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Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe Parish Council Minutes
WIDECOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council
held on Thursday 4 April 2013
in the Church House, Widecombe
Present: Councillors Newbolt-Young (Chairman), Morley, Nosworthy, Routley, Tame, Tempest & Wallace
Clerk: Suzanna Hughes
Members of the Public: 1
OPEN FORUM
Anthony Beard commented on the success of the Annual Parish Meeting.
3529 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
• Cllr S Booty
• District Cllr M Jeffery
• County Cllr G Gribble
3530 RESIGNATION
Members received the resignation of Cllr Michaela Lewis. The clerk explained the process for filling the casual vacancy starting with the posting of a ‘Notice of Casual Vacancy’ (LGA 1972, S.87(2). Unless ten or more electors submit a request to TDC that an election be held to fill the vacancy, the Parish Council will be able to take steps to fill the vacancy. It was likely, therefore, that applications would be considered in June’s meeting after it had been appropriately advertised.
3531 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members were reminded of their responsibility to update their Notice of Registerable Interests and
were invited to state whether they have any interests in the items to be discussed during this meeting
in accordance with the council’s Code of Conduct.
• Cllr Newbolt-Young declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in item 12 (a)(i) as he was the applicant.
• Cllr Tempest declared an Appendix B interest in item 11(c) as the Treasurer of Leusdon PCC.
3532 REQUESTS FOR DISPENSATIONS
No requests were received.
3533 RATIFICATION OF MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council on 7 February 2013 were approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
3534 POLICE REPORT
PCSO Carolyn Studd advised that no crimes have been reported in the parish this month.
Two other issues she wished to raise concerned ‘Moor Watch’ on 20 April involving officers visiting the parish and talking to people about safety and security matters. There is also a drive to improve ‘Farm Watch’ and the police are trying to encourage people to contact the police about the scheme to get it running better.
3535 COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
Cllr Gribble was unable to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment but commented that he thought the annual meeting went very well and reports that he has acted on issues requested during and after the meeting including the request to indicate routes to Widecombe from main highways, road structures and repair works etc.
3536 DISTRICT COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
No report.
3537 DELEGATE REPORTS
On behalf of Cllr Booty, who was unable to attend this evening’s meeting, Cllr Tempest informed members that Cllr Booty had attended the recent TALC meeting to support Lustleigh Parish Council in an attempt to improve the way potholes were repaired and to discuss general highways maintenance issues. However, Cllr Booty was disappointed that no opportunity was given to speak about these issues as the majority of the meeting was taken up discussing planning matters.
3538 MATTERS ARISING
(a) ‘Moor than Meets the Eye’
After a discussion it was agreed that the project was for the benefit of commercial businesses and individuals and therefore members felt that it was not appropriate for the Parish Council to be involved in the project at this stage
(b) Rural Aid
The clerk confirmed that no enquiries had been made from community organisations regarding possible projects for the scheme. After a discussion it was suggested that an application might be made in order to make improvements to the ringing chamber in the tower of the church. It was agreed that Cllr Tame would obtain some quotations for the works in readiness for the application to be submitted by the beginning of June.
(c) Parish council workshop and planning consultation period (DNPA)
Members received a letter from the Director of Planning at DNPA, Mr S Belli, regarding two matters:
(i) Invitation to attend a Parish Council workshop at Parke on 15 April at 7pm. It was agreed that Cllrs Routley, Tempest and Newbolt-Young would attend.
(ii) Changes in procedures in relation to consultation times on planning and related applications.
Members noted that from 1 May 2013, DNPA will be reducing the consultation timescale on planning and related applications to 21 days (currently 28 days) which will bring it into line with its partner District and Borough Council within the Park area.
(d) Community Right to Bid
After a discussion it was agreed that the car park owned by the Way family might be appropriate to nominate as an asset. The clerk would make enquiries about how this might be achieved.
(e) Relocation of the Post Office Service to The Shop on the Green
Members received and noted a letter from The Post Office Ltd informing them that, following consultation, it confirms that the Post Office service has been relocated from The Cafe on the Green to The Shop on the Green. It had noted the issues raised about parking at the new location but stated that it was not responsible for the provision of parking at a given site. Members agreed that the clerk should write to the owner Mr Andrew Gayton to thank him for providing this service to the village.
