HAMBRIDGE & WESTPORT PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 13 th FEBRUARY 2017 @ 8pm IN THE VILLAGE HALL

PRESENT: Cllrs Simon Denley (Chairman), David Cload, Brian Flack, Richard Maidment and Paul Masters. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy was also in attendance.

248). APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE An apology for absence had been received from District Cllr Sue Steele.

249). DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest.

250). MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9th JANUARY 2017 The Minutes of the meeting, having been circulated, were approved on the proposition of Cllr Paul Masters, seconded by Cllr Richard Maidment and signed by the Chairman.

251). MATTERS ARISING a). Footpath from the Primary School to the Church – update County Cllr Christopher le Hardy advised that the next step would be to produce a plan which would be brought to the Parish Council for consideration. It would also be discussed with the residents who would be affected. He had fed in all the points that had been discussed and we were now waiting for the plan. It had not yet been decided on which side of the road it would be but, if they found too many difficulties on the left-hand side of the road it would have to go on the other side. Cllr Richard Maidment asked how long this would take. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said that once the plan has been produced, it would have to go into public consultation and the individuals affected would be approached. Once this has happened, it could proceed quite quickly. They would make any adjustments, let the contract and it would then happen. He pointed out that Somerset County Council now had a four year plan which means we can plan ahead.

b). Future of the Village Website – update Mike Evans said that Cllr Simon Denley had now taken on responsibility for updating the Website and the Clerk would be shown how to put on the Minutes, Agendas and Planning Reports.

c). Installation of Broadband – update Cllr Cimon Denley said that it was still an up-hill battle with BT. He had spoken to someone today who assured him that it was all ‘back on track’ now and they would give us a date as soon as possible. He has drafted a letter to send to the Head of Customers’ Services in the UK to try and push things on a bit, considering it had been going on since November.

d). Westmoor Lane – update Cllr Simon Denley said that he had heard nothing further. Cllr David Cload said that that they had attended to the farm gateways. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy asked whether it had been agreed to do something about it. He was advised that County Highways considered it perfectly safe and that it was similar to the lane that runs into Muchelney, in that if it is a flooded road it will undulate. They say it is safe although it is uneven and right next to a rhine without any barriers. If you did come off the road in the dark it could be dangerous. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said he had previously taken the matter up with the Highways Department and he would follow this up.

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e). Sewerage – update Cllr Simon Denley said that he had sent a letter to Wessex Water but, he had not received a reply as yet. He had written to the Operational Customer Services Manager at Bath as follows:-

During periods of heavy rainfall & localised flooding, a number of properties in Westport have experienced back-flooding of sewage. I believe that this particularly affects those properties adjacent to the B3168.

There is concern that although the sewage system may cope with the existing level of properties within Westport & Hambridge, the additional demand made upon it from surface water during heavy rainfall, is causing problems. Further development within the two villages will only exacerbate the issue.

I am writing to enquire on behalf of our residents as to what Wessex Water intend to do to improve the current system so that it can cope with the additional surface water run-off, during periods of heavy rainfall.

There is a pumping station at Westport (15654) that regularly requires additional tankers to help remove the volume of sewage.

We understand that Wessex Water have conducted a number of surveys in Westport & Hambridge but to our knowledge no action has been taken to prevent the surface water entering the sewer. I would be grateful if you could provide information about what action Wessex Water intend to take to alleviate this issue.

Cllr Simon Denley said that we would have this on the Agenda for the March meeting.

252). TO RE-VISIT THE PARISH PLAN a). Speedwatch – update Some information had been received from Vic Faulkner and he had suggested that further information could be obtained from Dave Grabham, if required. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said he was talking to Peter Brandt the Co-ordinator for Speedwatches across South Somerset and they were working together to see if they can do something more about the problem. Setting-up a Speedwatch was a very good idea and his proposed plan was to submit a bid for money to support Speedwatch, including the education of drivers. The Clerk advised that she had a one to one meeting with PC Toni lines and one of the items discussed was the Speedwatch in Westport.

County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said that more accurate information can be obtained from the CID’s and a TRAMS Management Report received for Westport detailed the results of sessions held between 1 st December 2015 to the 18 th December 2016, during which 13,354 vehicles passed during sessions held. Cllr Richard Maidment was surprised that the 85 speeders reported were only 1% of all vehicles passing. He felt that it was important that we keep progressing with Speedwatch.

b). Neighbourhood Watch The Clerk said that during her discussion with PC Toni Lines, the question of Neighbourhood Watch was raised. She drew attention to the fact that Hambridge and Westport do not have one and whether it was something that consideration could be given to. Cllr Simon Denley suggested that we could put an item in the Newsletter with a view to identifying someone willing to be a co-ordinator.

c). Removal of redundant sign. 5001V Hambridge South, Vehicle Actuated Sign 30MPH The Clerk had received a letter advising that the above sign located opposite Vicarage House Nursing Home is to be removed. The sign is now considered unsafe and unmaintainable, therefore, arrangements would be made for the sign to be disconnected and removed.

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Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, they will not be funding a replacement. Should the Parish Council decide that a new VAS is desirable, please could you make a request to the Small Improvements Scheme (SIS), which can be done through your local County Councillor. It was felt that if our request for a footpath from the School to the Church was successful we could consider the installation of a replacement VAS.

253). FINANCE REPORT a). Accounts for payment The following accounts were approved for payment on the proposal of Cllr Richard Maidment, seconded by Cllr Paul Masters.

