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Minutes Council Meeting September 26 2022

Minutes of Stoodleigh Parish Council held on September 26 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall

Members present -: Chairman Cllr W Knowles  Vice Chair Cllr J Widdowson  Cllr S Davey  Cllr G Parkman  Cllr C Payne  Cllr G Talbot  Cllr D Wotton

County Cllr R Chesterton

The Chairman extended  a welcome to the new member David Wotton

  1. Apologies – received from District Cllr R Stanley
  2. Declarations of Interest – none received
  3. The Public – there were 3 members present who wished to voice support for Item 12 on the agenda – to Fly the Flag from St Margaret’s Church. There is significant interest in Stoodleigh to do this and £1871 has been already raised. A survey is scheduled for 24th October and in the interim a rough guide for cost was given of £2300. A request was made for the council to contribute £500 towards the project. County Cllr Chesterton suggested that DCC Locality Budget might be a possible solution although there had been a temporary halt to this funding. Clerk to investigate further and liaise with Jeannie Knowles. Email Richard prior to making any submission.
  4. Minutes of the meetings held August 24th and 7th September – these were approved and signed as a true record with one small change on the August minutes: “committed” amended to “community” under Item 8. Minutes of the 25th July were belatedly signed.
  5. Reports

County Council – inflation is causing problems with meeting the DCC budget which was agreed in February. Since then the cost of materials etc (especially where highways are involved) have significantly increased. District Cllr Stanley had sent a summary in his absence, stating that last year’s accounts have been signed off and little else of major importance has happened.

  1. Planning applications and Outcomes

22/00924/LBC Internal & external restoration works, including replacement of windows, doors and front porch & replacement of cement render with lime and putty on the front elevation, great Coleford House. Cllr Payne had been unable to arrange a site visit so it was thought best to support and accept the conservation officer’s decision. Clerk to confirm this with MDDC.

22/01383/CAT Lift the crown of 2 sycamore trees, The Vicarage, 3 Court Gardens – no objection

22/01547/FULL Erection of permanent holiday accommodation at lower Ford Riding Centre. Cllr Knowles was of the opinion that local business plans should be encouraged. He was surprised that the proposed site for the lodge was so close to the boundary hedge.  It was decided to support the application with certain provisions – the accommodation should be for holiday occupation and not long term residential: the lodge should be tied to the main business and not eligible to be sold off as a separate unit and that the site be chosen be further away from the boundary.

22/01572/FULL Formation of an all weather riding arena, land and buildings NGR 292814 120014 West Steart Farm – awaiting decision

22/01768/CAT Notification to remove 2 ash trees within a conservation area, The Old Farmhouse NGR 292310 118857, The council had no objection and appreciated that there was likely to be even more diseased trees to remove.

6b. Possible Unauthorised Works

 The situation when a formal planning application appears not to have been submitted with regard to building works and alterations was discussed. Completion of the online forms on the MDDC website is always a good start. Once the District Council have been made aware of a possible breach of planning procedures the matter is best left to the enforcement officer. Examples of recent concern were alterations to 2, Hillcrest and the delivery of a mobile home in the field next to the Stoodleigh X  controversial, but approved development plan. Cllrs Payne and Davey would further investigate.

  1. Defibrillator – actual physical examination of the equipment was left until the end of the meeting. The rota for weekly checks for the machine was handed out. If inconvenient please can councillors sort cover between themselves. Any problems report to the Clerk. The life of the expendable parts varies between 2-5 years. The battery was replaced 29/9/20 and the cartridge 23/11/20. The Clerk was asked to research an easy way of obtaining replacements and clearer advice on the duration of such items. Cllr Talbot suggested that an annual reminder be logged.
  1. Footpaths and Highways -

Footpath 1. The Church Path is severely overgrown, mainly with laurel and consequently difficult to cut back with a hedge trimmer in the present state. It was agreed to get a professional firm to initially correct the problem. The Chairman agreed to get 3 quotes to include chipping. The excessive vegetation is detrimental to the actual ground surface which already in disrepair. Cllr Davey will arrange to walk the path with Cllr Chesterton to decide on preferable remedial action.

Church Path Gates, Roger Hill has this task in hand and will most likely remove the gates for restorative treatment.

Footpath 10. Cllr Knowles was confident that the situation had been satisfactorily resolved.  It is a permitted bridleway and the owners only wish to exclude the local hunts from use. They do request that users keep to the footpath and keep dogs on leads or under strict control.

Road surface from Broadmead X towards Oakford. Tim Hugill had specifically asked for council support at the August meeting. The council acknowledged that this stretch of road was in particularly bad repair. Cllr Widdowson agreed to report on the relevant website, uploading photographs and then forwarding the reference number to Cllr Chesterton.

The deadline for the Washfield Definitive Map review consultation has been extended to November. Cllr Knowles has deeds showing the right of way for Pond House – Watery Lane which has been used as a footpath for a number of years. Some landowners are worried that there may be increased use of the track if formally advertised. The end gates are currently locked discouraging use. If people wish to permanently amend the map for the future generations evidence of historical use should be submitted to Tania Weeks, DCC.    

  1. The Playground – the seesaw has been fully repaired. Action to reduce the fall height from the climbing frame is still outstanding. Cllr Widdowson thought that some topsoil and a small amount of turf would solve the problem. Cllr Knowles encouraged Cllr Parkman and others to assist.

The churchyard wall bushes and greenery will be trimmed back and left as is, actual ownership is still undetermined. The bench which is overshadowed by the overgrown bushes probably needs replacing – Clerk to look into S106 funding. Cllr Widdowson agreed to get 3 quotes, he already has a guide price of £516 for a recycled material seat.    

  1. Parish Review - before the council wish to forward any recommendations for alterations to the parish boundary it was thought that the likely residents who would be affected should be consulted. Cllr Payne agreed to contact those occupants. So far only 2 suggestions have been forthcoming from parishioners. The issue arose when the North Devon Link Road was constructed segregating a small part of the parish. This affected a small part of Loxbeare and an area of Stoodleigh, around Gibbet Moor.
  2. Crime Prevention - after looking into the provision of CCTV by the council to monitor activities within the parish it was found that there are a number of complications, legal, time and expense wise with installation and monitoring of the footage. There is a possibility of arranging a bulk discount purchase of cameras should residents wish to buy and take on some individual responsibility. The WhatsApp group is growing in membership. The intention being to alert neighbours of unusual activity in the area. Cllrs Davey and Widdowson will look into this further.
  3. Fly the Flag – Cllr Talbot felt a final decision on any financial contribution should be delayed until the end of the financial year as previously agreed with other requests for donations. Those present at the meeting were in agreement that the idea should be supported but that any funding should wait for the survey results which would give a more accurate cost analysis. The proposal to fund up to £500 if the Locality Budget failed to help out was proposed by Cllr Knowles and seconded Cllr Davey, agreed.
  1. Finance

HSBC current account as of 12/9/22         £11,284.01

Payments were approved - J Widdowson £368 for work carried out to playground equipment

Clerk 6 month salary £720             Admin expenses £74      HMRC £201.37. This had been quoted at £180 but as highlighted in the annual audit particular payments to HMRC had been overlooked. By claiming salary every 6 months the total sum came into the higher bracket. In future the salary will be claimed every 2 months to avoid the need for this NIC employer contribution.