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Minutes of the Conservation meeting of 2013-02-18 at 19:30 in the Stocks

[This document was last amended on 2013-03-10, and is not yet approved or publically available. JP welcomes comments and corrections, on . Numbers in square brackets refer to items in the corresponding Agenda]

[a] Chair: John Ellis (JE) chaired the meeting.

[b] Attendance: 11 people signed into the meeting (JP, LS, BS, PB, KM, KF, JE, RT, LQ, ID, SP). JH attended, but did not sign in. Tegwen Roberts, KG sent apologies. Including these, a total of 35 people currently receive emailed agendas and minutes.

Ongoing matters, or "things still to be done"

[z] Next meeting. The next meeting of the Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group is on Monday March 18^th, at 19:30 in “The Stocks”.

[1] JE reminded us that since the next meeting was an AGM, all the offices would become vacant and open for re-election. The positions concerned included the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer.

JE reminded us that as he had said before, he had moved house and was standing down as Chair. JE therefore asked who, among this evening’s attendees, were unlikely to stand, and who might be prepared to volunteer. Most people said they were unlikely to stand, but ID said he was prepared to put himself up for election as Chair.

[2] JP said that we had received 140 scanned images of photographs of Ecclesfield selected by Mel and Joan Jones, from the |High Green Archive. These were now available on our web site for everybody to see. A printout of one of these photographs (of the swimming pool in Ecclesfield Park) was passed round as an example. The scanning of the Ridge Ledgers however, was not yet complete, but we were hoping to receive these images when Tim of EPIP had finished the scanning. [We have now received sample scans of one page, but are hoping that the focus of the special non-contact scanner can be improved - JP]

It was suggested that we should widen this project, to make it into a general village history archiving project and invite everybody in Ecclesfield to contribute. Advertising in LookLocal, and the involvement of a student, was suggested. LS and BS were especially interested in this, and related some of their early memories of Ecclesfield.

Methods of collecting data were therefore discussed, including verbal and handwritten information. Questions were asked about the possible costs involved in this, and also about funding for the Ecclesfield Parish Council’s project for archiving historical Parish material.

Completed matters or "things we have now done"

[c] Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted for publication. [A copy of these can now be found at... http://conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/minutes/2013-01-21.minutes.html  - JP]

[x] Planning: No objections were voiced concerning the new planning applications listed in the Agenda.

[Since the meeting, I noticed both a planning application and a licence extension for the Players Lounge. Among other changes, the licence extension includes the replacement of the current limit of 12:00 on weekends, with a new limit of 13:30 in the morning. If anybody wants to comment on this, they can do so by emailing general.licensing@sheffield.gov.uk before 13th March. For guidance, click on How to, or ring 0114 273 4264 or 0114 273 4880. Details of the application can be seen at proposed new opening hours at the Players Lounge (See the last application in the document).

The planning application (13/00533/CHU) is for change of use from D2 (Club) to A4 (drinking establishment). If anybody wants to see or comment, they can do so clicking on the link Players Lounge planning application. again before 13th March.  - JP]

[y] KF described the walkabout that he attended with Sheffield City Council’s Northern Assembly, which he said went the full length of the village. The walk included Ecclesfield Park and the Community Gardens, the pavilion and facilities such as toilets, and saw some of the graffiti problems in the village.

The need to signpost the car park on “The Square” was mentioned.

Elsewhere, Sheffield Homes saw and appreciated what Ecclesfield in Bloom had done. However, the tour noted that the house next to Singleton’s depot on the High Street was still empty, and the gardens in front of the library needed attention.

The walkabout also saw the Church Street traffic problems, and a possible site for traffic lights. A change in priority to slow the traffic as it entered the Village on Town End Road was suggested. JE mentioned our survey, and the amount of traffic it revealed, and said that it was a pity that the money could not be found for a crossing. However, he did think that drop down kerbs and red sandstone road markings were a possibility.

[y] KF reminded us that the insurance premium is due next month. He had received details of the insurance offered to us, but it did not insure us while litter picking, or using of petrol strimmers or mowers. JH said that a group in Burncross have had training on the use of mowers, and it was thought that this might help the insurance position. KF said he would pass any suitable insurance invoice on to MM for paying.

[y] KF said that the lamp posts in Ecclesfield were being replaced with ones containing more efficient, downwards facing versions. This was very good, but the Conservation and Bloom Groups had paid £150 for a plug to be mounted on one of the original lamp posts, and they were now being asked to pay an additional £2,500 for its 10 year maintenance. KF had objected to this in no uncertain terms.

On the other hand, JH said that he had a permanent Christmas tree of about 7 ft high, and he was hoping that the necessary forms would soon be signed giving him permission to plant it.

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