Cerne Valley Parish Council

CERNE VALLEY PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual meeting of Cerne Valley Parish Council held at 7.30pm on

Thursday 12th March 2015 at Godmanstone Village Hall

Present: Cllrs, I. Humphreys (Chairman), J. Bolt, N. Furness, F. Horsington, J. Barry, T. Handley.

8 members of the public

Meeting opened at 1930 hours.

The Clerk opened the meeting by announcing the results of the Parish Council elections. Only 7 nominations were received for 12 positions and therefore all nominees were elected unopposed.

1. Election of a Chairman.

Only one nomination was put forward and therefore Cllr Humphreys was unanimously voted in as Chairman.

Cllr Humphreys took the chair of the meeting.

The Chairman confirmed that he was a little disappointed with the lack of nominations for the Parish Council and this is something that would be addressed. It was stated that the vacancies were 2 in Cerne Abbas, 2 in Godmanstone and 1 for Up Cerne.

2. Co-option of New Councillors.

Cllr Horsington proposed and Cllr Furness seconded that Colin Trim be co-opted as a Councillor for Cerne Abbas.

This was passed unanimously.

Cllr Handley proposed and Cllr Horsington seconded that Richard Vickers be co-opted as a Councillor for Up Cerne.

This was passed unanimously.

3. Election of a Vice-Chairman.

Cllr Horsington proposed and Cllr Furness seconded that Jill Barry be nominated as a Vice-Chairman.

This was passed unanimously.

4. Apologies for absence.

Cllr Haynes from DCC (prior engagement)

Cllr Yarker from WDDC

Cllr Beresford (personal)

The Chairman then congratulated Cllr Fred Horsington on his (re) election as a Councillor for West Dorset.

5. There were no declarations of pecuniary and other interests.

6. The Chairman (in the interests of time) suggested that unless any councillors declared otherwise that the committees remain as is. This was agreed by all.

Cllr Vickers volunteered to be part of the F&E committee.

This information will be disseminated in due course.

7. Cllr Barry was appointed as the representative to the Area Committee of the DAPTC.

8. Cllr Humphreys was appointed as the representative to the Area Planning Committee.

9. Cllr Trim was appointed as the representative to the Cerne Abbas Village Hall Committee.

10. Cllr Barry was appointed as the representative to the Godmanstone Village Hall Committee.

11. To fix the date and times of ordinary meetings.

The Clerk confirmed that this has already been distributed.

The next meeting being Thursday 09th July in Cerne Abbas.

As this point, Cllr Richard Vickers formally introduced himself to all.

12. To confirm the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting on 11th March 2015.

These were passed and signed by Cllr Humphreys.

13. Public Discussion Period

The Chairman stated that most items likely for public discussion were on the agenda but was there anything else to bring it up.

Helen Brown asked if any minutes from the village meeting were to be published. The Clerk stated that all questions were brought forward to this meeting.

14. To discuss the Parish Councils action (if any) to assist with the monies raised towards the Godmanstone play park (Gpp)

The Chairman briefed on the history of the Gpp and brought all up to date with the current situation. There evolved a frank decision on why, how and what happened historically and indeed were many different viewpoints. The Chairman stated that he would prefer to look ahead and establish a pathway going forward. Cllr Barry was under the impression that a banking mandate had been signed by the treasurer(s) of the Gpp to transfer the monies to the account of the Parish Council. It was accepted this was the case but for reasons unknown did not happen.

It was suggested that the previous Parish Clerk had possession of the Pass book. The Clerk stated that he could not find it but would continue to look.

The Chairman moved the conversation on to what happens next. It was agreed that the money must be moved to an organisations funds and the Godmanstone Village Hall Fund was suggested.

John Sinnamon (Chairman of the Godmanstone Village Hall) agreed that in principle this was a good idea.

It was therefore agreed that if the Pass book could be found then all correspondence would be passed to the Godmanstone Village Hall committee and they would take on the transfer of the funds. The monies going forward would be a matter for the residents of Godmanstone via the Village Hall fund and no longer would be a Cerne Valley Parish Council issue.

The Pass book was retrospectively found and passed to John Sinnamon on 21st May 2015.

15. To discuss and confirm the choice and location of the Godmanstone notice boards (to include the relocation of the post box to a more suitable location on health and safety concerns).

Cllr Barry presented three options for the choice of noticeboard as follows:

a. Metal frame with cork backing for pins. It has steel legs which need to be secured into the ground. It holds about 9 A4 pieces of paper. Cost £435.

b. Metal frame with magnetic backing. Again has steel legs which need to be secured but also comes with a Parish sign and holds 12-15 A4 bits of paper. Cost £505.

c. The final option was the traditional wooded board. The cheapest came in at £850.

