Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 17.01.13
in the Village Hall, Castle Combe
Cllr’s: F. Winup (Chairman)
A. Bishop (Vice Chairman)
Mrs J. Halliday
B. Harvey
G. Ruggles
L. Weir
D. Ryall (Clerk)
Unitary Cllr Mrs J. Scott, 4 Parishioners
1. Apologies for absence:
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr J. Mackelden.
2. Declarations of interest:
There were no declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of the meeting held on 22.11.12
These were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
4. Matters Arising:
A. Area Board Meeting
The Chairman said the last meeting on 7th January was not attended and he was disappointed that in his absence no one else was able to represent the village.
B. Traffic Calming and Speed Checks
Cllr Bishop reported that no date had been given yet for the implementation of the 30mph limit on the B4039 in the upper village. The Clerk said this could be affected by the proposal to install a footpath between Whitegates and the car park.
C. Parking Review
The Chairman said there had been 2 bookings during last month.
D. Neighbourhood Policing
The Clerk said the WPC Higgins has been moved to another post and been replaced by WPC Toni Evans. The Chairman asked the Clerk to obtain a report for the past few months from the officer.
E. Halifax Account Closure
The Clerk confirmed that the Halifax account was now closed and the money (£7360.44) transferred to the Lloyds current account.
F. Footpath/pavement – B4039 Whitegates to car park
The Chairman said this was to be discussed at the Wilts Council Transport meeting on 29thJanuary. Cllr Weir said he had examined the route and there are significant obstructions in the way and a better solution would be a footpath from the back of the Whitegates play area to the car park, if the landowner was willing to give permission. The Chairman said he would discuss this idea at a separate site meeting he has offered to Wilts Council.
G. TV Committee.
The Clerk gave the Chairman copies of the ‘Register of Member’s Interests’ document for the TV committee members who are not Councillors. The completion of these will enable them to vote on anything related to the TV committee as this was now a sub committee of the Council.
5. Finance- £
Income
Halifax transfer 7360.44
Expenditure
The Councillors checked and reviewed and approved the following invoices:
Zurich Municipal – changing rooms insurance 55.47
Cllr Bishop – remembrance wreath 50.00
C C Social Club – village get together 125.00
Victim support – donation 20.00
Cotswold Wardens – donation 50.00
War memorial Trust – donation 20.00
Cllr Winup – newsletter printing 27.00
Douglas Tonks – Payroll costs & Clerks salary 421.48
Cllr Winup – flood meeting expenses 56.65
Flourish & Bloom – maintenance 32.00
5A Precept 2013-4
The Clerk said the arrangements for precept have been altered since the last meeting. This is because of recent Government changes which have reduced the amount allocated to the County by removing from the calculation people who have Council Tax relief. This reduces the number in the tax base and the effect on the 2012/13 precept, which was used for the calculation, reduced the precept from £4250 to £4002.02. Wiltshire Council has made this up for 2013/14 with a top up grant of £247.98.The precept requirement submitted for the year was £4500, as agreed at the last meeting and is now in two parts with the top up grant of £247.98 and the precept of £4252.02. The Clerk said the increase agreed £250 (6%) could be subject to scrutiny dependent upon the allowed increase level set by the Government. Cllr Scott said this restriction was unlikely to apply this year to small Councils such as Castle Combe.
6. Correspondence.
A. Good Neighbour Co-ordinator – Jenny Plummer.
The meeting agreed that the Clerk should ask for a presentation to be given on the role at the start of the next meeting.
B. Wiltshire Council –Town & Parish Involvement Evening 31.01.13
Cllr Bishop, Cllr Mrs Halliday and the Clerk agreed to attend this meeting to be held at Monkton Park starting at 6p.m.
C. Wiltshire Council Register of Interests Consultation.
The Clerk said Wiltshire Council had resolved to require its members to declare specific interests in addition to those set out in the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Localism Act legislation. He said they wanted to know if the Parish Council wished to include them in its local code. He then read out the four items (attached to the minutes) and asked if they were acceptable to the Council. The meeting unanimously agreed to accept all four items.
