Wellow Parish Council

Minutes of the Council meeting held Monday 13th October 2008

In the Village Hall at 8p.m.

Attended by: Cllrs Betts, Pike, Lewis, Martin (Chairman), Watson, Halewood, Colston and 6 members of the public.

8.95 To accept apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Dist Cllr Butters and Cllr Andrews. Cllr Witty absent.

8.96 To confirm minutes of meeting held 10th Sept 2008:

The minutes of the above meeting were confirmed by members as a true record and were accordingly signed by the Chairman.

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

None

8.98 Declaration of interest on any matter on the agenda.

Cllr Watson declared an interest in item 100.1(b)

8.99 Public Participation.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting for public participation:

Mr Holland advised of further incidences of the pavement outside of the church being broken.
Mr Cole asked for feedback from Cllr Betts re the Best Kept Village Competition. Cllr Betts advised that she did not have the final scores and placings but a note of principal findings, which were largely satisfactory with the exception of roadside verges, which were found to be unkempt. Cllr Betts advised she would seek to involve the Horticultural Society in the promotion of next year's competition.
Mr Cole advised of an incident of dog fouling that he had witnessed.
Mrs Caudle advised of a mechanised horsebox that had appeared in the car park and wondered whether it was the precursor to other arrivals.

The Chairman reconvened the meeting

8.100 Planning:

1.New applications:

Before considering new applications the Chairman sought to clarify the council's attitude on handling applications in light of a failure to respond to two recent applications. It was agreed that the present method was appropriate.

(a) 08/03286/FUL Land and buildings to rear of 1-7 High St. Wellow. Conversion of barn, stables and forge to form 3 dwelling units. This application has been withdrawn.

(b) 08/03104/FUL Springhill House, White Ox Mead. Post re-landscaping of topography to paddock. Cllr Watson absented himself for this item. It was left for B&NES to make the decision without comment from the Parish Council.

2.Decisions received:

(a) 08/03039/FUL & 08/03042/LBA Court Farm House, Wellow. Erection of ground floor extensions and associated works. Permit. The Chairman updated members on the various conversations with the applicants on this application and also with the case officer who had received the agreement of the Chairman of The Planning Committee not to refer it for consideration. Cllr Halewood expressed dissatisfaction with this claiming it in effect was disenfranchising the elected representatives. Cllr Halewood proposed that we write to the Chairman of the Planning Committee expressing our concerns given the unanimous opposition of the Parish Council to this application and to ask for an explanation of his rationale in agreeing to the case officer's request for non-referral. This was unanimously agreed.

(b) 08/03149/ TCA Greenhayes, Wellow. Fell eucalyptus and raise crown of yew. No objection.

(d) Street Record, Car Park, Wellow. Fell willow. No objection.

3. Proposals for The Batch.

Following the decision at last months meeting, Cllr Watson tabled proposals for the tidying up of The Batch. This created a lot of comment and at one stage The Chairman had to advise Mrs Horler, (a member of the public present) not to interrupt the meeting making an explicit statement regarding the parking of four by four vehicles on The Batch if the proposals were adopted After much discussion it was decided that the proposals could be better considered with the benefit of a site visit. This proved impossible to arrange there and then due to members having to consult diaries etc. It was agreed that members would review their commitments and the Chairman would email everyone with an appropriate date and time.

8.101 Finance

(a) The RFO circulated the financial report for the month. This was unanimously supported.

(b) The RFO asked members to consider what items of expenditure they would like to be considered for inclusion in the budget proposals and to let him know.

8.102 Parish Plan Reports:

(a) Cllr Betts advised members of a meeting arranged to discuss the requirements of all who use the village hall, playing field and play area so that a specification could be produced which could be turned into firm proposals for agreement with the parish. Members of all user groups would be invited to attend. Members of the public would be invited to submit any ideas they have to any member of the Parish Council.

(b) Cllr Watson advised members of minor alterations to the drawings supplied by B&NES for the shared space scheme which had been agreed at a recent meeting. A concern was expressed by Cllr Halewood regarding the colour of the zebraflex to be used in the scheme. Cllr Watson agreed to identify a palette of possible colours.

(c) Cllr Colston advised of a meeting he had attended with the Chairman with Community Action and suggested a letter to the new Chief Executive asking for his involvement in the shared space scheme.

8.103 Proposal to tarmac part of the village hall car park

There was no one present from Magic Box to present their proposal so the Chairman gave members a summary as he recollected it calling on the assistance of Mr Holland who had reservations regarding possible drainage problems.

8.104 Christmas Tree on The Batch

The Chairman advised that as Christmas was only a short time away we should be looking to how we would source the tree and referred to a conversation he had had with Mrs R Gordon regarding leading the carol singing at last year's event. Cllr Halewood agreed to liaise with Mrs Gordon. It was agreed to put a mention in the newsletter of how last years tree had been obtained from a kind parishioner and that if anyone new of a suitable tree for this year they should advise the Parish Council.

8.105 Any Other Business.

(a) Cllr Colston update to members of his progress with the sale of an access to 1 West End Cottages and his attendance at the topping out ceremony of the hospital at Bath Business Park.

(b) The Chairman asked for agreement to register our interest in working with a Cotswold AONB voluntary warden. This was agreed unanimously.

(c) The Chairman referred to a letter received from the MSN Radstock Ring and Ride asking for a grant of £75 for the next financial year. Cllr Betts proposed that we should accede to this request. This was carried by a majority vote.

(d) The Chairman gave an update of several meetings attended during the month, highlights being:

At the Parish Cluster meeting, The Assistant Director of Transport and Planning gave an assurance that Section 106 monies should attract interest.
At a meeting to discuss the Regional Spatial Strategy it had been announced that the proposal to include the AONB in the area of search to the urban extension to Bath had been dropped but that the number of dwellings required had increased.
A meeting had been held with the Public Rights of Way people to progress the production of a footpath map to be issued to all in the parish and to make available for sale to others visiting the parish. "
It was noted that the new highways inspector had not turned up for a scheduled meeting with the Chairman and Cllr Betts claiming was unable to locate the Chairman's home.

8.106 Date of next meeting: Confirmed as Mon 10th Nov.8pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting closed at 10.05pm.

AM 21.10.08