Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 April 2021

Minutes

Minutes of the Virtual NHPC meeting held on 6^th April 2021.

Open Forum

There was one member of the public present. Concerns were raised over proposals put forward for a new Primrose Trail in the Avon valley. Councillors noted the concerns and took them forward to the discussion of the proposals under correspondence.

1: Present 

Councillors Gabriel, Grevatt, Hunt, Luscombe,  Steer, County Councillor Hosking and District Councillors Pannell and Smerdon.

2: Apologies for absence 

Councillor Seager-Berry.

3: Minutes

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

4: Matters Arising

Concerns over parking in Avonwick have been passed to the Police. No response has yet been received. The 30mph sign in Avonwick is still in need of attention.

5: Reports

County and District Council reports are available on the Parish Website.

County Councillor Hosking wished to draw attention to information in his report concerning grants available to help with Covid recovery.

He would contact Highways again concerning the 30mph sign.

District Councillors Pannell and Smerdon drew attention to funds available for climate emergency programmes and for post covid recovery.

They also informed the Council that the roll out of the new recycling collection should cover the Parish by the end of the month although the existence of narrow access roads will affect this.

Playpark The play park was reported to be generally in good order. Three minor items were to be dealt with. Clerk to seek assistance of Mr Cooper to attend to this.

6: Planning

The Council agreed to support resubmitted requests for work on the Farm shop and Café at Colmer View Farm and at Huish Barn.

7: Correspondence

The Council had  received a large number of emails concerning proposals for the development of a trail in the Avon Valley. Most of these emails had come from people living outside the Parish. Councillors have not yet been asked to comment officially on the proposals. It was decided to wait until more concrete proposals have been submitted before deciding on a response.

The Council had also received a number of emails concerning the use of bikes in the play park. While it was agreed that small children learning to ride their bikes could benefit from the use of the park it was also noted that damage had been caused to the park by older children developing a BMX track. The Council has been instructed by its insurers to clear this track and return the park to its original state. No insurance cover is available for such a track. The Council decided not to ban bikes from the park. The Council is to investigate the possibility of providing a small fence to divide the grass area of the park from the area where the swings etc are located to ensure that younger children are safeguarded.

7: Finance

Balance c/f                      £    7,195.97
Inc (int)                        £        0.06
Inc (grant DCC)                  £    1,000.00
Inc (parishioner donation)       £      500.00
Exp (Phone box agreement)        £      144.00
Balance                          £    8,552.03

The Council agreed to pay the DALC subscription of £106.13 for 2021/22

The Council approved the Parish Accounts for 2020/21 Proposed Cllr Hunt seconded Cllr Luscombe.

8: Highways 

It was reported that a pothole at the entrance to Avonwick on the Brent road has been marked for repair.

9: North Huish Defibrillator 

The Council was updated on the progress being made with this. Cllr. Grevatt was asked to order the defibrillator. The ‘phone box is set to become the property of the Council. It will need attention before being put into use.

It was decided to clarify the ownership of the defibrillator in Avonwick.

10: Items for Next Meeting

Face to face meetings of Parish Council. The play park.

11:   Next Meeting

Tuesday 4^th May 2021 at 7.30pm. This will be a virtual meeting.

 

Approved by …………………………………….

 

On 4^th May   2021

 

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Parish Councils report by SHDC Cllrs Pannell & Smerdon

April 2021

COVID

Coming out of lockdown SHDC will administer Re-start grants, which provide one off payments in April for businesses. Only business rated businesses are eligible and there is a two-tier system of payment. Grants of up to £6,000 will be paid to non-essential retail business premises, to help them reopen safely. Grants of up to £18,000 will be allocated to hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym business premises, which may open later under plans set out in the roadmap and will be more impacted by restrictions when they do reopen. In the latest round of business grants SHDC has received 3217 applications, with 2122 sent for payment. South Hams is not included in the areas eligible for the Govt’s Community Renewal Fund and Levelling Up Fund.

SHDC has developed a plan to respond to the various phases of the roadmap to come out of lockdown, to support individual businesses, the wider tourism economy and ensure we provide a really positive experience for what we predict will be a significant influx of visitors. The plan will of course include our liaising with key partners, such as Devon and Cornwall Police, and include our key communication messages for each phase.

Councils are being urged to support businesses opening up out of lockdown by removing as much bureaucracy and red tape as possible, specifically supporting al fresco dining, takeaways and the freedom to use land for outdoor events and hold markets without obtaining additional planning permission.

SHDC continues to work with the Local Resilience Forum and the Health Protection Board to support the response to the pandemic. The vaccination centre at St. Boniface House, Ashburton, has worked well, but the service is now moving to Follaton House, Totnes. Mass vaccination centres have been set up in Exeter and Plymouth, together with injections also being offered at some GP surgeries.

