YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Held in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe, Monday 8th July 2019 at 8.00 pm
In Attendance:
Cllrs C Stone (Chair), S Horner, L Pidgeon, T Long, D Little, C Vining, C Ford, S Vining, S-J Martin (Clerk & RFO)
Members of the Public present – 25
Cllr Stone welcomed everyone to the meeting gave apologies as per the below:
1. Apologies for Absence:
• Simon and Celine Peniston-Bird and, received late by email, Maggie and Mathew Tomkinson
2. Declarations of Interest
• No Declarations of Interest were recorded.
3. Minutes.
• The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 3rd June, received by email were a true and accurate record. Following no objections or comments the Minutes were duly signed.
4. Parish Council Priorities
• We have pleasure in presenting the John Salter Award to the Yarcombe Young Farmers which was very gratefully received. Cllr Stone advised John Carters immediate response was to donate the monetary award to the Yarcombe YFC.
5. Open Session for Public Participation
• Cllr Stone welcomed to the meeting Annie, Luke’s wife and her youngest child to talk about and take any questions concerning their running of the Yarcombe Inn.
• Annie advised they had moved in a few days ago and thanked everyone who had been to say hello. They are excited to get it open and hope, after a few issues are resolved to open in early August. They would also like to invite members of the Community. The menu will be small with traditional food and sharing boards plus at the end of September they are planning a beer festival and pub games.
Luke has been in the pub trade for 16 years and Annie joined him 5 years ago and they now have 2 daughters. Annie added her family is in Taunton so is familiar with the area, thanked everyone for their support and asked if anyone had any questions.
• Nick Randle mentioned we had a campaign for the pub and would like to formally disband it before the pub opens which Annie agreed would be a good idea.
• A question was raised about the beers/lagers and they are just having a cellar survey and intend to stock keg line lager and cider but will keep the ales free of tie so they can serve local ales. Annie emphasised they would welcome local input and that they have a good reputation for their beers and have won a few awards for keeping good ales
• Nick Randle also mentioned the campaign did a Business Plan which may or may not be useful which Cllr Stone had prepared earlier and handed it to Annie. Annie added they would happily take any information and as soon as they know when the Inn will be open, they will contact Nick or Clive with a date.
• Cllr Ford asked if the skittle alley is still there. Annie advised there is nothing up there but there is a possibility that they may look to open it
Crowdfunding
• Cllr Stone raised the next section which is about the crowdfunding and the need to now contact all donors to ask what they would like to do with the funds they donated. There are various options which they can decide on:
– A refund in full less the charges levied by the scheme
– Donating it to the Community
– Donating it towards an item in the pub with a plaque advising the item was donated by members of the Community
If anyone has any other ideas, then please do let us know.
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.
7. Reports
To receive the following Reports
a. County Councillor, Iain
No report received from Iain
b. District Councillors – Cllr David Key and Cllr Colin Brown
Cllr Stone welcomed both District Councillors to the meeting and asked if they would both like to introduce themselves
• Cllr David Key lives in Upottery and has been on the Council since 1995
• Cllr Colin Brown lives in Monkton and has been on the council since 2015
Cllr Key advised there was nothing to report apart from getting involved with a missing planning report concerning Emmets Farm which was since located
• Cllr Horner thanked Cllr Key and the Upottery Parish Council for their cleaning up of the mess at Annies Café where some bins have bee installed and the mess removed. Cllr Key responded that when East Devon removed the toilets, the bins were also removed. Cllr Key advised Streetscene were paid to remove the rubbish by Upottery PC.
• Cllr Little asked the 2 Councillors if they have anything to do with Highways and explained the problem’s we had all experienced in the village following poor and insufficient signage. Lorna also add the issues they had experienced at North and South Waterhayne and it was agreed the Parish Council would follow the matter up with a formal letter of complaint to Highways.
• Cllr Ford suggested we should request that if it were to happen again, a sign stating ”No HGV’s / Residents Only” should be appropriately placed.
