DRAFT MINUTES OF THE SHENLEY PARISH MEETING

HELD ON 16 MARCH 2004,

IN THE VILLAGE HALL, LONDON ROAD, SHENLEY, AT 7. 30 P.M.
 

Apologies for Absence: Cllr. Rosemary Gilligan.

Councillor Stewart Hunter, as Chair of the Parish Council, took the Chair, and formally opened the proceedings. Eight members of the Parish Council and County Councillor John Usher, together with 35 local residents/ electors were present. The Chair invited the Parish Clerk John Marks to record the Minutes with the agreement of the meeting.

The Chair introduced Ms Michelle Henley, Conservation Officer at Herts and Middx Wildlife Trust, who had been invited by the Parish Council to attend as the guest speaker to give a short presentation about bio-diversity issues in Hertsmere. Ms Henley gave an interesting insight using slides to show the before and after of sites that had been managed for conservation. She described the decline of heathland, woodland and wetland and how 50% of ancient woodland had been lost since 1940, and that there were still bats and great crested newts in evidence in Woodhall Farm and Coombe Wood, but that stag beetles, otters and water voles were examples of species in decline. She encouraged members of the audience to become involved in special events and opportunities by forming local member groups and arranging activities for children. The Trust had 15,000 members and this year was their forty year anniversary, and they would be pleased to provide guided walks.

Ms Henley invited questions arising out of her presentation. In answer to a question whether the Trust visited schools she confirmed that Trust were pleased to do so. Mr Stephen Bury raised the question of the planned conservation work at Woodhall Spinney and whether Ms Henley had visited the site since he had raised the issue. She said that as the Trust had two thousand sites to consider it was not possible to visit them all. Mr Bury presented a petition signed by 250 residents requesting the Parish Council not to support the planned work. Cllr. Peter Bourton replied that the Council together with members of the Shenley Parish Council Advisory (Environment) Committee and Mr Bury had received a conducted tour around the site and were satisfied with the proposals of the Countryside Management Services once they had been fully explained and it was clear that they were unable to convince Mr Bury accordingly.
 

The Chair thanked Ms Henley for her attendance and informative presentation, which the meeting endorsed with a round of applause. The meeting then turned to the remaining items on the Agenda.

Copies of the Minutes of the Parish Meeting held on 18 March 2003 had been distributed together with copies of the audited accounts for the year 2002/2003 and the Balance Sheet as at the 31 March 2003. It was agreed by those present to accept the Minutes as read and, with the consent of the meeting, the Chair signed the Minutes as a true record, subject to the alteration on page three that “Mr Robert Dearden would take over the organisation of participation in Hertfordshire’s Village of the Year 2003”.

There were no matters arising from the Minutes.
 

The Chair then proceeded to read a copy of his report on the activities of the Parish Council for the past year and the plans for the ensuing year as follows:-

Since 13 May 2003 at the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council when I was elected Chairman a lot has happened.
Our new Clerk John Marks had only been in office for one month and I can tell you he has settled in very well. I do not know how he is getting on with me, but I am getting on well with him. It is a pity he lives so far away, but the job was advertised everywhere and nobody from the Village applied for the job. So that is the reality of it.
We started with four women and five men and believe it or not they are all still here sitting in front of you, and I thank them for the support they give me.
 

My first experience of being Chairman was on the 11 June 2003 when about forty pensioners left Shenley by coach on our annual day out to Eastbourne. Well we could not have picked a better day to go to the seaside. It was brilliant and the sun shone all day and we must thank Cllrs. Jackie Reith, Denise O’Connor and Caroline Walford for all their hard work in organising it. I can tell you now that we are going to Clacton-on-Sea on 16 June 2004-so mark your diaries and tell your friends.
 

We had a meeting in this hall regarding getting the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme into more streets, but I am not sure how it is going at the moment. Also in June we had a meeting with the Highways Authority regarding resurfacing London Road, which I think has now been done successfully, as I have not had many complaints. I think it was also June when phone masts began to raise their ugly heads. The problem is still there, but more about that as I go along.
June is also the month in which the Shenley Fete and Carnival is held, and that was yet another brilliant day weather wise, as was the whole summer and part of the autumn. Remember this fete does not just appear on the Sunday morning of the event. Paul Racibowski and his many helpers need thanking for all their hard work.
We got a duck feeder unit to feed the ducks with wheat or corn on the Cage Pond, but it was short lived as somebody didn’t like it and vandalised it. It was put there to see if we could stop the bread being put in, which we thought was encouraging rats.
 

We were told that Shenley Village was due to have their own dedicated Police Community Officer to commence 1 July and that two Police Community Support Officers would be available from September 2003. I have not seen much of them as will most of you either. We have a problem in the Parish Council Meetings regarding the Police or rather the lack of them. We get letters to say that the Chief has changed and we get him in to see us and he tells us how good they are but nothing seems to happen.
 

John Ely, Director of Shenley Park Trust, kindly offered to repair the Village Sign which stood in the grounds here for some years. It was given to the Parish Council by the Village Coffee Ladies. I hope they are happy as to how it now looks and where it is sited. We must thank John Ely for getting this work done for us here in Shenley. I can also tell you that we are having the Chairman’s badge of office made in the design of the Village Sign, as our present badge has not got Shenley on it, but Elstree.
 

In July we started allowing members of the public four minutes to ask the Council any questions they liked. We have had a few each night, which are interesting and informative.
 

I hope you all enjoy reading your copy of the Link, which I hope you are all receiving. It is not in competition to the Shenley Parish News. We thank John and Kathleen Spencer for their co-operation in this matter. Also Robin Gwyn needs thanking for the printing as well as Cllr. Denise O’Connor for editing the Link. Whilst thanking people we can’t go any further without thanking Cllr. Jackie Reith for her outstanding and sterling work in getting this Parish Plan up and running. It is still running and will take until September to get the final results. So you can see it was not as easy as just filling in the form.
The Community Development Agency for Herts provided four free two-hour sessions on computer training , which are currently being held in this hall. A lot of people from the Village have attended and have been well pleased with their results
Remember our Clerk John here has a surgery for two hours from 2.30 to 4.30 pm on the second Tuesday every month prior to our Council Meetings, other than in August.
 

Reverend Vincent Oram, Cllr.Tim Gilligan, John Spencer, the Clerk and myself are on a small working group with Hertsmere Borough Council regarding improving the entrance of St Botolph’s Cemetery. We have now agreed the plans with Hertsmere Borough Council who have allocated £50,000 to the project. They are putting in a ramp at the entrance, one path up the side and one going right across into the new part next to the field. Work is expected to start in May this year.
In December we had our first of several meetings with residents and the mobile phone operators regarding the siting of masts in Shenley. We surely did not agree where they should be and after even more meetings we still didn’t agree. We seem to be split on whether to have many small replica telegraph poles throughout the village or a couple of tall masts at either end of the village.
 

We have recently had our first working group meeting to sort out the details of the Shenley Parish Council Major Incident Emergency Plan. I can report that all the items on the plan have been addressed and that we will know what to do.
Regarding Woodhall Spinney the trees are not going to be felled until next October or November because everybody seems to take forever to make decisions.
 

Last Sunday a working party of ten volunteers out of fifty-seven who said they would be prepared to help cleared part of the spinney so that bit now looks a little better.
 

Thank you all for attending tonight. I hope you will have found the evening interesting and informative
Stewart Hunter
Chairman
16 March 2004