Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies from members unable to attend the meeting

Apologies had been received from Parish Councillors Richard Tindall and Henry Clark.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

None.

Approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2012

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2012 were agreed and approved as a true and accurate record.

An opportunity for any member of the public, elected and co-opted members of the Neighbourhood Committee to raise anything that affects your area and to suggest items for future meetings

Attendees of the meeting were given the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues affecting the areas in which they lived.

These included:

• Rural residents would the first households in Peterborough to be issued with the grey food waste bins.  Delivery date was expected by the end of October 2012;
• A future agenda item for the Rural Neighbourhood Committee to discuss the proposals for wind farms at City Park and Northborough Fen, was requested.  The Neighbourhood Manager would invite Councillor Nigel North to provide a presentation on the wind farm proposals; and
• The Neighbourhood Manager would arrange a presentation on the progress of the current ward boundary reviews for the next meeting of Rural Neighbourhood Committee.

Agreed Actions

It was agreed that the Neighbourhood Manager would arrange suggested future agenda items for the next meeting of Rural Neighbourhood Committee. 

Proposals and voting for the allocation of the capital budget of £25,000.

The Neighbourhood Committee received a presentation from the Chairman for Rural North and West regarding the proposed allocation of the 2012/2013 capital budget allocation of £25,000.

The Neighbourhood Committee were asked to consider and approve the following:

1. The proposals for allocation of the capital budget of £25,000 for 2012/13;
2. The proposals which would receive an allocation of the budget;
3.  A reduction in the individual allocations should the approved proposals exceed the £25,000 budget, to be determined by the Neighbourhood Manager; and
4. The Neighbourhood Manager would be responsible for determining the final detail of the project in consultation with Ward Councillors and other relevant parties.

Proposals which sought approval from Members were as follows:

·         Castor – Traffic calming project – Approximately £2000;

·         Glinton –  Contribution towards Traffic calming project – Approximately £2,500;

• Deeping Gate – Village Heritage Information Sign – Approximately £1,000;
• Maxey – Car Park Improvements at the Village Hall – Approximately £4,000;
• Bainton and Ashton – Purchase of Mower – Approximately £900;
• Ufford – Purchase of Speed Awareness Sign – Approximately £900;
• Barnack and Pilsgate -  Purchase of Gates and improve access to Sports Pavillion – Approximately £900;
• Newborough – Purchase of Equipment for Newborough Skate Park - £5,000;
• Thorney – Extension to cemetery sanctum – Approximately £2,500; and
• Eye – Traffic Calming and verge protection - £2,500

Comments and responses to questions were as follows:

·         The detail for the traffic calming proposal for Glinton would be updated at the next Rural Neighbourhood meeting; 

·         Ward Councillors were encouraged to hold public meetings in order to discuss proposals for the Neighbourhood Committee budget allocation;

·         The costs inquired to introduce a Skate park at Newborough would be provided once the project was underway, in order to show complete transparency; and

·         Parish Council’s were encouraged to discuss the Neighbourhood Committee budget allocation proposals with public at their meetings.

Agreed Actions

The Committee agreed:

1. Proposals for allocation of the capital budget of £25,000 for 2012/13;
2. The proposals which would receive an allocation of the budget;
3. To a reduction in the individual allocations should the approved proposals exceed the £25,000 budget, to be determined by the Neighbourhood Manager; and
4. That the Neighbourhood Manager would be responsible for determining the final detail of the project in consultation with ward councillors and other relevant parties.

Members of the Neighbourhood Committee for Rural North and West, unanimously agreed to the following projects:

·         Castor – Traffic calming project – Approximately £2,000;

·         Glinton –  Contribution towards Traffic calming project – Approximately £2,500;

• Deeping Gate – Village Heritage Information Sign – Approximately £1,000;
• Maxey – Car Park Improvements at the Village Hall – Approximately £4,000;
• Bainton and Ashton – Purchase of Mower – Approximately £900;
• Ufford – Purchase of Speed Awareness Sign – Approximately £900;
• Barnack and Pilsgate -  Purchase of Gates and improve access to Sports Pavillion – Approximately £900;
• Newborough – Purchase of Equipment for Newborough Skate Park - £5,000;
• Thorney – Extension to cemetery sanctum  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A discussion lead by Heather Darwin on bringing superfast broadband to rural Peterborough

a) Super Fast Broadband for Peterborough

The Neighbourhood Committee received a presentation from the Head of Business Transformation and Strategic Improvement, regarding the consultation currently underway to determine the broadband facilities within the Peterborough area, with the aim to introduce improvements. The broadband improvement initiative would see Peterborough City Council (PCC) working with Cambridgeshire County Council and other Councils.

