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STOKENHAM PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 18TH SEPTEMBER 2014 IN THE PARISH HALL

PRESENT: COUNCILLORS: C. ROGERS (in the Chair) J. ANSELL L. COWLEY J. GARDNER P. MOORE MRS L. WINROW MRS A. LOCKWOOD P. SPENCE A. GOODMAN MRS. C. NUTTALL-SMITH J. BRAZIL (County Councillor)

Also in attendance: Clerk – Mrs G. Claydon WPC Jane Gerrard

APOLOGIES: COUNCILLORS TOM HOEKSMA - Personal J. BAVERSTOCK (District Councillor) R. FOSS - Personal

1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Councillors were invited to declare any disclosable interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they had in any items to be considered at this meeting. They were also reminded to consider whether in the light of recent activities any items within their Register of Interests should be updated. It was advised that any unforeseen request for a Dispensation would be considered by the Clerk at this point only if there was no way a councillor would have been aware of such before the meeting. Cllrs Rogers and Ansell declared an interest in applications 2081/14/LB and 2079/14/F.

2. OPEN FORUM WPc Jane Gerrard advised that from last month to this month no crimes or public incidents had been recorded. There had been a complaint from a member of the public with regard to speeding in Torcross after the recent accident. They had attended with the speed gun and checked from the tank to the post office recording an average 17 mph. From Stokenham to Torcross the average speed was 25 mph. The problem with the speed guns was that officers had to be visible and they could not be used in the dark or rain. The police however would always take positive action.

At and and West they had community speed checks facilitated by volunteers who then reported back to Sgt Green who sent letters out initially but if the offender was caught a second time further action could be taken.

Volunteers for speed check had to go through vetting procedures at head office and she acknowledged that this was a slow process which had to have six volunteers in a community to make it viable. With regard to the road outside the old garage in Chillington she had been in discussion with Cty Cllr Brazil and Dist Cllr Baverstock as she felt with the potholes there somebody could get killed on that road. It was noted that this section of road was recorded to 50 have works imminent to deal with the problem of the sunken drain/spring in this area as each time the patch was done with any rainfall the spring took such out.

Cllr Mrs Lockwood noted that her B&B guests had noted no lights on the corner of the scaffolding at the property in Torcross where the accident happened. WPc Gerrard noted this and would have a look on leaving the meeting.

3. MINUTES The Minutes of the: (a) full council meeting dated 17th July 2014 were approved by all present and duly signed as a true and correct record. (b) Planning Committee held 7th August 2014 and none held in September 2014 were approved and duly signed as a true and correct record.

4. CO-OPTION OF COUNCILLOR No applications had been received and thus this matter was DEFERRED.

5. PLANNING & PLANNING MATTERS The applications below were considered at this meeting and the following observations submitted to District: • 1999/14/F Installation of ground-mounted solar array (total site area 200m²) with estimated output 20kW and associated infrastructure Stokeley Farm Stores, Stokenham. No objection. Cllrs Rogers and Ansell left the meeting and Cllr Spence chaired. • 2079/14/F Retrospective change of use of barn to multipurpose venue. Associated works to include installation of function room, bar, stage, WC, kitchen, farm museum and store. Creation of access ramps and stairs Beeson Farm, Beeson. Parish Council objected to this application although there was no objection on change of use and they supported the economic venture. However there were grave concerns for the increased noise element due to the acoustic position of the property in the village and possibility that the usage would be predominantly evening. As soon as the doors to this function room were open to enjoy the vista of the village any noise insulation would be lost and there would be sound nuisance. It was suggested that intrusion would not occur but parish council had no confidence that this could be controlled even if wished. • 2081/14/LB Retrospective listed building consent for change of use of barn to multipurpose venue. Associated works to include installation of function room, bar, stage, WC, kitchen, farm museum and store. Creation of access ramps and stairs Beeson Farm, Beeson. See above. • 2109/14/F Retrospective replacement of block pavings with concrete sets Island House, Stokenham. Parish Council deplored various repeated requests for retrospective planning permission by applicants which showed disrespect for the process. No objection. • 2283/14/F Householder application for demolition of single storey rear extension Erection of two storey rear extension and internal alterations 12 Beesands, Beesands. It was noted that there were no plans for this application uploaded to the District website. No objection.

PLANNING CORRESPONDENCE • None received other than already emailed to parish councillors for consideration. 51

• Link from District for the Local Validation List and simple tips for submitting planning applications was sent out but did not work. Councillors could access this through the District website by just typing ‘What to submit with an application’ into the search engine. • 2567/13/F Application for erection of 1no. wind turbine (estimated output of 0.05megawatts) with 24.6 metres hub height, 34.2 metres tip height and associated infrastructure for agricultural use (following judicial review and the court order dated 18.08.14 quashing the decision dated 21.05.14) Land at SX776419, Winslade Farm, Frogmore, , TQ7 2PA – As previously responded No objection.

