South Tawton Parish Council Meeting Minutes

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Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Victory Hall, South Zeal, on Monday 21 st November 2005 at 7.30 pm

05/170 Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 24 th October 2005 were circulated, read and confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

05/171 05/138 The Chairman reported that the signs had now been erected at three points on Ramsley. The article that the Clerk had been instructed to write for inclusion in the Beacon appeared in the October edition. Council agreed to monitor the situation in the coming months.

05/172 05/40 and 05/150 A letter has now been received from Mr Stoddart, Highway Maintenance Technician, reporting that Pumpy Lane hedges had been trimmed back and should now be passable. He also reported that Shelly Hill had been added to the Ploughing Programme for this year.

05/173 Further, Mr Stoddart offered 12 dates on which he and Mr Pogodin would be able to meet on site at Addiscott to consider the drainage issues. It was left to the Clerk to arrange a mutually convenient date with Councillors R Darch, A White (Chairman) and Cann and to liaise with Mr Stoddart.

05/174 05/144 Work on Ramsley Common. Councillors Tilley and A White (Chairman) reported that they would arrange a meeting on site with Mr Ian Brooker, Dartmoor Ranger, to agree the work to be done. The matter would be placed on the February agenda when the organisation of the event would be discussed more fully. Councillor Curtis enquired about a proposed plaque that it had been suggested would be placed on the Mine Chimney to commemorate its reconstruction. It was agreed that Councillors Cann and Curtis would design this and that the Clerk would then have the plaque engraved.

05/175 Councillor Souness (Vice Chairman) reminded the Council that there had been plans to have sandbags filled for the use of the community and that this had tentatively been arranged to co-incide with the Ramsley or Parish Work Day. He suggested that this ought be be done as soon as possible and proposed that a dumpy bag of sand be bought for the work to be undertaken on Saturday 26 th November, the day of the Recreation Ground self-help day. All agreed. The Clerk was instructed to arrange for the sand to be delivered and to supply the sand bags. The Council is grateful to Mr A Ellis, of the Old Bakery South Zeal, for volunteering to store the filled sandbags.

05/176 05/152 An e-mail had been received from Mr Barron, Recycling Education Officer for West Devon Borough Council, welcoming the idea of a coffee morning at which a small presentation/workshop about how to make the most from home composting would be presented. He also thought that Westden might like to talk about local foods and sustainable living at the same meeting. It was decided to place this item on the February agenda with a view to holding an event in March.

The Chairman, Councillor A White, welcomed Mr Manley, who is involved in the Mortonhampstead Twinning Association, to talk to the Council about the possibility of twinning South Zeal with a village of some 1100 inhabitants called Javené in rural Brittany . After discussion of the pros and cons of such an arrangement, it was agreed that Councillor Tilley would take the papers to read and that the Clerk would submit an article to the Beacon to ascertain the degree of community interest in such a venture.

05/178 Councillor Cann raised the question of Councillors' travelling expenses. It was agreed that the Clerk would examine the new version of Financial Regulations, which he had intended would be considered by the Council soon, and report to Council at the January meeting when the matter would be more fully discusssed.

05/179 New Councillors' Short Courses. The Clerk passed this information to Councillors.

05/180 West Devon Citizens' Advice Bureau. Request for grant. Proposed and seconded by Councillors Tilley and Cann, the Council agreed to grant £100 to the Citizens' Advice Bureau.

05/181 Commons Registration Act 1965. Blackhall Farm, South Tawton . The Clerk reported that he had received this document.

05/182 West Devon Borough Council. Home Safety Checklist Leaflet. The Clerk reported that the question of distributing leaflets and other documents to our community raised some problems. He reported that he had an idea as to how this situation might be improved which he will report to the next Council meeting.

05/183 Devon Heartlands Community Partnership. Advice on Energy Efficiency. The Clerk was instructed to invite this organisation to join the Re-cycling and Food workshop morning, tentatively planned for March 2006.

05/184 West Devon Borough Council. Housing Strategy. This document was brought to the attention of the Council.

05/185 Parish Lengthsman Scheme. Satisfaction Card returns. The Clerk reported that the Council had been sent a set of “Satisfaction Cards” to report on the Parish Lengthsman's visits. The Council commented on the first-class service that the Parish Lengthsman provided and instructed the Clerk to return a card after each visit.

05/186 Okehampton District Community Transport Group. Request for inclusion in Parish Precept. After discussion the Council declined to add this request to the precept but awarded the Okehampton District Community Transport Group a grant of £300. All agreed.

05/187 Dartmoor National Park “ Dartmoor Visitor.” Request for information. The Clerk was instructed to return this document: Councillors suggested some items for inclusion.

05/188 Okehampton 5X30 Project. After consideration , the Council decided not to pursue this project, which promotes thirty minutes of physical activity a day, at the moment.

05/189 Okehampton Area Committee of Parish Councils. Agenda for Wednesday 23 rd . November. The Clerk passed this document to Councillor J White.

05/190 West Devon Borough Council. What the Council has done for Parishes. The Clerk read a list of grants and projects that the West Devon Borough Council had given or facilitated in support of South Tawton Parish.

05/191 Standards Board. A Report. The Clerk read extracts from this document to the Council.

05/192 Countrywise Consultants for Countryside Agency. Statutory Duty Questionnaire. Councillor Cann kindly undertook to fill in this questionnaire and return it to the Clerk for posting.

05/193 Plastic milk-bottle bank in Recreation Ground carpark. Whilst the Council were generally in favour of recommending that the bottle-bank be kept it was thought that the object was something of an eye-sore, being white, large, badly scratched and dirty. It also needed emptying. It was reported by Councillor Souness that on many occasion he had had to empty into it plastic bags of bottles left beside or on top of the bank. Councillors also wondered if it could be used for all sorts of plastic rather than just bottles. It was recommended that it would take up less parking space if moved to the north-eastern corner of the car park. The Clerk was instructed to ask the Waste Reduction and Recycling Officer to let Councillor Souness know when it was planned to change the bank.

05/194 West Devon Community Safety Partnership Contact Sheet. The Clerk reported receiving this and said that it would be put on public display.

05/195 a) DNP 0866/05 Ms A Sampson, Devon Community Housing Assoc. for Meadowcroft, 9/10 The Croft, South Zeal

• Councillor Pillar volunteered to help the Chairman with Planning Applications for the next month

Determination

05/196 (DNP) 0741/05 Mr Bennellick, Dependable Homes Ltd. for Quarry Farm, South Tawton .

Replacement of existing concrete ‘At Cost' barn with timber parking barn to serve dwellings on land.

Granted, subject to all new external timberwork being stained dark brown or black and the roof covered in natural slate, nailed in place, to be started within 3 years.

05/198 In view of the urgency of the matter, the following Planning Application was discussed but no recommendation made.

WDBC 8250/2005/OKE Renewable Energy Systems UK Ltd. for Den Brook, Itton Moor.

To erect 9 wind turbines, electricity transformers, control building, wind monitoring mast and to construct access tracks, crane hardstandings and associated works, plus a temporary construction compound and two temporary wind monitoring masts.

After discussion, the amendment “that this matter be discussed on 12 th December at the scheduled Parish Council meeting and that the community be made aware of this planning application through an article in the Beacon”, proposed by Councillor Cann and seconded by Councillor R Darch, was carried by majority vote.

The Clerk read a draft of a short article advertising this matter for the Beacon which was agreed by all. The timing of the Parish Council meeting was changed from 7.30 pm to 7.00pm on 12 th December.

05/199 The Council considered the new Standing Orders. It was proposed by Councillor A White (Chairman) and seconded by Councillor C Curtis that these Standing Orders be adopted. All agreed. However, as time in this meeting was pressing ,Councillor Cann asked that a thorough examination of the document be tabled for the January meeting. All agreed.

05/200 Proposed by Councillor A White and seconded by Councillor Tilley, the account were adopted by all.

05/201 The structure of Financial Management and comments from the Internal Auditor. The Clerk reported that as Responsible Financial Officer he had consulted with Mr J Davy, who had been appointed Internal Auditor. He was most grateful for the advice and help Mr Davy had given him in the preparation of the Budget and the calculation of the Parish Precept.

05/202 The budget and the parish precept calculations were presented to the Council. Councillors considered the remaining budget for the current year and examined the proposals for next year's budget. The Clerk explained the basis of the calculations and Councillors made various recommendations. Councillor A White (Chairman) suggested that an internal reserve account be set up for the renewal of the public toilets in the Recreation Ground and £1000 was suggested for this. New budget lines were also suggested to allow the Chairman a Discretionary Fund and to allow for futher contingencies. It was planned that this year's carry forward would be £2000 and that the Precept would be set at £9300, which is no increase on the Precept for 2005/6. That these recommendation be accepted was proposed by Councillor Cann, seconded by Councillor J White and agreed by all.