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Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe Parish Council Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting held at Church House, Widecombe on Thursday 22nd June 2000
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PRESENT : Mr.N.Smerdon (Chairman), Mr.R.Newbolt-Young (Vice), Mr.M.Nosworthy,
Mr.M.Pascoe, Mrs.M.Phipps, Mrs.N.Tempest, Mr.M.Yates.
IN ATTENDANCE : Cllr.Mrs.L.Whittaker, Ms.Mendela Wisbey (Hastoe Housing Ass.) Ms.Jill Bennett, (Senior Housing Ass. TDC), five members of the public and the Clerk Mr.P.Roper.
APOLOGIES : WPC Evans
2337 MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 25th May 2000 were signed by the Chairman as being an accurate record of the meeting.
2338 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
(i) Local Needs Housing : The Chairman introduced the two guests Ms. Wisbey and Ms. Bennett who addressed the meeting.
The building of the houses were on course and hopefully be completed before the end of the year.
The procedure for house allocation was explained in detail.
There are at present 15 families who qualify and have expressed an interest. It is the intention of the selection process to maximize use of the accommodation of two three bedroom and four two bedroom houses. Rent being £58 and £54 respectively.
There will be notices advertising the availability of houses in September when a public meeting will be held at Church House to explain the whole process. WPC would be involved at this stage of selection. Each applicant will be visited by representatives from TDC and a report made for the Hastoe allocation meeting. Offers will then be made one month before completion.
Councillors were invited to ask questions regarding details of the tenancies.
Members of the public also asked questions.
The Parish Council was asked to consider how the estate should be named.
Hopefully there would be a formal opening in the Spring of 2001 when all the families were in residence and the site looked complete.
(ii) The Old Grist Mill : the Clerk read a letter from Mrs.Denham who had replied to the Clerk's letter sent following the last Council meeting. In it she asked that the straining post at the end of the new cattle proof fence be examined as it appeared to have been placed inside the boundary of the Mill. The Chairman offered to meet Mrs.Denham on site to investigate the problem.
The matter of the lack of water flow from the leat was discussed. It was agreed that the owners of the Mill had the right to enter the Parish field to ensure that water flowed to the Mill.
Mrs.Denham accepted that she would need to speak with Mr.Skinner to find ways of solving the problem that prevented the water reaching the leat.
(iii) Widecombe Primary School : a letter from the Head teacher indicated that the children at school were currently working on items to place in the Millennium Capsule and that these would be given to Chris Mayhead, the co-ordinator of the project.
(iv) Devon on the Move Transport Plan : acknowledgement from DCC of the Clerk's letter has been received. In it the question of speed restrictions near the school and over the Moors generally had been raised as a cause of concern of the Council.
(v) Widecombe Car Park : the Clerk reported that there had been no response from TDC regarding the concerns of the Council over the proposed charges for car parking.
On telephoning TDC it was learnt that there had been a few village meetings and together with the views of WPC expressed in correspondence TDC did not propose holding any more meetings. The views expressed by villages against these proposals would be taken back to the meeting responsible for reviewing TDC's policies in the Autumn. After this there may well be a further working meeting with a sub-committee of the Parish Council.
The Clerk was also asked to pursue the question of ownership of the car park.
(vi) Widecombe Fair : Mr.Raymond has not yet replied to the request sent early in May for a deposit of £200 for renting the Green on Fair day. The Clerk was asked to send another urgent letter of request. The letter should also mention that there would definitely be a Town Crier competition on Fair day under the Yew tree.
Mr.Pascoe asked if the Council would finance the purchase of some trophies for the competition. It was agreed that he should proceed with such purchases.
(vii) Widecombe Website : the Clerk reported that a disc containing the minutes of the Parish Council meeting had been sent to Mr.Claxton. It was reported that there had been subsequent to this months Website entry, one telephone call to the Chairman from a member of the public, thus indicating that the process was working.
Cllr Whittaker informed the meeting that now all of the Parish Councils in her County Ward had a Website. Progress indeed!
2339 CORRESPONDENCE
(i) Petty Sessions Areas and Commission Area Draft Instrument : this document was received and placed for circulation. Cllr Whittaker informed the Council that the Court at Newton Abbot would continue and that the one at Totnes had been given a temporary reprieve.
(ii) Community Council of Devon : various items placed for circulation.
(iii) Teign and Torbay Local Environment Agency Plan Annual Review; also placed for circulation.
2340 PLANNING
(i) The Old Inn Conservatory Amended Plan : noted without any change of response from the original plans. i.e. Recommended of Approval.
(ii) 0331/00 Conversion of Shippon and Piggery at Old Langworthy Farm : also recommended provided the alterations were done in traditional materials to maintain the integrity of the Farm Buildings.
(iii) 0341/00 5 and 6 Ladymeadow Terrace Attached sheds for parking of two vehicles. Accepted for approval.
(iv) 0307/00 Removal of Condition on building at Badgers Holt. Decision deferred pending more information.
(v) 0015/00 Agricultural timber framed implement shed at Sweaton Farm. The Chairman declared an interest and left the room. The Chair was taken by the Vice Chairman. Following the refusal of planning permission by DNPA the applicant is making an Appeal to the Secretary of State. This was noted but no change made to the Council's position as conveyed with the original planning application.
Mrs.Tempest commented that she had received three complaints about the number of vehicles that were regularly parked on the road at the entrance to Sweaton Farm. The Clerk was asked to communicate this concern to the local WPC.
2341 HIGHWAYS
(i) Community Forum Meeting : the agenda of the recent meeting of the Forum had included an item placed there by WPC. Mr.Newbolt-Young reported on the meeting which appeared to know nothing of the problems associated with vehicle damage to the bridge at Newbridge.
Both the Chairman and Cllr Whittaker reported on the recent meeting held with DCC Highways on this very topic.
After lengthy discussion it was concluded that DCC Highways would have to proceed with the plan to issue vehicle licences for those wishing to take wide vehicles across the bridge. It was unlikely that the National Heritage would allow alterations to be made to this ancient monument until every other option had been tried. Reluctantly therefore the WPC acknowledged that it was likely that the next Partnership meeting would start to implement this proposal. The Council felt that it was unlikely to work effectively for a number of reasons. In the end it was felt the bridge would have to be widened. As it had been altered several times before, its status as an ancient monument was diminished.
Cllr Whittaker informed the meeting that Newbridge was at the top of the County and possibly the Regions hit list. Something has to be done, especially on grounds of safety.
(ii) Buckland Bridge : Mr.M.Yates produced a cutting of an article from a recent issue of Farmers Weekly illustrating that cattle grids suitable for vehicles up to 50 ton could be installed for much less (£950) than that suggested by DCC Highways Dept. The Clerk was asked to send this to Mr. Bob Jones for comment.
(iii) Week-end Parking at Newbridge : the problem of illegal parking was yet again becoming a problem. It was reported that the police who were called, indicated that they could do nothing. Also that the DNPA traffic warden had received considerable abuse from the public in an attempt to prevent the situation from developing. The Clerk was asked to correspond with both Dr.Atkinson at DNPA and the police.
(iv) Various highway repair needs were reported for Mr.Nosworthy to communicate to the 'Lengthman'. Also a request that a hedge adjacent to the road in the village be trimmed by the owner.
2342 MATTERS RAISED BY THE CHAIRMAN
(i) The Chairman reported that the broken fence at the edge of the Parish Field had been repaired preventing any further intrusion by straying cattle.
(ii) He also reported that Mr. Halse DNPA had agreed to help with the various repairs in the area of the Green reported after the April meeting walk-about.
(iii) Considerable concern was expressed that the straying cattle in the village were causing a lot of damage to private property. It was also noted that if this situation continued the gardens of the new houses would be at considerable risk.
The Clerk was asked to write to the Secretary of the Commoners Council, sending a copy to the sector representatives on the Council asking for a head count of cattle.
(iv) Mr.Nosworthy reported that South West Water had completed the tidy-up of the Leusdon Sewage grounds.
2343 DELEGATES REPORTS
There were no reports given.
2344 FINANCE
(i) Income VAT claim £386.14
(ii) Expenditure South West Water bill £5.73
(iii) Clerk's Salary £106.80
Expenses £59.35
The Chairman closed the meeting at 10.00 pm.
The information on this page was last modified on September 13 2005 17:46:36.