Parish Council meeting: Tuesday, 6 June 2023

Key information

Meeting location: Avon Vale Tennis and Croquet Club, Black Hall Lane, Avonwick, TQ10 9EJ

Meeting time: 7.30 pm

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Agenda

Agenda for the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 June 2023

Agenda for the NHPC meeting to be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 6th June 2023 at Avon Vale Tennis Club, Black Hall Lane, Avonwick. TQ10 9EJ.

1:             Open Forum

For parishioners to raise matters of concern relevant to the work of the Parish Council.

(NB matters concerning other bodies e.g. SWW, SHDC and DCC should normally be referred directly to such bodies.  The Parish Council would try to assist where difficulties arise after such a referral has taken place.)

2:             Present

3:             Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence (if any)

4:             Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of interest (if any)

5:             Previous Minutes

To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 9th May 2023

6:             Matters Arising

  • Parish Clerk recruitment update
  • Parish clerk training course Clerks essentials 2
  • Post box in North Huish
  • Defibrillator in North Huish
  • Monthly meeting room hire
  • Standing Orders, code of conduct
  • To appoint a P3 Co-ordinator

7:             Reports

To receive Reports from

  1. County Councillor Thomas
  2. District Councillor Pannell or Hancock
  3. Play Park inspection
  4. Tree Warden Report

8:             Planning

To consider Planning Applications and to note decisions:

No planning applications to note.

Decisions:

Application No. 4267/22/HHO Church Barn, North Huish TQ10 9NQ. Householder application for single storey extension. – Decision: Conditional Approval.

9:             Correspondence

  • To consider correspondence received.
  • Letter from the Privy Council with a notice of discontinuation of burials at St Marys Church, North Huish.

10:      Finance

  • To note recent and future income and expenditure.
  • To consider and approve a bank transfer from the treasurers account to the business bank instant account.
  • To discuss clerks’ extra hours worked in May.

Opening balances at Bank as at 14th April 2023

Treasurers Account  251.42
Business Bank Instant Account  7,860.29
Balance  8,111.71

Receipts:

24th April 1st precept  2,500.00
9th May Interest received  4.47

Payments:

2nd May Clerks salary  106.10
2nd May HMRC PAYE  24.00

Closing balances as at 9th May 2023

Treasurers Account  2,621.32
Business Bank Instant Account  7,864.76
Balance  10,486.08

11:      Highways

  • To consider Highway matters.
  • VAS sign not working
  • Cleaning of road signs
  • White line marking
  • Kitterford Cross roundabout safety audit report
  • Notice of upcoming drainage works in Avonwick

12:      Next meeting

  • To consider items for future meetings.
  • To agree a date for the next Meeting (Tuesday 4th July 2023?)
Approved Minutes

Approved Minutes for the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 June 2023

These minutes were approved on 4 July 2023

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.

1:      Open Forum

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, including two members of the public who were in attendance.

Cllr Bell said that several parishioners have noted that the work to remove a track at Butterford is underway, he requested that councillors keep an eye on this if they are passing through.

Cllr Grevatt advised that a parishioner has reported a change to Royal Mail collections in the parish, the Avonwick collection has been moved to 09.30am and is now happening once a day instead of twice a day. He suggested contacting Royal Mail to request they move this to an afternoon collection, or collect twice a day, as the postman passes through Avonwick in the afternoon anyway. Clerk to action.

2:      Present:

Cllrs Steer, Grevatt, Bell, Gabriel, Hunt, Ring and Snoxall. District Cllr Pannell, County Cllr Thomas. Two members of the public were in attendance.

3:  Apologies for absence

None.

4:  Declarations of Interest

None.

5:  Previous Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on the 9th May 2023 were confirmed and signed. Proposed Cllr Hunt, Seconded Cllr Gabriel.

6:  Matters Arising

Post box in North Huish – Cllr Ring has been in discussion with Royal Mail about this, who has sent someone out to address the issue with snails entering the postbox, and this will be fixed this week.

Defibrillator in North Huish – Cllr Grevatt received an email from the Community Heartbeat Trust to say that their electrician has replaced the RCD now.

Parish Clerk recruitment update – The clerk advised that she has decided within the last few weeks, to withdraw her resignation, and has informed the Chairman and full council of this, she has contacted the prospective candidate for this role, to advise him that the council will not be proceeding with his application for the role.

Standing orders and code of conduct – Cllr Grevatt asked the clerk whether the standing orders can be amended in an ordinary monthly meeting, or in an extraordinary meeting, Clerk to find out and update the council on this in the next meeting.  The code of conduct has been drafted; however it was pointed out that we may wish to adopt the district council’s model code of conduct, which is based on NALC model code of conduct. Cllr Pannell explained that the reason we may wish to adopt this, is because, in the case of a potential complaint, it would be the district council’s monitoring officer that would deal with this, so it would tie in with what they do already. Clerk to circulate the SHDC model code of conduct in due course.

