Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 8. 09.16
in the Village Hall, Castle Combe
Present:
Cllr’s: F. Winup (Chairman).
J Mackelden. (Vice Chairman).
B. Blair
Mrs. J. Halliday.
G. Ruggles
D. Ryall (Clerk)
4 Parishioners.
1. Apologies for absence:
Cllr. J. Prior, Cllr. G.Thorn and Unitary Cllr. Baroness J. Scott.
2. Declarations of interest:
Cllr. Mackelden declared an interest in item 6. Planning applications for the Old Museum and Hill House.
3. Minutes of the meetings held on 21.07.16 and 28.07.16
These were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
4. Matters Arising:
4A. Area Board Meeting and Parish Forum
Area Board
Cllr Prior attended the board meeting on 5th September and reported there was nothing discussed which was of interest to the parish.
Parish Forum.
The Chairman and Cllr Ruggles will attend the meeting on 21st September at Kingston St Michael Club.
4B.Parking Review
New signs re parking and cyclists
The Chairman said no response had yet been received From Unitary Cllr Jane Scott about who pays for the proposed additional signage for car parking etc.
Cllr Halliday said Wilts Council have agreed to reduce the length of the bar hatching outside the White Hart by painting out the white lines and repositioning correctly.
Parking Statistics.
Cllr Winup said there were 22 bookings in July and 15 in August. Traffic Wardens were present on the recent bank holiday.
4C. Footpaths
The Chairman said the Golf course would lay more hard core on the footpath from School Lane to the village in October and are progressing Wilts Council for more supplies.
He said papers show that maintenance of the footpath from School Lane to Whitegates was the responsibility of Wilts Council for a period in the late seventies with ownership of the land being the Estate. He has not received any response from Wilts Council regarding the current responsibilities.
The Golf Course stillhas not cut back the vegetation either side of the Whitegates boundary or strimmed the sides of the footpaths from School lane to Whitegates and Park Lane.
4D. Village Flooding
The Chairman said the Nettleton PC are progressing the Environment Agency for the revised Bybrook modelling report and will liaise with Castle Combe PC.
4E. Defibrillator.
Cllr Winup said that this and first aid training continues to be deferred until the village cross repair costs are known. Once this is known grant aid will be sought.
4F. Market Cross
The Chairman said three fixed tenders have now been received of £86K, £56K and £54K. These exclude any monitoring work on movement of the corner pillar.
He said he had drafted the lottery grant application and would pass it out for comment to David Newton and the Council. Cllr Mackelden and the Clerk confirmed that there was an excellent description of the Cross both on the village web site and on the CD produced by Adrian Bishop of historic sites in Castle Combe.
6B. Speed Indicator Devices
The Clerk said he had not received any further information from Nettleton PC about costs and would progress them.
17. Conveyances and Licences.
Cllr Winup said he had yet to discuss this with Damian Bettles but thought the old licence for access through the estate yard could be used as a template for both its renewal and for village hall car parking spaces.
5. Finance- £
Income
Filming donation 800.00
Expenditure
The Councillors checked and reviewed and approved the following invoices:
SSE – Electricity bill 78.80
Cllr Winup – auditors gratuity 31.00
Cllr Winup – paint, road signs, scroll 95.55
Cllr Winup – wooden sign 61.35
Cllr Winup – newsletter printing 25.92
Lloyds Bank account @ 29.07.16 39191.63
Deposit account 20000.00
5A. Cheque Signatories
The paper work deleting Mrs. Elaine Clegg, Mr. Peter. Dowell and Mr. Adrian. Bishop and adding Cllr. Mrs. Jane. Halliday and Cllr. John. Mackelden has been completed and confirmation from Lloyds Bank is now awaited.
The Shawbrook paperwork has been received but is incomplete and the Clerk will obtain further additional documentation.
6. Correspondence.
6A. The Clerk said he had received notification today from Wilts Council that the planning application for a storage & distribution centre (the Range) on land north of the A350, West Cepen Way, is to be considered by the strategic planning committee on 14th Sept.
7. Planning applications
P.C. Approved:
Bybrook Lodge –extension & rebuild garage, resubmission
South Cottage – rebuild walls, flood resilience etc.
South Cottage – restore roof & chimney stacks
The Cottage – Lower Long Dean Mill –internal & external alterations.
P.C. Under Consideration:
The Former Museum – convert to holiday let.
Hill House – remove cement render etc.
Molecroft UCC – tree surgery
Bramley House UCC- fell cedar
Upper Manor house fell Ash & reduce Yew & Beech
Hans Farm.UCC – fell Hazel, Sycamore & Ash, reduce Yew
P.C. Rejected.
Nil
Unitary Council Granted:
Nil.
Unitary Council under Consideration:
Bybrook lodge – extension & replace garage.
8. Unitary Councillor
The Clerk reported that no comments have been received from Cllr Jane Scott.
9. Playing Field & CC Circuit
Playing fields
Cllr Mackelden said the new season had started and everything appears to be going well.
Circuit
Cllr Mackelden said he had received no comments since the last Council meeting and the next liaison meeting should be this month.
10. Play Areas
Cllr Mackelden said there were no problems with the lower play area. Cllr Winup said the annual audit was due this month and asked Cllr Mackelden to look at removing the overhanging branches which were criticised previously.
Cllr Prior reported that the Whitegates area was acceptable on his recent inspection.
11. Highways
The Chairman said he had not received a reply from Paul Bollen regarding the agreement with Wilts Council to fund at least half of the cost of the finger post. He said the wall alongside the Bybrook had been repaired and protection bollards installed. One of these has been knocked and he has asked Wilts Council to replace it.
Cllr Halliday said the parish steward organisation was due to start the end of October and as yet had no name for the person allocated to Castle Combe. She said the resurfacing of the B4039 was disappointing as many pot holes were still evident and the road to Grittleton was in a very poor state.
None of the items on the village’s priority list have been completed with the turning circle at Whitegates becoming dangerous and drains in the lower village requiring clearing. The Chairman asked Cllr Halliday to prepare a report of the outstanding problems and send it to Cllr Baroness Jane Scott before the next meeting.
12. Village Environment
The Chairman said the new waste bins have been installed in Dunns Lane car park and near the village cross and that he had purchased new lids & liners etc for the existing bins.
Cllr Halliday said she had spoken to Richard Neale about the walls etc at Old Werretts and nothing was likely to be done as the property could be for sale.
Cllr Halliday said now that the weather was drier she would progress Mr Wheeler about the repairs to the Lady Well.
The Chairman said he would speak to the owner of the Gates about the weeds at the front of the property.
13. Whitegates
Cllr Prior reported he had contacted the police about the car park being used as a race track and been told they would monitor the situation. .
Cllr Halliday said that she had been told that Whitegates residents were considering forming a working party to clear the estate road gutters.
14. TV. Committee.
The Clerk confirmed that only the TV mast was insured and it was doubtful if the TV equipment in the village hall loft could be considered fixtures and fittings. He suggested that if it was damaged by a fire in the hall it was unlikely to be replaced as the system is obsolete. Cllr Winup agreed and said he would discuss this with Mr Hare the new chairman of the TV committee and said some key parts are held off site which might mitigate the problem.
15. Village Hall
The Chairman said the quarterly checks had been carried out satisfactorily and the cost of the redecoration had been largely offset by good income from fairs etc.
16. Date of next meeting.
This was confirmed as Thursday 16th November 2016 at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall.