HOLNE PARISH COUNCIL
The Regular Monthly Meeting of Holne Parish Council will be held on Wednesday 5 October 2005 in Holne Village Hall
The Meeting will begin after both the public forum at 7:30 pm and brief reports from county and district councillors
AGENDA- Apologies for absence
- To consider, amend as agreed by the Council and approve the minutes of the meetings of 7 & 20 July, 3 August and 7 September
- To co-opt a member of the Parish Council to fill the casual vacancy. Three applications have now been received, from Mr P Arrowsmith, Mr C Jones and Mrs P Melville.
- Planning matters including any applications received in time for the meeting: none to date
- To discuss the Council's response to a letter from Brian Beasley with notification of a request to reduce longer lateral branches by 2m, lift canopy by 1m and remove smaller of any two crossing branches on semi-mature beech, currently protected by a TPO, in the grounds of Churchway Cottage.
- To hear the Clerk's financial report & to approve the following payments:
a) District Audit for 2004/5 Audit (inc £8.75 VAT) £58.75
b) Mrs J M Radford salary July-September incl £200.00
c) Mrs J M Radford expenses for the same period:
Mileage to housing committee meetings £2.00,
Telephone- £14.83 (inc £2.20 VAT),
Internet Access @ £5 per month June/July,
£10 per month August - £20, Stationery £5.20 ) £42.03
- To hear a report from the Housing Needs Committee and to discuss any resolutions resulting from this: A request to the Parish Ccouncil to respond to the letter from Tor Homes.
A request that the Council to write to BWPC as to its intentions. To resolve that the Council should pay for the hire of the hall for Committee Meetings, and other expenses (this is self evident as the committee is an advisory committee of the Council)
- To discuss whether the Parish Council wishes to initiate the creation of a village design statement.
- To discuss the problems being faced by parishioners trying to access Broadband.
- To discuss suggestions by Mik Wells, who manages the Holne website, for innovations to it (copy of his e-mail on this subject included below)
- To discuss the Council's response to correspondence on the Sustainable Communities Campaign
- Clerk's or Councillors' reports on matters authorised by the Council at previous meetings not otherwise on this Agenda: Holne Leat repairs, Leat signs, Cattle grid.
- To discuss a request from a parishioner for an information board at Stoke turn.
- Correspondence not otherwise listed on this Agenda for information or inclusion in the Agenda of the next meeting: DCC Rights of Way Improvement Plan; West Devon Local Development Framework - Community Involvement; Community Council of Devon AGM 19 October
- Chairman's Urgent Business Items for action by the Clerk if covered by delegated powers or for inclusion on the Agenda of the next meeting
All Members are summoned to attend Joanna Radford, Clerk
Mik Wells' Statement on Holne Website
…It is clear that the Holne website is lacking a defined update policy. As of now, I can imagine two workable options:
Option 1: Mandated Editor
Under this scenario, the parishners elect an official editor who has responsibility for the site's content. The elected editor would be a delegate who answers to the public and acts within a given mandate. The mandate is important as it allows the editor to change the site without needing approval for every change. It also ensures that the editor acts within the will of the public (unlike what happens at the Houses of Parliament!) Every now and again the mandate will need amending. Anybody should be able to propose amendments to the mandate. By anybody I really do mean anybody - there should be no geographical restrictions. However, only parishners would be able to vote on proposed amendments. If the editor acts outside of the mandate then remedies need to be swift and hassle-free.
Option 2: Collaborative Editing
A much better approach would be to set up a Wiki . This would allow anybody with an account to change the site content from within their internet browser. People who wanted an account would request one via the website. Account holders need not live within the parish borders. There would be no reason to refuse an account to somebody with local connections. Accounts can be suspended if the account holder abuses the trust given to him/her and/or defaces the site or adds offensive content. This has been shown to work in pratice very well. Were I a Holne parishner, this option is the one I would propose and campaign for.
PS: I fully realise that I myself do not hold the role of "website editor" and this is why I have kept my changes to a minimum. I have made sure that any items that go on the links page (which is the only page I have added content to) are balanced, informative and relevant to local affairs. The only other change I have made is to add a search feature to the main page so that users can easily search the site via Google. However, this does not count as hard content as it is only a tool which allows the public to easily search through existing content.
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