2020/03/23
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 16th March 2020
Minutes of the
meeting of the Chedzoy Parish Council held on Monday 16th March 2020 in
the village hall at 7.30 pm.
1. Present: Cllrs Marion Dethier, Brian Gale, Simon Howes (Chairman), John Paige and Rodney Young.
Also present: None
In attendance: The Clerk (Chris Fry) together with five members of the public.
Apologies: Cllrs Nick Griffiths and Pat Lennard, Cllrs Anthony Betty and Liz Perry (Sedgemoor District Council SDC)). Also Dawn James and Emma Giffard (SRA Community Engagement Team) and John Rowlands (Environment Agency).
2. Minutes of the previous meeting of 17th February 2020 were taken as read, approved and signed.
3. The Chairman explained that this meeting would be the last one held in an open forum, until further notice, due to the Coronavirus. In view of this he said the meeting would be focussed on the more urgent matters with most of the items on the agenda postponed until a future date unless anyone present had a particular desire to bring something up.
A Bawdrip farmer said he wished to address the parish council regarding problem of sheep worrying near the Cycle path/footpath running along the King Sedgemoor Drain between the two parishes (see item below).
Items 3 (a-i), 4, 5, 6, 7 (a-c) and 8 were so postponed with the agreement of the Parish Councillors.
3. Finance
Balances after allowing for all payments due.
Four cheques were issued as follows:
4. Any other business.
Date of next meeting – to be arranged.
There being no other business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
1. Present: Cllrs Marion Dethier, Brian Gale, Simon Howes (Chairman), John Paige and Rodney Young.
Also present: None
In attendance: The Clerk (Chris Fry) together with five members of the public.
Apologies: Cllrs Nick Griffiths and Pat Lennard, Cllrs Anthony Betty and Liz Perry (Sedgemoor District Council SDC)). Also Dawn James and Emma Giffard (SRA Community Engagement Team) and John Rowlands (Environment Agency).
2. Minutes of the previous meeting of 17th February 2020 were taken as read, approved and signed.
3. The Chairman explained that this meeting would be the last one held in an open forum, until further notice, due to the Coronavirus. In view of this he said the meeting would be focussed on the more urgent matters with most of the items on the agenda postponed until a future date unless anyone present had a particular desire to bring something up.
A Bawdrip farmer said he wished to address the parish council regarding problem of sheep worrying near the Cycle path/footpath running along the King Sedgemoor Drain between the two parishes (see item below).
Items 3 (a-i), 4, 5, 6, 7 (a-c) and 8 were so postponed with the agreement of the Parish Councillors.
3. Finance
Balances after allowing for all payments due.
| Lloyds Bank current account | £3309.59 |
| Lloyds Bank deposit account | £2.48 |
| Cambridge Building Society Easy Access Account | £12372.04 |
Four cheques were issued as follows:
| Number | Amount | Payee | For |
| 680 | £114.40 | HMRC | Clerk's income tax Jan/Feb/Mar 2020 |
| 681 | £4000.00 | Oxford Rural | Allotment rent to Michaelmas 2020 |
| 682 | £152.47 | CN Fry | March net salary |
| 683 | £29.68 | CN Fry | Expenses |
4. Any other business.
- VE-Day
celebrations 2020. The VE Day committee Chairman (who
is also the Village Hall Chairman), was present and a discussion took
place. He advised that, in all likelihood, the weekend celebrations in
May would be cancelled because of the virus. Regarding the £1000 Parish
Council grant previously approved towards the costs, he very kindly
indicated that the VE Day committee could cover costs already incurred
from other sources, leaving the £1000 to be retained by the parish
council to cover any unforeseen expenses that may arise during the
duration of the pandemic.
The Village Hall is to be closed immediately after this meeting, but the parish council were assured the facilities would be made available at the request of the parish council.
- Coronavirus
Pandemic.
A general discussion took place, with the Chairman saying that the
parish council would like to support a group of local volunteers who
are mobilising to ensure everyone in the parish, particularly the older
people who will be self-isolating, could be supported with their urgent
needs. John Paige kindly volunteered to be the point of contact. He
said he would initially appeal for both volunteers and possible users
of the voluntary services via the Chedzoy Villagers Facebook page, and
distributing a flyer with all necessary details to each house in the
parish, by volunteer distributors.
John Paige will lead a support team would manage the day to day activities as an independent group but with the full support of the parish council.
- Business
Continuity Motion to the Parish Council. The Clerk explained the need for
a special motion to be put to the parish council to ensure the day to
day activities needed to be delegated to the Clerk, Chairman and
Vice-Chairman.
The following motion was presented:-
'The Parish Council of Chedzoy resolves to delegate responsibility for the day to day activities of the Parish Council (especially payments – including exceptional expenditure arising from the Coronavirus Pandemic) to the Clerk, Chairman and Vice-Chairman. This arrangement to continue during the time that formal meetings and all gatherings of the parish council remain cancelled because of the virus'.
This motion was proposed by Rodney Young, seconded by Brian Gale and unanimously supported by all the councillors present.
- Sheep worrying. A Bawdrip farmer
attended the meeting and said he had serious continuing problems of
uncontrolled dogs both worrying and attacking his sheep, from the
cycle/footpath which runs along the [west] bank of the King Sedgemoor
Drain between the two villages.
He said that, when he released the land to allow the path to be constructed, he was assured that dogs would be kept on leads. The main purpose of the path was to enable school children to more safely cycle to Bawdrip School.
He has complained to Bawdrip Parish Council, who had agreed to erect a notice at their end of the path clearly stating that dogs must be kept on leads at all times. He appealed for help in reporting the problem to the dog warden and the PCSOs, which he has tried to do but to no avail.
The Clerk was asked to liaise with the Clerk to Bawdrip Parish Council with a view to jointly taking the action requested, to help prevent this problem from continuing.
Date of next meeting – to be arranged.
There being no other business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.15pm.
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