Minutes of Past Parish Council Meetings

MINUTES

October 14th 2009

Public Participation

There was no public participation - in items on the agenda

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Present: Trevor Moon, Steve Furse, Mary Gliddon, Pete Jennings, Alex Beynon, Lawrence Langston, Pat May, Eric Burnill, Sheila Myers (Clerk)

1. Apologies for Absence

N/a

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

Pat May has been involved with a footpath. The minutes were approved and signed by TM. Proposed EB, seconded AB.

MG asked if the dog fouling bin situated near her home could be moved as it gave a restricted view when reversing from her drive. TM will attend to this.
PM had been in touch with Highways and TDC regarding a sign for the new village hall. Both Highways and TDC said that there were no additional funds available for this. PM had made further enquiries and said that a company in Holsworthy could make a sign that could be clipped to a sign post or lamp post and the charge for this would be £55. LL said that he would pass this on to the parish hall committee.

EB reported that he had spoken to Ivan Buxton regarding Henriette North’s involvement with the proposed new website. Ivan said that he will ask her if she would be interested in researching the history of Ashwater which could be added to the website.

3. Planning

3.1 West Down Cottage: Proposed 1st Floor Extension - approved, proposed MG, seconded EB.

4. Footpaths

EB said that work had been done on Footpath No 13 as discussed at the previous meeting. Two estimates had been received, one from Pat May for £1,600 plus VAT, and the other from Roy Moon for £1,872 plus VAT.
Both estimates were sent to Tim Freeman and Pat May was asked to carry out the work. Pat May has now completed the work and has done a good job. The fencing has been replaced, the ground re-stoned, and two gates erected, one for the cattle and the other for pedestrians. The area now is a lot safer.
Pat May passed an invoice for payment by the parish council to be paid from P3 money for £600 plus VAT and the rest of the money (£1,000 plus VAT) will be paid through Tim Freeman. VAT can be claimed back by the parish council at a later date. Proposed PJ, seconded LL.

EB went on to say that it appears that there will no longer be a grant for P3 money and that perhaps an additional £100 could be made available through the parish precept set for the next financial year.
He also added that Ashwater had received a write up in the P3 newsletter.

5. Finance

5.1 Bank Account Signatories

The form needs changing as there are 5 people who are no longer parish councillors. We also need to get the new councillors added. The form was signed where necessary and SM would take it into the bank. Additional forms were given to AB and PM to sign and take into the bank when convenient to them.

5.2 NALC Employment Briefing

2009-2010 National Final Salary Aware for Local Council Clerks - passed to LL.

5.3 Parish Precept 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011

A form has been received for the next financial year.

As mentioned at the previous meeting there is now a need for a new shop/post office in Ashwater. However the steering group set up has no money for expenses. It was suggested that these expenses could be paid for from precept money. The group are going to come up with a proposition.
A new committee will probably need to be set up to oversee the project. Once they have a proposal then they will need to get costings.
One site suggested is in the car park of the new parish hall. The group are going to work out what size the shop needs to be and get costings. If they get funding for the shop, then Ashwater will need to match fund. A substantial amount could be put on the precept.
It was noted that when £5000 was put on the precept for the parish hall, it did not make a big impact on the precept. If the residents of Ashwater are committed to a new shop, then the parish will need to find some money. It was also mentioned that whatever building is purchased then it would be better to buy a better quality that would last approximately 10 years. At a later date it there may be an opportunity to add an extension to the parish hall to house a shop.
It was also noted that should a shop be placed in the car park then the footpath would need to be extended to the shop, as well as running services such as water and electricity. At present there are no figures for the cost of the project but the group hope to have the full price by November or December and will attend a parish council meeting with their findings. The community could fundraise but the fairest and quickest way would probably be to add to the precept. Any funds not used up by the project would mean that the precept could go down the next financial year. The precept for this current financial year is £5,250.

5.4

An amount of £2,625.00 has been received from TDC for the 2nd instalment of the precept.

5.5

MG asked for a cheque to be paid to Kirk Engineering for printing the newsletter. There was insufficient money in the account set up for the newsletter expenses as it appears that some cheques to be paid into the account had not arrived due to the problems with the post. Proposed LL, seconded PJ.

There is £6,050.20 in the bank account.

6. Correspondence / Communications

6.1 Meetings Attended: Holsworthy Area Advisory Group - AB had attended the meeting. The Holsworthy Agribusiness Park and Livestock Market is not due for planning until autumn 2010.
With regards to the travellers site in Pyworthy, they are still waiting for grant from government.
6.2 Parish Councillor Vacancy: Graham Hockin was welcomed to the meeting and has been co-opted as a parish councillor. Graham lives in the north part of Ashwater and has lived there for several years.
6.3 Ashwater Shop/Post Office: As above.
6.4 Parish Plan and Planning Workshop Thursday 15 October 2009: Sheila and Trevor attending. LL and SF said that they would try to attend. SF said that he would look into the settlement survey received. SM said that she will contact Betty Batt and ask her for all the paperwork that had been received.
6.5 Developing Community Assets: Action Learning Seminar 19 November 2009 - passed to PJ.
6.6
: The filing cabinets in village hall need to be cleared out and LL will empty and dispose of them.
6.7 Benches on the villages: No action taken until the weather improves.
6.8: There are pot holes in Barn Park and foot paths leading up to the area are breaking up. PM said that he would look into. This is a health and safety issue as there are old people living there.
6.9 Ashwater Website: TDC are setting up a hosting for a growing number of parish sites. Passed to AB.
6.10 South West Planning: Map and notice put on notice board as mentioned last month.
6.11 Parish Lengthsman Service: In Ashwater from 26 to 30 October 2009.
6.12 Food Caddies: Road show in Ashwater on 20 October between 11.30 to 2.00 pm - insufficient notice was given to be able to place in newsletter, however the parish councillors did manage to put out as many posters as possible.
6.13 Rural Service Network membership: Noted.
6.14 Pay and Display - Holsworthy: A letter has been received and it was agreed that the parish council would write a letter stating that they did not agree with the scheme being implemented. A note will be placed in the newsletter.
6.15 SW Love Food Hate Waste Campaign: Noted.
6.16 Devon In Touch: Article regarding access to healthcare in rural areas - a note will placed in the newsletter.
6.17 Discount purchasing schemes available which might be useful for the new parish hall: Passed to LL.
6.18 Publications Received

The meeting closed at 9.10 p.m.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 11 November 2009.

Minutes 10/09

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