Parish Council Minutes: February 2022
The Minutes of a Meeting of Oakford Parish Council held at Oakford Village Hall on Monday 14th February 2022 at 7.30 pm
Present
Cllr’s G Baylis (Chair), J Cousins, L Gould, J Mayer and V Stevens.
In attendance
District Cllr A Moore and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.
150/02/22. To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies were accepted from Cllr R Brain.
151/02/22. Declarations of Interest.
Cllr Cousins declared a personal and prejudicial interest in planning application 22/00255/CAT as the owner of the property.
152/02/22. Public Forum.
No members of the public present.
153/02/22. To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 10th January 2022 as an accurate record of the meetings.
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record and were duly signed by the Chair.
154/02/22. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
Cllr Baylis has spoken to Cllr Stevens about the wording to be engraved on the plaque which will be put on the bench to commemorate his late father’s long service on the Parish Council. He has also spoken to him about the flooding at the top of Rookery Hill and Cllr Stevens will have a look to see if a gully could be dug to drain the water away.
Cllr Baylis has put up the two smaller ’20 is Plenty’ signs and will put one of the larger signs in the phone box when there is less condensation. Seddons gave the Council the larger signs and they are now contacting other Parish Councils to offer to supply them with ’20 is Plenty’ signs.
Actions: Cllr Baylis to arrange for a plaque to be engraved with agreed wording.
Cllr Baylis to put larger sign in phone box when there is less condensation.
155/02/22. Planning
a) To comment on any planning applications received before the meeting.
21/01468/House Alterations to parking area (revised drawings). Location: Bakery Cottage, Oakford. It was noted that revised drawings have been submitted as the applicant has been told the two trees they wanted to remove are community assets. No comment made.
22/00179/House Removal of condition (e) of planning permission 80/01078/FULL relating to an agricultural tie - Erection of a farmhouse. Location: Exeridge Farm, Bampton. No comment made.
22/00202/LBC Listed Building Consent for replacement of barn with holiday let Location: Land and Buildings at NGR 287183 122509 North Esworthy, Oakford. No comment made.
22/00255/CAT Notification of intention to fell 6 Leylandii trees and 2 Ash trees within the Conservation Area. Location: The Old Smithy, Bampton, Tiverton. Cllr Cousins declared a personal and prejudicial interest and left the room while the application was discussed. The Ash trees are dead due to Ash Die Back disease. Comment: Oakford Parish Council support the felling of the trees.
22/00280/CAT Notification of intention to fell 3 Ash trees within the Conservation Area. Location: Longworth, Holme Place, Oakford. It was noted that permission was given for this work in 2020 but it wasn’t carried out because of Covid. No comment made.
b) To note the comments made for:
21/02548/House & 21/02549/LBC Erection of a two storey extension following demolition of existing single storey structure. Lower Woodburn Farm, Oakford.Comment: no objections.
c) To note any planning decisions made by MDDC.
21/02548/House Erection of a two storey extension following demolition of existing single storey structure. Lower Woodburn Farm, Oakford. Decision: conditional approval granted.
d) Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Consultation.
No comment made.
e) Plan Mid Devon Issues Consultation.
No comment made.
f) Any other planning matters.
Cllr Moore gave an update on Great Wood.
156/02/22. Highways: any matters to note.
No highway works carried out.
Cllr Mayer reported that at the end of Nethercott Lane some of the Devon bank has been removed to widen the road for lorries that are using the road to remove loads of wood from trees that have been felled.
Action: Cllr Moore will make Cllr Chesterton (County Councillor) aware of this and ask him to look at the planning considerations.
157/02/22. Confirmation that the annual P3 forms have been submitted.
Mr Northcott and the Clerk have completed the annual forms and these have been sent to DCC and their receipt acknowledged.DCC have arranged for Alex Stanbury, an approved contractor, to carry out some works to Footpath 5a. He will totally re deck the bridge and replace all steps and replace the stile with a kissing gate. The Parish Council will be asked to pay £400 towards this work and Mr Stanbury will send an invoice to the Clerk. There is £444.18 earmarked for P3 in the Current account and there will be a grant for 2022-23.
158/02/22. Reports
a) County Cllr.
No report.
b) District Cllr.
Cllr Moore reported that the last Council meeting had been interesting. Council had agreed some longer and shorter plans plans for climate change but there is a lack of money to carry out the plans and funding will need to be applied for. This includes plans to make the three leisure centres more environmentally friendly.
The Cabinet has approved a change to three weekly residual waste/black bag collections. Recycling and food waste collections will remain the same. A pilot scheme has shown that recycling rates improved and the amount food waste went up considerably when residual waste collections changed from two weekly to three weekly. There will be some savings in costs. Wheelie bins will be provided for the residual waste collection but there are issues to consider for properties in narrow alleyways and flats where wheelie bins might not be an option and in rural areas where wheelie bins cannot be dragged up farm tracks and driveways.
