SUTTON WALDRON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday 23rd May 2018 MINUTES

Present: Councillors: Iain McNeil, John Ellis, David Smith, Sandy Millard, Claire Aartsen Clerk: Marianne Wheatley

Residents: Helen Dixie, Dick Hood, Alan Malsher, Gill Samways, Gill Severn Jane McNeil, Martin Jelbart, Sherry Jespersen – District Councillor

1. Apologies – There were no apologises for absence.

2. Election of Chairman and acceptance of Office – Cllr. McNeil stood down as Chairman. He confirmed that after having been the Chairman for 7 years he did not wish to be re-elected as Chairman but intended to stay on as a Councillor. The Parish council thanked Cllr. McNeil for his service over the years and nominations were sort for the position of Chairman. Cllr. Ellis nominated Cllr. Smith. Cllr. Millard seconded this nomination. There were no other nominations and Cllr. Smith was duly elected as the Chairman of the Parish Council for the year 2018/19. The Clerk confirmed she would forward the acceptance of office form.

3. Declarations of Interest - There were no Declarations of Interest.

4. Minutes of Previous Meeting - The Minutes of the meeting held on 14th March 2018 were read and approved and following the meeting signed by the Chairman.

5. Matters Arising i) Drains – The Clerk had written to DCC Highways regarding the drains as discussed at the last meeting. The response form Highways was not hugely helpful and they confirmed they were going to wait for 3 months before pursuing the matter further. It was agreed that the Clerk should write to Highways at the end of May to ask whether the ditches had been cleared.

6. Correspondence/Other Parish Matters i) Reports from County Councillor and District Councillor – reports have been circulated to the Councillors. The following matters are relevant to SWPC:

Local Government Re-organisation Programme Development The LGR programme team is completing the programme design, which will create the new unitary authority ‘Dorset Council’ for 1 April 2019. The LGR programme will have 3 phases: 1) Creation of the new council; 2) Delivering services on 01 April 2019 and 3) Designing and building the new local authority. Cllr. Jespersen confirmed that the bill for the structural changes to the councils was being voted on today and would then go to the House of Lords. The order should be made next week. This was sooner than expected potentially because of the judicial review which had been instigated by Christchurch Council. The Ministry was confident that this review would not succeed.

The first meeting of the Shadow Authority was likely to be on 7th July 2018. There were 206 Councillor seats but some of these were occupied by the same person so they were expecting 176 councillors to attend this meeting. There would only be 2 or 3 meetings of this size: one to set up the new authorities, one to settle the budget and a “bucket” meeting to resolve any outstanding issues. There would also be a Shadow Executive Committee which would consist of 20 members which would effectively be the same as the cabinet. Both Graham Carr-Jones and Cllr. Jespersen were in the Shadow Executive Committee.

Local Government Re-organisation Boundary Review One of the key work streams is the Boundary Review. There will be rounds of consultation and reviews before a recommendation is made, by the Boundary Commission, to Parliament. A report will go to the Dorset Area Joint Committee (DAJC) on 15 May with the proposals for the boundaries. This will then be submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 16 May and will then be considered by them and the Boundary Commission. A full public consultation on their draft recommendations will run from 3 July until 27 August. The public consultation will be the opportunity for parishes to consider and respond to the boundary commission’s proposals.

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Superfast Dorset: Full Fibre Internet Connections Currently homes and businesses can claim a voucher worth up to £3,000 towards future-proof full fibre internet connections. You can find more details in DCC’s news release at https://news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/2018/04/06/67-million-boost-for-a-full-fibre-future

The scheme is only accessible through broadband service providers e.g. Wessex Broadband, BT etc. Full details and a list of registered suppliers can be seen on the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme website.

This will work best if local businesses and residents come together and approach a supplier as a group, meaning there may be a need for a degree of local leadership and co-ordination. If any community and/or business would like assistance then please contact Cllrs Brown, Jespersen or Croney. It was confirmed that a resident within Sutton Waldron had sent a leaflet round the village but as yet there was not enough support within the village. If people would like Wessex Broadband then they should approach them to express an interest. Cllr. Jespersen commented that most people did not need superfast broadband in their homes and they should weigh up their need against the cost. The grant would be for the installation of the cable to the individual’s home and the laying of the cable was something else that should be taken into account. The fact that a property has superfast broadband might add something to the value of that property but it was not straightforward working out whether the installation of the superfast broadband was worth it. Cllr. Jespersen was not sure if the village adopted Wessex Broadband how easy it would be to change supplier. At the end of the day it was a personal choice as to whether the residents wished to go with Wessex Broadband but if they did at this stage all they had to do was to let Wessex know they were interested.

Dorset Care Record At present, health and social care organisations in Dorset may hold different sets of records about individuals. Information in different records may be duplicated or incomplete. Launched in the autumn of last year, the Dorset Care Record is a new confidential computer record that will, over time, include a range of health and social care shared information to help improve the care people receive. Understandably, people may have concerns about information confidentiality and security. Answers to these concerns and others can be found at: https://news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/dorset- care-record/faqs

(ii) Data Protection Policies and Information Audit – the Clerk has reviewed the General Data Protection Regulations. She had completed an Information Audit for the Council and had asked the Parish Council to advise if any other information should be included in the audit. She had not received any comment. The Clerk had also prepared various documents which she would like to be approved: • Privacy Policy and Freedom of Information Policy • Privacy Notice for staff/councillors – which will be sent to any new councillors and staff • General Privacy Notice – this will be uploaded to the website and people will be directed to it as appropriate. The Information Audit and other documents referred to above were approved and adopted by the Parish Council.

