Parish Council meeting: Tuesday, 2 March 2021

Approved Minutes for the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, 2 March 2021

These minutes were approved on 6 April 2021

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.

Minutes of the Virtual NHPC meeting held on 2^nd March 2021.

In the absence of Cllr. Gabriel, Cllr. Grevatt took the chair.

Open Forum

There were no members of the public present

The Council was informed that one of the new pods at the Avon Inn was in position. It was reported to be looking really good and that the pub deserves to be successful in this new enterprise.

Questions were raised over the new recycling scheme that is being introduced in the South Hams. Councillors were assured by District Councillor Smerdon that properties had been assessed and that the new procedure is not expected to create any problems for householders.

The inability of the new recycling centre in Ivybridge to accept excess household non-recyclable waste was discussed. Householders have been told to store excess waste and introduce it to their bins as and when possible.

The poor state of road signage on the Kittaford Cross to Kingsbridge road was discussed. This would be looked at by Devon Highways but any remedial work would be limited by lack of finance.

The inconsiderate parking of cars at the junction of the North Huish road in Avonwick was reported. Clerk to contact the police to request action on this.

A parishioner complained that dogs were not allowed in the play park in Avonwick. It was explained that local bylaws make it illegal for dogs to use play parks.

Children had been reported as using bikes in the park. Clerk to ascertain the legality of this.

1:  Present

Councillors Bell, Grevatt, Hunt, Luscombe, Seager-Berry, Steer, County Councillor Hosking and District Councillor Smerdon.

2:  Apologies for absence

District Councillor Pannell. Cllr. Gabriel

3: Declarations of Interest

Councillor Bell. Phone box in North Huish

4:  Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held the on 2^nd February 2021 were confirmed and signed. Proposed Cllr. Hunt seconded Cllr. Bell

5:  Matters Arising

It was reported that the 30mph interactive speed sign in Avonwick was still not working.

6: Reports

County and District Councillors’ reports are available on the Parish website

District Councillor Smerdon informed the Council of the plans to introduce the new waste collection scheme. For our Parish this would start in the Colmer area and then proceed in different stages eventually to cover the whole parish.

Tree Warden. Cllr. Bell outlined schemes to promote the planting of trees. Interested parishioners should seek information from the South Hams website.

7:  Planning

The Council felt that it could not comment on revised plans for changes to the Huish Barn application as the details were missing from the planning website. Action clerk.

Councillors were very impressed with the quality of the new wall being built at Avalon in Avonwick.

8:   Finance

Balance c/f	7,972.41
Inc (int)	0.06
Exp (Play park grass)	692.50
Exp (Buddle holes)	84.00
Balance	7,195.97

The Council agreed to pay Rendells £144.00 for arranging the agreement to site a defibrillator in the phone box in North Huish.

The Council were delighted to receive funding through Cllr Hosking from the Devon County Locality Fund and also from parishioners Mr and Mrs Rosson towards the cost of the new defibrillator in North Huish.

9:   Next Meeting

Tuesday 6^th April 2021 at 7.30pm. This will be a virtual meeting.

District Councillors' Report

PARISH COUNCILS UPDATE – MARCH

Cllrs Peter Smerdon and Guy Pannell

SOUTH HAMS DISTRICT COUNCIL ENHANCED RECYCLING SERVICE

This new service will begin its roll-out in early March. There will be a phased introduction across the District. The vast majority of South Brent Ward will be in a LATER phase, probably MID APRIL. A small number of properties in Diptford and North Huish Parishes will be in earlier phases, MID MARCH or EARLY APRIL. This will depend upon which Collection Round they are on.

The new recycling boxes and bags will be delivered to properties 1WEEK prior to the new service starting, that obviously gives residents warning that things are about to happen!  The details of the new service and how to use it are on the leaflets delivered to each participating household, on SHDC website www.southhams.gov.uk and on the Councils Facebook and Twitter pages.  It’s planned that from next week those in the first stage of the rollout will be able to see when they move to the new service using the link below  www.southhams.gov.uk/findmycollectionday

After this, properties will be able to see when they are moving to the new service at least 2 weeks in advance of their service start date.

BUDGET AGREED

At the Full Council meeting on Thursday 11 February, councillors voted to approve the budget for 2021/22 which put money aside for both services and key issues, which are important to the District’s residents.

As part of the budget, councillors agreed to a small increase in Council Tax of £5 (3%) per year, meaning a Band D property would pay £175.42 this year to the District Council for all of its services.This amounts to a total of £3.37 per week for the average household to ensure that key services such as recycling and refuse, housing and homelessness, licensing, dog fouling, food hygiene, planning, fly tipping, tree preservation, leisure and play parks continue. These are only some of the essential services that the District Council offers for only one tenth of the annual Council Tax bill.

A further commitment of £200,000 has been put towards the Council’s Climate Change and Biodiversity goal to be carbon free by 2030 and to work with the community to make the District net-zero by 2050, at the latest. A further £500,000 will support the Council’s Recovery and Renewal Plans to help the community ‘build back better’ from the wide ranging impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Council will also be lending their backing to local community and voluntary organisations through £10,000 of funding for the Community Volunteer Service (CVS) £9 million regeneration plans for Ivybridge will progress following a meeting of the South Hams Full Council today. Councillors agreed to take forward the proposals, which are hoped will result in an economic boost to reinvigorate the town.

IVYBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION SCHEME

At the Full Council meeting, Councillors agreed to proceed with this scheme. The regeneration plans include developing Leonards Road car park to include a discount food store, a proposal widely supported by local people through consultation. It is estimated the proposed store could create around 30-40 jobs for local people, with up to 100 shoppers able to use the store at any one time who are anticipated to make shared trips and use other town facilities. This is supported by 90 minutes free parking offered at the store, although average store visit are 30 minutes.

It was agreed the plan would succeed in regenerating Ivybridge town centre and should now proceed to the detailed design stage required ahead of any planning application being made. If the project proceeds through to construction, the cost to the Council is £9 million. The proposal has the full support of Ivybridge Town Council and Ivybridge Chamber of Commerce.

COVID VACCINATIONS

With the continuing rapid roll-out of the vaccine programme finally a better picture is beginning to emerge. Both of your District Councillors have been vaccinated in their respective age groups, and it’s really exciting to see how the programme is rapidly expanding into younger people, and many more groups  who are clinically vulnerable. Many of our older residents have now had two jabs. Very many thanks to all who have volunteered to help with the process, either at the actual centres or with transport etc.

Please follow the guidance re masks and distancing and stay at home if at all possible. SHDC has switched back from Recovery to Response mode, with staff continuing to work from home wherever possible. Some services may see a reduction in response times as staff are switched to more pressing work.

SHDC continues to work with the Local Resilience Forum and the Health Protection Board to support the response to the pandemic. The vaccination roll-out seems to be going well with the centre at St. Boniface House, Ashburton, in full operation, and new mass vaccination centres being set up in Exeter and Plymouth, together with injections also being offered at some GP surgeries. SHDC has have offered support for the vaccination roll-out if needed.

PREPARATIONS FOR ELECTIONS FOR POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER AND DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL, MAY 6th

Over the coming weeks, we will be risk assessing all our polling stations and count venues, looking at all aspects of safety to ensure COVID compliance. We will also be encouraging where possible the use of postal voting and media campaigns will begin shortly.

We are also looking to incorporate a flyer into Council Tax bills to encouraging electors to move to postal voting.

Lateral testing for COVID-19

SHDC has  been working with Devon County Council on rolling out lateral flow testing within the community.

We have been asked for locations that would be suitable for mobile lateral flow testing locations and have proposed the following sites;

• Leonards Road car park in Ivybridge
• Cattle Market car park in Kingsbridge
• Park and Ride car park at Dartmouth
• Follaton House car park in Totnes

This is in addition to the current NHS mobile testing unit that is using Cattle Market car park in Kingsbridge.

BUSINESS GRANTS

The Government has announced a further round of grant support for the hospitality and leisure sector, as well as a top-up to the ARG grant fund.

A quick reminder on what grants apply now we are in lockdown three:

• The national lockdown grant is called: LRSG Closed (Addendum).
• The discretionary grant for businesses that aren’t mandated to close but are impacted is called: Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

• Hospitality grants on top of the LRSG Closed (Addendum) grant, which is good news for those businesses.
• The amount that businesses get paid is linked to their RV rating.
• £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
• £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
• £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000

Inquiries to the SHDC website Coronavirus: Information for Businesses - South Hams District Council

SHDC can’t issue the money until we have a) been told the rules, and b) actually have the money to give, but thereafter we will do so swiftly. The road map to unlocking has provided some clarity for the team and associated guidance has been issued. Grants will continue to be paid to reflect the extended lock down period. This will include the LRSG Closed (Addendum), Open and ARG schemes. The process of paying the funding for those who have already applied for grants will be simple, and will not require a further application on the part of the business.

Separately, BEIS have published some league table data and you can see from the table below that we are performing well in comparison to our neighbours in Devon.

CLINICALLY EXTREMELY VULNERABLE PERSONS

People who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) are receiving correspondence from central Government advising them to shield until at least 21 February 2021.

In November, South Hams District Council sent a letter advising people of the local hotlines and how we may help support them.

Anyone who joined the CEV list after 11 November 2020 should now have received a copy of that letter, with the local details. The Government has requested SHDC contacts people who received support from us in November, and staff have made these calls. We will receive any requests for support made by the CEV group daily via the Government database and make contact within seven days unless indicated it is more urgent. Community Pharmacies continue to help with medication. If you have anyone who you have concerns about, whether they are CEV or vulnerable for another reason, such as age or frailty, please contact community@swdevon.gov.uk and we will make contact. 

HARDSHIP HELP

In the third lockdown, South Hams Council are very mindful of people in our communities who are struggling to make ends meet. The Council has funding available to assist with rent, council tax and homeless prevention. There is specific help for parents who cannot afford the additional costs associated with their children accessing the internet for online lessons. Anyone struggling with the cost of the extra data needed for remote learning can apply for support. This help is accessed via the schools, not the council. People just need to approach their school(s) who can assist them. Citizens Advice has also been awarded funding to make one-off payments to people struggling with their energy costs.