YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Held in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe, Monday 5th March 2018 at 8.00 pm
In Attendance:
Cllrs N Randle (Chair), L Pidgeon, C Stone, A Long, S Horner, Maggie Tomkinson, Tony Wiggins, S Parris, S-J Martin (Clerk & RFO)
Members of the Public present – 0
1. Apologies for Absence:
Cllr David Barnes
2. Declarations of Interest
No declarations of Interest were received.
3. Minutes.
The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 5th February were correct to which they replied yes.
4. Open Session for Public Participation.
No members of the Public were in attendance.
5. Parish Council Priorities
A subject hadn’t been nominated for this month and instead it was decided to go through the Minutes of the last meeting concerning the subject of Community Engagement which was discussed with the Parishioners.
• Concerning the Village Hall and the lack of a Skittles facility in the village, it was decided that the lack of atmosphere in the village hall limited it’s use. The village hall committee know they can approach us for a small grant
Cllr Horner suggested a possible microphone for the meetings as it had been mentioned that sometimes the sound problem in the hall mans it is difficult to hear what is being said.
Resolved:
Clerk to write to the Hall Committee to express the general support of the Committee and that we await to hear from them as to where we can offer further support.
• Re possible improvements within the village, an area of discussion was the triangle in the centre of the village and what could be done with it.
Resolved:
Cllr Randle suggested a site meeting when the nights are lighter.
• Concerning suggestions for John Salters Legacy and how the Parish Council can recognise it.
Cllr Stone suggested linking whatever we do with the younger community.
Cllr Randle suggested that annually, nominations are held for someone in the community, who could receive the award of £100.00, being the John Salter Award. The award occasion would be photographed and recorded. Amendment to Minutes 09.04.18 “The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 5th March. The Chair pointed out, that the £100.00 for the John Salter Award is for the Winning Individual to direct the monies to a Yarcombe & Marsh cause of their choosing”.
Resolved:
To place a note in the next Yarcombe Voices that we are looking for recommendations of young people that have done something in the community that needs recognising.
Cllr Tomkinson asked how else we can get younger people involved to which it was decided we could invite them to a meeting to ask them – also we had previously discussed holding another welcome tea and it was decided to hold this in the Summer.
Resolved:
To diarise to issue a general invitation in June 2018 to the younger community to attend a future meeting and, to hold another welcome tea for new residents to the village.
6. Finance
a. The Clerks report, previously distributed and available to view detailed the current Financial Position
b. Payments within the schedule in the Clerks Report were approved:
Date Payee Details of Payment Chq Nr £
28.02.18 Sarah-Jane Martin Salary 573 202.72
28.02.18 HMRC PAYE 574 50.60
C. At the previous meeting, it was decided to allocate £1,000.00 from the current Parish Council balances to ditches/dykes and general maintenance but whereas we had decided to merge the 2 projects, it was decided to keep the ring-fenced monies separate put them under the same heading for using the same budget and Contractor.
Cllr Stone asked what remained of the £1,000.00 Locality Budget received at the end of the 2016/17 financial year. Clerk to establish and let him know.
Clerk advised the Unity Bank Account had now been opened and the Usernames and Passwords will be distributed to the signatories
7. Reports received:
– County Councillor
Cllr Chubb reported that Council Tax was going up by 4.99% with an extra:
– £13m going into Adult Care/ Social provisions
– £6.5m allocated to Children’s Services
– £6.5m allocated to the Pothole Fund
Along with the Fire and Police, there have had to be some increases.
He stressed it isn’t easy to balance the books with an ageing population.
Cllr Chubb is working with Helen Selby with a view to get something done with a local road although he didn’t elaborate on which one.
Cllr Tomkinson asked if there could be any leeway in which Eat Devon or County manages the potholes as after having recently seen Contractors fill 2 potholes but leave the 3rd as it wasn’t mapped seemed madness.
Cllr Chubb replied that it costs between £40 and £45 to fill a pothole and it is a private firm who are contracted to undertake just the potholes which are mapped. If they repair a pothole which is not mapped, they would not get paid.
Cllr Stone said he thought it was very disappointing that there had been a change in the Contractors who undertake the potholes but not a change in the practice
– District Councillor
Cllr Diviani reported the new HQ was really coming on and Interserve Construction Ltd who are running the construction site are scheduled to complete it on time.
Additionally, the latest recycling figures are good.
– Police
• A police report was received with 3 crimes between the 9th January and 3rd March 2018 being a sexual assault and 2 burglaries. The burglaries occurred at the same building and the property owner has been offered a farm alarm.
– Yarcombe Community Land Trust
Cllr Horner reported they are in negotiations with a land owner in Marsh, but he is hoping for more than is available.
Additionally, he advised that in Honiton, EDDC tried to get the developers to build affordable housing but the developers have reduced the number of affordable homes within the new housing development.
– Reports from Individual Councillors
Cllr Stone attended the Blackdown Hill’s Parishes together meeting and reported that to get things done, Parishes need to “agitate and be persistent”.
The Clerks email concerning the development of agricultural buildings was read out and it was recommended that this combined effort with other Parish Councils is put into the Neighbourhood Plans. This would have the effect of being recognised by EDDC as they would have to comply with the plan as they become statute.
Concerning HGV’s, they reported that if an HGV goes down a lane with a “no hgv” sign and it gets stuck, the driver is personally liable to the lorry out.
Dunkeswell have obtained their allocation of Lengthsman money from EDDC and recruited their own to do the work where they think it would be better utilised.
Cllr Horner states we had decided we were not going to undertake pothole repairs and Chapter 8 training to which Cllr Stone replied it isn’t potholes which would be undertaken but work in the ditches and verges.
Cllr Pidgeon advised Offwell PC did something similar to Dunkeswell, but it didn’t work out with their lengthsman
Resolved:
Clerk to find out from Highways, how much they spend on our Lengthsman in Yarcombe.
– The Clerks Report
• It was mentioned in the last meeting about the triangular piece of land opposite and it was decided to have a site meeting when it gets lighter.
• Concerning the Blackdown Hills Repair Café who asked for a small donation to help with set up costs, it was agreed to offer the village hall as a facility when they come to Yarcombe.
• It was fed back that the Snow Warden emails from Thelma over the last week were very helpful.
• Re the email received from Cllr Horner concerning patching on Brown Down Lane, Cllr Randle asked if Cllr Horner could draft a letter, expressing the view that the patching done was a waste of money due to the lack of sub structure in the road.
• The decision on our Parishes Together Funding application will be decided on 17th March
• Concerning GDPR and its implications for the Parish Council, Cllr Randle informed the Councillors there will need to be an Information Officer, which is not the Clerk. We assessed the risk which was agreed to be low. Cllr Tomkinson advised we ought to advise Miranda as we do ask her to email certain actions/points raised from Parish Council Meetings.
Resolved:
Clerk to email Miranda advising of the GDPR implications and that an email stating people could “Opt Out” of e-voices could be sent.
8. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority.
Details of recent changes/ amendments to local Planning applications are details in the Clerks Report.
Cllr Long mentioned there was still a problem with the online planning portal in that he wasn’t sure where the conditions are that are attached to a decision notice.
Additionally, concerning the applications for enlarged agricultural buildings, Cllr Long is still trying to get Stockland and Membury to give similar responses to ours.
To confirm the date of the next meeting being Monday 9th April at 8pm in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe
The Meeting closed at 9.15pm