Stockland Parish Council Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of Stockland Parish Council held at 8.00pm on Monday 28 th July 2014 at the Victory Hall Stockland (committee room) In attendance: Cllrs T Patch, R Griffiths, P Maitland, A Kennedy, D Allen, B Durrant, B Drew, T Bright, K Parris and G Bass Also in attendance: the Clerk, Dr C Gardner, Cllr P Diviani (DCC) and one resident 1. Public question time: no questions were raised 2. Record of members present and apologies: all Councillors were present. Cllr D Key (EDDC) sent apologies and the PCSO A Wooster was unable to attend. 3. Declarations of interest: no declarations were made 4. Minutes: the minutes of the last meeting of the Council (May 19 th ) and the Annual Parish Meeting (May 20 th ) were approved 5. Police report: no report had been received from the PCSO 6. Housing need survey: Janice Alexander from the Community Council of Devon attended the meeting to propose a housing need survey for Stockland parish. This will identify the actual need for affordable housing by individual. The questionnaire was approved and it was agreed that they would be posted to households rather than hand-delivered. A donation of 300 towards costs was requested and agreed. CCD will provide a cost for postage and a final cover letter. Once this is received and approved by the Clerk, the survey will be carried out. It is estimated that a report will be available in mid-october and can be referred to in the draft Neighbourhood Plan. If a viable number of houses are required (>4) and this is agreed by the Council, a suitable site will need to be identified. There is no obligation to provide housing. [It was noted that Cllr Parris owns land that has been considered under the previous SHLAA and this land may be put forward again should the need arise; this would represent a prejudicial interest] 7. Parish amenity issues: a. Maintenance of village hall grounds i. Pothole repair: no invoice has yet been received for the work done in May. Action: Clerk to arrange payment (subject to the limit set) when invoiced ii. Manhole replacement: this emergency work was completed and payment has been made to D Bennett ( 150 on July 10 th ) iii. Update on potential sources of funding for car park resurfacing: Cllr Griffiths suggested that the PC should talk to the school as well as other users to share fundraising. Cllr Diviani said that he could provide a small amount from his Locality budget. The cost is estimated to be around 20 000 which could take many months for the village to raise. Further research needs to be done. Action: Cllr Griffiths to provide an update at the next meeting b. Clarification on ownership of the village hall: Jane Yates (secretary to the hall management committee) has researched the available evidence about the legal ownership of the hall. Although the original deeds were lost some time ago the Land Registry records shows the Parish Council to be the owner of the hall and the land (registered in 2007). Maintenance and management is the responsibility of the hall Page 1 of 5
committee. The Council thought that it was desirable to hold copies of deeds and Land Registry entries relating to council property. It had been noted that Beviss & Beckingsale solicitors in Axminster apparently hold deeds relating to the turbaries and may hold deeds relating to the hall. Action: Clerk to obtain copies of the Land Registry entry for the files Action: Clerk to contact Beviss & Beckinsale to obtain originals and/or copies of the deeds they hold belonging to Stockland PC. Originals may be sent to the county archive in Exeter for safe keeping and indexing, copies will be kept. c. Defibrillator update: Dr C Holme had provided a report to state that volunteers are coming forward for training which is likely to be in the autumn. Some are helping with the weekly and monthly checks which are entered online. Additional funds will be needed in a year or two to replace the pads when they expire. A payment of 116.68 was made to M Fowler for electrical work. This money has come from the balance remaining from the village fundraising effort and not Council reserves. 8. Play park: Cllr Kennedy reported that the gate is now working correctly. Records of the inspections have not yet been provided but have been requested. A volunteer is still needed to empty the bins although L Barnes is doing this at present. The padlocks need replacing and two will be bought, the cost being covered from cash remaining in the play area fund. Action: Cllr Kennedy to obtain records when needed 9. Asset register: It was suggested during the internal audit that the Council should have an asset register. This lists items owned by the Council, with location and values as appropriate. E.g. 2 benches on Horner Hill turbary. The Clerk has obtained an excel spreadsheet used by another council and will circulate this for completion/correction. Action: Clerk to circulate draft asset register to councillors for checking/completion 10. Planning a. Update on progress with the application for stone processing at Broadhayes and the pig units at Ridge (10/2053/CPE and 13/1835/FUL) Cllr Key was not present but had provided the following update: 13/1835/FUL - EDDC is waiting for a report on slurry handling as to whether they will allow it to be transported to the main farm or it has to be dealt with on site. This application will definitely be going to committee (DMC). 10/2053/CPE - this is still a problem as the legal team are waiting to hear from the applicant whether all the stone is from the farm or is being imported from outside. This determines whether it is dealt with by EDDC or DCC. b. There were no outstanding planning applications 11. Neighbourhood plan a. The Terms of Reference for the Steering Group were approved b. The contract and payment schedule for Stuart Todd Associates were approved ( 1800 to be paid immediately) c. The Clerk informed the meeting that the main grant has been received ( 6300, remaining 700 in Dec) along with the EDDC grant of 2000. Cllr Kennedy (Chair) said that the Steering Group has met and the questionnaire has been sent out. Every resident can complete one, additional copies are available and there is a link to an online version on the village website. 12. Roads and footpaths a. Repairs to zig-zags path: the contract for this work is to be cancelled Page 2 of 5
