Wellow Parish Council

Clerk

Geoff White

Myrtle Cottage, Wellow, BA2 8QS

Tel:  01225 830159

 

 

Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council on Monday 14th February 2011

at 8.00pm in the Village Hall.

 

Present: Cllrs Andrews, Betts, Colston, Halewood, Lewis, Martin (Chairman) and Watson

Seven members of the public in attendance.

 

 

Agenda:

 

11.017             To accept apologies for absence.

                        Cllr Witty and District Cllr Butters

 

11.018             Declarations of interest in any matters on the agenda or in December 2010 minutes

                        Cllrs Betts and Colston declared an interest in the planning application for Bubblers Dytch and Cllr Watson declared an interest in the planning application in respect of Church Farm.

 

11.019             To confirm minutes of meeting held on January 10th 2011.

The minutes were unanimously agreed to be a true and correct record and were accordingly signed by the Chairman.

 

11.020             To report matters arising from the minutes and not on the agenda.

                        None

 

11.021            Planning

Decisions received:

1.      10/04818/FUL: Erection of stable block following removal of existing stable block.  Springhill House, White Ox Mead Lane. 

REFUSED.  Cllr Halewood expressed concern over the fact that this application had been refused despite receiving full support from the Parish Council.

 

2.      10/04922/REM:  Removal of condition 1 of application 07/02400/FUL.  Wellow Community Composting Project. PERMITTED. The Chairman declared himself to be unhappy with the case officers’ report which declared that the PC was unable to get comments to the authority in time when the website was showing the message “You may comment on this application.” He is to take this up with the Development Control Manager.

 

3 New Applications: 

1.       11/00305/TCA: Removal of weak limbs from Ash tree. St Julian’s Well Cottage. 

The Council unanimously gave their full support to this application.

 

2.       11/00216/FUL/00219/LBA: Erections of extensions to barns to provide two dwellings (Amendment to 08/03960/FUL). Upper Baggridge Farm. 

As no Councillors had been able to look closely at the application it was agreed that the Chairman and Cllr Watson would look at the relevant documents and reply to the Planning Department on the Parish Council’s behalf.                                                                                                            AM/MW

 

3.       11/00023/REN: Renewal of application 07/02345/FUL – conversion to residence with attached mews cottage.  The Old Works, Railway Lane. 

The Chairman reported that the Parish Council were not in a position to respond to this application as the Planning Officer had indicated by email in response to a request from the Clerk that no extension would be granted.  It was, therefore, likely, that a decision would have been made before the Council had had a chance to comment. Cllr Halewood asked whether we could apply for a 106 order and the Chairman agreed to make enquiries.  Cllr Lewis asked whether approval could be made dependent upon renovation of the cottage in Railway Lane.  The Chairman agreed to contact B&NES for clarification.                                                                                                   AM

 

4.       11/00274/FUL: External alterations to dwelling house (part retrospective). Church Farm, High Street, Wellow.

 The Chairman and Cllr Watson agreed to examine and reply to the application as the Planning website had been down for several days.                     AM/MW

 

5.       11/00106/OUT:  Provision of three water wheels on Wellow Brook opposite Little Horse Croft Farm.

The Chairman summarised the application which was for the provision of three waterwheels located in The Brook to generate electricity. He advised members of a conversation he had had with the owner of the riparian rights who, provided that it did not interfere with the flow and the fishing, would be content. There was no other input available either from The Cotswold’s AONB Board or Environment Agency.                                        

Cllr Colston was of the view that, as this was an outline planning application, there was insufficient information to reach any decision about it and Cllrs Watson and Halewood agreed.  Again, with the website being down for several days it was agreed that the Chairman would produce a response which he would circulate to Councillors.

AM

                                                                                                                       

6.       11/00228/FUL: Erection of a three bedroom dwelling. Bubblers Dytch.

Cllrs Betts and Colston withdrew from the meeting during discussion of this

item.

The Chairman said that there is an existing building on the site and that there is evidence of subsidence and Cllr Lewis asked whether the existing building would be demolished.  There is no information available on its future.

At this point, a member of the public Ms D Whetter whose own property is adjacent to the site asked for permission to contribute to the discussion.  She felt that the site was not big enough and that there were concerns about possible flooding.  She also pointed out that the development would result in a narrowing of the available space for vehicular access in that cars would have to manoeuvre to enter the site rather than being able to drive straight in.  She felt this represented a safety hazard and produced plans to illustrate her points.

The Chairman reported that the Case Officer was not aware of possible subsidence issues and was also unaware that the site was on an old village tip.

Cllr Halewood summed up various reasons as to why the site was unsuitable proposed that we OBJECT. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the application.

Cllr Lewis suggested that it would be a better proposal if there was an intention to demolish the existing building prior to rebuilding.

 

11.022             Finance

The Council unanimously approved all payments as well as the financial report for January. The Chairman reminded the Clerk that the payment of grants to the Village Shop, the Burial Board and the Village Hall were due and should have been paid in January.  The Clerk checked and found that the previous payment had been in November but said that he would arrange for the payments to be made immediately after the March meeting.             GW

 

           

11.023             Parish Plan

                        To receive updates on:

(a)   Traffic calming – Cllr Watson

Cllr Watson provided the Council with a brief history of the scheme.  He said that changes of personnel at B&NES had resulted in what he described as a “watered down” version of the shared space concept and that the new officer in charge of such schemes was not in favour of the shared space concept anyway.

It was agreed that the Council should send a letter to B&NES giving the history of the traffic calming scheme to date. Cllrs Halewood and Betts offered to co-ordinate a speed watch day.  It was suggested that a speed awareness day should be organised.                                                        SB/DH

The Council was referred to maps sent to us by B&NES which showed the proposed locations of 20mph signs.  This was viewed as a positive step even though they are not a part of the shared space concept.

Wellow signs need to be commissioned and it was suggested that they be paid for by any remaining money in the Millennium Fund.

Nick Jeans from B&NES had suggested installing speed bumps and Cllr Betts said she would have no objections to these but the Chairman declared himself unhappy with suggestions for further works until such time as there was incontrovertible evidence that the existing scheme had been proven to be unsuccessful. This cannot be done until such time as average speed checks are carried out which he believed had been promised would be done within three months of the completion date of the scheme. The Chairman queried whether B&NES had delivered what was promised. He felt that we need a document setting out what is required together with a history of the project thus far leading to a request for rectification. The Traffic Sub-Committee was asked to undertake this task.  Cllr Colston said that this might well trigger the promised review and the Chairman agreed. Cllr Watson agreed to chase B&NES. 

                                                                                                                      MW

Councillors noted the provision of 20mph signs.

 

(b)   Play Area – Cllrs Lewis / Betts

Cllr Lewis advised that he had spoken to B&NES that morning but had made no progress.  He felt that we should set a deadline for, say, the end of March after which we might add it to the planned works at the Village Hall.

 

11.024             Community Minibus

                        This was deferred to the next meeting as a result of Cllr Witty's absence.

           

11.025             1, West End Cottages

Cllr Colston updated members on lack of progress. The Chairman suggested that given the length of time this matter was taking and the lack of any obvious degree of urgency on the part of the prospective purchaser, a two week deadline be set for progressing the matter, after which, the original offer would be withdrawn. This was agreed unanimously.

 

11.026             Shop adjacent to Fox and Badger

Cllr Colston advised that the costs would be higher than expected.

 

11.027             Works at the Village Hall

The Chairman said that Phil Blackwell had been awarded the contract as his quote was several hundred pounds lower than any others. The work needs to be completed before March 31st.  Cllr Betts suggested that the first two weeks of March would be an ideal time and the Chairman asked that she confirm suitability with the Village Hall Committee.                                                           SB

 

11.028             Unmaintained buildings

The Chairman updated members and said that District Cllr Butters had been in touch with B&NES and it was expected that a meeting would be convened shortly with Cllr Butters, the Chairman and a representative from B&NES.

 

11.029             Local elections                      

The Chairman said that he would be publicising the election and the need for people to put themselves forward as councillors shortly.

           

11.030             Core Strategy

The Chairman advised that he had written to B&NES advising that Wellow Parish Council approved of the core strategy without amendment.

 

11.031             Correspondence

It was agreed that the Chairman should be nominated for the draw in respect of this year’s summer Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.                        GW

 

It was agreed that the correspondence received from the British Legion in respect of Poppy Parties should be forwarded to Colin Tremellen.

 

11.032             Chairman’s Report

                        The Chairman said that he had nothing to add to earlier discussions.

 

11.033             Any other business

Cllr Lewis mentioned that a track was being constructed at Twinhoe which                                                              had been notified by a resident of Combe Hay to the Enforcement Team at B&NES.

 

11.034             Date of next meeting

Confirmed as Monday March 14th 2011 at 8pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting closed at 9.40pm.

 

 

GW 24.02.11