Key points within the presentation were as follows:

• £6.75m central government funding,  up to £3m Peterborough City Council;
• Up to £20m Cambridgeshire County Council;
• Access to superfast broadband provision for 90% of all premises by 2015;
• Better connectivity for the remaining 10%;
• Boost businesses/economy, reduce isolation in rural communities;
• Improve access to services;
• Attract significant investment from the successful supplier(s);
• Stimulate supplier to invest further in the area;
• Show potential suppliers where there is demand;
• Maximise private sector investment;
• Raise awareness of the benefits of superfast broadband (SB);
• Engage with existing community broadband schemes;
• Role of the Digital Champions;
• Phase 1: Key contacts promotion;
• Phase 2: Digital champion network; and
• Phase 3: Ongoing publicity.

Attendees were encouraged to spread the word, share any studies they had and any examples of service issues.

Comments and responses to questions were as follows:

• Concerns were raised over whether households in rural areas had received the SB leaflets;
• PCC had arranged for leaflets to be distributed alongside other commercial leaflets and the areas being targeted were primary those that received a poor broadband reception;
• At this point Councillor Holdich arrived at the meeting – 7.25pm
• Residents were encouraged to register with the online SB campaign if they received a poor broadband reception;
• Residents were encouraged to become digital champions in order to raise the profile of the campaign and to identify in particular the areas that received poor broadband reception; 
• There were a limited amount of companies and households in rural areas that had benefited from good broadband reception and that those premises had been mapped out in order to ensure that the right areas requiring improvements were being captured first;
• Key partners had been contacted in order to recruit Digital Champions and to promote the SB campaign through newsletters and other forms of communications;
• Members suggested that new housing development planning applications should state a condition that a SB connection would be installed; and
• The SB campaign would end in December 2012. 

• Agreed Actions

The Head of Business Transformation would:

• send a digital pack to Parish Councils in order for them to encourage the recruitment of Digital Champions;

• Check planning policy documents in order to include the installation of SB for housing developments;
• Ensure that every resident in Barnack receives a digital information leaflet; and
• Investigate the use of PCC staff, Ward Councillors and Parish Councillors in community centres, schools, doctors surgeries and other public establishments in order to further promote the SB campaign.

b)   A discussion on Rural Exception Sites promoting affordable housing for         local people in rural areas

The Neighbourhood Committee received a presentation from the Rural Housing Enabler for Cambridgeshire, Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).  The Committee was advised of the options for Rural Exception Sites (RES), which were aimed to provide affordable housing for local people in rural areas.

Key points within the presentation were as follows:

• ACRE had held partnerships with five local authorities and ten housing associations;
• ACRE held a strong track record of delivering exception sites;
• ACRE’s Work with Parish Councils over the identification of RES;
• Considering at community land trust in Castor;
• Houses built for RES would not apply for the ‘Right to Buy legislation’ and would always be available for residents from a rural community background;
• RES houses would be allocated on a needs basis;
• The number of houses built would aim to accommodate parish housing needs;
• A housing needs survey was to be sent to every household in rural areas in order to ascertain whether the community supported the initiative, what the level of need was, and to understand the nature of need (older residents, young families and larger families);
• Developments may reach to within the village envelope and up to the edge of village boundaries;
• The developments would contain twenty to thirty houses in total and not less than eight to ten; and
• Case studies were available on request.

Comments and responses to questions were as follows:

• RES assured Members that houses would not be built on land that Parish Councils did not want and that they would work with planners in order to encompass Parish Councils wishes; 
• Housing associations would work in conjunction with Parish Councils in order to set up affordable housing allocation criteria.  The allocation criteria may also be set at the planning application stage through Section 106;
• Members raised concerns that it was very expensive for families to live in Rural areas and that if the RES houses were not being rented, there might be a risk of the properties being sold off at a later date;
• In order to avoid the sale of RES housing association properties, legislation should be developed in order to prevent their sale or to only sell on a joint ownership or cap of equity basis.

The date of the next meeting will be on 12 December 2012 and the venue will be confirmed

The next meeting of the North & West 1 Neighbourhood Committee is due to be held on 12 December 2012.  Venue to be confirmed.