• Cllr Barnes mentioned the A303 having been closed to Ilminster at night and then in the last few days they had trimmed the verges, yet this could have been done whilst the road was closed. Cllr Key responded that these are 2 separate issues with 2 separate Departments (Verges would be a Subcontractor and Roads are Highways) and just do not liaise and asked Cllr Brown if he would like to take it up. He agreed and said he would contact Cllr Iain Chubb.
c. Police
• A report was received showing one crime for May.
d. Yarcombe Community Land Trust
• Cllr Horner reported a site had been selected in Marsh and subject to its viability with the Surveys (as they believe some rare species have been found – dormice, slow worm, bats) including a bird survey the site is suitable. Thanks to Homes England who have provided a £45,000.00 of which part is funding the surveys and EDDC is providing some funding for some more surveys but advised it hadn’t all been spent on surveys.
e. Reports from Individual Councillors
• Cllr Horner reported he has attended 2 excellent meetings. One excellent with the Blackdown Hills Parish Network which he joined 3 years ago and was well attended by 6 Councillors and they actively lobby MP’s. Also, the Blackdown Hills AONB and whilst it was felt they should be doing more to pull the Blackdown Hills together, they are concentrating on small projects.
8. Clerk and Correspondence – Discussion / Decisions and Actions required:
• We have been asked to provide a couple of Councillors Volunteers for the village market to sell pies in September (14th). Cllr C Vining agreed to be a Volunteer and Cllr Ford provisionally.
• Following an email received from Jon Stockwell “Just to let you know George and I planted up the new tree yesterday. Really helpful to have George’s pick up to do the hard work! If anyone asks the tree is an Acer ‘October Glory’ and should have brilliant autumn red colours”, Clerk to email the Councillor’s thanks.
• Cllr Stone had received some negativity about just having an online version of the Parish Information Leaflet and he proposed to continue with print edition and update the online version. This was agreed and seconded by Cllr Ford and Cllr C Vining
• Consideration of the mobile speed radar system or other measures due to the speed of traffic coming through the village. – Cllr Long suggested the re-instalment of a temporary flashing sign and suggested we could contact our PCSO in the first instance.
9. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority.
• Cllr Long advised that all those on the Agenda were relevant and all were taken care of.
With no more comments or questions from the Councillors, Cllr Stone called the meeting to a close at 8.55pm.
To confirm the date of the next meeting being Monday 2nd September at 8pm at the Village Hall, Yarcombe
After the closure of the meeting a couple of Parishioners raised the issue of Duffield’s / Crawley Farm and whether Yarcombe Parish Council was aware of any letters of complaint. Cllr Long advised EDDC Planning deal with all letters received as they feel fit and they are not referred to us as they do not consult us. Cllr David Key added that any issues such as Certificate of Lawfulness are referred to their Legal Department. The Parish Council was challenged as to why we haven’t got better notifications from Membury as the land falls into their area and what has been done.
Cllr Long advised he had been dealing with this planning issue for 9 months but had received no complaints from locals concerning the issues that Yarcombe PC is concerned with such as the blatant signage, noise, working at night.
Merve Edgecombe asked if we should be making our thoughts known to Membury and that they are implicit in it by their indifference. Cllr Long responded that over 25 years, the business had grown bigger than was proposed as different planning officers came and went and we fell off their radar and that for us, it is more to do with what they are doing their rather than their applications. He added technically it is in Membury’s area, but it is on our patch and thy should be responsible Councillors
Cllr Barnes added that an application sign went up on a pole, but we weren’t aware and knew nothing about it.
Cllr Horner added that over the 25 years, it has gone from an agricultural business to a 24/7 operating site to which Merve Edgecome responded who is supposed to ask the question? Cllr Brown advised he would ask legal over the next few days.
It was also raised that there had been a recent fire was at a different feed company, the Crediton Milling Company who have had to ask other feed mills to help supply their customers while they get their mill reopened, one of which is Crawley Mill.
Duffields Mill at Yeovil is having some refurb works which has meant moving some production to Crawley in the short term. These 2 factors could explain the recent increased works at Duffields Crawley.
Cllr Stone concluded that although the meeting finished a while ago, it was good to have had this conversation whilst the PC can’t write or solicit letters of complaint. We would now like to close the meeting and look forward to seeing you in the newly opened Yarcombe Inn.