Action: Clerk to cancel contract with T Pike b. Other footpath issues: strimming will be done as soon as possible along the path at Horner Hill; a tree has fallen across the footpath from Wytch Lane towards Yarcombe. Action: Cllr Griffiths to investigate fallen tree and arrange clearance c. Update on pothole repairs and reporting some have been repaired in Millhayes but other areas still need attention. Cllr Drew will report them again. It was agreed that a letter be sent to Highways on behalf of the Council to express concern about the efficiency of the system. Action: Cllr Drew to send a list of problem sites to Clerk; Clerk to draft letter and agree with Chair before sending; contact name to be provided by Cllr Diviani 13. Turbaries Cllr Allen gave a brief summary of the outcome of the last committee meeting (July 23): An RPA inspector recently visited the 4 turbaries subject to HLS agreements and a satisfactory report has been received The committee are seeking a consultant to help with the new SPS scheme Grazing has been organised on Quantock, Bucehayes and Shortmoor The planning application for the pond on Quantock has been submitted Clearance work has been scheduled on Horner Hill Quotes have been requested for the interpretation panels The next meeting is planned for Weds 12 Nov at 4pm 14. Finance a. Retrospective payment for Christmas tree lights at Kites Cottage 2013-14: The Clerk informed the meeting that a request for a payment of 30 had been received in May. As this had been agreed with the resident by two Councillors the commitment was honoured. However it is essential that any requests of this nature are added to a meeting agenda before the event to allow open discussion and agreement. b. The financial status for the last two months was presented as follows: Balances carried forward from 2013-14 income 2014-15 spent available P3 funds 1053.21 0.00 0.00 1053.21 restricted Turbary funds 23680.56 2566.65 122.50 26124.71 restricted general fund* 8124.30 2577.50 4124.75 6577.05 play area other funds 441.01 0.00 0.00 441.01 restricted Neighbourhood Planning 0.00 8300.00 2271.26 6028.74 restricted defib fund 766.00 250.00 900.68 115.32 restricted 34065.08 *clerk salary deducted in advance 40340.04 c. The payments listed in Appendix A were approved. d. The Parish Council insurance is due in early September. Two quotes have been obtained: Hiscox 278.95 and Aviva 379.32. The lower quote was approved and a cheque will be raised. Action: Clerk to send payment for the insurance with Hiscox to Came & Co Action: Clerk to send a copy of the schedule to the Hall Committee for information (esp. re firework displays) Page 3 of 5
e. The Community Council of Devon has requested an annual membership fee of 50 and this was approved. Action: Clerk to send payment to CCD 15. Correspondence for information a. The list of items received are listed as Appendix B b. Parishes Together: Plymtree had made a proposal but this was rejected. It was suggested that Stockland could join with neighbouring parishes to purchase a data projector. Action: Clerk to research the cost and contact neighbouring parishes 16. Councillors reports and items for future agenda a. Making It Local Cllr Griffiths attended a workshop held in Stockland on April 11 but has not yet received a report. An update will be provided when possible. b. Cllr Maitland informed the meeting that he will be unable to attend the planned council meetings for the next six months. This was noted and approved. 17. Next meeting The next meeting will be held on Monday Sept 29 th in the committee room at 8pm Appendix A: Finance: payments to be made (or approved as paid) Parish Council payments: Neighbourhood plan expenditure: C Porter (internal audit): 50.00 S Todd (consultants): 1800.00 Victory Hall room hire May (excl NP meeting): 55.10 Community Council of Devon (report): 30.00 D Bennett (manhole repair): 150 Victory Hall hire May and June: 225.05 C Foster (Christmas tree lights): 30.00 A Kennedy (printing): 16.00 Grant Thornton (audit): 120.00 Clerk expenses: 157.21 M Fowler (defibrillator connection): 116.68 Clerk expenses (excluding N P costs): 17.57 Page 4 of 5
Appendix B: Correspondence Correspondence for meeting 28 July 2014 date subject from format Action? 1 6.6.14 Devon emergency Management newslettedcc email fyi 2 9.6.14 Village Green newsletter CCD online fyi 3 2.7.14 DALC newsletter DALC email fyi 4 7.7.14 Parishes Together proposal Plymtree email join in? 5 8.7.14 Progress update - broadband CDS/BT email fyi 6 18.7.14 Register of interests update EDDC email fyi 7 22.7.14 Commemoration service invite Honiton TC email reply 8 23.7.14 Healthwatch Voices Hdevon paper info 9 25.7.14 minutes DALC email fyi Page 5 of 5