Parish Council Minutes: June 2024
DRAFT MINUTES
These minutes will be agreed at the Parish Council meeting to be held on 8th July 2024 and might be subject to slight amendment
The minutes of a meeting of Oakford Parish Council held in the Committee Room at Oakford Village Hall on Monday 10th June 2024 at 7.30pm
Present:
Cllr’s J Levick (Chair of Meeting), F Cross, L Gould, J Mayer and V Stevens.
In attendance:
District Cllr C Adcock, three members of the public and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.
In the absence of both the Chair and Vice-chair it was agreed that Cllr Levick would chair the meeting.
15/06/24. To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies were accepted from Cllr’s G Baylis and J Cridland. Apologies were received from District Cllr R Gilmour.
16/06/24. Declarations of Interest.
There were no declarations.
17/06/24. Public Forum.
A member of the public asked how the Parish Council would handle things that are handed down when Devon County Council and Torbay Council merge as there is a lack of training in planning and licensing. There are no plans at the moment to remove the District Councils and planning and licensing will not be handed down to Town and Parish Councils. Cllr Cross noted there is training and other matters available to parish councillors.
One of the new owners of Newhouse Farm introduced himself and his mother. Plans for a small riding school were explained, prior to a planning application being submitted. Seven stables of a wood design will be built, creating a U shaped stable yard. There will be a small number of additional vehicle movements and this will be covered in the planning application. He is trying to get information about water courses from MDDC. The aim is to keep overheads low and provide riding lessons for all ages. A councillor said she didn’t have a horse but would like to ride. The nearest riding stables is the Rose and Crown Riding Stables at Calverleigh and one in the parish could benefit the Red Lion Hotel. Whatever is built will not be seen. Councillors said they looked forward to receiving the application. It was noted there are private schooling yards in the area, one is being built at Stoodleigh.
18/06/24. To agree the minutes of the annual meeting held on 13th May 2024 as an accurate record of the meeting.
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and they were duly signed by the Chair of the meeting.
19/06/24. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
None.
20/06/24. Planning
a) To comment on any planning applications received before the meeting.
No applications received.
b) To note any planning decisions made by MDDC.
No decisions received.
c) Update on alleged planning breaches.
John Millar, Area East Team Leader (Development Management MDDC, has provided an update to the District Cllrs by email, on Spurway Barton. He has previously been in direct communication with the applicant’s agent and identified the various breaches and issues on site. Following that, they wanted to detail their plans for the site and entered into pre-application discussions in order to seek advice on the overall acceptability of their proposals in order to determine how best to approach the issues on site, and seek to regularise, as appropriate. He has recently completed those discussions and will be writing back with his final recommendations, after which he will look to seek resolution, having given a short period of time for them to digest. He can’t give specifics of their final proposals at this point, or really advise on his recommendations, however he said there are elements he is more comfortable with, some elements that may be policy compliant subject to detail, and others that he is not happy with and unlikely to be supporting. Next stage therefore is for the applicants to receive his advice, review and then decide how they want to proceed. Mr Millar will be requesting reassurance on a couple of matters such as cessation of unauthorised occupation, or will be asking that an enforcement notice is served in the near future.
d) Enforcement and Class Q changes (Information from MDDC circulated).
The information, circulated as a Powerpoint presentation, was noted.
e) Any other planning matters.
No other planning matters.
21/06/24. Highways:
a) Any matters to note or report.
No matters noted or reported.
b) To note dangerous road conditions at Ford Moor Cross (almost invisible road markings when approaching Ford Moor Cross from High Way).
Cllr Baylis has reported the issue of almost invisible road markings when approaching Ford Moor Cross from High Way. Apart from not being able to see the lines when approaching the blind junction, the road surface wear marks seem to show that the road continues straight across the junction.
c) Update on flooding issues/blocked drains.
No update.
d) Update on improving signage on Hangmans Hill.
No update. The Clerk will follow this up.
Action: The Clerk to contact Cllr Chesterton and Melanie McKenna, Neighbourhood Highways Officer.
e) Update on parish maps.
Councillors discussed the options circulated by email by Cllr Baylis. The example map does not show the footpaths in the parish. This item will be discussed further at the next meeting when Cllr Baylis is present.
Two members of the public left the meeting.
22/06/24. Reports:
a) County Cllr Report.
