Wellow Parish Council

Clerk

Geoff White

Myrtle Cottage, Wellow, BA2 8QS

Tel:  01225 830159

 

 

Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council on Monday 11th July 2011 at 8pm in the Village Hall.

 

Present: Cllrs Andrews, Betts, Caudle, Clarkson, Doman, Wheeler, White and Witty.

Fourteen members of the public in attendance including retired Councillor Mark Watson was co-opted in respect of planning matters.

 

Agenda:

 

11.090              To accept apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Prentice.  District Cllr. Butters had indicated earlier that he might not be able to attend.

 

11.091              Declarations of interest in any matters on the agenda or in June 2011 minutes

                        Cllr. Clarkson declared an interest in Item 11.095 (b), the planning application in respect of Weavers Barn.

 

                        Cllr Doman declared an interest in item 11.102 but it was felt that he did not need to leave.

 

11.092              To confirm minutes of meeting held on June 13th 2011.

The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on June 13th were approved unanimously.

 

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

                        None

 

11.094              Traffic calming

 

a.       Update from Mark Watson

 

Mark said that all the funds previously held by B&NES in respect of traffic calming had now been exhausted and any further work will need to be funded by Wellow Parish Council.

 

Cllr Betts mentioned the possibility of installing large planters but Mark said that he would have to discuss this with Mark Jeans at B&NES before we could take any action.

 

The designs for the village signs have been passed to Cllr Witty and Cllr Andrews suggested that they be displayed at the Flower Show in September for public comment.

 

Cllr Doman remarked that gates which give the impression that private property is being entered are effective and wondered whether the existing village gates could be made to give this impression too.

 

During discussions the question of having different coloured surfaces as proposed in the original plans was brought up repeatedly.

 

It was suggested that we might be able to lease electronic road signs which showed drivers’ speeds.  The Chairman referred to the brochures which had been received from CA Traffic Ltd and asked whether the Council would like her to look into this further.  Cllr Witty supported this plan and the proposal was agreed.                        HA

 

 

 

 

 

b.      Pavement along Hungerford Terrace

 

The Chairman referred to an earlier email from District Cllr Butters and said that she would contact him about the matter raised.                                                          HA

 

c.        Village Hall

 

Cllr Betts said that the Village Hall will be closed for some time during August for renovation.

 

There is a possibility that the Youth Club will be disbanded because of a lack of numbers.

 

Stuart Dowell, from the floor, said that was waiting for more volunteers to join the youth club committee as a number of existing members were due to retire.

 

d.      Ownership of trees and open spaces

 

Cllr Betts reported that trees at Combe Hay Bridge were overhanging the road, that trees in the car park were also in need of trimming and that the trees along the Village Hall driveway were also in need of attention.

 

Cllr Witty observed that any trees are the responsibility of the landowner on whose property they are and the Chairman said that she talk to Peter Duppa-Miller, the Parish Clerk of Combe Hay, about it.                                                                     HA

 

e.       Playing field invoice

 

The Clerk reported that he had been in touch, yet again, with Gerard Perry at B&NES’ Environmental Services Department about the outstanding invoice to us in respect of our playing field grass cutting contract.  Mr Perry promised to resolve this urgently and to send us an invoice but, at the time of the meeting, had not done so.

 

11.095              Planning

 

1.       New applications

 

 

a.        11/02528/TPO: Work to various trees along Wellow Brook

 

Councillors had been unable to access further information from B&NES website and so no meaningful discussion could take place. The Clerk agreed to contact B&NES accordingly.                                                                                                    GW

 

b.      11/02418/FUL (Resubmission) and 11/02418/LBA: Weavers Farm.

 

Extension and conversion of existing barn to a holiday let. (NB. There are two applications as the barn is listed)

 

                        Cllr Clarkson withdrew having declared an interest.

 

Mark Watson was again consulted for his advice.  His view was that, while he had no objection to holiday lets, he felt that the current application made the barn too dominant.

 

The owner, Mrs Jean Horler, said that making it smaller would mean that the project would not be viable. Mr Andy Hamilton, who lives at 1 Weavers Orchard, commented that he would lose privacy as the barn overlooks his house and he would also lose light in winter when the sun is low. There is an existing holiday let which results in noise disturbance at times.

 

Mr Colin Maxwell, who lives at 4 Weavers Orchard agreed about the problems associated with noise because of holiday makers’ parties. There was also a problem with parking caused by the track to the bungalow but the Chair ruled that this was irrelevant to the current application.

 

Ms Jane Rees, another` resident, felt that the proposed planning represented over-development and also highlighted the parking problem.

 

Mrs Horler said that all the houses in the estate had their own garage but that residents did not always use them and so cars could be parked in the road.

 

Cllr Wheeler said that we should seek further clarification with respect to the second barn.

 

The Chair asked for a proposal and Cllr White moved that we should seek further clarification from B&NES. Cllr Caudle agreed and asked that we see the proposals regarding the original application.

 

Following some discussion regarding existing covenants held by the current residents Cllr Wheeler seconded Cllr White’s proposal which was agreed unanimously.      HA

 

c.       11/02428/FUL Manor Farm, Farm Lane. Provision of manege adjoining

existing dwelling house, stable block and other farm buildings.

