BEAMINSTER TOWN COUNCIL
Minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Monday 22nd June 2015 in the Skyrm Room at the Public Hall, Beaminster at 7.00pm
A member of the public expressed his concern with regard to noise nuisance associated with moped riders riding up and down Memorial Lane and wheel spinning in the car park.
1292PRESENT– Cllr G Berry(Chairman), Cllr T Beswarick, Cllr P Body,Cllr R Cheeseman,
Cllr Mrs K Gould,Cllr M Jupp, Cllr Mrs J Page and Cllr CTurner.
1293IN ATTENDANCE – Mrs Christine Bright (Town Clerk) andWDDC Cllr A Alford, WDDC Cllr P Barrowcliffe, DCC Mrs R Knox, PCSO Alex Bishop, one member of public and one press representative.
1294REPORTS FROM AND QUESTIONS FOR:
(a)Dorset Police Representative
PCSO Alex Bishop had no significant issues to report. He advised that a fourth member had joined the team in recent months, PCSO Katie Jarvis and it was likely that she would be taking over the regular ‘surgeries’ in the Yarn Barton Centre.
(b)West Dorset District Councillors
Cllr Alford had no items to report in respect of Beaminster but advised that an agreement had been reached with Lyme Regis Town Council regarding the siting of a skatepark facility in Charmouth Road car park, this would result in a loss of 35 spaces. Also in Lyme Regis Phase 4 of stabilisation works, incorporating a new walkway to the sea front from Charmouth Road car park had recently been officially opened.
In response to a question from Cllr Mrs Page regarding a date for the publication of the awaited gypsy and traveller sites report Cllr Alford advised that the County, District and Borough councils were working in partnership and that he had received no indication as to when the report was likely to be published.
Cllr Berry expressed his concern at reports that the District Council were considering the amalgamation of Chamber of Trades eg; Bridport and Beaminster. Cllr Alford advised that he was unaware of any suchplans and would make enquiries.
Cllr Turner sought an update with regard to the examiner’s report on draft Local Plan proposals to which Cllr Alford advised that it was anticipated that the report would be released within the next four weeks.
Page 236
(c)Dorset County Councillor
Cllr Mrs R Knox advised that:
- Chamber of Trade – in response to Cllr Berry’s concerns Cllr Mrs Knox
explained that the Local Area Partnerships were holding informal discussions
with a view to forging a closer relationship between the traders in Bridport
and Beaminster
- Community Safety – a pilot meeting had taken place with residents of
Dorchester and surrounding parishes at which the process of establishing
a community resilience plan had been outlined, the meeting had been
extremely successful and it was planned to go County wide with similar
meetings.
Cllr Mrs Knox was delighted that Beaminster’s Emergency Plan had been
held in high esteem by those present at the meeting and offered her
congratulations to Mrs Pearce, Mrs Beeny and Cllr Cheeseman and team.
- Dorset Community Safety Partnership – representatives from the County,
District and Borough council’s had formed a Partnership to ensure local
information was diseminated to local communities
1295APOLOGIES–Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Elliott and Cllr Norris.
The Chairman, Cllr Berry, prior to commencing the meeting, wished to formally
record the council’s appreciation to the former council members who did not seek
re-election to the council in May for theirvalued contribution in pastyears
In particular, he mentioned Cllr Mrs Knox, who would now able to concentrate exclusively on her extended County Council duties, ex District Cllr Mrs Payne and Cllr Mrs Page, both of whom had worked tirelessly on behalf of the community and that the Town Council were fortunate in retaining Mrs Page’s great knowledge and experience; and to ex
Cllrs Rosemary Beeny, Mrs Valerie Baldwin, Mrs Alaina Cameron and Mrs Sally Samuel.
All would be sadly missed on the council but he hoped they would continue to enjoy their participation in their many activities in the town and wish them all the very best in the future.
1296 MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 26TH MAY 2015
The minutes of the Town Council meeting held on 26th May2015havingpreviously been circulated were amended to record apologies for absence tendered by Cllr Norris and signed as a correct record by the Chairman.
1297DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
No declarations of interest were received.
1298REPORTS FROM OUTSIDE ORGANISATIONS
DAPTC – Cllr Turner advised the next Executive meeting would take place on Saturday
27th June. This would be the last meeting for DAPTC Chief Executive Cynthia Starkey who was due to retire at the end of June, her replacement had been appointed.
1299ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
The Chairman, Cllr Berry announced his intention to resign from the position of Chairman
and called for nominations.
Cllr Turner was proposed by Cllr Jupp, seconded by Cllr Mrs Page, there being no other
nominations Cllr Turner was duly elected Chairman for the ensuing year.
Page 237
Cllr Turner vacated the position of Vice Chairman and took the Chair. He expressed his
gratitude to members for their confidence in him, he also thanked Cllr Berry for his
outstanding chairmanship of the council.
The Chairman called for nominations for Vice Chairman. Cllr Cheeseman was
proposed by Cllr Mrs Page, seconded by Cllr Jupp, their being no other nominations
Cllr Cheeseman was duly elected Vice Chairman for the ensuing year.
1300 PAYMENTS AND RECEIPTS
Members were tabled with a list of payments, cheque numbers 104222 – 104233 issued, together with direct debit payments between 1st June 2015 and 30th June 2015 totalling £7,329.47; also receipts totalling £1,328.17.
Members RESOLVED to APPROVE the list, a copy of which is attached.
1301FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
RESOLVED the following members be appointed to serve on the Finance & General
Purposes Committee for the ensuing year:-
Cllr Berry, Cllr Beswarick, Cllr Body, Cllr Jupp, Cllr Mrs Page and Cllr Turner.
