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Minutes for October 2021 Parish Council Meeting

2021 MinutesMinutes Uploaded on December 28, 2021

YPC Minutes for Meeting 4th October 2021

YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Meeting held in the Jubilee Hall, Monday 4th October 2021 at 8.00 pm

In Attendance:
Cllrs C Stone (Chair), S Horner, T Long, C Ford, S Horner, D Little, D Barnes, S-J Martin (Clerk & RFO)

Members of the Public present – 2

Cllr Stone welcomed everyone back to a public meeting and advised that although the Agenda asked everyone to wear a mask, we were happy for them to be removed if they felt comfortable.

1. Apologies for Absence:
Cllrs C Brown, L Pidgeon and C Vining

2. Declarations of Interest
Cllr Stone asked if anyone had any Declarations of Interest for the meeting and none were declared.

3. Minutes.
The Minutes from the previous meeting have been signed outside the meeting due to meetings being held remotely.
4. Reports
To receive the following Reports
a. County Councillor – Cllr Iain Chubb
Cllr Chub read out a report which will be emailed to the Clerk and circulated on receipt

Cllr Horner responded that in March, the Council issued a statement re Connecting Devon and Somerset and emailed Matt Burrow on the 5th and 24th of August asking which parts of this area were already connected as he understood half of our Parish may excluded so this is very important. Cllr Horner advised he hadn’t received a response. Cllr Chubb advised he would email Matt Burrow and ‘cc Cllr Horner.

Cllr Vining enquired about the food funding scheme and how EDDC could be sure the funds would be spent appropriately. Cllr Chubb advised the funds are in voucher form to ensure this happens.

b. District Councillors – Cllr David Key
Cllr Key advised many meetings are being cancelled and the only ones he is now attending are concerning planning. He had received a spate of called concerning uncollected recycling but after contacting Streetscene, they had been going out very promptly the next day.

Cllr Horner told Cllr Key about the problems with moving the affordable housing project forward and that they have been waiting for a year for a planning decision of which a S.106 agreement is held up in the legal department.
Cllr Chubb added that planning applications have gone up 6-fold in recent months as a consequence of more people moving into the area.
Cllr Horner stated the situation is totally unacceptable and affordable housing has to be prioritised as it is vitally important.
Councillor Key accepted that as the matter had not reached the stage when the application would be considered by Committee, he would speak to Legal request that the department expedite the issuance of a draft section 106 agreement.
c. Police
No reports received.
d. Yarcombe Community Land Trust
Cllr Horner reported a meeting had been held for the project and it was unanimously backed.
e. Reports from Individual Councillors
Cllr Horner – S.106 & CIL monies. It was discussed that this issue had been raised before and Cllr Key agreed he would speak to the council officer to ensure a proper response was provided to our requests for better particulars of sums due.
Cllr Horner – New proposed walking route, south to north through our Parish. Cllr Horner remembers the AONB spending £2m on a here path on the north side of the Blackdown Hills which is now closed as tyres had been placed in ditches which have now surfaced and are dangerous. The concern is that if this goes through our Parish, we need to know what is going on with it.

5. Parish Council Priorities including Clerk and Correspondence.
• DCC footpath signs – it was cascaded that following Cllr Stone seeing some Devon County Council footpath signs in N Devon, we have managed to get hold of 10 similar ones which will be delivered this week:

• It was discussed that if both Cllrs Pidgeon and C Vining attend the November meeting, this will conform to the six-month meeting attendance rule. The Clerk is to check their availability and then confirm the date of the November meeting.
• Cllr Chubb added we could also contact Henry Gordan Lennox or Mark Williams Chief Exec at EDDC for guidance.
• We raised the Parish Councillor’s, council specific emails and following Cllr Chubb’s discussion that he usually is emailing personal email addresses rather than council specific ones, it was decided the Councillors would not pursue using them and continue to use personal email addresses instead.

