Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 26.09.13
in the Village Hall, Castle Combe
Cllr’s: F. Winup (Chairman).
A. Bishop (Vice Chairman).
Mrs J. Halliday.
B. Harvey.
D. Ryall (Clerk)
Unitary Cllr. Mrs. J. Scott.
1. Apologies for absence:
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs. J. Mackelden & G. Ruggles.
2. Declarations of interest:
There were no declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of the meeting held on 18.07.13
These were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
4. Matters Arising:
A. Area Board Meeting
The meeting on 10th September was not attended as there was nothing affecting the Council on the agenda.
B. Parking Review
The Chairman said a visit by the traffic wardens during the Manor’s open day had resulted in 12 bookings. The parking authority has been asked frequently to attend on Friday evenings and Cllr. Scott will follow this up.
He said there was concern with the number of coaches not using the car park and coming down into the village blocking the road and wondered if they could be banned. Cllr Scott said she would check if this was possible.
C. Neighbourhood Policing
Cllr Bishop reported on the recent meeting held by the police. He said the meeting was multi agency and interesting. It covered rural crime, the environment & fishing, trading standards as well as neighbourhood policing. WPC Toni Evans, neighbourhood policing, covers 18 parishes and 38 villages and reported on the recent spate of thefts in Hullavington. Cllr Bishop said the Police made it clear they are not responsible for controlling cold calling, poaching etc. and that these should be reported to the appropriate agencies. He suggested that a list of the council officers responsible should be made available to parishes. Cllr Scott said she would consider this.
D. Footpath/pavement – B4039 Whitegates to car park
The Chairman said that the Unitary Council had reviewed the possible adoption of the footpath from Whitegates to School Lane and said it would cost £60k to bring it up to the Council regulations. This compares with £50K if it was build alongside the B4039. Both are unaffordable and the requirement for lighting was questioned as there is none in the village. Cllr Scott said she would arrange a meeting with Kingston St Michael PC who have recently installed a similar footpath.
E. Village Flooding
Cllr.Winup said the computer modelling exercise of the Bybrook has now been brought forward to this year with the funding being jointly found by the Environmental Agency and Wiltshire Council. He said he was now representing the village at the flood working group meeting.
F. Street Scene
The Clerk said the response to the list of work had been very disappointing with minimal progress being made since the list was created in May. He said the dates now being given for completion were vague and in some cases where the work is passed onto other departments no dates were given at all.
Cllr Scott said she would arrange a meeting in the village with the people responsible to see and discuss each of the items.
5. Finance- £
Income
C.C. Colts – insurance 107.13
C.C. Village Hall – double glazing 740.00
Expenditure
The Councillors checked and reviewed and approved the following invoices:
CPL Petroleum – heating oil 263.19
Community First – subscription 36.00
D. Ryall – auditor’s gratuity 34.16
Southern Electric – bill. 74.52
Dorothy House – donation 30.00
Mrs Le Coz – plants 15.00
Douglas Tonks – Payroll costs & Clerks salary 432.28
Cllr.Winup – signs 64.80
Cllr.Winup – newsletter printing 23.76
Bistol & Wessex Water – bill 78.04
Flourish & Bloom – maintenance 183.00
Cllr Ruggles – plants 5.00
6. Correspondence.
A. Grant Thornton – Auditors
The Clerk reported that the external audit of the accounts has been completed successfully with the usual comment that the Council’s reserves of £15K are excessive as they are greater then three times the 2012 -13 precept of £4250.
7. Planning applications
P.C. Approved:
Upper Long Dean Mill – fell various trees.
The Trimmels – tree surgery.
Preedy’s Cottage – fell Sycamore & coppice Hazel tree.
P.C. Under Consideration:
The Malt House – conversion of garage & utility area.
Gable Cottage – erect covered oak walkway to out house.
P.C. Rejected:
Nil.
Unitary Council Granted:
Bridge House – reduce height of Cypress tree.
Trelawney, UCC – reduce 4 Cypress trees.
Unitary Council Rejected:
Nil.
7A. The Clerk expressed concern that the new planning system was not working properly and does not appear to provide the information previously available.
8. Unitary Councillor
Cllr. Scott. said that due to the terrible condition of the County’s roads the Unitary Council intends to borrow £22M for repairs over the next three years. She said the Council was reviewing the housing needs of older people with the possibility of building two bed roomed accommodation to meet the requirements.
9. Playing Field & CC Circuit
The Chairman said that Cllr. Mackelden had reported that there were no problems with CC Colts and that he was still trying to re establish the liaison meeting with the Circuit Management. Cllr Winup said that Cllr. Scott had requested the attendance of Kevin Oliver and Graeme Hay from Wiltshire Council at this meeting to discuss the problems identified to her by local residents.
10. Play Areas
Cllr. Harvey said he had yet to obtain bark to top up the surface of the lower play area. The Clerk confirmed that the ROSPA audit would take place this month.
11. Highways.
Cllr. Bishop said he had nothing to report.
12, Village Environment
The footpath from School Lane to the village still needs tidying up before winter and The Chairman said he would speak to the golf course management again.
The Clerk confirmed that the recycling centre had been removed and that Street Scene had been requested to arrange for the removal of the concrete plinth and the provision of further waste bins.
The Chairman said he had installed ‘dog no fouling’ signs on the trim tram and park lane footpaths and one had been stolen already.
The Clerk said he had been informed that the Wilshire Council tree department and not planning were responsible for the maintenance of the newly planted trees in the car park. On contacting them he was told that the trees were the responsibility of Southern Electric who had planted them as replacements. It was therefore Southern Electric’s job to maintain the defective staking and they would be contacted by Wiltshire Council.
The PCC have confirmed that the proposals for work at St. Andrews are progressing well.
13 Whitegates
The Clerk said the golf course hedge was overgrown and needed cutting back. The Chairman will talk to the golf course
14.Village Hall
The Chairman said Mr Roberts had cut back the ivy which was growing from his wall over the top of the hall roof. However there was still an area which required action by the Council.
15. Date of next meeting.
This was confirmed as Thursday 28th November 2013 at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall.