[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 2011-04-18 (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 and has not yet been approved]

Attendance

[a] John Ellis chaired the meeting.
[ ] Jim Percival jim AT ... took these minutes.

[b] 15 people signed into our meeting, 4 people sent apologies, and in addition, we welcomed the attendance of Councillor Vic Bowden, representing our East Ecclesfield Ward of Sheffield City Council, and Steve Wilson, parliamentary aide to Angela Smith MP. In all 32 people now receive emailed agendas and minutes.

Things we are doing

[z] The next meeting of the Conservation Group will be on 2011-05-16 (Monday) at 19:30 in the Stocks.

[3] PB agreed to do some work on the interpretation board. He displayed pictures of the new board at Bolsterstone, and the meeting agreed that he could obtain quotes for a board for Ecclesfield. Apparently there was an earlier wooden Bolsterstone board which had to be replace with plastic, so ours would probably be better in plastic as well. In line with our intention when work was done on this last year, Ladycroft Meadow was mentioned as the prospective site of the board, and this gained general approval and no objections. PB showed us details of the East Peak Innovation Partnership [http://www.epip.org.uk/] as the likely funding source, and one which specifically mentions such boards in their list of supported projects.

[x] There was considerable discussion of the planning application for 68A Yew Lane by "Bradburys Haulage", after which a vote was taken with a majority of attendees and members agreeing that there were objections to the Bradburys planning application. Concerns were also voiced about other aspects of the site including environmental health, noise, the replacement of a stone wall, the cutting down of trees, destabilization of the land by bulldozing rubbish to extend the boundary of the site, and the state of the bank down to Town End Road. It was suggested that due to planning delays, no decision was going to be made at the Planning meeting on 19th April so it was decided that ID and JE should write a formal letter of objection. It was also decided to allow the Conservation Group's name to be used on a leaflet drop in the area.

[As was said at the meeting, (and from the Conservation Group's experience with other controversial applications), even if the current application does not go through, a new "compromise" planning application could be devised at any time, so any member wishing to comment on would, or what would not be acceptable, might want to do so as early as possible so that the planning officer can take their views into account. People can "Submit there own Comments..." by clicking here. People may also like to see a photograph of the (half completed) building at http://ecclesfield.wikia.com/wiki/Conservation - but please note that this wiki is not an official or "Conservation Group" controlled site JP].

Things we have done

[2] KF reminded new attendees to our meetings that he had presented the last Northern Community Assembly at Grenoside, with our traffic petition. We had also surveyed traffic on Church Lane, and logged 13,000 vehicles, something that was likely to get worse with the retail park developments. KF showed also showed the meeting a document mentioning the Sheffield City Council Cabinet discussions of the traffic issues in Ecclesfield Village.

There were suggestions for an axle weight limit, and additional speed restrictions. It was suggested that traffic throughout the village should be looked at as a whole and that a statistical analysis be done, perhaps by installing traffic counters. There was discussion about whether the whether the Conservation Group should do a second survey, or whether it was up to the City Council to do such work.

Resolutions Passed

[c] Copies of the minutes of the meeting of 2011-03-21 were distributed. It was accepted that this meeting was not an AGM [minutes and agenda are now amended - JP], and the minutes were approved with that correction.

Also Discussed

[1] It was suggested that there were better uses for the significant amount of time and effort that it takes to mount even a joint Gala stand. However, when asked, 8 people put their hand up to say that they would volunteer to help, should the Conservation or perhaps one of the other Ecclesfield groups take a stand.

[x] PB pointed out that the planning application for 24 St. Marys Close was in the Conservation area, and should  be looked at. [I have just looked at the location plan available here and No 24 is brick built and invisible from either the Mobri Bakery end of St. Mary's Close, or the High Street. Also, there are no objections on the Council Website (at least as it appeared on 19th April) . JP].

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