Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 7 September 2005 in Holne Village Hall
Present: Cllrs Richard Copus, John Iles(Chairman), Cynthia Irish, Belinda Owen,
Clerk: Joanna Radford
Members of the Public: Mrs Margaret Phipps, Widecombe Parish Council, Mr R Cunningham, Communiyt Council of Devon, District Cllr Ramsay, Mr M French, DNPA and twelve parishioners.
Public Forum : Mrs Phipps spoke about the experience of Widecombe in achieving the building of affordable homes for local people, stressing that the applicants for these had to have registered with the local housing authority, but that Widecombe Parish Council had had the final say in picking successful applicants. It had taken the Parish Council fifteen years to complete their project, and they had had the support of the District Council in this, so had not been involved at all in the funding of it as this had been done by the District Council and the Housing Assocation. Hastoe Housing Association had been excellent to work with. The houses had in the end been built in an area not at first considered by the Parish but the only site approved by DNPA. They were now considering putting up further houses. She asked questions as to how far down the road Holne was in its project, and answered questions from councillors and parishioners.
Mr Cunningham then made a presentation of the creation of a Village Design Statement. He left with the Council literature on how this could be done with the help of the Community Council of Devon and stressed that the purpose of the exercise was to set out how the community wished its Parish to look, and did not include other matters that might have been dealt with in the recent Parish Appraisal. The public forum recommended that discussion of whether or not the community wished to undertake a village design statement should be on the next Agenda of the Parish Council, views for and against being made in discussion here with a proposal that the parish ask that the definition of "sustainability" be changed to take account of vibrant and active communities such as Holne's.
Mrs Rosemary Mudge spoke in support of her son's application at Gallant le Bower. Mrs Gray asked the Council to comment to the Highways Authority on the projected work on A38 in relation to lethal access on to it from and to Rattery. Mr and Mrs Cunniam told the meeting that they wished to retire from running Neighbourhood Watch and hoped that successors could be found by November 2005. Mr Hill-Smith spoke in support of his planning application. Miss Roberts asked the Council to discuss an item to recommend that holiday accommodation in the parish be turned into full-time accommodation.
Mr French made a brief report on changes in procedure with planning applications at DNPA, and that he had tried, unsuccessfully, to seek a site meeting at the site next to the new village shop. District Cllr Ramsay had provided a written report which gave notice of a new source of community funding "Community Grant Scheme" at South Hams District Council. Councillors were given copies of this.
0509.01 Apologies for Absence were accepted from Cllrs Maddicks and Simpson as well as County Cllr Pennington.
0509.02 Minutes of the meetings of 7 & 20 July and of 3 August No quorum for approval was present, so this was delayed until the next meeting.
0509.03 Planning Matters
- 0611/05 Conversion of existing barn to ancillary and holiday accommodation at Seale Stoke, Holne for Mr & Mrs C Hill-Smith: Cllr Owen proposed on behalf of the Planning committee that the Council recommend approval of the proposal which provided good use of a building that could no longer fulfill the functions as an agricultural building and where the proposed development was a sympathetic design with a use that would support the farming enterprise at Seale Stoke. Agreed
- 0667/05 Outline Planning Application for erection of an agricultural dwelling at Gallant le Bower Farm for Mr & Mrs D Mudge: Cllr Copus declared a personal interest as a near neighbour and abstained from voting on the matter. The meeting closed for Mr D Mudge to describe the application as being no different from the previous, withdrawn, application. Agreed to recommend approval.
The following planning decisions were reported:
- 0453/05 Conditional approval of construction of two-storey dwelling with parking at land adjoining Leat Cottage, details of which to be posted on the notice board.
- 0463/05 Conditional approval of carport with bedroom over at Sylvana (materials to match existing, rooflight and flue pipe details)
- 0508/05 Conditional approval of single storey lounge extension at Riversmead (materials to match existing unless otherwise agreed in writing).
- 0542/05 conditional approval (timberwork to be stained dark brown or black)
0509.04 Accounts for the Month the clerk reported that District Audit had approved the annual return for the year ended 31 March 2005 and would post on the notice board the required notice. The following payment was approved:
Holne Village Hall Management Committee £22.50
0509.05 C o-option of New Councillor Two applications had been received, from Mrs Pam Melville of Middle Stoke and from Mr Colin Jones of Priddons. He was unable through work commitments to be at this meeting, but had written a brief manifesto. Mrs Melvilled answered questions from those parish councillors present, telling the meeting she had lived in the Parish since the 1970s, farming at Middle Stoke and training race horses. After discussion the Council decided to defer a decision on co-option until there were more councillors present.
0509.06 Housing Needs Committee The papers relating to this were handed to Mrs Gill Gray by the Clerk who indicated that she did not wish to be involved in the work of the Committee except where it was of direct concern to the Parish Council. It was noted that the recent minutes of Buckfastleigh West Parish Council showed that Council supports the aims of the Committee and it is understood that representatives will attend the next Housing Needs Committee. There were no other matters to concern the Council for the time being.
0509.07 Venford Reservoir Work The Clerk reported that Mr Gray's report had been sent to both organisations concerned, and she had heard from South West Water that it was undertaking its own and the repair work for South West Lakes Trust and had instructed a contractor. The meeting closed for Mr Gray to report that nothing had been done yet, and to recommend that SWWater be asked to close the gate as the cattle grid was not working.
0509.08 Tree Overhanging Cattle Grid Devon Highways had responded that the tree was not too unstable and that they were trying to ascertain its ownership before any more action.
0509.09 Meeting at New Bridge a report on this by Mr Tom Greeves of the Dartmoor Society had been circulated and was read out. The positive response by those involved was welcomed.
0509.10 Campaign for Sustainable Communities correspondence was reported and would be on the next Agenda.
0509.11 Moorland Cattle Grid needed attention.
0509.12 Matters Oustanding Leat Repairs outside the Church House Inn, Leat signs: The Clerk to chase these.
0509.13 Broadband Access would be on the next Agenda, as parishioners had discovered that BT has no spare capacity to upgrade DACS (split line) connections as had been promised.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9:15 pm. The next meeting of the Parish Council is on Wednesday 5 October at 7:30 pm.
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