LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972
DRAFT MINUTES OF ANNUAL PARISH MEETING FOR WINKLEIGH
Held at Winkleigh Village Hall, Castle Street, Winkleigh EX19 8HU on
WEDNESDAY 3RD MAY 2017 at 7.30pm
The Annual Parish Assembly was opened to the public by Cllr Alice Turner (Chair) and authorised to discuss all Parish affairs. All members of the public present were informed they may express an opinion, make a statement or ask a question, however, only Local Government electors for the Parish will be entitled to vote on any issue raised at the Meeting.
Voting on a question is done by a majority of electors present at the meeting and the decision of the person chairing the meeting as to the decision is final unless a poll is demanded LGA 1972 ss 18(2).
No votes taken at this meeting are binding on the Parish Council, although they may be considered at the next meeting of the Parish Council.
1.17 Minutes of the last Annual Meeting – 27th April 2016 were approved as a true and accurate record
2.17 Matters arising from foresaid minutes - none
3.17 Guest Speaker: Insp Shaun Kenneally, Devon & Cornwall Police in relation to Police cuts and PCSO reductions
The Chief Constable has welcomed the £24million funding made available by the Police & Crime Commissioner, which will enable the Force to increase the number of police officers on the streets over the next four years by an additional 100 officers and enabling recruitment of new police staff investigator roles. The demands on policing nationally are ever changing and as we face increasing threats from organised crime and terrorism, with the threat of terrorism greater than ever with a credible terrorist plot being foiled at least once per month, we must ensure that we maintain and improve our capability to deal with these threats. This policing area (like any other) is also facing new and emerging threats from cyber-crime and complex issues such as child sexual exploitation and modern day slavery which exert new demands on our service.
Whitehall has decreed to our Chief Constable that we haven’t got enough specialist officers to be able to provide mutual aid to a neighbouring force or city depending upon what the situation/threat therefore we need a further 50 Fire Arms Officers and 30 skilled investigators for Cybercrime spread across the area, As a Force we are therefore, looking to develop and realign our staff to meet these threats and further protect the vulnerable. We pride ourselves upon our local policing style and our team approach in working with partners and communities in keeping people safe. We are committed to maintaining these core elements within local policing and to improving the connection with our communities, both through more modern digital methods and the more traditional approaches, but we must also invest in other areas to meet the changing demands on our 24/7 service. You will be aware that the frontline has become more stretched over the past years of austerity, but at the same time the demands have continued to increase, along with the complexity of the police investigations to secure those necessary prosecutions. On top of this we need to increase specialist capabilities such as firearms officers and public order trained officers to meet the local, national and international threats.
The redesign and reprioritisation of our workforce will therefore require us to move some staff from existing roles, specifically Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs), with a direction of travel to significantly reduce current numbers across the Force area over the next 4 years. As the Local Policing Area Commander I realise how significant a decision this will be for you and I will ensure that we continue to engage with you as this transition evolves.Whilst numbers will fall I must be clear that this will be over 4 years and that PCSOs still remain a valuable and essential part of our local policing teams. We are fortunate to have so many committed and passionate PCSOs serving in our area and I am sure you will agree they do an excellent job.
I will be closely involved in the redesign (as will my Sector Inspectors) and we will continue to provide local policing oversight across North and West Devon. Through the Sector Inspectors I will keep you updated and we can work together in defining how you maintain connected and engaged with your local policing team.
Of the 3 PCSOs based in Torrington, this may be reduced to 2 but we will argue this is a massive rural area and we will hope to retain all 3. At present, 1 PCSO has already left Torrington to take up a different role, leaving 2 PCSOs at present but there are no guarantees. Ultimately the chief will decide on the structure over a 4 year period
With regards to alignment of a PCSO with the Fire Service, the fire brigade will pay around a third of the wages of the PCSO who ideally will be based in Torrington Town due to restrictions of travel and not servicing rural villages. PCSO Sandra Brown is no longer carrying out this role.
In response to questions raised by members of the Public, Insp Kenneally stated that generally due to geographical factors crime tends to go up in summer around town areas however, he is not aware of any crime spikes in Winkleigh. In the event of a 999 call, whether it is received in Plymouth or Exeter call centre, the most appropriate and nearest response police officer (not PCSO) is deployed to the incident. This is determined by the incident post code, address, GPS and nearest police response officer location.
Insp Kenneally agreed that rural locations and farms in particular are soft locations and tend to be subject of pre-planned organised crime which is difficult to proactively police, however, it is imperative that the police are given the information to act on, which comes from intelligence and tip offs from the public
Parking and speeding is a problem in every parish and town and unfortunately is no longer a police priority due to insufficient resources and therefore the police need the help via speed watch. The police fully accept and respect the high concern expressed from members of the public over parking and speeding but they are currently un-resourced to deal with the issues.
Detention of mentally ill persons in custody is current a big problem for D&C Police. Under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act they calls relating to mentally ill persons are treated as an emergency by police and an officer will go along and make their own assessment and if necessary detain them under S136 MHA and are duty bound to take them to a designated place of safety (normally hospital) and not be a police cell. D&C are currently the highest force in the Country for using police cell to detain mentally ill persons because if the mental health suite at the hospital is not available then custody has to be used until alternatives can be found. The Mental Health Suite is only open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, and many mentally ill persons come to police attention evenings and weekends which cannot be facilitated by the Mental Health Suite. North Devon District hospital are reducing their services and moving some services to Exeter, any person detained under S136 requires 2 officers to escort and travel with them to Exeter or Torbay Mental Health Suites which has an impact on resources, therefore D&C are trying to address this geographical problem with NHS colleagues.