 

The Parish Council expressed no qualms about the proposal but would want to stress in their supporting letter to B&NES that there should be no artificial lighting.  This was agreed unanimously.                                                            HA

 

d.      11/02666/FUL: 1 West End Cottages. Erection of detached residential

dwelling within the grounds of the existing property

 

Mark Watson said that he proposed development was not viable as it was too large and would involve the demolition of parts of the wall on to the road.  A stream runs under part of the wall affected.  The proposed building would dominate the view from Station Road. 

 

The owners of 2 and 3 West End Cottages said the proposed house was 50% bigger than the existing ones and that none of the existing properties had dormer windows at the back.

 

Mr Alex Martin, former chairman of the Parish Council said that Wellow is a R3 village and so infill is permitted but the result in this case would be that 1 West End Cottages would have no garden and that the Council should, therefore, oppose the plans.

 

Mr Charles Everitt, who lives opposite, said that the proposal did not blend in with the existing terrace and Cllr Caudle agreed saying that the whole proposal looked like an urban, rather than a rural, development.

 

Mr Andrew Chivers felt that the parking problem was the biggest issue.  Cllr Witty agreed as there is no footpath on the opposite side of the road and the current plan would entail removal of part of the existing footpath. Cllr Clarkson expressed a similar view.

 

Cllr Betts was concerned that the development would entail the lopping of trees along the Village Hall driveway.

 

On a show of hands, everyone opposed the development and Cllr Wheeler proposed that we should write to B&NES accordingly.  This was agreed unanimously.         

 

                                                                                                HA

 

2.       Decisions received

 

11/01294/FUL Corner House, Station Road. Erection of a front extension to

existing garage and conversion to kitchen, construction of an oak framed

porch and installation of replacement doors and windows, omitting glazing

bars.

 

The Council was informed that planning permission had been granted.

 

 

11.096              Village Wear and Tear

 

·         The waste paper bin by the cemetery is overflowing.  The Chair said she would look into it.

 

·         There is a lot of ivy growing on stakes in the Play Area.  Mr Stuart Cole, the village sweeper, said he would remove it and the Council agreed that he should.

 

·         Cllr Caudle mentioned the overgrown nature of the path at the end of the Playing Field adjacent to the next field.

 

·         Cllr White said that she had been in touch with Nick Sperring at B&NES about the alignment of the road signs at the bottom of Mill Hill.  He has agreed to put them on his list of things to be done.

 

·         The drain outside the main school gate is still not effective and this has been added to B&NES 28 day order.

 

·         Hinton Hill is out of warranty but the faults there are not caused by the recent piling works to lifting caused by frost damage.  B&NES are aware but nothing is likely to be done before next year.

 

·         Cllr White reported on her progress re the overhanging and, possibly diseased tree on Bulls Hill.  Denise Hart from Highways has promised to look into it but has not reported back yet.

 

 

 

11.097              Finance

 

·         The financial report for July was approved.

 

·         Outstanding payments were approved and the cheques and invoices duly signed.

 

·         The Council approved the payment of a £100 grant to the Wellow Community Minibus Group so that they could continue to allow holders of bus passes to use them on certain runs.  The Friday run to Radstock and Tesco’s has been stopped due to lack of support and has been replaced by a weekly run to the new Sainsbury’s at Odd Down.  Holders of bus passes will be able to use them on that trip.

 

·         Approval was given for the internal audit documents, signed by Richard Holland, to be sent to Mazars, our external auditors.

 

·         It was agreed to ask Cllr Prentice to oversee negotiations regarding the shop adjacent to the Fox and Badger. He has already indicated that he would like to do this.

 

·         It was agreed that we should engage the services of Payman Ltd to run our PAYE scheme as required by the latest regulations from HMRC.

 

·         The Clerk reported that arrangements had now been made for four of the newly elected Councillors to be able to sign cheques along with the three from the previous council.  He also said that we were making progress in our quest to have the Millennium Fund money released as he had been able to identify the original authorised signatories.  They have all been given the appropriate forms to sign and, as soon as this is done, NatWest will be able to move on to the next stage.                                                             GW

 

 

11.098              Speeding in Manor Close        

 

Cllr Clarkson said that there had been no further developments.

 

11.099              Shop adjacent to Fox and Badger

 

This was dealt with under Item 11.097.

 

11.100              Olympiad Arts Funding

 

The Council decided not to pursue this as we would be involved in the Jubilee celebrations.

 

 

11.101              Chairman’s Community Awards

 

The Chairman drew everyone’s attention to the earlier correspondence, copies of which they had received, and asked that any suggestions be directed to the Clerk.

 

11.102              Logging at the Trekking Centre

 

The Chair referred to comments and emails from parishioners complaining about the logging activity being undertaken at the Wellow Trekking Centre. Cllr Caudle wondered whether this should have been subjected to planning permission.

 

Ms Erica Smith, the Sustrans Ranger, said that an additional problem was that parked trailers on the layby that had been developed by Wellow Trekking Centre obscured the signposts regarding cycle routes.

 

Cllr Betts suggested that we should engage the help of District Cllr Butters and this was unanimously agreed. The Chair said she would contact him.                            HA

 

 

11.103              Any other reports

 

                        None

 

11.104              Date of next meeting

 

The next meeting of Wellow parish Council will be held on September 12th at 8pm in the Village hall.  The meeting closed at 9.30pm.

 

 

Geoffrey White

Parish Clerk

July 19th 2011