PITNEY

PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Held on Monday 11th July 2016

Present:Sue McAnulla (SM)- Chair, David Linney( DL), Rob Walrond (RW), Adrian Doyle (AD).

3 Parishioners

Clive Miller

Matt-Connecting Devon & Somerset

Vicky Young (Clerk)

The meeting opened at 8.00pm

549/07 01Apologies Tony Higgins, Tony Woods, Derek Yeomans & Shane Pledger

550/0702Declarations of Interest – None

551/07 0316/02709/COL - The Batcave,Catscrow Hill,Pitney

Application for a lawful development certificate for continuation of the existing use of agricultural building and associated land as a dwelling

After consideration the Parish Council unanimously concurred with the evidence submitted and have no evidence to the contrary and therefore unanimously supported the application.

552/07 04Planning Applications Decided

The applications for Butterwell farm had been approved.

553/07 05County/District Councillor Reports.

None. The County Councillor’s written report had been forwarded to the councillors.

554/07 06Correspondence

SUPERFAST BROADBAND

A representative from Connecting Devon and Somerset was present to answer concerns regarding Pitney and how Pitney could ensure that the Parish was included in ‘phase 2’.

Phase 2 would cover the next 5% of premises. To date a fundamental problem had been that superfast broadband can only travel set distance on copper wires after which the speed is not improved.. This was stated as about 1.8/2km. Pitney was approx. 5km from the ‘cabinet’ in Langport. The best re-assurance for Pitney was that it was eligible for consideration on phase 2 but there was no answer yet as to whether it would be included in phase 2. Part of the process in phase 1, likely to be followed in phase 2, was lead by an engineering model based on existing infrastructure to get a percentage deliverable target. The changing technologies were mentioned and it was mentioned that phase 2 would consider ‘fibre’ or ‘wireless’ or a combination. There was a voucher scheme available for those that qualified and had proven slow speeds. The voucher scheme was seen as a temporary solution until superfast broadband was rolled out.

VILLAGE WEBSITE

Adrain Doyle was thanked for his work on this. It was now up and running and individuals could be shown how to use it.

STOWEY ROAD

The Parish Council were waiting to hear back with regard to the result of an upcoming inspection as to whether the lines were 80% faded and could be replaced.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM MR HIGGINS

A letter of clarification regarding the situation regarding the retrospective application for Batcave and additionally offering his resignation from the Parish Council should it be required had been received. The letter was considered and it was felt that corrective action had been taken and that this oversight should not require Mr Higgins to resign from the Council.

555/07 07Approval of Minutes- The minutes of 9th May 2016 were approved as a true record.

556/07 08Emergency Plan – A store was to be ordered for the fuel and propane. It was approved that DL could go ahead with an order for a store. The amount was £324 including vat. Dave Moore was possibly stepping down from the committee and being replaced by Paul Wood.

557/07 09Approval of Payments

The following payments were approved for payment

Clerk Wages – May-£114.66

Clerk Wages- June-£114.66

Richard Young (internal audit)- £10.00

Adrian Doyle - £182.40

V Young (parish council laptop) - £180

558/0710Items of report and items for next meeting

The issue of loose dogs on the road was to be noted on the new website

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.35pm.

Minutes of meeting 11th July 2016 page1of 2