Minutes of the Meeting of Doddinghurst Parish Council held on Thursday 7th July 2022 at 19.30 in the Village Hall, Church Lane, Doddinghurst, Essex, CM15 0NJ.
Present: Cllrs. Mrs D. Dicker, Mrs J. LePage, Mrs D. Rogers-Harrison, Mr M. Capon, Mr A. Smith
Mrs T. Brooks and Mr R. McCheyne.
Also Present: Borough Cllr. C. Poppy
Also Present: Mrs C Fuller – Clerk/RFO
Mrs C Tremain – Deputy Clerk
1 Member of the Public
1. Apologies for Absence: Apologies received from Cllrs. P. Arnell, G. Smith, K. Pond and
D. Potter. Also from District Cllrs. K Parker and C. Gelderbloem.
2. Declaration of interests in items arising on the agenda. None.
3. Minutes of Council Meeting held on 9th June 2022 Approved and signed by the Chairman
4. Minutes of Extraordinary Council Meeting held on 15th June 2022 Approved and signed by the Chairman
5. Clerk’s Report for June 2022
a) Funds held at end of June 2022
Barclays Bank
£146,668.45
Petty Cash
£201.14
Santander
£18,190.47
Sub-total
£165,060.06
Less unpresented payments
£193.95
Total
£164,866.11
b) Santander – the application to add Cllrs. Capon and LePage has been sent. Reply awaited. c) New Barclaycard and PIN have been received and direct debit set up for monthly repayments. d) Burial Ground Update – one interment in June. e) Allotments Update – Inspection held on 30th June. A first aid box has been purchased for the shed. MD Landscapes have been asked to quote for removing overgrown vegetation from the shed roof. f) Trees – Prince Arboriculture carried out agreed works on 22nd June. The debris from the ash in the Burial Ground will be collected when a smaller vehicle could be obtained. The branches of the tree in front of the Parish Office will be cut back away from the BT lines, free of charge, at a later date. g) Office Alarm – started to malfunction on 10th June and the engineer was called, who disabled it as the control panel was faulty and not charging the battery. The Clerk is disputing the invoice subsequently received for £105.00 plus VAT as the engineer did not call in the timescale set in the maintenance agreement. h) Annual Report is being worked on and will be circulated to members in draft form before publication.
Page 10b-2022
i) Nature Trail – a resident has reported that the nature trail is overgrown and almost impossible to pass through. The resident was present at the meeting and spoke during item 8.
6. Financial Reports
Noted and approved
a) Financial Reports for June 2022.
b) Schedule of Payments for June 2022 (after an error was noted and corrected)
7. Feedback from Committees
a) General Purposes Committee – 15th June. Draft minutes were noted.
i) Resolved to accept the quote from Harrington Brothers Contractors Ltd for
£3,660.00 plus VAT to resurface the small car park adjacent to the children’s play
area.
c) Planning Committee – 30th June. Draft minutes were tabled and noted.
Cllr. McCheyne pointed out that infill development is likely to be approved by BBC, or if
refused, would be likely to be allowed on appeal. He suggested asking for S.106
agreements to obtain benefits for the village.
Planning applications decided, pending decision and new applications as at 6th July
were tabled and noted.
c) Feedback from members relating to other meetings attended – none.
8. Public Participation
Cllr Poppy:
• Queried why DPC didn’t request Weekly Lists if it was not receiving them. Weekly Lists are now being forwarded on Fridays and the Clerk was asked to forward them to the Planning Committee.
• Attended a meeting/presentation on Uber style buses.
• Notified members of a live planning application at Timberland Farm which they should consider.
Cllr. Capon has emailed Cllr. Lesley Wagland for an updated on the No. 71 bus.
Cllr. Dicker reported that the No. 61 bus no longer goes to Brentwood Station.
Resident reported:
• She has protested against the closure of Dagwood Lane woods. The land owner has fenced off the path traditionally used by walkers.
• She approached the riders of the horses and carts on Budgens Field and asked them to leave, but they refused. The field has been damaged and there are areas of uneven ground. She suggested that poles/barriers be installed to prevent further misuse. Cllr. Dicker informed her that the horse that bolted had been reported to the police and the request for poles would be considered by DPC.
• The nature trail is overgrown and impassable. The Clerk reported that she had asked MD Landscapes to strim the area.
• Youngsters are leaving litter, smoking, and drug dealing. It is a small group of troublemakers, but DPC needs to take action. Cllr. LePage reported that dealing is taking place in the Village Hall car park she has reported it twice to the police but no action has been taken.
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9. Parish Office Refurbishment
As the minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 15th June had been agreed and the project scaled back, the Clerk tabled two estimates to decorate and carpet the Parish Office. Both received from the contractors carrying out the same work in the Parish Room.
Resolved to accept the quotations from the following:
• The Brush Man – £1,995 (no VAT)
• Peter Alexander Carpets Ltd – £930.00 plus VAT.
The Clerk also reported that the electrical works are now almost complete. The composite doors cannot now be supplied by Total Fix so unless replacements can be sourced by that company, the Clerk will obtain a refund of the deposit paid and an alternative supplier will be sought.
Cllr. McCheyne asked that the General Purposes Committee considers disability access via a hoist into the Parish building.
10. Correspondence
a) Two printed copies of the Brentwood Local Plan have been received.
b) Letter from Brentwood Foodbank thanking the Parish Council for the £50 donation for
loan of the coconut shy at the Jubilee event.
11. Other Urgent Information not requiring actions
a) Planning Committee – next meeting 28th July.
b) Parish Council – next meeting 8th September.
The meeting closed at 20.45
Minutes signed: Date: 8th September 2022Parish Council Meeting Minutes 7th July 2022