Minutes of the Moorlinch Annual Parish Meeting Wednesday 29th May 2013 6:30 Church Hall, Moorlinch

Present : 32 Residents P.Allwright, M.Bell, N.Brooking-Clarke,E.Clarke, T.Clarke, A.Desmond, D.Gomm, M.Evans, V.Evans, N.Farmer, C.Garrett, M.Garrett, H.Gould, J.Hayward-Karlsson. K.Herbert, F.Hixon, T.Leigh, A.McNeill, H.McNeill, J.Mason, M.Mason, D.Quinn, M.Roberts, J.Oxberry, S.Oxberry G.Simmons, S.Simmons, S.Tingle, I.Tingle, A.Treacher, A.Warner (from 6.45), G.Warner (from 6.45)

Chairman : Ron Hixon Clerk : Gilly Hayward Guests : Councillor Duncan McGinty. Councillor David Huxtable (from 6.58) Yvonne Kay : Village Agent (from 6.45)

Apologies : K.Blackburn, G.Corbett, A.Farmer, P.Farmer, A.Gigiel, S.Gradwell, J.Hall, J.Hawkins, P.Hawkins, J.Stryker, N.Weekes, P.Weekes, I.Wells, J.Yardley.

The Meeting opened at 6.31pm

ITEM 1 : Adoption of the Minutes from the Parish Meeting – 13th December 2012. The Minutes of the last meeting had been circulated.

Adoption of the Minutes Proposed : A.McNeill Seconded : N.Brooking-Clarke

The Minutes were adopted.

ITEM 2 : Election of Chairman Ron Hixon stood for re-election. There were no other candidates Proposed : T.Clarke. Seconded : T.Leigh. Votes For : 26. Against : 0 Ron Hixon was duly elected Chair of Moorlynch Parish Meeting.

ITEM 3 : Election of Clerk The Chairman thanked Gilly Hayward, who is stepping down, for her assistance as Clerk. Tony Leigh stood for election, with no other candidates. Proposed : F.Hixon. Seconded : J.Oxberry. Votes for : Unanimous. Tony Leigh was duly elected Clerk to Moorlinch Parish Meeting.

ITEM 4 : Chairman’s Report Planning applications since December 2012. - Redman. Greylake. House Extension. Granted - RSPB. Greylake. Erection of viewing screen. Granted. - Simmons. Pit Hill Lane. Retention of Summerhouse. In process. - Arthurs – Appeal re. mobile home Tapmoor Road – Allowed. The Chairman will email the conditions to the village.

Alex Treacher would like to thank the postmen, and particularly John Hurley for is exceptional service, and asks if any other residents would like to add their name(s) to a letter of commendation. The Chairman will forward an email from Alex to the village, which people may respond to.

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The Clerk reported that, by law, a notice is displayed on the village notice board advising that electors have the right to inspect the Parish Meeting accounts. As there are no accounts for Moorlynch Parish Meeting; and therefore none are available for inspection.

ITEM 6 : Update on road name signs in Moorlinch Yvonne Kay had not arrived, so this item was proceeded with. Gilly Hayward : Following the Parish Meeting in December 2012, road name signs have been installed by SDC in Tapmoor Road, Holcombe Lane, Pit Hill Lane and Moor Road at the junction with the 39. There is still a question about the name of the stretch of road from the Ring O’ Bells Pub to . Most maps call it Moor Road. The register of electors, the National Land Property Gazetteer (used for land registry, property searches etc.) and all but one house in the postal directory has it as Greinton Road. In all cases, all five Croft Cottages are in Moor Road. If the road is to be called Greinton Road, it would start at Loxley House on the north side and Collings Farm on the south side. In this case a road name sign would be positioned between 5 Croft Cottages and Loxley House, and at the junction with the A361 to the south of Greinton. Duane Quinn, being the owner of the one house in the stretch of road with a postal address as being in Moor Road raised his concerns that there is too much signage in the village, and things should be left as they currently are. Further discussion noted that there is another Moor Road running from the A39 to Sutton Mallet, which is causing confusion for deliveries, but this has a different postcode. SatNav instructions call the road Moor Road. As there were several objectors to the installation of road signs at the last meeting, the Chairman proposed to postpone a decision until further discussion at the next Parish Meeting.

ITEM 5 : Introduction of the New Village Agent : Yvonne Kay Yvonne lives in and has worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau, Homestart, Age Concern and with Young Carers. Village agents live within the community they serve, working 8 hours a week, and their main role is to help vulnerable people of all ages to access assistance and advice from other agencies and services, (eg. Age UK, the CAB and Direct) and ensure that each case achieves a result. All cases are treated confidentially and cannot proceed without the signature of the client. The Agent is there to identify gaps in needs within the village, particularly for those who are at risk through health, age, debt, disability, housing etc.

Yvonne’s contact details are on the village notice board.

ITEM 7 : New Hospital : Peter Allwright The new Bridgwater Hospital is due to open in April 2014, offering the same facilities as the present hospital but with improved scope, including a 7am-11pm 7 days a week walk-in facility. Peter is a volunteer patient representative who attends quarterly meetings which review hospital services. If anyone is interested in joining these meetings, please contact Peter. The Chairman will forward more information to the village via email.

ITEM 8 : Timing of Parish Meetings As Anne Farmer originally proposed this item and was unable to attend the meeting, Carol Garret read out Anne’s proposal. In order to encourage as many residents as possible to attend Parish meetings, it was proposed that school and public holidays be avoided. The Chairman explained that the parish meeting procedures state that the annual Parish Meeting should take place between 1st March and 1st June. In this instance, due to local council elections (when a Parish Meeting cannot take place during this period), 29th May was the first available date to

Page 2of 3 17/06/2015 hold this Annual Meeting. Schools often have different half term dates, but he is happy to attempt to avoid public holidays in future. Carol Garrett offered a resolution that the Annual Parish Meeting should be held during the first three weeks in March. Proposed : M. Roberts Seconded : Malcolm Garrett. Votes For : 9 against 11 The resolution was not carried. A.Desmond asked if the hour of the meeting could be later in the evening. It was agreed that the next meeting would start at 7pm in the hope that everyone’s’ evening meals would not be inconvenienced.

ITEM 9 : Proposal to limit the Chairman’s length of service The Clerk had previously asked Melanie Wellman at SDC for the official take on the period that a chairman may serve. It is the Clerk’s understanding that the chairman is elected annually and it is up to the electors to vote in a new chairman by due democratic process. Ms Wellman replied “The Local Government Act 1972 states that:- In a parish not having a separate parish council, the parish meeting shall, subject to any provisions of a grouping order, at their annual assembly elect a chairman for the year who shall continue in office until his successor is elected. In my view this prevents you from setting a limit on tenure. This is because the Chairman shall continue "until his successor is elected". If your Chairman had a tenure, his role could technically come to an end before a successor is elected which would not be in accordance with the legislation. I therefore agree that the chairman is elected annually and it is up to the electors to vote in a new chairman by due democratic process.”

As Anne Farmer originally proposed this item and was unable to attend the meeting, Carol Garret read out Anne’s proposal. When one person holds office for an indeterminate period, inertia and complacency result for some participants. People would be more willing to ‘take their turn’ if a regular change became the norm. She proposed that, starting next year, a period of 5 years holding the office of chairman should be the maximum.

The chairman explained that, for the reasons set forward previously by the clerk, this was not an item that could be voted on. Any elector can engage with the meeting and stand for Chair at the Annual Meeting.

The Chairman thanked Cllrs McGinty and Huxtable for their continued advice and support.

The meeting closed at 7.25pm

The meeting ended at 7.25

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