May 2008

MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING

Held on 23^rd May 2008 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 7.30pm

 

No Member of the public present. Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.

 

1. MEMBERS PRESENT

1.1  Present: Mr D Hamer, Mr R Branton, Mrs J Woolley, Mr R Adcock and Mrs S Brown.

1.2  Election of Chair and Vice Chair: Mr Hamer and Mr Branton were elected unopposed as Chair and Vice Chair for the coming year, 2007-8.

1.3  Cooption of replacement for Mrs Veen. Mr Hamer reported that after the vacancy had been advertised on the Board there had been no call for an election. Invitations to those wishing to be considered had been published in both local newsletters and one nomination had been received. He therefore proposed the co-option of Mr P Beadle. This was seconded by Mr Adcock and agreed unanimously.

 

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2.1 Had been received from Mr R Norman (Family matters)

 

3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (7^th March 2008)

3.1 Minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting held on 7^th March 2008 had been previously circulated. They were agreed and 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: £ 3491.17

Income since last meeting (Precept + 2007 Churchyard Grant) £ 2240.00

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

Clerk’s expenses (£ 4.79) and honorarium (£385.00).

UHRA for hire of Hall (£24.00)

Mr R Tancock, for grass cutting (£60.00)

Community First, for Annual Insurance Premium (£249.82)

It was agreed that Mrs Brown would become the third signatory to the UPC bank account following the resignation of Mr Veen. The Clerk would arrange the paperwork.

5.3 The Clerk presented the Annual Governance Statement, which was read and approved by all councillors. The Annual Statement of Account had been circulated and was approved by all present. Both Statements were signed on behalf of the Council by the Chair and Clerk. The Clerk noted that the Internal Audit had been completed and that the books were now open for public consultation.

5.4 Clerk’s Honorarium. It was proposed by the Chair to raise this in line with inflation to £800 pa. This was agreed unanimously. The council recorded its ‘appreciation of the good job done by the Clerk’.

 

6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS

6.1 08/00021/F: Wood End - erection of sheds. Had been approved by MDDC

6.2 08/00219/F: School House Annex:disabled access. UPC had raised no objection

6.3 08/00206/LBC: 1 Staplegate: windows. Had been approved by MDDC

6.4 08/0442/F: Erection of storage shed at E Mere X. This had been withdrawn.

6.5 Ref 08/0177/F: Appleyard House extension had been approved by MDDC

6.6 Ref 08/0675/F: Waterside House: Extn. UPC had raised no Objection.

6.7 Ref 08/0735/F: Rose Cott Erect Porch. UPC had raised no objection

6.8 Ref 08/0552/F: Sweetings extensions & pond. UPC had inspected and considered the plans appropriate.

6.9 07/01576/F: Mobile homes at Putson X: For information of councillors: Appeal would be 22 July.

 

 

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 Devon NHS had circulated a survey on Health and Social Care. No one offered to complete it.

7.2 Mrs Woolley noted that a study of transport options and access arrangements was being undertaken on behalf of the RDA at Tiverton Parkway.

7.3 The Council noted its pleasure that Uplowman Post Office was not among those scheduled for closure as it played an important part in village life.

 

8. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION

 

8.1 The new floor in the committee room was not wearing well. This matter would be taken up with the suppliers. New chairs had been bought and the cricket oval furnished with an artificial crease. Hall was almost fully booked for the rest of the year. The meeting expressed its appreciation of the hard work of all Hall Committee members in making the hall so successful.

 

 

9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

9.1 It was agreed to launch the Emergency Plan at the Annual Parish Social, see below. Councillors had met on 4^th April to agree way forward. The next step would be to review the text (Chair and Clerk). Mr Adcock had agreed to help with physical production of the documents.

9.2 Mrs Veen had emailed a report from Neighbourhood Watch advising that there had been opportunistic burglaries and advising that windows should not be left open in warm weather.

 

11. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

10.1 School Path: UPC, the school and the landowner had met DCC engineers on 17^th April. The route had been agreed and it was with DCC to draft plans and arrange for planning permissions. Currently, the proposal was for construction of the path without any additional parking. Tree removal would be kept to a minimum. Clerk to enquire about progress from DCC.

10.2 It was agreed that in 2008 UPC would give funds to local charities as follows:

Uplowman & Whitnage News : Sponsor one edition for £25. Chair to discuss with Editor

Ring and Ride: £25 donation (JW abstaining after expressing interest as organiser)

Royal British Legion: donate a display Poppy for Remembrance Sunday (£20)

10.3 The Clerk had invited the DCC Area Engineer (Mrs M Booth) to the first-convened meeting on 11^th May. A report on her presentation is appended. She had seemed to encourage reduced signage in rural areas and had made a number of helpful suggestions. It was suggested that some of these could be displayed at the Annual Social to air the issues.

10.4 It was agreed to hold the Annual Parish Social event on Friday 10 October. The Chair would confirm availability of the Hall with Mrs Veen.

 

11. CONDITION OF ROAD/TRANSPORT IN THE PARISH

11.1 Mr Penny had reported that the footpath between Church and School had been temporarily blocked due to damage to the fence. He would repair it as soon as possible.

11.2 Mr Adcock would report the potholes in the Whitnage road on the DCC website.

 

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting would be on July 18^th 2008. Subsequent meetings had been arranged on Thursday 4^th Sept, Friday 21 Nov and Friday 16 Jan 2009, all starting at 7.30pm

The meeting closed at 9.15pm

 

 

Public Forum on 9^th May (7.30-8.30pm, 10 present)

 

The Annual Meeting had originally been called for 9^th May. However, insufficient councillors had attended for a quorum and therefore only the public forum had been held on that occasion.

 

Mrs M Booth had presented some comments on traffic control in rural settlements. She said that the erection of streetlights automatically created 30mph zones but speed limits could also be set by traffic orders in which case regular signs were needed. 20mph limits were established by traffic orders and often need to be reinforced with engineering works (restrictions, bumps, etc.). Speeds on the whitnage road had been surveyed about 5 years ago and averaged 22mph (northwards) and 24.5mph towards the south over one day (320 vehicle movements). Flashing lights worked best with visiting drivers - but she thought most road users in Uplowman were local.

 

Mr Hamer read his annual Chair’s Report. This would be published in the U&W News.

 

Mrs Squires (MDDC Chair) asked about the preferences for local government. Most preferred a two-tier system, which was what she and MDDC hoped would be the outcome.

 

Mr Jackson said that a sign was needed on the village litter bin to prevent dog-owners putting dog mess into it.