To appoint a P3 Co-ordinator – Cllr Snoxall will ask the existing P3 Co-ordinator if they wish to keep on doing this role, Cllr Grevatt offered to take up the role if they didn’t wish to continue.

The clerk also asked to attend Clerks essentials 2 course, the cost of which is £36, this was approved unanimously.

The clerk has contacted the Primrose Trail group to invite them to attend a future meeting as an open session, they have stated that they will discuss this and reply to the parish council in due course.

Monthly meeting room hire – Cllr Bell has contacted North Huish Church to ask if this may be an option, however there are various issues on this, car parking space, accessibility issues, the coldness in the winter, and there is no heating or lighting available. It was agreed unanimously to propose a monthly figure of £22.75 to be invoiced monthly if possible, to Avon Vale Tennis Club for monthly meeting room hire. Clerk to action.

County Councillor Thomas joined the meeting.

7:  Reports

County Council

County Cllr Thomas has sent a report to the clerk, this will be circulated to the council and will be published on the website. Devon County Council has been highlighted as needing to improve its service to special educational needs families, and therefore he advised that if any parishioner needs any assistance with an EHCP plan or SEND for their children, to contact the parish council who will raise this with himself, and he will try to assist and speed up the process where applicable.

District Council

A report has been circulated to the council and was discussed by District Cllr Pannell in the meeting, a copy of the report will be published on the website. Cllr Pannell stated that he has recently been elected as Chairman for the coming year and was congratulated on this by the parish council.

Playpark – Cllr Bell reported this is ok, no issues.

Tree Warden’s report – Cllr Bell had an enquiry from a parishioner re: sycamore trees which he will follow up on shortly. He also reported there is a lot of Ash dieback around the parish, and in hedgerows currently. 

8:  Planning

Applications – None to note this month.

Decisions -  Application No. 4267/22/HHO

Church Barn, North Huish TQ10 9NQ. Householder application for single storey extension. Decision: Conditional Approval.

It was agreed that a part 2 meeting be held this evening to discuss current enforcement cases.

Two members of the public left the meeting.

9:  Correspondence

All correspondence has been circulated to the council, a letter from the Privy Council regarding discontinuation of burials at St Marys church was received and circulated as well.

10:  Finance

A bank transfer of £1,000 was discussed and approved unanimously from the treasurers account to the business bank instant account, now that the first precept payment has been received, clerk to action.

The clerk asked for extra hours (3 hours) worked in May to be approved for payment by the council, this was approved unanimously.

Opening balances at Bank as at 14th April 2023

Treasurers Account  251.42
Business Bank Instant Account  7,860.29
Balance  8,111.71

Receipts:

24th April 1st precept  2,500.00
9th May Interest received  4.47

Payments:

2nd May Clerks salary  106.10
2nd May HMRC PAYE  24.00

Closing balances as at 9th May 2023

Treasurers Account  2,621.32
Business Bank Instant Account  7,864.76
Balance  10,486.08

11:  Highways

The VAS sign is now working

Cleaning of road signs – the chairman will chase this up with Mr Widdicombe.

White line marking – County Cllr Thomas explained that he will prioritise this in the next next financial year.

Kitterford Cross roundabout safety audit report – this is ongoing.

A notice of upcoming drainage works in Avonwick between 14th June and 27th June has been circulated and posted on the noticeboards.

Cllr Grevatt thanked Devon county council for replacing some road signs in the parish.

12:  Next Meeting

Tuesday 4th July 2023 7.30pm at Avon Vale Tennis Club.

County Cllr Thomas passed his apologies on for the next meeting.

District Council Report

District Councillor's Report June 2023

Report from your District Councillors, June 2023

Cllr Guy Pannell has been appointed as Chairman of the Council for 2023/24, with Cllr Bernard Taylor being his Vice-Chairman.

Cllr Julian Brazil has been appointed as Leader of the Council for the four-year term from 2023/24 to 2026/27 and he has made the following appointments to the Executive:

  • Cllr Dan Thomas (Deputy Leader, with specific responsibility for Planning; Corporate Performance Oversight; Organisational; and Community Development);
  • Cllr John McKay (Lead Executive Member for Climate Change & Biodiversity);
  • Cllr John Birch (Lead Executive Member for Economic Development; Commercial Strategy; and Governance);
  • Cllr Denise O’Callaghan (Lead Executive Member for Housing; Environmental Health; and Licensing);
  • Cllr Victor Abbott (Lead Executive Member for Community Services; Operations and Leisure);
  • Cllr Jacqi Hodgson (Lead Executive Member for Waste and Community Composting (working with the Leader)); and
  • Cllr Nicky Hopwood (Lead Executive Member for Customer Service; Improvement; IT; and Digital Services (working with the Deputy Leader)).