CASTLE COMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on Thursday 17th May 2018
in the Village Hall
Present: Cllrs: F. Winup (Chairman)
- Mackelden (Vice Chairman)
- Bettles.
- Halliday
- Prior
- Reeves
10 Parishioners
- Apologies for absence –
Cllr B. Blair, Unitary Cllr Baroness J. Scott and Clerk D. Ryall
- Election of Chairman & Vice- Chairman –
Chairman: Cllr. F. Winup – Proposed by: Cllr. J. Halliday
Seconded by: Cllr. J. Mackelden.
Vice-Chairman: Cllr. J. Mackelden – Proposed by: Cllr. F. Winup
Seconded by: Cllr. S. Bettles
There were no other nominations and Cllrs Winup & Mackelden were unanimously elected to serve as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively for 2018-19..
- Acceptance of Office–
Cllrs. Winup and Mackelden duly signed Acceptance of Office documents.
- Declarations of interest –
Cllr Bettles declared an interest in item 4G.
- Minutes of the meeting held on 15th March 2018.
The minutes were unanimously accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
- Matters Arising –
4A. Area Board & Forum Meetings
The recent area board meeting was attended by Cllr Bettles but there were no major items of significance for the Parish.
The next meeting on 4th June will be attended by Cllr Winup.
The following meeting on 23rd July will be attended by Cllr Prior.
The recent Parish Forum was attended by Cllr Prior. The main discussions centred around the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation legislation.
4B. Parking Review.
The new signage to the Car park continues to be deferred pending clarification of the funds available once the Market Cross roofing work is complete. A minimum contribution of 25% from the Parish Council will be required for an application to be considered by the Chippenham Area Transport Group.
11 cars were ticketed by the wardens in March and 18 in April, 12 of which were on a single day following complaints to the police which resulted in immediate warden attendance.
Warden visit statistics are received monthly and representations made where considered inadequate..
4C. Footpaths
30 tons of scalpings have now been delivered to the Golf Course as a temporary repository. Cllr Prior agreed to arrange transportation of sufficient to improve the Whitegates turning circle and Cllr Bettles offered to arrange short term hire of a compactor. Cllr Winup will liaise with both councillors and with the Golf Club. Any surplus scalpings will be used to improve the Golf Club footpaths and the Roman bridge footpath with help from the Cotswold Wardens in the latter case. Highways have been asked to arrange a further delivery if stocks are available.
4D. Village Flooding
The Environment Agency has still not arranged a meeting with affected householders, all of whom have in any event now undertaken their own remedial measures.
4E. Defibrillator & First Aid Training.
With the aid of a grant from the Area Board, three defibrillators have now been ordered. One of these will be placed on Cllr Reeve’s property at Whitegates and council members thanked her for her support. Wadsworths declined to allow a machine to be placed on the White Hart despite support from the tenants and this will now be placed on the exterior of the Village Hall. Mr and Mrs Dowell kindly offered their property as a location for a machine in Upper Castle Combe and the Chairman will discuss this further with them. Electrical supplies will be needed in all three cases and once total costs are known a partial rebate of the Area Board grant may be required if costs are lower than originally forecast. The equipment suppliers will arrange two free training sessions as part of the package and dates will be arranged to which all parishioners will be invited (with extra chargeable sessions if needed).
- Market Cross repairs.
Grant requests have been submitted to The Pilgrim Trust, The Leche Trust and the Area Board. Responses are awaited but should all be received in the next few weeks.
- Estate Yard Licence.
Sadly Mr Lysley passed away before being able to sign the revised agreement which will therefore need to be updated in due course to reflect new ownership. The chairman will continue to liaise with the Estate.
- Village Welcome Pack
Cllr Halliday will produce a draft for consideration as arranged.
- White lines in lower village
In abeyance as agreed previously pending outcome of Market Cross expenditure and clarification of available funds thereafter.
- Speeding on the hill and School Lane junction
A request for a 20 mph limit has been submitted to the Chippenham Area Transport Group and a response is awaited. A minimum Parish Council contribution of 25% would be necessary.
6A. General Data Protection Regulation
An exhaustive audit of existing information held has been undertaken by Cllr Blair and a letter to all affected parishioners is being drafted for issue shortly. The regulations are due to come into effect on 25th May.
15A.Review of Standing Orders
This was discussed under item 18 below.
- Finance –
Income:
Wilts Council Precept – full year 5250.00
Expenditure:
The Councillors checked and approved the following invoices:
Water 2 business – half year water invoice 82.63
AED Locator (EU) Ltd –defibrillator 2334.72
Bowens Accountants – payroll 132.00
SSE – quarterly invoice 88.25
Zurich Municipal – insurance 1068.61
Cllr Winup – newsletter printing 59.40
WALC – subscription 138.20
Lloyds Current Account @ 31.04.18 37336.00
Shawbrook Investment (William Prior) 20000.00
7A. Internal Auditor
The Chairman reported that Mrs. Hermina Fleming had agreed to act as the Council’s internal auditor for the 2017-18 accounts.
7B. Clerk’s salary
The chairman reported that the new national advisory scale for clerks with Mr Ryall’s level of experience is £12.815 per hour. The current hours for which he is reimbursed total 2.5 per week, a figure which has remained unchanged for at least ten years and is now totally inadequate in view of the extra demands now imposed. The chairman considered that 4 hours would be a more appropriate figure and this was proposed by Cllr Halliday, seconded by Cllr Mackelden and unanimously agreed. The annual impact will equate to £1000.
