Minutes 6th March 2024

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting
held on
Wednesday 6th March 2024
at 7.30pm at the Village Hall

Present: Cllr A Birmingham, Cllr R Tillett, Cllr E Hollingsworth, Cllr W Honan and Cllr N Vickers.
In Attendance: Tracy Watkins (Clerk), eight members of the BSUPC Community Land Trust and forty-six members of the public.

Before the meeting commenced Cllr Birmingham advised the meeting that Cllr Hillson had recently suffered heart failure. He is making steady progress and is now out of intensive care. Everyone is wishing Cllr Hillson and his family well.

13/24 Apologies:
Cllrs Hillson and Luxton, Cllr J Kemp (EDDC) and Cllr H Gent (DCC) and Cllr S Randall Johnson (DCC)

14/24 Declarations of interest:
Cllrs Luxton and Birmingham in item 5– Affordable and Open Market Housing.
Cllr Tillett wanted it noted that as a member of the CLT he also has a duty to disclose this for item 5.

15/24 Minutes

The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 10th January 2024 were agreed as a true record and SIGNED by the Chair

16/24 Public Question Time

A member of the public asked if the signage for the defibrillator could be moved into the locked cabinet so it is more visible. Cllr Vickers will action. 

17/24 Affordable Homes and Community Land project:

The Chair explained to all present that Cllr Luxton had been granted a dispensation, due to financial interest, to remain as a member of the public during this item.
Cllr Birmingham has also been granted a dispensation to remain as a member of the public due to another interest in this item.
Cllr Tillett has kindly agreed to chair this item.
It was explained that the format would be for Stewart Wass (Chair of BSUP&C Community Land Trust) to give a report and then the public will have an opportunity to ask questions directly of the CLT. Everyone will have the opportunity to put forward their questions. Due to restrictions on how long the meeting can last it was reiterated that all business would need to be completed within 2 hours.
The public were reminded that the final arbiter for this proposal is not the Parish Council but East Devon County Council.
Cllr Tillett then took the Chair and confirmed that he has no significant role in CLT. Cllr Tillett was granted a dispensation after the Parish Council meeting in January.
The meeting was then handed over to Stewart Wass, who gave the following information:
• The Community Land Trust was formed 12 years ago with representatives from Upton Pyne and Brampford Speke as a collaborative process
• At Upton Pyne development there are 7 affordable homes and 3 private homes.
• First choice for tenants for these affordable homes are residents from Upton Pyne then Brampford Speke.
• Lakes Downs development has been very successful
• The proposed site at Stonilands, South end of the village, is situated opposite what used to be a social housing estate
• People wanted to apply for one of the residencies would need to have local connections to Brampford Speke in order to qualify. three people from Brampford Speke are already living at the Lakes Down site due to there not being affordable housing in the village now
• The proposal is for 9 units at social rent (50% of market value). There will be a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom properties. 3 of each. There will also be 3 marketable homes on the site
• The footprint of the 9 affordable homes is the same size as 3 good sized 3 bedroomed homes
• The development is designed to look like a farmyard with shallow roof pitches. They will face SW and SE to maximise the solar benefits. It has been designed to have as low a visual impact as possible.
• A 2-page report on access has been produced. It has been confirmed that the hedge will need to be moved. Electrical works will go underground. The electrical poles will be removed.
• Traffic and access were the two main concerns at the consultation meeting held so the CLT carried out a traffic survey in October over 3 days and 1 and half hours on each day at peak times to gauge the impact. The survey was also carried out at Lake Downs as a control. The findings were approximately 1 extra car every 15 minutes
• The public were asked to complete a survey after the consultation to rate people’s feelings. The findings were 70% in favour and 30% against. A referendum was held in 2012 and the findings were the same.
• 1 and ¼ acres of community land will be held in trust by the CLT and it is up to the residents to decide how they would like the land used. CLT are aware there are concerns about anti-social behaviour in this area and would look after the site until a solution is found.
The following questions were asked by the public.
• Following the vote after the meeting has anything changed? – Yes, the plans regarding the community land have been updated. Mr Wass confirmed that all the suggestions written down had been handed to the CLT.
• Do the findings from the traffic survey take into consideration all 12 of the proposed dwellings. Yes, it did. Members of the public said they would like to help with another traffic survey.
• A member of the public read out a statement put together by a number of residents. The statement covered all areas of the proposal and was directed directly to the CLT. The main question was regarding the actual need for housing in the village and why other sites were rejected. Mr Wass advised that a housing needs survey was conducted in 2021. This showed that 6 dwellings were needed. The CLT were financially pushed out of the market at Sowdens, Paws a While was rejected at a public meeting- due to concerns about the road, Sandy Lane field was held in trust by the family owners and they did not want to sell and Taylors Farm did not want to sell to the CLT. Stonilands is the only site that has evolved.
• A member of the CLT then read a statement regarding problems with the rental market and the community responsibility to provide affordable housing to local people to allow them to stay locally
• Out of the 431 households in the village only 114 completed the recent housing needs survey of which only 19% were in agreement with the proposal. The public felt the survey needs to be done again. Residents of the village will be willing to work with the CLT to complete this
• There are 5 blind corners near the site, but visibility going down the hill is good. There is concern that cars speed here and therefore a bad place to put a development. Also, narrow roads
• Accidents have happened on these roads and it doesn’t feel safe to put access on this road. Pinch point in this area and it would be introducing a junction at this busy point. Can the entrance be changed back to Stooks Close?
• A member of the public and a traffic officer for 15 years said that ample signage warning drivers of the junction coming up would help. The CLT said the junction would be 11 metres wide and the road is wider here than anywhere else. Only 25 metres of hedge would need to be moved. The plans say that the splay is 43 metres will this not mean 43 metres of hedge need to be removed. No only 25 metres.
• A member of the CLT advised there had previously been 40 council houses in Brampford Speke and there is a need to replace that social housing.
• A Stooks Close resident asked if a flora and fauna impact survey had been done. It was advised that this would be done at the planning stage when the application goes through.
• Fears that if more residents there needs to be better services including bus services. Could DCC be leveraged?
• A resident said that the school has gone from 3 to 2 year groups and therefore bringing in possibly more children would keep the school alive.
• Can something be down about calming traffic locally with Highways? People tend to drive very fast around the village.
• Would the current architect designs be the final ones? It was confirmed that his plans will go forward to the planners and the CLT would have a say in what the architects did.
• Would there actually be any more traffic if the people who take up residence in the affordable housing already live in the village
• Social Housing is a term which has only just appeared in this proposal. The residents need a definitive understanding of what the difference is social housing and affordable housing. That way people will understand what they are signing up for.
In summary Cllr Tillett advised that there appear to be several areas of uncertainty about the proposal, making it difficult for the parish council adopt a clear position.
The public were then advised that the open participatory meeting was ending and the council would discuss the comments made and would advise interested parties of their decision. Councillors would be moving on to other Council matters and they could leave if they wished. A large number of people left the meeting at this point.
Cllr Vickers – A different approach would be to look at the existing site and to listen to people’s opinions more thoroughly. Residents at the meeting had put themselves forward to sit on a focus group to work with the CLT.
Cllr Hollingsworth – The right agencies and people need to be brought in to mitigate the problems and concerns about traffic and the hedges. Possibly look at smaller sites across the village for affordable housing.
Cllr Honan – The problem is that it has become confusing as there have been conflicting information at different meetings.
Stewart Wass - The Housing Association takes on the heavy lifting. The 3 marketable houses will pay for the land and the landowner has ownership of these. The affordable houses have to have started being built before the private ones. Housing association will only look at developments of 10 houses or more.
All councillors present concurred that there was not enough information to make a decision tonight.
Cllr Vickers proposal is to get some willing residents to work closely with the CLT moving forwards.
The Council encourages the local working group to work with the CLT and vice versa. The Council cannot mandate this as it does not have the authority to do so.
The Council reiterated that at this stage it is not making an approval for or against.
The CLT suggested another referendum.

