OCTOBER
STOKENHAM PARISH
COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
HELD ON 20TH OCTOBER
2011 IN THE
STOKENHAM PARISH HALL
PRESENT:
COUNCILLORS:
A. GOODMAN
C. ROGERS (in the Chair)
MRS L. WINROW
MRS
A. LOCKWOOD
MRS. C. NUTTALL-SMITH R. FOSS
J. BAVERSTOCK
(District Councillor)
Also in attendance:
Clerk – Mrs G. Claydon
Pc Mutton - Apologies
APOLOGIES:
COUNCILLORS
B.
IRELAND - Work
MS. S. OAKMAN –
Personal
D. HILLIER
- Unwell
J.
BRAZIL (County Councillor) – Personal
1.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillors were
invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interest, including the nature
and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this
meeting. They were also reminded to
consider whether in the light of recent activities any items within their
Register of Interests should be updated.
·
Cllr Mrs
Steer declared a personal and prejudicial interest in planning application
2419/11/F.
·
Cllr Rogers
declared a personal and prejudicial interest in planning application 2462/11/F
·
Cllr Ansell
declared a personal and prejudicial interest in planning application 2407/11/F
2. OPEN FORUM
Pc Mutton advised the newer councillors
that prior to May 2011 the police could swap their shifts to attend parish
council meetings but that flexibility was taken away on 20th May and
they were given core shift patterns and rules.
Now that lack of flexibility has been acknowledged as not so good so they
have been given a bit back and will be able to come to some meetings.
Crime figures in the last 90 days are nine with one being carried out in
the last couple of days and being a burglary.
As he had been off work he was not sure where it had happened but was
aware it was in Chillington. This
figure is compared to 10 crimes in the same period last year.
Pc Mutton then advised of the changed telephone number for non emergency
calls to 101. The Chairman noted
that advice had been received that there might be more special constables coming
into the area, to which Pc Mutton responded that he knew the force were keen but
there were no new recruits so far.
It was asked whether Special Constables would work in their own area of
residence and were advised that this was down to personal choice of whether the
constables could deal with being recognised and such conflict of work in their
lives. Dist. Cllr. Baverstock
advised that people were going around the area offering to repair roofs and
trying to push their way into older peoples houses.
He was unable to furnish further details but could put Pc Mutton in touch
with the person who had reported this.
Pc Mutton left the meeting.
Anita Hutchings was in attendance with
five other residents in support of the resubmission of the Britannia Shellfish
planning application. The original
application was submitted at the end of May beginning of June 2011 but they had
been advised to withdraw this as it needed to include more detail of additional
items they wished to do in the future so that they could sort all planning
once and for all.
Consultation had taken place with planning officers, Environmental Health and
hopefully the neighbours too. They
had added an awning to cover the outside decking area because they cannot keep
it dry and would lose customers if they could not do so.
A company had devised an awning that covers all the seating area and can
be retracted and they have added zip on sides.
Extraction system was going in because it was believed there was an
earlier query about cooking smells so this includes carbon filters at
considerable expense to allay this fear.
The umbrellas at the tables will go due to the awning.
Previously complaints were smell, noise and loss of view and therefore
council questioned whether the awning would obstruct others view of the sea.
It was not felt this would as the awning would be in line with the roof
of the building and such neighbouring planting is higher than this and the sides
are clear. Anita Hutchings was asked
how many years this business had been operating out of the 'old petrol station'
and it was advised 16 years.
3.
MINUTES
The Minutes of the:
(a)
full council meeting dated 15th September 2011 were approved
by all present and duly
signed as a true and correct record.
(b)
Planning Committee dated 3rd October 2011 were approved by all
present and duly signed as a true and correct record.
4. PLANNING & PLANNING
MATTERS
The applications below were considered
at this meeting and the following observations submitted to District:
Cllr Ansell left whilst the following application was discussed.
·
2407/11/F
Demolition of existing dwelling and re-construction of new dwelling with
improved landscaping Start View Cliff House, Hallsands – No objection.
Objection noted on website as appear to have started work.
Now completely knocked down but with complete rebuild.
Noted fencing concerns in relation to wall as used to be historical wall
along to Trouts hotel. Not in
keeping with locality and would prefer stone walls replaced.
Following other development in that area roadworks were needed and
therefore highways must ensure that previous standard is replaced.
Cllr. Ms. Steer left whilst the following application was
discussed.
·
2419/11/F
Resubmission of planning application reference 53/1379/11/F for retrospective
planning application for the construction of raised decking area to east
elevation. Installation of Bio Tank. Change of use from shop (A1) to mixed use
of shop and cafe (A1 & A3) Britannia at the Beach, Beesands – No objection.
Concur with environment.
Cllr. Mrs Nuttall-Smith arrived at the meeting.
·
2451/11/F
Householder application to change garage into bedroom and downstairs toilet.
Garde n shed to side elevation 8
Longbrook, Chillington – No objection. Parking concerns due to loss of garage
and the need for a shed.
Cllr. Rogers left the meeting whilst the following application was
discussed.
·
2462/11/F
Householder application for raised roof (to provide standing headroom in
bedroom) Root House, Beeson – No objection.
PLANNING CORRESPONDENCE
·
Various
emails from a neighbour to application 2419/11/F requesting certain conditions.
·
Copy letter
dated 20th October 2011 from District advising that due to
investigations into an alleged unauthorised erection of a stable/barn in field
SX783 423 Frogmore a planning application has been requested to arrive before 1st
December 2011.
·
Email
response from Nils White planning officer dated 20th October 2011
advising that application 2333/11 and 2334/11 Beeson Farm refer to a glazed
opening. The officers response is
that this is patent glazing (like a roof light, but fixed) and will not be
obscured glass as there is no need for it in this setting.
·
Notification dated 11th October 2011 advising that the addresses 1,2
& 3 Overdale, Helmers Way, Chillington will be removed from the street naming in
this development pending a further planning application.
5.
BEESANDS VILLAGE GREEN
It
was AGREED to replace Cllr Mrs Steer on this committee with Cllr Ms Oakman.
6. WINTER AREAS FOR
GRITTING
It was AGREED that storage for the County salt grit would be at
Mattiscombe Farm and discussion took
place on proposed areas for distribution and coverage by the local snow wardens
for gritting and it was suggested:
·
Twenty yards each side of bus shelters
·
Outside the Torcross and Chillington Post Offices/Shops
·
The
pavement from A379 to Chillington Health Centre
·
The
access to the Parish Hall
▪
Pavements to access the
Stokenham Primary School.
The question of pavements such as Grenville Close and areas in Beesands
were raised but it was noted that when residents were snowed in parish council
were not going to be able to get all the parish out with a little amount of salt
grit. Further consideration will be
given to these suggestions. Once
such areas are finalised this information can go in the December 2011
newsletter.
An additional letter from District relating to gritting of the District
car parks was NOTED but the nearest car parks are Kingsbridge.
Cty Cllr Brazil has funding and parish council are to request assistance
for equipment such as shovels and wheelbarrows.
Discussion took place as to whether delivery should take place as one
dumpy bag of 5 tons or smaller bagged and only 3 tons.
7.
BEESANDS PLAY AREA
The plans and quotes received were noted and parish council having
considered all options AGREED that the Park Leisure proposals met their
requirements. Consideration by the
community of such play equipment and colours it to take place and it was AGREED
that the form of consultation to seek opinion locally would be to place the
plans at the Beesands Chapel on Sunday 23rd and Sunday 30th October
and place two response boxes for younger and older residents.
Cllr Foss arrived at the meeting.
8.
DIAMOND JUBILEE BEACONS
It
was AGREED that parish council would support and assist Cllr Foss in creating a
Beacon at Down Farm in conjunction with the National Farmers Union.
