September 2007
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on 14th September 2007 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 7.50pm
1 Member of the public present. Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
- MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: D Hamer (Chair), Mr R Branton, Mrs S Brown, Mrs J Woolley, Mr R Norman, Mrs L Veen and Mr R Adcock.
- APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
2.1 Had been received from DCC Cllr Des Hannon and PC M Dodd.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (20th July 2007)
3.1 Minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting held on 20th July 2007 had been previously circulated. They were signed as a true record of the meeting with no amendments.
- MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 All members confirmed that they had sent their revised Registers of Interest to MDDC.
- FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £ 2447.72
Income since last meeting £ Nil
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursement:
RLP Hodgson for Clerk’s expenses (£7.65)
UHRA for hire of Hall (£24.00)
5.3 The Clerk reported that the Annual Audit had been completed and that the Auditor had made no comment for the Council’s attention.
- PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS
6.1 07/01023/F Spalsbury Fm : Conversion of barn (+LBC). This had been withdrawn
6.2 07/01425/F Spalsbury Fm : Conversion of barn (+LBC). Resubmitted. UPC had made no objection
6.3 07/01105/F Greengate Cottage: Erection of conservatory. Approved by MDDC
6.4 07/01163/LBC Trucklegate Cott: Listed Building Consent for reroofing. Approved by MDDC
6.5 07/01510LBC & 01513F: 1 Staplegate Cott Extension. UPC had inspected and made no Objection
6.6 07/01576/FULL: Last Meadow, Uplowman Rd: erection of 2 mobile homes + site for traveller. Although this was not in Uplowman Parish, UPC had asked to be informed about the site. The Clerk had consulted with a majority of councillors and had sent an objection to this application as potentially setting an unwelcome precedent for unplanned development in rural areas, if granted.
6.7 07/01654/Full: Chilomene Farm: Erection of 2 mobile chalets, just received. The site would be inspected.
- CORRESPONDENCE
A list of correspondence received and sent had been circulated. Attention was drawn to the following items of interest that were not covered elsewhere:
7.1 MDDC were running a consultation on the Local Framework, with responses needed by 25 September.
7.2 DCC had now adopted the County Waste Management Plan. It was agreed that UPC did not need a paper copy.
7.3 MDDC Chairman would host 3 receptions to honour local activists during the autumn. It was agreed to nominate the former Chair and Vice Chair (John White and Richard Burman) for invitations. The Clerk would inform MDDC.
7.4 The DAPC Annual General Meeting would include a conference but no councillor wsas available to attend.
7.5 Cllr Hamer noted that he had been invited to the Annual District Service in Crediton Church the previous Sunday and had attended.
- HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
8.1 The Hall continued to be fully booked at weekends and to have regular use by a variety of clubs during the week.
8.2 Lights would be installed by UHRA on the bridge soon. After discussion, it was greed that Cllr Adcock would obtain a sign, matching the existing signs, to be erected on the bridge and that UPC would fund the purchase of the sign.
- EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
9.1 There was considerable discussion over the process for revising the emergency plan. It was agreed that Cllr Adcock and the Clerk would set up a display at the planned Annual Parish Social that would inform the public of the forthcoming revision of the plan, invite them to offer skills or resources in an emergency and invite their comments and suggestions. Following that, each councillor would visit the homes in his/her area as a follow-up, before revision of the present document. Members of the public might like to be asked to be involved. Some people with expertise in this field were suggested and Cllr Hamer would approach them.
9.2 Cllr Veen (Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator) had received no reports from NW. Cllr Woolley said there had been a suspected break-in attempt but this had not been reported through NW.
9.3 There had been a disturbance during a party at the Hall on 8 August. There had been reports that the police had been slow to contain it. Cllrs Veen and Adcock reported that, in their view, the response had been correct and the trouble had been contained with a minimum of fuss. One policeman had to wait with the young people until their families returned for them. It was agreed that the Police should be congratulated for the appropriateness of their response. The Clerk would respond accordingly to PC Dodd.
- VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
10.1 The survey suggestions would be presented at the Annual Social with reports on progress and inviting suggestions for prioritisation. The suggestion that Uplowman might enter the ‘Best Kept’ village competition should be included.
10./2 DCC Highway officers had inspected the proposed footpath site in August. The minutes of the meeting, which had been attended by Cllr Brown and the Clerk, were noted. They had raised some additional issues and subsequent correspondence with Cllr Hannon confirmed that the proposals for the footpath were being drafted and options for funding were.being explored. It was expected that plans would be available during the Autumn.
10.3 It was noted that several UPC signs around the crossroads were no longer in place. Cllr Adcock said he had replaced the direction to the Hall Carpark but it had been taken down again by persons unknown. He would reinstate it. The Clerk would investigate re-fixing the ‘no parking’ sign.
10.4 The Noticeboard had been repaired. Cllr Adcock would chase up an invoice for this work.
10.5 It was agreed to hold the Annual Parish Social Event in the Hall starting at 7.30pm on 12th October. Cllr Woolley would draft posters and fliers to advertise the event, which would be sponsored jointly by UHRA and UPC. A list of local social and sporting groups was drawn up, whom Cllr Hamer would approach to invite their participation in the event. The format would be fairly open with each participating organisation producing a display to inform the public of activities in the Parish. Food would be free, courtesy of UPC, with a cash bar organised by Cllr Veen. UHRA would provide the Hall free of charge. Cllr Norman would make enquiries of possible caterers for a ‘cheese and biscuits’ style of refreshment.
- CONDITION OF ROAD/TRANSPORT IN THE PARISH
11.1 Some holes had been filled and it appeared that there were plans to do more.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be on Friday 9 November. Future meeting dates were fixed as Jan 11th, March 7th, May 9th and July 18th 2008.
The meeting closed at 9.30pm
Public Forum before meeting (7.30-7.50pm)
There was some discussion about planning processes for the information of a member of the Public.