Present:
Mr. Brown (Chairman), Mr Senior, Mrs Adams, Mrs Aylott, Mrs Dyer, Mrs Watkin. District Councillor Mr Keith Baker. Mrs Lancey (Clerk). 1 member of the public.

1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies received from Mrs Elphick, Mrs Hathaway, Mrs Williams and County Councillors Sir Peter Brown and Ms. Elaine Kadic.

2. Declarations of Acceptance of Office
As this was the first Council meeting after the Election held on 4th May 2006, the Clerk arranged for all Councillors present to sign their Declarations of Acceptance of Office. It was agreed that absent Councillors would sign their Declarations at the next meeting on 30th May.

3. Councillors' Interests
Mrs. Watkin declared a personal interest as her sons were of an age to use the bus shelter as a meeting place.

4. Planning and Surveillance
Mr Brown explained that the meeting had been called to discuss the installation of a CCTV camera overlooking the bus shelter on the village green which had taken place without any prior consultation with the Parish Council. The Clerk had been informed by PC Lofting that the camera had been installed by Huntingdonshire District Council's Community Safety Partnership Support Officer and that the Parish Council had deliberately not been informed in order that its installation might be carried out as quietly as possible.

It was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should write to Huntingdonshire District Council expressing the Parish Council's outrage that this installation had taken place without their knowledge and also expressing their subsequent concerns about infringement of civil liberties, human rights and data protection, especially in view of the fact that the school buses arrived and departed from this bus stop.

The letter should also include questions concerning whether the camera was filming live for 24 hours per day, who was able to view the images, where they were stored and how long they were retained. They also wanted to know the costs incurred and who was paying for the camera. They also queried why the camera had not required planning permission and they wished to know how long it would be in situ. The Clerk was asked to make the point that considerable resources, both in terms of finance and time, had been channelled towards the problems with youngsters in the village by way of the formation of the Youth Group, and that they felt this was a more satisfactory way forward than an installation of a CCTV camera which appeared to them to be an infringement of basis human rights.

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