Minutes 6th June 2018
Minutes of the of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 6th June 2018 at 7.30pm at the Village Hall.
Present: Cllr S Luxton(Chairman), Cllr R Tillett, Cllr M Merrett, Cllr J Gibson, Cllr A Birmingham (Vice-Chairman)
and Cllr E Johns
In Attendance: Carole Oliphant (Clerk), Cllr S Grundy (EDDC), Cllr R Bloxham (DCC), Janet Wallis (EDDC
Environmental Health Manager) and 12 members of the public
75/18 Apologies
Apology received from Cllr E Hollingsworth (Away). Resolved to accept this apology.
Apology also received from Cllr S Randal-Johnson (DCC)
76/18 Declarations of interest
Cllr S Luxton declared a Personal Interest in the Dangerous Dogs item and the planning application at Thorverton
77/18 Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 2nd May 2018
The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of 2nd May 2018 were adopted as a true record and duly signed by the Chairman
78/18 Dangerous Dogs
As Cllr Luxton had declared a Personal Interest Cllr Birmingham (ViceChair) took the Chair for this item.
Cllr Birmingham introduced the Environmental Health Manager from EDDC, Janet Wallis and District Councillor Simon Grundy to the meeting and invited them to give an overview of work of the Environmental Team
in relation to dangerous dogs.
Janet explained the role of the Environmental Team and confirmed that in addition to dog issues they dealt with complaints about anti-social behaviour, noise nuisance and obnoxious smells. She said that with regard to dogs, they encouraged responsible ownership but they had limited powers to act when dogs became dangerous as there wasn’t the legislation in place.
With regard to the situation in Brampford Speke, Janet explained that the owner of the dogs had been issued with a formal warning letter in April 2017 which meant the dogs had to be on leads and muzzled at all times.
The restrictions were in force for 12 months. Although the village appeared to be experiencing further problems with the dogs over that time no-one reported this to Environmental Health at EDDC and they had no idea that the situation with the dogs was ongoing. Janet confirmed tothe meeting that if people had concerns they MUST report it otherwise EDDC wouldn’t know to act. In response to a question that there were police reports about the dogs during that time Janet confirmed that there was no sharing of information between the Police and EDDC with regard to dog attacks and they were unaware of the ongoing situation.
There was further discussion about dangerous dogs and Janet answered numerous concerns that residents had.
It was agreed that Cllr Grundy and Environmental Health at EDDC would work together to lobby the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon & Cornwall for closer a working relationship between the two authorities
with regard to dog attacks.
Cllr Grundy confirmed he would raise a MOTION with East Devon District Council to impose higher financial penalties on owners of dogs who attack people and other animals.
Janet Wallis finished by encouraging people to report any instances to them so that the team could act quicker and stop escalations in dog behaviour which then led to dog attacks.
Cllr Birmingham thanked Janet for attending the meeting and stood down from the Chair
79/18 Democratic period
Cllr Luxton returned to the Chair
There were no issues raised by members of the public during the Democratic Period
80/18 Ongoing topics
1: Village Hall –
• Cllrs Merrett and Tillett explained that after a risk assessment one of the entrances to the hall had to be adapted and they would be looking for funds to complete the works. Cllr Bloxham from DCC confirmed that he would support an application for funding from BSVHT through his Locality Grant.
• Cllrs Merrett and Tillett gave details of up and coming events including Cream Teas and Treasure Hunts
2: Footpaths & Verges -
• Cllr Gibson and Julia Gibson had cleared a few of the footpaths but had been informed by Richard Spurway that the free strim of the footpaths was due to be completed in June so they would wait for this before continuing with any clearing
• In response to a question from a member of the public, Cllr Gibson said she and Julia Gibson would walk the footpaths and make a note of any signs which needed repair or of any additional signs required. Once this exercise was completed she would contact Ros Davies at DCC to find out how they village could install additional signage on footpaths.
