JANUARY

COUNCIL

STOKENHAM PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

HELD ON 17TH JANUARY 2008 IN THE

STOKENHAM PARISH HALL

 

PRESENT:

COUNCILLORS:

P.  GREENING

J. ANSELL

N. TOLCHARD

P. ARUNDELL

A. VALE

R. FOSS

W. HARWOOD

B. IRELAND

J. BRAZIL (County Councillor)

Also in attendance: Clerk – Mrs G. Claydon

 

APOLOGIES:

COUNCILLORS

R. WARDEN – Requested by this council to attend SHDC Budget Meeting

J. BAVERSTOCK (also District Councillor) - Ditto

MRS C. NUTTALL-SMITH - Personal

D. WOOD - Illness

R. BATES

 

1.         OPEN FORUM

 

Eric Heavisides noted the recent lack of National Health Dentistry in that the Kingsbridge surgery had been down to one dentist covering 7000 patients for the last few months.  However on a positive note he was pleased to report that he had heard today that two dentists are starting on Monday one Portuguese and one Polish so now the surgery was back up to three.

 

2.         DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

Councillors were reminded of their responsibility to continually update their Notice of Registerable Interests and invited to state whether they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be discussed during this meeting.   None received.

 

3.         MINUTES

 

Having noted that Cllr. Vale was actually not in attendance and amended this fact the Minutes of the meeting dated 13th December 2007 were approved by all present and duly signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.   

 

4.         COMMITTEES

 

The following Minutes and recommendations were received from the Committees

 

(a)       PLANNING COMMITTEE –  The Minutes of Committee dated 7th January 2008  were PROPOSED by Cllr. Greening as a true and correct record and SECONDED by Cllr. Foss before being signed by the Chair.

 

(b)       COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENT – The Minutes of the committee held on 14th January 2008 were PROPOSED by Cllr. Ansell as a true and correct record and SECONDED by Cllr. Vale before being signed by the Chair.

 

(c)       FINANCE STAFFING & GENERAL PURPOSES – The bi-monthly committee is due to be held on Monday 21st January 2008 and will thus be approved in the February full council.

 

5.         REPORTS

 

Matters around the parish requiring notification or action by the Clerk:

 

            CLERK’S REPORT

 

Highways had advised that as the A379 works had been completed 3 years previously there was no come back on the contractor for any faults in the surface.  It was further advised that it is normal for cracking around drain covers but the reason for the unusual breaking up and hole by Fairfield is unknown.  Cllr. Foss felt that as the drains were blocked further down he had assumed that pressure backed up and cracked the surface at Fairfield.  A letter from a parishioner with regard to historic channeling of water in this area for Grist Mill was noted.

 

It was noted that the Beeson Pool buddle hole was not blocked but the area was hampered by the historic route of the drains leading to drainage that cause banking up due to the amount of water fall we get in short periods nowadays.  Cllr Foss advised that he would stop at this junction when driving past and give consideration to this matter. 

 

            LOCAL WORKS

 

Councillors noted a newsletter advising that the Sustainable Communities Bill is now an Act of Parliament.  By October 2008 Local Authorities must ask for opinions on what people think will make their community more sustainable.  Local Works therefore asserts that this is a reversal in power and the new bottom-up process that they fought so hard for and encourages all councils to use this new power.

 

They are currently producing a detailed guide as to how the Act will work but in the meantime more information is available at www.unlocklocaldemocracy.co.uk.

 

            PLANNING & COMPULSORY PURCHASE ACT 2004

            Article 5 Town & Country (General Development Procedure) Order 1995

 

A letter from Devon County Council dated 14th January 2008 sets out the new procedures, which come into force from 6th April 2008, for the validation of planning applications.  From that date the planning authority will have regard to the New National List and a Local List when assessing whether enough information has been provided in the application form (APP1) in order to register it.

 

The purpose of this letter is to invite parish councils to comment on the Devon County Council list of information to be provided by applicants.  To access the list the URL is: www.devon.gov.uk/planning-system/validation_consultation

 

            COLERIDGE ASSOCIATION OF PARISH COUNCILS

 

Cllr Foss advised he was heartened by this meeting as much was discussed.  Paula Brookes (SHDC) stood in for David Incoll, Chief Executive and advised of her job and responsibilities which is wide ranging and includes the Harbour Authority.

 

A 3% cut in budget is needed again and by keeping cutting across the board 3% this produces more watered down services.  Cllr. Foss indicated that it would be better if District cut certain services altogether and kept some of the more important ones up to a good standard.  Changes however are due as the collection of recycling bags are not working in the rural areas.  This will also include some change of management in areas.  Rubbish collection days will change again and the method of collecting will change.  He went on to advise that the blue and clear bags are mixed up when they get back to the quarry thus negating all the separating.  District are now going to go back to the ‘big lorries’ and putting both bags in together to go Torr Quarry.  It was also noted that the recycling bags are designed that they will not take over a certain weight and therefore give way if they have too much inside and this is to protect collectors backs.  Cllr. Foss felt is was wrong that District were going ahead with the new scheme without consulting parishioners but other councillors acknowledged that the system is working in urban areas if not the rural ones.  It was felt that the new system sounded an improvement.

 

District currently have no control over the contractors as this service is outsourced and they are therefore bringing such back in-house.  The disillusionment amongst the workforce was noted and is being addressed.

 

Cllr. Brazil arrived

 

Cllr. Greening noted that his proposal, backed up by the letters from surrounding parishes, for Coleridge Association to write to SHDC with regard to the Tourism Budget was squashed by representation by County Cllr. Brazil.  Unfortunately with no other parishes speaking on this matter at this meeting it did not get sanction.

 

Further quarterly reports were made by the other parishes.  It was noted for interest that Stoke Fleming street lights are being replaced with 73 new environmental ones.  The electricity supply will fall from 53kw to 24kw but the cost of this project will take the parish 27 years to pay for.  Stoke Fleming have provided another 15 houses on an exception site and are currently working towards 9 more later on and this was applauded. 

 

Strete approaching street lighting from another angle and are turning some lights off at midnight and will get rid of some altogether.

 

            AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOCUS MEETING

 

Cllr. Arundell advised that he had attended along with other representatives from a cross section of Devon a forum to discuss affordable housing problems and suggested solutions and that all information form this meeting will be collated and a report produced late March 2008.  This meeting was run by the Devon Improvement Group who will be running further forums on other topics over the coming year.  Cllr. Arundell had found the meeting quite interesting noting that Teignmouth have no extra land to build on without going towards Newton Abbot and thus linking the settlements.  They are therefore looking at brownfield sites to convert to flats.   In Tavistock however people cannot afford the cost of the rent and properties are standing empty. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 6.         DISTRICT COUNCILLOR’S REPORT

 

No report as attending Budget meeting at SHDC for this parish council.

 

7.         COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT

 

Cllr. Brazil advised he had attended a Scrutiny meeting at District Council that District Cllr. Baverstock sits on and noted that he had proposed and had accepted a motion with regard to Torcross Buoys.  The budget of £2,400 will be cut to £1,200 and a line of buoys secured with two anchors will be put in place at Torcross for this season.  There had been another issue discussed with regard to the proposed closing of public toilets for 5 months of the year but Scrutiny had not accepted this.  All these matters will go to Executive next Thursday and they will vote on what will go to full council.

 

One budget cut to be phased in will be the saving of £10,000 on District no longer maintaining land that does not directly belong to SHDC.

 

Cllr. Brazil noted that he had perused the budget and it appeared that District are trying to cut street sweeping by 20%.

 

With regard to County he went on to note that they are currently in the middle of their budget process but were in a more comfortable position due to their 7.5% settlement from Government so less pressure than District for cuts.  The pressure on the County ‘Adult’ budget is growing due to the age of the population and retirements to this area.  Care Homes are to be privatized and a company called Sure will be taking them over.

