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Minutes of a meeting of Bridford Parish Council held at Bridford Village Hall on Monday 2nd October 2017 at 7.00pm Present: Cllrs F Miles (Chairperson), G Hearnden, A Lord, E Price, R Dowding, T Evans, J Padgham (joined the meeting at 7.06pm) Mrs J Banks (Clerk), Pamela Woods (DNPA committee member) and one member of the public. |
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| AGENDA | ||
| 1 | Apologies – Dst Cllr Amanda Ford | |
| 2 | Declarations of Interest – none | |
| 3 | Public Discussion – none | |
| MATTERS ARISING | ||
| 4 | Minutes – the Parish Council resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4th September 2017 as a true and accurate record of the meeting | |
| 5 | Allotments – nothing to report | |
| 6 | Play Area – the A frame has been removed. Prices to be obtained for a concrete table tennis table and means of funding, suggested sources Sport England and National Lottery. Application also to be made to Cnty Cllr Brooks locality budget. | |
| 7 | Bridford Hill – deferred until later in the meeting to enable discussion to include Cnty Cllr Brook | |
| 8 | Night time farm vehicle movements – response received from Wastenage Farms who state that they cannot make any promises to never move farm vehicles through the village during the hours of 11.00pm and 7.00am due to the weather sometimes necessitating working round the clock to complete jobs urgently. | |
| 9 | Village Garden – Mr & Mrs Clark are thinking of contacting all the volunteers to press ahead and tidy up their individual allocated plots. Cllr Price has been approached by a new volunteer and their details have been passed to Mr Clark. Application to be made to the Electors Fund to finance replanting of the garden. | |
| ANY OTHER MATTERS ARISING | ||
| 10 | Meetings attended by Parish Councillors – Cllr Dowding, through TALC is now on the standards committee and attended a meeting of the same. Cllr Price attended a meeting re the update of how things are progressing at Fingle Woods. | |
| 11 | District Councillors Report – attached as appendix 1 | |
| 12 | County Councillors Report – Cnty Cllr Brook not present | |
| PLANNING | ||
| For Discussion | ||
| The fist planning application (item 13) was dealt with between meetings due to the short timescales for submitting comments | ||
| 13 | Land at Westcott, Moretonhampstead – re proposed construction of a new agricultural building – following a site visit, the Parish Council had no objections to the application (DNPA ref 0435/17) Comments submitted on an informal basis and subsequently confirmed at PC meeting | |
| 14 | Blackenstone Cottage, Moretonhampstead – re proposed partial demolition of dwelling and erection of two storey extension (DNPA ref 0450/17). Site visit undertaken, Bridford Parish Council strongly supports this application and has submitted its comments together with its planning committee report | |
| 15 | Bridford Mine, Bridford – re proposed certificate of lawfulness for use of former shed / office as dwelling house (DNPA ref 0468/17). Following a site visit, the Parish Council supports this application and included a full report by the PC Planning Committee when the observation sheet was submitted to DNPA | |
| 16 | Any planning items for discussion since publication of the agenda – none | |
| For Information | ||
| 17 | Moorstone, Bridford – Certificate of Lawful Use or Development issued (DNPA ref 0387/17) | |
| 18 | Any planning items for information received since publication of the agenda – none | |
| FINANCE & ACCOUNTS | ||
| 19 | Account balances as at 4th September 2017
Current account Investment account
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£2,891.11 £3,744.86 £6,635.97 |
| 20 | INCOME
Bank interest August
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£ 0.16 £ 0.16 |
| 21 | EXPENDITURE
Mrs J P Banks re August salary Mrs J P Banks re admin expenditure 1 July – 30 September 2017 HMRC re Clerk’s PAYE quarter ended 5 October 2017 Mr J Poynton re reimbursement of annual website charges Mr C Banks – removal of ‘A’ frame at Playpark, make safe and clearance of site
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£200.93 £141.88 £150.60 £ 98.00
£102.00 £693.41 |
| 22 | Account balances as at 2nd October 2017
Current account Investment account |
£2,197.70 £3,745.02 £5,942.72 |
| 23 | (Balances include earmarked funds: £120 refundable allotment deposits / £463 Play Area / £67.50 Village Garden / £88.76 textile bank) | |
| The Parish Council resolved to accept the accounts and approve the expenditure.
Cllr Dowding, designated by the Chairperson, checked the invoices to the cheque book and the reconciliation to the bank statement. |
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| ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION | ||
| 24 | Planning Procedures & Policies relating to Bridford Parish Council – a lengthy discussion took place to finalise. Bridford Parish Council’s Planning Procedures and Policies document has now been agreed and will be published on the Bridford website. This planning guide will be revisited on an annual basis. It was useful to have Pamela Woods in attendance during this discussion and she was able to confirm some points with regards to DNPA planning. | |
| 25 | Parish Plan – the Parish Council reviewed the review dates to ensure that all is going to plan with suggested timescales. A review in Spring 2018 was added in respect of further defibrillator use and first aid training. Everything else is progressing as per the Plan. The subject of whether or not the Parish Council or the Teign Valley requires a Neighbourhood Plan was raised again and it was suggested that Jo Rumble from DNPA Planning and a Neighbourhood Planning expert from Devon Communities Together should be invited to the next Three Parishes Meeting and that the focus of the meeting should be ‘Do we need a Neighbourhood Plan?’ | |
| Cllr Evans left the meeting at 8.37pm | ||
| Bridford Hill – deferred from item 3. Cnty Cllr Brook did not arrive, the Parish Council continued to discuss. A volunteer has been found to refurbish and maintain the gritter. In the absence of a Snow Warden, the Chairperson Cllr Miles has undertaken to take on administering this role for one year only. A volunteer still needs to be found and also a deputy. Would it be useful to do a traffic survey? Could Teign School geography students be
Involved in this project? Survey should be carried out at peak times i.e. 8.00 – 9.30am and 3.30 – 7.00pm. Could the school students be involved in any part of it? Teign School to be contacted. There was a suggestion of a camera to monitor traffic movement. Explore the possibilities of a camera, DCC Highways to be contacted to see it they can assist with a traffic count. |
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| Any items for discussion received since publication of the agenda – none | ||
| ITEMS FOR INFORMATION | ||
| 27 | Notice of Road Closures B3193 Teign Valley Road 2 – 5 October. Closures between the hours of 8.30am and 3.30pm. Traffic lights to operate at other times. | |
| 28 | Elector Fund 2017 /18 is now open. It was agreed that the clerk will make an application for funds to refurbish the Village Garden. | |
| 29 | Any items for information received since publication of the agenda
Confirmation of ‘completion of audit’ has been received from Grant Thornton, the only observation being that the defibrillator, purchased in the financial year was not added to the assets figure. The figure will be amended as a brought forward ‘assets total’ on next year’s return, as per Grant Thornton’s instructions. The official Notice of Completion of Audit will be displayed on the main notice board and published in Unity and on the Bridford website. |
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| 30 | Public Discussion – Parish Council to diarise to arrange to contact Mr Squibb to arrange a tour of Bridford Mine (regardless of outcome of planning application)
A Parish Councillor noted that there is a larger than would be expected, number of caravans at the Old Quarry on Pound Lane, grid ref. 82422 86494. DNPA to be asked where they are with regards to planning for these caravans. A Parishioner has concerns about the pursuit of certificates of lawfulness and people who set out to make use of it. There is concern that presidents are being set. A Parish Councillor stated that these applications draw the Parish Council’s attention to the fact that people are living where they don’t have permission |
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| 31 | Date of next meeting – The next meeting will be held on Monday 6th November at 7.00pm in the upstairs room of the Village Hall | |
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Original copy of minutes signed by the Chairperson 6th November 2017 |
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CIRCULATION Newsletters, Reports & Circulars Christow PC approved minutes for July Dunsford PC approved minutes for August DALC Annual Report 2016 / 17 MIscellaneous Devon & Cornwall Alert Register of Electors – Bridford Statistics for visitors to Bridford website Correspondence sent Various District Council Report for Teign Valley parishes September 2017 DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL ROAD TRAFFIC AMENDMENT ORDER Please find attached to the covering email the Devon County Council (Various Roads, Teignbridge) (Waiting restrictions) Amendment Order. RESIDUAL WASTE ANALYSIS Over the next two weeks a team from MEL Research will be working in the Teignbridge area on behalf of Devon County Council to conduct a waste audit on residual waste collected from a selection of properties in the District. As part of a Devon wide initiative, representatives will be removing residual waste from the black bins that are presented at randomly selected properties on their collection day. The householders are not informed that this is happening prior to removal, however the representative will have ID and a pre-printed letter of explanation which will be given to any householder upon request. The waste analysis will help us understand the composition of the residual waste we collect and inform future communications with householders. It will also help us, and DCC, to shape future Waste Management Strategies. The waste audits will be carried out in the Newton Abbot area on Thursday 5 October, Tuesday 10 October and Friday 13 October and in the Dawlish area on Monday 9 October. For further information please contact Tracey Fey, Waste Project Officer on 01626 215824 or email [email protected] NEW AFFORDABLE HOMES SURVEY 2017 At Teignbridge District Council we are proud of the number of new affordable homes we have provided over the past few years, but we are always looking for ways to improve our product and services. Each year we survey residents who move into our new affordable and intermediate homes. Usually, this is in the form of an online, or mail survey, but this year we tried something different. We wrote to the 118 households asking them to take part in a 30 minute, face to face interview, so we could listen to residents’ experiences of their new homes, within their home environment. In all, sixteen households participated in the survey. Despite issues being raised, the general level of satisfaction was high and all occupants surveyed were pleased with their new homes, being vastly superior to their previous living conditions. The survey is attached to the covering email. GRANT THORNTON TO REMAIN TEIGNBRIDGE’S EXTERNAL AUDITOR Local Authorities were given the freedom to appoint their own external auditors following the abolition of the Audit Commission. The new arrangements are due to commence April 2018 with chosen auditors needing to be procured and appointed by December 2017. Teignbridge, joined 483 other local authorities and police bodies in opting into a collective auditor procurement exercise run by the national body Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA). PSAA’s results have just been announced with Grant Thornton appointed to audit Teignbridge, Exeter, and East Devon Councils. Having the same auditor as our Strata partner Councils will make for easier auditing of our Strata accounts which have to be reflected individually within the 3 councils’ finances. It’s also great news for Teignbridge in terms of continuity of working with our existing Grant Thornton audit colleagues. The appointment is for 5 years. In answer to your question around the Connecting Dartmoor & Exmoor contract, Airband are very close to completing the final elements of this network and completing their coverage for the area. They are also looking at possibilities for additional coverage using slightly different technologies which would increase coverage and hit many of those properties currently unable to receive signal.
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In the Teign Valley