September 2011
MINUTES OF MEETING, Held on 1st September 2011 at the Village Hall, Uplowman, starting at 7.45pm. APPROVED ON 17 NOV 2011.
Mr D Hannon (councillor, DCC) present. Minutes taken by R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
1. MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Mr T Milner (Chairman), Mr R Norman, Mr R Adcock, Mr R Branton and Mr A McCombe.
1.2 Mrs Vanessa de Haan and Mrs Kirsty Lovell had been proposed byt the Chair for co-option as councillors. After introducing themselves, Mrs De Haan and Mrs Lovell retired while their cooption was considered. Its was agreed that, as parents of children at the school, both would bring additional strengths to the council and their co-options were unanimously approved. Mrs de Haan and Mrs Lovell rejoined the meeting after making their declarations of acceptance of office.
3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (19 May 2011)
3.1 The minutes of 21 July had been circulated previously. It was noted that the date of the Hall anniversary evening would be New Years' Eve 2012/13, rather than the coming year end as indicated. The Minutes were duly amended and signed as a true record of that meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Cllr Milner suggested putting it on the Hall Committee Agenda.
4.2 Cllr McCombe reported on the New Councillor Training day that he had attended in July. There had been useful presentations on Powers and Duties and on Parish Plans and their relevance to the Localism Bill. Generally, it had been a long day with a lot to absorb and Cllr McCombe volunteered to pass on what he had learned to the other new councillors.
5. FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £ 7,839.03
Income since last meeting(Precept )£ Nil
5.2The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements:
Clerk's salary April-Sept (£480.00)
To Mr Veen for grass cutting (£39.00)
To UHRA, hire of Hall (£50.00)
To DALC, for New Councillor Training Day (£66.00).
5.3 There had been no feedback from the District Audit regarding the Annual Audit.
5.4 A generous donation of £500.00 had been received from parishioner Mr Wayne Elliott to be put towards village projects. It was agreed that the PC would discuss appropriate ways to use this money with the UHRA and the PCC. Mr Branton proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Elliott for his generosity, which was echoed unanimously.
6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS
6.111/00374/F: Greengate Cottage: Erection of extensions. Application had been refused by MDDC
6.211/01331/F: 1 Locks Cottage: extension. Cllrs Mcombe (Applicant) and Adcock (related) declared their interest in this matter and left the room for this part of the meeting. The application was discussed and it was agreed that UPC had no objection to the application, which was a revision of an earlier applications.
6.311/0824/LBC: Spalsbury Farm, replacement of windows. Had been granted 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 MDDC were reviewing polling stations. The village hall was used in Uplowman and it was agreed that it fulfilled all the requirements of a polling station, being spacious and accessible. The Clerk had already informed MDDC of UPC's views.
8. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
8.1 Nothing untoward to report. In response to a query from Mr Branton, Mr Adcock said that the UHRA had not yet considered taking action to ban the release of Chinese lanterns.
9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
9.1 Apologies for absence had been received from the community police officers. Crime levels continued to be low in the parish.
10. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
10.1 Review of the survey made 4 years previously showed that a number of items identified had been addressed. It was suggested that a new survey be conducted to draw attention to the successes since the last one and to seek further suggestions. Mr Milner would check which properties receive the Uplowman and Whitnage News and assess whether this would be a suitable vehicle for distributing new survey forms.
10.2 Social Event 2nd September. This had been postponed as it would have been difficult to arrange during the holiday period.
10.3 Cllr Milner had made progress with the village website, which could be viewed at www.uplowman.org.uk. He had put the welcome pack onto it and a fair amount of historical information, plus a link to the school website. Possibly Hall bookings could be done on line. Cllr Milner would welcome comments.
10.4 Cllr Milner had taken forward the repair/replacement of the benches on the Green.
10.5 Cllr McCombe had yet to follow up with Mr Saunders in Ash Thomas had arranged to take over their telephone box. He would do so and report back to the next meeting.
10.6It was reported that there were sometimes access problems along the school lane. The use of the path was restricted to school hours so sometimes there were problems relating to after-school activities. Mrs Norris (Headteacher) had sent letter to parents reminding them to keep out of the lane. Cllr Hannon would arrange to meet Mrs Norris to review the first year's operation of the path.
11. STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
11.1 A third grit-bin had been identified in the parish. The Clerk would contact DCC with the locations of the bins and to inform them that one near Uplowman Court was damaged. After discussion, the PC decided that it was reluctant to become involved in snow clearing operations as there was no apparent benefit to the community and there would be considerable additional responsibility.
11.2 The Whitnage-Sampford Peverell back road was in the process of being patched, which was welcomed!
11.3 Mr Adcock noted that loaded tractors and trailors had been noted speeding through the village, particularly around the corner at Waterside where they could pose a hazard. It was thought that this was probably a seasonal issue around harvest time and it was agreed to monitor the situation and possibly to undertake a speed survey in the spring.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be on Thursday 17th November 2011, in the Hall starting at 7.30pm with public discussion.
The meeting closed at 9.15pm
Public discussion: Mrs Holley presented a cheque from Mr Wayne Elliott to be spent in the village. Several suggestions for use of the money were discussed, including:
-
replace/repair the seats on the Green;
-
provision of a temporary notice to put at the Hall Entrance on days of village events
-
Provision of noticeboard at the Church.