January 2008

MINUTES OF MEETING

Held on 11^th January 2008 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 8.10pm

7 Members of the public present plus Cllrs R Radford (MDDC) and D Hannon (DCC, part meeting). Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.

 

1. MEMBERS PRESENT

1.1  Present: D Hamer (Chair), Mr R Branton, Mrs J Woolley, Mr R Norman and Mr R Adcock.

 

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2.1 Had been received from Cllr L Veen (Present for public discussion, then engaged on a family matter) and Cllr S Brown (social engagement).

 

3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (9^th November 2007)

3.1 Minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting held on 9^th November 2007 had been previously circulated. They were signed by the Chair as a true record of the meeting with no amendments.

 

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

4.1 There were no matters arising that would not be dealt with under the Agenda.

 

5. FINANCES

5.1 Current Balance: £ 1624.24

Income since last meeting £ Nil

5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursement:

     Clerk’s expenses (£ 6.63)

      R Tancock for grasscutting (£120), had been approved by email in Dec and paid at that time.

      Grant to UPPC for maintenance of Churchyard (£350, as agreed at 9^th Nov 2007)

      MDDC, Expenses for Election in May 2007(£735.37)

5.3 The Clerk presented a breakdown of the past 3 years’ expenditure. It was agreed that the Annual Precept should be raised by 5% to £2100 as it had not been changed for 2 years and the year-end reserve was drawing down.

 

6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS

6.1 07/01654/F: Chilomene Fm, erection of temp holiday chalets. MDDC Approved

6.2 07/02126/F: Middle Coombe Conv of Cider barn. MDDC Approved

6.3 08/00019/F: Two Hoots: Erection of extension: This would be inspected on 26^th Jan at 9.30am.

 

7. 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 Details of the Best Kept Village competition had been received. It was agreed not to investigate further.

7.2 MDDC had written with proposals for maintaining better links with Parish Councils and for partnerships for local service delivery. This had been discussed at a recent Clerks/MDDC meeting and there might be advantages for UPC and for parishioners in local delivery of local services. Further details were expected.

7.3 MDDC had arranged training in the revised Code of Conduct. Cllr Hamer had arranged to attend and would report back.

 

 

8. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION

 

8.1 Lights had now been installed on the footbridge. A social event ‘Stars in their eyes’ was planned for 16 Feb. Bookings continued to be good.

 

9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

9.1 A number fo survey planbs had been returned. There was still time to return further ones. The Clerk would review the comments. It was agreed that the Clerk should invite Peter Brown, the District Emergency Planning Officer, to the next meeting.

9.2 Cllr Veen had informed the meeting that the only item from Neighbourhood Watch had been a reported missing person, subsequently discovered safe and well.

 

 

 

11. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

10.1 School Path: Notes on a recent meeting with DCC were read. DCC Officers advised that the car-parking part of the scheme was deemed hazardous. They requested village feed-back on possible traffic calming measures. It was agreed to invite the DCC officers to outline to the PC what calming could legally and appropriately be installed and what the implications of any proposals (such as street lighting) might be. This should be a general presentation, not specific to the School Path issue. The Clerk would consult with Cllr Hannon.

 

 

 

11. CONDITION OF ROAD/TRANSPORT IN THE PARISH

11.1 It was agreed that Mr Tancock had done a good job keeping the grass tidy. The Clerk was asked to write to Mr Tancock to this effect and ask if he would undertake the service during 2008.

11.3 It was reported that repairs to the bridge over the leat on the footpath between the church and the school, reported broken in November, had been fixed by the DCC footpath team.

11.4 There had been complaints of noise from a regular motocross event. MDDC Environmental Health had been alerted and would monitor noise from the site.

 

 

 

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

The next meeting would be on Friday March 7^th, with further meetings arranged for May 9^th and July 18^th 2008. Cllr Hamer tendered his apologies in advance for the 7^th March and Cllr Branton agreed to Chair the meeting in his capacity as Vice Chair.

 

The meeting closed at 9.40pm

 

 

Public Forum before meeting (7.30-8.10pm)

 

There was considerable discussion over the proposed footpath. It was noted that the ditch beside the proposed path was partly silted up, causing it to overflow during heavy rain. There could be issues over a Wellingtonia tree in the copse and maybe the path could be moved into the field.

 

It was asked what the cost of the lease on the land would be. Cllr Hannon did not know, as this was still under negotiation.

 

One contributor considered that a 20mph speed limit was needed on the road, even though this would be hard to enforce. No-parking markings were needed, it was suggested. Another contributor thought that speed limits that could not be enforced were a waste of resources.

 

The issue of access by emergency services was raised. One emergency call (ambulance) had taken 1¹/4 hours to arrive because the satellite navigation system did not show parts of Whitnage correctly so the vehicle became lost. The emergency planning process should check this out.