KINGSKERSWELL PARISH COUNCIL
Meeting held onMonday27th February 2017
MINUTES
The Chairwelcomed everyoneto themeeting
Apologies:Cllr M Moore,Cllr J Radford
Present: Councillors M Haines A HartleyP HartleyS Cook,A Huntley J Carterand Alistair Dewhirst (DCC).
In attendance: K. Turner (Clerk)
07.15pm: Co-option of Roger Jones after unanimous vote from the Councillors. Roger Jones signed the declaration of Office and joined the Council.
07.30pm:Members of the public:None
07.35pm: TheChairman opened the meeting.
2470:To approve and sign minutes of themeeting30thJanuary 2017It was agreed unanimously that the minutes were approved and signed as a correct record.
2471: Declarations of interest from Members:None
2472: Gary from Rhino Play Ltd attended and spoke about theoutdoor gym equipment, types, guarantees and ground preparation. This needs further consideration and the Councillors wish to visit some outdoor gyms in the area to ensure the right equipment is purchased for Kingskerswell. Clerk put back on March agenda.
2473: Clerks Report:
Various newsletters and magazines received
No Police Report
Two quotes received regarding outdoor Gym (see above).
Quotes regarding Painting internal and external of Water Lane Toilets considered and Councillors voted (Clerk please advise successful company and thank the unsuccessful quotes for taking the time to apply).
Correspondence regarding Stagecoach buses speed along A380. The Parish Council wereconcerned to learn this and requested that the Clerk write to Stagecoach for clarification. Clerk please reply to Mr Walker.
2474:List of cheques to be signed for 27 February 2017
2586 £ 570.31 Clerks Net Wages
2587 £ 27.80 HMRC
2588 £ 156.00 Visionict (Website half year charge)
2589 £ 50.00 Devon Communities Together (Subs Annual)
2590 £ 75,00 KKSC Utilites
2591 £ 110.00 Petty Cash
2592 £ 787.85 SW Water (Water Lane Toilets)
2593 £ 463.20 SHS (Water Lane Contractors)
Direct Debit for BT landline: £
Direct Debit for BT internet: £
Direct Debit for British Gas: £ 115,45
Direct Debit for SSE £
Total cheques/DD for February 17 = £ 2355.61
Amount to be repaid by Sports Club: £ 176.30
VAT refund: £ To be Claimed
Precept 1st payment: £
Total income to 27th February 17 £ 176.30
Cheque written on the night for £109.82 for Southern Timber (gate replacement for Downs)
2475:Councillors Reports:District & County Councillor’s Parish Council Report 27th February – Kingskerswell Abbotskerswell
Leaders at Devon County Council are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On Thursday 16th February the County Council put out a press release saying that their 4.99% “Council tax rise would fund care for elderly and vulnerable”. This was a rise £60.30 for a band D property taking the Council Tax up to £1,267.92 for next year. And yet Council Leader John Hart only five days later was on TV saying “We are seriously concerned that the final local government settlement announced yesterday provides no new funding for councils in 2017/18 and has totally failed to address the crisis in social care.
“Whilst we welcome the ability to raise additional council tax this income will not bring in anywhere near enough money to cover the costs of the services needed to protect the old, the young and the vulnerable.
The background to all this is that the Adult Services Budget will increase in monetary terms to £216.493 million – an increase of £18.7 million. This sounds good but the reality is that it is mostly inflation, increases in pension contributions and the National minimum wage. We calculate these huge budgets by breaking them down into numbers of services users and at a time of “Unprecedented increases in demand” we are planning on increasing from 14,500 service users by 185. With huge increases in previous years, without the closure of local hospitals, I suspect that with closures taking place our budget will be blown apart pretty quickly later on in the year.
So key figures from the budget agreed are £216.5m for adult services, £118.1m for Children’s services, £35.2m for communities, public health and environment, £33.4m for Corporate services and £56.4m for Highways – that is a 3.5% real terms reduction by the way – making a Service total of £459.6 million. This means that the Council budget has reduced by £208 million since 2011 – five short years!
To these figures were added the schools budget of £523 million which is covered by central government funding – as I am sure you are aware our Local Authority has historically been the lowest funded tier of Education Authorities in the UK - £290 per child less than the national average . This was slightly mitigated by the ludicrously named “Fairer Funding for Schools” where nearly two thirds of our schools had a very small increase in their budget and the rest a swinging cut. However due to changes in the High Needs Budget Devon schools were further penalised by the County Council with another cut of £33 per child.
