Minutes of Fifehead Magdalen Parish Meeting Held 7.30pm Tuesday November 27 th 2012

Present: Chairman: Robin Longland (RL) Guest: Peter Webb – NDDC Cllr (PW) Roger Trevor, (RT) Pat Hopkinson, Neil Hopkinson, Angela Stevens, Doreen Tile, Sally Waters, (SW) Andrew Duncan, (AD), Jacqueline Duncan, John Sturges, Mary Sturges, Thomas Trevor, Denise Trevor, (DT) Jason Trevor, Geoff Merrick, Patsy Merrick, Rollo Belsham, (RB) Rosie Belsham, Helen Mera, Peter Mera, Peter Custard,(PC) Mervyn Hanford, Freddy Hope, Rosemary Redwood, David Redwood, (DR) Patsy Lidsey, Lee Sutton,(LS) Andrew Lakeman, Jeanne Lakeman, Victoria Shepherd, Chris Vallance, (CV) Alix Brooke, (AB) Bill Bryson, Fiona Howard, Peter Wade, Mrs Wade, George Wade, Scott Mogridge, Susie Percival, Geoff Percival.

In attendance – Jane Grimes

The Chairman Robin Longland welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Declaration of Interest: RL explained that the Localism Act 2011 provided for new guidelines regarding the disclosure of pecuniary interests. He declared that morally and in the interests of openness and transparency that he should, whilst serving as Chairman to the Parish of Fifehead Magdalen, declared any interests that he may have: “I formally declare that I have no involvement with any organisation in this Parish either on a financial or moral basis and have no conflict of interest which would affect my duties as Parish Chairman.”

Election of Chairman The current Chairman is Robin Longland. (RL) A nomination has been received from David Redwood (DR) No further nominations were received. DR had canvassed the village by sending out a letter: See attached. Cllr Peter Webb (PW) suggested that RL be given an opportunity to have the right of reply. RL accepted this invitation to reply : “When I took over as your Chairman there was no village contingency fund and we were unable to pay for anything other than our budgeted items. There was also parking problems amongst other issues. All have been resolved. We now have a small contingency fund and are able to immediately pay for any additional items that are needed instead of waiting to budget for them the following year.

As a Parish we are now in a position to give additional funding. This is particularly relevant at this time for the PPC in connection with the graveyard grant (they are currently experiencing a lot of expenditure for the church roof) to help their cash flow. Also the village hall committee needs to upgrade the hall facilities and it is possible that the parish may also be able to help them through a difficult period as we have in the past.

HGV access and signage survey has been completed and is waiting funding and I have already initiated a dialogue with the police and the CC to try and resolve the issue of speeding through the village. Last year I got agreement that the village roads would be added to salted road list and this was done. The issue of residents having to salt the roads themselves was removed. I have every expectation that the gritting will continue this year. I made a pledge when I was elected as your Chairman. This was to look after and put the village needs first. If re-elected I will continue to do this in an unbiased way and without having any conflicting interests”.

He concluded by asking that rumours about him and Sally Waters be stopped, as they were unfounded and untrue.

DR replied in addition to his letter of intent that as a newcomer to the village and living in a listed building within a conservation area he had no intention of changing things and added he had not been privy to any of the rumours that RL had mentioned.

PW gave a brief explanation of the Parish Chairman’s roles and responsibilities. He asked if there were any questions prior to election of Chairman.

Roger Trevor (RT) sought clarification of the period that the post of Chair would run for, as the term of representation was, to his understanding, April 2012 to May 2013.

Patsy Merrick (PM) asked that as the AGM was so late, should the Chairmanship not run for one whole year.

PW Advised that normally term of office was May to April, but on this occasion these were exceptional circumstances and a vote should be held to decide.

Vote was divided 50/50. Decision made for the Chair to run to May 2013 was confirmed by PW.

There was a heated discussion regarding the timing and setting of the village precept. Precept is normally set after discussion and meeting in January. At present insufficient information is available from the government to NDDC to enable NDDC to budget and produce figures to allow precept to be set.

Chris Vallance;(CV) asked if he may further question RL with regard to RL’s opening comments with particular reference to the snow and ice plan - what roads would be gritted? RL replied that all roads to A30 and to the church. CV also required clarification on HGV vehicles entering the village. RL advised that the Highways authority only want to deter HGV’s as a total restriction was impractical because this would restrict agricultural vehicles carrying out their work and lorries going to the small business units. A survey had been conducted earlier in the year and works were dependant on funding.. Additional details were in the minutes from Dec 16 th 2011.

SW asked why she had not received a copy of the canvassing letter from DR. CV Canvassed proactively for DR saying as RL was a busy man still working that he felt RL didn’t have time to devote to Parish affairs and communication between the Chairman and the village residents on the progress of situations was limited. DR added that he can give much more time to the Parish and certainly was not trying to shoehorn anyone out of the post, he hoped that things would be more proactive. He intended to go around the village speaking to people, ask questions, gathering viewpoints and fine tuning things already put in place by RL. He will need more information on what responsibilities he has and limitations of the role. It would be a learning process. He hopes to improve communication by emailing people and producing a newsletter.

Election of Chairman by ballot overseen by Peter Webb.

Mr David Red wood was voted by a majority decision to be the new Chairman.

DR offered vote of thanks to RL and express his hope to continue with the good work RL had started.

The Chairman (DR) continued with the meeting adding that he would defer to RL where necessary

Apologies: No apologies had been received.

Previous meeting’s minutes: Draft Minutes from 16 th December 2011 were read by DR. After correcting a spelling mistake they were accepted as a true and accurate record.

