Skip to main content

This site uses cookies to make things simpler. Find out more about cookies

Parish Council Minutes January 26 2021

Minutes of Stoodleigh Parish Council Meeting held remotely on Tuesday, January 26th at 7.00pm

Members present -: Chairman Cllr L Biles  Cllr S Davey  Cllr G Parkman  Cllr C Payne  Cllr G Talbot

County Cllr P Colthorpe  District Cllr A Moore

  1. Apologies – these were received from Cllr W Knowles and Cllr J Widdowson
  2. Declarations of Interest – Cllr G Talbot and Cllr S Davey declared personal interest in the planning application 20/02111/PNCOU
  3. The Public – 3 members of the public had chosen to join the meeting. Andrew Dale-Harris and Chris Bowman wished to comment on Item 7. They expressed similar concerns on the trend to sell off small areas of local woodland to individuals. The purchasers then frequently applied to MDDC to erect a tool/forestry shed on the land. Over time these buildings tend to become more substantial and suitable for other use. Mr Dale- Harris has photographic evidence of this and asked for further investigation. Mr Bowman added that there had been a noticeable increase in traffic as a result of this fragmentation of the woodland and the planning department seemed unaware of the situation.
  4. Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on October 9th and November 30th 2020 – these were approved as a true record to be signed at a later date. The date of the Planning Meeting was amended to the 9th October from that on the agenda.
  5. Reports

County Council – a report had been circulated in advance. The DCC is currently holding budget meetings and any amendments would be submitted for consideration in February.

There may be some money still available in the S106 budget which covers Oakford, Stoodleigh, Templeton and Washfield.

District Council – MDDC was also working on budgets and there was a shortfall of £386K so money was to be moved across from the New Homes Project. Dean Emery has been making significant effort to encourage grant funding for individuals and businesses.

Parish Councillors – nothing to report from the Village Hall Committee.

Blocked drains were still regularly reported to Steve Leigh. 

The damaged salt bin at Kissing Gate Triangle has still not been replaced.

Chris Whitehead, Malcolm Jones and others have been restoring the Stoodleigh Moor Finger Post but have now used up all the surplus letters. They requested council support to purchase any materials necessary to complete the work as there is still another to tackle at, West End X.  There is a possibility of £500 from the Locality Budget: The Clerk will make application.

  1. Planning

20/01972/FULL Erection of a tree house and provision of holiday accommodation, Down Farm

20/01976/TPO Tree surgery, Jessica Cottage – permitted

20/01928/PNCOU Conversion of a woodland shed to residential accommodation, NGR 289696 119959 Little Wood (Bilberry Wood) Oakford – refused

20/02111/PNCOU Change of use of an agricultural building to 2 dwellings under Class Q, land and buildings at NGR 293605 120341 (West of Valley View Farm). This was briefly discussed and as there were no strong feelings either way the decision was taken not to comment

Wheatland Forestry Proposal, woodland plan and extensive tree surgery Thorne Farm - there is no further action to be taken at this stage by the parish council but it will request to be included in notice of any forward plans. Dates relative to temporary diversions of the bridle ways or footpaths during work needs to be made clear to the public via the parish website etc.

  1. Marked increase in building projects within the local woodland – Cllr Payne had produced a table giving clear examples of how the original permissions granted for “sheds” to support forestry work was being stretched. These small plots, sold to individuals varied in size but some comprised both woodland and pasture. The problem is getting worse.

District Cllr Moore agreed that he would raise the subject with the Planning Department but would like maps and photographic evidence to support the case.

  1. The Playground – the annual inspection is to be carried out in March. Previously Cllr Knowles had requested to be present to discuss issues including the amount of additional bark required to comply. The cost of an arranged appointment is £42 + VAT. This was agreed and the Clerk to action.
  2. Church Path Gates – in the absence of Cllr Knowles it was difficult to establish the current position with Brett Wright. Some time had elapsed since Stags had fixed their sign to the gates and it was probably too late to make a claim even if valid. Cllr Davey would ask for a maintenance visit as some minor adjustment was needed any way.
  3. Fly Tipping and the Spring Litter Pick – there had been some serious incidents of fly tipping. Much of this rubbish had been cleared by residents and MDDC, who were prompt at responding. Cameras would be ideal to identify the culprits but this would involve multiple land owners, like wise with erecting notices. The best solution appeared to ask people to stay vigilant and report any findings on line to MDDC.

The formal Spring Litter Pick would feature on the March Agenda, in the meantime individuals seemed to be carrying out general litter picking.

  1. Survey/Questionaire completion – there had been several of these requests received within a short time frame and all ran to several pages. The Chairman volunteered to tackle Devon Communities Together Survey. The Climate Emergency Response Support Network Survey and the Interim Devon Carbon Plan were left for completion by councillors if motivated.
  2. March Meeting Date – it was agreed to reschedule this back to Monday 29th The dates for 2021/2022 would also be decided then.
  3. Finance

Current HSBC account as at 12/1/21  £7294.69

The Clerk proposed that Jill Larcombe be appointed as the auditor for 2021 as she had availability and already carried out audits on other local parishes. She had no idea of actual cost but would enquire further, it no doubt would reflect on the standard of accounts submitted. Ian Bray had acted as auditor as a last minute favour last year and it was not considered diplomatic to ask him again.

Cllr Parkman had paid for the mole clearance and £10 reimbursement was agreed.

Donation request from Citizen’s Advice – at the suggestion of Cllr Talbot it would seem sensible to consider similar requests one or twice a year so these could be classified in some order of merit according to available finance.