6. PERMISSIVE PATH FURNITURE It was AGREED to ratify the maintenance works carried out, for safety reasons, to the gateposts at the entrance to the Permissive Path from Stokeley Farm Shop driveway and from Kiln Lane into the wooded area together with various cutting back of vegetation along this section of path up to a cost of £600.

Cllr Mrs Nuttall-Smith requested that a further cut be carried out to cut the permissive path from the Church to wooded area. This would be an agenda item for consideration at the following October full council.

7. COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT FUND WORKS An email was read out from Anne Bowyer Stokenham Community Village Association thanking the parish council and especially Charles Rogers for the superb work and footpath project undertaken with regard to the Carehouse Cross to White House footpath improvements.

It was AGREED to ratify the necessary cutting works to hedges/trees; (a) at Helmers/Tanpits Playing Field to prepare the footpath for tarmac installation up to a cost of £350 (b) from Carehouse Cross along Footpath 22 towards Chillington to cut vegetation back off the footpath, to allow the tarmacking works to progress, up to a cost of £400. Cllr Brazil arrived at the meeting.

8. HELMERS PLAYING FIELD BRIDGE AND FOOTPATH It was advised that the Section 106 monies to carry out these works had been passed to Parish Council by District and acknowledged that the route of these works had been agreed with District officers within the Community Reinvestment works plan. Therefore payment was APPROVED for such works as detailed up to £13157.

9. PARISH PROJECTS Ideas were requested and this matter was DEFERRED to consider projects for application into; (a) the Town and Parish Fund (TAP) for submission by 31st December 2014. (b) the Community Reinvestment Fund for submission by 31st December 2014.

It was however noted that youngsters using the Helmers play area had requested a ‘proper’ swing, there was a need for new mini football nets and outside toilets/storeroom were required for the ongoing use of the Chillington hall. It was also suggested that funding could be sought for the continuance of improvement works to the path from Carehouse Cross to Torcross.

10. STOKENHAM WEBSITE Cllr Spence noted he had come to the end of the road with this pilot and working with District on hosting the parish website. He had reviewed the last year and found fifteen excuses for things that 52 were wrong, half a dozen times when access to the site was down and the site was completely out between 9th March to 30th April. The fix to fix was not provided to parish level until June. It was marketed as being a cost free service, with robust data storage and a tried and tested platform. Only the first statement was true but there was much opportunity and time lost from trying to engage with this pilot. Cllr Spence had believed that District was serious about making the site and network work for Parish. District and parish requirements however were completely different. Parish Council needed small, nimble and easy to use. This District format was unwieldy and designed for a much bigger entity. The interface was non intuitive and would be inaccessible to non experts. With regard to reliability it seemed to be increasingly vulnerable to outages and District did not own such entity as it was licensed. So when such owners did an update District had to take it. Thus when it did go down the support for parish level was poor or non-existent. Realistically District support would probably not improve especially with such downsizing of the IT department due to cuts and the District work on Transition 18.

It was AGREED that Stokenham Parish Council withdraw from the District hosting provision for their website and seek alternative options. It was noted that most of the parish data information was in place and a host and designer was all that was required. Such options would be researched and brought to the following meeting.

11. CODE OF CONDUCT The amendments made by the District Monitoring Officer to the template Code were agreed and thus APPROVED and parish council adopted such changes into their own Code.

12. SOUTH WEST RESILIENCE CAMPAIGN It was AGREED to write in support of the campaign to improve connectivity in the South West through better road and rail links by • Improvements to the A303/ A30/ A358 to create a reliable second strategic road link from London to the South West Peninsula • A resilient and reliable railway for the South West Peninsula • Faster rail journey times and better connections • Sufficient capacity and quality of our trains to meet demand

13. OUR PLAN – DISTRICT SITE ALLOCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Cllr Cowley had studied the areas and sites put forward to Stokenham and surrounding areas and was curious that essentially none of the rural villages had any sustainable sites. In Stokenham only the play area behind Holbrook Terrace was deemed acceptable. Kingsbridge, and the other towns however had a whole mass of fields suitable for development. It seemed to be a now policy in to move development around to the towns although there was some overlap in the current allocations i.e. . Sites offered now seem to be rejected because they like within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty even though this did not make the any difference on the last allocation. This exercise has been done with a view to not building in villages but concentrating in towns. Kingsbridge seemed to have a few hundred houses. Therefore he questioned what District was trying to get ‘us’ to agree to? This survey appeared rushed through land allocation and now concentrated on towns because there were some mistakes on reference to fields around Stokenham which showed they had not thought about the assessment. As an illustration it was noted that the Holbrook Terrace statement on playing field land behind the terrace seemed to be confused. The map showed an area of land behind the playingfield whilst the title referred to it as playingfield land but said that it was land locked and but could become viable if the playingfield were included. Cllr Spence noted that the infrastructure must be cheaper for development around the towns such as in Kingsbridge.

