CWMDU AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held at Tretower Village Hall on 2nd May 2013 at 1930hrs.

Present were Chairman Cllr AA Harries, Cllrs Mrs JE Block, Mrs L Price, Mrs HG Sweeting, FJ Morgan, T Sinnett, S McLennan, CCllr Mrs K Silk and the Clerk – RAB Doak.

Apologies There were apologies from Cllrs Mrs DWV Cracroft, Mrs K West and RDH Jackson.

Minutes of the Meetings held at Cwmdu Village Hall on 4th and 18th April 2013 were confirmed and signed.

Matters Arising

1. The Five Councils Liaison Meeting was held on Wednesday 24th April 2013 in the Parish Hall, Church Lane, Crickhowell and hosted by Crickhowell Town Council. Several Councillors and the Clerk attended the meeting. The Agenda included the Local Development Plan Update, One Voice Wales / Planning Aid Wales Training Module, Refuse Collections / fly tipping and the Powys Fair Funding Formula for Schools Budgets. Other items discussed were the Crickhowell Lynch Gate, PCC criteria for Burger Vans and the speed sign by 10 houses in Crickhowell. The points discussed on the LDP were taken from an update on the BBNPA website and it stated that an extra 200 houses were required in Key Settlements. The next meeting will be hosted by Llangattock Community Council.

2. The BBNPA Town & Community Councils Liaison Meeting and Charter Update was held between 1000 and 1230hrs on Saturday 27th April 2013 in the Brecon Subud Hall. Cllrs T Sinnet, AA Harries and the Clerk attended this meeting. The Agenda included the Charter Action Plan, Community Newsletter and Residents Survey, BBNPA Corporate Priorities, Local List, Scrutiny and Section 106 and Planning Obligations.

3. Fedw Wood. The Councillors discussed the work that had been carried out in Fedw Wood and stated the improvements had been necessary for the safety of the volunteers, however there had been a complaint from a local resident that the wood was being spoilt. The Clerk wrote to Mr Ellis and asked for his opinion and received a very detailed reply which totally exonerated CSEG from any alarms about the recent work and the Councillors felt that the Council was very fortunate in having the CSEG’s involvement in the maintenance of the wood.

Highways

1. Bwlch and Cwmdu Playgrounds. Mr Butcher was going to contact the Community Council at the end of April and inform the Council of a revised time to programme and complete the agreed work. The Clerk was to write and ask Mr Butcher for his report.

2. Cllr Mrs JE Block reported that the hedges had been cut along the road from Cwmdu Church to Ael y Bryn and the cuttings had now been swept up.

3. Cllr FJ Morgan stated that the traffic lights in Glangrwyney had been there for 3 weeks but no work had been carried out. Cllr Mrs K Silk was going to discuss it with Cllr J Morris and the Clerk was to email the Glangrwyney Clerk about this and the inconvenience caused.

4. There was a Highways letter stating that the 30pmh speed limit would be extended in Bwlch along the Llangorse road past the new development near Allt View – Clos Cefn Moel. It was also reported that a site visit had been arranged to view the new houses at 1200 on Friday 3rd May 2013. Several Councillors said they would attend this visit.

Correspondence

1. Letter 8th April 2013 Wales Rural Observatory – Services Survey 2013 to be returned by 15th April 2013. Clerk completed the survey online 14th April 2013.

2. Letter 11th April 2013 Brecon and District disabled Club with thanks for the donation of £100.00.

3. Letter 17th April 2013 British Red Cross asking for a donation. Not Approved.

4. Letter 22nd April 2013 PAVO – Powys Befrienders Promotion about a promotion to support people over 50yrs old.

5. Letter 10th April 2013 CRIC with details of the AGM on 1st May 2013.

6. Email 9th April 2013 CCllr Mrs K Silk with details of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water – Wastewater Upgrade Scheme – Bwlch Wastewater Treatment Works.

7. Email 25th April 2013 BBNPA with a Community Update newsletter.

8. Email 1st May 2013 BBNPA with details of a presentation given at the BBNPA conference about Local Lists.

9. Consultation Document 26th April 2013 (received on 2nd May 2013) PCC Head of Schools Service – New Powys 16-19 year olds Commissioning Board. Consultation replies to School Modernisation Team by 31st May 2013.

10. Email 1st May 2013 with the PAVO Members e-briefing for May 2013.

11. Email 1st May 2013 CCllr Mrs K Silk with the May Bank Holiday recycling and rubbish collections.

12. One Voice Wales Emails / letters:

A. Email 15th April 2013 Availability of Planning Training Module.

B. Emails 12th April 2013 with details of Allotments / Growing training courses. And email 29th April 2013 with confirmation of places for Cllrs Mrs HG Sweeting and Mrs K West at Usk on 20th May 2013.