• There was a general discussion about Lake Bridge and Cllr Luxton agreed to make repairs
• Cllr Johns agreed to be the lead councillor on verges and said he would contact a few contractors to arrange the first cut. The Clerk advised that there were monies in the Budget to pay for this
3: Trees – No update
4: Highways & Traffic Management
• Cllr Tillett advised that the surface dressing of Burridge had been completed
• Cllr Luxton confirmed that he would arrange the Section 8 Training for himself and Ed Sanders. Cllr Birmingham confirmed that the PPE equipment required came in within budget and he would arrange to order the kit and for the invoice to be sent to the clerk for payment.
5: Antisocial Behaviour
• PC would monitor the situation. Councillors would take the lead and report any instances of anti-social behaviour via 101
• In response to a question Cllr Grundy confirmed he would find out if the Street Scene Team in EDDC would clear litter from private land
• Cllr Merrett and Cllr Gibson confirmed they would offer a local resident assistance to get the reference to wild swimming in the village taken down from local websites
6: Community Engagement
• Cllr Gibson launched the idea to have a regular Parish Council Newsletter. This was accepted by the Council with the next steps confirmed as:
o Councillors to provide a photograph and personal overview to Cllr Gibson
o Cllr Gibson and Cllr Merrett would look to design a Parish Council Logo to be agreed at a future meeting
o Timings of the Newsletter to be agreed at a future meeting
81/18 East Devon District Council
Cllr Grundy explained that he had met with the Manager of Recycling at EDDC and encouraged Cllr to report instances of waste being strewn around the village by the Recycling Teams. There was a general discussion
about the issues and a request that the Recycling Manager come and walk the route after the Teams had been so he could see the issues for himself.
Cllr Grundy would provide Council with the correct email to report issues to.
Cllr Grundy said he had not made much progress with community transport and he was unaware of the eligibility criteria for Ring & Ride services but he would find out.
Cllr Grundy gave an overview of the Broadband for Exe Valley proposal.
82/18 Devon County Council Matters
Cllr Bloxham explained he was on the DCC Broadband Group and explained the scheme in more detail. He reminded the Council that there was money available for projects through the Locality Funds and the Devon & Cornwall Police fund. He explained the changes to the Town and Parish Fund in which parishes could bid for funding of projects up to £30k.
83/18 Planning
Cllr Luxton had declared a personal interest in the next item and refrained from making any comment.
The Council decided not to formally comment on 17/01716/FULL Planning Application Reinstatement of access and farm track at School Lane, Thorverton as the application was outside of the Parish and in a neighbouring District and Council was therefore not a consultee.
84/18 Financial matters
The Clerk’s financial reports were all noted with thanks (appendix 1)
The PC noted that the Clerk had purchased and installed the Payroll software and that it was compliant with HMRC requirements.
Cheques were approved for:
• The Clerk
• HMRC
• Cllr A Birmingham
The cheques were signed by Cllr Luxton and Cllr Tillett.
Accounting Statements May 2018
85/18 Governance
• Council had before it a report prepared by the Clerk & RFO and presented by Cllr Birmingham recommending that the Council adopt on-line payment for invoices. It was RESOLVED to accept the new payment process.
This was proposed by Cllr Merrett and Seconded by Cllr Gibson and agreed by a unanimous decision.
• Council had before it revised Financial Regulations which was presented by Cllr Birmingham and reflected the change of payment process. It was RESOLVED to ADOPT the revised Financial Regulations.
This was proposed by Cllr Merrett and Seconded by Cllr Gibson and agreed by a unanimous decision.
The Financial Regulations were duly ADOPTED.
86/18 Other information
• Council discussed the implications of the GDPR rules and agreed to investigate the requirement to have Council emails. Cllr Merrett was asked to investigate the process and costs of changing to Council emails and would bring the report at a future meeting.
87/18 Next meeting
The meeting closed at 9.15pm.
The next meeting would be Wednesday 4th July 2018 at 7.30pm, Village Hall