Minutes 6th September 2017
Minutes of the of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 6th September 2017 at 7.30pm at the Village Hall.
Present: Cllr S Luxton(Chairman), Cllr E Hollingsworth, Cllr R Tillett, Cllr M Merrett and Cllr G Carden
Apologies: Cllr A Birmingham (Away), Cllr A Wiles (Away), and Cllr S Grundy (EDDC)
In Attendance: Carole Oliphant (Clerk), Cllr R Bloxham and two members of the public
100/17 Apologies
Cllr A Birmingham (Away) and Cllr A Wiles (Away). Resolved to accept these apologies
102/17 Declarations of interest
Cllr S Luxton (Chair) declared an interest on works to the Village Hall as he had been contracted to complete the works on the ramp to be installed. He also declared an interest in the Hulk Lane Project as he had been contracted to complete some of the works
103/17 Minutes of meeting held on 5th July 2017
The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of 5th July 2017 were adopted as a true record and duly signed by Chair
103/17 Democratic period
Phillip Hill asked if the PC wanted to replace the damaged posts around the tree in the village and if so what with soft wood, hard wood or metal. The PC decided that Cllr E Hollingsworth would liaise with Mr Hill and bring costings to the next PC meeting in October so that it could be discussed.
The clerk was tasked with providing the costings of how much had been spent in the five years repairing barriers around the tree.
104/17 Ongoing topics
1: Village Hall –
The extension was now finished and the entrance had been reshaped to provide disabled access. Metal gates and posts were due to be installed.
Member of the pubic asked if the fence was due to be heightened due to a neighbouring property being overlooked. Cllr Tillett stated that the overlooked property owner would be consulted on a solution.
2: Footpaths & Verges -
Footpath 8B – The stile still requires a step. Cllr Luxton would arrange to have some gravel laid
Cllr Wiles reported that the contractor used to cut the verges was proving difficult to get hold of. As Cllr Wiles had now resigned from the PC Cllr Luxton agreed to contact the Contractor to arrange another cut and to see if he could also clear some gullies in the village to prevent flooding.
3: Trees –
Cllr Hollingsworth reported that the third cut by Four Seasons had not yet been but she would contact the Contractor to arrange.
The fundraising efforts by Cllr Hollingsworth had raised £225.50 towards the cutting of the grass around the trees.
4: Highways –
Cllr Tillett agreed to contact Helen Selby to chase up the 20MPH survey as DCC may well provide and fit 20MPH repeater signs at no cost to the PC.
5: Traffic Management -
Cllr G Carden presented the results of the speed survey which showed that there was no significant speed issues in the village even at school pick up/drop off times. She would asked for the location of the survey sites and a breakdown of individual speeds
Cllr Carden would arrange for some of the PC members to meet with the new head of the School Federation so that the ongoing parking issues could be discussed.
6: Communications
Cllr Merrett had costed some WI-FI packages for the Village Hall but would also seek out free WI-FI providers and provide further details at the next PC Meeting
105/17 DCC Matters
Cllr R Bloxham explained that he wanted to come to the PC meetings to find out the issues affecting the village and to then be the PC voice in County matters. He was on 14 of the County Council committees. He explained that between himself and Cllr S Randall Johnson they had £20k locality budget available to spend on local projects such as WI-FI in the
village hall and bollards to protect the tree.
Cllr Bloxham said that any important or relevant County information would be sent to the clerk for distribution.
106/17 EDDC
No Update
107/17 Planning
None
108/17 Financial matters
The Clerk’s financial reports were all noted with thanks (appendix 1)
Cheques were approved for:
The Clerk
HMRC
Accounting Statement August 2017
109/17 Community Grant Fund
There had been no recent applications to report
110/17 Speke Up
Council agreed to include a piece on the Tree in the village to gauge opinion on if the tree was something that the village would want to see protected. The results of the speed survey and the Councillor vacancy would be included along with the contact details of the two County Councillors.
111/17 Councillor Vacancy
The PC gave a vote of thanks Cllr Wiles for his years of service
The Clerk advised that the Vacancy had been lodged with EDDC and that the statutory notice period to call an election would expire on 28th September 2017 after which the PC could co-opt.
Councillors agreed to approach suitable candidates to apply
112/17 Other information
Cllr G Carden attended the School Consultation and advised that following the resignation of the head at Easter the school was looking at becoming a federation, merging with three ther schools. There would be a joint head of School with Thorverton from September.
113/17 Next meeting
The meeting closed at 8.35pm.
The next meeting would be Wednesday 4th October 2017 - 7.30pm, Village Hall