YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Held in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe, Monday 3rd June 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 – 1
Cllr Stone welcomed everyone to the meeting gave apologies as per the below:
1. Apologies for Absence:
• Cllr David Key, one of the new District Councillors.
2. Declarations of Interest
• A Declaration of Interest was completed by Cllr Vining concerning a local Planning Application.
3. Minutes.
• The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 1st April, received by email were a true and accurate record. Following no objections or comments the Minutes were duly signed.
4. Parish Council Priorities
• No Council priorities had been added to the Agenda for discussion and there were no other matters arising.
• Cllr Pidgeon advised this section could also deal with on-going issues.
5. Open Session for Public Participation
No-on had any comments or questions to raise.
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.
• It was agreed we would ring-fence a further £500.00 for village maintenance which was the reason for increasing the precept.
• The Internal Audit has been carried out and it was declared that Yarcombe Parish Council meets the exemption criteria for the purposes of the external audit. The Exemption Certificate was signed. The Annual Governance Statement was signed and recorded as a minute reference YPC/03/06/19.1, followed by the Accounting Statement for 2018/19 which were recorded as a Minute Reference YPC/03/06/19.2. The Accounts will now be posted on-line and the Exemption Certificate and completed contact details will be forwarded to PKF, the external Auditors.
7. Reports
To receive the following Reports
a. County Councillor, Iain
Iain had spoken to Cllr David Key who had sent his apologies.
Iain reported that the Council had managed to balance its books even with a £9.5m overspend on children’s services for children in care due to certain children being expensive to look after.
£250,000 has been placed into a fund to work with other organisations on Climate Change and look at reducing the carbon footprint in the County.
There has been a proposal from a Crediton Councillor to adopt St Bonaface as the Patron Saint of Devon.
There is on-going work on waste reduction and Iain acknowledged Cllr Horner’s letter concerning Broadband.
Cllr David Barnes invited Cllr Chub to view some of the roads in the parish which need attention and Cllr Stone asked whether he had seen the “dragon patcher” which evidently is still working somewhere up in North Devon.
b. District Councillors – David Key and Colin Brown
• David Brown had telephoned the Clerk to ask when our meetings are. We advised one was tonight but appreciate it was late notice and having obtained and email address for Cllr Key, we forwarded the dates of the 2019 and 2020 meetings on to him. Cllr Key had a meeting at Upottery but said Colin Brown may be able to attend.
c. Police
• No report was received since the last one for the late May APM.
d. Yarcombe Community Land Trust
• No report was received since the last one for the late May APM.
e. Reports from Individual Councillors
Cllr Vining and Ford:
• Have received a handover from Maggie for the P3 (Parish Paths) which included a lot of information and a big bag! They are now just awaiting some maps to show all the paths. Cllr Vining also has a box of local walking maps should anyone like some. They are also now just awaiting the list of helpers who volunteer to walk the paths
Cllr D Little:
• Advised he had been passed on an email from Tony Wiggins from a lady in Marsh concerning the lorry fire and consequential diversion of traffic through the village.
Cllr Stone:
• Advised Phil Holness has been working again on the layby and can obtain 2 long concrete planters instead of the 3 wooden planters we had originally planned. Cllr Pidgeon asked where they are to be positioned and this is to be on the right, the right side of the lay-by.
• Cllr Little pointed out that it is right in the middle of the footpath and at night, they will not be seen and could cause an accident. He suggested one was placed either side of the footpath.
Resolved – the 2 concrete planters would be purchased together with another wooden planter t be placed next to the original one on either side of the path.
• Clive has also contacted Streetscene as to what work is planned for our area over the next 6-12 months. They are short staffed and haven’t yet been able to deliver a response.
8. Clerk and Correspondence – Discussion / Decisions and Actions required:
• A few years ago, Yarcombe Parish Council provided St John Ambulance training for the Councillors and any Parishioners who wished to receive it. The course was “Essential first aid, with defibrillator demo”. These certificates have now expired, and it was asked if anyone would like to go on another course and open it up to the Parishioners. It was decided to place a notification in the Voices and await to see how much interest there is.
• The stock of the Parish Information leaflet has run down, and we are now looking to update the details and issue a revised edition. It was suggested that the publication is placed online on the Yarcombe.net site instead of in print which was agreed. The details will be updated and forwarded to peter Tarrant for uploading to the site.
• Jon Stockwell had kindly offered to replace the tree on the layby which has died. It was decided to let him know the Parish Council great appreciates his offer and would like to accept.
• We discussed the start time of the Parish Council meetings and it was decided to leave it at 8pm. Cllr Horner had added a note that if anything needs to be raised by a Councillor, it should be added to the Agenda in an attempt to keep things concise and the meeting no longer than an hour, whilst everyone appreciated that should urgent matters arise, then these will be discussed.
9. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority.
• Current Planning applications and site visits undertaken were advised to the Councillors.
• Concerning Duffield’s Mill at Crawley Farm, Cllr Horner pointed out that when the first planning approval was granted this was to be for a small and new manufacturing facility. Cllr Vining asked if they had a licence to work at night, but Tony advised this issue had been going on for months and the current application for a Certificate of Lawful Use is concerning the night operations. Additionally, there have been no complaints concerning the noise from local residents. Cllr Ford enquired about the yellow safety fencing which is not fitting for the countryside and the Conservation Officer has made an objection. Cllr Long advised that should any-one have any issues concerning this site, that they should contact the EDDC Planning office immediately.
• The other planning applications and progress were gone through and Cllr Stone enquired as to what the status of “Split Decision”. Cllr Long wasn’t sure but felt it could be between EDDC and say the Conservation planners. means”
With no more comments or questions from the Councillors, Cllr Stone called the meeting to a close at 8.50pm.
To confirm the date of the next meeting being Monday 8th July at 8pm at the Village Hall, Yarcombe