MINUTES of the MEETING of GORSEINON TOWN COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE, held on WEDNESDAY 4th Sept 2013 at the INSTITUTE, LIME St. GORSEINON, at 6.30pm Present ; Councillors P Morgan (Chmn), K Jones, E Davies, V Evans, M Curtice, K Simpkins, A Stevens, L Davies, D Thomas; C/Cllrs, D Cole, D Lewis attended the public gallery in a non voting capacity and did not participate in the discussion or vote. 69. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST. None received. 70. APOLOGIES were received from Cllrs A Merriman, S Evans. J Curtice, P Griffiths 71. Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 3rd July 2013 were presented and approved by the meeting. (proposed Cllr E Davies seconded Cllr K Jones). 72. CONSULTATION responses on Planning applications received from Swansea Council as Planning Authority. a. NO OBJECTIONS were raised to the following applications received from the Local Planning Authority; 2013/1053 5 Ffordd Eira Gorseinon WC extension for disabled user b. OBJECTION was raised to the following applications – None raised c. APPEALS/ENFORCEMENT a. Cllr Malcolm Curtice asked about the unauthorised garage at the rear of St Catherines church, Alexandre rd. where enforcement/legal action was outstanding, as he understood a business repairing washing machines was taking place. The Clerk asked that details be confirmed before he would write to the Planning Authority. b. Cllrs M Curtice/E Davies asked if any response had been received regarding the complaint over the driveway extending onto the pavement at 58 Cecil road, Gorseinon. The Clerk indicated he had written twice regarding the matter but no response had been received to date. d. Swansea Local Development Plan Preferred strategy The Clerk outlined the draft proposals for the local area that had been received from the Planning Authority, and highlighted the scale of development proposed for the North west Swansea area including Gorseinon/Penyrheol. Members agreed to await the public exhibition before holding a special meeting to discuss the implications of the proposals before drafting a response. The Clerk advised that the consulation period was August 12 - Oct 31 2013. THE MEETING ENDED AT 7pm Chairman .................................................................... MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE GORSEINON TOWN COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 4th Sept 2013 at the INSTITUTE, GORSEINON, commencing at 7pm. Present ; Councillors P Morgan (Chmn), K Jones, E Davies, V Evans, M Curtice, K Simpkins, A Stevens, L Davies, D Thomas, D Cole, D Lewis, 73 . DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST. None received. 74 . APOLOGIES were received from Cllrs A Merriman, S Evans, J Curtice, P Griffiths The Chairman welcomed Cllr Ken Simpkins to his first meeting following election on July 11 th 2013. Cllr Simpkins then signed his declaration of office forms. 75. POLICE MEETING . The Police were not represented at the meeting. Councillors questioned whether the PACT meetings had now ended. Cllr Cole advised that there was to be a meeting in the Gorseinon Police Offices on 27 Sept at 2pm, which he understood would be the new format for local meetings. 76. MAYORS ANNOUNCEMENTS. Mayor advised of the following events she had attended during July / Aug 2013. 100 th birthday July 10 2013 of Mrs Jones, Gorseinon Carnival July 13 th , Gorseinon Social centre open day Wed 4 th Sept The Mayor indicated that she had received advice from one Voice Wales over her nominated charities for the year. She left the room whilst Council considered her charities and whether there was any personal or prejudicial conflict of interest in her choices. Following discussion it was proposed by Cllr E Davies and seconded by Cllr M Curtice that the 2 nominated charities of Parkinsons treatment (Gorseinon Hospital) and Bobath Cymru be supported, and the Mayor would examine if there was any way of supporting local branches of the charity, specifically. This was unanimously supported by all members present. Cllr P Morgan came back to the meeting and was informed of the Council decision by the deputy, Cllr L Davies that the Town Council supported her nominated charities for 2013/14. 77 . PUBLIC FORUM. No new issues were raised by the public; 78. Council received a Presentation from Mr Ant Flannagan on the “Gower Power community cooperative ”, which was intended to raise the profile of the organisation and its various initiatives locally. He outlined local farming practices and Members asked questions and at the end thanked Mr Flannagan for his interesting presentation. 79. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. a. The Clerk presented the July 3rd 2013 minutes (which had been distributed previously) for approval, and they were confirmed as a true record by Members with minor amendments( proposed Cllrs M Curtice, seconded V Evans). b. The Clerk presented the July 9th 2013 minutes (which had been distributed previously) for approval, and they were confirmed as a true record by Members with minor amendments( proposed Cllrs M Curtice, seconded V Evans). c. The Clerk presented the July 17th 2013 minutes (which had been distributed previously) for approval, and they were confirmed as a true record by Members with no amendments( proposed Cllrs M Curtice, seconded V Evans). 80. MATTERS ARISING; a. Cllr Ken Jones reported that the Gorseinon Food Festival had been succesful in being awarded the runner up position in the Swansea Council Food awards competition recently. b. A complaint had been received about the unfinished road surface on Millers Drive, which made it difficult for wheelchairs to mount the pavement. Cllr Lewis advised that the levels would be standardised when the final surface was laid, but understood that Persimmon would not be offering the road system to Swansea Council for adoption when completed, but would maintain it themselves via an agency. c. Cllr Jones noted that a local Pizza company had left an advertising trailer in the local layby recently which had been taking up parking space. The trailer had now been removed however. 81. CLERKS MATTERS. a. Clerk gave feedback on the Christmas lights meeting Aug 11 2013, which had discussed cost of installing lights at the entrance to Argyll Park. Members discussed the quotes received from Commercial Christmas for Xmas light installation and agreed to proceed with the following;(proposed Vicky Evans seconded Malcolm Curtice) • 3 new Xmas light features on St Catherines church tower • Xmas icicle Lighting on fascia of High St school • Infrastructure and lighting on the 7 trees at front of Argyll gardens • Xmas tree framework and lighting on tree in circle in Argyll gardens. The Clerk displayed sample artificial hanging baskets for the High street upgrade which were well received and noted for the 2014 environmental projects. b. New keep fit equipment for Parc y Werin - Feedback from Community Chest meeting Aug 11 2013, with Clerk and C/Cllrs J Curtice and D Cole to discuss with the Sports Officer, the grants for sports equipment in the park. Members were briefed on the meeting and discussion over grant opportunities for installing sport equipment in the Parc. The briefing was Noted and grant application forms were awaited. c. Litter Clean Up & barbeque had been arranged with Gorseinon College at Parc Melin Mynach at 10.30-2.30 on Fri Sept 6 th . The organiser Cllr M Curtice, had arranged for 60 students from Gorseinon College to attend. The event would be held in conjunction with Asda who were also carrying out a litter pick in the Town. The Council would fund the cost of the Barbeque. d. Asda sponsorship forms for Sept 15th campaign had been distributed to the Town Mayor.The local Asda store had been tasked with generating £5000 towards the £1 million target nationally for charity. Members discussed making a Council contribution, and agreed to make a donation of £100 towards the campaign.. e. 2013 Gorseinon Carnival debrief and feedback was given by Cllr David Cole. The team had held a debriefing and had made a profit of £4000 of which £3000 was to be given to 5 local charities at a presentation evening to be arranged. Lessons had been learnt at the first Carnival which were being applied to next years event. The Carnival had been very well received and Council wished the Committee members to be thanked for their efforts in arranging such a successful community event. f. Following the letter from the Clerk requesting wild flower planting in Gorseinon/Penyrheol in 2014, Wild flower locations in Gorseinon/Penyrheol had been requested by Simon Lydiard of Swansea Council. Members were asked to nominate sites as locations for wild flowers in the community, by the next meeting. They were advised that as 2014 was the WW1 centenary memorial there were many initiatives involving poppies within the city boundaries planned. g. The impending upgrade schedule for the bus station Gorseinon toilets from Swansea Council was reported . h. Future use of Penyrheol cemetery, Heol y Mynydd - Motion from Cllr Malcolm Curtice Cllr M Curtice spoke strongly about the shocking conditions on Kingsbridge cemetery, due to the high water table. A third extension to the cemetery had now been proposed by Swansea Council without consultation, and it was time to complain, and propose that the site at Penyrheol be used,as the ground conditions were much better. Members noted with disgust the incidents reported at the Kingsbridge cemetery and instructed the Clerk to write to the Chief Executive to request the Penyrheol cemetery site be used as soon as possible for burials. i. Gorseinon Parks Association – current status was sought from the Clerk, in view of the grants being sought for Sports equipment in Parc y Werin. Cllr D Thomas advised that due to lack of interest the Association was inactive and had effectively closed down. All monies held were in Lloyds TSB bank account, and had been audited.