March 2008
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on 7th March 2008 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 8.25pm
1 Member of the public present. Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
- MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Mr R Branton (Chair in absence of Mr D Hamer), Mrs J Woolley, Mr R Norman and Mrs S Brown.
- APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
2.1 Had been received from Mr D Hamer (Social engagement) and Mr R Adcock (abroad). Cllr Veen had tendered her resignation owing to having too many other commitments.
2.2 The Clerk explained that the vacancy created by Mrs Veen’r resignation would be advertised. Unless ten parishioners called for an election within 15 working days, a replacement could then be co-opted.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (11th January 2008)
3.1 Minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting held on 11th January 2008 had been previously circulated. They were signed by the Chair as a true record of the meeting with no amendments.
- MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 There were no matters arising that would not be dealt with under the Agenda.
- FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £ 1190.99
Income since last meeting (VAT refund) £ 778.75
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursement:
Clerk’s expenses (£ 4.82)
It was agreed that the DAPC subscription (£55) would be renewed for 2008 and could be deducted from the Annual Precept payment.
5.3 The Clerk presented draft accounts for 2007/8, explaining that, as the Annual Meeting in May would be the only opportunity before the Audit date for the Councillors to sign off the accounts, this provided advance notice of their likely content. It was agreed that the Clerk would ask Mr Clark, should he be willing, to undertake the duties of Internal Auditor again. Cllrs Brown and Norman would inspect the books at the end of April.
- PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS
6.1 08/00019/F: Two Hoots Extensionn. UPC had inspected and made No Objection
6.2 Locks Farm: Prior Approval had been granted for erection of a storage shed.
6.3 08/00021/F: Wood End - erection of sheds. UPC had inspected and made No Objection
6.4 08/00219/F: School House Annex:disabled access- was considered at the meeting and no objection made
6.5 08/00206/LBC: 2 Staplegate: windows- was considered at the meeting and no objection made
6.6 07/01576/F: Mobile homes at Putson X: An appeal had been made against refusal of the latest app.
6.7 Planning Training - Had been arranged by MDDC for 15 Mar. No Councillors were able to attend.
6.8 Strategic Housing Land Availability - Was considered but no comments were raised.
- 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 Plymouth University had sent survey forms on the duties of councillors, which had been circulated before the meeting. The Clerk would return any received by the following Monday to Plymouth.
7.2 DCC would be holding a Listening Event at Ash Thomas on 12th March. Unfortunately, no Councillor was able to be there.
- HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
8.1 The committee room was being recarpeted. ‘Star in their Eyes’ had been successful and bookings were still good.
- EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
9.1 Peter Brown, the District Emergency Planning Officer, had addressed the open meeting earlier in the evening. It was agreed that councillors would get together on 4th April to arrange the completion and distribution of the emergency plan in the light of Mr Brown’s presentation.
9.2 Cllr Veen being absent, there was no report from Neighbourhood Watch. The Clerk reported that PC Dodd had been reassigned and as far as he knew, PC Dodd’s replacement was not yet in post.
- VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
10.1 School Path: There had been little progress, due to commitments elsewhere in the DCC design team. Cllr Hannon had assured the Clerk that work was about to resume on drafting plans.
10.2 There was discussion about making charitable donations from the Precept funds. It was agreed that donations to local charities that provide benefits within Uplowman would be considered at the next meeting.
10.3 It was felt that consideration of village enhancement projects would benefit from advice form the highways professionals on what traffic management measures might be practicable in Uplowman and what the implications of adopting such measures might be. The Clerk would invite the DCC Area Supervisor to the next meeting.
- CONDITION OF ROAD/TRANSPORT IN THE PARISH
11.1 The Clerk had written to Mr Tancock to ask his continued attention to Uplowman’s grassed areas.
11.2 The road underdrains were blocked on the Beerdown road. This was a matter for the Parish Lengthsman.
11.3 It was noted that, following intervention from Cllr Hamer, the dustbin on the Green would now be emptied regularly.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be the Annual Meeting on May 9th with a following meeting arranged for July 18th 2008.The Clerk and the Chair would consult with Mrs Veen over subsequent meeting dates.
The meeting closed at 9.50pm
Public Forum before meeting (7.30-8.25pm)
This was entirely taken up with a spirited presentation by Mr Peter Brown, the District Emergency Planning Officer.
Mr Brown outlined the three levels of emergency response:
Gold: Central coordination for major incidents, at Police HQ, Middlemoor
Silver: Tactical command, local police inspector - makes decisions on the ground
Bronze: The front line: firemen, police, paramedics and so on.
He described the various phases of response, including:
Life-saving, or immediate response, when Gold is in charge
Recovery, when Silver, or local command, takes over.
Mr Brown said that all involved woul be doing their usual jobs but maybe in unusual ways and under more pressure - eg. Housing dept would be sorting out any accommodation needs.
The Civil Emergencies Act, brought in after the Fuel strikes, Foot & Mouth and recent flooding emergencies, had refined emergencies as covering Human Welfare and Environmental disasters. Parish Councils now had no statutory role but would be expected to play an advisory role at a local level.