MINUTES OF ST CUTHBERT (OUT) PARISH COUNCIL HELD IN DINDER VILLAGE HALL, DINDER BA5 3PF ON MONDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2019, 7:00PM. PRESENT: Cllrs P Cannon; M Cooke; T Hathway; M Hayden; J Henderson; I Humphreys; B Hunt; M Mitchell; D Newington; G Pettitt; J Reeves. IN ATTENDANCE: County & District Cllr M Pullin; District Cllr L Taylor-Hood; Ms Michele Exton (Parish Clerk); Mrs Lisa Pool (Deputy Parish Clerk); 2 Members of the Public. 01. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TO CONSIDER THE REASONS GIVEN Apologies from: Cllrs J Baker; P Foster; T Mallinson; J Walker; County Cllr G Noel; PCSO Housley. RESOLVED: To approve the reasons given for Members’ absence. RESOLVED: To approve Cllr Mallinson’s leave of absence until the 31st December 2019. 02. CO-OPTION OF 2 MEMBERS TO REPRESENT SOUTH AND EAST WARDS RESOLVED: To suspend Standing Order 3q before this item. One Candidate came forward to fill the vacancy in the East Ward. Mr B Hunt was successfully elected. RESOLVED: To reinstate Standing Order 3q after this item. 03. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 03.01. There were no declarations of interest. 03.02. There were no requests for dispensations for disclosable pecuniary interests. 03.03. There were no requests for dispensation. 04. EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC RESOLVED: To exclude the press and public from items 17 (data protection), 18 and 19 (commercial sensitivity). 05. CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS • Cllr Reeves updated the meeting that Mendip District Council’s Planning Board had deferred their decision for 6 months on the Elm Close planning application. This gives the Parish Council the chance to become more involved in S106 negotiations for a village hall. • Cllr Walker is recovering from an operation. • A new kissing gate has been installed on a public footpath that goes across agricultural land at Coxley Wick. This has made access easier for dog walkers and some are not clearing up their dog’s mess. The next Asset Management Committee will discuss how the Parish Council can discourage this behaviour. • Cllrs Reeves and Hayden and the Clerk recently attended an A361 briefing at Mendip District Council where it was explained that the whole process is at the very earliest outline stage and that some of the routes that have been discussed are just examples of the many potential options. 06. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME A Member of the Public informed the meeting that they had met with other Residents and wished to express their concern over a potential A361 Ridge Road route. The Resident requested that the Parish Council keep Residents informed about any developments relating to a Pilton Bypass and the Ridge Road. Page 1 of 4 St Cuthbert Out (Wells) Parish Council – Full Council 07. LOCAL AUTHORITY REPORTS To receive reports either in person or in writing from: • Avon & Somerset Police – The Clerk read out from the Rural Beat AO22 Report that PCSO Housley had sent which included theft from a van that had been broken into at Coxley Wick, a shed broken into on the Council’s allotments and 2 road traffic collisions at Whitnell Corner. • Somerset County Councillor – Cllr Pullin has requested that 2 warning signs are installed on the approaches to Whitnell Corner for the interim period before the Small Improvements Scheme that is scheduled there, starts in a few months. County has approved the planning application for the temporary pyrolysis plant at Wookey Hole. Cllr Pullin suggested that the Parish Council should write to County’s Economic & Community Infrastructure Operations Director Alyn Jones to request that the Parish Council is refunded their contributions towards supporting the 67 bus service as S106 funding was secured by the Parish Council for this purpose. • Mendip District Councillor – Cllr Taylor-Hood informed Members that the District Council has appointed 2 Mental Health Champions and she would like to hear from anyone interested in supporting them. The District Council’s Planning Board is looking into improvement of planning enforcement in the District. Cllr Reeves highlighted the long standing enforcement actions needed relating to the lack of a finished pavement at the old Pound Inn development on the A39 in Coxley. 08. MINUTES OF ST CUTHBERT OUT PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2019 RESOLVED: To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Council held on Wednesday 16th October 2019. 09. TO REVIEW THE COUNCIL’S PUBLICATION SCHEME The Council reviewed amendments to the draft Publication Scheme. RESOLVED: To adopt the Council’s Publication Scheme. 10. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN The meeting discussed setting up a Neighbourhood Plan Working Party. Cllr Reeves has previously done a lot of work on the Council’s draft Neighbourhood Plan and advised that one of the first tasks of the Working Party should be to correlate the existing draft with the District Council’s Local Plan Part 2. RESOLVED: Cllrs Cooke, Hathway, Humphreys and Pettitt to serve on the Neighbourhood Plan Working Party to discuss the cost / benefit analysis of resurrecting the Council’s Draft Neighbourhood Plan. 11. ST CUTHBERT (OUT) PARISH COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT WORKING GROUP Cllr Pettitt updated the meeting on the Council’s Environment Working Group’s first meeting held on 7th November 2019. Cllrs had identified the issues they wish to pursue as tree planting, footpaths and cycleways, public transport, reducing private car use, electric vehicles and charging points, street lighting, energy use, water turbine energy production and good lines of communication with Residents. The Working Group is to investigate what the Parish Council can do. District Cllr Taylor-Hood informed the meeting that there is a lot of work being carried out by County and District and asked that the Parish engage in sharing with both Councils to avoid duplication and increase widespread knowledge and best practice. It was agreed that the Environment Working Group would be a standing item on future Full Council Agendas. Page 2 of 4 St Cuthbert Out (Wells) Parish Council – Full Council RESOLVED: To approve that individual Cllrs may undertake research of environmental issues as Representatives of the Council. All correspondence must be copied to the Clerks. Proposals must be presented to Full Council for approval before committing the Council to any agreements. RESOLVED: To approve that the Clerk writes an initial letter to the Bishops Palace in Wells expressing the Council’s support for the installation of a hydro electric generator. 12. LIGHT POLLUTION (PART-NIGHT LIGHTING SCHEME) Cllrs discussed a motion calling on St Cuthbert (Out) Parish Council to take active steps to adopt a policy for the provision of sympathetic lighting schemes throughout the Parish in keeping with the tranquillity of many of the Parish’s existing villages. Unnecessary energy use, the detrimental effect on the health of wildlife and AONB amenity concerns need to be addressed and the Parish Council can be instrumental in influencing developers and remediating damage already done from existing street lighting by replacing with motion sensor street lighting. There are some strong statements in the District Council’s Local Plan supporting sympathetic lighting, but Planners do not seem to be looking at the street lighting detail in developers’ planning applications, effectively ignoring the provisions of these statements. Cllrs agreed that in principal, the Parish Council could provide a budget as seed funding towards this type of initiative, but alternative sources of funding should be researched before the next Full Council meeting in January. 13. COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH (CSW) The Clerk read out a report from Cllr Foster that updated the meeting on Community SpeedWatch (CSW). The local Police are to employ 3 new staff, training of PCSO Supervisors to liaise with local CSW groups and conduct home follow up visits has started and it is hoped that this will raise awareness of the need to respect speed limits. The CSW team covering the Horringtons will be making an application to the Parish Council towards funding a Speed Indicator Display (SID). 14. ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT The Clerk informed the meeting that she had submitted the VAT Return for the 2nd Qtr 2019/20. The Council reviewed a schedule of items of expenditure and issuing of payment. The bank statements and reconciles for all bank accounts for October 2019 were shown and verified by the appointed Member Cllr Hathway. RESOLVED: To approve a schedule of items of expenditure and issuing of payment. 15. BUDGET 2020/2021 The Council considered the budget headings and amounts that had been reviewed by the Finance & Scrutiny Committee 11th September 2019 and the Asset Management Committee 2nd October 2019 for the Financial Year 2020/2021. Additional budget headings for an accessible website and environmental initiatives were suggested and necessary increases to some budget heads was noted. The draft budget will be reviewed again at the Finance & Scrutiny Committee on 4th December 2019 before recommendation for approval by Full Council on 14th January 2020. 16. PUBLICISING THE COUNCIL AND ITS ACTIVITIES Cllr Cannon gave a talk on the most effective ways of publicising the Council, its activities and its achievements. The Council needs to raise awareness of its existence and celebrate that it has a good story to tell. Positive coverage by mainstream multi-media, eg. local radio and hard copy publications and social media can achieve this. Written material and photos need to be collected for multi-media coverage that flows into social media by directing readers to go to the Council’s website for further information. An eye catching Page 3 of 4 St Cuthbert Out (Wells) Parish Council – Full Council and easy to navigate website should enhance and encourage readers’ interest. Story material needs to be chosen and should focus on delivery, for example, the refurbishment of the fingerposts and various environmental initiatives that the Council is becoming involved with.