Minutes 10th December 2015
Parish Council meeting was held in Cruwys Morchard Parish Hall on
Thursday 10th December 2015 at 8 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Mrs S. Smyth (Chairman), Mr D. Berry, Mr N. Baker, Mrs J. Mitchell, Mr A. Chave, Mr M. Lake, Cllr P. Colthorpe (District Councillor),
7 parishioners
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Mr G. Hall (Bereavement), Mr G. Kingdom (Family commitment), Cllr M. Squires
ABSENCE NO APOLOGY GIVEN
None
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
The minutes of the meeting held on 12th November 2015 had already been circulated prior to the meeting.
Proposal: Agreement to the content of the minutes was proposed by Mr. Berry and seconded by Mr Lake unanimously agreed by the meeting and duly signed by the chairman.
DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Churchyard Grants – Mr Berry declared an interest
MATTER ARISING
The clerk stated that she had now received the debit card for the parish council bank account.
PLANNING APPLICATION (15/01808/MFUL) Erection of 3 replacement poultry buildings (7071 sq m) following demolition of existing, and provision of associated infrastructure including feed bins and hardstanding at Tollgate Farm, Nomansland
Several parishioners gave their objections to this application. A discussion took place between the parish councillors.
Proposal: Mr Berry proposed and Mr Lake seconded recommending refusal of this application for the following reasons:
- The neighbouring residents lives are severely affected by the current operation of Tollgate Farm, Nomansland which would only increase with the additional buildings and objections are as follows:
- The smell emitted at certain times is unacceptable together with the dust when the existing buildings are being cleaned out. The proposals for the new poultry buildings states that cleaning out will be staggered which effectively means that the cleaning out process will be continuous.
- When cleaning out there is constant noise which normally goes onto to around 1 a.m. in the morning.
- The current screening is inadequate with the Leylandii trees not being managed properly.
- There was no consultation about the changes with neighbours.
- The current large lorries are not suitable for use of this narrow lane and entrance and exit to the lane is dangerous.
- The planning application does not specify where the chicken manure will be stored and would be hazardous. There are restrictions on when the manure can be scattered on fields and therefore would need to be stored somewhere at certain times
- The Campaign to Protect Rural England raise the following the points:
- This would be deemed to be industrialisation/factory farming.
- Too much traffic on a large scale will occur on rural lanes which are not able to cope with the effect.
- It is too close to residential property.
- Consideration must be given to the accumulative effect of all the other chicken houses and proposed chicken houses in what is a relatively small area.
The meeting unanimously agreed.
PLANNING APPLICATION (15/01400/FULL) Erection of garden shed at Farthings, Pennymoor.
A short discussion took place.
Proposal: Mr Lake proposed and Mr Baker seconded acceptance of this application and the meeting unanimously agreed.
PRECEPT 2016/7
The clerk stated she had received the Precept request from Mid Devon District Council and handed out the budget details for next year.
A discussion took place as to how much precept would be needed to meet the parish council costs for 2016/7. As Devon CC are having to cut back on the services they provide, the cost for these essential services will inevitably fall on the parish council for example:
- Grit bins,
- Sign posts
- Cleaning of sign posts etc
The county council is anxious for parishes to be involved in a Community Self Help Scheme and there was discussion about the possibility of employing someone from a neighbouring parish to do some of this maintenance. This would be investigated. It was agreed that the precept would need to be increased substantially to deal with this change.
Proposal: Mr Chave proposed and Mrs Mitchell seconded a precept amount of £3,500 and the meeting unanimously agreed.
CHURCHYARD GRANTS
Mr Berry left the meeting
Discussion took place as to how much the parish council could donate for the 3 churchyards in the parish.
Proposal: Mr Chave proposed and Mr Kingdom seconded a donation of £500 in total for churchyard grants with £250 being paid to the Holy Cross Church, Cruwys Morchard and £125 each to Way Village Congregational Church and Nomansland Congregational Church. The meeting unanimously agreed. Three cheques were duly drawn and signed by the chairman and clerk
Mr Berry returned to the meeting
AUDITOR – SLB (Sector Led Body) opt out
The clerk explained that there is to be change in the audit procedures for parish councils and instead of using an appointed auditor a parish council could opt out and choose their own.
Proposal: Mr Berry proposed and Mr. Baker seconded not to opt out but to use the appointed auditor, the meeting unanimously agreed.
HIGHWAY PROBLEMS
The clerk stated that she had just sent a chaser email to the highways section about all the outstanding reported problems in the parish.
It was reported that there are several potholes between Mudfordgate and Looseland Cross
Meeting closed 9:30 p.m.