Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 6th December 2016.
Minutes of the meeting Of The Parish Council held on Tuesday 6th
December 2016 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.
1. Apologies: Cllrs. Pat Lennard, Katrina Maxwell and Ray
Triggol.
Present: Cllrs. Martin Allen (Chairman), Martin Baker, Brian
Gale, and Terry Oxman.
Also: Cllrs. David Hall (SCC) and Liz Perry (SDC).
Members of the public: None.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting of 4th October 2016 were
taken as read, approved and signed. The Clerk advised a slight
amendment had been made, at the Chairman’s request, concerning the
letter of support sought by the PCC.
3. Matters arising from the minutes.
- Broadband Solutions (suggested title by the Chairman).
Martin Allen (Chairman) outlined the up to date position, which
he said was much more positive. A third public meeting had been
held in the village hall earlier on today, attended by 22
residents. Representatives of four organisations offering
alternative systems to areas where superfast broadband fell
short of the Government’s target were present and outlined their
schemes:
Voneus
Exmoor Technology
Rural Broadband South West
South West Mobile Broadband
West Country Broadband.com
Villagers have received several “flyers” from the Chairman,
delivered door to door, encouraging them to apply for the
£500.00 Government grant vouchers (one per household) which are
designed to go towards the cost of alternative schemes necessary
where the Superfast rollouts fail to provide a satisfactory
speed. To date a total of 97 applications have been made and
acknowledged, and is likely to finish up at over 100. The
Chairman, Martin Allen emphasised that each applicant was free
to use the voucher as they saw fit.
The choice is basically between a 4G system and a “line of
sight” system.
Martin said a further meeting would follow, and he felt it more
appropriate for a separate committee to be formed to take
matters forward.
David Hall said he felt the whole village owed a debt of
gratitude to Martin Allen for his unstinting effort to date to
move matters forward. All agreed. David went on to say the
winning bid in Phase 2 “would be announced in mid-December with
the coverage area being revealed in January”. He was not able to
divulge details but said he felt optimistic about things.
- Parish Notice Board. The Clerk explained that although
it had been decided to seek quotations for replacement at the
last meeting, the possible cost at about £1000.00 was
prohibitive, and Don Johnson had kindly offered to do the job at
cost. Jonathan Dethier had offered to supply some materials and
the Chairman said things were moving along nicely.
- SCC Chairman’s award for services to the community. (From
the meeting of 17th August). Martin Allen reported he had
attended the award ceremony at the Taunton Rugby Club on 20thn
October and he was delighted that Amanda Triggol received an
award in recognition of her work in the village to raise money
for charity including organising “Pop in for a Pint” in the
village hall.
4. Somerset County Council report. David Hall reported as
follows:
- Broadband Phase 2 Rollout. He said the winning bidder
would be announced on 15th December with the coverage details to
follow in January 2017.
- Growth Deal 3. The allocation of infrastructure funds
for the locality is looking very positive.
- Hinkley Point. David said he attended a Nuclear
Industry dinner in London recently and showed the industry to be
in very good heart. He said there were now already 1100 staff
working on site and that the spin off from this vast project
would be very beneficial to the locality.
- Bristol Road. A one way system was to be affective
from 23rd January 2017 for six months, designed to assist and
facilitate the road junction improvements in the Wylds Road
area.
5. Sedgemoor District Council report. Cllr. Liz Perry
reported about changes to recycling collections due soon.
6. Planning.
Reference: 18/16/00007/LP.
Proposal: Formation of Access.
Location: Fernside, Ward Lane, Chedzoy, Bridgwater, TA7 8RN.
Applicant: Mrs.V.Govier.
The Clerk reported this application had been referred to the
Chairman on receipt, who confirmed it represented a simple “drop
kerb” entrance to the property and as such did not warrant a special
planning meeting. An appropriate note of support had been sent to
Sedgemoor.
Reference: 18/16/00008/DT.
Proposal: Erection of first floor side extension and two
storey extension to front elevation, installation of first floor
balcony and alterations to dormer windows to rear.
Location: Stoneleigh, Front Street, Chedzoy, Bridgwater, TA7
8RE.
Applicants: Mr and Mrs M Clothier.
On receipt of this application, a special planning meeting was held
and as a result a letter conditionally supporting it was sent to
Sedgemoor.
7. Correspondence.
- Environment Agency improvements to King Sedgemoor Drain.
The Clerk reported on an e-mail from the Environment Agency,
outlining plans to clear vegetation and carry out surveying work
at Parchey Bridge during November, designed to enable de-silting
work to follow if deemed necessary.