- Correspondence –
- Zurich Municipal – insurance renewal. The chairman advised that the revised three year premium at £1068.61 was very acceptable and this was unanimously agreed by the meeting.
- Winter salt etc. In future the Unitary Council will not deliver salt or sand which will need to be collected from Trowbridge. Nettleton Parish Council has a councillor with a tractor who is willing to collect and they have asked ourselves and Biddestone whether we wish to join in. The meeting agreed that this seems sensible and Cllr Prior will estimate the amount needed. Collection dates are not until October. We have plenty of cloth sandbags held in the Village Hall loft and Cllr Prior has supplies of sand if needed in an emergency. We hold sufficient stocks of hi-viz jackets, flood signs etc.
- Wilts Bobby Van appeal.
The Council agreed to donate £20.
- Wilts Carers
The Council agreed to donate £20.
- Photo shoot 4th June
The chairman advised that a donation of £2500 has been offered for a one day stills shoot involving a single model. No road closure is involved and the Unitary Council is supportive. The donation will be utilised towards the Market Cross repairs. The meeting unanimously confirmed its agreement to the proposal.
- Planning applications –
P.C. Approved:
Gardener’s House – tree surgery
P .C. – Under Consideration:
66 Whitegates – side extension etc
P.C. – Rejected:
2, Fairfield UCC – flat roof extension etc
Unitary Council. Granted:
2, School Lane – tree surgery
Fuchsia Cottage – 40% reduction of willow tree
Unitary Council under consideration.
Gardeners House – tree surgery.
66, Whitegates – side extension etc
- Unitary Councillor
Unitary Cllr. Baroness. Jane Scott has sent a copy of the Wilts Council annual report to the Council.
- Playing field and C.C. Circuit Reports
Playing Field – as per the Parishioners Meeting.
Circuit Meeting – as per the Parishioners Meeting.
- 1 Play Area Report.
Cllr Bettles has cut the grass in the lower play area and will strim the remainder shortly. Cllr Mackelden will refurbish the bench in the next few weeks.
Cllr Reeves said that organic moss killer is again necessary on the surface of the Whitegates play area and Cllr Halliday will discuss this with the Parish Steward.
- Highways Report.
Cllr Halliday reviewed the list of work outstanding which has reduced considerably over the last twelve months with the aid of our excellent Parish Steward. She asked that any issues requiring attention are reported to her as the Steward can only deal with reported matters, for which she would allocate priorities for him to deal with during each visit. The post by the Roman Bridge has been knocked over yet again but is fulfilling its role of protecting the wall behind it. Cllr Halliday will ask the Steward to attend to this on his next visit. A number of matters remain outstanding pending clarification of funds available once the Market Cross works are complete (e.g. new marker posts by the Bybrook) and Cllr Halliday will revert to these at that time. The white lines at Shrubs and on the Yatton Keynell road have faded badly and Cllr Halliday will discuss with Highways.
- The Village Environment Report
Cllr Prior reported that some of the activities for which we have contracted with Mr Bruce-Scott might be included in the Parish Steward schedule and therefore renewal of that contract is in abeyance pending further review. The village tidy was very successful and Cllr Reeves will be arranging a follow up session at Whitegates to build on that success.
Dunns Lane car park is being used by “boy racers” but is difficult to define what laws they are breaking other than Unitary Council By-Laws. It was suggested by a parishioner that CCTV might be appropriate and this will be raised with our Unitary Councillor at the next meeting.
- Whitegates
Cllr Reeves is arranging for repairs to be carried out on the bus shelter roof.
- Village Hall
As per the report to the Parishioners’ meeting.
Mrs Senneck has requested permission to reinstate the telephone line into the hall to enable card payments to be accepted by those supporting her regular hall hires. All installation and running costs would be borne by her with a coded control on telephone usage. The village hall would bear no responsibility. Cllr Winup proposed that this request be agreed, seconded by Cllr Mackelden and carried unanimously.
The hall has been allocated a car boot sale on 14th October for which an organiser is still required. Cllr Reeves said she would discuss with Cllr Halliday in view of the latter’s experience.
- TV Committee
As per the report to the Parishioners’ meeting.
- Review of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations
A new set of model Standing Orders has been issued by the National Association of Local Councils and distributed to councillors ahead of the meeting. Cllr Prior proposed that the new set should replace those previously agreed, seconded by Cllr Bettles and unanimously approved. The existing Financial Regulations are unchanged and were approved unanimously.
- Annual Governance Statement.
The Council reviewed the Annual Governance Statement for 2017-18 and unanimously approved completion following proposal by Cllr Prior and seconding by Cllr Bettles.
- Wiltshire College – noise etc
Cllr Halliday reported that she had received a number of complaints including revving of engines and excessive speed in Westway Lane. Cllr Mackelden will discuss with the Circuit at the next review meeting although last time it was found that the college was not involved in any way.
- Dates of next meetings –
The date for the extraordinary meeting to review the accounts for 2017-18 and the budget for 2018-19 was confirmed as Thursday 7th June at 7.30p.m in the Village Hall.
The following meeting date was confirmed as Thursday 12th July 2018 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall (brought forward from the original date of 19th July).