Wellow Parish Council

Clerk

Geoff White

Myrtle Cottage, Wellow, BA2 8QS

Tel:  01225 830159

 

Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council on Monday 13th September 2010

at 8pm in the Village Hall

 

Present: Cllrs Andrews, Betts, Colston, Halewood, Lewis, Martin (Chairman), Watson and Witty.  District Cllr Butters from item 10.107.           .

Six members of the public in attendance.

 

Agenda:

 

10.099             To accept apologies for absence.

                        Cllr Pike sent his apologies

 

10.100             Declarations of interest in any matters on the agenda or in July 2010 minutes.

                        None

 

10.101             To confirm minutes of meetings held on June 14th 2010

It was unanimously agreed that these were a true and accurate record and were accordingly signed by the Chairman.

 

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

                        None

 

10.103             Planning

1.       Decisions received:

a.      10/002536/FUL: March House, Bull’s Hill, Wellow. Description of proposal: Proposed new entrance and drive including demolition of 5.5 metres of stone boundary wall.

REFUSE

 

2.      New Applications:

a.      10/00652/FUL: March House, Bull’s Hill, Wellow. Description of proposal: Discharge of conditions 1, 2 and 3 of application. Erection of single storey rear and side extension.

The Chairman reported that the details provided on the application were unclear but that no further information was available on B&NES website.  It was decided to defer and discussion until the October 2010 meeting and that, in the meantime, the Planning Control Department at B&NES would be approached for clarification.                        AC/GW

b.      10/03417/TCA: Wellow Farm House, High Street, Wellow. Description of proposal: Reduce and thin crown of Goat Willow tree, reshape and reduce Cherry Plum tree, reduce crown of Norway Maple tree, reshape and reduce Cherry Plum tree, fell Conifer group of trees, and reduce crown and reshape Hawthorn tree.

The Council agreed unanimously to support the application.

 

c.       10/03578/FUL: Middle Twinhoe Farm, Upper Twinhoe, Wellow. Description of proposal: Forming of new access through boundary wall.

The Council agreed unanimously to support the application. The Chairman said that he would advise B&NES accordingly.              AM

(Note that this item was not on the original agenda but was added prior to the meeting)

 

3.      Updates

a.       Field Parcel 7715 The Chairman reported that he had received no response from B&NES in respect of enforcing storage regulations outside the Trekking Centre. He would continue to press for the verge to be re-instated.                                                             AM

 

10.104             Highways

a. Verge to the west of Hungerford Terrace.  The overgrown nature of this verge had been reported to B&NES and they have agreed to undertake the necessary clearance.

b. Disabled parking bay at Hungerford Terrace.  Numerous representations and suggestions had been made to B&NES but they have decided to implement the original proposal.    

c. Litter between Littleton Lane and the Cemetery.  The Chairman had written to Council Connect regarding this problem and reported that, although, he has not received a reply, the litter appears to have been cleared away. 

d. Ball games in Railway Lane. Following an approach made by a local resident, the Chairman wrote to Council Connect to ask whether a “No Ball Games” sign could be erected in Railway Lane.  B&NES agreed as did the resident on whose wall the sign would be fixed.  B&NES have now said that it is not within their remit to supply and fit the sign and so the Parish Council would need to do it.  After some discussion, both for and against the sign, Cllr Andrews suggested that it wouldn’t do any harm to go ahead.  The Council agreed.                                                                                                             AM

 

 

10.105             Finance    

The financial report was unanimously approved but the Chairman pointed out that it was not properly reconciled. The Clerk said he would rectify this at the October meeting.

The Council agreed that we should continue to withhold payment to B&NES in respect of grass cutting on the playing field until we received an official invoice.

 

 

10.106             Parish Plan

                        Updates were received on:

(a) Traffic calming

Cllr Watson advised that the build outs at the North and West Gates should be filled with grass rather than bark chippings.  Cath Beale is designing a suitable sign to replace the existing 20 mph signs.

Cllr Watson also said that the cobbles outside the Fox and Badger were raised too high and that material should be inserted between them to render them less protruding.

The new drain outside the school is proving ineffective in terms of draining water from Farm Lane but that a meeting had been arranged with Highways to address this.

The West Gate is too far away from the main part of the village and a rumble strip needs to be installed further in towards the village.  Cllr Betts said that the existing traffic calming elements were not effective in slowing traffic down at the west end but Cllr Watson felt that we should wait until everything was finished and that we await the erection of additional signage before passing a final judgment.  Cllr Halewood agreed and said that everything should be more effective once the works are completed.

Cllr Betts said that there seemed to be a shortage of cobbles but the Chairman pointed out that the contractors were obliged to lay sufficient cobbles to meet the original specification.

