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 November 2011 at 8pm in the Village Hall.
Present: Cllrs
Andrews, Betts, Caudle, Clarkson, Doman, Prentice, White and Witty.
Eight members
of the public in attendance.
Agenda:
11.141 To accept apologies for
absence.
Apologies had been received from
District Councillor Butters
11.142 Declarations of interest in any
matters on the agenda or in October 2011 minutes
None
11.143 To confirm minutes of meeting
held on September 12th 2011.
The minutes of the Parish Council
Meeting held on October 10th 2011 were approved unanimously.
11.144 To report matters arising from
the minutes and not on the agenda.
Cllr Clarkson said that the phone
box in the Square was still owned by BT and that it
was their responsibility to paint
it. The phone doesn’t work at the moment; BT says they will get it working.
The Acting Chairman said that she
would be inspecting the possibly dangerous tree on the road leading to the
Combe Hay cross-roads with Geoff Pike to see whether it was within Wellow’s
parish boundary or Combe Hay’s. HA
Cllr White said that she would like
to be the Councillor with the trees portfolio.
This was agreed.
In view of District Cllr Butter’s
absence it was agreed to defer discussion regarding the layby opposite the
Trekking Centre and other planning issues to the east of the village to the
December meeting. HP
Cllr Witty reported that B&NES
had not taken up government funding to install high speed broadband to rural
communities because it would have meant that B&NES would have had to commit
similar amounts from B&NES funds. B&NES had however set aside £25,000
to look into issues regarding rural broadband.
11.145 Election of Chair and Vice-Chair
The Chairman asked Richard Holland
to conduct the election of Chairman to which he agreed.
Cllr Wheeler expressed concern that
the details of the election had not been announced prior to the meeting but Mr
Holland explained that, normally, the election of Chairman would take place
during the first meeting of the new Council and so no advance warnings would be
given. It was agreed that the election
could proceed.
Mr Holland said that the
names of two candidates had been put forward, Cllrs Caudle and Prentice. Both were asked to say a few words and then
the election was held, councillors expressing their preferences on slips of
paper.
Mr Holland counted the
votes and reported that three votes were cast in favour of Cllr Caudle and six
votes for Cllr Prentice. Cllr Prentice
was duly elected.
Having taken the chair he
thanked Cllr Andrews for her work since May and –
said that, rather than
hold an election for vice-chairman, he would prefer to approach individuals
himself and so the vice-chairman would be appointed rather than elected. This was agreed to.
The Chairman sought
clarification of Councillors’ roles.
After some discussion, the following was agreed:
Planning Cllrs
Caudle and Clarkson
Burial Board Cllrs
Andrews and Betts
Village Hall Cllrs
Andrews and Betts
St Julian’s School Cllr White
Finance The
Chairman, the Clerk and Richard Holland (internal auditor)
Trees Cllr
White
Rights of Way Cllrs
Caudle and Doman
Playing Field and
Playground Cllrs Wheeler
and Witty
Queen’s Golden Jubilee Cllrs Betts and Witty
Parish Plan The
Chairman, Cllrs Clarkson and Doman
11.146 Planning
1. New applications
11/004422/FUL Clearbrook
Farm, Midford. Use of agricultural land as a natural burial ground. (Revised
resubmission)
Cllr Caudle said that the
proposal was to prevent development of the land. Cllr Clarkson said that she approved of the
plan but was a little concerned about the possible increase in traffic. However, guidelines suggest that funerals
should be held outside peak hours.
The Council voted
unanimously to support the application.
2.
Decisions received
The
Council noted that permission had been granted for developments at The Laurels,
Midford and at Homelea Cottage, Wellow.
3.
Other planning issues
a.
Vegetable growing opposite Ford Farm
Cllr
Doman said that harvesting had been carried out on the site and there was
little sign of any activity at present. The Chairman asked whether the
activities on the site were illegal but was told that guidelines from B&NES
were ambiguous. He suggested that the
Council put this matter on hold until the spring and this was agreed. PC/DC
b.
Forge Cottage
The
Clerk said that he had been in touch with the Planning Dept at B&NES and
had been told that planning permission for a car parking space was not
required.
c.
Other matters
Cllr
Betts reported that nothing needed to be done to the beech tree on the playing
field.
11.147 Village Wear and Tear
New items
Stuart Cole said that there was a
diseased elm tree on Farm Lane just above the dovecote.
Cllr Betts said that the drains in
Popes Lane were blocked – but this may be caused by the seasonal
leaves, which could be cleared by a visit by the council’s “drain sucker”. .
