Minutes 4th November 2020
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting
held on Wednesday 4th November 2020
at 7.30pm via a Zoom virtual meeting
Present: Cllr R Tillett, Cllr W Honan, Cllr A Birmingham (Vice-Chairman) and Cllr Mrs E Hollingsworth and Cllr Mrs N Vickers
In Attendance: Carole Oliphant (Clerk), DCC Cllr Sara Randall Johnson, DCC Cllr Ray Bloxham, EDDC Cllr Fabian King and one member of the public
34/20 Apologies:
Cllr S Luxton
35/20 Declarations of interest
None at this stage of the meeting
36/20 Minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 2nd September 2020
Were agreed as a true record and virtually SIGNED by the Vice Chairman
37/20 Public Question Time
No members of the public were present
38/20 Ongoing Topics
20MPH repeater signs – Cllr R Bloxham (DCC) advised that the additional signs had been ordered and would be installed in the near future.
Village Hall WiFi – Cllr Luxton advised that he was now in possession of the router. There would be ongoing investigations as to the status of the contract.
Communications – Cllrs R Tillett and Mrs N Vickers had investigated the integrity of the previous email list and found that the details were out of date. They proposed to re open the list by leafleting all of the village asking people to sign up to alerts and updates sent by email from the Parish Council. Cllr Mrs Vickers advised that the Parish Council would need to have a privacy statement and GDPR Policy which could be accessible from the Parish Council website and that she would provide these documents for final sign off by the Council. The Neighbourhood Watch Group had hoped that they could share the Parish Council email list to send out information but this would not be possible due to GDPR rules and it was agreed that the group would send details of alerts to the Parish Council who would forward it on to residents. Cllrs Tillett and Vickers agreed, that once set up, they would administer the alerts and updates and send out to registered participants. It was agreed that any alerts and updates would also be sent to the village facebook administrator and whatsup group. The Clerk would update the website with details of how people could sign up to alerts and updates
39/20 DCC Update
Cllr R Bloxham had previously provided an update which had been circulated to Council.
Cllr Bloxham advised the Group that the Police Liaison Group had met previously and in response to a question advised that four meetings would be taking place. The first meeting concentrated on the strategy for the group, the second was about cybercrime, the third was going to be on the Community Safety Partnership and the final meeting was going to be to discuss the two way process.
Cllr S Randall-Johnson updated Members on the difficulties of cybercrime in that no one knew where the perpetrators were located and that in the South West alone the average amount stolen was in excess of £50k per person. She relayed a plea from the NHS that people should call 111 in the first instance during the current pandemic and only go to Accident and Emergency departments if they had an appointment.
40/20 EDDC Update
Cllr Fabian King had previously provided an update which had been circulated to Council.
He informed Members that there had been some comprehensive responses to the Governments Planning White Paper and that due to this and EDDC withdrawing from the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan the Local Plan was now undergoing a review. He stated that EDDC would work strategically with neighbouring authorities with regard to shared infrastructure requirements.
41/20 Financial items:
Council had before it and NOTED the account summary detailing payments and receipts to 30th September 2020
Council NOTED that the following expenses were authorised and paid since the last meeting on 2nd September 2020.
• Expenses approved for payment:
• 3 x to Clerk (August/September & October Salary)
• 3 x to HMRC (August/September & October Salary)
• £92.39 – Richard Tillet for roadside bulbs
• £967.58 – to Southwest Countryside Contractors for the posts and rails on Station Hill
Members NOTED that the payments were authorised by email by the Chairman, Cllr A Birmingham and Cllr R Tillett in line with the Financial Regulations.
Members requested that their thanks were recorded for the projects that the Footpath Warden, Wynn Stait had managed to progress including the rails and posts and kissing gates.
42/20 Co-Option
The Council had received one application for a Councillor Vacancy.
The Parish Council RESOLVED to co-opt William Gallois to the Parish Council.
(Proposed by Cllr A Birmingham & Seconded by Cllr R Tillett)
43/20 Longview Affordable Housing
Cllr Birmingham updated the group and explained that an outline specification had been put together and submitted to EDDC which had been acknowledged. He would advise Members if a further site visit was arranged.
He explained that the last Housing Needs Survey (HNS) had been completed in 2012 at the Parish Council’s expense. The Parish Council agreed that rather than commission another HNS at the present time it would be deferred until it was known if the planning proposal was to progress.
44/20 Planning for the for the future - White Paper Consultation
The Clerk advised that no request to participate in the consultation had been sent to the Parish Council’s directly from EDDC. The Consultation was an initial view of the proposals and there would be more comprehensive consultations as the white paper progressed.
The Parish Council would respond to any consultation that it had the opportunity to do so.
45/20 Speke Up
The Clerk advised that Speke Up was going to be resurrected for a December issue and that she had produced an initial Parish Council update which had been previously circulated to Members. It was agreed that the Clerk should provide a written update and this be made available on the Parish Council Website
46/20 Next Meeting:
Meeting closed at 8.34pm. Next meeting 6th January 2021 7.30pm