21st Nov 2019

Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 21.11.19

in the Village Hall, Castle Combe

Present:

Cllr’s:  F. Winup (Chairman).

  1. Mackelden.
  2. Bettles.
  3. Blair
  4. Mrs. J Halliday
  5. J.Prior
  6. Mrs. H. Reeves
  1. Ryall (Clerk)

Parishioners 4

  1. Apologies for absence

Unitary Cllr. Baroness Mrs. J. Scott.

  1. Declarations of interest:

Cllr. Bettles – 6B

  1. Minutes of the meetings held on 12.09.19

These were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

  1. Matters Arising:

4A. Area Board Meeting and Parish Forum.

Area Board.

Cllrs. Sam Bettles & Hayley. Reeves were unable to attend all of the meeting and said there was little to report other than a presentation was given by the police commissioner. The next meeting is on 03.02.20 and attendees will be decided at the next Council meeting.

Parish Forum.

Cllr Winup attended the meeting on 23rd October at which there was an interesting presentation about cyber crime which he will include in the next Combe Courier.

4B. Parking Review.

  1. i) Car park Signage.

Cllr Winup said the new signage is complete except at Candlebridget Lane and the yellow and white road markings are still outstanding.

He said he would write to Jo. Pattinson, Wilts Council, about the recent ticketing of cars on the

grass area of the Dunns Lane car park which seemed extreme when the alternative was parking on yellow lines and there are no clear warning signs.

  1. ii) Parking statistics

The Chairman said that 50 were booked in September and 12 in August. (half of these in one day on the car park grass.)

4C Footpaths

The Chairman said the golf course staff are ready to lay scalpings on the school lane footpath and asked Cllr Bettles if he would liaise with the village steward to obtain a further truck load of scalpings and drop this and the ton he has over the  school lane stile. He said further scalpings are required for for repairs to the Whitegates turning circle and roman bridge foot paths which he asked Cllr Bettles to progress.

4F. Market Cross

The Chairman said that the work has started and further problems identified which will probably exceed the 10% contingency and hopefully will be met by Historic England. The first payment has been made to the contractors and he has applied to the Pilgrims Trust for the £10000 grant.

4G. Estate yard Licence.

Cllr Winup said wooden plaques have now been attached to the village hall wall instead of white lines

4M. Speeding on the hill & the School Lane junction.

The Chairman reported that CATG will implement the 20mph speed limit in the new year and the Clerk confirmed an e mail had been received confirming the legal formalities have commenced.

6B. Congregational Chapel

The Chairman said the playing field and car park are unregistered land and the estate records being checked to see if it was part of a larger piece of land which would enable an Extract of Title to be prepared. If nothing is found then separate affidavits may be necessary to confirm Council ownership which will delay the sale of the car park land. The prospective purchasers and the valuers are aware of the situation.

  1. Finance- £                                                                                     

Income                                                                                                       

LS Productions                                                                                          2000.00

Denmark Radio                                                                                            494.00

CC Village Hall                                                                                           928.95

LS Productions – rubbish clearance                                                            100.00

Expenditure

The Councillors checked and reviewed and approved the following invoices:

Zurich Insurance – market cross restoration                                               234.53

Water 2 – half year bill                                                                                 84.26

Play Safety – audit fee                                                                                164.40

St. Johns Ambulance – donation                                                                  30.00

PFK Littlejohn – audit fee                                                                          240.00

  1. Gough – Castle Combe photo slides 35.00

Lloyds Bank – charges                                                                                   6.00

  1. Ryall – salary 410.80

Cllr Winup – newsletter printing                                                                  44.10

HMRC – tax                                                                                               239.20

Integral Engineering – village cross                                                         1350.00

Liz Taylor – plants etc                                                                                  85.49

SSE – electricity bill                                                                                    314.56

Minerva Stone Conservation – 1st payment village cross                       13664.89

  1. Ryall – printer cartridge. 24.99

 

Lloyds Bank current account @ 23.10.19.                                             63258.69

Deposit account Shawbrook (William Prior Heritage Fund).                20000.00

5A. Precept

The Clerk said that excluding the capital spend for the village cross the Council operating costs could be slightly exceeded due to increased audit fees and that insurance costs could increase in 2020-21. He said it would therefore be prudent to increase the precept by £250 to £5750 per annum. It was proposed by Cllr Mackelden & seconded by Cllr Halliday that the precept is increased to £5750 per annum. This was unanimously agreed by the Council.

  1. Correspondence.

6A. Victim Support – request for donation.

The Council unanimously agreed to donate £30.00

6B. Pension regulator – legal requirements

The Chairman said the legal requirement is to inform the authority about any proposed pensions etc for council employees. He said he would inform them that there was no requirement before their deadline of May 2020

6C. Grittleton & Yatton Keynell Parish Councils – changes to parish boundaries.

