 30-tonne grain lorry movements p.a. from the grain store, all of which must travel to the M11. At harvest time there will be a large number tractor and trailer movements loading grain into store, and additionally there will be continual vehicle movements connected to this group of agricultural buildings. The majority of the

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potentially hazardous vehicle movements could be removed from the junction of Fowlmere Road and the B1368 by siting the agricultural buildings at the alternative site off Newton Road.

There would also be an environmental gain by siting the buildings off Newton Road, nearer the centre of the farm, as the distance to be travelled by tractors and trailers loading the store and bulk grain lorries carting grain via the M11 would be reduced.

Conclusion

Due to the controversial nature of this application, FPC request that it is decided by planning committee, and also that a site visit is made to see the detrimental effect that this development would have on the character of the area.