18/24 Dates for future meetings
Cllr Birmingham returned to the Chair.
Proposed meeting dates were agreed.
8th May, 10th July, 11th September, 13th November, 8th January and 12th March.
Clerk to publish on the website. 

19/24 New auditor contractor
The contract to employ the new internal auditor was signed.
Clerk to return to the auditor. 

20/24 Lead Councillor Updates

• Finance – Cllr Birmingham – Clerk to investigate new bank at a later date. Other matters more pressing at the moment.
January and February accounts have been circulated and approved. Reserves are potentially going to increase by approx. £1500-£2000 by the end of the financial year. The budget has already been set for this year. P3 claim for 2023-24 has been resubmitted to EDDC as it was not processed.
• Verges – Cllr Luxton – This last year’s invoice for the hedges has just arrived to be paid asap. £380
• Trees & Natural Environment – Cllr Hollingsworth – Nothing to report
• Highways and Traffic Management – Cllr Tillett – Resident advised a sign had been removed. It had been reported that a local resident had broken her foot in a pothole. People encouraged to keep reporting potholes on the portal.
• Planning and Development– Cllr Honan – no new applications to report. Some residents had brought up about the pergola at the Agricultural Inn. They are still not meeting planning fulfilment.
• Communications – Cllr Vickers –Welcome packs updated and have been printed and look lovely and are being distributed.
• Footpaths – Update from the Footpath Warden/Cllr Hillson – P3 claim forms submitted. Resident asked if his request to make his wheelchair access to Stoke Canon be chased up. There is no funding for this. When requested from one of the landowners previously they had refused access. If this is the case there is nothing more the Parish Council can do.