- Playing Field vandalism. The Clerk said vandalism to
the protective mats at the Playing Field has taken place shortly
after the last meeting and that the Playing Field Committee were
processing an insurance claim, involving a £250 excess payment,
directly with the agents.
- Keeping control of your dog. The Chairman had received
a report of a dog with its owner, but not on a lead, knocking
people over whilst out walking. In fact advice had been given by
the Police to the appropriate owner. It was felt that dogs
should always be kept under control, and on leads when near
other people.
- 'Why not become a County Councillor'? The Clerk
revealed a poster from Somerset County Council, encouraging
people to consider becoming County Councillors – the forthcoming
election date being 4th May 2017.
8. Matters arising from the correspondence. None.
9. Finance including setting the Precept for 2017/18.
Balances after allowing for all payments made:
Lloyds Bank Current Account |
£3385.03 |
Lloyds Bank Deposit Account |
£2.48 |
Cambridge Building Society Easy Access
Account |
£12252.99 |
3 cheques to be issued when signed by 2 councillors, as follows:
Number |
Payee |
Amount |
For |
534 |
C.N Fry |
£152.67 |
October net salary |
535 |
C.N Fry |
£152.47 |
November net salary |
536 |
C.N Fry |
£182.34 |
Expenses to date |
Setting the Precept for 2017/18.
The Clerk distributed the projected expenditure figures he had
prepared which showed total estimated expenditure at £7278.00 for
the financial year 2017/18.
He advised the Councillors that it was necessary to build in a
“cushion” for unexpected expenditure (such as the work place pension
and notice board repairs this year). He went on to say the only
source of income the Parish Council had was through the Precept, and
they should be proud of the tight control that they keep on
expenditure in general.
After a discussion, it was proposed by Cllr Baker and seconded by
Cllr Gale to set the Precept at £7500.00 for the year 2017/18, with
all in favour.
10. Any Other Business, including date of next meeting
- Sedgemoor Battlefield Display Case. This has suffered
storm damage. Mrs Linda Friend (the previous Clerk) has advised
that as far as she can recall the board was erected in 2007 by
Sedgemoor District Council’s Regeneration Dept. Mark Smith who
used to be a Parish Councillor and at the time of the board
being erected worked at Sedgemoor, has advised the Clerk that he
was involved in the project which involved this one and two more
in Westonzoyland. SDC’s tourism section may have arranged things
and it was a community project with many meetings. He is not
sure who is responsible for the sign’s upkeep. The Clerk has
sent an email to Victoria Banham, the one person still dealing
with tourism issues (the main tourism section having been
disbanded) and a reply about the matter is awaited. In the
meantime, Mark is keeping the board safe in his garage.
- Winter Service. The Clerk has collected the village’s
allocation of 10 @ 20Kg bags od salt for casual use at Highway
or footway black spots, and is storing it at his property. In
case of need it is beside the green shed at the front of his
house.
- Council Tax Scam. The Clerk read an e mail from SDC
advising of a scam in which people offer to lower your council
tax banding for a fee.
- Somerset Village Agents evaluation exercise. The
Somerset Village Agent project is currently being independently
evaluated to learn about how well the project is doing, where it
could be improved, and how it will continue to flourish in the
future. There is an online questionnaire which the Clerk said he
would complete.
- Register of Electors 2016. The Clerk has a copy
together with details of the restrictions about its use.
- Speed Indicator Device installation, 2017. These are
to be during the weeks commencing 13th February and 7th August
2017.
- Mendip Community Transport. A letter requesting grant
aid has been received. No action to be taken.
- Code of Conduct training 2017. These are to be held
during March 2017.
- Request to Complete and Promote Dependant Carers’ Survey by
18th January 2017. The Clerk to see to this.
- Telephone Box. A letter has been received from
Sedgemoor asking the Parish Council to advise it as to whether
it would like to adopt the phone box. Usage is almost
non-existent with just 1 phone call having been made in the last
12 months. After a discussion it was decided it was a feature of
the village centre and a useful landmark. Upkeep would be a
minimal expense and I was decided to request its adoption in due
course. Proposed by Cllr Baker and seconded by Cllr Gale.
- Cluster Group Reorganisation. The Clerk read extracts
from a letter from Duncan McGinty , Leader Sedgemoor District
council, confirming the rearrangement of the Cluster Groups, as
previously stated, despite the opposition of the Quantock
villages.
- Frost damage to allotment tap. In an attempt to save
money, Cllr Baker said he would look at he problem.
There being no other business, the meeting was declared closed at
8.50 pm.
Date of next meeting; Wednesday 11th January 2017 at 7.30 pm in the
Village Hall. (Note from webmaster: this date was changed on 10/12/2016).