Minutes of Past Parish Council Meetings

MINUTES

September 9th 2009

Public Participation - in items on the agenda

Ashwater Shop and Post Office

Charlotte Weedon (Community Project Officer - Community Council of Devon) and Dawn Eckhart (Social Enterprise Worker - Community Council of Devon) attended the meeting to discuss the future of the shop and post office. Dawn spoke about setting up a community owned business and her role in this and Charlotte’s position is to support village shops that lose their post office and the loss of income due the post office closures. There is a grant aid to develop retail business and help with advice. Getting the communities support and loyalty is the most important factor. As the lease is finishing on the shop and Barry and Hazel are going to retire, it is necessary to find an alternative way of providing a shop to Ashwater/Post Office, which is essential to the village.

There have been many village shops closing and in order to retain a provision in Ashwater a community owned business has been suggested with a social enterprise approach. There are different ways of running a business where the community can benefit. An example would be a not for profit sector - where the aims are for the business is just to be financially viable and profits would be re-invested into a community business.
This could be run in different ways:

The community owns the property and rents it out.
The community employs a manager/co-ordinator.
The unit would be entirely run by volunteers.

Pros and cons and viability issues

Set up a steering group, hold a public meeting, open this up for a discussion and a steering group formed. Do research to see how it can go forward. Funding could be obtained from ViRSA (Village Retail Service Association) but this would have to be checked as details of grants payable are always changing. A grant aid may be obtained of up to £20,000. However a grant aid would have to be matched by the community of Ashwater. A loan for finance could be obtained from the Co-operative. An interest free loan could be obtained from the Community Council of Devon (CCoD). It was noted that there are some shops/post offices that are run by the community. It was again mentioned that a steering group would need to be set up.

If a portacabin was placed in the car park of the new village hall it was suggested that the new village hall might be liable for VAT. The building at present is zero rated, but if there is a change of use VAT might become an issue. This point would need to be checked with the Revenue and Customs. It was felt that there must have been some similar issues with the Charity Commission.

Charlotte would support a community shop project and would be able to pass on advice and guidance and suggested that different projects could be visited.

There is a concern about the time lapse from when the current shop closes and a new one opens. Issues could be overcome because of it being a community. There was some concern that the same people always appear to be involved. The parish hall could set up a trading company but again it might lose its VAT exemption.

A question was asked about how many community people are interested to become involved. Malcolm Timney read out the results of a survey that was sent out with the Ashwater Newsletter.
There were three questions asked as follows:

Do you consider that the Village Shop/Post Office should stay open?
Would you help with fundraising to keep the Village Shop/Post Office?
Would you help run the Village Shop/Post Office?

Approximately 230/240 questionnaires were sent out and there were 84 returns.
8 people said yes to all 3 questions and a further 8 said yes to all 3 questions but they had less time to help.
There are therefore a hard core of 16 people from which a steering group could be set up.
Barry Parsons was asked to approach planning see if it would be granted and also Colin Powell would need to be contacted as soon as possible with regards to the post office. Time scale would be the biggest problem. Two parish councillors had met with Ken Hamlyn from St Giles and were given ideas of how to get going as soon as possible.

Awards For All is another organisation that could be approached for funding.
It is estimated that approximately £7,000 to £8,000 would be needed to set up a new shop/post office.

It was decided that a meeting with the 16 people should be organised as quickly as possible to form a steering group, and a date was set for Tuesday 22 September at 7.30 pm in the village hall.
It was also suggested that there should be at least one parish councillor on the committee. Barry Parsons offered to chair the meeting. MT passed the information for SM to send out letters to the relevant people.

Barry Parsons also had information of a shop that was set up in the Oxford area which he would forward to SM.

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Present: Steve Furse (acting chair), Mary Gliddon (public participation only), Pete Jennings, Alex Beynon, Lawrence Langston, Pat May, Eric Burnill, Barry Parsons, Sheila Myers (Clerk)

1. Apologies for Absence

Trevor Moon

2. Declaration of Interest of any Agenda items and approval of the minutes of the last meeting

None.
2.1: The minutes were approved and signed by SF. Proposed LL, seconded PJ.
2.2 Matters Arising from the Minutes: MG asked if the dog fouling bin situated near her home could be moved as it was obstructing their view when reversing off their property.
Henriette North had submitted a paid invoice for £50 for advice and assistance given to her on the website. An amount has already been passed to Henriette as recognition of the work that she had already done. AB mentioned that his wife was happy to construct a new website but obviously the matter had to be sorted with Henriette North first. EB will speak to Ivan Buxton in this respect.