LEISURE CENTRES have a phased reopening planned. Open from 29 March for some school PE exercise sessions, from 12 April to the general public for lane swimming/family swims/ fitness centres, 17 May for indoor group exercises, from 21 May back to normal. More new health programmes on GP referral and to help those with cancer, Parkinsons, cardiac problems and dementia. Recovery programmes for those suffering from Long Covid, and youth activity nights.

INVESTMENT FOR RECOVERY

Members have approved an investment of £598,000 to support economic recovery, the major towns and the visitor economy of the South Hams. The funding will support the national roadmap for the easing of lockdown at a local level, as detailed below:

• Keeping the streets clean - £130,000;
• Enhanced on street presence - £36,000;
• Supporting business and hospitality - £57,000;
• Improving the business environment in our key towns £275,000; and…

Funding for Smaller Coastal Communities and Tourism Centres

Full Council decided on 25^th March to approve a fund of £100,000 for improving the built / natural environment to deliver local economic improvements within our smaller coastal communities and tourism centres. Grants will have to be match funded by parish councils. Details will be provided in the next two weeks.

The additional recommendation was included as a result of the Council being awarded specific Welcome Back Funding from the Government. Similar to the Re-opening High Streets Safely grant, this funding is European funding (ERDF) and therefore has numerous strict criteria that must be satisfied before we can claim the funds. Once officers have a clear position, we will then design our scheme for bids from our communities to access this funding. It is anticipated having a scheme open by the end of April at the very latest.

Funds for local Climate Change projects Council has decided that some of the money set aside for Climate Change and Biodiversity schemes should be allocated to members to be distributed to projects in their ward which meet the criteria. Each Member will have a £3,000 Locality Fund to award. At present this is a one-off allocation and does not recur annually as with other Locality Funding.

Call for Remote Meetings to continue

Council Leader Judy Pearce continues to press for the provision for council meetings to continue remotely beyond 6 May. This continues to be resisted by the Govt., as does the request for local authorities to be able to hold ‘hybrid’ meetings similar to Parliament, with some Members present in person and others remotely.

Elections

Work continues to gather pace, with a letter going out to the recently expanded Clinically Extremely Vulnerable cohort encouraging them to register for a postal vote. Risk assessments are being carried out on 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. Election restrictions on some political activity by local authorities began on Wednesday 24^th March.

New Super Recycler Service

Delivery of new containers is going smoothly and according to plan. Thousands of households are now officially on the new service and able to recycle more at the kerbside, including glass and mixed plastics. The crews have been able to train on the West Devon service and our team are providing excellent feedback. The team has also been talking to residents and have so far had a lot of positive comments including many remarks on the efficiency of individual collections.

The new fleet of recycling vehicles and the depot at Ivybridge are all functioning as expected. The new recycling boxes and bags will be delivered to properties 1WEEK prior to the new service starting. 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 Council’s Facebook and Twitter pages.  The first month of the new service has gone well, meaning that the roll-out remains on course. Commencement of the new service in most of the South Brent Ward is on track for mid-April. Devon and the Devon Districts now have the second best recycling rates in England.

Council Tax Bills have gone out to most households. Much of the information which used to be included is now available on the SHDC website instead.

Freeport

The Chancellor announced in the Budget that Plymouth has been selected for as the location for one of the Freeports being set up around the country. South Hams has been involved in the bid, with industrial/commercial land it owns at Langage and Sherford earmarked. But this has yet to be approved by full council. It is said that Freeport status could attract 9,000 extra jobs to the Plymouth area. The timescale for a full business case is around 6-7 months.

A38 Litter

Many people have observed that there has been a marked increase in the amount of litter along the verges of the A38. Our contractors FCC are responsible for clearing this. In the past Highways England would close lanes for grass and shrub cutting, which allowed FCC staff to pick litter at the same time. HE now have a robotic arm to do the cutting, and they have adopted a rolling roadblock technique, which moves too fast for effective litter picking. High level talks are taking place to resolve this, and the following has so far been agreed:

Lay-bys

• Schedule agreed for fortnightly litter picking of Lay-bys.
• Localities have identified a number of fly-tips behind the lay-bys. We will be investigating to see if there is any evidence to enable prosecution and then arranging collection.
• Discussion to take place with Devon County Council regarding their policy of providing no litter bins in lay-bys.

Areas that require some form of highways closure

• Agreed that deep clean of the whole 16 km stretch is required every 6 months.
• There is an outstanding issue to be resolved with the responsibility for litter clearance of the central reservation.