No report.
b) District Cllr Report.
A written report had been circulated by email. The report included information on:
Updated MDDC Cabinet Portfolios and Policy Development Groups.
Cllr Gwen Duchesne MBE has been given the position of Cabinet Member for Community and Parish Engagement.
Consistency in planning decisions
Planning enforcement – two new officers are expected to be appointed soon.
Waste collection and councillor events
D DAY 80th Anniversary and the raising of the D DAY 80 Flag of Peace at Phoenix House.
Impact of the General Election – Cllr Gilmour is standing as a candidate and her attention will be less focussed on District Council issues until then. Cllr Adcock and Cllr Gilmour will continue to work on current casework.
Performance review for District Cllrs.
Cllr Mayer reported that in Oakford side waste had not been collected and had not been put in a black bin afterwards. She asked whether MDDC are going to investigate if black bags of waste are left lying around. There will be a conversation about recycling and waste.
23/06/24. Update on SWW work to the sewerage treatment works.
There has been no issues with smell and the treatment works seem to be working okay.
24/06/24. Community Area:
a) Any points to note from inspections of community area.
Cllr Levick’s inspection reports and photos were given to the Clerk.
He reported that he was still waiting for people to look at the bridge at the entrance to give quotes.
Cllr Levick will check that Hampton Maintenance will cut the grass in the community area in the week before the fete on 29th June.
Cllr Stevens will get the replacement gate and three bags of sand for the pétanque court before the fete. He offered to store any sand that is left over. It was suggested having a cover for the pétanque court when it wasn’t in use.
Actions: Cllr Levick to check Hampton Maintenance will cut the grass in the week before the fete.
Cllr Stevens to purchase a new gate and 3 dumpy bags of sand.
b) Update on replacement of gate at the top of the play area.
Cllr Stevens will replace the gate before the fete.
Action: Cllr Stevens to replace the gate before the fete.
c) Any matters to note.
Cllr Mayer reported that she had mentioned the suggestion of creating a footpath between the Village Hall carpark and the Community Area at the last Village Hall Committee meeting and committee members were supportive. The next step would be to approach the landowner for discussion about permission to use the land needed. There will be an agenda item at the next meeting for further discussion.
Action: Clerk to add item to agenda for 8th July meeting to discuss possible footpath.
Cllr Adcock left the meeting.
25/06/24. Finance
a) To approve any invoices or expense claims presented for payment.
It was resolved to make the following payments:
Oakford Village Hall - £261.00 room hire (Payment ref: 2425/08)
Hampton Maintenance - £360.00 2 cuts of grass (Payment ref: 2425/09)
Mrs J Larcombe - £150.45 Clerk’s salary for May (Payment ref: 2425/10)
On the 28th June bank charges of £18.00 will be paid from the Current Account.
An internal transfer will be made from the Instant Access Account to the Current Account to return the balance to £500.00.
b) To note any receipts since the last meeting and the bank balances.
Since the last meeting there have been no receipts. The Current Account balance is £500.00 and the Instant Access Account balance is £16,417.73.
c) Bank reconciliation 31.05.24.
This was checked by Cllr Levick.
d) To receive the Internal Audit Report.
Deferred to the next meeting.
e) To agree the Annual Governance Statement for 2023-24.
It was agreed that all boxes could be ticked yes and the statement was duly signed by the Chair of the meeting and Clerk.
f) To agree the Accounting Statement for 2023-24.
The Accounting Statement was agreed and having already been signed by the RFO it was duly signed by the Chair of the meeting.
g) To agree that the Parish Council wishes to certify itself as exempt from a limited assurance review under Section 9 of the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015.
It was agreed that the Council would declare itself exempt and the form was duly signed by the Chair of the meeting and the Clerk/RFO.
26/06/24. Correspondence:
The following correspondence was noted.
DALC Newsletters
MDDC press releases
MDDC - Drop in Surgeries for Waste and Recycling Queries 19 and 26 June
Devon Community Resilience – (Free) Community Planning Event (Mid Devon) 12th June.
27/06/24. To confirm the date of the next meeting.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 8th July 2024.
28/06/24. District Councillors Review (Part 2 item).
Councillors resolved that due to the confidential nature of the business about to be contracted that the public be excluded and they are instructed to withdraw.
The member of the public left the meeting.
The meeting closed at 9.00pm.