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Minutes for February 2019 Meeting

2019 Minutes Uploaded on March 6, 2021

YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Held in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe, Monday 4th February 2019 at 8.00 pm
In Attendance:
Cllrs N Randle (Chair), L Pidgeon, C Stone, T Long, S Horner, D Barnes, S-J Martin (Clerk & RFO)
Members of the Public present – 0

Cllr Randle welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave apologies as per the below:

1. Apologies for Absence:
• Cllrs T Wiggins, S Parris, M Tomkinson and P Diviani.

2. Declarations of Interest
• No Declarations of Interest were announced.

3. Minutes.
• The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 7th January, received by email were a true and accurate record. This was agreed and the Minutes were duly signed.

4. Parish Council Priorities
Nothing had been placed on the Agenda and there was no discussion concerning our priorities.

5. Open Session for Public Participation
• No public were in attendance.

6. Finance
• The Councillors received the Clerks report on the current Financial Position.
• The payments within the schedule in the Clerks Report were approved for payment.
• The form to add Cllr Stone as a signatory to the Unity Trust Bank account was duly authorised by the existing signatories.

7. Reports
To receive the following Reports
a. County Councillor
b. District Councillor
c. Police
d. Yarcombe Community Land Trust
Cllr Horner reported that a Board Meeting had been held that afternoon and at preened they are still waiting the loan/grant documentation from Homes England.
A preliminary survey has been carried out by the ecological association and as everything is expected to be on-site, there may be another round of test required costing £6,000.
No further progress can be made until the monies come through, but they have managed to secure another access in order that lighting can be made available.
The Land Trust has also applied for more support from East Devon Council and in the meantime, Cllr Horner thanked Cllr Randle for his support in sanctioning the loan at the last meeting.

e. Reports from Individual Councillors
• Cllr Randle advised it is his wish to stand down in May for various reasons but if we don’t have a full council elected in May, he would consider another term.
With the election only a few months away, it was decided we would place an article in the Voices and e-voices inviting Parishioners to stand
• Cllr Stone raised a few issues as follows:
1. Some of the fence posts of the post and rail fence leading up the hill opposite the lane to Stopgate are rotting. Highways will not replace them as they state the fence is not a safety defect. Cllr Stone asks if we could ask Phil Holness to replace some of these posts (6 required). Cllr Randle advised it would be nice not to lose the fence and Cllr Long suggested the whole fencing is replaced by posts and a galvanised rail which feeds through the posts. Cllr Stone will obtain a quote from Phil Holness and Clerk to email Highways to see what their views are of re-instating the original fence of posts and a rail.
• There used to be a cost paid to cover the uploads from the Parish Council to the website and the website hosting fee. This doesn’t look like it has been paid since 2015/16. Clerk to ask for bank details for a payment to be set up of £30.00pa.
• The Parishes Together work is currently on hold as the land is too wet and Cllr Stone wished it to be Minuted that George Pidgeon has done a super job finishing the work that was commenced last Autumn with the hedge laying and trimming trees
• Peter Schofield had telephoned concerning the requirement of a grit bin. Clerk had already emailed Highways to see if this would be feasible in response to an email received from Iain Chubb and we await their response. In the meantime, Cllr Barnes will place some grit up near the properties for their use just in case we have some more bad weather before this is resolved.
• There has a been a recent meeting with the prospective purchasers of the Yarcombe Inn to discuss the car parking situation with the PCC and the Village Hall Committee. The meeting was successful, and everyone left happy with the buyers saying they are happy to proceed and hope to have the transaction completed by April. They are also very interested to hear from anyone who is interested in running it for them.
One area of concern the Parish Council may be able to assist with is the lighting in the lane to the village hall car park as it is currently quite dark. Everyone agreed.
Cllr Randle asked if there were any other reports from Councillors:
• Cllr Barnes reported he has seen a van locally looking at potholes. With a dry Autumn and Christmas, the roads were OK but now with the wet weather, the potholes have started to re-appear. Cllr Strone reported one on the A30 has been repaired
• He also reported that Devon CC gritted along the B3170 to the welcome to Somerset sign then turned around. It was noted that Somerset CC has hardly gritted at all.

8. Clerk and Correspondence – Discussion / Decisions and Actions required:
• It was confirmed to transfer of £20,000.00 from the Unity Trust Current Account to the Savings Account.
• Concerning the proposed four multiple use signs for the village, it was decided that as we had only received one response which wasn’t supportive of the idea, there was generally a feeling that the signs would not be used. It was decided not to pursue the idea unless more village organisations came forward, voicing support.

9. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority.
• Current Planning applications were advised to the Councillors
• There is currently and issue with Duffield’s Mill at Crawley Farm which is attracting a lot of HGV;’s and has now become a 24hour operation, including Sundays.
Clerk has been requested to contact the Planning Department, with reference to a meeting between Cllr Randle and Cllr Long and the Chief Executive of Planning concerning the development/business. We are to copy in Membury PC and explain that since this meeting, the situation has got worse and while we recognise the business is not in our Parish it is having a major impact through our village. A letter will be drafted for Cllr Longs approval and onwards to the Planning department.
• Cllr Long asked Cllr Randle to explain the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy). If a Neighbourhood Plan is held, the village is entitled to a levy, being a percentage of between 15-20% for any new and substantial residential developments. It was agreed we would write to the Planning Department for their views and see if a development locally would qualify.
• Additionally, Cllr Long asked Cllr Randle if he could explain to the Councillors the importance of completing a Declaration of Interest in certain circumstances. Cllr Randle advised that if a Councillor failed to declare interest in an item on the Agenda, there could be serious consequences. An Interest may be “General” where there may be a planning application to a next-door property or having “Personal Pecuniary” Interest when the Councillor may have a financial interest in something on the Agenda.

With no more comments or questions from the Councillors, Cllr Randle called the meeting to a close at 9.10pm

To confirm the date of the next meeting being Monday 4th March at 8pm in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe