Whitestone Road sign

Whitestone Parish Council

DRAFT Minutes of Parish Council meeting held at Whitestone Parish Hall on Thursday, 13th April 2017 at 7.30pm to be ratified on 11th May 2017

Attendance: Chairman − Councillor A Reed
Councillors Mrs M Belt, Mrs B Bramhall, D Munro
Mrs P Vaughan, Clerk to the Council
District Councillor P Bromell (left at 8.50pm)
Mr Alan Connett, Mrs S Greenfield, Mr P Nierop (Ieft at 8.10pm)
Mrs Miles of Trelake Farm(left at 8.50pm), Ms T Baird (left at 9pm)
Apologies: Councillors L Hickman, R Phillips

Councillor Reed opened the meeting in the absence of Councillor Hickman and invited public participation.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr Connett who is a Devon County Councillor introduced himself and said that he would be standing as a Liberal Democrat candidate at the May election for the Exminster and Haldon Ward to which Whitestone would be allied henceforth and he had come to introduce himself.

Mrs Greenfield gave the following report on behalf of the Parish Plan Steering Committee:- “We continue to meet weekly and are finalising the wording of and quality assuring the full Final Plan prior to going to the printers”

Mr Nierop said that he had requested the question of the Litter Pick would be on the agenda this evening and Cllr Reed said that he did have a report supplied by Cllr Hickman on this matter which he would be reading in Chairman’s Report.

25. Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Thursday 9th March 2017 having been circulated were taken as read and signed by Cllr Reed

26. REPORTS FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

District Councillor Bromell said he had nothing to report and gave his advance apologies for the May meeting as he would be at the Devon County Show.

27. PLANNING

Planning Applications

The following application/plans were examined and discussion took place with the following observations:-

27.1 17/00543/FUL Addition of fence, gate and pier to approved access at Trelake Farm, Tedburn Road. No objections.

27.2 17/00513/FUL Replace the roof over a section of the rear north elevation with a new mono pitched roof and reclad external walls to section of the rear north elevation with timber cladding at Heath Barton, Heath Lane. No objections.

27.3 17/00574/FUL Amendments to elevation treatment, external hard surfacing and cartilage size to approved dwelling under 16/03302/NPA at Hindcross. No objections.

27.4 17/00775/FUL Erection of netting at Tedburn St Mary Football Club. No objections

27.5 17/00550/FUL Replacement dwelling and associated works at Folley Hill, Folley Lane. No objections.

27.6 17/00772/FUL Improvement of existing access and harden up existing track across field at Folley Hill, Folley Lane. No objections

27.7 17/00711/HEDGE Remove 20m of hedgerow to comply with highway requirements for the creation of a new access track and reconstruct hedge to the rear of the visibility splay at Folley Hill, Folley Lane. It was noted that this hedgerow has already been removed and concerns were expressed regarding the affect on wildlife.

Prior Approval not Required

27.8 17/00568/AGR General purpose agricultural building at Folley Hill, Folley Lane

28. MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION

28.1 Claim to Rural Aid Fund

The Clerk reported that the necessary claim form had been completed to apply for a grant of £750 towards the total cost of £1,575 regarding the work and the pathway required for disabled access at Crossway Park as agreed at the February Council meeting and this was duly signed by Councillor Reed.

28.2 Crossway Park

Cllr Hickman supplied a report stating that he had met with the agreed contractor regarding the work required at the Park and also discussed two outstanding items that were raised in the most recent Park assessment, i.e. balance pole supports and gap between current gate and posts. Upon receiving a quote Cllr Hickman had requested the contractor to include this remedial work whilst being on site as the contractor remained the best value for money quote. He had inspected the deeds for the area which appear to indicate the side path is the property of the Parish Council and therefore improvement and access into the Park can proceed. Cllr Munro was contacted to confirm that the work is acceptable from the P3 Path regulations as this Right of Way would be closed for two days and once a date is confirmed the date for closure will be publicised. Cllr Hickman also reported that signage has been received indicating that the Council support a NO SMOKING play-park area as previously agreed.

28.3 Hales Farm Motorcycle Events

Cllr Hickman supplied a report stating that he had been contacted by both Mr Sims of Hales Farm and the Teignbridge District Council Environmental Health Department as the notice period in respect of the April events did not meet the requirements in the Noise Management Plan. As an outcome the dates in April were cancelled by Mr Sim following discussion he had with the Environmental Health Department. Due to the late notice given Cllr Hickman contacted Mr Hanson to issue the notice of cancellation and the remaining proposed dates on the Whitestone e-mail distribution list and had informed Councillors and placed notices at the Parish Hall, Oldridge Church and the Royal Oak noticeboards. As an aide memoire the dates of events as they stand are:- 14th May, 9th July, 20th August, 15th October, 12th November, 10th December with an option to fit in another event date. Cllr Hickman had advised Mr Sim and Mr Eaton (Environmental Health) that whilst he was happy in this instance to help with distributing the information as an overall help to the Parish it must be understood that the Parish Council is not a post box for the events and they must deal with their communication strategy themselves and he has provided examples/suggestions as to how they may choose to do so via the Parish Magazine, an email distribution list, notice boards and the Whitestone website.

28.4 Devon Association of Local Councils

Information received that the annual membership is now due at a cost of £166.58 and it was resolved that this payment should be made.

28.5 Parish Hall Committee of Management

The Parish Hall Committee of Management AGM will be held on 8th May 2017 and a request for a Parish Council representative was discussed. It was resolved that Councillor Belt be again nominated and she agreed to undertake this role.

28.6 Annual Parish Meeting

This will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 27th April when all organisations within the Parish are invited to attend.

28.7 Rural Skip

This will take place at Crossways on Saturday 6th May from 10am to 4pm

29. MATTERS RAISED BY THE CHAIRMAN

Cllr Reed indicated that he had been given information by Cllr Hickman which he had been asked to relay to the meeting on his behalf as follows:-

29.1 Dumping of cars − following this issue being raised at the March meeting a reply has been received from the Teignbridge Environmental Health Department stating they are not in a position to assist with the issue. Discussion followed and it was resolved that the Teignbridge Planning Department should be approached to seek their advice regarding a potential change of use of the land from agricultural to vehicle storage and the question of fields being used for rubbish dumping should also be included in this issue.

29.3 Litter Pick − Cllr Hickman has directly contacted the Parish Council insurers for confirmation of the position as the business relationship is between the Council and insurers and not the insurers and individual parishioners. As a result a reply has advised that all volunteers between the ages of 16 and 80 years are covered under the Council insurance for personal liability/injury and public liability whilst undertaking work on behalf of the Parish Council. However it was emphasised that it was necessary to carry out a full and comprehensive risk assessment for all work carried out by volunteers, together with the identification of a lead who is acting on behalf of the Council and maintain record/logs of those present, location of the activity and any incidents that occur. The Parish Council should consider if it is appropriate on high speed roads in light of the Health and Safety changes and the Teignbridge District Council decision not to allow their own employees on these roads. Discussion followed regarding the option to take the litter pick under the wing of the Parish Council with a co-opted lead to the Parish Council to undertake the work only within the 30mph areas. Also discussed was whether to support the litter pick with equipment if Teignbridge District Council may no longer be willing to supply the necessary equipment and signs. In view of the implications of such action it was resolved to discuss this further at the May meeting.

29.4 Dementia Awareness Session

A thought provoking evening that guided the audience to not necessarily think of ‘suffering’ with dementia but rather ‘living&r squo; with dementia. We all came away with a significant piece of information but maybe the most startling is that 1 in 14 people over 65 will be living with dementia at some stage in their lives. Some fund raising events (for dementia research etc) have been planned during the year.

29.5 The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan

It is hoped that everyone has now seen this which includes the major house build between Marsh Barton and Exminster which was raised at a previous Council meeting with regard to potential impact on the surrounding areas.

30. FINANCE

30.1 Parish Council accounts for year ended 31st March 2017

The Clerk reported completion of the account/balance sheet for the year ended 31st March 2016 and details had been circulated to the Council. The closing balance at Nat West Bank at the year end is:-

Current A/c

£200.00

Business Reserve A/c 1

£26,969.31

Business Reserve A/c 2

£3,403.63

£30,572.94

Annual Audit for 2016/17

30.2 The Annual Audit for 2016/17 was presented to the meeting for authorisation. It was resolved by the Council that the annual governance statement was approved and this was signed by Councillor Reed and the Clerk in her role as Responsible Financial Officer.

30.3 The accounting statement for 2016/17 was also presented to the meeting for authorisation and agreed for presentation to the Audit Commission and the Return was duly signed by Councillor Reed and the Clerk in her role as Responsible Financial Officer.

30.4 The Parish Council Audit will be completed by the Audit Commission on the 14th July 2017. Notices advertising the Audit will be displayed within the Parish giving any parishioner the opportunity to view the accounts.

Income

30.5 1 School Houses rent for March/April £675.00 − £64.80 includes £10.80 VAT = £610.20

30.6 2 School Houses rent for April/May £800.00 − £76.80 includes £12.80 VAT = £723.20

30.7 Teignbridge District Council Rural Aid Grant (for Hearing Loop at Parish Hall) £1,250

Expenditure

The following expenditure was proposed and seconded for payment. All in favour and the cheques were signed by Councillors Belt and Munro.

30.8 Whitestone Parish Hall Management Committee (April) £108.00 − Cheque 1329

30.9 DALC Membership £166.58 − Cheque 1330

30.10 Clerk’s expenses £38.58 − Cheque 1331

30.11 Whitestone Parish Hall Management Committee Rural Aid Grant for Hearing Loop £1,250 − Cheque 1332

30.12 Dave Totterdell Electrical £91.62 includes £15.27 VAT (repair to oven at 1 School House paid through Garter Geering)

31. CORRESPONDENCE

31.1 Devon County Council give notice that the Wednesday 3rd May (for a maximum of 5 days) until Friday 5th May there will be a temporary prohibition of through traffic on the road from Higher Hare to Barton Cottages, Whitestone, to provide new water service.

31.2 Mrs G Oakey, Chair for Whitestone Gardening Club wrote to confirm that the Club will accept an annual fee of £100 for maintenance tasks for the community garden and would approach the Council if extra expenditure is anticipated.

32. REPORTS

32.1 Cllr Belt wished to congratulate Sandy Oxford and Lesley Hickman for the Dementia Awareness event which had taken place on the 29th March and had proved very interesting.

32.2 Cllr Belt reported that she had received information that the Indoor Bowls would not be held on 7th June as the room has been booked by Devon Community Together for an event regarding weather related incidents.

32.3 Cllr Bramhall reported that the Neighbourhood Watch meeting which had been organised for the 13th March had not taken place and requested that Neighbourhood Watch be placed on the agenda for the May meeting.

32.4 Information received regarding national grid overhead line improvements from Landulph to Exeter which may result in local road networks being affected. The electricity supply will not be affected by this work.

The meeting closed at 9.20pm.