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Cty Cllr Brazil agreed that District were looking for big expansion in towns. They had left consideration of windfall sites and not allocated but hoped they would suddenly appear. However he had concern that if District removed development boundaries then any future development was not constrained and would be judged on all other policy criteria which could leave it vulnerable. The current Government was considering that up to 10 houses could be built with no affordable requirement and therefore 10 executive houses could theoretically just be tagged on to any village.

At the last site allocation the Stokenham community came out against certain sites but this time landowners could do the same if their land had been rejected. Nothing was final until the Inspector signed off the allocations. It was generally noted within the meeting that there was insufficient documentation as yet to rely on with regard to housing need numbers provided for across South Hams.

The sites put forward by landowners around Stokenham Parish were noted and it was AGREED that the ongoing progress of the policy should be monitored and clarity sought on the playingfield statement. Additional to this it was advised that District were preparing a Green Infrastructure Plan and a short questionnaire could be completed by 30th September by anyone wishing to contribute at: www.southhams.gov.uk/greeninfrastructure

14. GRANTS This item was DEFERRED pending further information.

15. ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COUNCILS It was AGREED to nominate Cllr Gardner as representative of parish council to attend the AGM and Conference on Saturday 11th October at Westpoint Conference Centre, Exeter at a cost of £20 per person.

16. REPORTS CHILLINGTON COMMUNITY HALL Cllr Mrs Winrow noted that the bookings and enquiries for the new hall were very positive and a quick look at the Chillington Community Hall website could see the dates of availability blocked off. After the final invoice from Norman Brooking Builders Ltd had submitted their final invoice of £17000 and the shortfall for the association would be £3000. However Norman Brooking Builders were prepared to make a donation and offset this against tax. The committee wer e awaiting the electrical and gas certificates and had yet to grass seed the bank. It was felt that parish council should overview the Chillington Association accounts in view of the fact that they were to take on the freehold responsibilities. Cllrs Cowley and Spence would facilitate this task. It was advised that such storage and toilet pod could cost £35000. At present the storage was not enough for the table tennis storage. The Committee hoped to fund raise. An opening event would be held and those from Helmers trust would be invited.

PATIENT PARTICIPATION Cllr Gardner reported that there was a new doctor at Chillington surgery who had indicated he wanted to do more community work. Bv changing the boundaries for the Torbay Group they were going to now cover from the moors to the Sea as at present Kingsbridge hospital and health centre were not included so they wished to do so.

BEESANDS VILLAGE GREEN COMMITTEE Cllrs Ansell and Rogers advised that District had decided that there was no way that parking could take place on the Green. It was suggested at the meeting that some of the Green could be 54 designated to provide 100 – 150 cars in front of the Ley but the Committee said no. It was felt it was not their responsibility to provide parking for Beesands but to protect the Green. The Committee suggested that the Parish Council should approach the neighbouring landowners to provide summer time parking. However one landowner had looked into providing parking but fell foul of highways and planning access issues.

FOOTPATHS At Cherry tree lane the footpath sign was missing from the lower end and it was disgracefully overgrown.

CLERK’S REPORT • An email received from a member of the public complaining about the increase in signage around Beesands and the use of picnic benches on the Village Green by those purchasing food from Beesand food outlets was noted. It was unclear what additional signage was suggested by the email and the picnic benches were open to anyone who wished to use them. • A gate had been placed across the footpath from Beesands Cellars back into the village due to the lack of parking and misuse by vehicles. No footpath was allowed to be gated by the owner unless to stop cattle roaming. However it had been clarified that County had the power to put in place a gate for such events and therefore County had agreed to permit this gate with the ongoing maintenance being down to the landowner and should it be locked the code/key being provided to the County Highways. • A community representative from Devon & Cornwall Fire Brigade had made contact to advise that they along with other service organisations wished to pilot a project in Stokenham for community resilience and a letter would be sent out to the Chairman and Clerk shortly. • Chapter 8 Training had been set up and Cllrs Rogers, Spence and Ansell would attend. • Devon County had set up a Community Directory which they had invited all parish and towns to enter their own details on. They then were free to put any information into the pages on what services they provide.

17. DISTRICT COUNCILLOR'S REPORT Dist. Cllr. Baverstock provided a written report of which the following is a summary. He advised that the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 came into effect on the 4th August and thus the press and public were able to report on meetings through filming and other media activities. These regulations also made provision for a ‘decision record’ to be kept with regard to any decisions made by an officer.

District now had a scheme to bring local residents together to purchase gas and electricity and there was a forthcoming planning training day on 19th September at Follaton House on economic growth, housing and neighbourhood plans. Also District was to create a Green Infrastructure Plan which everyone was asked to take part in such consultation on.