7. Planning applications
P.C. Approved:
Molescroft Cottage UCC – tree surgery
P.C. Under Consideration: Nil
P.C. Rejected: Nil
Wilts Council Granted:
Manor House Hotel – fell 4 trees
Church View Cottage – tree surgery
1, Whitegates – extension
Molescroft – tree surgery
Wilts Council Rejected: Nil
8. Unitary Councillor
Cllr Scott reminded the meeting that there were elections in May. Cllr Winup said the village was disappointed about the apparent extra support given to Malmesbury during the recent flood crisis when more houses were flooded in Castle Combe. Cllr Scott said it was all media driven and had not biased the level of help given to all areas in difficulty.
9. Playing Field & CC Circuit
The Chairman said that Cllr Mackelden had reported there was nothing significant had happened at either the Castle Combe Colts or the Circuit since the last meeting. The Chairman will be attending another JAPFEST meeting on the 1st February.
10. Play Areas
Cllr Harvey said there were no problems at present with either area. The Chairman said that the trees had been cut back in the lower area and Cllr Harvey confirmed that he would check if the slit in the surface of the upper area been repaired. The Chairman said he would progress the original contractors if necessary.
11. Highways.
Cllr Bishop said he was having difficulty liaising with the village steward to discuss with him the work which needs doing. Cllr Scott suggested he spoke to the supervisor in the office which Cllr Bishop said he had tried on a number of occasions with no success. Cllr Scott said she would take this up with the ‘street scene’ management team.
Cllr Harvey said the road near the Lady well was in vey bad condition due to the water and Cllr Ruggles said the road from the Whitegates entrance to Grittleton was full of bad potholes. Cllr Bishop said he would discuss these with Wiltshire Highways. Cllr Scott said the continuous rain had caused havoc with the roads which will be further affected by the forecast of snow and frost. She suggested that representatives from Highways should be invited to tour the areas where the problems were.
12, Village Environment
Cllr Ruggles reported that the items fly tipped around the village were still there with an additional dumping now occurring on Summer Lane. The Clerk said he had reported this on two occasions with no result to date.
Cllr Ruggles said that Circuit Motors were continuing to encroach on the ground at the side of their entrance and were again parking vans in the lay by opposite. The Chairman said he would contact Wiltshire Enforcement again.
Cllr Ruggles said a branch from one of the trees on the hill had fallen onto a car and suggested the land owner was contacted.
13 Whitegates
Cllr Weir’s comments are minuted in item 4F
14.Village Hall
Cllr Winup said the quarterly checks had been carried out satisfactorily and new smoke alarms fitted.
He has not yet received a date for installing the new windows from Mr Brookman due to his supplier going out of business.
15 Village Flooding
The Chairman asked Mr Roberts, Chairman of the village flood committee, to give a brief report.
Mr Roberts said there were three areas where action was considered necessary which are the bridges particularly ‘Bronte’s bridge, the silt build up and the operation of the sluice gates. There is a meeting with Environmental Agency and Wilts Council representatives on Monday 21st Jan and consultants, who specialise in river flows, are assessing the Bybrook o Saturday 19th January at a cost of £397.50 plus VAT. A quotation of £7K had been obtained by Mr Roberts from M. Church Ltd for the removal of about 200 tons of silt from the river.
Mr Middleton said that training by Wiltshire Council was necessary on how to place sand bags in the correct place and plans produced to identify the best positions. He said it was essential that sand bags were delivered at the risk of flooding instead of when it was happening. This is not current practice. Cllr Scott said she would take this up with the relevant department. The Chairman said following the introduction of the plastic bottle collection system, the storage container behind the village hall could be used for sand bag storage. He thanked Mr Roberts & Mr Middleton for their contribution and proposed that the consultant’s fee of £397.50 plus VAT was paid for by the Council but with no commitment for further expenditure. This was seconded by Cllr Halliday and agreed by the meeting.
16. Date of next meeting.
This was confirmed as Thursday 21st March 2013 starting at 7.00p.m in the Village Hall
Item 6C addendum
The additional interests as agreed by Wiltshire Council are:
- Any body of which the councillor is a member or in a position of general control or management and to which the councillor is appointed or nominated by the Council.
- Any body exercising functions of a public nature of which the councillor is a member or in a position of general control or management.
- Any body directed to charitable purposes of which the councillor is a member or in a position of general control or management.
- Any body of whose principal purposes includes the influence of public opinion or policy (including any political party or trade union) of which the councillor is a member or in a position of general control or management.
Having declared such an interest the councillor may still remain at the meeting, discuss and vote on the matter