21/24 Village Hall

At the last Trustees meeting the cost of replacing the porch was discussed. The cost is estimated at £5000. The Trustees asked if the Parish Council would consider making a contribution towards this. Cllr Birmingham will speak to the Chair of the Trustees regarding the contributions the Council can make going forwards.

All Councillors agreed for the Trustees to go ahead and with their available funds to get the work done. If they want to go ahead with this plan they will need to make the proposal to the Council in writing.

22/24 Financial Items

The account summary to February 29th 2024 (previously approved by Cllr A Birmingham) was AGREED and APPROVED.
To NOTE the following payments were approved remotely in accordance with Financial Regulations
2 x Payments to the Clerk (January and February wages)
2 x Payments to HMRC- wages tax payments (January and February)
1 x Payment to CVT of £14,340.00 for village hall roof replacement (01.02.24)
2 x Payments to BT for Village Hall landline (£11.96 on 02.01.24 and £11.73 on 29.01.24)
1 x Payment of £46.00 for printer cartridges to print Welcome Packs (17.01.24)
1 x payment of £41.28 for defibrillator pads (06.01.24)
1 x credit of £2714.98 VAT reclaim (03.01.24)
Note: Payments approved by Councillors S Luxton, A Birmingham and R Tillett in accordance with the Financial Regulations
Clerk to circulate publish on website

23/24 EDDC Update

Cllr Kemp was not at the meeting and did not provide an update. Clerk to email and request one.

24/24 DCC Update

Neither Cllr Randall-Johnson nor Cllr Gent were present at the meeting. Cllr Randall-Johnson provided the update below:
Covid 19 update
As we approach the 4th anniversary of the first Covid 19 lockdown in England, on the 23rd of March 2020, it’s hard to forget the stress, anxiety, economic hardship for many and a genuine fear that the worldwide pandemic brought with it. It seems a very long time ago that we were forced to change how we lived our lives overnight, often being separated from family members, working from home and not being able to socialise in person being just a few things that the uncertainties Covid inflicted on us.
While Covid 19 may have largely disappeared from most of our lives, the impact of the lockdown is still having an unwelcome legacy of slow economy recovery high energy costs (matters elsewhere contributing to that) and long-standing health waiting lists.

