Draft Minutes subject to confirmation

 

 

MARY TAVY PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Held in the Reading Rooms

Tuesday 18th January 2010

 

Present:

Cllr T Pearce (Chairman) (WDBC), Cllr M Anning, Cllr C Downham,

Cllr G Hill, Cllr A Prosser, Cllr M Robins, Cllr M Roe(7)

N Cullen (Clerk)

Others Present:

Christine Marsh (DCC), PCSO Dave Chapple

Apologies for absence:

Cllr Street, Cllr Elton

1-2010 Parishioners Time: no members of the public present.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.30pm.

2- 2010 Declarations of Interest:

Cllr Roe, Cllr Robins & Cllr Hill declared a personal interest in the letter from the Mary Tavy Commoners. It was suggested by the chairman that perhaps Cllr Hill & Cllr Anning may have a prejudicial interest in a matter concerning Mary Tavy Common.

3-2010 Minutes of the previous meeting held 8th December 2009.

2 amendments to the minutes of the closed session

1 - Cllr Prosser seconded a proposal instead of Cllr Robins – 197-2009

2 – the vote numbers recorded did not tally with the number of councillors present at 197-2009.

Cllr Roe proposed to accept the amended minutes and this was seconded by Cllr Anning. A unanimous vote in favour followed. The minutes were duly signed by the Chairman as a true and accurate record.

4-2010 Matters arising:

4.1 To Ratify Decisions made in Part II of the meeting held on Tuesday the 8th of December -

The newly appointed clerk Mrs Nancy Cullen will be employed for an initial 3 month trial period starting 7th December 2009 on the salary scale agreed in the closed meeting. Salary will then be reviewed at the end of this period.

There will be an increase in the precept to provide a contingency of £500. Concerns were raised about the percentage increase in the precept, but it was felt that the actual monetary amount was small in comparison to the Community Charge as a whole. A vote followed with 5 in favour, 3 against and 1 abstention. The amendment was carried.  The revised precept figure will now be £12,670.

It was unanimously agreed to ratify the above decisions.

4.2 Website – Mr Rogers gave a presentation to the Parish Council about the process of transferring ownership of the website, the cost of a website update and running costs, how he envisages managing the website and the scope for future development of the site. Mr Rogers suggested that the clerk be the point of contact for information to go on the website.

Cllr Prosser proposed that the clerk should start the process of updating the website with Mr Rogers – seconded by Cllr Hill.

Cllr Roe proposed that the Parish Council pay the £10.00 cost of the certificate required to transfer ownership of the website – seconded Cllr Robins

Cllr Roe proposed that the Parish Council agree to pay Mr Rogers £300.00 to update the website and a further £100.00 per year thereafter to administer the website – seconded Cllr Robins.

All the above decisions were unanimously agreed.

Action:clerk to contact Mr Rogers and begin the process of updating the website.

4.3 - Standing Order Update – It was agreed to update the standing orders to include a paragraph regarding the grant application process. It was felt that the process needed to be formalised to aid applicants and avoid confusion. Action:clerk to investigate suitable wording for such an inclusion and present at the next meeting. It was also agreed that the standing orders needed to include a paragraph stating that the Parish Council accept email as a method of delivering minutes and agendas. This follows advice in the most recent DAPC newsletter.

5 -2010 Police – Community Beat Manager

             5.1 – PCSO Dave Chapple delivered a report on recent crimes in the area. There had been 1 assault reported, 2 vehicles had been broken into after having been left on the roadside due to weather conditions, 1 incident of affray, 2 lost motorists(during bad weather) and a deer had been hit by a vehicle. Mr Chapple reassured the council that the assault was a domestic issue between people known to each other and that the alleged affray was later found to have been misreported.

6–2010 Community Plan – Councillors were invited by the chair to raise items from the community 

            plan that they considered needed attention. Members put forward their choices that they considered were important to the village.

Action:It was decided to include this item on the agenda at the next meeting for further discussion because of time constrains at this meeting..

7-2010 Boundary Review – Due to the postponement of the January meeting the date to reply to the

            letter regarding further comment on the boundary proposals had passed.

8-2010Highways provision of salt and grit – Cllr Hill expressed concerns about the lack of gritting

              on roads during the recent bad weather. Cllr Robins felt that there was a need for highways to 

              provide more salt bins/bags for dealing with particular areas on minor roads. Cllr Robins

              volunteered to write an article about salt and grit provision for the newsletter. Cllr Pearce

              expressed satisfaction about the general provision of salt by highways in the village following

              his request to highways him early December for the salt bins to be refilled..