1302PUBLIC HALL WORKING PARTY
RESOLVED the following members be appointed to serve on the Public Hall Working Party for the ensuing year:-
Cllr Berry, Cllr Beswarick, Cllr Body, Cllr Cheeseman, Cllr Elliott, Cllr Jupp, Cllr Mrs Page and Cllr Turner.
1303ALLOTMENT & CEMETERY WORKING PARTY
The Town Clerkput forward the suggestion to form a new committee to oversee all green
open spaces within the Council’s control, this was considered to be an appropriate way
forward and RESOLVED to form a ‘Community Amenities Committee’.
RESOLVED the following members be appointed to serve on the Community Amenities
Committee for the ensuing year:-
Cllr Mrs Gould, Cllr Jupp, Cllr Norris and Cllr Mrs Page.
1304STANDING ORDERS & FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
Members had previously been circulated with a copy of Standing Orders and Financial
Regulations for adoption.
Standing Orders – it was RESOLVED to delete the paragraph that referred to the Power
of Wellbeing as this was no longer applicable and to amend ‘u’ on page 2 to read “If prior to
a meeting, a Councillor has submitted reasons for his absence at the meeting, the reason
shall be recorded on the Register of Attendance for that meeting.”
Financial Regulations – RESOLVED to adopt as circulated with no amendments.
1305INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT 2014/15
Members had previously been circulated with the Internal Auditor’s report containing a note of the audit recommendations made to theTown Council following the carrying out of internal audit testing.
Page 238
The recommendations were discussed in turn and the management responses for each recommendation NOTED and APPROVED.
Some discussion ensued with regard to the current banking arrangements and the problems associated with the closure of the HSBC branch in the town. It was AGREED that written representation should be sent to Oliver Letwin MP requesting that Central Government put pressure on the Post Office to offer a business banking facility.
1306APPROVE YEAR END 31 MARCH 2015
Members had previously been circulated with the Statement of Accounts and the Annual
Governance Statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2015.
The Town Clerk advised that to acknowledge the audit recommendation in respect of risk
assessments a NO response was required in box 5 on the Annual Governance
Statement. NOTED.
Members RESOLVED to approve and sign the Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement as presented.
1307MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HALL WORKING PARTY MEETING
Members had previously been circulated with the minutes of the Public Hall Working Party
meeting held on 22nd May 2015. NOTED and APPROVED.
Solar panels - the Chairman advised that he had established that there was a meeting
scheduled to take place in Dorchester on 29th June regarding ‘solar benefits to the
community’ and that he would be attending.
1308CONTROL ORDERS
The Town Clerk advised that at Cllr Berry’s request she had researched the introduction of
Control Orders, in particular Dog Control Orders with a view to prohibiting dogs from the
Memorial Playing Field.
Control Orders had replaced Dog Byelaws in April 2006 and unlike Dog Byelaws, Control
Orders can be introduced at a local level by a town or parish council. It was NOTED that
the police could only take action if a Control Order was in place.
Following discussion members AGREED a number of different Control Orders could be
considered to assist, for example with anti social behaviour and parking. It was AGREED
initially,the introduction of Control Orders would be best considered by the Community
Amenities Committee.
1309ELECTORAL REVIEW OF DORSET: DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS
Members had previously been circulated with correspondence received from the Local
Government Boundary Commission in which comments were sought on the draft
recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Dorset County Council.
Concentrating on the Beaminster Ward in particular, members AGREED the changes to
the geographical areas encompassed within the proposed boundary, ie. to exclude the
‘Toller’ parishes would result in the Ward becoming regular in shape and therefore
eminently more appropriate.
Page 239
1310BEAMINSTER PARISH FINGER POSTS
The Chairman advised that, with grant assistance received from ???????, he had
embarked on a project to refurbish the finger post signs within the parish. He was currently
working on three signs, one of which was the sign at Mapperton for which he had received
a generous donation from Lady Sandwich towards a new finial for the top of the finger post.
He enquired whether the Town Council would consider funding a new brown tourist sign for
that particular finger post rather than refurbish the existing one. Members AGREED to
refer the item to the Finance & General Purposes Committee for consideration.
1311CORRESPONDENCE
One item of significant correspondence had beenreceived since the last meeting:-
- Save Special Care Baby Unit and Kingfisher Wards at Dorset County
Hospital – a request had been received seeking the Town Council’s support
for the campaign to retain these facilities in Dorchester in light of the
Clinical Commissioning Group’s review of paediatric care in Dorset County
Hospital in Dorchester.
Cllr Mrs Gould declared a personal interest in this item.
Members RESOLVED to express their concerns to the Dorset Clinical
Commission Group.
1312 PROGRESS REPORTS
Members had previously been circulated with a written progress report on all outstanding
issues. NOTED.
Cemetery – it was felt there could be a problem developing with the spread of Giant
Hogweed.
Tunnel Road – it was important to maintain a watch on the traffic problems in Tunnel
Road, in particular at the school entrance. The Chairman felt that the situation may
change on the adoption of the Local Plan and the Tunnel Road site eventually
developed for industrial purposes.
1313 FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
No itemsidentified.
1314 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The date of next meeting was set for Monday 27th July 2015.
1315 PUBLIC BODIES (Admission to meeting) ACT 1960
Members RESOLVED that public and press be now excluded from the meeting whilst
discussion took place on agenda item 13 on the grounds that publicity would be
prejudicial to thepublic interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be
transacted in respect of the consideration of quotations received.
Page 240
1316 TREE WORKS
Members were advised that two quotations had been received for identified tree works in
the Cemetery and Memorial Playing Field as follows:-
Dorset County Council£2,010
Forest & Tree Care Ltd£1,480
RESOLVED to accept quotation received from Forest & Tree Care Ltd.
1317 MEETING- The meeting, which started at 7.00pm, closed at 9.10pm.
CHAIRMAN
27 July2015
Page 241