January 2020
UPLOWMAN PARISH COUNCIL: MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on Thursday 16th January 2020 at the Village Hall, Uplowman starting at 7.35pm.
Cllr C Slade (DCC), Cllr R Radford (MDDC) and three members of the public present. Minutes by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold.
Approved on 19 March 2020
- MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: Cllrs T Milner,A McCombe,N Branton, K Baugh and S Floyd.
- APOLOGIES, PROCEDURAL MATTERS AND REPORTS FROM MDDC & DCC
2.1 Cllrs R Adcock and R Norman had tendered apologies for absence due to work commitments.
2.2 Cllr Slade reported on DCC matters. The December election had delayed DCC’s budget process, which would be determined in Feb. DCC had launched a series of cookery classes to encourage reduction in food waste. His locality budet was now used up but small ‘Making Connections’ grants were still available via the DCC website.
2.3 Cllr Radford reported from MDDC: The Local Plan revision consultation would run from 6th Jan for 6 weeks. Adoption is expected by early Summer. Plans are underway to return MDDC governance to a committee structure. There will be budget cuts but funding for the museum and canal will remain unchanged. A recent audit report on the MDDC-owned Three-Rivers development company had shown losses of up to £0.8m , which would affect the revenue account.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (21st November 2019)
3.1 Draft Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 21st November 2019 had been circulated. There were no changes requested and they were signed by the Chair as a true record of that meeting.
- MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 The Clerk had asked for a quotation for commercial installation of electric vehicle charge points at the Hall but had not yet received a reply from SOL electrical.
- FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £5903.13
Income since last meeting £ Nil
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements:
R Hodgson, Clerk's expenses (£10.31)
5.3 The annual budget had been reviewd at the previous meeting. There were no further comments and it was approved (Proposed T Milner, Seconded A McCombe). It was agreed that a Precept of £3,100 should be requested from MDDC for 2020-21 and that the annual subscription to DALC could be deducted by MDDC.
5.4 The Clerk reported that Mr J Veen was willing to continue maintaining the Green and grass verges around the village during 2020. Councillors were unanimous in expressing their thanks to Mr Veen for his work to date and voted that he be asked to continue on the same terms as in previous years. The Clerk would make the arrangements.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
6.1 19/01934/Full: Hill Kiln Farm. Replace existing dwelling with new one and car port. UPC had no objection.
6.2 19/01570/PNCOU: Lowerman Cross, change of use of redundant agricultural building to dwelling. This had been approved by prior notification. Cllr Milner commented that it would be courteous for MDDC to inform UPC of such applications. Cllr Radford asked Cllr Milner to email his concerns, which Cllr Radford would forward to MDDC.
6.3 It was noted that the planning application for the Post Hill site had now been approved with the required through route from Uplowman Road being retained.
- SUSTAINABILITY AND HEALTHY LIVING
7.1 Power for People had written asking Uplowman PC to join their campaign to enable producers of renewable energy (wind, solar) to sell directly to local consumers. After discussion, Cllr Branton proposed that, as this campaign was in line with UPC’s sustainability objectives, UPC should support it and the proposal was carried unanimously. The Clerk was asked to write in support.
7.2 After brief discussion it was decided that decisions on installation of electric vehicle charging point(s) should be left to the UHRA.
- 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 Cllr Milner had summarised the Local Plan revision. He noted that the additional 60 houses in Higher Town, Sampford Peverell remained in the plan because they could not be made contingent on development at Junction 27 and to remove them would cause delays to adoption of the Plan.
9. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
9.1 In Cllr Adcock’s absence there was no report from the UHRA.
9.2 The bike rack, which had been purchased by Cllr Branton, was yet to be installed..
- EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
10.1 A report on a recent police liaison meeting had been circulated. In summary, the mission, which is at the heart of neighbourhood policing and informs much of what the Police does, includes: promoting community safety, and feelings of safety; prevention of crime and disorder; protecting the vulnerable and reducing repeat demands; the opportunity to create resilient communities less reliant on police support; the legitimacy necessary to enable policing by consent. All decisions are prioritised based on threat, risk and harm.
10.2 Cllr Milner noted that the spate of burglaries suffered by Uplowman resident in July 2019 were not included on the Police crime website. He commented that the Police & Crime Commissioner elections were due in May 2020.
11. VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
11.1 The bus shelter was yet to be completed. Cllr Adock had this in hand, according to notes provided to the meeting.
11.2 School Path: A locality budget grant had been obtained to cover repairs. Dry weather was awaited to complete the work. It was noted that this grant must be spent before March 2020.
11.3 Devon Air Ambulance (DAA) had provided a quotation for the light required for a night landing zone. There was extensive discussion on this , which concluded that more information was required on distribution of existing and planned sites before a decision could be made. Cllr Branton would draft a response to the DAA.
11.4 SP Parish Magazine had written offering a further grant of £490 for village projects. Replacement of the railings beside the leat was proposed together with establishment of a flower bed on the Green. Costings would be provided by Cllr Baugh.
12. STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
12.1 Cllr Baugh noted that the village main sewer was leaking beside the stream at Green End. The Clerk would report this to SWW.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was confirmed for Thursday 19th March 2020.
The meeting closed at 9.35pm
Public discussion
Mr M Aspray, Clerk to Sampford Peverell PC, informed the meeting that there would be a public meeting to discuss opposition to the planning application for 80+ houses at Higher Town, Sampford Peverell, on 29th January at the Globe Inn, to which all would be welcome. He noted that an appeal against refusal of this application would be considered by a planning enquiry to be held at the end of April.
UPC Minutes of 16 January 2020