September 2014
MINUTES OF MEETING Held on 4th September 2014 at the Village Hall, Uplowman starting at 8.30pm. Approved on 20 Nov 2014
Cllr J Berry, Chair MDDC, Cllr R Radford, MDDC and 1 member of public present. Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
1. MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Cllr T Milner, Cllr R Norman, Cllr A McCombe, Cllr R Branton, Cllr K Baugh
2. PROCEDURAL MATTERS
2.1 Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr R Adcock (working away)
3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (17 July2014)
3.1 The Minutes of 17th July had been circulated previously. No errors or omissions were reported and the Minutes were duly signed by the Chair as a true record of that meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 The Clerk reported that he had attended to items 7.1 (circulated the article on managing village halls) and 7.2 (publicised the Power Cut kit) from the July Mins
5. FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £5613.50
Income since last meeting £Nil
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements:
Mr J Veen for grass-cutting (£86.50)
R Hodgson, Clerk's salary (£500.00) plus expenses (£32.70).
5.3 The Annual Audit was completed. The Auditor had not found any significant errors but had noted that the Council Tax Support Grant element of the Precept payment should have been entered as 'Other income', not included with the Precept. The Clerk noted that this mistake had been made by most Parish Clerks whom he had consulted and that the distinction between the two parts of the Precept request had not been made clear by MDDC, DALC or any of the other support agencies. It was noted that MDDC proposed to reduce UPC's CT Support Grant element by 35% in 2015/6, which would require raising the Precept by just over 2% to compensate.
5.4 The Clerk's Appraisal meeting had taken place on 23rd July at 7.30pm at the Chairman's house. There had been open discussion of issues and the Chair noted that the Clerk had merited and 'excellent' appraisal.
6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS
6.1 Ref 14/1168MFUL Proposed cloverleaf junction on A361.
6.2 Ref. 14/00759F: Cuckoos nest agricultural building - MDDC had granted permission.
6.3 Ref: 14/00675/LBC: Chamberlains. Convert barn. UPC had not objected and the application had since been withdrawn.
6.4Ref: 14/01001/LBC: 1 Locks Cotts: erect extension. UPC had no objections to revised plans. Permission had been granted by MDDC.
6.5 Ref 14/01207/F: Rose Cottage, 2 storey extension. UPC had no objection.
6.6 Ref 14/00422/F: Staplegate, change of use to lorry washing area. Permission refused due to impact on road and on 'outstanding' landscape.
6.7 Ref 14/1122/F: Micholsfield: Change of use of chicken sheds to Business and storage.
6.8 Ref 14/00387: The Beeches. Retention of multipurpose shed. The Clerk had enquired about enforcement. He had been informed that it was open to the applicant to lodge an appeal up to 14 November and that no enforcement could be undertaken before then.
6.9 Ref 14/1214/PNCOU: Chillomene: Prior Notification change of use agricultural to dwelling, This had been granted.
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 had circulated a Land Sensitivity Supplementary Planning document for comment.
7.2 The Clerk noted that UPC's standing rules would need to be changed to permit video and recording of public meetings, now a statutory right for all attending meetings.
8. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
8.1 Due to the absence of Cllr Adcock there was no report from the UHRA.
9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
9.1 No report had been received from PCSO Simms. It was noted that the fuel tanks of three local vehicles had been drilled recently, including one parked outside the Redwoods.
10. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
10.1 Planning of the Annual Social event was well under way. The Clerk and Cllr Adcock had produced and displayed posters around the village and it had been publicised in the Parish Magazine. Cllr Milner had drafted posters describing the functions of the Parish Council that would be displayed on the PC stand together with a questionnaire seeking views on a vision for Uplowman to start a neighbourhood planning process. He requested any comments from councillors before finalising them. The Clerk would provide display boards for these posters. About 8 village groups had so far indicated that they would bring displays and the photographer was set up. Cllr Norman would provide a lifting platform for the photo.
10.2 The dog waste bin was now in full operation. The Clerk had been informed that it would be emptied weekly by MDDC. There were still some issues in School lane.
10.3 The favourite suggestions for uses of the telephone boxes included a book exchane, noticeboard and place where local businesses could advertise. It was agreed that the first step must be to clean and repaint it. Cllr McCombe would develop a budget for this and organise a work party.
10.4 The Clerk had made a second approach via Cllr Radford to MDDC regarding using the Section 106 money on seats for the playing field but had not yet received an answer. He would follow up with MDDC and also with Cllr Hannon regarding the use of remaining DDC school path funding.
10.5 UPC had another £300 approximately available from the TAP Fund in the current year. There was also a small surplus remaining unused after the demise of the Parish Magazine tha might be put with this to create a heritage board for the leat. Other suggestions would be welcomed at the next meeting.
11. STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
11.1 Parish roads were currently in good condition.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 20th November 2014.
The meeting closed at 9.50pm
Public discussion.
Cllr Berry introduced himself and described the functioning of MDDC. He said that the present 7 cabinet system results in more actions being undertaken and involves all members in the decision-making process through inclusion in one of the cabinets.
He said that MDDC was now in a good financial position and had been developing sustainability through putting solar panels on all their housing (12% saving. They were engaging with the parishes to see where services such as grass cutting might be taken on.
Cllr Berry was unaware that MDDC would be passing on a cut in Council Tax support grant to Parishes and he would look into it. On waste/recycling he said that it was better to provide incentives for recycling than to impose charges.
It was pointed out to Cllr Berry that the Tiv Eastern Extension road layout would cause havoc for traffic from Uplowman. In discussion about night time car park charges, he said that the £40k car park deficit must be recouped somewhere and the policy was under review. Night time charges avoided putting off shoppers in the day time.