6. Open Session for Public Participation
• Martin Phillips and Amy Tucker attended to raise the issue of the Yarcombe Parish lanes they use to get to their farms which are in Upottery. Using these lanes are 5-6 farms, milk companies, the school bus, 3 holiday lets, one of which has received a Trip Advisor Review warning, potential guests about the possibility of getting a flat tyre on the lane. Prior to the meeting, he had managed to speak with Cllr Chub who will go out and see the lane this week.
Cllr Barnes added another bad lane is the lane between Blackhayes and Broadley and, also that the photos Martin had brough with him and were shared with the Councillors do not reflect how bad it is as the potholes are very deep. Cllr Ford stated the lanes are not up to holding the weight of the traffic.
The Clerk has already been in correspondence with Highways previously and that evening and was awaiting a further response.

7. Finance
The current financial position was as per the circulated Agenda and the payments approved as follows:

Payment Date Payee Details of Payment Amount
05.09.21 BHPN Membership 97.06
30.09.21 S J Martin Clerks Wages 239.20
30.09.21 HMRC PAYE 59.80
01.10.21 St Johns the Baptist, YPCC £100.00 towards village cream tea 100.00

It was also suggested by Cllr Stone to contribute towards the hire of the village hall as this event was used to present the John Salter Award. A sum of £50.00, being 50% of what we would normally spend on village hall rent during a year was suggested and this was unanimously agreed by the Councillors. Clerk to email the hall to ask for an invoice for this amount.

8. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority.
Cllr Long advised that during this time, site meetings continue to be held with a skeleton of Parish Council members, where he felt it necessary and consequently hasn’t been inviting all the Parish Councillors to all the applications, due the present circumstances.

Watchford Teton:
Following a letter received from Brian Anning, addressed to EDDC and ‘cc Yarcombe Parish Council, Cllr Long wanted the Councillors to be advised of Yarcombe Parish Councils comment of November 2018 which stated :

18/2380/FUL – change of use of land for stationing of a residential mobile home (retrospective)
“Whilst we have some sympathy for the situation, Yarcombe Parish Council look to EDDC to decide if they can in fact permit a temporary permission, according to legislation, for this, which would be void when the applicant get their social housing.
Either way, unequivocally, any permission needs to have a 3-year maximum term.
When Mr Brian Anning moves off the site, then the site is to be clear without hesitation.
We request this as this is not what has happened at Watchford Farm on at least two occasions before, making a mockery of the system.
We are also concerned about the making of a precedent”.

Cllr Long added that EDDC also said in their report that it was a serious breach of planning policy, and it is all as documented on the portal. EDDC went on to refuse the application.

Marsh Farm:
Cllr Long has requested the Clerk forwards a letter to the Chief Planning Officer at EDDC concerning the following:
“We have brought to your attention previously, the siting of a mobile home/caravan at the above address. At the time, we were not aware of any formal application of the siting of this and you sent Mr Crocker out to look into the matter approximately 18 months to two years ago.

The message we got back from Mr Crocker was that Mr A Townsend had placed the caravan there to help his father with renovations to the main house roof etc and no further action was taken by him leaving the situation un-formalised in our opinion.

The Parish Council are concerned that any caravan used without planning permission for residential use could very well lead to a permanent situation unless planning permission is formalised and restricted to a maximum duration.
This is a very prominent position right beside the A30 and we are certain that neither EDDC nor ourselves would wish to set any precedents with others, especially within our parish. We have been keeping a close eye on the site – all what appears to be happening is the caravan site itself is being developed, making it somewhat larger and incorporating more facilities and with the appearance of being a more permanent fixture.
The only apparent difference to the main buildings externally is the appearance of two ladders on the roof, with no measures taken to prevent damaging water ingress through the roof, either with the main dwelling or otherwise.
The building has been in this state of disrepair for many years and could be a heritage building which should be on the register of buildings at risk
Please see below the local published documented history of the building we are concerned about.

Marsh farm is an important and unrecognised building in Yarcombe. Originally, in the early 17th century it was a farmhouse, and by the end of the 18th century was known as the Great House. In the early 19th century, the building was converted into a coaching inn where accommodation was offered and horses changed serving the route from Exeter to London and renamed the Heathfield Arms. The age of the railway replaced stagecoaches and by 1856 the building had reverted to its original name Marsh farm. Remains of the large number of stone buildings can still be seen but in a derelict state of repair.

Cllr Long asked if there were any matters arising from the above to which none was stated.

Cllr Stone declared the meeting closed at 9pm.

The date of the next meeting will be announced in due course