Our local Nightingale Hospital is the only one in the country which has been adopted to deliver elective (non-A&E) urgent treatment.
Devon Diagnostic Centre
The Devon Diagnostic Centre is an extension of the Medical Imaging Department at the Royal Devon Eastern (previously RD&E), and is where you may be invited to attend if you need a CT, MRI, Plain Film X-ray, Ultrasound or Fluoroscopy services. This range of technology is used to help diagnose, monitor or treat a range of conditions.
They provide diagnostic services to patients from across Devon, with referrals from Royal Devon Eastern Services (previously RD&E), Royal Devon Northern Services (previously NDDH), Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT) and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP).
The department is open for outpatient appointments from 8am – 8pm, 5 days a week, currently seeing approximately 225 patients per day.
South West Ambulatory Orthopaedic Centre
Orthopaedics is the branch of surgery that looks after your body’s musculoskeletal system, including your bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
In addition to running two operating theatres for day cases, our team at the South West Ambulatory Orthopaedic Centre (SWAOC) also carry out short stay elective orthopaedic procedures. They are experienced in every aspect of orthopaedic health.
Patients from across Devon and beyond are being cared for at SWAOC, including;
Royal Devon – Eastern Services (previously Royal Devon and Exeter)
Royal Devon – Northern Services (previously North Devon Healthcare Trust)
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Their staff pride themselves on being part of this highly specialist team and their mission is to provide the best care possible for people with orthopaedic conditions.
Centre of Excellence for Eyes
Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine and surgery which deals with eye disorders, including cataracts, glaucoma and medical retina.
At the Centre of Excellence for Eyes (CEE) which is based at the NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter, we provide low complexity cataract surgery as well as diagnostic imaging for monitoring and diagnosing glaucoma and medical retina problems.
Patients from across Devon will be cared for at the CEE, with referrals from;
Royal Devon – Eastern Services (previously Royal Devon & Exeter)
Royal Devon – Northern Services (previously North Devon Healthcare Trust)
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Plymouth
The CEE team at the Nightingale consists of Ophthalmic Surgeons, Surgical Trainees, Specialist Nurses, Theatre Support Workers, Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) and Eye Healthcare Professionals such as Optometrists and Specialist Practitioners, supported by a great team of Ophthalmic Technicians.
Rheumatology Department
Rheumatology covers the treatment of medical disorders which affect the musculoskeletal system, particularly the joints, surrounding soft tissues and organs.
They see patients with various types of arthritis, osteoporosis, connective tissue and autoimmune conditions, and we offer a wide range of clinics to diagnose, care and treat the whole spectrum of rheumatic disease.
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s rheumatology services has relocated to the Nightingale.
NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter (nightingale-exeter.nhs.uk)
Highway – winter update
Following the very difficult winter last year the DCC Asset Management and the Network Response teams have worked very closely together through late summer and autumn to prepare for the winter season. Because of this hard work and the milder winter, the service has recorded 5,500 safety defect potholes in January, slightly below the 7-year average (5,926). This compares well to the 7,500 in 2023.
The significant reduction in the gritting operations mentioned above frees up resources to continue the planned patching operations, again helping to reduce safety defect potholes across the county, but prolonged wet weather in the last few months does not help matters when trying to make repairs to the highway.
Changes have now been made to the ‘front end’ of the public ‘report a problem’ website, https://www.devon.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem/ . Additional information will help provide inform future enhancements and will highlight that members of the public can add themselves to existing reports, rather than duplicating reports.
Gully cleaning operations have slipped behind programme due to the high number of extreme weather events the Service has responded to this year, as well as a series of unexpected equipment breakdowns. Main DCC Highways contractor Milestone Infrastructure have worked hard to get this back on programme and are confident that all programmed gullies will have been attended by the end of March.
A lot of work has been put into addressing drainage referrals raised by the cleaning gangs. Over 14,000 gully issues have been resolved this 2023/24 financial year across Devon; however, the backlog remains high with new issues identified as quickly as the old ones are being tackled.
The joint trial with Devon’s Flood team to place gully sensors in selected streets in Devon is in now live. The data recorded will provide insight into whether technology can be used to inform policy or reaction for cyclical gully cleaning. The trial intends to run for an 18-month period.
Is your food bill eating away at your weekly budget?
If so, a few simple measures can help save money and reduce waste too.
A Waste Resource Action Programme (WRAP) Food Trends survey last year found that despite the Cost-of-Living crisis, people are still wasting food that could otherwise have been eaten.
Food prices remain the number one food concern for almost three quarters of participants, and nearly one in four (24%) reported struggling to keep up with household bills. Yet, food waste is still on the rise for four key products – milk, potatoes, chicken and bread.
Keep Cool
Keeping the fridge temperature between 0-5°C can help keep food fresh for three days longer than usual. If you want to test how cold your fridge actually is, an easy way is to use a thermometer. If you do not have a fridge thermometer, pop a regular thermometer into a glass of water and leave it in the fridge for a few hours. Try not to open the door as this can affect the reading. It is worth checking as the average UK fridge temperature is set at least 2°C too warm!
Know Your Dates
Understanding the difference between use by and sell by dates can save perfectly edible food from being thrown away.
‘Best before’ refers to the quality of the food and your food will be at its best when used before the date given. After this peak freshness date, it might not be at its best, but it will still be safe to eat. You can use your senses to make a judgement.
Here’s a quick guide to a few key food items and how long they are likely to remain edible after the best before date:
• Biscuits – six months
• Canned food – 12 months
• Cereals – six months
• Confectionary – 12 months
• Crisps – one month
• Dried pasta – three years!
• Pasta sauce – 12 months
‘Use by’ refers to the safety of the food. You must not eat food past the ‘use by’ date. You cannot always smell the bacteria that causes food to spoil, so after the ‘use by’ date, the food may appear perfectly fine to eat, but it could be unsafe. You can freeze food right up to and including the ‘use by’ date. If you are not sure you will eat it in time, freeze it for another day!
‘Display until / sell by’ is for retailers’ attention only.
Reducing the amount of food we waste is a simple way for households to save money and reduce carbon emissions. 60% of UK food waste comes from households, having a value of £17 billion a year and is associated with 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
If we kept food waste out of the black bin, it would save £2.8m a year in disposal costs.
Using up leftovers, making the most of our freezers and understanding use by dates are just a few ways to help prevent food waste, and save money too. When food waste is unavoidable, it can still be put to good use. Either recycle using your food waste caddy (where available) or compost at home. Check here to see if there is a food waste collection in your area.

25/24
Other information/correspondence received for possible action/discussion/attendance and review of Action Points

• Cllr Hillson – Clerk to investigate if there is a process to co-op his position until he is well enough to return.
• Cllr Vickers - has already muted that she would like to stand down
• Speke Up – Cllr Tillett will send around a draft for approval. To discuss at greater length at next meeting
Clerks hours – It is recognised that due to the amount of things going on at the moment the clerk has had to put in a lot of extra hours. The Council agreed to the extra hours being paid before the end of the financial year. She will keep a tally of how much time has been spent on CLT related work. We will still be under budget at the end of the year but the Chair will be kept informed of the tally of hours.

26/24 Date of the next meeting(s)

The meeting closed at 10.00pm. The date of the next Meeting is Wednesday 8th May 2024 – Village Hall at 7.30 pm