Cllr Watson re-iterated his view that we should wait until all the works are finished at which time we can judge their effectiveness and go back to B&NES to ask for further work if necessary.  He pointed out that Adrian Clark at B&NES had “watered down” the original concept regarding shared space.

The Chairman referred to copy correspondence received from a resident expressing dissatisfaction with both the works and the reason for them details of which had been circulated. As yet he had not seen any response from B&NES. He advised that he had learnt that there was to be a site meeting the following morning at which the subject of the works outside  the Fox and Badger could be addressed.  Cllr Watson agreed to attend.

The Chairman reported that following a letter from a local resident which was published in the Radstock Journal and to which he had replied direct, he had received a follow-up letter which he read out. It was agreed that a reply be provided by the Chairman which would be circulated to members.

As the police have indicated that the new 20 mph speed limit would not be enforced the Chairman announced that he would be writing to the Minister of Transport about this.  Cllrs Halewood and Andrews suggested he copy his letter to the local MP.  The Chairman agreed to do this.

.          

                                                           AM

 

(b) Community minibus

Cllr Witty reported that she had circulated as many local residents as possible by email asking for suggestions regarding bus timings. She was asked what sort of coverage this would give.  Richard Holland, a member of the public in the audience who had distributed the original email, said that it covered some 60% of residents.

Cllr Witty went on to say that more volunteer drivers were needed and so we need to encourage as many people as possible to undertake the training. She also said that we need somewhere to park the bus in Bath and the Chairman suggested she contact the Executive Member responsible at B&NES about this.

                                                          MW

The Chairman reminded Cllr Witty that we were still awaiting an invoice from Allan Ford for the minibus so that we could reclaim the VAT.  Cllr Witty advised that the matter was being pursued.                                                                     

The Chairman was concerned that the publicity surrounding the minibus made no mention of the part played by the PC.

 

(c) Play area

Cllr Lewis reported that he had met with the contractors and that they had agreed to deal with the foundations in the play area. It was agreed that a definite date should be set for fixing any problems.                       

GL

 

 

10.107             1, West End Cottages

Cllr Colston reported that he hadn’t been able to make any further progress at this stage.

 

10.108             Shop at the Fox and Badge

Cllr Colston advised members that no further progress had been made.  The Chairman after confirming with members that the PC is still interested in pursuing the matter suggested that Cllr Colston make contact with the managing company to arrange a meeting to progress the matter.                

AC

 

10.109             Hire of playing field

In the light of an earlier incidence of the field being hired out without reference to the Parish Council, the Chairman asked whether it should be hired out at all.  His view was that that the field should be seen as an amenity for Wellow residents and therefore should not be available for hire to outside organisations.  The Council agreed.

 

10.110             B&NES Chairman’s Awards

The Chairman reminded members of that if they wished to nominate anyone, they should submit details to him together with an explanation of why an award would be merited.    

10.111             Correspondence

a. Youth Service Celebration

The Council had been asked to nominate a member to attend this event in Bath on October 11th.  However, the event would clash with the next Parish Council meeting and so Cllr Witty said she would pass on the invitation to those running the Youth Club.                                                                  

MW

b.Food Waste Collections

The new food waste collection service which starts on October 4th has necessitated a change for Wellow’s refuse collection from Friday to Monday. A question was raised regarding what would happen on Bank Holidays but it was reported that these should have no effect. The Clerk agreed to put a poster on the Notice Board and to leave copies of the relevant leaflet at the shop. GW

c.World Heritage Plan

There being no volunteers to respond to this item the Chairman advised that the Chairman of South Stoke Parish Council sits on the Steering Committee and it could be assumed he would represent the views of all B&NES residents.

 

10.112             Chairman’s Report

The Chairman said that he had attended a Parish Liaison Meeting at which an invitation was extended to anyone who would like to visit a house in Pulteney Street which had had numerous energy saving devices retro-fitted.

Adrian Clark from B&NES had presented a report on the local transport plan. 

 

10.113             Any other business

(a) Cllr Betts asked whether it was true that B&NES were planning to close Dunkerton Hill for resurfacing work in the near future. The Clerk agreed to look into this and to advise accordingly.                                                GW

(b) Cllr Lewis reported that he had been assured that the original road sign would be replaced on the new post which had been erected outside Manor House.

(c)  Cllr Andrews asked about the latest developments regarding the sale of land along from the church which is currently used as allotments. The Chairman said that he would talk to the PCC about it.

                       AM

 

10.114             Date of next meeting

Agreed as Monday October 11th 2010 at 8pm in The Village Hall. 

The meeting closed at 9.38 pm.

 

GW

September 19th 2010