3. Planning

3.1 Whimberry Farm: Proposed temporary agricultural supervisory dwelling - approved, proposed PJ, seconded PM.
3.2 Adjistments Farm: Extension to dwelling - approved, proposed SF, seconded PJ.
3.3 Elm Cottage: Planning has been granted - it was decided that this application would be monitored and action taken if they do not comply with the regulations set out by TDC.
3.4 Ryme Intrinsica Farm: Planning has been granted - noted.

4. Footpaths

4.1: EB reported a visit to FP13 at Larkworthy with Tim Freeman DCC Rights of Way Warden. Due to conditions imposed on the land owner by the Stewardship Scheme the FP adjacent to Henford water is extremely wet and boggy. A scheme of works to improve the situation was agreed with the landowner Mr Kirk. EB has asked for estimates from Pat May and Roy Moon. As there are insufficient P3 monies available within the parish, additional funding would be required from DCC. In order to obtain this extra money the estimates are to be passed to Tim Freeman for his approval and for him to place the order with Ashwater using all its remaining P3 money as a contribution. Evidence from the landowner suggests more people are using this footpath probably due to the walks leaflets produced by Ivan Buxton. For the future it seems that an automatic grant from DCC based on lengths of footpaths within the parish will not be forthcoming, monies for any work that is required will have to be applied for.

5. Finance

5.1 Torridge District Council: Supply of dog fouling bins - £195.50 - proposed PJ, seconded SF.
5.2: Clerk’s salary and stationery expenses £390 plus £6.29 (postages and stationery) - proposed PJ, seconded SF.
5.3: A Wayleave Payment of £19.67 has been received.
5.4: As LL is no longer involved with the finances of the parish council a change of address for bank details form was signed so that any bank matters would now be sent to SM. The form was signed by 3 members of the parish council.; There is £3,433.01 in the bank account - after cheques paid at this meeting.

6. Correspondence / Communications

6.1 DAPC AGM - Saturday 27 September 2009: To be held at County Hall, Exeter - Betty has gone on previous years. There is a proposal for a 2% increase in subscription fees. Nobody was available to attend.
6.2 Parish Councillor Vacancy: Notices have been placed around Ashwater and we have to wait until 15 September to see if 10 people have written in requesting an election. There are 2 people who are interested in becoming parish councillors and the matter will be carried forward to the next meeting.
A letter had been received from TM and the contents noted.
6.3 More Powers for Parish and Town Councils: Email received and passed to AB.
6.4 Devon Car Free Day - Tuesday 22 September 2009: Poster placed on notice board.
6.5 Rural Devon Profile 2009: Noted.
6.6 DAPC Training: Noted.
6.7 Road Closure Park Cottage to entrance of Winslade, Broadwoodwidger from Monday 26 October 2009: To be placed on notice board nearer the time.
6.8 New Ashwater Village Hall Sign Posts: PM will contact Highways in this respect.
6.9 Play Builder Seminar - 17 September 2009: Passed to LL.
6.10 Ashwater Phone Box Adoption: Passed to LL.
6.11 Rural Shops Alliance - Networking events - Tuesday 29 September at Sourton: This information will be mentioned at the steering group meeting on the 22 September.
6.12 Minding our Business CCD’s 2009 Rural Communities Conference Wednesday 21 October: Information passed to PJ.
6.13 Publications Received: Noted.
6.14: The two benches on the village green need to be repainted but before this can be done they need sand blasting in situ. The cost of this would be £80 plus VAT each. Once this is done then they will need to be painted.
The matter will be carried forward to the next meeting.
6.15: The lengthsman will be working in the Ashwater area on week commencing 26 October. SM will place a notice in the newsletter to enquire if anyone needs anything doing by the lengthsman such as drains, gullies or water tabling work. If they do, then they should contact any member of the parish council.
6.16: It was also mentioned about potholes on the road around the village green. PM said that he would get in touch with Highways when the potholes get bad.

The meeting closed at 9.30 p.m.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 14 October 2009.

Minutes 09/09

Website designed by Anthony Williams and Henriette North.
Comments and Submissions to webmaster@ashwaterparish.org.uk
Last modified: Sunday December 18, 2011