Minutes of the Yarcombe Parish Council Held In
YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL HELD IN
THE JUBILEE HALL, YARCOMBE
ON MONDAY 30th November 2015 AT 8PM
In attendance:
Cllrs L Pidgeon, ChairS Horner
A Long
S Parris / Cllrs C Stone
M Tomkinson
A Wiggins
P Diviani (DC)
A Moulding (CC)
Vanessa Smith (Clerk & RFO) / Four members of the public.
1 / Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Randle and Barnes
2 / Declarations of Interest
One Declaration of Interest received from Chair, Lesley Pidgeon: Agenda Item No 7
“Devon Communities Together, whether the PC become members, my interest is re funding/grants that could be obtained for the setup of a “hub” which I’m involved with.”
3 / To Receive a Report from PCSO Phil Anning/PC Clive Vickery
The report stated – No Crimes.
4 / To Confirm the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on September 7th 2015
Cllr Stone asked that the minutes be altered to say that it was a Personal Declaration of Interest and that he had left the room whilst the discussion took place.
5 / Reports on Ongoing Activities of the Council
a
b
c
d
e
f / Yarcombe Inn –
There had been a very successful meeting and the subcommittee has now been disbanded. Cllr Paul Diviani said he would recommend the application for change of use of the pub to go to Planning Committee. The Chair, read out the Parish Council response, of objection, which had been sent to EDDC. On the website there are 19 objections and one of support for change of use.
Affordable Housing –
The Chair welcomed Philip Bearne, who is to join the proposed group to look into forming a Community Land Trust. Mr Bearne has a wealth of experience in developing, planning, and affordable housing and has been involved with a CLT before.
Cllr Horner emphasised his enthusiasm for a CLT and is to organise a meeting with Philip Kerr, and Philip Burn (?) who has also come forward to help, together with Cllr Pidgeon, Cllr Stone and Cllr Long. Cllr Parris is to contact another person who may be suitable to join this group. Cllr Horner has offered to be the Secretary of the group. Once they have got a group together they will report back to the PC.
Neighbourhood Plan Update –
There was a draft copy to be circulated and read and then any comments would be passed back to Wendy Randle, and another meeting would be organised.
Defibrillator – Update on Insurance. Originally this was to cover the new cabinet to be provided, but the defibrillator comes with its own cabinet. The Clerk to investigate the value of the equipment and cabinet and it was suggested to contact Leador who provide first aid equipment. Paul Nally had brought along the training bag and explained that the equipment provided could train up to 20 people to use the defibrillator with the aid of a training DVD. An advert re this training could be put on Notice Boards in Village.
First Aid Course – In addition to the above training, it was agreed to go ahead and organise a training session with the St John’s Ambulance for one evening in January, possibly a Saturday evening from 4-7.30pm. Clerk to check on availability of hall.
Parishes Funding Together - After some discussion it was agreed to join with Stockland to replace the two benches on the Cricket Field. The deadline is February 6th and it was stressed the need to get the application in 2/3 weeks before hand. Cllr Moulding indicated that some parishes had applied to use this grant to maintain ditches, etc in their villages. It was felt that this should be maintained by the DevonCC, although in future landowners will be responsible for hedges and ditches which are on their land.
6 / Open Session for Public Participation
Paul Nally emphasised how dangerous the road is for crossing especially for children and the elderly and asked that something is done about it. Various surveys have been carried out but nothing so far seems to have been done and it seems the system requires a fatality before anything is done. Cllr Moulding to look into the situation. Clerk to write to Highways and ask about the possibility of an island in the road.
Clerk also to find out if it is possible to have a “nice” sign on the road, ie please drive carefully through our village type of sign.
There was a discussion on whether it would be suitable to have a Community Speed Watch group – after a discussion it was felt although useful, as it is run by villagers after a certain amount of training, it could offend other villagers.
7 / a
b
c
d / Clerks Report
Email received about damage to Old School Housewall. It was felt it was Devon County Council’s responsibility.
Blackdown Hills response – to be postponed to January meeting. Clerk to re-forward the document.
Devon Communities Together – discussion on whether to join. Clerk to bring more information next meeting. We do received information from them but not actually members.
Clerk went through items listed, and explained about the Transparency Code, which is to take effect for small councils from 2017. This is when small councils will no longer need to have accounts audited by an outside auditor but will need to place all accounts, etc on the website. There are grants available to buy laptops, projectors etc. The Parish Council agreed the Clerk could apply for one of these grants for a new laptop. This would also be used in the future, together with projection equipment, to project planning applications to the PC as soon they will be doing away with paper copies.
Standing Orders and Financial Regulations
All Councillors were given a copy to look at for review at the January meeting. Cllr Horner suggested we see if there is model Standing Order information.
Ongoing Training for Councillors
The PC agreed that it would be useful to complete the training and it was suggested this should take place before the February meeting.
8 / a
b
c
d
e / Finance
Payments were approved and made in line with the following schedule:
Date / Payee / Details of Payment / Chq No / Amount
25/11/15 / EDDC / Election Costs / 475 / 721.81
25/11/15 / Vanessa Smith / Clerks Salary – to be advised
Clerk Courses and Books
Clerk explained what courses she was attending and also books it was suggested the Council should have and that Monkton Parish Council were happy to share the costs of these, which would be about £150 per council. Clerk to provide full breakdown.
Filing Cabinet
The Village Hall committee had agreed the PC could place a filing cabinet in the store cupboard and it was agreed by the PC to buy a filing cabinet and thought that a wall cabinet may not be big or strong enough. Clerk to look into costs and suppliers of Fire Proof cabinets.
Section 137 Donations
It was agreed to keep these payments to the spring.
Presentation of Half Yearly Accounts
Balance at 30th September 2015 £11284.08
Expenditure to date: £ 7137.04
Receipts to date: £ 5100.00
The Clerk presented a proposed budget, together with current and expected expenditure for the rest of the year to agree the precept for next year. After a few amendments this will be brought to the January meeting.
9 / a / To Hear Reports from Individual Councillors, District and County Councillor
Cllr Paul Diviani – good news that we had succeeded with our Enterprise Zone Bid which will have a good knock on effect for the area, also a good outcome on the autumn statement for Cranbrook, Skypark, etc. And at a meeting at Olympia we had won top prize in overall developer award for affordable homes.
10 / Parish Paths
Cllr Tomkinson said a letter had been received from Colchester Ramblers about two footpaths, one is not on our area and the other issue she will address in a reply to them. It was felt we do not need to apply for a grant this year towards maintaining our footpaths.
11 / Highway Matters
a
b
c / It was stated that there had been a good walk around the area with Cllrs Moulding, Wiggins and Stone and Nick Allen from highways and as a result some work will be done on Pot holes.
Cllr Moulding to follow up on this.
Highway Log
Cllr Stone completed this and Clerk will log it on DCC website.
1Stockland Road from Yarcombe – surplus/loose surface dressing not removed by contractor. Surface grit now delaminated from tar on approx. 10 m below Stockhouse.
23 Potholes on North side of road in wheel tracks between Lower Pithayne and Crislands.
3Moorhayne lane below Little Moorhayne – 3 potholes in wheel tracks.
Email with conference presentations and list of Highways contacts for the area, previously circulated.
12 / b / Planning
15/2071/AGR - Agricultural/forestry storage building,
Watchford Farm, Yarcombe, EX14 9LZ
Parish Council Object.
This was discussed in the meeting, Cllr Diviani said he had been keeping a watch on this application and he did not support this application. Cllr S Horner had found some documentation regarding Permitted Development rights to do with building near an aerodrome, and believed they should not be granted permission on these grounds and felt that the development would have a huge impact on neighbours.
15/2207/FUL – Installation of photovoltaic panels in rear garden
Middle Moorhayne Farm, Yarcombe EX14 9BE
Parish Council Support.
15/2290/AGR – Agricultural Storage Building
Rower Fort Cottage, Stockland Honiton Devon EX14 9DX
Parish Council questioned the justification of it.
15/2510/FUL – Retention of Timber Decking
Parish Council Support.
15/2291/COU – Change of use of pub to dwelling
The Yarcombe Inn, Yarcombe Honiton EX14 9BD
Parish Council Object.
15/2499/FUL – Construction of Garage.
Emmetts Farm, Yarcombe, Honiton EX14 9LU
Parish Council Support.
13 / a / General Correspondence Received – Just for information.
Letter from Citizens Advice Bureau
Senior Voice
Devon Healthwatch
Blackdown Hills , booklet, management plan etc.
14 / To confirm date of next meeting
Monday 4th January 2016, 8pm.
Dates of next years’ Meetings at 8pm at the Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe
4th January / 6th June
1st February / 4th July
7th March / 5th September
4th April / 3rd October
16th May AGM/APM / 28th November
Close of Meeting 10.15pm
......
Chairman