A litter strategy has been approved but enforcement will be difficult and MDDC will need to educate people. MDDC will support litter picking in parishes by providing equipment but someone in the parish will need to lead on this. Approval of the 2022-23 budget is coming up and the last £400,000 required to balance it will be taken from the New Homes Bonus. This use to be kept for capital projects but is now having to be used for operational use as well. This scheme is coming to an end.
MDDC is building six Zed Pod modular homes in Cullompton as a pilot and planning approval has been granted.
Cllr Moore suggested Oakford Parish Council needed to look at the Plan Mid Devon Consultation.
Cllr Mayer said Oakford Parish Council had asked for a waste bin but had been turned down. The need for the number of bins outside of Phoenix House was questioned, especially as fewer people are visiting. Cllr Moore will follow up MDDC’s refusal to supply a waste bin for Oakford.
Action: the Clerk to forward the emails between herself and MDDC regarding the request for a waste bin to Cllr Moore for him to follow up.
159/02/22. Community Area
a) Any points to note from the inspection of the community area.
Cllr Brain has carried out an inspection and there were no points to note.It was agreed that the Clerk would contact Rospa to arrange for the annual inspection of the play equipment and community area to take place in March as part of the inspection round for Devon.
Action: the Clerk to book the annual inspection of the play equipment etc with Rospsa.
Cllr Baylis has put up the PSPO sign in the community area and he reported a wobbly fence post. He has also put some explanatory information on the website, Facebook page and notice board.
b) Confirmation that the new gates have been ordered and to note delivery time.
The gates have now been ordered from Wicksteed Leisure Ltd and the order has been acknowledged. A twenty week delivery time has been given.
c) Ordering of the plaque for the bench to commemorate Richard Stevens.
This was discussed under item 154/02/22.
160/02/22. Finance
To approve any invoices or expense claims presented for payment.
It was resolved to make the following payment: Mrs J Larcombe - £159.12 Clerk’s salary (Payment ref: 2122/26).
On 4th February 2022 the Current Account balance was £10,017.36
A grant payment of £37.82 has been received from DCC for the notice board at Oakford Bridge.
Online banking update.
Cllr Baylis and Cllr Mayer can set up and authorise payments. Cllr Brain has been added as a signatory and the Clerk has been added as view only at this point. They are both waiting for bank cards and a card reader to be able to access the account. The Clerk will need to be a signatory to be able to set up payments. The bank cards only allow people to use the card reader and they cannot be used as a debit card. The Clerk explained that she had checked the NALC Joint Panel on Accountability & Governance Practitioners Guide and the two signatory rule for cheques has been removed so she could be added as a signatory which would allow her to set up payments for a councillor to authorise. Bank payments are usually only set up once they have been approved by the Council and the Payment Form signed by two of the signatories. Cllr Baylis explained that fixed dated have to be set up for payments to be authorised. If the payments are not authorised on this date they have to be set up again. Cllr Baylis did some online training and in his feedback on the session explained that setting up payments in this way did not work very well.
To note that an application for funding for proposed notice board for Oakford has been submitted.
An application was submitted by Cllr Baylis and he has now supplied the additional information requested so that it can be progressed. It can take up to three months for a decision to be made.
Annual Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Controls and Internal Audit.
Councillors agreed the Council’s internal controls and internal audit arrangements were effective and no changes were required at this point.
Appointment of Internal Auditor for 2021-22.
Karen Ward was agreed as the Internal Auditor for 2021-22.
To agree a General Reserves Policy.
The policy was agreed.
161/02/22. To agree a Co-option Policy.
A draft policy was circulated prior to the meeting. It was agreed that any co-option should be agreed at a special meeting of the Council which should be held in private. It was noted that the Council did not have to agree to co-opt any of the applicants and if the Council they were unsuitable at a previous co-option the Council could say they were unsuitable if they applied again. The vacancies for co-option will be advertised with a closing date of 14th March. The meeting to meet with applicants will be held on 21st March.
162/02/22. To note a complaint about the sewerage treatment works.
A member of the public has contacted South West Water twice to report that there was a smell of sewerage again. She cc’d Cllr Baylis into her emails to SWW. Mrs Otton has seen evidence of a spillage. A lot of rain is forecast and an eye will be kept on this.
163/02/22. Correspondence.
The following correspondence was noted:
DALC Newsletters
MDDC – Planning administration weekly updates
MDDC Town & Parish Newsletter February 2022
164/02/22. To agree the date of the next meeting.
The next meeting will be held on 14th March 2022 at 7.30pm.
There will be a report from the meeting to discuss Platinum Jubilee celebration events for the parish. Cllr Baylis and Cllr Mayer have been looking into lighting a beacon and a possible suitable site was suggested.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm.