Wellow Parish Council

Clerk: Clerk: Mrs A Rhys Roberts, Honeybatch, Wellow. Bath BA2 8QG Tel: 01225 833102 E-mail: angharad@waitrose.com

Minutes of the meeting of Wellow Parish Council held on

Monday 8th October 2007 at 8pm.

Present: Cllrs Andrews, Betts, Colston (from 8.10 pm), Halewood, Lewis (from 8.05 pm), Pike, Martin (Chairman), Watson (from 8.10pm) Witty. Clerk and 6 Parishioners.

7.102 Apologies for absence District Councillor Butters

7.103 Minutes of the last meeting The minutes of the meeting held Monday 10th September 2007, were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

7.104 Matters arising

a. The Clerk will contact Alma Cottages to make sure the occupants will not leave their cars on the footpath outside the Cottages making it difficult for the residents of Manor Close to walk by.

b. Cllr Halewood had contacted the Environment Agency about the plastic bottles in the brook and was informed that it was the responsibility of the farmers, whose land the brook ran through, to retrieve and dispose of the bottles. It was agreed that this was not reasonable to ask the farmers to do this.

7.105 Declarations of interest None

7.106 Public participation: The Chairman adjourned the meeting for public participation.

• Mrs Bartholomew reported that she had been clearing the ground by the Packhorse Bridge with the help of Mr J Watts. Mrs Bartholomew said an action party would be very welcome to help on Sunday mornings between 9am - 11am. The Chairman requested that a plan of planting for the area be submitted. Mrs Bartholomew said she envisaged natural planting for the area, and would submit a plan. A seat was discussed for the area, and it was suggested that Scott Watson should be approached to see if he had a suitable log that would do as a seat, and Cllr Witty volunteered to find out the cost of a bench. It was also mentioned that a rubbish bin would be needed. MFW
• Mr Cole reported that the man-hole cover by Mrs Todd's house had been mended, but the one by the Manor house had not been repaired. The bank by Hungerford Terrace had been cut back.
• It was reported that there were lose stones in the pavement setting by Footman's Cottage.
• The post by Mrs Todd's house was very wobbly. AM " Extra rubbish bins were needed in the village. Cllr Betts said it would be a good idea to have the bin by the church changed to a cylinder bin then it would be emptied more often, and a bin was needed at the village hall. It was agreed to investigate whether BANES or the Parish Council should provide the extra bins and who was responsible for the payment of emptying the bins. SB

7.107 Finance

a. Payments due received unanimous approval.

b. The September reconciliation was approved.

7.108 Dog Fouling This was proving to still be a problem in the village. The Councillors agreed that their would be one last warning in the newsletter. It would be stated that the offending owners of dogs would be reported to the dog warden, and that fines of up to £1000 could be imposed. Cllr Andrews asked what was the position of clearing up the horse dung on the roads? It was agreed this would be looked into. Cllr Witty suggested bio-degradable dispensing dog-muck bags might be useful. Cllr Betts stated that any rubbish bin can be used to dispose of dog muck. AM/ARR

7.109 Traffic Calming

a. Cllr Watson reported that the plans from Alan Baxter were too engineered and did not take into account enough of the shared space. Ben Hamilton Baillie needs to be urgently approached to include the shared space scheme more.The Centres of Clinical Excellence are happy with the plans and BANES money may have to be used to include the shared space. It was agreed time was running out as the Centres of Clinical Excellence are about to start the building work on the hospital, and it is important to find out the date the money has to be used by. MW

b. Cllr Halewood reported that he and Cllr Betts have acquired the use of a radar gun. He requested a group of volunteers spend a day data gathering the traffic speed in the village. The volunteers would wear highly visible jackets, and placards with 'please slow down' would be used. The school children would wear T-shirts with 20mph written on them. Speed strips would be used. Holding an event on speed control has an effect and the Police Community Officer is happy for the event to go ahead as long as there is a police presence.

7.111 Parish Plan The Chairman asked the Councillors' what they had done to put the plan in action.

Cllr Watson had helped the Recreational Committee with a plan and had made contact with Hamilton Baillie.

Cllr Andrews had made contact with Miss Sturm on the needs for the elderly.

Cllr Betts will be liaising with the new Village Shop Manageress and Committee, and was investigating funding for the shop.

Cllr Witty is organising meeting people involved in St. Julian's School and the playing fields, and she would be coming forward with ideas by next month.

Cllr Pike is involved in the church and the burial board, and community workers had been working in the cemetery.

Cllr Halewood is involved in making a website for businesses in Wellow and contacting businesses.

Cllr Lewis had met with Cllr Halewood and Cllr Watson over the playing fields to discuss plans.

The Chairman had already contacted the Environmental Agency and achieved what was on his list already.

7.112 Any other Business

• Cllr Colston reported that the Bath Business Park now had 9 out of 17of the light industrial units occupied.
• Cllr Witty stated that a fir tree was to be cut down in the village and the owners would like to donate the tree as the Christmas tree for this year GL/AM
• Cllr Witty would like to place mesh at the bottom of the westerly fence of the playing fields to stop the balls going into the field . A set of nets had been bought by Mr Hammerton.
• Cllr Witty would like a copy of the new Wellow Conservation Area. The Chairman read out a letter from Mrs K Crawford who wanted to ask support of the Parish Council for a Bonfire Night Party for St Julian's School Association. The Council supported the event, subject to farmers' approval.
• The Chairman requested that a note be put in the newsletter about bonfires quoting BANES guidelines about it.
• Cllr Pike had recovered old coins and asked if anybody had any ideas as to which museum he should approach to display them in.

7.113 Date of next meeting It was confirmed that the next Wellow Parish Council Meeting will be held on Monday, 12 November 2007 in the Village Hall at 8pm.

The meeting closed at 9.20pm.