Wellington Town Council Meeting 3 November 2014
WELLINGTON TOWN COUNCIL
28 Fore Street, Wellington, Somerset TA21 8AQ
Tel: 01823 662855
E-mail:
COUNCIL MEETING
You are summoned to attend a meeting of Wellington Town Council to be held in the main hall of the United Reformed Church in Fore Street, Wellington on Monday 3 November 2014 at 7p.m.
Greg Dyke
Town Clerk
AGENDA
1. APOLOGIES
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, in accordance with the Code of Conduct. The usual declarations made by members are set out at the end of the agenda.
3. MINUTES
To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 6 October 2014 (copies attached)
4. TOWN MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
5. POLICE REPORT
6. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION TIME
7. “20’s PLENTY FOR US”
A request has been received from Ben Fox that the Council consider this campaign aimed at making 20mph the default speed limit on residential and urban streets.
The following is an extract from the campaign’s web site:
“A number of local authorities have adopted this policy. Through democratic debate those communities have decided that "20's Plenty Where People Live". And it is those same communities who have then changed their behaviour to drive slower in residential streets andwhere people walk and cycle.
20's Plenty for Us is a 'not for profit' organisation and now have over 200 local campaigns around the country and many of our most iconic cities in the UK have already adopted a 20mph limit for most of their streets.
We quite simply campaign for 20mph to become the default speed limit on residential and urban streets. This can be done on most streets without the need for any physical calming and we accept that on some streets it may be appropriate to have a higher limit based on the road, vulnerable road users provision, etc. But any limit above 20mph should be a considered decision based on local circumstances.”
Councillor Andrew Govier (who was initially contacted by Ben Fox) has suggested that if the council agreed, we would need to ask SCC for their professional view as to its achievability. There was likely to be a significant cost to the implementation and in the current financial climate it’s not clear who would pick this up. I do think though it is worth us asking the questions.
8. VEHICLE COUNTER CLASSIFIER RESULTS, BAGLEY ROAD
Attached are the results of the vehicle counter classifier, (VCC), readings for Bagley Road, Wellington taken during September 2014.
Both includes the total number of readings in both directions. The ‘In’ direction is for traffic travelling from the Rockwell Green junction (the Pet Supplies Shop) towards the relief road and ‘Out’ is in the opposite direction.
The median for all readings (in/out and both) are consistent at 30mph, which is compliant with the posted speed limit of 30mph at this location. Likewise the 85%ile speed readings are consistent for all three categories at 36mph. The 85%ile speeds mean that this location meets the qualification criteria, (intervention level speed), for inclusion on the speed indicator device, (SID), programme and receive a SID on a regular basis. The Traffic Engineer has therefore included this location on the programme and it will therefore now receive a SID on a regular basis, (once approximately every four months for a period of two weeks per installation).
For information the intervention limit is the speed, (under the current policy), at which a location is deemed to have a speeding issue. It is calculated by taking the posted speed limit + 10% + 3mph, (36mph in a 30mph posted speed limit). Locations that equal or exceed the intervention level speed qualify for a SID installation on a regular basis.
The only issue to be resolved is in which direction to face the SID. SIDs can only record traffic in one direction (i.e. traffic approaching the face of the SID), therefore we need to advise the Engineer of the council’s preference. Traffic volume is often taken as a guide but in this case the volume is fairly even in either direction.
9. LONGFORTH ROAD PUBLIC CONVENIENCES
Report of the Town Clerk (attached)
10. EVENING BUS SERVICES BETWEEN WELLINGTON AND TAUNTON
At the Council meeting in July 2014 Councillor Andrew Govier drew attention to the lack of a late bus service to and from Taunton. It was felt that the absence of such a service had an adverse effect on peoples’ work and leisure.
It had been hoped that a later service was going to be introduced but new timetables indicated that this would not be the case.
Accordingly I have contacted transport providers to see what options were available for the provision of a later service.
Mark Pedlar of Webberbus has replied to say that numbers at the moment wouldn’t justify a service on a commercial basis – the risk would be too great. He has asked if it is it something that the town council would be prepared to under write for a trial period?
If so, they would be looking for something around £150 per bus per night in revenue from all sources – they would be expecting to see £10 of that from fares and maybe another £40 from concessionaries from SCC. For an hourly service they would need 1 bus, for a half-hourly they would need 2. That would take the service through to about 10pm. Webberbus would really not want to run any later than that as they would then run into all sorts of issues with alcohol and cleanliness of the vehicles as well as finding willing drivers. His view is that the figures don’t look sustainable but they are always willing to talk.
No reply, other than an acknowledgement, has been received from FIRST or from Berry’s.
11. COMMUNITY PUBLIC ACCESS DEFIBRILLATOR
Councillor Mitton to raise.
12. “DOUBLE TAXATION”
Councillor Mitton to raise. Report attached
13. WELLINGTON MONUMENT
The attached “Spirit of Place” statement has been received from the National Trust
14. DROP IN SESSIONS
The two Council Drop In sessions at the Farmers Market on 4 October and 1 November have now taken place.
15. REPORTS BACK FROM COMMITTEES, SUB GROUPS AND OUTSIDE BODIES
(a) Our Place Project
Councillor Andrew Govier has been instrumental in leading this project. Following a submission made to Locality in July £17k has been awarded to help the Project Group work towards creating more joined up and integrated services for children and families in the Wellington area. Councillor Stock-Williams has been representing the Council on the Group. A Co-ordinator has been appointed and a ‘Logic Model’ has been produced. A Development Strategy has also been prepared. The Co-ordinator is currently compiling an up to date list of current services and activities for children, young people and families in the Wellington area. This will enable consideration to be given to gaps in provision and agree priorities for projects to take forward. The map will enable all partners to be provided with the same information to promote and will compliment other work already in progress within the town.
(b) Wellington One
Wellington has been successfully included in a bid by TDBC to the Police Crime Commissioner for funding to roll-out the ‘One Team’ model from Halcon. The details of this are yet to be discussed but it will bring additional funds and capacity to the town.
16. COUNCIL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE - Report attached
17. ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT
(a) HMRC - £900.85- September deductions
(b) Somerset County Council - £218.91 – Superannuation for Asst. to Clerk
(c) Somerset County Council - £50 – Pension Fund deficit
(d) Wellington Self Storage – £110.40 – storage of Christmas Lights
(e) Hinewood - £65 – cleaning bus shelters and windows
(f) The Edge Directory - £336 – Newsletter
(g) Wellington Waste Management - £241.20 – Skip for allotments
(h) SALC - £25 – Attendance at Allotments Seminar (Assistant Clerk)
(i) SALC - £25 – Attendance at Allotments Seminar (Chair, Allotments Committee)
(j) Chess - £67.82 – Telephone and Broadband
(k) edf Energy - £125.06 – Electricity 28 Fore Street
(l) TDBC - £288 – Attendance by Planning Officer
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members of Somerset County Council:
Councillor Andrew Govier
Councillor Ross Henley
Councillor James Hunt
Members of Taunton Deane Borough Council
Councillors Bowrah, A Govier, J Govier, R Henley, J Hunt, J Reed and V Stock-Williams
27 October 2014