 

Noting the money generated from the sale of Exeter Airport Cllr. Brazil was aware that projects in communities might come forward and he advised that he has a small ‘location’ budget of £10,000 already.  There will however be an additional ability to bid for up to £25,000 for a combination of projects or one individual one.  Matched funding is expected from parishes though to show community commitment.

 

Cllr. Brazil agreed that the street light replacement programme does seem to be a lot of money and will look into this.  He did however noted that the posts are expensive and with due wear and tear it could be that the project just coincides with necessary replacement costs.

 

He went on to note the Tourism Budget proposal comments and explained why he was not a great supporter of such due to public money being tight and asserting that it was more favourable to keep public conveniences open than supporting private tourism businesses.  His preference would be to support high value skilled jobs rather than seasonal jobs.  He also felt that the District tourism department had never had a good track record.

 

Cllr. Foss questioned the need for advertisement to ‘Come to the South Hams’ and selling the South Hams side of Tourism in support of local economy.  Cllr. Brazil advised that previously Distrct have usually produced a glossy magazine and whilst he was happy to support exhibition stands that promote the area he did not see the need for the magazine and the like.  He went on to note that County already does a lot to promote Devon as a destination. 

 

In conclusion he noted that the budget for regional tourism is £190,000.

 

Cllr. Tolchard noted an article in the newspaper with regard to extra houses for Devon and requested that Cllr. Brazil explain this new proposal and the number of houses.  Local Authorities had been consulted about where growth areas should be and put forward a plan for Devon and thereafter inspectors had doubled the figures.  He noted that everyone wants to come and live in Devon.  What counts about house prices is what people can afford and if banks put interest rates down people could afford more.  County are highly critical of the report and want a massive drop in number of houses and are pursuing talks.  He did however note that Torbay have stated they would be a growth area and thus more houses will go there.

 

Discussion then took place on the affect of free bus passes on the budget.  District had received an extra £400,000 to cover an increase in applications and use but a councilor drew to the attention of Cllr. Brazil that pensioners had noted that on traveling just a few stops the bus driver charged the ticket for more and bus companies could be claiming more than is necessary.  Noted.

 

8.         FINANCE AND CHEQUES

 

Current Account                      £   2729.59

Instant Savers (1)                    £24,134.17

Instant Savers (2)                    £   3198.33

 

Lloyds (Sam) Transferred : £Nil

 

Cheques:

 

001444 Nicholas Rowel Haulage – Stone for footpath: £65.83

001445 British Telecom – Council & Hall IT/telephone: £161.96

001446 Concorde Copiers – Maintenance: £0.78

001447 Mrs G. Claydon – Clerks Wages: £to be advised

001448 In. Rev. – Tax & Nat. Ins: £to be advised

001449 Nick Walker Printing – Newsletters: £176.00

001450 DAPC – Project Management training: £10.00

001451 Audit Commission – Annual External Audit: £334.88

 

Received: HM Revenue & Customs – VAT Reimbursement 06/07: £601.05

 

10.       POINTS OF INFORMATION

 

South Devon Carers Consortium meeting 30th January 2008.

SHDC Christmas & New Year Waste Collection Days Apology.

CCD/NCVO Introduction to Sustainable Funding Workshop 28th February 2008.

DAPC Newsletter January/February 2008 x 2.

CCD Survey of Rural Retailers 2008 form.  

Shams Mobile Library Dates.

Junk Mail Newsletter.

SHDC Executive Forward Plan 24th January 2008 x 2.

CVS Voluntary Vine Jan/Feb. 2008.

                                                                                     

11.       NEXT MEETING

 

The next full parish council meeting will be held on Thursday 21st February 2008 at 7.30p.m. in the Stokenham Parish Hall.

 

Meeting finished:     9.30 p.m.

 

Signed ………………………   Dated:         February 2008.