Richard Holland said that there were
still problems with drainage outside the school. Cllr Witty suggested taking photographs but
Cllr White said that this had already been done. Cllr White to keep providing
evidence to the B&NES and chase them for action
JW
The Clerk was asked to report these
matters to Council Connect. GW
11.148 Finance
·
Outstanding payments were approved and the cheques and
invoices duly signed.
·
The financial report for November was approved.
·
Following the report circulated about the council’s reserves
the Chairman confirmed that the council does not have any equipment on lease or
hire, nor does it have any lease or rent obligations for property. As such
there will be no liabilities should the council have to be wound up. The
council does need sufficient for day to day cash flow in an instant access. The
Chairman proposed that the Council keep three months funding, £3,250, in an
instant access account, The Clerk was
asked to find out what accounts could be used for this and the remainder, to
earn some interest GW
·
The Clerk was asked to find out which Parish Council
documents were stored at the bank as we had been charged £25 in respect of
this. GW
·
The Clerk was asked to provide a list of items covered by
our insurance policy GW
11.149 The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations – weekend of 2nd
to 5th June 2012
Cllr Witty explained that we have to
give 4 months notice of any road closures but Cllr Betts said that we might not
actually use the road. Cllr Betts said that she would be advertising a public
meeting regarding the Jubilee early in January. SB
11.150 Winter Maintenance Pilot Study
Richard Holland had emailed the
parish asking for people to volunteer as a snow warden, but had received no
response. None of the councilors felt able to be a snow warden, and so Wellow
would not be taking part in this pilot.
11.151 Chairman’s Business Award
Cllr Witty said that Marian Osborne
had been nominated in connection with her work at the shop.
11.152 Parish Plan
a.
Neighbourhood Watch.
Cllr Wheeler said that he had met with Louise, our Community
Policeman. He also said that Mr Jenkins,
who runs the Neighbourhood Watch in Freshford would be willing to talk to the
Council or to Wellow residents generally. At the public meetings regarding the
neighbourhood plan, the public would be asked if they wanted a Wellow Neighbourhood
Watch scheme.
b.
It was decided that Village Tidying Day would not go ahead
as planned on Saturday, November 19th. Cllr Andrews would go to the Fox and Badger
at 10am on the 19th in case anyone did turn up.
c.
Cllr Betts said that the proposed petanque piste had been
approved.
d.
Cllr Witty said that she has applied for grants for the
renovation of the Parlour Shop and the shop next door to the pub. She has
approached the owners of the pub shop to see whether the Parish Council could
use it for free if we did and paid for the renovation. They have asked for a business plan.
e.
Cllr Witty referred to the village signs which Cathy Beale
had designed. Cllr Doman felt that we
should use the existing sign which is used on the village minibus as corporate
image depended upon having just one logo rather than several. The Clerk mentioned the balance in the
Millennium Fund and the Chairman asked Cllr Andrews to pursue those who were
the original signatories in order to release the money to the council to pay
for the signs. HA
Jennie Matthews, from the floor,
spoke about her experiences of the traffic calming measures and it was agreed
that it should appear on the December agenda. GW
11.153 Daylight Saving
There were no strong feelings for or
against the proposal to change the arrangements regarding British Summer Time.
11.154 Correspondence
The contents of Kelvin Packer’s
letter and associated chart regarding the staff in the Highways Dept at
B&NES were duly noted.
11.155 Any other reports
·
Cllr Andrews confirmed that the Salvation Army would not be
available for this year’s carol singing.
She said that James Watts had agreed to involve the village choir. It was agreed that Tuesday, December 20th
would be a suitable date.
·
It was noted that new kissing gates had been installed along
a number of footpaths and that a laminated map showing footpaths would be
available shortly.
·
The Chairman asked councillors to respond to the survey on
rough sleeping which everyone had received.
·
The Chairman drew attention to the forthcoming Neighbourhood
Plan meetings, inviting all parishioners to attend.
·
Richard Holland asked about the provision of a Christmas
tree. Cllr Wheeler volunteered to sort this out TW
11.156 Date of next meeting
In view of the fact that Cllrs
Caudle and Clarkson will be going to the Planning Protocol meeting on December
12th and that Cllr White and the Clerk would be away, it was agreed
that the next meeting would be brought forward and would be held at 8pm on
December 5th.
Cllr Betts was asked to confirm that
the Village Hall would be available. SB
Geoffrey
White
Parish
Clerk
November 18th
2011