The Council unanimously voted for option B.

Cllr Barry then spoke on the location of the new board. Again three options:

a. Current location at the top of Fry’s Lane.

b. On the green patch at the bottom of Fry’s Lane.

c. On the village green on Church Lane.

After a brief discussion the Parishioners requested option A.

Cllr Barry finally spoke on moving the second notice board from by the post box to the village

green. She was concerned as to the health and safety of individuals reading the board.

Again after a conversation the Parishioners were happy with the current location.

16. To confirm issues raised to Highways on roads and gullies in Godmanstone.

The Clerk spoke on issues raised to Highways in the Godmanstone area. He was happy to report

That Highways confirmed that the incident for the clearing of the drains at the top of Fry’s Lane

was closed as complete. The floor observed that this was not likely to be the case. Thereafter was

an interchange with the floor that it would be beneficial if Highways were to meet on site and be

alerted to potential issues further up the Lane that causes the repercussions further down the Lane.

It was agreed to invite Highways out on site to discuss this matter once it was confirmed that the

incident as previously mentioned was not resolved.

Helen Brown asked why the replacement road surface through the village was of the noisy

chippings. The Chairman referred her back to the response from Cllr Haynes from DCC that it was a

patch and the most cost effective method at the time. It was agreed that the Parish Council would

pass on this on this concern and invite Highways to provide a written explanation.

The Clerk stated he will ask again next time he was in contact with the Highways department.

17. To receive reports from the County & District Councillors.

Cllr Fred Horsington spoke very briefly on matters that he was aware of since his election.

It may take up to 3 years to accommodate North Dorset within the partnership. South Walks was

likely to be the hub and there would be considerable consolidation to the back offices.

The WDDC contribute to the £2.7M black hole at DWP is 7%. The vast amount coming from DCC.

18. To discuss planning application

WD/D/15/000901

2 SYDLING ROAD, CERNE ABBAS, DORCHESTER, DT2 7JT

New building to cover over the existing Feed Area, and part of the Slurry Store (Full)

It was decided that the application would be a vast improvement and as it was outside the development boundary and for agriculture use there were NO OBJECTIONS.

19. Superfast broadband update.

Cllr Barry updated the residents on superfast broadband. It was confirmed that BT were looking at sites for the ‘green boxes’. Having spoken to a contractor it is usually 6 months from then to receipt. It was stated from the same person that SFBB costs were generally £5 a month more than current costs. Cllr Barry also stated that the further from the ‘green boxes’ the slower the speed and some more remote areas may be asked to contribute towards cabling.

It was decided to invite the SFBB team to speak at the next Godmanstone meeting September.

20. Official reply to the Charminster Parish Council regarding Himalayan Balsam issue.

This issue was raised by Charminster Parish Council who had a major issue. The original e-mail was distributed to Councillors and the flood wardens. The consensus was that the Cerne Valley, although had small areas of the plant, did not have cause for concern. Land owners and flood wardens all stated they would keep a look out. This message will be formally passed back to Charminster.

21. Overview of the DAPTC central area conference.

Cllr Barry attended this meeting and gave an overview of the main topics.

a. The Dorset Area Community Partnership gave a talk about safer routes to school and were highlighting specifically the Thomas Hardy and Dorchester Middle School routes. They were ‘ambushed’ by the audience saying they must look at all routes to school and especially those in rural locations. A questionnaire is likely to come.

b. WDDC confirmed the new partnerships and provided a SFBB update.

c. Of 104 parishes in West Dorset only 16 were contested in the elections of which 8 were town councils. The Chairman again asked for volunteers from the Godmanstone community to fill the 2 vacancies. There was no response.

d. The Chief Executive of Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils had resigned.

22. Financial Overview

The Clerk confirmed the accounts for 2014/15 were balance with a surplus of £1002.69. These

funds were transferred to the reserve. However, he was unable to balance the overall books with a

credit of £ 665.02 which could not be explained. He will speak to the previous clerk for guidance.

Current balance for 2015/16 as at 30 April 15

Current account £21684.45

Less o/s cheques £ 1007.06

Balance £20677.39

Business Investor £8546.20

Precept £ 13574. 94

And finally

The chairman asked if there was any other business.

Malcolm Savage requested more volunteers to assist for Speed Indicating Device.

The Clerk confirmed that he would place in the Parish Magazine for June as the deadline for this

Month had already passed.

The meeting closed at 2105.

Chairman’s Signature ______

Date ______