MINUTES OF PURBECK AREA COMMITTEE DAPTC MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 27TH JULY 2016 AT BLOXWORTH VILLAGE HALL
Chairman:Mrs D Weller
Secretary:Mrs A Crocker
Present:Sue AclandBloxworth Parish Meeting
Don HunterArne Parish Council
Ashley PellegriniArne Parish Council
Sandra BrownNational Park Team
Sarah JacksonWest Lulworth Parish Council
Maureen ColvinWest Lulworth Parish Council
Collette DraysonLangton Matravers Parish Council
Mary SparksLangton Matravers Parish Council
Terry NewberryChaldon Herring Parish Council
Peter BowyerStudland Parish Council
Ann MillerMorden Parish Council
Roger KhannaWorth Matravers Parish Council
Hilary TrevorahDAPTC
Tessa WiltshireEast Stoke Parish Council
Julie WrightEast Stoke Parish Council
Emily BlakeChaldon Herring Parish Council
Steven PoultneySwanage Town Council
William TriteSwanage Town Council
Nigel DragonCorfe Parish Council
Nigel HillMoreton Parish Council
Haydn WhiteDAPTC
Ron BurnsLytchett Minster & Upton
Josephine Parish Studland Parish Council
- Welcome
The Chairman welcomed everyone and, after a minute’s silence to remember Caroline Macleod, everyone introduced themselves to the meeting.
- To receive apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from:
Martin AyresSwanage Town Council
Pete ChristieLangton Matravers Parish Council
June RichardsLytchett Minster & Upton Town Council
Liz WilsonLychett Matravers Parish Council
Keith NorrisLychett Matravers Parish Council
Gloria MarshSwanage Town Council
- To approve minutes of the February 2016 meeting
A copy of the minutes had been issued to all members prior to the start of the meeting. Roger Khanna proposed them to be a true and accurate representation of the meeting. This was seconded by Terry Newberry and agreed unanimously. The Chair signed the minutes in the presence of the meeting.
- To consider matters arising from the minutes, not covered in this agenda
No matters arising from the minutes.
- The impact of Local Government Re-organisation on Parish and Town Councils
Hilary Trevorah ran through her report (a copy of which had been issued to all members prior to the start of the meeting) which included the impact of local government reorganisation on Parish and Town Councils. A series of workshops will be running in September to assist parish and town councils with how they can actively consider ways in which they want to influence and shape their communities.
Haydn White spoke of the loss of the youth clubs and, two weeks later, we had the same sort of announcement about the bus services. The aim of DAPTC has been to approach the County Council to find out what services they are not going to be able to carry on with and give town and parish councils time to decide if they want to Precept them.
Ron Burns – are DAPTC involved with what is going on in the conurbation? Hilary has been attending meetings that involve all 9 principle councils. As an association they are going to hold the workshops in September so that councils will have the opportunity to decide what they need.
Sarah Jackson – the parish councils keep being told that no decisions have been made but DAPTC seem to be planning for a decision that has not yet been made. Hilary – the feedback from members is that they want to be kept informed so they can begin to plan for how they are going to cope with the impact of whatever may happen. DAPTC are trying to prepare the sector for change, whatever that change may be. Sarah asked who would be responsible if an accident were to happen as a result of something Highways is no longer able to do and the parish cannot afford to do. Highways are checking their legal obligations and will put the legal process within the document when it is issued.
Josephine Parish – is the Precept the only place the money for the potential increase in parish council work is coming from? If an area becomes unitary – would there be a unified council tax across the area? Hadyn thought there would be a unified council tax structure across the unitary authority.
Don Hunter – how will this translate and impact on the human element of the parish and town councils? All are unpaid volunteers, already putting in a lot of hours. Devolution is going to incur a great deal more work to the parish councillors. Hilary – there is a limit on how many volunteers a parish has. This is why parishes need to think about closer working with neighbouring parishes.
Mary Sparkes – attended a conference in Somerset and asked the question regarding who is going to be doing the work and where are we getting the expertise and the answer was - you just have to raise your precept.
Peter Bowyer – what is DAPTC doing about liaising with County? Is there a campaign role for DAPTC and does this impact upon the work of MPs in the district? Haydn – DAPTC is a non-political organisation and it has never seen its role as taking on MPs. Peter – how can we take critical issues of a national status forward? Are there avenues that DAPT could pursue with other counties, with a few to take it up to a higher level? Is there a chance for Dorset to work with other authorities and then take it to the national level?
