Parish Council meeting: Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Key information
Meeting location: The Church of St James, Avonwick
Meeting time: 7.30 pm
Agenda
PDF of the Agenda for the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Approved Minutes
Approved Minutes for the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 January 2015
These minutes were approved on 3 February 2015
Please noteEvery care has been taken to present this accessible copy of the minutes with accuracy, but the formal record of the meeting remains the signed paper copy of the minutes.
OPEN FORUM
Two parishioners were present. One of the parishioners asked if the Council would agree to the community website adding a link to the Parish Council website. Clarification was sought as to how parishioners could contribute to discussion during a meeting. The Chairman explained that members of the public were not able to speak to the Council during a meeting and that the opportunity to raise matters of concern was during the Open Forum. A question was asked as to the absence of information in the financial report in the minutes concerning a VAT refund received by the Council.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None
PRESENT
Councillors Cooper, Hunt, Luscombe, Pearse and Seager-Berry.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Councillor Childs, District and Parish Councillor Steer and County Councillor Vint.
The Chairman expressed the sorrow of the Council at the news of the death of Councillor Steer’s brother Francis.
MINUTES
The MINUTES of the meeting held on1st December 2014 were confirmed and signed.
MATTERS ARISING
The clerk reported that the highways department had tried to clean the Avonwick-North Huish road before Christmas but had been unsuccessful. The road was now due to be cleaned in the week after this meeting. No progress has yet been noted in the clearing of the ecclesiastical right of way to the church in North Huish.
REPORTS:
None
PLANNING
The Council was informed that the request for permission for a car port and other external work at Charford Manor had been approved.
CORRESPONDENCE
Specific items of CORRESPONDENCE were noted as follows:
Sutcliffe Play (South West) Ltd had written to say that the outstanding work on the play park would be completed in the near future.
SHDC notification of a Super Cluster meeting on 11th February (Cllr Steer to attend?).
FINANCE:
Balance c/f 7234.96 Income (Flood rep) 402.17 Income (VAT rep) 5563.33 Income (interest) 0.28 Exp (Sand) 31.62 Balance c/f 13169.12
This balance is made up as follows:
P3 money 149.40 Council funds 13019.72 Total 13169.12
The Council considered its needs for the forthcoming year and decided that a precept of
£1,500 would be sufficient to cover anticipated expenditure (Insurances, membership of DALC, office expenses, play park planned maintenance and donations) and provide a reasonable contingency fund. Proposed Cllr Seager-Berry seconded Cllr Luscombe. Carried.
The Council wished to maintain a separate contingency fund of approximately £5,000 for the ongoing maintenance of the play park.
It was proposed by Cllr Seager-Berry seconded by Cllr Cooper to spend £1,230 on recommended safety improvements to the play park. Carried.
Councillor Luscombe suggested that the play park could be enhanced by providing parents and other carers with a sheltered seat. She was asked to investigate costs and to report back to the next meeting.
In answer to the question concerning the VAT refund received by the Council, the Chairman explained that the financial report given at each meeting only contained details of transactions that had occurred by the time of the most recent bank statements.
HIGHWAYS
The Clerk reported that the highways department were intending to complete the planned traffic calming to the road outside the Garage/Avon Inn in the near future. The proposals for this work are currently with the County Council’s Safety Audit team.
The clerk was asked to write to the Ugborough Parish Council to request that they should give attention to the road flooding at Langford near the woodchip pile.
OTHER MATTERS
The Chairman wished to bring to the attention of parishioners the recent spate of sheep worrying that had taken place within the parish. Three serious cases have been reported. Dog owners are reminded that they are responsible for their dogs to be under strict control and that farmers are permitted to shoot dogs which they consider to be worrying livestock. The chairman also reported the recent theft of a quad bike from land within the parish. Any information concerning this should be given to the police.
The Council agreed to permit the community website to form a link to the Parish Council website.
NEXT MEETING:
Tuesday 3rd February 7.30pm at St James Church, Avonwick.