Wellow Parish Council
Clerk
Geoff White
Myrtle Cottage, Wellow, BA2
8QS
Tel: 01225 830159
Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council on Monday
12th March 2012 at 8pm in the Village Hall.
Present: Cllrs Andrews,
Betts, Clarkson, Doman, Prentice, Wheeler and White. Seven members of the
public in attendance.
Agenda:
12.032 To accept apologies for absence.
Apologies were received from Cllrs. Caudle and Witty.
12.033 Declarations
of interest in any matters on the agenda or in February 2012 minutes
None
were declared.
12.034 To
confirm minutes of meeting held on February 13th 2012.
The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on February
13th 2012 were approved unanimously.
12.035 To report matters arising from
the minutes and not on the agenda.
The Council agreed that there was a need for a method
statement in respect of the new building next to 4 West End Cottages in view of
there being no access for contactors’ plant.
The Chairman asked Cllr Clarkson to inform B&NES
accordingly. DC
Cllr White confirmed that she had asked the school to
raise the issue of dog fouling in the next school newsletter to which they had
agreed.
12.036 Planning
1.
New applications
(i) 12/00529/FUL
Site Location: Little
Horse Croft Farm Description of
proposal: Installation of photovoltaic solar panels
Cllr Clarkson gave a detailed report on
the application. She said that AONB guidelines require panels to be near
existing buildings and not in open areas.
The Design and Access statement suggests that this is a small
development and will not adversely affect the local area. However, the planned installation is in an
open area and will be overlooked.
The owners of a property which overlooks
the development had not been informed.
It was also suggested that security
lighting would need to be added. Combe Hay PC recently supported and
application for an array of local panels but it was in a less prominent
position and the Council stipulated the need for new hedgerows to hide it.
After some discussion the Chairman moved
that we should oppose the application.
Cllr Clarkson proposed this decision and Cllr White seconded it. This was agreed unanimously and Cllr Clarkson
was asked to respond on the PC’s behalf. DC
(ii) 1/00491/FUL:
Springhill House, White
Ox Mead Lane. Description of proposal: Removal
of existing stable block and construction of new stable block (Resubmission)
Cllr Clarkson said that she felt the new
proposal was reasonable since the building will be undertaken on the existing
base. She proposed that the Council
support it and this was seconded by Cllr White.
The Council agreed unanimously and Cllr Clarkson agreed to write to the
Planning Department accordingly. DC
(iii) The new owners of the Fullers Earth Works
had applied to remove and replace a cherry tree on their land. The details were received after publication
of the agenda. Cllr Doman said that the
tree was a flowering one rather than a fruiting one and that he had no
objection to its replacement. This was
agreed unanimously and Cllr Clarkson said that she would write to Jane Brewer
accordingly. DC
2. Decisions
received
The planning applications at
Vera House, 4 The Square and
Clearbrook Farm had all been
approved.
The Chairman asked Cllr Clarkson to write
to B&NES to ask why approval was given and why the Parish Council did not
receive a copy of their reasons. DC
Cllr Andrews said that District Cllr
Butters had already told us that referrals to Committee had been
curtailed. Cllr Clarkson felt that the
Vera House decision should go to Committee.
3. Notification
of planning applications
Cllr Clarkson suggested that planning
applications should be circulated more widely using Richard Holland’s e-mail
list. Richard agreed to do this but asked the PC to furnish him with a form of
words to accompany each application. HP
4. Resubmission
at Weaver’s Farm
Cllr Andrews re-iterated that
the PC were happy to leave responses to
B&NES in the hands of Cllrs Caudle and
Clarkson. This was agreed unanimously.
12.037 Village
Wear and Tear
Cllr Betts remarked on the condition of the
chicanes. She agreed to arrange with the
Horticultural Society to sow wild flower seeds on them.
SB
Cllr Andrews drew attention to the speed detector
installed at the west end of the village.
Cllr Doman said that there was a large pothole on
Ford Road. He agreed to report it to
Council Connect. PD
Cllr Wheeler mentioned the gates along Wellow
Brook. The Chairman said that these were
being replaced over the next few months.