9.
COUNCIL POLICY AND AIMS
It was AGREED that
the parish council will formulate aims and objectives to inform council policies
and then these will be consulted upon to seek community support and thereby
provide a basis for funding and projects.
Suggestions so far were:
·
Support
building of new Village Hall, Chillington
·
Support
revamping playgrounds at Beesands and Chillington
Councillors will
consider further ideas and bring to the next meeting.
10.
REPORTS
COASTGUARD – BRIXHAM
The Coastguard service currently has 19
stations around this area but are cutting this to nine.
Any mayday or other alert calls are received at the stations and from
this information the operatives work out where the distress caller is and where
they will be when rescued and then they decide what response needed and put out
a call to ensure such. Along the
south coast this area would lose Portland and Brixham but Falmouth would remain.
There were lots of objections to losing such local knowledge and similar
arguments against. A meeting held in
Torbay was attended by Cllrs Rogers and Ansell and had been arranged by local
government with local Members of Parliament in attendance.
Sarah Wollaston MP had written a letter that all who attended signed.
The union representatives, pilots, trawler association and those
attending were encouraged to go on e-petition 4403 and if 100,000 signatures
could be obtained the matter would be discussed in Parliament, so far 1080 had
signed. Cllr. Rogers wished the
parish council to send a letter to all councils in this area to notify them of
the importance of what is happening and what needs to be done and stipulating
this e-petition needs to be signed.
In 1980 when there were the last changes there were problems with handovers and
the Solomon Brown went down as people dealing with this disaster were from
different areas. Cllr Cowley noted
that some changes are sensible but some things should be reconsidered when this
is only a saving of £4.7 million a year.
The Clerk was requested so to write.
It was noted that for coastguards on a night time search in bad weather
it is good to be able to talk to someone in an operations room who knows the
area.
KINGSBRIDGE CARBON REDUCTION PLAN
This was a well written report but in
Government speak. Kingsbridge are
promoting electric cars and talking about renewable energy in their plan with
Kingsbridge determining where wind farms should be located.
It was understood they were attempting to get a co-ordinated transport
system but overall the proposals seemed beyond a small town and not focused
enough for a local plan.
Cllr. Foss did not in his District
capacity as Scrutiny for the Economy and Environment that photo voltaic panels
on the District council roofs were proposed and some green members were saying
if everyone is being pushed into using more public transport a plug in and
charge area at Kingsbrdige could connect such aspirations up.
The petrol or carbon is going to run out in time.
BEESANDS VILLAGE GREEN COMMITTEE
Cllr Ansell gave a resume of the meeting
and actions that are being taken for maintenance, use of the green and
consideration of the play equipment.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS
The Chairman had checked on what
applications had been passed refused or granted and advised that parish council
have more or less agreed with District response on all but a few applications.
Therefore it was notable that District are listening to parish council
responses or parish council are making the right decisions policy wise.
Matters arising around the parish:
·
None raised.
CLERK’S REPORT
·
At present no specific contact
point had been identified for South Hams Community Voluntary Service to receive
quarterly newsletter and update a website page and in return provide a copy of
council newsletters. No one put
forward for this.
·
Stokenham Parish Hall now has
a hearing loop system and this was explained.
·
Planning training can be
provided on 23rd November, 30th November or 7th
December 2011. The clerk is unable
to attend 23rd November due to other clerk commitments and it was
noted that 7th December 2011 is the day before full council in
December. The clerk was asked to
arrange 7th December 2011 from 9 -5p.m.
·
Letter dated 18th
October 2011 requesting that parish council seek to organise computer courses
for those in the parish cut off due to lack of understanding or skills with a
computer. Council will consider in the new year and in the meantime look for
funding.
·
Devon & Cornwall Police
Authority letter dated 5th October 2011 advising that they will no
longer host police liaison meetings and all contact should be filtered through
the neighbourhood policing team.