(iii) DAPTC Survey – DAPTC have recently circulated a survey asking the Parish Councils to confirm what services should continued to be supplied by local government following the formation of the Unitary Authority. At this stage the Parish Council has not been asked who should continue to supply the services. DAPTC have also asked the Parish Council to complete a second survey regarding local decision making. The Clerk had circulated the surveys and has completed the same in draft. She had suggested that most of the services listed should be retained and that it is not realistic to pass responsibilities down to Parish Council’s who are all volunteers and do not necessarily have the resources and expertise to manage the provision of services. It was agreed that the Clerk should submit the response to the surveys as drafted.

(iv) Inspection of The Spinney, Bus Shelter and Telephone Box – in accordance with the Risk Management Policy Cllr. McNeil had inspected The Spinney, the Bus Shelter and the Telephone Box and all is in order. Cllr. Aartsen had swept out the bus shelter recently and Cllr. McNeil had strimmed round the bus shelter. The contractor had done a good job on the Spinney 90% of the nettles had been removed and he had started to plant foxgloves and primroses etc. 2

(v) A350/C13 Now that the weather has improved and the Traffic Regulation Orders have been approved Highways had returned to the A350 and C13 between Blandford and Shaftesbury to lay the remaining road markings, install the remaining road studs and erect the new village gateways. The work has now started.

With the exception of the village gateways all of the work will be completed at night.

As the work is highly weather dependant, information signs have been erected advising road users that the A350 will be closed 1900-0600 from Monday 21st to Friday 25th. The latest information is that the road will be closed from Iwerne Minster to Stourpaine tonight and from Cann to Iwerne Minster tomorrow night. The remaining night work will be completed under stop and go traffic management.

(vi) Bench - The bench which is currently listed in the Assets register on the piece of grass under the Horse Chestnut Tree had been vandalised. The Parish Council needed to decide whether to repair the bench, replace it and whether to make an insurance claim. It was confirmed that whilst the bench was on land owned by Signpost the bench belonged to the Parish Council. It was agreed that Cllr. McNeil would inspect the bench and see whether it could be repaired and whether it would be possible to move it to a different site.

7. Planning Applications There were no applications which the PC has been asked to comment on since the last meeting

8. Finance i) The balance in the bank as at 23rd May 2018 was: £5095.79 which includes the grant the Clerk had obtained for a new website and the first tranche of the precept in the sum of £1200. ii) It was agreed to pay the following Bills to be paid:

• Clerk’s salary for April to June 2018 - £315 • Bookkeeper 2018/19 - £73 • SLCC - £34.52 iii) End of Year Accounts, Audit and Approval of S1 & S2 of the Audit Statement – Martin Jelbart had undertaken the end of year Audit and had confirmed there was nothing adverse to report. The Clerk had circulated the end of year accounts and asked for the accounts to be approved. The Parish Council unanimously approved the end of year accounts for the year ending 31st March 2018. The Clerk had also circulated the Audit Statement. The Clerk went through the S1 statement question by question and the Councillors confirmed they were happy that matters have been dealt with appropriately throughout the year. Having approved the S1 statement the Parish Council approved the S2 statement. S1 & 2 having been approved it was agreed that the Chairmen should sign the exemption certificate for the Clerk to submit to the External Auditors. iv) Insurance – The premium for 2018/19 is £219.73. Last year it was £211.33. The 3% increase reflects the increase in Rebuilding Costs index and RPI. Cllr. McNeil had reviewed the insurance and confirmed that it should be renewed. The Parish Council agreed to renew the insurance.

8. Any Other Business – Cllr. Millard commented that the potholes going up through the Hollow had not been repaired. It was confirmed that the potholes had been reported some while ago and Cllr. McNeil had telephoned Highways on 23rd March 2018. Cllr. Jespersen confirmed that the only way to get the potholes filled was to keep the pressure up. She encouraged the residents to keep reporting the same. It was agreed that the Clerk would telephone Highways.

9. Reports i) Church – It was reported that there would be a memorial service for Dot Swift on 22nd June 2018 in the afternoon. It would be helpful if the residents did not park on the road but parked their cars on their drives. ii) Village Hall – The village barbeque was being held on 8th July 2018. iii) Footpaths – One of the residents commented that he had recently picked up a leaflet regarding the White Hart Link and he was concerned about the route that had been picked round 3 the outskirts of Sutton Waldron. Cllr. Jespersen commented that when the route at present was probably no more than aspirational and that no doubt the Parish Council would be contacted before the route was finalised. It was agreed that the Clerk would email them to say that the Parish Council had seen the proposed route and were more than happy to discuss the proposed route. Another resident commented that people were still putting dog waste in the rubbish bin. Cllr. McNeil confirmed he had recently emptied the new dog waste bin and asked the resident to speak to the man who emptied the rubbish bin to empty the dog waste bin when she next saw him. Cllr. Jespersen commented that the Parish council should continue to push for these services to be provided as in the future it was going to be difficult to make a case for dog poo bins when someone else was making a case for adult social care.

10. Date of next meetings - The May meeting will be on 12th September 2018.

Signed …………………………………………… Date:…………………………………….. David Smith - Chairmen

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