May 2020
UPLOWMAN PARISH COUNCIL: DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING
Held on Thursday 21st May 2020 using the online Zoom App, starting at 7.55pm.
Cllr C Slade (DCC) plus four members of the public present. Minutes by Mr R Hodgson, Clerk. Action points in bold. Approved on 16th July 2020
- MEMBERS PRESENT
1.1 Present: CllrsT Milner (Chair), A McCombe, R Adcock, S Floyd, N Branton and K Baugh.
- APOLOGIES, PROCEDURAL MATTERS AND REPORTS FROM MDDC & DCC
2.1 Cllr R Normanhad tendered apologies for absence due totechnology challenges.
2.2 It was noted that during the current pandemic the Annual meeting could be postponed until the next opportunity arose for face to face meetings and Cllr Milner would remain in the Chair until that time.
2.3 Cllr Slade said that DCC was now holding some meetings online with public access via the Teams App. Devon currently had about 13,000 vulnerable people in ‘shielding’. Recycling centres had re-opened but for only essential waste that could not be stored. His locality budget was again open.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (19th March 2020)
3.1 Draft Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 19th March 2020 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 Cllr Milner proposed that the £3,000 provision made for Covid-related expenditure should be considered in tranches of up to £1,000 at a time. This was agreed by all.
4.2 The Clerk had yet to investigate online banking.
- FINANCES
5.1 Current Balance: £8701.60
Income since last meeting
(grant from Parish Mag + Precept) £3513.18
5.2 The following payments were approved and cheques signed to effect the disbursements:
Community First, Annual Insurance permium (£182.41) It was agreed to fix this for 3 years under a long term agreement.
R Hodgson, Clerk's expenses (£4.00)
R Hodgson, reimburse for Membermojo subscription (£75.00)
R Hodgson, reimburse for Zoom annual subscription (£143.88)
R Adcock, reimburse for two replacement defibrillator pads (£110.00)
J Veen, grass cutting and leat clearing (£220.25)
5.3 The Annual Governance Statements were read and agreed in turn as applicable to UPC. It was agreed unanimously that the Chairman should sign the Governance Statement.
5.4 The Annual Accounting statement had been prepared and circulated by the Clerk, who noted that all documents had been checked by the Internal Auditor, who had noted one discrepancy between the Minutes of November 2019, which recorded expenditure of £20 on a commemorative wreath, and the actual expenditure in the accounts of £25.. The Clerk proposed that a vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Clark for his service as Internal Auditor, which was agreed by all. There being no further comments on the accounts, the Chairman duly signed the Statement of Accounts and the Exemption Certificate confirming that, with an annual turnoveer of less than £25,000, UPC could declare itself exempt from limited assurance audit. The Clerk would forward the papers to PKF Littlejohn.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
6.1 20/00182/ARM: Jasper’s Green new dwelling, reserved matters. MDDC had approved.
6.2 20/00264/House: 2 Widhayes Cottages, Erect extension. MDDC had approved the application
6.3 20/00555/Full: Lowerman Cross, replace barn & convert barn. UPC had inspected, discussed at a virtual meeting and supported the application.
6.4 19/01934/Full: Hill Kiln, replace house. Had been approved by MDDC
6.5 20/00675/Full: Uplowman House: replace piggery with residence, with Class Q Fallback. There was considerable discussion and it was agreed to inspect the site and write to Mrs J Clifford, head of MDDC Planning, for clarification on MDDC approach to Class Q rights.Cllr Branton would arrange.
6.6 20/00509/Full: Greenend, replace garage with livestock building & office. The application had just been received. It was agreed to inspect the site at a time to be arranged by the Clerk.
6.3 Review of UPC Planning procedures. Discussion on this matter was ongoing. All agreed to respond in a timely manner when the Clerk circulated new planning applications.
- SUSTAINABILITY AND HEALTHY LIVING
7.1 Cllr Branton reported on Covid-19 response hub activities: The group communicates regularly with 105 households by email and 61 members by facebook. Most residents were coping satisfactorily. A group of parishioners was phoning vulnerable residents regularly and one, Linda Arnold, was commended for also fetching groceries for a number of people. The meeting expressed its thanks to Linda for her dedication.
7.2 The Clerk reported that Sampford Peverell Parish Magazine had made a grant of £490 to UPC to cover Covid-19 expenses, such as the Zoom subscription, required for remote meetings, and the Membermojo subscription that provided GDPR-compliant data management for the email lists. Thanks were expressed to the SP Magazine for this money.
- 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:
8.1There had been no significant correspondence not related to Covid-19 in the previous 2 months. The Clerk reported that the number of emails received during that period had increased three-fold.