Clerk’s Wages – Month 10 £ 54.74 Hambridge & Westport Recreation Trust – Rent £144.00

b). Update of electrics going into Hambridge & Westport Village Hall Cllr Simon Denley said that we had spoken about including our contribution of £2,000 towards this project in this financial year. Following discussion and on the proposal of Cllr Richard Maidment, seconded by Cllr Paul Masters, it was unanimously agreed that a cheque for this sum be drawn and sent to the Hambridge & Westport Recreation Trust.

Adjournment to Allow Public Comment

Cllr Simon Denley advised that we have received the Land Registry Transfer form which is part of the planning that Mr Matthew Rose has submitted in respect of the erection of a dwelling on land adjoining the Church. The agreement was that, if the Parish Council was to take on the ownership of part of the property, that was just one of the conditions that had been set down. This had been agreed in principle by the Parish Council. One of the points that had come up was, whether we needed to get our legal people involved. He had looked at the form, which seemed to be very straight forward. Following further discussion, it was proposed by Cllr Simon Denley, seconded by Cllr Richard Maidment, that the Land Registry Transfer form should be completed in respect of the transfer of land, as stipulated in the document and this was unanimously agreed.

Mike Evans referred to the Footpaths meeting to be held on the 2 nd March.

254). REPORT FROM COUNTY/DISTRICT COUNCILLORS a). Report from County Cllr Christopher le Hardy He reported that next Wednesday there would be a full council meeting at which they will pass the Budget. The Budget for the financial year 2016/2017 has been balanced and a new Budget coming in for the year 2017/2018 which assumes a small Council Tax rise at 1.99%, plus 2% for adult social care. The Somerset Rivers Authority remains the same at 1.25%. The total increase is 3.99%. The government had given them the option of increasing the Adult Social Care budget and moving it away from Central Government down to Local Government. An option of any combination up to 6% over the next three years and we have opted to go with 2% each year. The main reason for that is because, at the moment, we are conducting a very extensive Pimms progress improvement for Adult Social Care. We are finding all sorts of things that we can do better for less and so we thought it best to accept 2% each year. Our Budget for next year sees £18millions of savings and that goes on top of the £120millions we have had to save over the last six years. This sees our support grant coming down to zero by 2018/2019 or 2019/2020. The savings for 2017/2018 set out in the reports include, £1.5m from the return of South West One services to the authority; £400,000 from reduced spend on agency staff; £1.6m from better contracting; £10m from re-designing services and bringing down spend on some key areas, such as care placements for children and adults into line with good performing authorities. Somerset County Council continues to draw down the inherited debt of £350 million, incurred by the previous administration, which is still costing SCC £100,000 a day in interest payments.

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255). LAW & ORDER a). Report from PC Toni Lines for January 2017 On the Avon and Somerset system for Area North, we have had 121 investigated crimes reported for the month January 2017 and there were 15 arrests. There have been 15 reports of ASB for Area North.

256). PLANNING REPORT a). Applications received

Application No. 17/00234/S73 Application to vary condition 2 for substitution of approved plans of planning permission 16/02889/FUL with new revised plans. The Old Vicarage, Hambridge, Langport

Although this application appeared on the District Council’s Website, the Clerk had not yet received the application in the post. The Planning Department had been contacted and they advised that it had been posted. The Clerk would follow this up and establish what variation had been proposed to the original application.

Application No. 17/00480/FUL Erection of single storey extension, Ilmar Cottage, Westport, Langport.

It was agreed that the Parish Council had no objections to raise in respect of this planning application.

b). Proposed residential development at Hambridge green Cllr Richard Maidment enquired whether we had received a reply from Greenslade Taylor Hunt to the points the Parish Council had raised in respect of this proposed development and was advised that we had not.

257). CORRESPONDENCE a). Somerset Strimmer Project The Clerk had received an email from Tracey Sutton who said that in the process of contacting all strimmer volunteers she appears to have uncovered some miscommunication between the Parish and the current strimmer, Vic Faulkner. Vic has given her the background to the Parish taking steps to recruiting another volunteer, however, he has told her that he never gave a resignation for his role and he still wishes to continue. She hoped that we would liaise with both Kenneth and Vic to clarify the situation. Meanwhile Kenneth is still currently PPLO according to her records and she looked forward to working with us all. During discussion, it was pointed out that Kenneth had not been very well. Mike Evans said that the footpaths really needed to be walked and a report submitted. He questioned whether Somerset County Council would pay for repairs to some of the paths. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said that there was a programme with money available for repairs to broken stiles etc. Mike Evans said that there would be a meeting in a couple of weeks’ time to discuss a missing footpath. Cllr Simon Denley would advise County Cllr Christopher le Hardy of the footpath reference number. b). Article from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in regards to their 2017 Test Census. c). Better Planning & Better Farming – NFU d). St. Margaret’s Hospice – volunteer collectors required

258). ANY OTHER BUSINESS a). Cllr Richard Maidment said that he had been approached by Bryan Hallett who lives next to the Nursing Home. He said that he has gone to the County Council a couple of times for help because his neighbour, who lives in the adjoining house, spends all day long crying for help. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy suggested that Mr Hallett should telephone the Adult Section of Somerset Direct and report the problem and they would probably have someone there within the hour. 4

b). Complaint about flooding Westport residents have complained that the road from Puckington at the Barrington turn into Westport is continually flooded. All the drains are full and need cleaning because there is nowhere for the water to go. Recently, ice on the road had caused problems. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said this could be reported to Traffic Choices and Cllr Richard Maidment said he would contact them.

259). ITEMS FOR A FUTURE AGENDA a). Footpath from the Primary School to the Church – update b). Installation of Broadband – update c). Westmoor Lane – update d). Sewerage – update e). Response from Wessex Water f). Village Plan – Speedwatch

CHAIRMAN______DATE______

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