Hilary – there is a mechanism through the AGM whereby motions can be carried forward.The DAPTC also meets with other associations in the south west and representatives on the national level.
- Sandra Brown – The East Dorset and Devon National Park
Town and parish councils have been asking for the national park and its potential benefits to be evaluated. DCC have requested their Evaluation and Scrutiny Overview Committee evaluate the status within the re-organisation discussions.
A national park would bring clear benefits and opportunities to the communities and environment. It has a statutory duty to foster the economic and social well-being of its local communities. The NP would give Dorset a marketing edge and a unique selling point and would add value to Dorset’s environment. They also attract central government funding.
How does the NP fit in with the planning authorities?It sets the standards of planning and works with the local authorities but gets paid for by central government.
Sarah Jackson – the NP would be responsible for planning in the area – not roads. The NP is a specialised local authority, funded by Central Government.
Ron Burns – worried about the planning aspect. If the NP is taking planning responsibility, how does it engage with the local authority? They would almost certainly be co-located and work closely with them. Sandra - they bring additional monies which the unitary will not have but they would most probably be located in the same building or have close ties with the local authority.
Sandra offered to attend council meetings to talk about the pros and cons of being a National Park.
- Dorset Highways – Andrew Martin
Andrew made everyone aware that the current document is a draft and, once finalised will be re-issued. He went on to outline the role of Highways and how they are monitored. The overall budget is in the region of £50m and there is a 50/50 split between what is done in-house and what contractors are brought in to do. There are 4 service managers below Andrew Martin covering the various aspects of Highways. Dorset is split into Community Highway Areas – moved from 8 to 16 areas last year. Within the Community highway teams, Mike Harries is the Community Highways Manager and is supported by 4 team leaders all of whom have 4 officers beneath them.
The services’ performance is published each year and all town and parish councils are copied into this document. The service plan sets out the key service objectives and then the individual team plans. The performance is monitored regularly and is set out showing the top12 indicators. Communication has been a big initiative over the last 12 months – monthly e- newsletter, info-graphics sets out in simpler terms what Highways do, staff are empowered to use Twitter and blogs on major schemes where the public can ask questions on-line. Other methods of communication include an annual County Council survey, town and parish council survey and annual national highways and transport survey.
Road condition is important and, on an annual basis, vehicles go around the roads, taking readings of the state of the highways. This then gives a % for the amount of highway that needs improvement.
Service highlights – A338 Bournemouth spur road. Charminster depot salt stock is now under cover – capacity 4,500 tonnes – which means the stock can be held from year to year. Dinah’s Hollow, Melbury Abbas – land slip. Charminster Bridge – over 450 bridges in Dorset, some over a hundred years old. The Charminster Bridge was re-constructed over the winter period.
The restructuring in 2015 reduced costs by £750,000 a year, the front line staff all remained. Savings were made by back office staff and streamlining functions. Due to the budget cuts, they are only dealing with problems relating to safety.
Replaced 64 of the most inefficient vehicles, plant and machinery at an investment of over £3mill.
The Highway Asset Management Plan is produced each year and is available for the public to view.
Highways officers are willing and able to attend parish and town council meetings when asked.
The revenue support grant is being phased out between now and 2020 and business rates and council tax will take its place.
The County Council have saved over £100mill since austerity started but there is still a minimum of £30million to find over the years ahead.
As a result, the Highways budget will no longer finance:
Cyclical sign cleaning
Finger arm replacement or re-painting
Village gateway signage
Non-essential sign replacement
Cutting back verge encroachment on footpaths
Programmed gully emptying on minor roads
Annual grip clearing
Footpath sweeping
Fence painting
Clearance of fallen leaves from gullies
Snow clearing (until priority and community routes are cleared)
Cutting back verges into surface water gullies
There are three possible options for achieving the above ‘non-essential’ functions after compiling a programme of works:
- Use of volunteers supervised by the in house workforce - covered by highways insurance and a supervisor would be provided to oversee the work.
- Town and Parish Councils to directly commission a contractor. Direct liaison with the Community Highways Officer to co-ordinate the works. The contractor carries out the work directly for the town or parish council.
- Directly commission Dorset Highways to carry out the work. They then bill the town or parish council.
Other routes to community involvement in the highway network:
Flood warden scheme
Town and parish snow plan - £300 towards the cost of engaging labour
First line of enforcement – informing the public of work needing doing ie, asking people to cut their hedges if they are overgrowing footpaths. Highways would supply the town and parish councils with an appropriate template letter.