Action:clerk to write to highways requesting the possibility of further provision of salt bags for specific stretches of road that become impassable during bad weather.

9-2010 Correspndence 

 1)Commoners letter – concerns were raised about water drainage from Mary Tavy Common and the possible causes of this problem. Cllr Pearce proposed that the Parish Council write to the Commoners Association to request a site visit to discuss drainage issues. It was suggested that South West Water and the adjacent landowners also be invited to the meeting. This proposal was seconded by Cllr Prosser. A vote of 6 in favour followed with 1 abstention. Carried

2)West Devon Community and Voluntary Services Action:clerk to invite Mrs Wolstenholme to next meeting.

3)Fairer Funding for Schools Action:clerk to inform parishioners of campaign in community newsletter

4)Mayoral Awards Invitation – nominations to be considered at next meeting

5)Highways reply to request for extension of speed limit – Council were not satisfied with highways reply. Action:clerk to contact highways again and ask them to reconsider the extension proposal at 40mph rather than 30mph.

6)Community Safety event

7)Audit Commission

8)Southern Parishes Link Committee Minutes

9)DAPC newsletter

10)Standards Committee Agenda

11)Christmas Cards from Mayor of West Devon

12)TDLTP reply to funding offer

13)Email from County Marketing Co-ordinator

10-2010 Financial Report

               10.1 Receive report from the Responsible Financial Officer–The financial report detailing the following balances was circulated:

               Current account - £6561.25

               Cemetery account - £5792.82

                Mary Tavy Community News - £113.60

               10.2 To authorise payments for January – The following payments were authorised proposed Cllr Pearce, seconded Cllr Downham: Ottery press £120, C.Williams expenses £3.60, N. Cullen mileage/expenses £87.00, N.Cullen December Salary, SLCC membership renewal £95.00.

11-2010 Cemetery Report:

The notice prepared for the Cemetery regarding removal of any loose items that could damage the grass cutting equipment or caretaker has been displayed. There has been a burial at K7 on a pre-purchased plot.

12-2010 Receive reports from members elected to outside bodies:

12.1 DNPA Forum – none

12.2 Police Authority – none.

12.3 Southern Link –none

12.4Coronation Hall – Cllr Downham reported that the hall had suffered from frozen pipes during the bad weather, but that the damaged had been repaired.

12.5Development Control Meeting of the DNPA - Cllr Pearce reported that he also had attended the full authority meeting of the DNPA, which followed the development control meeting held on the 4th of Dec 2009. This was with regard to the issue of the retention of the red telephone boxes. He was pleased to report that the DNPA are backing MTPC call for the retention of the phone boxes with suitable telephony equipment.

13-2010 To discuss planning applications received – The Planning Committee meeting was held on 7th January to discuss the following applications:

13.1 Midlands Barn  - two storey extension to existing dwelling. No objections

13.2 Old Rectory – conversion of former coach house to form holiday accommodation. No objections.

13.3 Cholwell Barn  - variation of condition 2 (0080-06). No objections

13.4 Land to the rear of the PO – erection of dwelling. Strong objections. This application had been submitted by the previous owners of Wheal Hope House.

13.5 Cllr Pearce proposed that the clerk attend the next DNPA meeting on 4th Feb 2010 – seconded Cllr Robins. Unanimously agreed.

14-2010 To receive notification on previous applications: None

 

15-2010 To agree items raised at the November meeting for inclusion on this agenda: None.

16-2010 To receive items raised for inclusion on February agenda:

            16.1 Emergency Plan

            16.2 Community Plan

            16.3 Mary Tavy Footpath

            16.4 Date for annual litter pick up

            16.5 Standing Orders

17-2010 To agree the date of the next meeting:

The date of Tuesday 9th Febuary 2010 was agreed for the next meeting of the Parish Council to commence at 7.30pm to be held in the Reading Rooms. The date for the Annual Parish Meeting will be on Monday 19th of April, Coronation Hall, Mary Tavy.

 

There being no further business the meeting was formally closed by the Chairman at 10pm

 

N Cullen

Clerk to the Parish Council                                                                                      21st January 2010

 

Signed as a true and accurate record ……………………….. Date ………………………

                                                     (Cllr T Pearce – Chairman)

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