September 2008

MINUTES OF MEETING

Held on 4^th September 2008 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 7.45pm

 

Minutes taken by R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.

 

1. MEMBERS PRESENT

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

1.2 Mr Beadle was duly sworn in as councillor and signed a Declaration of Office.

 

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2.1 None. All members present.

 

3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (18^th July 2008)

3.1 Minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting held on 18^th July 2008 had been previously circulated. They were agreed and signed by the Chair as a true record of the meeting with the correction of ‘then’ to ‘the’ in clause 10.2.

 

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

4.1 It was noted that the Clerk had written to MDDC Planning dept to request that hard copies of planning applications should continue to be sent to Uplowman.

4.2 The Clerk had enquired about possible removal of the Uplowman Telephone box. It was not on the list of redundant boxes and would remain.]

4.3 Nominations for the Chair’s reception had been sent to MDDC.

4.4 Issues over registration of the Green still had to be checked with DCC Highways. If registration was needed, the Clerk would check likely costs and procedures needed.

 

5. FINANCES

5.1 Current Balance: £ 2678.56

Income since last meeting £ Nil

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

Mr R Tancock, for grass cutting as per agreement (£60.00)

5.3 The Auditor’s opinion was awaited.

 

6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS

6.1 08/01259/F: School House Annex Porch: UPC supported application which had been approved by MDDC

6.2 DCC 2676/08: School footpath: UPC support the application.

6.3 08/01382/F: Fair Oak: Wind Turbine. UPC raised no objection

6.4 08/00996/F: East Mere Cross: erection of Agricultural Building: had been approved by MDDC

 

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 There would be a State of the District Debate on 10^th Sept. Cllr Woolley would be attending as part of her other duties and would report back.

7.2 The Boundary Commission was inviting comments on proposals for Devon (possible Unitary Authority status). It was agreed that UPC should comment that the reorganisation was not needed and that it was hard to judge from the information provided what additional powers and responsibilities would accrure at PC level. It appeared that more duties would be directed at community volunteers.

 

8. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION

 

8.1 The HRA meeting the previous night had discussed the issue of PC meetings on Fridays, which had caused problems with preparations for Saturday bookings. After some discussion it was agreed that UPC meetings would revert to Thursday evenings, generally the third Thursday of each second month. 20^th November and 15^th January were both booked and the Clerk would check bookings for the rest of 2009.

8.2 Hall bookings remained good. Kitchen had been re-equipped and the floor tiles would be re-sealed.

 

 

9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

9.1 Mrs Veen was happy to continue as Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator.

9.2 The Emergency Plan was ready and a quote would be obtained from Maslands. Mr Adcock could laminate the tags. The Clerk would prepare these. All should be ready for launch at the Annual Social on 17^th October.

 

  10.  VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

10.1 School path planning application was still under consideration.

10.2 After some discussion, it was agreed that Traffic calming options would be aired at the Annual Parish Social event on 17^th October by using the large Parish map as a focus and inviting responses to one or two open questions to seek views on the desirability of calming. Cllr Beadle would draft these. Catering would be arranged in the same way as last year and the cost would be the same (£125). The Chair would write to community organisations to invite them to mount displays and to newcomers to the Parish.

10.3 Mr Tancock, who has been cutting the grass around the cross roads, had informed the Clerk that his insurance conditions prevented him using powered machines near parked cars so he often was unable to cut the bank by the leat. Cllr Adcock said he would be happy to put out a ‘no parking’ sign on days when Mr Tancock planned to work. The Clerk would inform Mr Tancock.

 

11. CONDITION OF ROAD/TRANSPORT IN THE PARISH

11.1 Repairs were being done.

11.2 Cllr Norman would investigate options for erecting a parish noticeboard in Whitnage. The Clerk still had the old noticeboard from the crossways that could be put up if somewhere suitable could be found.

 

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting would be on Thursday 20th Nov and Friday 15 Jan 2009, both starting at 7.30pm.

The meeting closed at 9.40pm

 

Public Forum (7.30-7.45pm)

PC Katie Rich, the new Police Beat Officer, introduced herself to councillors. PCSO John Sims hared her duties in respect of this ‘patch’. She noted that Halberton was currently suffering a spate of shed break ins. Since the widely reported three burglaries in June, there had been no reported crimes in Uplowman.

 

If anyone had anything to report or wished to contact her, PC Rich could be contacted via the police switchboard (08452-777444) and asking for her personally by name and, if needed, number (1336).