Once a year Nettleden with Potten End Parish is required to hold a meeting when local government electors are able to table agenda items for discussion. Decisions taken at the meeting are not binding on the Parish Council, but the Council may chose to take account of them in the future. This year the Parish Meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Thursday 18th March.

All Parish Electors are welcome to join the meeting online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88429006356?pwd=L0wyUVRDYlFMYUgrdi9IMG54ZURQUT09 or by phone on either 0203 901 7895 or 0131 460 1196 using the meeting ID: 884 2900 6356 and passcode: 723386.

The agenda may be found here.

The minutes of the last meeting may be found here.

The Parish Council Meeting originally scheduled for 15th September has been cancelled because of the period of mourning for Her Late Majesty, The Queen.

The Parish Council meets at 7.30pm on Thursday, 19 June in the Church Room at Potten End. The agenda can be downloaded and contains links to all the supporting papers.

Keep the date free – Dan Blesovsky from the Golf Club will be attending the council meeting on 17 July to update us on the club’s plans.

And if you get to the end of this email and think that there’s some interesting stuff going on and you’d like to get involved – Dina Westenholz-Smith has decided that she can’t continue as a councillor and so there is a vacancy for a new councillor. Dina was instrumental in undertaking surveys into parish life, was responsible for the recent survey into what infrastructure we should invest in, and has been the council’s go to person on planning issues; she will be missed.

Highways

The Highways Working Party had a very constructive meeting with Cllr Terry Douris who as the outgoing County Councillor has been our main contact with Hertfordshire Highways and Cllr Caroline Smith-Wright who has replaced him. The main issue Caroline will be looking into for us is how to take forward the recent report from Highways on the junction of Church Road, The Green and Water End Road, but we also touched on Frithsden Lane, DriveSafe, Trident Junction and general issues around traffic volumes, speeding and parking enforcement.

Roadworks in and around the parish over the next three months have slowed up a little after a few months when at times it’s seemed that the powers that be were determined to cut us off! Rather than list them here you can see them summarised here or for more up to date information please refer to Causeway one network.

Planning

The Council supported planning applications for 28 Rambling Way, Forge Farm, and Church Side. At its meeting on Thursday it will consider the following applications (reference numbers relate to the Dacorum Planning Portal)

• Highwood, Browns Spring – conversion of garage into habitable space and single storey front extension (25/01315/FHA )
• 3 Chestnut Close – work to trees (25/01377/TPO)
• Frithsden Vineyard – Variation of Condition 2 (Approved Plans) attached to planning permission 22/02538/FUL (Replacement Dwelling) (25/01407/ROC)
• Frithsden Vineyard – Variation of Condition 1 (Approved Plans) attached to planning permission 4/00737/88 added by 25/00177/NMA (25/01354/ROC)
• Old Kiln Meadow – Variation of condition 11 (Approved Plans) attached 22/02468/FUL (25/01428/ROC)
• Browns Spring Wood – two forestry storage buildings (25/01467/AGD)
• Malperdy, 8 Hempstead Lane – front entrance gates and railings (25/01487/FHA)

We have also been advised of two planning appeals:

• The Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space between Nettleden Road and Potten End Hill (see 25/00019/REFU). There is an option to add additional comments on this appeal.
• Cleft Oak Cottage where Dacorum refused permission for an extension. Because of the nature of this appeal it isn’t possible to add any further comments to what was submitted originally.

And we will be discussing an event scheduled to take place over last weekend at Highridge Farm, Frithsden for which Dacorum refused a license. 

Open Spaces

The Council will be discussing possible solutions to a problem that has arisen with footballs being kicked into the garden of Four Oaks which backs onto the Spencer Holland recreation ground. If your children use the goal on the recreation ground please remind them that it’s not very neighbourly to kick balls over the stop netting, and then climb up hedges and fences to get them back.

On a similar note, someone has removed the plaque thanking David Groom for his donation of land to the parish for a burial ground. This is the second time the plaque has been removed in the last two years and we will of course replace it, but it is a disappointing reaction to a very generous gift which is much appreciated by those of us who use it, and which will benefit residents for many years to come.

Infrastructure investment in our Parish: Have your say!

We had nearly 180 responses to the survey about how you think the council should spend the money it received, largely as a result of the Valerie Way development. This is a fantastic return and the council is very grateful to everyone who took the time and trouble not just to rank the short-listed proposals but also to put forward other suggestions. The results of the survey and comments on all of the suggestions can be found here.

Meeting held on Thursday 18th January 2018
In the Church Rooms, Potten End at 7.30pm
Continue reading “PC Meeting Thursday 18th January 2018”

VACANCY FOR THE POSITION OF PARISH CLERK
AND RESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL OFFICER
NETTLEDEN WITH POTTEN END PARISH COUNCIL

The Nettleden with Potten End Parish Council is looking to appoint a qualified, self-motivated and innovative individual who will be able to bring experience to the position of Parish Clerk. The Parish Clerk is the Proper Officer of the Council and its Responsible Financial Officer, and is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions of a local authority’s Proper Officer.
The Clerk’s responsibilities include producing agendas and minutes for council meetings and committees, liaising with outside bodies, implementing the council’s decisions, acting as the council’s financial officer and keeping the council’s financial records. Some evening and out of hours work is required.
As a significant proportion of the post is administrative, the applicant must have good financial and book-keeping skills, be computer literate and highly competent in using Microsoft Office. Working knowledge of local government would be an asset. Good organisational skills and prioritisation skills are essential as a large degree of tact, diplomacy and flexibility in dealing with members of the public and other bodies. Local knowledge of Nettleden, Frithsden and Potten End would be an advantage.
Working hours are 13 hours per week and the salary will be pro-rata within the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) pay scale points 26-29 (£23,398 -£25,951 pro rata), according to experience and qualifications. The post holder will work from home and be provided with a computer etc.
The Council meets on the evening of the third Thursday of each month, except in August, with other meetings being called as required.
For more information or an informal discussion and an application form and job description, please email: nettledenwithpottenendpc@yahoo.co.uk