Minutes of the Extraordinary Parish Council Meeting

Held on Friday, 22 nd October 2004 at 6.30pm in the Village Hall

Present:

Councillors: J. Skittrall, Vice-chairman, C. Cannell, P. Day, J. Ferrando, M. Rudge,

E. Snarey, I. Smith (Clerk).

1. Apologies:

Cllrs. Massey, Edwards, Hatfield, Holmes and Chapman.

2. Declaration of Interest

There were no declarations of interest.            

3. Approval of expenditure of approximately £800 over 18 months for provision of a bus service to Freeport on Saturday evening.

Cllr. Snarey handed out approximate costings for the provision on one bus together with a proposed timetable, but went on to explain that since the extraordinary meeting had been arranged he had attended another meeting with ECC where the provision of 3 return trips had been put forward.

The figures for provision of one 30-seater bus, making 3 return trips per night on a Saturday night, are calculated to be £195.00 more per parish than the original scheme.   The total cost to each parish is now £1,002.68p. over 18 months.   These costings are based on a take up rate of 15% and if the take up rate is lower, then ECC would review the situation to see if a continued service was viable. There would be no question of parishes being asked to pay more money to cover any decrease; however, if the take up increased beyond 15%, then costs should come down.

Sible Hedingham Parish Council must find 25% of the total cost of the scheme; 5% of which must be in cash, each scheme stands alone.

Great Yeldham, Castle Hedingham and Gosfield have already agreed to participate in this project.

Members asked about service usage and were informed that it was not restricted to parishioners; anyone could use the buses, they only had to stand at the bus stop.   ECC have already set an advertising campaign in motion to promote use of this service and timetables will be available shortly.

It was generally agreed to be a good idea to participate in this service, as the buses also met trains from Braintree Station.

Cllr. Skittrall advised that the second hand road sweeper had been sold and the cheque had been banked.   He suggested earmarking £1,000 from this money to be set against the costs of the bus service.

Proposed: Cllr. Cannell.   Seconded: Cllr. Ferrando.   Agreed unanimously.

It was RESOLVED that the Parish Council should participate in this community bus scheme.

Proposed: Cllr. Skittrall.   Seconded: Cllr. Ferrando.  

Cllr. Skittrall praised the sterling work done by Cllr. Snarey on this project and said that if he needed any help whatsoever, he must just ask for support from the Members.   Cllr. Skittrall also proposed a vote of thanks to Cllr. Snarey for putting in so much time in setting up this scheme.   Members were unanimous in their agreement.

The Vice-chairman closed the meeting at 7.05pm.