Oakham Town Council Meeting 21st July 2010 Planning and General Purpose Committee.
This meeting was proceeded by a private meeting with Sainsbury.
The Town Council will be considering Sainbury's planning application
at the next planning meeting 5th August 2010.
Tonight's meeting started late.
The meeting was chaired by Cllr Joyce Lucas.
The following Councillors were present:
Cllr Maureen Dodds, thankfully is now recovered after her accident.
Cllr Alan Walters , pointing out his RED tie I can't imagine why?
Cllr Charles Haworth
Cllr Tor Clark
Cllr Alf Dewis
The Town Clerk and his assistant were present.
4 members of the public were also present.
As previously mentioned the meeting started late after Cllr Joyce Lucas bashed her hammer for order.
Apologies- went on as each members apology was proposed seconded and accepted.
according to Local Government Act 1972 Section 85(1)
No declarations of interest were declared by members
The Minutes from the previous meeting held on Wednesday 23rd June 2010 were approved and accepted by members.
There were no Councillor's Questions accept at this point the Chair Cllr Lucas turned to the Clerk and asked if she was
doing things ok?
Members reports
Cllr Joyce Lucas & Cllr Alf Dewis both reported on a Rutland County Council Cabinet meeting they had attended. I found this annoying. When I was a Cllr I was told I could not report on Rutland County Council meetings because I was not an appointed rep of Oakham Town Council. As far as I am aware Oakham Town Council has no rep on Rutland County Councils Cabinet.
Cllr Alf Dewis provided members with a report of his findings relating to RAF Cottesmore.
Economic Impact Assessment of RAF Cottesmore (EIA)
The (EIA) report by SQWconsulting, which highlighted a number of areas of concern,
was considered by Rutland County Council Cabinet on 6th July 2010.
The Government has started the Strategic Defence Review that will incorporate a
review of the future of RAF Cottesmore and is due to report in the Autumn. The
prospects for the bas will therefore be unknown until the Review is published.
The EIA estimates that the annual net Gross Value Added impact for Rutland, the
ability to retain money in the local economy, is approximately a negative £41m per
annum. It is thought that housing on the base will continue to be used for a period
after the published closure date (April 2013) as accommodation at RAF Wittering, i.e.
Air Traffic Control, for a period but there s no reason why the technical facilities
cannot remain at Cottesmore but be accessed via data link at Wittering.
Whilst the 1500 service peronnel will be posted to other service establishments and
some of the 859 staff employed by MOD and contractors, in high level occupations,
may be redeployed within the government service and contracting companies but
these represent a small percentage. There remains a core of civilian staff working in
administration, manual, semi and unskilled posts that may be made redundant. Not
all of these people live in Oakham or Rutland but there will be a knock on effect on
the local economy. It appears a large number of service personnel will transfer to
RAF Wittering but may continue to live at Cottesmore for a time. It is expected that
once that occurs there is a greater likelihood that those people will shop in the
Stamford/Peterborough area rather than return to Oakham/Rutland. The net GVA is
likely to be in the order of £31-£36m per annum whilst the accommodation at
Cottesmore is used.
There appears to be four headline options at the present time.
Option 1: Continue to utilise part of the site as housing for personnel based at
Wittering and other local military bases: the remainder to be mothballed.
Option 2: Vacate the site entirely, but mothball it for it for possible future use in
several years time.
Option 3: Relocate it for other military use (possibly Army)
Option 4: Sell the site, perhaps with a view to partial future development
rather than reverting to agricultural use.
The view of the cabinet was that they supported the continued use of the base as a
military establishment or as a forum of development that would continue to benefit the
local area and the County but were totally against the mothballing of the site. A
clearer picture will emerge once the Strategic Defence Review is complete.
Alf Dewis 18th July 2010
This was followed by the clerk report and interrupted by Cllr Charles Haworth who now has a passion to preserve the historic nature of the Towns Bandstand, I am not sure why he would be worried about
the addition of a numeral being added the plaque, not as drastic as his past suggestion the roof should be removed.
The Clerk requested Volunteers to host this Sunday's band in Cutts Cloome thinking Cllr Dewis offered his services.
Notices of Vacancy in Oakham North West Ward.
The Clerk mentioned notices of the vacancy caused by the resignation of Martin Brookes were posted in the Council's Notice boards today. 10 signatures from electors are required calling for an election. The Ward has until 9th August to do this or the Council will apply to co-opt. If an election is called it expected to be held on 7th October 2010.
The clerk reported on planning issues,
A list of applications accepted by RCC was given and two refusal were notified:
FUL/2010/0329-Second storey extension over garage at 4 Kennedy Close.
FUL/2010/0496-Construction of two storey dwelling at 98 Burley Road
Notification was given of a planning Appeal:
A Copy of the appeal relating to Jinky's at 14-16 Melton Road is available, In summary, the
appeal by the proprietor against a number of conditions imposed by the Planning Authority was
partially upheld, Revised conditions relating to the locking of a gate to the rear, the use of the
garden area, amplified music and the opening hours have now been stipulated by the Planning
Inspector in his formal decision.
The Clerk will be on leave 26th, 27th & 30th July
Various planning applications were consider and all accepted.
The meeting was closed by the Chairman Cllr Lucas "the meeting is now closed whatever the time is now"
Councillor were also reminded they must disclose membership of a political party in the members register
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