Both Councils are proposing changing boundaries at the Gib and Long Dean so that these small communities are in one parish. The Council agreed that they had no objection as long as the individuals affected are consulted and agree with the changes.

The Gib – already proposed to Wilts Council that the boundaries are changed to include Catcombe Mill in Castle Combe and retain the Fosse Way as the boundary of the Parish therefore continuing to include The Salutation etc.

Long Dean – this affects two properties in the Parish which would move to Yatton Keynell.

6D. Castle Combe Social Committee- request for donation

Cllr Mackelden said that this was to fund the annual village ‘get together’ in the village hall. It was proposed by Cllr. Winup and seconded by Cllr Halliday that £125.00 be donated. This was unanimously agreed by the meeting.

6E. Congregational Chapel – request for a meeting.

The Council agreed that no meeting should be arranged until more information was forthcoming about the uses etc of the proposed building.

6F. St Andrews Xmas Tree Festival.

The Council agreed to again support this event and Cllrs Jane Halliday & Hayley Reeves kindly offered to prepare a tree on behalf of the Council.

  1. Planning applications

 P.C. Approved:

2, Waterside – remove render & repoint.

1, Fairfields – replace single storey stable, create manure clamp etc.

1, Whitegates – subdivide into 2 dwellings.

Fuschia Cottage – reroof, rewire, oil fired heating etc.

P.C. Under Consideration:

Stonewood offices – the meeting agreed that a site meeting was appropriate which the Chairman will arrange with the applicants.

PC Objected

Nil

Unitary Council under Consideration.

1, Whitegates – discharge 106 order.

1, Fairfield – replace single storey stable, create manure clamp.

2, Waterside – remove render and repoint.

1, Whitegates – subdivide into 2 dwellings.

Fuschia Cottage – reroof, rewire, oil fired heating.

Unitary Council – Granted

Fuschia Cottage – fell Willow and 2 Cypresses.

2, Waterside – rear extension.

Unitary Council Rejected.

Nil

  1. Unitary Councillor

No comments received.

  1. CC Circuit & Playing Field

CC Circuit – Cllr Mackelden reported that the liaison meeting would now be next year.

Playing Field – Cllr Mackelden reported that there are no problems.

  1. Play Areas Cllr Mackelden said there was no requirement for additional wood chippings in the lower play area and he would again level out the area beneath the swings.

Cllr Reeves said in her view the surface in the Whitegates area was slippery and together with the unevenness in places was quite dangerous although of low priority in the ROSPA report. She said the two rocking horses are delaminating with the potential of a child getting splinters in their hand. Cllr Prior agreed to have a look and apply Algon or some thing similar to the surface. The Chairman said that refurbishment of the Whitegates Area was a priority but unfortunately would have to be delayed for financial reasons until after the completion of the village cross restoration.

  1. Highways

Cllr Halliday reported that:

The gullies had been emptied and the hill swept twice recently.

The yellow lines would not be re painted until the spring but the white lines at the Shrub junction will be painted next week.

The new marker posts on the river bank will be installed by a Wilts Council works gang and she has asked David. Arnup if this could take place whilst the road is closed.

The river is undercutting the road quite badly by the cottages which she will discuss with Wilts Council.

The boy racers are continuing to cause problems on Dunns Lane car park causing significant noise and damaging the surface. She will discuss this with Jo Pattinson, Wilts Council, and ask if gates could be considered.

There are a number of sunken drains etc which she will report to Highways.

Cllr Winup said the repairs to the Butter Cross have now been completed and will be paid for by the driver concerned.

  1. Village Environment.

Cllr Prior reported that fly tipping is continuing on his land but there is little else where. He confirmed that the boy racers were becoming a consistent problem and repeated calls to the police had no response.

He said that overhanging branches were a problem in many areas and suggested the residents should be notified accordingly. The Chairman said he would arrange for it to be included in the newsletter.

  1. Whitegates

Cllr Reeves said there were no problems and Green Square appear to have plans for the area on which the garages are built.

  1. TV. Committee.

The Chairman said there are no problems at present.

  1. Village Hall

The Chairman said that the usual health & safety checks, boiler service and electrical checks have been completed.

  1. Financial Standing Orders.

The Chairman said he and the Clerk would review the NALC document and recommend any changes.

  1. Colour slides of Castle Combe 1937-46

The Clerk said he had been contacted by a Mr Gough who had carried out a house clearance of a photography enthusiast and found colour slides of Castle Combe & Lacock dating from 1937-46. He had sold the Lacock ones to the local Parish Council and asked if Castle Combe were interested.  After discussion with the Chairman the 70 slides were bought for £35.00. The meeting agreed that this was appropriate and that Cllr Halliday would try to get them printed.

  1. VE 75 – 75th Anniversary end WW2

This is to take place on 8th May and the Council agreed to support the events planned by St Andrews.

  1. Date of next meeting.

This was confirmed as Thursday 16.01.2020 at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall