[These and previous minutes are available as a web page on conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com Just click on "Minutes" for the minutes of the last meeting]

Minutes of the Conservation Group meeting of 2011-02-21 (Monday) at 19:30 in the Stocks

[Numbers and letters in square brackets refer to corresponding items in the agenda of the same date. This version of the minutes was last amended on 2011-04-19 when AGM was deleted from the title]

Attendance

[a] Keith Fish chaired the meeting.
[ ] Jim Percival jim AT ... took these minutes.
[b] 9 people attended the meeting, 3 people sent apologies, and 27 people currently receive emailed agendas and minutes.

Things we are doing

[z] The next meeting of the Conservation Group will be on 2011-03-21 (Monday) at 19:30 in the Stocks.
[y] Our chair, Keith Fish said that having the same Chair for both the Bloom and Conservation Groups was not ideal and although he wanted to continue attending Conservation meetings, invited us to choose another Chairman [I have put the election of a new Chairman on the Advance Agenda for our next meeting - JP].
[1]  ID reported on his attendance at Wednesday's meeting at the Cricket Club on the proposed traffic measures for Town End Road. At least 35 people turned out, and heard what Sheffield City Council were proposing. ID told the meeting about our recent traffic survey, and Councillor Vic Bowden was able to confirm that we had provided her with a copy of the survey results. Council officers seemed surprised by the number of HGV vehicles revealed by the survey, and there was support in the room for further action.

We noted the draft road calming measures on the stretch of road between Middleton Road and "The Wheel", but these were thought unlikely to reduce the amount of traffic passing through the conservation area [See the "Information watch" section in the Agenda for details of the draft measures]. Lorries belonging to Morrisons, and ASDA, and unmarked ones belonging to Lidle were of concern, as well as the lack of measures to control other HGVs, and the lack of a pedestrian crossing. We therefore decided to petition Sheffield City Council, with the aim of getting something to them at the end of February in time for the  Northern Community Assembly meeting in March. To do this we need 35 signatures. Members were eager to sign a blank petition form, and agreed that a form be offered to St. Mary's Church for people to sign and that a blank be made available for people to print on our Web site at [Now on http://conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/traffic]. JP was asked to co-ordinate and collect the completed petitions [Please post them to me at 43 St. Mary's Lane - JP].
[2] We discussed funding for the heritage board for LadyCroft Meadow. Last year, this project failed to achieve sufficient votes for a "You Choose" grant, however, as discussed with Councillor Alan Hooper, the project may be eligible for funding under the Ecclesfield Parish Council "Small Grants Scheme". It was said that the board still needs a firm quotation, perhaps from the firm that made the board for Bolsterstone. The meeting agreed that JP should enquire as to whether an application to J G Greaves for funding from the Conservation Group would have any chance of success in view of the fact that we were not a registered charity.
[y] The meeting asked ID to contact the new Vicar of St. Marys, and invite him to one of our meetings.
[y] The meeting was told that  the Rotary Group were going to renovate the stocks in the grounds of St. Mary's Church later in the Spring.

Things we have done

[y] Our insurance has been renewed for up to £2 million, but without cover for building walls.

Resolutions Passed

[c] Copies of the minutes of the meeting of 2011-01-17 (as amended on 2011-01-21) were distributed, and approved as correct.

Also Discussed

[x] The Pending planning applicationslisted in the agenda were discussed. The 15 metre height of the proposed mast on Yew Lane was queried in view of what could be its excessive visibility [however, this application was validated just after our last meeting, and since there is less than a month to object, the official time for objections expired before our meeting]. Regarding the new application for electrical generating plant on Loicher Lane, the notes accompanying the application and repeated in the agenda were considered, as was the fact that this was an emergency generator. As a result, it was decided that as a group, we should not object.
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