Draft Minutes subject to
Confirmation
LYDFORD PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES
OF THE MEETING
Held
in the Nicholls Hall on Tuesday 17th March 2009
27-2009 Present:
Ms L Ellicott (Chairman): Ms J Gannon
(Vice-Chairman); Mrs L Cole: Mrs S Holland: Mrs K Boyd
Ms C Moriarty: Mrs A Martin (Clerk)
Cllr I McPhie (WDBC)
Parishioners and others in attendance: Eight members of the public were in
attendance, along with PCSO Chapple.
28-2009
Apologies for Absence:
Cllr A Hosking (health) and Mr I Hammerton (working
late) were accepted.
29-2009 Declaration
of Interests:
It was recorded that Ms Gannon was updating her
Register of Interests.
Ms Ellicott reiterated that the Monitoring Officer
had again confirmed that as she no longer sits on the Parish Plan Steering
Committee it should not appear on the current register of interests. The Monitoring Officer had stressed that
this is by application of the Rules and is not a subjective decision made by
her.
30-2009 Parishioners
and Visitors Time:
30.1 With the agreement of the parishioners present
the Chairman allowed PCSO Chapple to have the first visitor’s slot at the
meeting so that he could resume other duties without delay. PCSO Chapple had nothing to report specific
to Lydford. He was asked about the new noise meters, of which seven are just
coming into service with our local police force, and informed the meeting that
these would be used by motorcycle officers, who would visit a wide variety of
locations. There was concern about the
noise of some motorbikes on the A386, the noise from which reverberates around
the village at some distance from the main road.
There have recently been some speed checks
operating in the general area.
Having given his report PCSO
Chapple left the meeting to resume his patrol duties.
30.2 A parishioner questioned the validity of an
item in the previous minutes. There
was, however, a majority decision among members that the item was not incorrect
or misleading, and should remain unaltered.
30.3 On
behalf of a parishioner the Chairman had received a query regarding the
procedures used by the DNPA planning office.
The parishioner will write to the DNPA regarding the queries, and the
Parish Council will add a letter of support.
30-2009 To
approve the minutes of the previous meeting:
The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 17th
February 2009 were signed by the Chairman as
a true and accurate record.
31-2009 Matters
Arising:
31.1 Highways, Parking and
Traffic Issues:
The Council had received notification that the
Safety Audit on the A386 had been carried out and that the results will be
notified to us within the next month.
It was noted that although the Police have an advisory role in road
safety the ultimate decision rests with highways.
31.2 Parish Plan update – Ms Gannon reported that a partial set
of initial results had been received, but that the individual comments had not
yet been anonymised for return to the Committee for analysis. It was agreed that the results would not be
published until complete, as partial results could be misleading.
31.3 Ancient Spring and
Opening Ceremony – The Opening Ceremony took place as planned and was well
attended, with approximately 100 people present. Very positive feedback about
the newly reopened Spring from parishioners had been received.
The final contractor’s invoice was yet to be. Once the VAT has been reclaimed there will
be a maintenance budget. The Chairman reported that letters of thanks had been
sent out, but that she would like to reiterate her thanks to Mr John Pettitt
RIBA, the project manager, who was present at the meeting. He has volunteered to continue managing the
ongoing maintenance. He is still
working on a detailed maintenance plan, and anticipates that the grass will
require cutting four times a year, and that the main maintenance demands will
come in the Autumn. The Lydford
Wildlife Group will continue their assistance.
31.4 Progress re:
Emergency Plan – No further volunteers had come forward. It was, however, good to note that the plan
has a doctor and practicing nurse signed up.
Mr Hammerton and Mrs Boyd will meet to consider how to proceed.
31.5 Beating of the Bounds
– The event is
scheduled for 16th May, with options to join at the start, or for a
less strenuous experience, to join at Watervale for the last couple of miles,
finishing at the Waterfall end of Lydford Gorge, where the National Trust will provide
refreshments. Neighbouring parishes
will be invited to send representatives.
Certificates will be awarded to all participants, and those under 16
years old on the day will additionally receive a £2 coin in accordance with
longstanding traditions. Three
volunteers have enabled the Council to ensure that the walk has a leader, a
backmarker and a “middle man”, especially important during the exposed high
moor section. The Dartmoor Rescue group
and DNPA Ranger have been informed of the event.
31.6 Community Land Trust
Update Ms Gannon has a forthcoming meeting arranged
with a mentor, to give the council a better idea of how the CLT operates.
31.7 Granite Way The “No Horses” sign has not been reinstated
yet. Highways have also agreed to renew
the disabled sign on the parking space at the request of a parishioner who had
noticed that it had become too faint to be seen.
The Council expects to be updated regarding the
missing link as soon as there are further developments.
31.8 Footpaths / Rights of Way
The Chairman clarified the Council’s position, as there had been some
misunderstanding by parishioners. The
Council has given its support to the gathering of evidence, as requested by
DCC, and also because to withhold such support could be construed as supporting
the suppression of evidence. The
Council takes a neutral stance on the actual issue, recognising that some
parishioners will be in favour and some against the proposals. The Clerk reminded the meeting that the
procedure follows set rules, and is not based on a subjective decision by a DCC
officer, but on evidence received.
Some parishioners had expressed a wish to submit
their evidence directly to Devon County Council and the contact details will be
put in the Parish Magazine. Evidence
forms can also be accessed via the DCC website for those with internet access.
32-2009 Receive Reports from Councillors on
respective outside bodies:
32.1 DNPA Consultative Forum No meeting this month.
32.2 Police Authority Mrs Holland and Ms Moriarty had been to a meeting in Okehampton,
at which they felt that too much time was taken up with local-specific
issues. They had, however, learned that
18 officers have been released onto the beat in the Authority’s area, and of
these 2 will patrol in Okehampton and 1 in Tavistock. They had also received information on the new Noise meters, as
referred to in item 30.1.
32.3 Southern Parishes
Link Committee The next meeting will be held on Thursday,
but Mrs Boyd is unable to attend. No
other councillors were available.
32.4 Nicholls Hall
Committee The March Bistro Nite raised £200. There will be no Bistro Nite in April.
32.5 WDBC Cllr McPhie expressed her disappointment that the
“No Horses” sign had not yet been reinstated, and will follow the issue up
again. She reported that the new Waste
Management arrangements are progressing with the contract having been split
into separate components to encourage small local contractors who may specialise
in one component only.
33-2009 Finance:
33.1 The Clerk apologised that there was an error in the
“previous year’s figures” included with
the budget statement. She had inadvertently used the figure from the
previous year instead of the current
year, which becomes the previous year to next year’s budget. The precept has actually dropped by £200 from
£6350 to £6150. It was thought that no parishioners
would mind that the precept had dropped rather than staying the same as stated.
33.2 The Local Government Officers pay award for
2008/09 has finally been settled and the Clerk has amended her salary
accordingly, with a backdated increase of a further 0.3%. This amounted to less than £10 in total for
the year.
33.3
Invoices for John Pengelly (item 31.3) and the Nicholls Hall (for the
year’s scheduled meetings) have yet to be received and should, if possible, be
paid from the current year’s budget.
The Clerk therefore requested prior authorisation to pay these invoices
as soon as they are received, and this was given.
33.4 The following balances were reported:
Current account – £1298.49
Deposit account - £5677.80
Parish Plan - £1204.23
Ancient Spring - £1880.71
The following cheques were authorised from the
general budget: Clerk salary &
expenses £276.54: HMRC £56.45: Mainly
Stationery (Spring) £6.00, L Ellicott (Spring) £17.37, Nicholls Hall (Spring)
£25.00, S Holland (Spring) £20.00, Hepworth Workshops (Website) £10.00. Pre-authorisation was given for the final
Contractor’s invoice for the Spring, expected to total £1428.88 including VAT,
and the annual Nicholls Hall charge for regular meeting. A transfer from the Ancient Spring account
to the deposit account in respect of the above items was authorised, as was a
transfer of £2000.00 from the flexi account to the deposit account. As a number of invoices had been presented
after the Financial Statement was compiled on the morning of the meeting, the
Clerk stated that it would have to be updated before publication. The updated financial statement will be appended
to the minutes.
34-2009
Correspondence
34.1 Correspondence requiring action or decision:
1. Letters to the Chairman from a
parishioner: The chairman had received
two letters, both unpleasantly abusive, from a parishioner.
The
first concerned the proposed sewage treatment works. A large bundle of correspondence had already been received from
this parishioner, and the council had on two occasions offered a minuted
meeting with representatives of the Parish Council and an independent “honest
broker”, possibly Cllr McPhie if available, in attendance, to address any
outstanding queries. Both offers had
been turned down. The Council
considered that the questions posed had largely been already answered, some by
SWW, and others by the refusal of landowners on both proposed sites near the
viaduct having refused to sell.
The
second letter concerned one of the proposed new bridleways, and had been
written referring to the February meeting before the minutes were published.
It
was decided that the Vice-Chairman would respond on behalf of the Council. The option of returning the correspondence
as abusive would not be exercised on this occasion in a spirit of conciliation.
In
future parishioners will be asked, when using e-mail, to use only the communal
e-mail address of all councillors, which is alllydfordcouncillors@hotmail.co.uk,
and to which all councillors have access via password protection.
34.2 Correspondence for Information Only
1. WDBC Standards Committee Agenda and Minutes Update on Local Govt Review
2. WDBC Meeting schedule
3 DCC re Commons in the Parish of Chagford
4 Calor Village of the Year entry form
5 Village Green magazine
6 DAPC Newsletter
7 WDBC February newsletter inc info on the Barn Owl Trust
8 Letter from Devon Highways re: Granite Way
9 DNPA Agenda and Reports
10 RD&E newsletter
11 Leaflets about Devon Highways
12 Sustainable Communities Act Public Meeting in Exeter
13 Letter from Devon Highways re: A386 Safety Audit
14 Notification of the 3 new members of the DAPC committee, including Ms Gannon from Lydford.
15 Information from the Dogs Trust, which rehomes dogs whose Owner has died. Other organisations also perform this service, some taking cats and other pets as well, but the Clerk will order a free leaflet dispenser for interested parishioners.
35-2009
Planning Applications
35.1 Decisions
Received
None
this month.
35.2 Applications for decision by the
Council:
35.2.1 Application for listed building
consent at Town Farm
This
application only required consent because it is a listed building and the
original materials are no longer available, having been superceded by superior
materials. The application was not
regarded as contentious in any way and the council response is:
The council SUPPORTS this application.
35.2.2
Application for a further amendment at Lot Cottage (former builder’s
office)
The
application was regarding a bathroom extension which has been constructed at
the rear of the cottage. There will be
no visual impact once the work is complete, and the only issues were building
regulations rather than planning. The
Council’s response is:
The Council has NO OBJECTIONS to this
amendment as once completed it will have no visible impact.
The Council trusts that Building Regulations will be strictly adhered
to in the execution of the work.
36-2009 Items raised at the previous meeting for inclusion on this agenda:
The Council’s Website: this item was postponed until the next
meeting as Mr Hammerton was not
able to attend this meeting. In his
absence the Chairman reported that he had spent upwards of 25 – 30 hours working on the supplementary website
that should fulfill the new Freedom of Information
Requirements and that had this been carried out by a commercial contractor it would have cost the council a
considerable sum, probably in excess of
£1000. The
Chairman thanked Mr Hammerton in his absence, and noted that this might be construed as a gift to the council,
which should be declared. The Clerk
will check with the monitoring
officer.
37-2009 Items raised for inclusion on the next Agenda
There were none.
38-2009 To
agree the date of the next meeting:
The date of Tuesday 21st April 2009 was
agreed commencing at 7.00 pm.
The Annual
Parish Meeting will take place on Tuesday
7th April, also at 7.00 pm.
There being no
further business the meeting was formally closed by the Chairman at 8.35 pm.
Annie Martin
Clerk to the
Parish Council 19th
March 2008
Signed as a
true and accurate record……………………………………
(Chairman) Date……………….
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LYDFORD PARISH COUNCIL |
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FINANCIALSTATEMENT FEBRUARY 2009 |
|
ACCOUNT |
|
CURRENT |
FLEXI |
AN.SPR |
P PLAN |
TOTALS |
|
BALANCE
B/F |
20 Jan
09 |
1214.76 |
10662.74 |
|
|
11877.50 |
|
FLEXI AC
SPLIT BALANCE |
|
|
5953.90 |
3,504.61 |
1204.23 |
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RECEIPTS |
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TRANSFER |
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Spring
planting |
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|
103.90 |
-103.90 |
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|
Spring
information board |
|
|
1495.00 |
-1,495.00 |
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|
|
Admin |
|
|
25.00 |
-25.00 |
|
|
|
Transfer
to current a/c |
|
2000.00 |
-2000.00 |
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PAYMENTS |
CHQ NO: |
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|
Clerk -
A Martin (November) |
856 |
-246.42 |
|
|
|
-246.42 |
|
HMRC
(via Post Office Ltd) |
857 |
-55.26 |
|
|
|
-55.26 |
|
Mole
Avon (Spring planting) |
858 |
-104.19 |
|
|
|
-104.19 |
|
Mrs
Holland (xmas tree decs) |
859 |
-5.40 |
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|
|
-5.40 |
|
Mrs Cole
(tree lights) |
860 |
-10.00 |
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|
-10.00 |
|
Bivouac
(spring info board) |
861 |
-1495.00 |
|
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|
-1495.00 |
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FLEXI AC
SPLIT TOTALS |
|
|
5577.80 |
1,880.71 |
1204.23 |
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CLOSING
BALANCE |
17 Feb
09 |
1298.49 |
8662.74 |
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|
9961.23 |
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NOTES: |
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PROVISIONS: |
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PRECEPT: |
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Ancient
Spring |
£1,880.71 |
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|
Elections |
£500.00 |
|
Payments
made 14th April |
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||
|
Parish
Plan |
£1,204.23 |
|
plus
Burial Grant £84 |
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Grant
availability |
£170.00 |
|
£3,259.00 |
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Payments
made 18th September |
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£3,175.00 |
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BUDGET ANALYSIS for 2008/9 |
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Current Year |
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Next year's |
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Budget |
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CATEGORY |
Yr to Date |
FullYear proj |
BUDGET |
|
2009/10 |
|
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|
INCOME |
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|||||||
|
Grass cutting DCC |
140 |
140 |
136 |
|
140 |
|
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|
Spring admin |
165 |
180 |
45 |
|
0 |
|
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|
Interest |
|
110 |
110 |
0 |
|
20 |
|
|||||||
|
Burial grant |
84 |
84 |
84 |
|
84 |
|
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|
VAT recovered |
670 |
670 |
200 |
|
200 |
|
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Precept |
|
6350 |
6350 |
6350 |
|
6150 |
|
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Total |
|
|
7534 |
6815 |
|
6594 |
|
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PAYMENTS |
|
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|
|
|
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|
Room Hire |
10 |
100 |
100 |
|
120 |
|
||||||||
|
Grass Cutting |
153 |
153 |
150 |
|
153 |
|
||||||||
|
Clerk (salary + SLCC) |
3093 |
3399 |
3400 |
|
3550 |
|
||||||||
|
Clerk fixed exps |
275 |
300 |
300 |
|
360 |
|
||||||||
|
Equipment |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
|
||||||||
|
Stationery |
|
71 |
100 |
100 |
|
100 |
|
|||||||
|
Postage |
|
21 |
30 |
60 |
|
50 |
|
|||||||
|
Audit fee External |
175 |
175 |
200 |
|
175 |
|
||||||||
|
Audit fee Internal |
30 |
30 |
30 |
|
40 |
|
||||||||
|
Gen Admin |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
|
||||||||
|
Insurance |
|
421 |
421 |
425 |
|
450 |
|
|||||||
|
S137 |
|
50 |
50 |
100 |
|
100 |
|
|||||||
|
Training |
|
48 |
100 |
100 |
|
150 |
|
|||||||
|
Elections |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
200 |
|
|||||||
|
DAPC |
|
65 |
65 |
75 |
|
76 |
|
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|
Bounds |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
200 |
|
|||||||
|
Capt Hunter |
245 |
245 |
0 |
|
0 |
|
||||||||
|
Parish Plan |
0 |
250 |
250 |
|
0 |
|
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|
Mileage |
|
151 |
180 |
120 |
|
200 |
|
|||||||
|
Toilets |
|
0 |
0 |
700 |
|
0 |
|
|||||||
|
Web Site |
|
10 |
160 |
150 |
|
180 |
|
|||||||
|
Contingency |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
250 |
|
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Totals |
|
|
5758 |
6260 |
|
6354 |
|
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Grants |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
Available |
|
|
|
170 |
|
190 |
|
|||||||
|
CAB |
|
|
50 |
50 |
|
50 |
|
|||||||
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Total |
|
|
|
220 |
|
240 |
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
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Total |
|
|
|
6480 |
|
6594 |
|
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