With regard to recruitment of specials in specifically for villages, D&C are carrying out a big recruitment drive for specials but whilst initial uptake is promising, historically the problem is in retaining special constables who move on.
4.17 The Chair presented her annual report covering the activities of the Parish Council over the preceding year. This year has seen many changes within the council. We started the year with 4 vacancies on the parish council and now after many changes we are at the time of writing this left with only one vacancy. Since last May we have welcomed, Wendy Mondy, Deanne Whittaker, Sue Ware, Sue Taylor & Adrian Mercer to the council and wished departing Cllrs Gail Flockhart and John Kane all the best in their future endeavours.
Finance:
Grant Applications for the 2017/18 financial year were paid in April 2017 as follows:
C.A.B - £250 towards volunteer advisers including training.
O.D.C.T.G - £300 towards continuation of their current services including the Ring and Ride bus service, voluntary car service and wheelchair accessible transport.
Winkleigh Football Club - £500 towards refurbishment of the football pavilion.
Other donations & grants during 2016/17 were:
The Council donated £75 to the Royal British Legion for a wreath to commemorate Remembrance Day.
Winkleigh Football Club - £60 for First Aid training.
All Saints Church - £500 repair of the Church Clock.
Shute Lane: As part of the Shute Lane useable access project the Parish Council approved part funding of 25% of the total project cost of £2,679 for stone & fence posts amounting to £670 with the remaining 25% & 50% coming from the Winkleigh Society and TDC’s Community Grant respectively
Many thanks to Cllr Alan Jacobs for all his hard work on this with the assistance of Mr Roger Hill.
Traffic Calming on Townsend Hill: A public consultation was held regarding the proposed traffic calming scheme on Townsend Hill, many thanks to all who helped with this or who gave feedback. Special thanks to Cllr Graham Peace, Collin Gibson and our Clerk, Melanie Borrett, for collecting all the information together for Cllrs to digest and use to make an informed decision.
Neighbourhood Plan Group: Cllr Wendy Mondy has helped to set up a group to develop a Neighbourhood Plan for Winkleigh, this will be a statutory document once completed. Thanks to all those who are part of the group for their work on behalf of the Parish.
Tap Fund 2016 & P3 Partnership: Cllr Alan Jacobs had been producing a booklet promoting walks in the area, which will hopefully be available in the next couple of months.
Cemetery Bungalow:
This year has seen a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Cemetery Bungalow. The Council undertook legal advice to clarify our ability to rent out the Bungalow in relation to the restrictive covenant on the Cemetery deeds, we have received confirmation that we are well within our legal rights to rent out the Bungalow so hopefully all that is behind us now and we can focus on the future.
I would like to personally extend my thanks to District Cllr Betty Boundy and to County Cllr Andy Boyd for their support over the year, also to all Cllrs for the time and effort that they put into council business.
Thank you also to all the parishioners who attend meetings, are our eyes and ears providing feedback on local matters, as well as those who help support activities and groups within the Parish in whatever way they can.
A special vote of thanks must go to our Clerk, Melanie Borrett for all the hard work that she puts in behind the scenes to allow the council to function effectively and for us as Cllrs to be able to do our jobs.
5.17 WPC Grant recipients during 2016-17 Report on expenditure
Winkleigh Football Club £60.00 for first aid training – Mr Stuart Devlyn confirmed via email that the FC sent two people on a Devon FA First Aid course on 19th May 2016. There were Adam Bullen and Julie Hallet. This has allowed them to achieve a Charter Standard certificate from the FA. It was also very useful when one of their players sustained a serious injury this season which required medical attention.Winkleigh FC have also just recently won the league title in Division 6 aftereffect a very successful season and thanked WPC for their support and contributions towards the running of the club.
Shute Lane Project – Useable access £484.00 – Mr Alan Jacobs reported that Shute Lane is an ancient green lane running from the A3124 up to Exeter Road in the village. Although it was an exceptionally beautiful Lane with trees and numerous plants on both sides, the lane itself was extremely muddy and only walkable in wellingtons. The parish council were fortunate to obtain part funding from Torridge District Council with District Councillor Boundy’s help. The first job was to scrape the accrued mud from the surface of the lane & dig a 30 centimetre channel down the west side to allow water to disperse easily. 40 mm clean stone was then added to the channel and spread along the lane. A five bar gate is in the process of being erected at the end of the lane. What remains to complete the work is the top 40 feet or so of the lane. There is some debate as to how this will be done, however, it is hoped a satisfactory solution will be found. Ideally, a gate into Shute Lane from Westcotts drive will be the next project. Thanks to the substantial work done free of charge by Roger Hill and his machines, with a potential Budget of £2680 we have currently spent only £1824 leaving a balance of £856, (with about 5 ton of paid for stone in storage at Roger Hill’s farm until we require it.)
6.17 Presentations/guest speakers:
Chulmleigh Academy Trust and Sports facility with Community Access - Mike Johnson (Head Teacher) and Terry Pullen (Estates Manager).
The Trust is committed to allowing the community use of the sports centre and will work tirelessly to achieve this within the current predicaments. Mr Johnson offered that if anyone wants to see what is going on at Chulmleigh Academy Trust (CAT) he would be delighted to show people what is happening. There has been a huge building programme since 2012 and what is good for the college is good for Winkleigh, which is in the transport area for CCC. Results have been very good with yet more to come. Year 7 has got to its pupil admission number of 120 for the first time ever, and about 16% of children at CCC come outside of the transport area. CCC went to Winkleigh Fair last year and are going again this year and they look forward to meeting members of the Parish and answering their questions.