Minutes of the
held on
1.Election of Chairman
The outgoing Chairman, Alex Martin stood down for this item and an election was conducted by the internal auditor Mr R Holland. Mr Alex Martin was unanimously re-elected and resumed his seat.
2. Election of Vice Chairman
Mr Gordon Lewis was unanimously re-elected.
3.Appointment of sub committees and subject leaders.
The following were elected unanimously:
a) Planning and enforcement Cllrs Martin and Watson
b) Finance Cllrs Martin, Lewis and the Responsible Finance Officer (see below)
c) Burial Board Cllrs Pike and Andrews
d) Village Hall Committee Cllr Betts
e) St Julian's Church School Cllr Witty
f) Rights of Way Cllrs Pike and Colston
g) Playground Cllrs Lewis and Betts
h) Task force All
i) Parish Plan Cllrs Colston and Halewood
4.Appointment of Responsible Finance Officer
The Chairman advised that he did not think it right nor proper that as he was carrying out the responsibilities of clerk that he should also execute the role of RFO. Cllr Butters advised he thought it was contrary to regulation. It was therefore agreed to seek advice from ALCA on the matter and report back to the next monthly meeting. Cllr Andrews advised that should this be the case then she would be prepared to undertake the role.
5. Resolution on continued banking arrangements.
It was proposed by the Chairman that the existing arrangement with Nat West Bank be continued. This was agreed unanimously.
AM 25.05.08
Minutes of Annual Parish Meeting
Held Monday 12 May 2008 in the village hall.
1. Apologies for absence
Cllrs Halewood and Watson
2. Minutes of meeting held 14 May 2007
Agreed at meeting June 2007
3.Matters arising
None
4 Chairman's report 2007/2008
It is my privilege to present this, my fifth annual report as Chairman.
Meetings:
The Council has met on eleven occasions during the year with the usual range of topics under discussion.
Outstanding issues:
Looking back at last year's report there were two outstanding issues I reported on:
Hinton Hill: After a long running saga we are now blessed with two carriageways. Only time will tell whether the works undertaken to stabilise the hillside have been successful. I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying previous experience does not bode well.
The Batch: Works have been completed to The Batch to make it accord with the requirements of the Section 106 Agreement. This was an agreement between B&NES and the developers on which we had no input. The status of The Batch is that ownership has proven to be indeterminate and in such circumstances there is a presumption that the Highways Authority own the surface and to a depth of thirty inches. It therefore has the same status as any other piece of public highway. I know that many in the parish would like to see it adopt the status of a village green. It falls to us as representatives of the parish to consider whether in its current form it meets that aspiration or whether another approach is needed.
Items from the review year:
Planning:
The Parish Council considered 15 planning applications during the review period. In the main B&NES view accorded with ours but there were exceptions. One of these concerned the application for a community composting scheme. This has been granted the necessary permission and a member of this council has joined the organisers in a liaison role between both parties. Permission has been granted for an initial period of three years and we trust its operation will assuage the concerns of those who expressed reservations with the proposal.
An application to develop the old Fullers Earth Works in Railway Lane was approved by B&NES which, when implemented, should be a great improvement on that which currently exists and at the same time preserving an important piece of local heritage.
Conservation Area Appraisal:
This was completed by BANES with inputs from ourselves and has been adopted by the full council. The result as far as we are concerned is a much enlarged conservation area that will give added protection to the village.
Parish Plan:
The council has been busy implementing many of the proposals included in the Parish Plan:
Youth Club
A team led by Cllr Megan Witty has recently been successful in obtaining grant funding to the tune of £9500.00 for equipment and start up costs associated with the formation of a youth club to be run from the village hall. It is especially pleasing to note that the application team led by Cllr Witty comprised five young persons from the parish: Ed Colston, Jody Watson, Becky Hawkins, Vicky Isaacs and Hetty Bray. Our congratulations to them on achieving such a splendid result.
Children's Play Area
Thanks to the efforts of Cllrs Lewis and Betts obtaining grant funding, we now have two new items of play equipment i.e. swings and a climbing frame. Further items are to be bid for in the coming year.
Traffic Calming
Last year I reported on an offer from Centres of Clinical Excellence to have their traffic consultants turn the "Shared Space" proposals into an implimentable scheme. I have to report what they came up with was not acceptable and we therefore had to incur the expense of getting this done by Hamilton-Baillie. A further public meeting has been held to advise on these proposals and to seek confirmation they met the parish's requirement. This was well attended and valuable inputs were received from parishioners and representatives from the Highways Authority and Hamilton-Baillie. The overwhelming view from parishioners was the shared space concept is the best option for Wellow. It was revealed the monies available from a Section 106 Agreement consequent upon the permission for Bath Business Park is insufficient to undertake all of the work but a scheme tackling the west and north of the village would be possible. We hope to be able to report significant progress on this in the coming year. We will also be tackling the issue of further funding to complete the scheme in its entirety.
The Parish Council will continue to use the Parish Plan as a model for addressing issues dear to resident's hearts in the coming year.
Christmas Tree:
For the second year we have been able to hold an evening singing carols around a Christmas tree on The Batch. This year we are grateful to Mr & Mrs R Halle for providing the tree. The sum of £140.00 was raised donated to The Children's Society.
Core Strategy:
The Core Strategy, which sets out long-term development plans for the district was launched by B&NES at the end of 2007. The launch comprised a document designed to stimulate discussion on how the district should develop over the next 20 years. A series of questions were raised throughout the document on the major issues identified as facing the district. There are issues which may impact significantly upon this parish namely the requirement to build 16500 new homes in the district which includes an urban extension to the south of Bath City.
We have commented on all of the issues which have an impact directly on this parish and those which have an impact across the district. As one would expect with a document addressing major change, the timescale for the adoption of the Core Strategy is such that it is not due for adoption until mid 2010. We will continue to play an active part in its development.
Accounts and Audit:
The accounts for the year show a small overspend largely due to expenditure on traffic calming matters. The accounts for the year 2006/7 were signed off by our external auditors as being a true and accurate reflection of the activities of the parish. For the coming year, the council felt it necessary to raise the precept from the parish by around 15% largely to part fund new equipment for the children's play area. This represents an annual increase of £3.61 for a band A premise and £10.64 for a band G premise.
Personnel:
Angharad Rhys-Roberts served the parish council in the capacity of Clerk. She has decided to stand down from that position and we thank her for her efforts and wish her well for the future.
Stewart Cole continues in his role as parish roadsweeper and unofficial eyes and ears of the parish. He has completed 17 years in this post and we thank him for his efforts.
Richard Holland continues as our esteemed internal auditor and we thank him for his guidance.
Other issues:
Although we cannot claim any credit for it happening, we are pleased to see the opening of the Sustrans route between Midford and Wellow. We can already see it is brining more visitors to the parish with associated spin offs. We look forward to the day when the Two Tunnels project is completed thus providing a direct route into the very centre of Bath where it will link with other routes.
Conclusion:
It has been another busy and fruitful year. None of this could have been possible without the unstinting cooperation of all of the members and employees of the council for which I thank them. I also thank our District Councillor, Neil Butters who is playing an active role in parish matters. I look forward to an equally busy and rewarding year for the Parish Council..
Alex Martin Chairman 12.05.08
5 Date of next meeting
Confirmed as 12 May 2009
AM 25.05.08