Fontmell Magna Parish Council

Fontmell Magna Parish Council

Minutes of Parish Council meeting held on Monday 23rd September 2013 at St Andrews Primary School, Fontmell Magna@ 7.30pm

Present: CllrH Horstead (Chairman), CllrsM de la Perrelle, S Green, J Jennings,R Powell, M Wheatley (Clerk), L Williams.

In attendance:Michael Golberg (RFO) and initially 44members of the public

The meeting was preceded by a report regarding the progress made with regard to the proposed purchase of the Wessex Water land at Middle Mill.

The Chairman reported that he and the Clerk had spent the last few weeks trying to establish what was on offer. There were two plans laid out at the back of the room which showed that Wessex Water owned the land to the west of the dam and that their ownership seemed to include the western half of the dam, which included the earthworks but excluded the brick/stone face.

The Chairman also reported that:

Dorset County Council had confirmed that it had no interest in the land save with regard to the maintenance of the footpath across the top of the dam.
North Dorset County Council also claimed to have no interest in the land. The Chairman commented further that this was somewhat surprising given that NDDC had contributed a significant 5 figure sum to refurbish the dam in 1998. The PC had not been able to ascertain why NDDC had contributed this sum although it would appear to have been as a result of a statutory duty under s.64 of The Land Drainage Act.
Wessex Water had forward office copy entries showing their ownership of the land and their engineer’s report. The engineer’s report in summary confirmed that the dam was in good condition.
The Environment Agency had also sent through a report which expressed the view that the ownership of the land should be confirmed.

At the moment the PC had not managed to ascertain who owned the land to the East of the dam.

The Chairman then invited brief comments from the members of the public who were present.

The members of the public indicated their surprise that despite the fact that NDDC had paid for the maintenance of the dam that they were now denying any responsibility. There was then a discussion regarding the price that Wessex Water might accept and whether to instruct a solicitor to ascertain the current ownership and liabilities attaching to the land. With regard to instructing a solicitor the Clerk confirmed she had spoken to a local solicitor who lived in the Parish and he had suggested an initial estimate of £300 plus VAT and disbursements to check ownership of the land and the same estimate for the actual conveyance. It was confirmed that an approach should be made to Wessex Water and the solicitor instructed at the same time.

The majority of the meeting then confirmed that the PC should proceed to instruct a solicitor and with the proposed purchase of the land.

The Chairman then called for a short break to allow those who did not wish to attend the Parish Council meeting to leave.

The Parish Council meeting commenced at 8.20pm. 8 members of the public remained.

23/09/01Apologies. Cllr. Julian Speers.

23/09/02Declarations of Interest. Cllr. Williams declared his interest in relation to the Village Hall.

23/09/03Minutes of themeeting held on8th July2013.The minutes were approved. They were signed by the Chairman. Nem Con

23/09/04Matters arising from the minutes of the meeting on 8th July2013.

Cllr. Jennings raised the question of the allowances paid to the NDDC councillors. He confirmed that he had spoken to NDDC and they confirmed that following the electoral review the number of councillors would not be reduced. North Dorset was the second largest district in Dorset; it had the highest rate of population growth; wages were on average £100 per week less than other districts but life expectancy was 2 years higher than other districts. Cllr. Jennings then confirmed that there were some changes being proposed with regard to Beacon Ward. A consultation document was being drafted and would be circulated in mid to late September. It was therefore agreed that this item would be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

23/09/05County Councillor’s report. The Clerk confirmed that the County Councillors report had been received and briefly went through the items in that report. There were no matters arising.

23/09/06District Councillor’s report. The Clerk had not received any report.

23/09/07To receive a report from the RFO. The RFO confirmed that the audit had been successfully completed. One minor issue had arisen regarding the valuation of the PC’s assets but this did not affect the completion of the audit. The RFO confirmed he would consider the valuation in the accounts and confirmed that this would probably not be the same as the insurance valuation. There was approximately £750 in the current account and approximately £13,500 in the savings account.

The Chairman then proposed that a budget be agreed for the purposes of instructing a solicitor on the purchase of the land at Middle Mill. As per the Clerk’s discussion with the solicitor an initial budget of £500 was agreed.

23/09/08To consider development control matters. The Clerk confirmed that the following applications had been approved by the PC:

The tree works at: Cleave Cottage, Charlie’s Cottage and Chapel Cottage;
Application No: 2/2013/0819/PLNG to remove the planning restriction made by 6 St. Andrew’s View
Application No: 2/2013/0938/PLNG made by Bede Cottage, 69 Common Lane Bedchester to erect a single storey rear extension and form 2 No. windows on first floor.

23/09/09To resolve to pay bills presented. The following bills were approved:

DAPTC £4.50
ICO£35.00

23/09/010Other parish matters

a.Highways.

The Clerk confirmed that she and the Chairman had had a site meeting with Roland Skeats and Kevin Dunford from DCC Highways with regard to the Hollow. Mr Skeats confirmed that Highways would revisit the site in the autumn when there had been more rain to see the actual problem in situ. In the meantime it was agreed that Highways would dig out the gullies at the top end of Parsonage Street to allow for better drainage. The Clerk confirmed she would remind Mr Dunford that this needed to be done.

b.Rights of way. See a. above.

c. Website. The Clerk confirmed that she had received a quote for £175 from ICT Vision and had circulated the details to the PC. This would give the PC 7 pages for the website and would be easily accessible and amendable. It was agreed that the Clerk could proceed with the new website.

14/01/012Correspondence. The Clerk confirmed that she had circulated a schedule of correspondence and that the matters arising had been discussed. Cllr. Jennings suggested that a representative of the PC should attend the meeting regarding decentralisation on 4th November 2013.

14/01/013AOB. Cllr. de la Perrelle asked whether anything could be done regarding the speed of the cars on West Street. The Chairman confirmed that he would discuss the use of speed cameras with SpeedWatch and the Police. It was also confirmed that the suggestion of speed bumps and traffic calmers had been discussed with Highways sometime ago but they had said that because of the cars parked on West Street the street was effectively a one-lane road and that the road was not suitable to put in traffic calmers.

The Chairman then confirmed that he had reviewed the bus survey and could confirm that route 83 was subject to change but only with regard to the ongoing services from Shaftesbury to Gillingham and Blandford to Wimborne on a Saturday.

There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.57pm

Date of Next Meeting: Monday 11th November 2013 at 7.30pm

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Date Chairman, Fontmell Magna Parish Council