Collaborative working between neighbouring town and parish councils and liaising with Jenny Penny, the Community Highways officer.
Questions:
Maureen Colvin – the roads from Lulworth to Winfrith are atrocious and, despite complaints nothing has been done. We seem to be paying taxes to keep other roads in good condition but not those in West Lulworth. Andrew will look into this and come back to West Lulworth.
Sarah Jackson – the precept needs to be put up in order to fund anything that needs doing. Steve Mepham will meet with them to answer any concerns they have about maintenance. The day to day maintenance has gone down markedly and they are no longer able to carry out the work within their budget.
Studland Parish Council – have not received the information and are very concerned about the gully emptying. They have had to close a road in the winter as the gullies were not emptied so overflowed and turned the road into sheet ice for a period of time. If there is an area within a parish that is repeatedly flooding, Highways will investigate and put in new surface water drainage systems.
Roger Khanna – the parish council applied for an amendment to its traffic regulation orders in 2011 and are still waiting. Traffic enforcement is very difficult but there is no way of moving between limited resources and key times. Ambulance drivers in Dorset are finding unattended traffic lights and getting no response from Highways as to why they are there. Highways – looking to annualise the hours of the traffic enforcement officers so they can cover evenings and weekends within their normal work hours.
B3390 – do you hold public statistics on hourly road usage and speed, etc. No – but you can ask for traffic monitoring to take place. Highways are able to supply models on the traffic flows in a particular area.
Ron Burns – what constitutes an improvement and how does it differ from maintenance. Improving the grading of a road – maintenance – addition to the highway would be an improvement to the road such as traffic islands, etc.
Colette Drayson – very worrying – how is the road network going to manage the proposed increase number of houses in Purbeck. Andrew – would be carried out by the Strategic Transport Planners for Purbeck and specific funding would be put into the upgrades necessary.
Ron Burns – the strategic model would look at all proposed developments – do they model the whole of the county – Yes, this is covered by the spatial plan for the county.
- Dorset Fire & Rescue Service
No officer was present at the meeting.
- A report from the Pan Pubeck Action Campaign
Peter Bowyer explained the Pan Purbeck Action Campaign and its concerns. It is an organisation of individuals, district wide. There is a need for coherent responses for planning matters. They are keen to achieve local solutions which we do not have sufficient representation for at the moment. Three weekly public meetings and leaflets will shortly be available. The leaflet allows parishioners to respond to the local plan consultation. They are a district wide lobbying group, hoping to complement the existing structure.
Josephine Parish – the leaflet is ready. It is cross-Purbeck as there are a lot of people who do not know about the consultation.
Collette Drayson – would like to support both Peter and Josephine’s comments. Drew members’ attention to WoolRAFF and the combined response they have drawn up.
Sarah Jackson – she is a member of both PPAC and WoolRAFF. The consultation is 22 pages long and there are numerous people who do not understand and cannot respond to the consultation. It is vital that residents answer the forms as no response is counted as someone who does not object.
Bill Trite – there is a high population of elderly people who do not understand the Local Plan Consultation. This is of extreme concern to many councillors. The form of the information and the response form are not easy to follow. The housing numbers are nothing to do with meeting the provision of affordable housing and meeting local need.
Ron Burns – has attended a number of the workshops and understands that, unless the revised plan is submitted including the additional number of properties, it will not be accepted. Bill Trite – if the public can make their view known that this is inappropriate and unwanted, the District Council will have more of a chance of fighting against the numbers being forced upon it by the SHMA.
Sarah Jackson – the fact is that developers are increasingly running to the inspectors. Whether this happens or not, they know they are able to exploit the system. Not convinced that officers necessarily do what’s best for the community. They have a very prescriptive way of responding to planning applications. We are already suffering appeal-led development.
Peter Bowyer – NPs have dedicated fighting funds for this.
Sarah Jackson – discussion between PDC officers and the Estates are continuing and are not part of the consultation process.
Collette Drayson – PDC officers are trying to hear about any bits of land that are still available.
Roger Khanna –Any developer can now put forward any area as a Rural Exception Site.
- DAPTC Chief Executive’s Report
Already covered under item 5.
- Reports from representatives of the Area Committee
a)Purbeck Standards Committee – Ashley Pellegrini – parish and town councillors now have the same power as district councillors. However, having got more accountability an extra person is still needed. Agenda for next meeting.
b)Purbeck Heritage Committee – nothing to report.