March 2018
UPLOWMAN PARISH COUNCIL: MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on Thursday 15th March 2018 at the Village Hall, Uplowman starting at 7.45pm. APPROVED ON 17 MAY 2018
15 members of public plus Cllr C Slade (DCC) and Cllr R Radford (MDDC) present. Minutes by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
- MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Cllr S Floyd, Cllr R Norman, Cllr K Baugh, Cllr A McCombe and Cllr R Branton.
- PROCEDURAL MATTERS & APOLOGIES
2.1 Cllr T Milner and Cllr R Adcock had tendered apologies for absence for family reasons. In the absence of Cllr Milner, Cllr Norman proposed Cllr Baugh as Chair for the meeting. All agreed on a show of hands. Cllr Baugh took the chair.
2.2 Cllr Slade (DCC) presented a brief report on Issues arising from DCC. He said that work on the A361 junction was still on schedule. DCC budget would include more for rural road repairs and both TAP and locality budgets would continue.
2.3 Cllr Radford noted that the MDDC Local Plan was out for consultation until 11 April, when it would be reviewed and forwarded to the Inspector. Finalisation might be in the autumn.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (18th January 2018)
3.1 Draft Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 18th January 2018 had been circulated. The Minutes were agreed without change and were signed by the Chair as a true record of that meeting.
- MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 There were no matters from the previous meeting that would not be covered by the Agenda.
- FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £4,177.92
Income since last meeting: £Nil
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements. In the absence of Cllrs Milner and Adcock, second signatures would be obtained after the meeting:
R Hodgson (6 months salary + Clerk's Expenses): £544.40p
UHRA (Hire of Hall): £50.00
J Veen (clearing leat): £38.50
5.3 The draft accounts for the current year were presented by the Clerk. These were unlikely to change significantly before the year end and were noted by councillors. The turnover would be less than £25,000 and Cllr Norman proposed that UPC should declare itself exempt from limited assurance audit, which was agreed by all present.
5.4 The Clerk informed the meeting that the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulations in May would affect UPC in that all local councils must appoint a Data Protection Officer. It was agreed that the Clerk could investigate options for making such an appointment, which could cost between £150 and £500 for the first year.
5.5 The Clerk’s annual appraisal had been concluded but in the absence of Cllrs Milner and Adcock, who had conducted it, there was no report. The Clerk commented that it had been a useful discussion.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
6.1 18/00041/OUT: Revised scheme for 8 dwellings at Crosses Farm. UPC had objected to this application and MDDC’s decision was awaited.
6.2 18/00027/OUT: Little Chace, erection of single dwelling. UPC had bjected to this application, which had been refused by MDDC.
6.3 17/00033/OUT: 8 dwellings at Crosses Farm. An appeal had been made against the refusal of this application. After brief discussion, councillors were not minded to submit further comments to the Inspector.
6.4 18/00133/MARM: Reserved matters in respect of 248 dwellings adjacent to Uplowman Road – for information. Councillors had no comments to make.
6.5 18/00169/Full: Covered yard at Locks Farm was awaiting decision by MDDC.
6.6 18/00283/OUT: Jasper’s Green, erection of single dwelling. Cllr Floyd declared an interest as the Appplicant and left the meeting during the discussion of the application. Cllr McCombe said this application should be treated on the same basis as the adjacent site (land adjacent to Twin Oaks) had been and that UPC should request that it be called into committee. This view was supported by all other councillors present. Cllr McCombe sugegsted that the reasons for doing so should be that the proposed access arrangements would improve road safety for children using the school path and that, as in the case of the adjacent site, while Uplowman remains unsustainable in planning terms, limited development at this location would not affect other residents. The Clerk was asked to communicate this to Cllr Radford.
6.7 18/00250/House: Extension at Connemara. The Councillors saw no objection to this application. The Clerk would inform MDDC accordingly.
- Parish Planning
7.1 A second meeting had been held and had agreed to invite all parishioners to a social evening on 18th May to gather data for the plan. Minutes of the meeting had been circulated and are attached.
- 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:
8.1 All significant correspondence was covered under other Agenda items.
- 9. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
9.1 In Cllr Adcock’s absence there was no report from UHRA.
- EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
10.1 No report received.
11. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
11.1 School parking was currently not causing significant problems.
11.2 Sampford Peverell Parish magazine had offered £420 from its surplus funds for a project in Uplowman. It was suggested that installing a projector in the hall would be an appropriate use of the money.
11.3 Councillors were reminded that TAP funds would be available again in the coming year. The proposal to refurbish and dsplay an 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the parish was ongoing.
12. STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
12.1 A response had been made to the PROW definitive map review to suggest closing parts of footpath Number 4. This would be time-consuming and might cost up to £2000 and it was agreed not to pursue it. When the proposed changes of the map were drafted they would be made available for consultation.
13.2 Thanks were expressed to all plant owners who had helped to clear the roads of snow during he recent ‘beast from the east’ blizzard.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was confirmed for Thursday 17th May 2018.
The meeting closed at 8.55pm
Public discussion
15 members of the public attended.
Mr R Floyd asked for his planning application (18/00283/OUT) to be treated similarly to the adjacent site (land NE of Twinoaks).
Cllr Radford was questioned on the reasons for his having ‘called in’ the application for the site NE of Twin Oaks to committee when the PC had not supported it. Cllr Radford stated that there had been local support and the Agent for the application had made a good case for the application so he had called it in to get the committees view.
Minutes of 15 March 2018