C. Email 1st May 2013 with a website link to the latest edition of The Ombudsman’s Casebook.

D. Email 25th April 2013 with a poster asking for volunteers for a living history programme for S4C.

E. Email 22nd April 2013 with a twelve week consultation on WAG’s draft Social and Environmental Guidance to Ofwat.

F. Email 11th April 2013 Dyfed Powys Police & Crime Commissioner published Police and Crime Plan.

G. Email 12th April 2013 with advice for Farmers with fallen stock.

H. Email 9th April 2013 Measles Outbreak in Powys – Factsheet.

I. Email 18th April 2013 with the training programme for January to July 2013.

J. Letter 9th April 2013 reference Council’s membership of One Voice Wales and a request to nominate a Councillor as the Council representative to attend committee meetings.

K.Letter 11th April 2013 with the Agenda for the meeting on 19th April 2013 in L/Wells and the minutes of the meeting held in Talgarth on 8th February 2013.

L. Letter received 22nd April 2013 with the Spring 2013 Edition of “The Voice”.

Planning

1. Planning Application 13/09115/FUL – 04/04/2013 – Re: “Retention of road access” at Land to South of Rhyd Fawr Farm, Cwmdu. The Clerk read out the letter sent to BBNPA on 23/04/2013 with the Council’s comments.

2. Planning Application 12/08491/FUL – 08/10/2012 – Re: “Two storey extension and detached garage” at Cilwych Fach, Bwlch. The Clerk read out the letter sent to BBNPA on 21/10/2012 with the Council’s comments. BBNPA letter 27/03/2013 permitted this application.

Accounts

1. Crickhowell Joinery Bwlch Notice Board – £624.00

2. G Price Fixing Notice Board - £38.75

3. Zurick Insurance Annual Premium - £383.85

4. Bronwen Bermingham Internal Auditor - £99.00

Proposed by Cllr S McLennan and seconded by Cllr FJ Morgan. Carried.

5. HMRC remittance of £159.48 credited in account for VAT repayment. £90.00 to be claimed back when the purchase of Drexel motors piece of land has been completed.

6. Clerk has to register for PAYE and pay salary by Real Time Information (RTI) according to new HMRC rules. Difficult to register with HMRC and obtain a “unique tax reference number”.

7. Bank Balance - £1813.28 First instalment of precept of £3000.00 due on 31st April 2013. It will be possible to pay the Village Halls grants on the June meeting.

Drexel Motors

A Letter from Mrs Stephanie Monmarche, Gabb & Co (Solicitors) 3rd April 2013 enclosed a letter from Fonseca & Partners, Mrs Boggust’s solicitor requiring confirmation that the Council will only be responsible for the boundary which borders the land which is subject to the current transfer.

The Clerk informed the Solicitor that the Community Council would only be responsible for the boundary which borders Mrs Boggust’s land and the triangular piece of land which the Council is buying. The Chairman also had to re-sign the contract with a witness and this was returned to the Solicitor and hopefully now the transfer of the land can be completed. The Landscaping of the triangular piece of land is still to be completed.

It was reported that there was a “For Sale” sign up at the former Drexel Motors site and the Councillors were concerned that the transfer documents for the sale of the triangular piece of land had still not been completed.

Cwmdu School Playing Fields

There have been several emails between the Council / Steering Group and David Pritchard of PCC to try and resolve some of the queries raised by the Steering Group. The main points of concern were how to increase the area required if there were additional numbers who wanted allotments and also to ensure that the allotment plots included the wet area of the field. Flyers are being distributed again and after that the Steering Group will move forward with a plan of the allotments for PCC.

It was mentioned that an engineer might be required to drain the green strip in the field and also that planning permission could be required for the allotments depending on what was required.

Councillors Points

1. Cllr T Sinnett handed in the copy of the BBNPA Planning Obligation Strategy dated October 2008 that had been distributed at the BBNPA Liaison meeting and Charter update on 27th April 2013.

2. Cllr Mrs HG Sweeting complained that the Notice Board at Tretower had so much condensation that it was impossible to read the notices. The Clerk was to report it to Crickhowell Joinery.

3. Cllr Mrs L Price again reported that the A479 Trunk road was very dangerous because of the high speeds of the very large lorries travelling from Talgarth.

4. Cllr AA Harries stated that the Rural Alliance Committee for Tourism for Llangorse and Bwlch had produced a useful map which should be available in the CRIC building.

5. Cllr FJ Morgan reported that there were many potholes on the Roman Road near the Cattle Grid by Middlewood Farm and that the water overflowed on to the road instead of draining away.

Meeting Closed at 2040hrs.