Minutes from March 2022 meeting

Newton St Cyres Parish Council

Minutes of Newton St Cyres Parish Council Meeting held in the Parish Hall Club Room on Thursday 3 March 2022 

The meeting commenced at 7.00pm 

Members present

Cllr J Enright (Chair)                              Cllr S Parker

Cllr R Cashmore                                     Cllr G Quicke

Cllr D Hodge                                           Cllr G Scopes

Cllr P Taylor                                            Cllr C Southcott

 

In attendance:   Cllr M Squires, DCC (left 7.40pm); 4 members of public (1 stayed to end of meeting), J Hole, Parish Clerk

Public Participation

A representative from Newton Environment Wellbeing Group reminded the meeting that the Community Forum event was taking place on Saturday 2 April proceeded by a talk on Thursday 23 March.  NSC Primary School had been invited to participate together with QE Secondary school.  Parish Councillors were invited to attend and Cllr J Enright was invited to sum up the meeting if he wished.

A parishioner reported that he had surveyed households around the Village Green and there was overwhelming support for planting wild flowers over a couple of areas on the Village Green. It was agreed to put this on the April agenda for further discussion.

A parishioner expressed interest in joining the Steering Committee for the Neighbourhood Plan and was encouraged to attend the Annual Parish Meeting on Wednesday 6 April where it would be possible to sign up.

A parishioner from Smallbrook asked if the A377 through Smallbrook could be included in the review of speed limits.  Cllr M Squires confirmed that discussion about the possibility of putting a 40mph speed limit along Quickes straight had taken place at the HATOC meeting but Smallbrook doesn’t meet the national criteria for reducing limits.  It was noted that the bus stop pole by Smallbrook was missing and Cllr M Squires would report this to our Neighbourhood Highways Manager 

Formal Business 

01/03/22      Apologies

Cllr G Barnell, MDDC

 

02/03/22      Declaration of Interest

None noted

 03/03/22      Minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 3 February 2022

Agreed and signed as a true record 

04/03/22      Mid Devon District Council

4.1                 Planning Applications:

None        

4.2                 Planning Decisions:

None

4.3                 Update on Plan Mid Devon – to consider comments for submission

Several Cllrs had attended zoom presentations and the MDDC drop-in session.  Cllr J Enright would submit comments to MDDC.

4.4                 District Councillor, Cllr G Barnell, to report on MDDC business relevant to the parish

There was no report, although Cllr G Barnell had circulated various emails during the past month and these were noted.

 

05/03/22      Finance

5.1                 Update on logins to Unity Bank

Cllr G Scopes was now able to login and Cllr G Quicke was close to being able to login.  Cllrs were requested to keep trying as more signatories were required.

5.2                 Parish Council Receipts Current Account:

DALC - £200.00 Raddon Hills admin payment for Clerk

HMRC VAT refund - £799.76

5.3                 Parish Council Payments Current Account

These were agreed as:

Item	Payee	Purpose	Amount £
5.3.1	Citizens Advice	Grant	100.00
5.4.2	Greenhams	RWS equipment	8.39
5.4.3	WF & PH Pincombe	Trailer for RWS	2,442.00
5.4.4	Simon Saunders	Grass cutting Green	80.00
5.4.5	PCC	Surgery at coffee mornings x 5	25.00
5.4.6	Arboretum	Surgery at coffee morning x 1	5.00
5.3.7	J Hole	Salary and expenses (incl Raddon Hills £200.00)	537.99
5.3.8	HMRC	PAYE (cheque payment)	41.00

5.4                 To approve signatures for this month’s payments – online and one cheque

                       Cllr G Quicke and Cllr S Parker – cheque and Cllr D Hodge and Cllr G Scope online

5.5                 Balances (after above transactions)

5.5.1              Parish Council Current Account balance: £11,038.83

5.5.2              Footpath Account: £268.02 

5.5.3              Car Park resurfacing fund balance: £7,514.84

5.6                 Financial Statement and Budget Monitor

Noted 

06/03/22      Matters raised by the Chair

6.1                 To agree arrangements for Annual Parish Meeting – Wednesday 6 April 7pm in the Parish Hall main room.

A draft agenda had been circulated and was agreed.  It was hoped that a Planning Consultant would attend to make a presentation but if this was not possible then Cllr J Enright would make a presentation on neighbourhood planning and volunteers would be able to volunteer to serve on a Neighbourhood Planning Steering Committee 

07/03/22      Councillor’s Reports            

7.1                 Areas of Responsibility reports

A377 – The A377 Action Group had requested a review of the speed limit along Quickes straight. A crossing at Tytheing Close had been identified as a priority

Boniface Trail – a meeting was scheduled shortly with DCC’s consultants and an article in the Newton Wonder in April would provide an update on progress

Bus shelters – Cllr S Parker would clear the Sellotape off the plastic shelters

Churchyard – Highways were aware of the damaged wall by the entrance to the Arboretum

The 4G mast should be installed within the next 3 months

Footpaths – there were a few trees down.  A bridle path at Newton Woods would be re-stoned to improve the surface.

Litter – one litter picker had retired and there were two new volunteers

Neighbourhood Watch – a new warden had come forward to replace a retiring one. A cement mixed had been stolen recently and an abandoned car had been burnt out in Sand Down Lane.  MDDC had been asked to remove the car.  There was a broken directional sign at Little Nethercott

Old School Site – there were reports that the entrance in Sand Down Lane was being used by vehicles and the Clerk would pass this information onto Cllr G Barnell

 

7.1.1              Allotments – to discuss Allotment Association benefits

As only one positive response had been received for forming an Allotment Association it was resolved not to proceed at this time.   After rent renewal at the end of March, Cllr L Ouldridge would meet with allotment holders to consult on how this year’s rent should be spent.  A community orchard and/or a place for parishioners to grow fruit and vegetable would be a good community initiative if some suitable land could be identified.

