CRICKHOWELL TOWN COUNCIL The following are the minutes of the Council Meeting that was held on Tuesday, 21st April 2015 in the Crickhowell Resource and Information Centre, Beaufort Street, Crickhowell, commencing at 7.20pm. PRESENT: Councillors: R Dykes, P Williams, S Roach, D Williams, I Kovaleva, E Jones, A Jeremiah, A Hughes, and the Mayor, V P Games. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Cllr A M D'Anna and Cllr C M Dietz. IN ATTENDANCE: County Councillor John Morris, Dr G J Jackson and Mrs J Pritchard, Clerk. To Receive Declarations of Interest in Items on the Agenda: None. PREVIOUS MEETING 4840 On a proposal by Cllr D Williams, seconded by Cllr Dykes it was agreed by all those who had been present at that meeting that the minutes of the meeting held on the 17th March 2015, previously circulated, could be signed as a true record of that which took place. MATTERS ARISING from the previous meeting (for information only). 4841 (4826) Bullpit Meadow - Cllr Jeremiah said that the Rotary Club are hoping to make this year's Duck Race a bigger event and may require more space for Totally Locally stalls etc therefore they may ask Powys County Council to cut the grass in this area. (4824 & 4817) Sports Pavilion Insurance - Cllr D Williams said that Powys County Council can't seem to agree and put in writing the agreement that this Council voted on and stressed that it is not Crickhowell Town Council holding the process up. It was also noted that Steve Butcher, PCC is putting together a number of options to repair or replace the fence between the Cricket Ground and the Castle Grounds and the Town Council will be included in the final decision. (4829) Lease of Substation at Castle Grounds - Cllr P Williams asked on the progress of the lease and the Clerk informed Council that Mr David Lloyd of Gabb and Co solicitors had agreed to represent Council on this. 2818 COUNTY COUNCIL MATTERS 4842 Cllr Jackson's Resignation - County Cllr Morris began by reiterating Cllr Jeremiahs words in the planning meeting and thanking Geoff Jackson for his services to the town, Cllr Morris was also a founder member of the Market Hall Trust and said that the Market Hall wouldn't be where it is today without Geoff's leadership and inspiration. Greenman Festival - County Councillor Morris said that the meeting with representatives from the Police and Mr Dan Thomas of PCC Environmental Health to discuss licence agreements for the festival had not yet taken place. Upper House Farm- County Cllr Morris reported good news that Melin Homes intend going ahead with the development of 21 units at Upper House Farm and would like a meeting with the Town Council to discuss the plans. Cllr Morris has seen the plans and will forward them onto the Clerk. Protected Landscapes Bill - County Cllr Morris said that there is a response to the protected landscapes bill from Carl Sergeant AM which says that 25 planning authorities is too much, PCC are responding to the Consultation and Cllr Morris has asked that all Town and Community Councils have sight of the response. Cwrt y Gollen Development - The Vale of Grwyney CC have concerns about the way the BBNPA handled the Cwrt Y Gollen planning application and intend contacting the Planning Inspectorate to consider filing a maladministration case. Crickhowell Library Friends Meeting - County Councillor Morris said that he didn't attend the Library Friends Meeting because he didn’t know about it, Cllr Games did attend the meeting on the 14th April. County Cllr Morris and Dr G J Jackson left the meeting at 7.34 pm. COMMUNITY PLAN 4843 Cllr Hughes reported that the steering group met again on Tuesday 24th March and said that it was well attended with both Helen Fry and Clare Parsons from the BBNPA in attendance. Cllr Hughes said that she had met with officers from the Sustainable Development Fund and proposed making an application for 50% of the project costs (just under £1000) from the Fund, this was seconded by Cllr D Williams and unanimously agreed. Cllr D Williams said that it would be good for Councillors to keep records of their time used especially if match funding can be obtained and suggested keeping a track of Councillors time by project. A public drop in session is being held on the 2nd of May in the Clarence Hall, Cllr Hughes said that she had received a quote of £52 for 1000 A5 Flyers and asked Council to approve this, this was unanimously agreed on a proposal from Cllr D Williams, and seconded by Cllr Jeremiah. 2819 PUBLIC CONVENEINCES 4844 Cllr D Williams began by proposing that Council keep the opening times of the toilets the same which is 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 10am-5.30pm Saturday and Sunday, he said that the Town Council's Groundsman will unlock the toilets at 9am during the weekdays and the Cleaners will lock up at the end of the day. CRiC will open the toilets on the weekend at a cost to the Council of £20 a month. Cllr D Williams explained the quotations received from the Cleaning companies and proposed that Council go with a quote from a professional cleaning company of £356.97 a month and said that this along with approximately £80 for consumables will bring the whole running costs within the set budget of £550 per month but warned that Council may find out in the future that this is not enough. Cllr Dykes asked if the toilets could be kept open later during exceptional events such as the Christmas events and the Clerk reported that she had met with Julia Williams and Rhodri Griffiths from the Welsh Assembly Government and Jan Morgan, CRiC centre Manager earlier in the day and explained that the Welsh Assembly Officers were looking into setting up a pilot scheme to financially support public conveniences on the A40 trunk road, they asked if the toilets could be kept open for longer and also asked whether HGV's could stop in the Town, the Officers will take all the information back to the Assembly Minister who has the final say in whether or not the pilot scheme will go ahead. GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY 4845 Cllr D Williams explained that whilst the Council appears to be doing everything well he suspects that it could be doing things better, he said that Council do not see the detail and suggested that there could be a more transparent way of doing things. The Clerk said that Microsoft Money, the accounting system the Town Council uses at the moment is no longer supported by Microsoft as the system is no longer available to purchase therefore Council may need to look at another system. It was agreed that Cllr D Williams, Cllr Hughes and the Clerk should get together to progress this further. THE GARN 4846 Cllr D Williams said that the £100 per annum received from the Angling Society only just covers the Town Council's expenses for the maintenance of the Garn, Cllr D'Anna is taking the lead on this by arranging a meeting with the Angling Society however as he was not present Cllr D Williams put forward three proposals from his personal perspective, i) continue as it stands, ii) sell it, iii) put up the cost of the lease to the Angling Society. Cllr Dykes said that this Council has a long standing agreement with the Angling Society with a lot of history and said that she favoured the 3rd option. Following a brief discussion it was agreed to look into the Angling Society taking over the responsibility of the maintenance of the Garn and/or negotiating more money for the lease and encouraging the Angling Society to do more for the Town's Children by putting on more family events. 2820 CASTLE GROUNDS MAINTENANCE 4847 Cllr D'Anna had circulated his report which included several quotes for the maintenance required in the Castle Grounds. It was noted that Powys County Council had already undertaken one cut in the Castle Grounds and that the new Sports Association had been given grass cutting equipment as part of the devolution process. Cllr Kovaleva proposed contacting the Sports Association to find out if they would be willing to put in a quote for the grass cutting, this was seconded by Cllr Jeremiah and unanimously agreed. The repair of the stone wall near Gabbs was discussed, Cllr P Williams said that Gabb and Co had not proved that the wall was not theirs and Cllr Kovaleva suggested requesting information from the Land Registry which she volunteered to do. Cllr Dykes said that there are other walls around the town which are dangerous and need attention therefore it was agreed to put this on the agenda for discussion at next months meeting. Cllr D Williams said that following up on his work for the Monuments Trust the Clerk had forwarded him the Market Hall Trust's charter stating that their objectives include to preserve, protect and improve other buildings or features of historic or architectural interest in the Town and suggested they were in violation of their charter, following a brief discussion where Cllr P Williams declared that his wife is a member of the trust, it was agreed to have an agenda item at next months meeting to discuss this further. CEMETERY MAINTENANCE 4848 Two quotes had been received for the work currently carried out by the Groundsman in the Cemetery, Cllr D Williams said that the request for quotes originally came from the Burial Grounds working group and proposed that the group reconvene to discuss the quotes further, this was agreed.