PRECEPT 2004/2005 (see attached)

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr J L Wignall
Clerk of the Council
5th January 2004 

County Councillor Mr J Powley
District Councillors Mr JH Humphreys, Mr CW Fordham, Mr AR Parramint and Mr J Palmer
Mrs Alison Callaby, Town Centres Manager, ECDC
Sergeant P Ormerod, Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
PC Kevin Humble, Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
Ms Julie Buck, Corporate Strategy Officer (Community Safety), ECDC

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES.

Policing Strategies (157/03)
NOTED that PC Mark Hobson had tendered his apologies for the meeting, due to other commitments, but that PC Kevin Humble had attended on behalf of the Police.
PC Humble reported on the overall crime figures for the period 10th November 2003 to 10th December 2003.
There were 43 crimes reported in the Soham area. These included 16 thefts, of these four were offences of shoplifting, others involved thefts of mobile phones and wallets, 6 thefts from motor vehicles, one of these was theft of diesel and two were theft of petrol, there was also one of taking a motor vehicle without the owners consent, the offender for this was captured.
During this same period Cambridgeshire Police received over 700 telephone calls that related to the Ely area, of those calls 139 related to the Soham area.

Area Resource Centre - East Cambridgeshire (157/03)
A letter of thanks had been received from The ARC Project for the Council's donation towards its opening.

St. John Ambulance (164/03)
NOTED that the Chairman attended the ST. John Ambulance presentation evening on 27th November 2003.

British Telecommunications (168/03)
NOTED that a reply had been received from BT stating that following concerns raised by the Town Council, the public telephone kiosk in West Drive Gardens will now be left in service for the time being. The situation will be monitored and reviewed again in 12 months time.

PAYMENTS AND SCHEDULE OF ACCOUNTS - NOVEMBER 2003
RESOLVED that the schedule of payments and statement of balances, and Summary of Income and Expenditure as at 30th November 2003, which are printed and attached to these minutes as appendices, be confirmed and approved, and were in accordance with Council’s financial regulations.

SOHAM TOWN FORUM PROGRESS REPORT
Alison Callaby, Town Centres Manager, East Cambridgeshire District Council attended for this item and outlined the progress made in a number of areas, the programme has a strong emphasis on Town and Townscape enhancement as a result of the Revival Scheme Initiative which will provide £30,000 per year over a three period. Schemes will include Street furniture, tourism potential, town centre attraction and enhancement, transport including cycle routes and the recently introduced community transport scheme, workforce development via the ARC, web-site enhancement and car park improvements.
Soham has also been successful in obtaining funding for a Market Town Healthcheck the results of which will be fed back into the Town Forum for future development. A grant of £7,000 from the Local Network Fund for Youth has been obtained for the Soham Festival, although there are still some problems in obtaining funding for events for the “older members of the community”.
RESOLVED to continue to support the aims and objectives of the Town Forum and to assist in implementation.
RESOLVED also that a Soham Town Forum up-date be included on future agendas on a bi-monthly basis.

POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICERS
Julie Buck, Sgt Paul Ormerod and PC Kevin Humble advised on the deployment of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s), possible funding arrangements, and the costs involved. The cost of employing a PCSO in year one is £27,900 and £23,500 per year thereafter, ECDC could provide a grant of upto one third in year one and a reduced amount in year two, however from year three onwards it is likely that the full cost would fall on the Town Council.
A number of issues were raised including, the method of funding (should it be Police or local precepts) the certainty of the deployment of PCSO's within the area, the content of service level agreements, what advantages could be gained in employing PCSO's and most importantly ongoing funding and the effect of costs falling on the local precept.
It was also considered that a proposal to increase precept levels by up to 20% for a service which was being provided in other areas at no cost at present following a significant increase in precept to meet the operational costs of a CCTV system required full public consultation before further discussion.
RESOLVED not to express an interest in the local employment of Police Community Support Officers until the results of full public consultation over the next few months on both the employment and corresponding increase in precept were known.

It is hereby resolved in accordance with Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 that as publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential or special nature of the business about to be transacted at Agenda Item 7, namely Applications for Financial Assistance, it is advisable in the public interest that the public and press be temporarily excluded from this meeting and they are herewith instructed to withdraw. Meeting was closed to press and public at 8.30pm.

APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Consideration was given to applications for financial assistance from Soham Association of Commerce and Trade, towards recurring costs of the Soham Christmas Lighting Scheme, The ARC Project towards additional costs to providing Fire Alarm and Emergency Lighting in the building and Victim Support, towards its costs of providing support to victims of crime in the Cambridge and Ely areas.
Councillors Mr AJ Hinsley and Mrs PA Tuite declared a non-prejudicial interests in accordance with paragraph 9.2 of the Code of Conduct as a member of SACT Christmas Lighting Committee and The ARC Project respectively.
RESOLVED that the Council in accordance with its powers under sections 137 and 139 of the Local Government Act, 1972 should incur the following expenditure which, in the opinion of the Council, is in the interests of the area or its inhabitants and will benefit them in a manner commensurate with the expenditure:

Soham Association of Commerce & Trade - £1,000
Victim Support Cambridge & Ely               - £   250

RESOLVED also to support the request from The ARC Project in principle, but that more information to be obtained, before the request be acceded to.

SKATEBOARD RAMP
The Clerk reported that it had been necessary to secure the Skateboard Ramp from immediate use, following an engineer’s report provided by Zurich Municipal on the condition of the Skateboard Ramp, in which it was stated that “the surfaces of several of the decking plates are damaged and should be replaced immediately. The equipment should be secured from use until repaired”.
RESOLVED that the equipment remain sectioned off and that the Clerk obtain quotations for the essential works as soon as possible.

SOHAM VILLAGE COLLEGE, COMMUNITY EDUCATION
A letter from Linda Homan, Senior Youth and Community Worker, Soham Village College outlining the current plans for youth provision in Soham and district was received and noted.

MOTORCYCLE CUSTOM SHOW
A letter giving details of a proposed ‘Motorcycle Custom Show’ to be held at the Comrades Club, Market Street on Sunday 30th May 2004 was received.
RESOLVED that Mr C Martin be informed that the Town Council have no objections to the proposed event.

AUTOMATIC NUMBER PLATE RECOGNITION SYSTEM
The Council considered a request from Cambridgeshire Constabulary to incorporate Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPRS) into the joint CCTV system. Consideration was also given to observations of the CCTV Control Room Manager.
RESOLVED to support the request in principle and also the Control Rooms Manager’s recommendation “to assist with the mobile ANPR Systems providing there are agreed written protocols and that we can defer a decision on fixed systems until the Police have the money and then we can look at it as a separate issue”.

STREET NAMING AND NUMBERING
Notification of revised street numbering for new properties at 131 A Brook Street and 2 and 2A Qua Fen Common were received.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CORPORATE PLAN PROSPECTS 2004-2008
A copy of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Corporate Plan - Prospects 2004-2008 was received.
Any comments to be addressed to Ian Stewart, Chief Executive, Cambridgeshire County Council.

DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING
NOTED that the next regular meeting of the Council would be held at 7.30pm, Monday 12th January 2004.