7.1.2              Surgery - Report from February surgery. To agree Cllr attendance from July to December

Some fence posts on the old school footpath required replacing and it was agreed to get quotes

Rooks and crows were taking thatch out of roofs – this was not an issue for the PC

A camper van parked down Station Road was blocking the view when pulling out of Kingfisher Close – this had already been noted by our Neighbourhood Highways Officer but there was no action that the PC could take

Vehicles parking at the end of Sand Down Lane were causing a danger and had also stopped access by the wood lorry – again there was no action that the PC could take.

Recycling at the Rec – Clerk to write to the Rec and request that they contact MDDC to obtain bins to allow bottles etc to be recycled.

                       Attendance at future surgeries was agreed as

                       12 March – Cllr G Scopes

                       9 April – Cllr G Quicke

                       14 May – Cllr P Taylor

                       11 June – Cllr L Ouldridge

                       9 July – Cllr R Cashmore

                      

08/03/22      Clerk’s Report - none          

 

09/03/22      Parish Council

9.1                 Climate – update from Climate Officer

A report had been circulated and was noted.

9.2                 Road Warden Scheme – update

Cllr R Cashmore reported that once the issue of risk assessments had been sorted out, parishioners would be able to report a problem in the parish (minor pot holes, overgrown vegetation etc) online and using What 3 words, the Road Wardens would visit the site and assess if they could fix the problem, if not the Road Warden would report it to DCC.  Storage for the trailer and tools had been found locally.  

9.3                 Cloud Storage - update

Cllr R Cashmore and the Clerk had met to put a system in place and this work was ongoing

9.4                 Plans for Queens Platinum Jubilee

9.4.1              Update on event planned for 5 June at Rec Ground  

Notes from the first panning meeting had been circulated and a further meeting was planned for next week

9.4.2              Options to commemorate jubilee - mugs for school children or red/white/blue seed packets  

Costs had been circulated and it was resolved to purchase a packet of seeds for school children

9.4.3              To consider planting a tree on Friday 11 March (NACO Tree Planting Day)  

Details had been circulated and it was resolved not to take part in this event

9.5                 Update on funding for defibrillator for NSC School

DCC Education had no plans currently to install defibrillators in schools.  There was a discounted purchase scheme available for school which would give a cost of approx. £1,3000.00 not including installation.  It was resolved to keep this on the agenda and to reconsider in the future

9.6                 To agree Community Volunteer of the year award

Two nominations had been received; however, one nomination was for a previous winner and the award could only be awarded once.  The presentation would hopefully take place at the Annual Parish Meeting

9.7                 To consider request to plant a tree

A request to plant a tree in memory of a relative who had lived and worked in the parish had been received for a donation of £100.00 for the tree.   Cllr D Hodge would ask the arboretum committee to follow through provided the tree could be planted in the arboretum 

Minuted here but taken after Item 3

10/03/22      Devon County Council

10.1               Outstanding Highways issues

• Speed restrictions in Station Road – SCARF re test requested – with Cllr M Squires/NHM to action – there was no update
• Request for a School sign in Station Road and possible zig-zag lines outside the school. With NHM to consider a sign and or a SCARF retest. There was no update
• Salt bin for Kingfisher Close – Cllr M Squires confirmed the request had been submitted. Cllr M Squires reported that it was preferable to move grit bins that were not fully used rather than install a new one.  However, as there were no bins that met this criteria, it was agreed to put this on the next agenda to agree funding.  Cllr M Squires offered to pay £200.00 from her locality budget
• Gateway to Mid Devon sign – it was agreed to remove this item from the list
• Broken bollards by bus stop at Tytheing Close – these had been removed and could be taken off the list
• Request for a hash sign on the A377 by Station Road - it was agreed to remove this item from the list as traffic blocking Station Road was not an issue.

10.2               New Highway issues  

Broken bollard on the Half Moon Island

Blocked drains on Tin Pit Hill

Pot holes in Half Moon layby

10.3               To note invitation to request a 20mph speed zone by the school

Details had been circulated and it was resolved to make the request to DCC 

10.4               To consider the “20 is plenty” campaign

Details had been circulated and it was agreed to back the campaign

10.5               County Councillor, Cllr M Squires, to report on DCC business relevant to the parish

A report had been circulated and was noted.

Cllr R Cashmore reported that the volunteer road wardens were required to undertake risk assessment and submit these for agreement to our Neighbourhood Highways Manager (NHM) before any work was undertaken.  However, our NHM does not answer emails or phone calls and it was proving impossible to get any feedback or assistance.  Cllr M Squires was asked to try and sort this out so that risk assessments could be agreed within a short period of time. 

11/03/22      Miscellaneous Correspondence

Various newsletters/correspondence circulated

MDDC State of the District Debate – 5 April 

12/03/22      Minor Matters and Items for Future Agenda

None noted              

13/03/22      Date of next PC meeting: Thursday 7 April 2022, 7pm in the Club Room, Parish Hall

Date of APM Wednesday 6 April 2022, 7pm in the Main Hall, Parish Hall

 

End of Formal Business

Public Participation

There was none 

The meeting closed at 8.55pm