(f) Annual Walkabout inspection
It was agreed that the annual walkabout inspection of the village will take place on the evening preceding the next meeting – Thursday 2nd May at 6.45pm.
3539 FINANCE
(a) Payments for approval
The following cheque was approved for payment:
• Cheque no 000800 - M Lewis (repairs to fence in Parish field) - £79.44
(Members noted that there would be an amount of fencing wire leftover once the works were complete. It was therefore proposed that the unused fencing wire should be returned to the Parish Council for future use)
• Cheque no 000801 - Cllr R Newbolt-Young (Refreshments APM) - £39.94
• Cheque no 000802 - Cllr Tempest (Refreshments APM) - £7.03
• Cheque no 000803 - Clerk’s salary and disbursements (April) - £284.70
• Cheque no 000804 - HMRC (PAYE) - £29.40
(b) DALC membership
Members approved the continued membership of DLAC and noted payment of £115.74.
(c) Grants
The clerk advised that two requests for grant aid had been received. The first from St Pancras PCC to help with the upkeep of the churchyard. The clerk advised that the annual cost is £800 – £1000 and the contractor is local.
The second request was received from Leusdon PCC for the maintenance of their churchyard
and hedges. The minimum annual cost was £500.
It was proposed and agreed by the majority of members present that grants should be made
which are proportionate with the costs. It was further agreed that a grant of £200 should be
made to St Pancras PCC (Cheque 805) and £100 to Leusdon PCC ( Cheque 806).
3540 PLANNING
(a) New applications/appeals
(i) 00138/13 – Change of use of existing one-bedroomed ancillary accommodation to self-catering holiday let at The Shippon, Chittleford Farm, Wideccombe-in-the-Moor
Having declared a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Chairman, Cllr Newbolt-Young, left the meeting.
In the absence of the Chairman, members elected Cllr Tame to chair the meeting for this item.
With Cllr Tame in the Chair and after a discussion, members agreed to support this application.
Cllr Newbolt-Young returned to the meeting and resumed the Chair.
(b) Decisions
(i) 0046/13 – Erection of single storey flank extension and creation of parking area, Bonehill House, Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Members noted the grant of conditional planning permission
(ii) 0051/13 – Alterations to roof to provide dormers, Merrypark, Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Members noted the grant of conditional planning permission
3541 CORRESPONDENCE
Members to be informed of all relevant correspondence, including:
(a) Torbay and Southern Devon Health Care Trust - members noted that the Trust postponed its decision regarding the proposals for community hospitals, and the special board meeting which had been planned for 21 March, at which the Trust was due to consider the results of the consultation and take recommendation, had been cancelled.
(b) Mel Stride MP/Steve Boucher (South Western Ambulance Service) – members noted a detailed response to a letter re ambulance response times which this council had sent following an incident involving a cyclist who had fallen of his bicycle. In summary, following an assessment under the Trust’s NHS Pathways triage system, the call was coded as a Green 4 ‘non urgent’ call which required an attendance of a Trust clinician within 60 minutes of the initial 999 call. This therefore explained the perceived delayed response time.
Other items for information only were placed in the circulation folder
3542 HIGHWAYS
Members raised a number of highways issues for the attention of DCC Highways relating mainly to the poor condition of the road surfaces and a large quantity of potholes which have not been repaired. The key areas identified were:
• Ponsworthy Hill
• Leusdon Hill
• Southcombe Hill
• Deeper Marsh
• Chittleford Hill
• The road from Poundsgate Chapel to Poundsgate village
• The road from Chittleford to Dunstone, which is continuously flooded and potholes are disguised by water which is not draining away
• Whitegate – there is a puddle which stretches more than half the width of the road which clearly needs attention
• Drains from Merry Park to Dunstone require attention. Water is running down the road and in the recent cold weather has been freezing creating hazardous conditions.
3543 MATTERS OF INFORMATION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN
None.
There being no further business the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.05pm.
Signed ………………………………………….. Dated ……………………………………….
THE NEXT MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL WILL BE HELD ON THURSDAY 2 MAY 2013
Members of the public and press are welcome to attend any Parish Council Meeting and make comment at the start of the meeting which begins at 7.30pm.
The meeting will be preceded by the Annual Walkabout Inspection of the village commencing at 6.45pm from Church House, Widecombe.
The information on this page was last modified on April 30 2013 20:12:50.