Meeting of 21 January 2016
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on 21st January 2016 at the Village Hall, Uplowman starting at 7.30pm.
Approved on 17 March 2016
Cllr D Hannon (DCC) present.
Minutes taken by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
1. MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Cllr T Milner (Chairman), Cllr R Branton, Cllr R Adcock, Cllr R Norman and Cllr A McCombe.
2. PROCEDURAL MATTERS & APOLOGIES
2.1 Apologies had been received from Cllr K Baugh (working away) and Cllr S Floyd (school appointment).
3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (19 November2015)
3.1 The Draft Minutes of the Meeting held on 19th November 2015 had been circulated. The Minutes were agreed without change and were signed as a true record of that meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 The Clerk would write to Mrs Adcock concerning the tree-warden role.
5. FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £4130.13
Income since last meeting: £Nil
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements:
R Hodgson, for Clerk's Expenses (£22.30)
Citizen's Advice Bureau, following discussion a donation of £25.00 was agreed.
It was agreed that the Annual subscription to DALC would be made by deduction from the Precept paid by Mid Devon DC.
5.3 The Clerk informed the meeting that MDDC had been informed of UPC's Precept requirement of £2900 for 2016-7.
5.4 As agreed at the November meeting, the Chair had drafted a UPC Reserves Policy and a Procedure for letting contracts, which had been circulated. After discussion, it was agreed that contract determination should generally be on the basis of best value to UPC and the community. The Chair proposed a Reserve of £3500 to cover a range of eventualities and, after discussion, the Councillors decided to consider the proposal for the subsequent meeting. The Clerk would enquire of other local councilswhat, if anything, their reserves policies covered. The Chair would redraft in light of the answers and the discussion.
5.5 The Clerk requested that all receipts and invoices for good sor services should be addressed to the Council to enable recovery of VAT as appropriate.
5.6 The annual grass cutting arrangements were discussed. It was agreed that the current flexible arrangement with Mr Veen kept the village tidy and was good value The Clerk was asked to confirm Mr Veen's hourly rate and, provided this was acceptable, to continue the arrangement with him.
6. PLANNING/LICENSING APPLICATIONS
6.1 15/00979/OUT Little Chase: Outline permission for bungalow. Applicants had appealed against refusal. It was noted that UPC's objection to the application would be considered and nothing needed to be added.
6.2 15/01797/F: 2 Staplegate Cott. Change of use to lorry park had been resubmitted in respect of a single livestock lorry.
6.3 14/01391/LBC: Chamberlains: Listed Building Conditions have been discharged 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 Clerks & Councils Direct magazine had reported the NALC's welcome for proposals to devolve more powers for local service provision to parishes. He suggested that this seemed to be the way things were going and it was noted that parishes could often provide better value local services than higher tiers of council.
8.HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
8.1 Cllr Adcock noted that UHRA had now paid off the loan for the sports field, which was good for the Hall finances. He said that the Hall would soon have its own website and email address for bookings.
9. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
9.1 No report had been received.
10. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
10.1 Work on the telephone box had been costed and awaited award of the TAP grant.
10.2 Recent wet weather had prevented undertaking of the ground works for the new hall benches. These would be put in place before the end of the financial year.
10.3 SPPC had agreed to support the TAP application for the telephone box. The Clerk had asked MDDC for the amount available and the forms but had not received a reply. He would follow up.
10.4 It was proposed to hold a Parish Social event at a date to be fixed in June or July. It was decided to make local history a focus for this event and to invite parishioners to bring old photographs and memorabilia for display. When a date was fixed the Clerk would produce a flier.
10.5 Repairs to the cross-roads sign post were under way. The fingers had been refurbished and painted by PHS. A quotation form Mr Veen for the preparation and painting of the upright was discussed and considered good value provided that Rustoleum paint was used rather than Hammerite.
10.6 Cllr Hannon reported that he had written to the school Head Teacher about parking issues and awaited a response. The Chairman would also write to the schoolregarding UPC's offer of signage.
11. STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
11.1 A letter had been received from the PCC requesting help with repairing pot holes outside the main church gate. The Clerk had reported those to DCC but that piece of road was probably not adopted. He would enquire. Cllr Norman would make an estimate of the likely cost.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 17th March 2016
The meeting closed at 9.20pm
Public discussion.
There had been no public discussions
MINUTES 21 JAN 2016