Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 17.03.11
in the Village Hall, Castle Combe
Present:
Cllr’s: F. Winup (Chairman)
A. Bishop (Vice Chairman)
M. King
J. Mackelden
G. Ruggles
D. Taylor
Unitary Councillor Mrs J. Scott
4 Parishioners
1. Apologies for absence:
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mrs J. Halliday and D. Ryall (clerk).
2. Declarations of interest:
There were no declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of the meeting held on 20.01.11
These were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
4. Matters Arising:
A. Area Board Meeting
Mrs Scott reported that changes in the Primary Care Trust system have begun in line with the recent government proposals.
B. Traffic Calming and Speed Checks
Cllr Bishop reported that Highways have now received an agreed budget which is being prioritised. The planned site visit to finalise the speed reduction in Upper Castle Combe should take place soon. Cllr Bishop will continue to monitor.
C. Parking Review
Cllr Winup said that this will continue to be monitored by him each month. It was agreed that this item should be removed from future agenda.
D. Neighbourhood Policing
Attending parishioner Mr Sabin reported that the final Neighbourhood tasking meeting had achieved little. Cllr Bishop reported that at a recent meeting, attendees were assured by Sergeant George that additional resources were being recruited.
F. Cold Weather Plan
The new salt storage bin is on order and Cllr Bishop will arrange a delivery of salt by the Unitary Council in due course. A suitable spreader might necessitate a further £100 increase above the overall figure previously agreed. The meeting agreed that this was acceptable. Cllr Mackelden offered to arrange storage.
H. Emergency Planning Event
Cancelled due to lack of demand.
6B. Road closure and tree destruction
A meeting was held on site with the Electricity Board contractors and the Unitary Council’s tree preservation officer Wendy Fyffe, at which our opposition to the wanton methods adopted was forcefully emphasised. The contractors have offered to plant ornamental trees elsewhere in the locality but this will not remedy the short term eyesore which they created by the methods used. The tree preservation officer will monitor the situation but the contractors have blanket parliamentary authority to act as they see fit in regard to any trees which might conceivably damage power lines. A further road closure advice has been issued for early April. Cllr Winup will reinforce our concerns before this work takes place. Unitary Cllr Mrs Scott offered support if necessary.
16. Royal Wedding
Despite chasers no further news has been forthcoming regarding the plans at Whitegates. Cllr Bishop offered to investigate.
5. Finance- £
Income:
C.C. Colts – insurance & rent 746.58
C.C. Congregational Church – car park rent 5.00
Expenditure:
Wiltshire Age UK – donation 50.00
J. Williams Heating Services – install V.H. heating 7813.75
Cllr Winup – newsletter printing 26.70
D. Ryall – salary & costs (2months) 270.41
5A. Budget 2011-12
Budgeted spends for 2011-12 are as follows:
Administration (insurance, clerk’s salary and costs, audit fees etc) £4885
Village Hall (heating, electric etc) £1632
Miscellaneous £500
Capital outgoings £1000
Cllr Bishop proposed acceptance of the budgeted figures, seconded by Cllr Mackelden and agreed.
6. Correspondence.
A. Queen Elizabeth II Field Challenge
Cllr Bishop agreed to investigate.
B. Best Kept Village Competition
Agreed to enter again.
C. Planning Feedback sessions 5th/6th April
Cllrs Bishop and Ruggles agreed to attend the evening session on the 5th. Mr Ryall will also attend.
D. PAYE implementation for Parish Council Clerks
HMRC have advised all parishes that Parish Clerks should be employees. We are under the PAYE NIC Lower Earnings limit but registration is still required.
E. Village Hall rates
The hall will continue to be nil rated.
F. Other matters
Churchwarden Mrs Constable has expressed the gratitude of the PCC for the support of villagers of all ages and the community spirit which this illustrates. The annual meeting will be on 6th April and full details of forthcoming events will be in the next newsletter.
7. Planning applications
P.C. Approved:
House of Flavours – extension
Manor House Hotel – erect gazebo
C. C. Circuit – allow 6 additional sprint days (*see below)
P.C. – Under Consideration:
2, School Lane – rear extension
P.C. – Rejected:
Nil.
Unitary Council Granted:
Molescroft UCC – tree surgery
House of flavours – extension
Sycamores UCC – tree surgery
Unitary Council Rejected:
Nil
Withdrawn
Nil
*This application is apparently being amended to encompass 10 additional days but has not yet been received. Our approval for 6 days was itself on a split basis and Yatton Keynell Parish Council has already objected to that number due to the number of sanctioned days currently unused. As a separate issue Unitary Councillor Scott will seek to clarify the precise details of currently sanctioned events throughout the year. This may take some time.
8. Unitary Councillor:
The last six months have been heavily involved in production of the Business and Financial plans. In the course of the next four years 28% of the grant from central government will be removed. The Unitary budget for the coming year has been set at £860 million and council tax will be frozen for the next two years. Over 2000 roles will disappear, mainly in back office areas.
There will be a significant investment is super-fast broadband, with 85% of the county being covered within two years.
9. Playing Field and Circuit Reports
Cllr Mackelden reported that the next CC Circuit liaison meeting has been deferred to 31stMarch and he will bring up the JAPFEST if he still does not receive replies to his recent e mails.
10. Play Areas Report
ROSPA have confirmed that the two new “springers” meet necessary standards and they are now on order. The meeting agreed that the upper playground equipment should be painted as suggested by Cllr Halliday and she will action together with further supplies of bark for the lower play area. The Unitary Council has removed the broken skateboard slides but not the football net and basket ball ring which were also identified by ROSPA as high risk. Cllr Halliday will remind them that these items are not the responsibility of the Parish Council.
11. Highways Report
The Clerk has again notified Kristian Price about the poor road repairs carried out at the entrance to Whitegates. Unitary Cllr Scott will take up direct with Adrian Hampton, together with the poor repairs at the Upper Castle Combe bend and also Summer Lane.
12. The Village Environment
Cllr Ruggles said that one of the recycling bins was still faulty. If no action by next week he will arrange for the clerk to put in writing with a copy to Unitary Cllr Mrs Scott at her request. The clerk will include an item in the next newsletter re recycling at the request of the Unitary Council.
13. Whitegates
See item 11.
14. The Village Hall
The central heating installation is now complete and the double glazed windows are being installed this week. The council thanked Cllr Mrs Scott for the assistance provided by way of grant.
17. Date of Next Meeting
This was confirmed as Thursday 19th May 2011 at 7.00 p.m. in the Village Hall for the Annual Parish Meeting followed by the Parish Council A.G.M.