sign in sign up
<<
Home , Chittlehampton

CHITTLEHAMPTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2018 at 7.30 pm. The Methodist Hall, Chittlehampton.

Present: Councillor Mr M Ives, (Chairman), Councillors Mrs M Edwards, Mrs A Davies, Mrs P Shallcross, Mrs R Rawle, Mr C Timberlake, Mr P Bradbury, Mr I Waldron and Mrs K Wylde (Clerk) and Cllr W White

Apologies: Councillors Mr T Kirby, Mrs S Rowe and Mr R Edgell

No response: 1

Members of the public: 0

Agree and sign the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of 29 August 2018.

Matters Arising

Air Ambulance: Planning Permission Ref: 65380 was granted as a 3 year temporary permission in order to assess noise impact on residents. This was a result of the Environmental Health Officer’s comments about the potential noise impact on residents and it being an unknown quantity. It is a disappointing and frustrating outcome given that there are 92 existing sites up and running with full planning permission.

Cllr White has been in discussions with the Environmental Health Manager, the Planning Officer and the Area Planning Manager on our behalf to try to resolve this issue. It would seem that because the decision notice has been issued it is unlikely that the condition can be removed but the Parish Council may be able to resubmit the application at no cost and further information is awaited.

There are concerns that funding through Community Grants and the TAPS fund may be lost because of the delay if the works are not completed by the end of March 2019.

Cllr Mr Edgell has suggested that the Parish Council write to the Chief Executive of North Council and copying in all the relevant parties. Cllr Ives undertook to do this. The situation is to be monitored to see what happens and contacting the Press is also an option.

Affordable Housing: An application for National Lottery funding to cover the cost of the survey was submitted on 13 September and refused on 4 October. Colin Savage says they will look at other ways of funding and we wait to hear from him.

Local Plan: Inspector’s report on the examination of the Local Plan; incorporating her recommendations and the reasons for such recommendations has been received. The report has now been published and concludes that the Local Plan can be made sound and capable of adoption with the application of the recommended Main Modifications. It is anticipated that the Inspector’s report will be considered at Full Council meetings of the respective Councils in October 2018 to enable the Local Plan to be formally adopted.

Eastacott Cross: Nick Russell (Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Historic ) has been contacted for an update. He is awaiting some information on who might have stored the stone. He also advised that Historic England (HE) are unlikely to be able to fund or undertake repairs.

Richard Sables at Devon Highways does not know who removed the stone cladding or what happened to the stone. And advised that renewing it would have to be externally funded, as the monument has no benefit or function for the highway user which in turn would mean there is no available budget for the repairs.

On 21 September Nick Russell advised that he had written to Bill Horner at DCC HET and have raised the matter internally. Again any funding is unlikely until next year and even then HE could only offer a small token payment, if at all. The cross is owned by , whose responsibility it is. He will contact us again once he has heard back from Bill Horner

The Square: It has been agreed to lay membrane and gravel to the bottom beds. If there are no volunteers to undertake the work, Cllr Mrs Edwards will contact David Tomkinson, Probation Service again to ask them to complete the work. This would be at a cost of £150 per day. Gravel is also required around the base of the trees in the top beds to help supress weeds.

Annual Audit: The Parish Council submitted an Annual Governance and Accountability Report (AGAR) part 3 section 2 on 14 May 2018 with the relevant supporting documentation. In August, a Certificate of Exemption as allowed under Audit Requirements and Transparency Regime in England (revised February 2018) which permits councils with less than £25,000 of gross receipts or gross payments to exempt themselves from the limited assurance regime audit process was also submitted. As the Council submitted a certificate exempting itself from review, no further action was taken by the Auditors and a final report will not be issued for this 2017/18.

However, it has come to light that we may not be following correct procedure at all times in accordance with the Transparency Code for smaller authorities which has been mandatory since April 2015 not just in respect of the auditing process but also in terms of publishing the full range of information regarding meetings and minutes. This will be rectified with immediate effect.

Cllr White informed Councillors that the Parish Grant, which was reinstated last year, will be reviewed again for next year and may not be granted.