Matters Arising a) RL advised that the HGV signage had been covered earlier in this meeting. b) Gypsy/Traveller sites had received extensive coverage in the local media. Sites had been agreed and construction started on the site. c) Grit bins and gritting: No requirement for gritting bins or bags of grit. There had been insufficient funds in the Parish account to purchase bins when this request was first made. RL had emailed Martin Hill – North County Council, to confirm that the village was on the gritting list. At present no confirmation has been received from DCC. d) RT advised that this letter/email be added to the minutes as a record. e) DR advised that he would follow this matter up. f) CV asked if the A30 layby was an official Traveller site? PW advised that it wasn’t and a site was under construction in Shaftesbury.

Cllr Peter Webb addressed the meeting PW gave a detailed explanation on the restructure of Dorset Waste Partnership, a consortium of local authorities that are responsible for statutory waste collection. He explained that due to government funding cuts to local authorities, councils have had to find ways of cutting costs to statutory services like waste collection.

In June 2013 significant changes to waste collection will be implemented in North & East Dorset and Christchurch. Recycling will be increased reducing landfill costs both to the environment and charges imposed for the service. Dorset and Bournemouth Councils have successfully won a bid of £14 million and Bournmouth an additional £7 million to increase recycling. Waste will be collected in wheelie bins, with different collection days and intervals. There will be a food compost bin and an option of garden waste collection for an additional charge.A successful pilot has been undertaken in the area. Alix Brooke gave an overview on her experience of using the proposed system, when she lived in East Stour.

Council tax and Housing Benefit Due to changes the government will allocate a 1% grant to councils if the Council tax is frozen at its current rate otherwise the council will be allowed to make a maximum 2% rise with no government funding.

This will have an impact on services and the amount of income councils receive and should be taken into consideration when setting the precept.

Changes are being made to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit – they are no longer being funded from central government. These benefits apply to 1 in 5 households, 5000 out of 25000. There will be an unknown increasing quantity of people claiming. In the new financial year, people on benefit will have a 10% cut, pensioners will be exempt and there will be situations where people will have to pay towards their council tax with no additional monies coming in to pay for this increase.

Any Questions? DT expressed concerns over waste collection and perishable goods as they have holiday lets. She was advised that more information would be available in the form of leaflets, information on the notice board, a consultation letter and road shows. The nearest road show to the village will be Wednesday 12 th December 2012 Congregation Hall.

PW was thanked by the Chairman and he left at 8.50pm.

Annual Accounts and Risks

Planning Under the Localism Act any new plans must be compatible with the spatial strategy with its aim at developing the larger towns such as Shaftesbury, Gillingham and Blandford. The Gillingham Core Strategy will be to build to the South of Gillingham adjacent to the Lodden flood plain. An amenity area around the Lodden will allow for flood water in this area. RL feels this proposed development could have an impact on floodwater further down river.

Chicken Farm : Planning application has gone to appeal and an inspector has held an informal meeting. RB and AD represented the Fifehead Magdalen village.

Henstridge Airfield Letters have been sent by Rollo Belsham (RB) and RL on behalf of the village objecting to the proposed increase in air traffic movements and the introduction of aerial acrobatics and training flights. RB gave a detailed account of the history of the opposition to the airfield and a comprehensive description of the type of planes used for acrobatic flying. RB has represented the village with regards to this matter and would like to continue. Endorsement was given by DR. A vote was held in favour of RB continuing. DR to have separate meeting with RB to discuss this matter further.

Copy of Accounts. A reduction in payment to Gillingham RiversMeet has been made. No further payments will be made to the centre. Late payment of the Graveyard grant was due to the substantial uplift in costs. A full invoice with a breakdown has been received and this has now been paid. An amendment to read 31 st March 2012 was made to accounts provided. Balance as of the latter date shown on the sheet. Bank account details on said sheet to be redacted.

Acceptance of the accounts: Proposed by Lee Sutton (LS) Seconded Jacqueline Duncan.

Any other business. Feedback from RiversMeet, thanking village for support and confirming that liability to the centre has ceased.

Graveyard and village hall additional funding are available due to the contingency fund that RL has managed to save over his term as Chairman. What do the village want to do with funds? LS thought it was a good idea to keep a contingency fund. The need for grit bins has been withdrawn with the proposed gritting plans.

RB Indicated he would like money to be spent on the Cemetery’s upkeep as it was an asset to the village.

A meeting to be arrange to allow for further discussions and ideas to be put forward.

Peter Mera. Asked if there is a Footpaths Officer? He felt that no one was taking care of the footpaths. Concern was raised about the lack of maintenance and water running down the footpath between the Merricks, The Old School House and the Shepherd’s house Mrs Patsy Merrick informed the Meeting that Wessex Water have a pressure control valve in a pit at the village end of the footpath, adjacent to our property. This controls the pressure of water in the water main under the footpath, that runs to . Periodically, this valve springs a leak, which results in gallons and gallons of water rushing down the footpath (which, as anyone who walks it will tell you, is a small stream anyway, during wet weather.) When Patsy spots a leak, she reports it to Wessex Water, who promptly come and deal with the problem. When the warmer spring arrives she will check it, as the extreme cold may well have caused another leak. This path always was a field ditch, which is why it has been wet for the past 80 years - a fact confirmed by Peter Custard. Recently the extreme volume of water running down it has actually washed the mud off the hard core that has been laid along the path, making walking it easier. Unfortunately, this has resulted in deep mire just beyond the kissing gate at the bottom of the path.

Next meeting A meeting to discuss the precept is proposed for the 2 nd week in January 2013. Date to be advised by DR

There was no further business. The meeting was closed at 9.30.

DR Thank JG for taking the minutes. RT thanked the outgoing Chairman.

David Redwood Chairman