Wellow Parish Council
Clerk
Geoff White
Myrtle
Cottage, Wellow, BA2 8QS
Tel: 01225 830159
Minutes of an extra-ordinary meeting
of the Parish Council held on Wednesday, August 21st 2013 at 8pm in
the Village Hall.
Present:
Cllrs Andrews, Betts, Caudle, Clarkson, Doman, Karthauser, Prentice, Wheeler
and White along with eight members of the public. District Councillor Neil
Butters also attended as did Peter Duppa-Miller, Clerk of Combe Hay Parish
Council, in his role as secretary of the Bath and NE Somerset branch of ALCA,
Avon Local Councils Association.
Agenda:
13.109 To accept apologies for absence
None
13.110 Declarations of interest in any
matters on the agenda or in July minutes
There were no declarations of
interest.
13.111 Public Participation
Chris Wordsworth explained some of
the background to the submission of the planning application by Wellow Parish
Council in respect of the proposed tennis courts on the playing field. In particular, he said that he was listed as
the “agent” but was really a “representative” who could answer any questions
put forward by B&NES or others.
13.112 To confirm the minutes of the
meeting held on July 8th 2013.
There was some disagreement
regarding item 13.100, Para 2 which is reproduced below.
“The Council noted the report on the
Parish Council’s planning application for the installation of two tennis
courts, and the Design and Access Statement. The Chairman proposed that the
Parish Council support the draft planning application. Cllr Andrews seconded
the proposal which was passed by a vote of 4 votes to 3 with one abstention.”
Some councillors felt that the
Parish Council had voted only to support
the planning application while others felt that the vote was to agree to the
Parish Council’s not only supporting it
but actually submitting it.
The Chairman proposed that the
minutes be confirmed as they stand and the resolution was passed by 5 votes to
4.
However, because the vote was far
from unanimous and it was clear that there was an element of uncertainty, the
Chairman proposed two further resolutions in order to obtain clarity.
Firstly, the Chairman proposed that
the Parish Council support the draft planning application. This was passed by 6 votes to 3.
Secondly the Chairman proposed that
the Parish Council support the application and submit it. This was passed by 5 votes to 4.
It was agreed that the minutes
should be confirmed subject to a note being added to them which reflected the
outcome of these two proposals. GW
13.113 Proposal re planning application for tennis courts
The agenda item is reproduced below:
a.
To agree to withdraw the
planning application, Ref: 13/02919/FUL, for the provision of two hard surfaced tennis courts with fencing, lighting and
engineering works
because
Wellow Parish Council did not pass a
resolution to submit the application, nor to appoint an agent
and
in submitting the application, Wellow Parish
Council is unable to submit any further evidence nor to respond to the
consultation by the Planning Department of Bath and North East Somerset
Council.
b.
To agree to suggest to the Wellow Sports Group or the Wellow Tennis Club
that the Planning Application should be submitted by one (or both) of them.
After lengthy discussion the Chairman suggested that the seven conditions already set out provided sufficient safeguard to ensure that the project, if approved, would not proceed without due consideration being given to concerns expressed by the residents of Wellow as a whole.
He proposed that Wellow Parish Council withdraw the application, ref: 13/02919/FUL, to B&NES. This was defeated by 5 votes to 4.
Thus, the application would remain in place and there was no need to move on to Part b.
No formal resolution was put forward to confirm Chris Wordsworth as the Parish Council’s agent but, since no-one formally objected and his role is alluded to in the proposal, his continuing in this role was tacitly approved.
13.114 Date of next meeting
The Chairman confirmed that the next meeting
of Wellow Parish Council would be on September 9th 2013 at 8pm in
the Village Hall. The meeting closed at 8.15pm.
Geoff White
Parish Clerk
August 25th 2013