Holne Parish Council
Draft minutes of the Parish Council Meeting
on 2nd March 2010
in Holne Village Hall at 8.00pm
The meeting commenced at 8.00pm.
Present: Councillors Simpson (Chairman), Owen (Vice Chairman) and Powell.
In attendance: District Cllr Jones, County Cllr Pennington
Clerk: Suzanna Hughes
Members of the Public: 3
OPEN FORUM
Chairman
Following an observation made by a parishioner, the Chairman suggested that if members of the public were unable to hear clearly what members of the Council were saying, they should signal to alert members to the problem.
She announced on behalf of Mike Barkas, who was unable to attend, that a meeting had been arranged in the Village Hall about Holne Fete 2010 in an effort to drum up support.
Mike Mudge
Questioned why parishioners are not trimming their hedges, referring particularly to the hedge by the crossroads. The Chairman advised that the Parish Council had written to the owner. However, as there appeared to have been no action taken, it was agreed to write again.
Keith Evans
Asked to step down from auditing the Parish Council accounts.
Michael French
Commented that everyone is obliged to keep their own hedges trimmed. There appears to be a fashion for long hedges but in his opinion hedges should be trimmed down. He advised members that Ms Harrison would have liked a personal visit from a member of the PC rather than a letter. The Chairman suggested that if anyone knows of a hedge which is dangerous and requires trimming, the Parish Council is happy to contact the owners to remind them of their responsibility. She suggested that the clerk could write if he was able to give her a list of overgrown hedges. Cllr Owen advised that DEFRA is encouraging 2 year cutting to encourage growth of berries etc. She is aware of a hedge which needs cutting and would give the clerk the relevant details.
Mr French suggested that those who have been attempting to clear the Holne Town Gutter for the benefit of the parish should be congratulated.
Cllr Colin Jones
SHDC budget has been set with a 2.9% increase on last year. This means that the District Council’s portion for a band D property will be £135. The County Council has increased its budget by 1.9%, the police 4.9% and fire 3.5%. Interesting to look at the different parishes and how much they pay for a Band D property. These figures are available online. To summarise, however, the figures illustrate that the smaller the population, the more each pays for its services. A casualty in keeping the budget down is the Community Grants Fund. Whilst he fought hard to keep the £30,000 in the budget, Cllr Jones was outvoted. This, again, will impact more on the rural areas.
Cllr Jones reported that he had recently attended a Public Spaces working group at which play areas and community facilities were discussed. He proposed that if there is no cash to help parishes manage their play areas then the District Council should at least be able to give advice, help and technical guidance. At this stage, he received a non-committal response from the District Council.
Continuing with the new arrangements for the management of the play areas, he asked a formal question in Council to establish how much money had been raised from the local councils towards the maintenance arrangements. It appears that the Parishes have given £100 (although they were given little choice) but refused to answer the question as to how much money District Council owned parks have given. It could be implied that there had been none.
Attended an Environment Policy Group at which dog control orders were discussed. The officers were proposing a dog control order that would cover all public spaces in the district. It would therefore become an offence for a dog to foul anywhere without picking it up and taking it away. Cllr Jones considered this to be an unrealistic proposal. Other suggestions included a ‘dogs on leads’ service in the towns. He managed to throw out the paper and will be looking at more realistic proposals.
Cllr Jones advised members that he had sent an email to the County Council highlighting potholes in the parish.
Referring to the SHDC brochure, Cllr Owen commented on how much funding had been given by Playbuilder towards improving play areas in towns compared to the rural parishes.
Trevor Pennington
Local Government Review – reminded members that Exeter had been granted unitary status against the advice of the Boundary Committee. Devon has now requested a judicial review which may delay the process further. If there is a new government, then it might not even go ahead.
Devon County Council has finalised its budget with an increase of 1.89%, the lowest increase in 30 years.
There is £1 million additional finding for the remedial maintenance to roads, £250,000 support for flood prevention, an additional £1 million to roads emergency reserve and £20,000 further support for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) was discussed by the Development Management Committee. This will replace the County Councils’ Development Management in determining application for large infrastructures such as large trunk roads, power stations, pylon lines, wind farms etc. It will have CPO powers and will overrule Green Belt protection. There will be no rights of appeal, not even to the courts.
020310.01 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
- Cllrs Copus, Irish and Ross.
- Ross Gray
020310.02 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members are reminded of their responsibility to continually update their Notice of Registerable Interests and invited to state whether they have a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be discussed during this meeting.
None declared.
020310.03 RATIFICATION OF MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting dated 2nd February 2010 were approved by all present and duly signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
020310.04 PLANNING
- 0052/10 – Alterations to the roof to make a flat roof into a pitched tiled roof at Middle Leat, Holne
No objections subject to Cllr Owen visiting the site.
Concerns were raised about the delay in receiving some applications from the DNPA thus reducing the Parish Council’s consultation period. It was agreed that the clerk would raise this concern with the Park.
020310.05 FINANCE
(i) Payment of £143.75 to Project Cosmic for annual hosting of website was agreed.
(ii) The Chairman confirmed that a letter had been received from the Village Hall Committee responding to the Parish Council’s request for assistance in repaying the loan from the Public Works Loans Board. It states that under the Charity Deed for Holne Village Hall, any income received and is not needed for the immediate purposes of maintaining and repairing the Hall and its contents, the Committee is obliged to invest the said sums only for the use of the Charity. This means that the Village Hall Committee does not have any authority under the Deed to make donations or pass any funds to another organisation or third party.
- Account balances were noted:
Current account £1,037.34
Reserve account £3,539.68
020310.06 ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
The date of the Annual Parish Meeting was agreed as Wednesday 28 April 2010. The Chairman proposed that, following a positive meeting with him earlier in the month, the Parish Council invites Liam Reading, Affordable Housing Manager, South Hams District Council to speak at the Annual Parish meeting. This was agreed.
It was also agreed that the clerk would write to community groups inviting them to attend and give a short report to the meeting.
020310.07 MAINTENANCE OF BENCHES
The clerk advised members that Trevor Mills was unable to provide a quotation as he has recently had an operation and was now busy catching up on other work. Cllr Powell agreed to speak to Matt Powell to chase the additional quote.
020310.08 PLAYPARK
Cllr Powell reported that the Committee are still awaiting a response to their letter from the Holne Church Charity Trustees in respect of setting up a combined meeting.
The Chairman suspended standing orders to allow Keith Evans in the public to report that there is no question that the Trustees don’t want to talk and will be writing to confirm their agreement to meet with the Committee.
The Chairman advised that she had received a written quote for cutting the hedge at playpark but as yet had not received an invoice.
020310.09 HOLNE AND SCORITON HOUSING GROUP REPORT
The Chairman reported that the Group has had a presentation from Richard Hardy of Barley Manor Properties – a private developer – which they found useful. Last Thursday, some of the Group went to SHDC to discuss housing allocations. In particular, they spoke with Liam Reading about property allocations, S106 agreements etc. On 15 March a group is going to Cornwall to visit a Land Trust in operation. An article will be running in the Parish Link. The next meeting is scheduled for 17 March.
020310.10 POTHOLES AND HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE REPORTS AND OTHER HIGHWAYS ISSUES
Grit boxes have been sited at the bottom of Michelcombe and Carriage Drive. If any more are required members were advised to alert the clerk.
020310.11 CLERK’S OR COUNCILLOR’S REPORTS ON MATTERS AUTHORISED BY THE COUNCIL AT PREVIOUS MEETINGS NOT OTHERWISE ON THIS AGENDA
Nothing to report.
020310.12 CHAIRMAN’S URGENT BUSINESS FOR ACTION BY THE CLERK IF COVERED BY DELEGATED POWERS OR FOR INCLUSION ON THE AGENDA OF THE NEXT MEETING
The Chairman notified the Council that Cllr Powell had decided to resign as a councillor from the April meeting. This is due, in main, to her increasing family commitments. She still wishes, however, to be part of the Playpark Committee. The clerk will now start the process of co-opting a new member.
The Chairman advised members that new standing orders have now been released. They come in two parts – Part 1 is the official and legal part and costs £25 per copy. Part 2 are the actual orders which need to be personalised to Holne Parish Council. With the clerk’s agreement, the Chairman proposed that the cost of purchasing Part 1 be shared with the clerk’s other three Parish Councils. The cost would therefore be reduced to £6.25 per council. This was agreed.
020310.13 CORRESPONDENCE
The clerk notified councillors of relevant correspondence received during the month not otherwise dealt with above, including:
- Totnes and surrounding area parish cluster meeting – 26th May 2010
It was agreed that the clerk would notify Cllr Ross about the meeting. The Chairman confirmed that she would be unable to attend.
020310.14 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as being Tuesday 6th April 2010 at 8.00pm in Holne Village Hall.
Matters not requiring discussion and placed into the folder for circulation and perusal by Councillors and will include:
(Please ensure that you have informed the Clerk if any need attention at the next Parish Council meeting).
- Dartmoor Biodiversity Newsletter 2009/10
- South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – 50th Anniversary Photo Competition
- Energy Saving Trust – Green Communities
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