9. HALL AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION
9.1 Cllr Adcock reported that, thanks to a grant from MDDC, the mower would be serviced and the central heating control fixed.
- EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
10.1 A break-in at Middle Pitt had resulted in theft of a valuable motor cycle.
- VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
11.1 Cllr Advock was still working on finishing the bus shelter and bike racks.
11.2School Path: Cllr Norman was understoood to have completed this project.
11.3 There was little progress on the DAA night landing site. The Clerk reported that the site in Sampford Peverell would be installed within a week or so.
- STATE OF ROADS IN PARISH
12.1 Subsidence of the Whitnage-Sampford Peverell road: the damage had been patched. Subsidence had also been noted on the road from Whitnage to Newhill Cross.
12.2 The footbridge on the Widhayes footpath was becoming unseated. Cllr Adcock would check and contact the DCC footpath manager.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was confirmed for Thursday 16th July, expected to be again by Zoom.
The meeting closed at 9.42pm
Public discussion
Two members of the public raised the matter of slow broadband speeds in Uplowman, saying that it made working from home challenging in the present circumstances. They had independently investigated Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS) and would be happy to register a community interest in improved broadband services.
Mr M Donald and Mr S Sturland agreed to pool their resources and contacts and would report back on their findings in respect of the options and costs available to increase speeds in Uplowman. It seemed likely that the scheme would apply to 59 properties in Uplowman village and might be part self-funded and part by grants.
Cllr Milner then read his annual report (attached).
UPC Minutes of 21 May 2020
Chairman’s Report on the 2019/20 year.
I look back over a year that we will not forget. Yes there has been the usual work of the Council but everything was subsumed by a deadly coronavirus called COVID-19 which has hit everyone but especially the vulnerable. It is in times like this that the Parish has come together.
In May 19 it was an election year and we said goodbye to Councillor Rodney Branton after nearly 30 years and co-opted Nicky Branton to join us. There were also the County and District Council elections and whilst we retained our local County councillor Colin Slade and District councillor Ray Radford there was a change at District level in that the Conservatives lost overall control in Mid Devon. We shall have to wait and see if there are any changes in policy and how that may affect our Parish Council.
We thank and appreciate both our Councillors for attending our meetings and updating us on District and County issues.
Once again, I thank my fellow councillors for their support, and especially to our Clerk, Robert Hodgson, who has served this Council for 20 years giving his time and support to make our task a little easier.
We continually review our Procedures and this year we adopted a revised Code of Conduct for Councillors.
We have received a donation from the Sampford Peverell Magazine and funds from Devon County Council which we have used to repair the bus shelter and to install a cycle rack at the village hall.
There have not been as many planning applications as in previous years and some of those received have been revisions of earlier applications. Once gain the Parish Council discussed an application for 8 houses at Crosses Farm and once again rejected it as being against our policies. It was also rejected again by the District Council. An application at Jaspers Green was won on appeal to the Planning Inspector.
The Mid Devon Medium Term Plan continues to be discussed with the Inspector and it is hoped that it will be agreed with the various amendments very soon so the framework for planning can be formalised and prevent speculative applications.
The Council has looked at a proposal from Devon Air Ambulance to establish a night-time landing site at the village hall but the funding and the logistics still need to be discussed to avoid too much overlap with neighbouring villages.
We have also received a proposition to install electric charging points at the Hall but again the funding issues and the current needs have not established. The Hall Committee are examining the proposal as it impacts on them from a continuing costing view.
The Chairman has presented an initiative to this Council for a Sustainability and Healthy Living ideas which will be examined in more detail in the coming year.
And finally, to return to the Coronavirus that is affecting the country and this Parish. It started in March 2020 and has forced many household to what is called “self-isolate” which means staying in their homes. The response, led by the Parish Council, has been to set up a “Response Hub” led by the Robert Hodgson, Nicky Branton and Suzanne Lewis that coordinate a team of volunteers and issue frequent newsletters to keep households informed of where they can shop, get deliveries etc. and generally ensure that the vulnerable can have someone to turn to. It also means that the Parish Council will need to look at new ways to run meetings online rather than physical meetings. At this time no-one can be certain how long these arrangements will last.
The good news that comes out of this is how well the Parish has re-acted, how volunteers have responded, and neighbours are looking after each other. We have been fortunate that we have been able to communicate via email with a large majority of the households and it is hoped that we can keep residents informed of all events and still allow then to participate in Council meetings.
I just hope that the emergency and restrictions will be lifted soon, providing it is safe to do so, and that life can resume.
Trevor Milner (Chairman)