Stewart Cole mentioned an apparently dead ash tree on
Farm Lane. He also said that there was a
large pothole on Henley View and agreed to report it to Council Connect. SC
12.038 Finance
a. The Council approved the payments to
Stewart Cole, the Clerk and to NALC/ALCA in respect of our subscription.
b. The Council unanimously approved and
accepted the financial report which had been circulated before the meeting.
c. Cllr Andrews said she had been unable to
make any progress regarding the release of funds from the Millennium Fund. It was agreed that this item would be
included on the April agenda.
In response a query from the Chairman Cllr
Andrews agreed to circulate a copy of the Burial Board’s accounts. HA
12.039 Litter
Cllr Wheeler suggested that we designate May 26th
as a day for tidying up the village.
Erica Smith, from the floor, suggested that this could be done over a
week rather than one day. It was agreed
that this would be on the May agenda and Cllr Wheeler to agreed to act as co-ordinator.
12.040 Footpaths
Cllr Doman spoke about the footpath leading from Bath
Hill to Brunel House. He explained that B&NES do not have any funding to
alter its route which, at the moment, doesn’t lead anywhere as it stops at the
back of Brunel House.
The Chairman asked Cllr Doman to speak with jean
Horler, over whose land the path passes, to find out what needs to be done and
what it would cost in terms of legal fees. Cllr Clarkson agreed to find out
whether any sources of funding were available. DC/PD
Cllr Doman also confirmed that there was no need to
follow up the concerns expressed about Community Farm.
12.041 The
report from the Chairman and District Cllr Neil Butters was deferred to the
April meeting. Thick fog had prevented District Cllr Butters from attending.
However,
it was noted that Cllr Gerrish had been overseeing traffic calming at B&NES
but that Cllr Symonds had taken over that role.
Erica Smith, from the floor, described the problems
she had experienced while undertaking cycle training with children from the
school.
Cllr Wheeler stressed the need for the correct
signage and Cllr Clarkson suggested that we arrange a meeting between
representatives of the Parish Council, the police and B&NES.
The Chairman said that we should implement our plan
to use speed guns and Cllr Betts suggested that we should write to our MP.
It
was agreed to form a sub-committee to oversee traffic calming and it was
further agreed that the members should be Cllr Betts, Cllr Wheeler and Erica
Smith.
12.042 Diamond
Jubilee
Cllr Betts said that she had devised a plan of action
which is on the village website and which would appear in the next Parish News.
She said that it would cost £150 to close the road
through the village but she also expressed some concern at the numbers of
people who had said that they would be away. It was agreed that we need to know
the situation and what numbers we could expect to be around.
Cllr Wheeler asked whether we would fund the purchase
of a Union Flag which was agreed. Cllr Wheeler agreed to check prices and order
accordingly. TW
12.043 Shop
next door to the Fox and Badger
The Chairman said that the shop has no services and
that the owners have not agreed to sell it. The previous Chairman of the Parish
Council, Alex Martin, had been keen to use the shop as the Parish Archive.
If agreement cannot be reached to renovate and use
the shop, the Chairman suggested that we ask the owners whether we could pay to
improve the shop front. HP
The Parish records are still being temporarily stored
with Cllr Andrew. Cllr Betts agreed to see what space might be available at the
Village Hall to store the documents SB
Cllr Andrews will choose
a date when interested parties could go
through the existing
archive material. HA
12.044 Correspondence
It was noted that the petanque piste plans were
continuing.
It was decided that the Parish Council would not
contribute to the Midsomer Norton and Radstock Park and Ride Scheme.
12.045 Any
other reports
Richard Holland was asked to publicise the fact that
the Mobile Library would be continuing for the time being. RH
The Chairman drew attention to the forthcoming Parish
Cluster meeting but nobody expressed an interest in going.
The Chairman said that he had received a note from
Cllr Witty saying that she intended to resign as a Councillor due to her
husband’s work arrangements which necessitated their moving. He expressed his
gratitude for the work which Cllr Witty had done over many years.
It was reported that some fruit and nut trees might
be made available. Cllr Andrews and
Erica Smith both expressed an interest and Cllr White agreed to look into it
further. JW
Cllr Andrews suggested that the Parish Council might
plant a tree to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
12.046 Date
of next meeting
The date of the next meeting was confirmed
as 8pm in the Village Hall on April 16th 2012.
The meeting adjourned at
10.05pm.
Geoffrey White
Parish Clerk
March 23rd 2012