Dog Bins: The bin was checked by Clerk at midday on 31 August and contained only a small amount of waste. Mr Mayhew was contacted on 7 September regarding the overflowing bin and he advised that members of the public often place carrier bags of waste in the bins and do not push them down into the bins, leaving them looking full. It’s a common problem across the district and he reassured me that the all the bins in the Parish are emptied weekly, normally either late on Thursday or early on Friday.

Umberleigh and Cobbaton Notice Boards: These are in the process of being constructed. The £100 grant from Cllr White has been approved for the Cobbaton board.

Petroc Bus: Cllr Mrs Edwards has written to Petroc to ask again with assistance with transport or costs for the 3 students attending from the village. They advised again that they have insufficient funds to assist following Devon County Council travel cuts and that bursaries are available. However, as students are unable to connect to the bus that runs from this is not a lot of help. Cllr White advised that a ‘Turners’ bus does go through Atherington to Petroc and that it might be worth investigating whether students could use this.. Cllr Edwards will contact Turners to see what is available or could be done to assist.

A377 & B3227: Speeding issues for both of these roads have been reported to the Police but no response has been received.

Mrs R Warren: A voucher has been purchased by the Parish Council and presented to Mrs Warren. Our nomination for a Long Service Award for her was not shortlisted.

Parish Council Website: Details of local organisations are included on the website.

Playing Field: Councillors discussed the extent of the condition and number of repairs identified in the RoSPA report in March that are required to bring the play equipment to a satisfactory standard. A new slide will cost in the region of £600. A decision needs to be made on how to deal with this in the future and the costs involved. It was agreed that a lot of expenditure has been made in recent years and that replacing the equipment might be the best option but this would have to be undertaken a bit at a time and research would need to be done to find out if there are any Grants or funding available to assist with the costs. The Clerk will investigate this along with the possibility of a cheaper and more effective maintenance contract than we currently purchase from Playquest Ltd.

The playing field grass has been topped and the purchase of suitable equipment to enable a tractor to continue cutting the grass long term is being looked at.

Register of Interests: The Chairman advised that these must be completed by law and published on the Council’s website. Cllr White also confirmed that any business a Councillor has with the Parish Council or District Council must be declared.

Budget 2019/20: This was circulated to members and approved.

Correspondence: E-mail received from Mr D Wylde advising that he had written to Devon County Council (DCC) requesting that a reduction in the speed limit past Home Down Cross be considered in light of the summer of collisions at the crossroads over the summer and requesting that the Parish Council write and support this request.

However, he has since received a response from Richard Sables advising that having checked the collision data from 2013 there is no evidence to support a request for a reduction in the speed limit.

It was, however, decided that the Parish Council should support this request and a letter should be written to DCC. Cllr White also suggested contacting Cllr Edgell to see if he can bring the matter to the Highways Committee.

Payments made: £ 37.89 Mrs R Warren. Petty Cash. £231.00 ashltd. Chippings for play area. £24.99 Village Hall. Raffle prize for fete. £54.25 Mrs M Edwards. Raffle prize for Chittlehampton fete & weed killer. £668.50 Mrs K Wylde. Wages and Petty Cash. £26.33 J & J Bins. Installation of replacement dog bin & adjustment to monthly invoice. £100.00 Mr M Ives. Retirement Gift for Mrs Warren.

Payments received: £8.04 Mrs R Warren. Overpayment of Expenses. £16.36 Western Power. Wayleaves Payment.

Any other Business

Remembrance Sunday: As the Chairman is unavailable, The Vice- Chairman, Cllr Mr T Kirby will lay the wreath on 11 November.

Cllr Mrs R Rawle agreed to take the Reading during the service.

Purchase of knapsack weed killer dispenser: Andrew Fisher has agreed to spray the Square and village areas regularly to keep it weed free and Councillors agreed to the purchase of the above to facilitate this.

Horse Chestnut Tree by the Stocks: The tree is showing signs of canker and is dying. This needs to be monitored and as it is within the Conservation Area, consent from the Local Planning Authority will be required for any works to or removal of the tree.

Umberleigh Village Hall: Cllr Pat Shallcross stated that the Village Hall are considering the purchase of a storage container and wondered whether any Grant might be available from Cllr White. Limited funds are still available.

The meeting ended at 8.38 pm. The next meeting will be at 7.30 pm on 5 December 2018 in the Methodist Hall, Chittlehampton.