My group in our alternative budget proposed to fill this funding gap from a £12m reserve fund. We also proposed to re-introduce four school safety inspectors and .an additional £1million to go into our roads. After a nearly four hour debate, sadly the cuts prevailed. Make sure you are sitting down when you receive your Council Tax demand.
Finally at the end of the year my Locality Budget has been fully spent. It went on the following:-
£250 for a strimmer for Coffinswell PC; £325 for a grit bin in Abbotskerswell; £500 for a coffee station in Ipplepen Village Hall; £500 for nets at Ipplepen Cricket Club; £250 to the Kingskerswell Directory and £250 for the Kingskerswell Fete; £500 for lights to the Kingskerswell Village Hall; £4,095 for defibrillators Broadhempston, Coffinswell, Denbury and Ipplepen; £1,000 for planting on the Aller Interchange roundabout; £500 to Buckland football club juniors; £500 for Teignbridge Titans Netball Team; £1,000 for Hits foodbank when they were in crisis; £200 for the Devon Youth games and £130 to a Christmas Lunch for local care leavers. In addition to that I allocated through Investing in Devon £2,000 to Ipplepen tennis club for a new court surface; £2,500 for improvements to Ipplepen Village Hall and £5,500 for new windows to Kingskerswell village hall
Cllr Dewhirst reported that DCC planning application is due to be received regarding the Craxford Tip, please consider soil levels verses the application- the Officer is asking regarding conditions? The Chairman said Kingskerswell Parish Council Planning Committee would consider the application when they had seen it.
District Council:
Full budget meeting was held at Teignbridge. The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan consultation is now being sought this extends on from the local plan.
Parish Council:
MM one person has contacted me regarding the Council Tax increase to ask where the piece of land is situated. Council confirmed that as we have expressed an interest and as we are still negotiating it is a confidential matter.
AH Concerns regarding the bollards at night being black,they need to be more visable.
A/Huntley Commercial vechicles parking at Jurys Corner while attending the building site, I have asked them to park in a more suitable place.
SCSpeeding on the A380, concerns re crossing on the Zebra crossing from the young to old.
JC Black Bollards (Clerk awaiting a reply)
PH.Teignbridge Council tax bills are due to arrive in the next 10 days.
2476: Planning:The Planning Committee had met and results read out at the meeting. (Applications
held at the Office).
DCC land site sale: no further communication had been received. The Chairman in the meantime had been looking into similar plots to gain an idea of pricing.Nick Davies from TDC Planning had confirmed that the policy terms would be ok. So initial conversations had taken place with local youth related groups to gauge interest, this is ongoing.
Paul Couttie DCC has asked the Chairman to meet with him regarding surplus pockets of land following on from the South Devon Highway opening.
2477: Crown Estate proposed Park area: A communication had been received from Crown Estate to say it noted our interest in being considered for running the park land, this was early days and developers and other Land Trust’s would be contacted.
2478: The Downs:a date for the Committee to meet at the Downs was 11.3.2017 10am. Clerk please advise David Poole KNHS.
A Car had been abandoned. The Police had been on the scene and raised a crime number. From the first day it arrived further damage had been done to the gate therefore leaving the Downs fully exposed. Cllr A Hartley had arranged for the gate to be replaced and this was being cut to size for finishing tomorrow. Crash barriers do need to be considered and the Parish Council had raised this previously with DCC before the South Devon Highway was opened, otherwise it lends itself for a car going right down the bank and straight onto the Highway. It was felt that if another car was abandoned there tyres would be deflated.
The mowing of the Downs will take place shortly.
2479:Playing Field Matters:The Outdoor Gym will be given further consideration by the Councillors by visiting existing ones in the area and working to ensure the right equipment is supplied to cover all abilities.
The dead fox was removed by the Parish Sweeper.
Hard core is required at the opening yellow gates of the playparks as it is very muddy.
2480: Sports Committee report:No report but a request for a meeting on the 3rd April was being considered by the Committee members. The Cricket have asked if the Garage door could be widened this will be considered at the meeting.
TheChairman thanked everyone for their input and closed the meeting at 9.17pmThe next Parish Council meetingwill be 27March2017at 7.15pm at the Pavilion.
Signed: ………………………………. Date…………………………… Page 1 of4
Chairman