The TAP Fund was to be run again with applications by 31st December and a decision at the first Cluster meeting in the New Year. Dist Cllr Baverstock also asked parish council to urge all community groups to apply to his Community grant fund.

Beesands Village Green was now designated as no parking whatsoever. It would now go to public consultation but he asked that Parish Council request District Council to allow parking in the existing parking areas i.e. the far end of the Green, on the corner and outside the church. 55

. 18. COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT Cty Cllr Brazil noted the points on the windmill with regard to English Heritage. Devon County had no meetings over August but were this month looking for another £49million to cut from their budget. When care homes, libraries’ and youth homes had already been affected he worried where this further cut would come from. It was indicated that the lengthsmen may go, grass cutting and those sorts of additional services. With regard to roadworks he had been assured there would be a permanent fix to the potholes outside the old Chillington garage. There was a spring there and County had mended potholes previously but they just popped out again so some sort of engineering was required. This would be done by the end of the month and therefore there would be a road closure.

Cty Cllr Brazil advised that the following day there would be a meeting at Follaton House 10a.m. on the Development Strategy. District had decided the housing need number already but district councillors were not told. A cabinet member and officers had decided such and it was apparently lower than before. The Regional Spatial Strategy used to state the amount South Hams and other districts had to provide for the next 10 years. Now it fell to District to decide how many they felt they wanted. Their objective evidence was South Hams had a housing need but when the report that this was based on was done it stated that jobs growth would be about 35%. Such an increase had not been seen since the industrial revolution! In order to accommodate a number of houses District had said they would need to get rid of development boundaries so Cty Cllr Brazil felt there was no control such as at present when only an exception site or Village Housing Initiative could be built outside the boundary. He could see this policy vastly increasing the size of market towns and allowing building of new villages in the countryside. This area had neither infrastructure nor jobs to accommodate this increase and was like placing a square peg in a round hole. The fact that District was struggling to find sites at present illustrated he felt that it was not sustainable to build this amount. There should just be housing for young working families provided.

At the District meeting he would try to persuade others that the number of houses was not written in stone and they needed to debate this openly. Cllr Cowley noted that he felt there was such flexibility in the Housing Need report it could support 300 or 13000 houses depending on how it was read. It was questioned Why did they choose this figure now and Cty Cllr Brazil felt that it was because Government looked at house building to get growth in the economy. This plan was meant to be trying to rebalance the economy but was not based on research. Cllr Spence felt that the new houses would remain empty because no one could buy them.. If people retired here this would put a massive strain on local services.

19. FINANCE AND CHEQUES Balances were provided and the below cheques were noted and agreed for signature: Current £2224.09 Savings (1) £94444.22 (after transfer for below cheques £48444.22) Savings (2) £4923.05

Transferred: From deposit to current £46000 on 19th September 2014 at 8.15a.m.

Received: Grass Cutting Maintenance £987.00 South Hams District Council Section 106 contribution towards linking path at Tanpits £13157.00 South Hams District Council Contribution towards grounds maintenance Helmers Field £1500 South Hams District Council Community Reinvestment Fund Interim Claim £36550.00 56

South Hams District Council 2nd half precept £15180.00

002142 Grant Thornton – Audit £240.00 002143 Eclipse July – Internet £26.93 002144 Greenscape – Tanpits and Holbrook Grass maintenance £445.00 002145 Charles Rogers Blding Cons. – Permissive path entrance Stokeley £480.00 002146 Eclipse – Internet August £11.26 002147 Sundries and Travel - £54.41 002148 CANCELLED 002149 Wages August - £1083.22 002150 Cash for Electricity meter in hall £20.00 002151 NI and Tax £225.68 002152 Wages - £1083.42 002153 A. Ball – Bus Shelter cleaning £80.00 002154 P. Ball – Bus Shelter cleaning £80.00 002155 Community Council of Devon – Subscription £50.00 002156 Concorde I – Copier £4.67 002157 BT – Telephone £238.20 002158 Norman Brooking Builders Ltd – Works to Helmers footpaths Section 106 £3078.28 002159 Dart Surfacing – New surfacing to footway Carehouse Cross to White House footpath : Community Reinvestment Fund works £20650.00 002160 Norman Brooking Builders Ltd – Works to extend veranda area and form new access to hall (also disabled from car park) : Community Reinvestment Fund £19080.00 002161 Greenscape – DCC Grass Cutting Contract £987.00

20. NEXT MEETING The next full parish council meeting would be held on 16th October 2014 and a planning committee meeting held on the first Thursday in September 2014, if necessary, due to plans being received in the interim. Both meetings to commence at 7.30p.m. in the Wesley Smith Room at Stokenham Parish Hall.

Meeting finished: 9.25p.m.

Signed ……………………… Chairman Dated: 16th October 2014.