·
District Council notification
of the Annual Fireworks Event to be held on 4th November 2011 at
Tanpits Field, Chillington and requesting comments.
·
Road Closure 19th -
21st October 2011 Location Pool Hill Frogmore, diversion will be via
Stokenham.
·
South Hams Tree Warden
Newsletter advises that District will no longer fund this and the 'network' is
now affiliated to the Tree Council.
·
A meeting had taken place with
the County Officer Les Pym with regard to street lighting along the A379 and
within the development. Further to
the last plans the lighting proposed within the development is as put forward.
The reason that wayleaves to place lighting on properties was not being
pursued was that any property owner can serve three months notice and remove
such from a dwelling and therefore such wayleaves are not preferred.
A level of lighting is required to ensure the safety of the increase of
footfall and such expectation to the hall.
On the main A379 a lamp post is to be positioned by the pedestrian access
off the site. This will be a 3 metre
post with an urban light that will have a back glare screen to ensure there is
no light pollution of adjacent veluxes.
A lower waist height post could give visual disability to a pedestrian
that would cause someone to trip into the main carriageway.
No light will be placed adjacent to the bus shelter in Orchard Way.
The sign light adjacent to the Open Arms will be replaced by a lamp
standard with an urban light again and such signs will be placed on this column.
The light currently opposite the Helmers site entrance will be replaced
by a lower wattage light and consideration will be given to reducing the back
glare. Such urban lampstands must be
used otherwise if traditional lighting is requested the amount of lampstands
across such distance will be doubled.
·
Notification had been received
that Endurance Life wish to hold a Coastal Marathon Event (erect a registration
tent on the Beesands Village Green) from 14.00hrs on Thursday 16th
February to 06.00hrs Sunday 19th February 2012.
No objections raised.
·
Parish elections were
uncontested and thus the summary of costs for payment in March 2012 is £153.63.
·
The Clerk attended a meeting
with the County CEO, Leader of County and other officers together with Ivybridge
and Exmouth Town Clerks and a parish clerk from North Devon. The mood of the
meeting expressed concerns from parish level that partnership working no longer
appeared to be the case and it was felt that until County and District have
sorted out what they are providing and where they now sit in local government
parish and town clerks were left at an all time low with increased consultation,
uncertainty of provision, lack of support and no clear understanding of how to
plan for the future. The County
representatives expressed their frustration too from Central Government messages
and there was a clear indication that whether parishes wished to accept it or
not more onus will devolve to parish and towns whether the funding follows or
not. The rest of the meeting was
positive discussion centering around the County budgeting to give each parish or
town £1.00 per elector with District adding 10pence per elector.
This money will go to a cluster group who will decide whether they wish
to combine their monies or spend them independently.
County are also looking at all assets across Devon whether they are
County, District, Government, NHS, police or fire owned with a view to putting
this information out for Community Right to Buy.
·
There is a consultation out on
Neighbourhood Planning Regulations to be responded to by 5th January
2012. There is also a prospectus out
for areas to bid to be pilots for Community Budgets, this will involve a higher
tier of local government but could be of interest to parish councillors.
·
Notification of an 'Any
Questions on Renewable Energy' meeting with expert chair Jonathan Dimbleby.
Saturday 12th November 7.30p.m. Kings Arms Hotel, Kingsbridge.
11.
DISTRICT COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
Dist Cllr Baverstock reported that
Helmers Field is continuing to be interesting.
Local people are taking up the affordable houses but are having to
compete for them but locals seems to be
being placed there.
A lady telephoned anonymously but was
upset about war games at Torcross as she felt the beach was a war time memorial
and people should not be allowed to be offensive by recreating such battles and
such use could upset wildlife on the ley.
He did advise he would relay these concerns to parish council as it was
advised the group intended to hold such again next year.
District is now beginning to get budget
conscious and was looking at various availability as a 11% cut is proposed.
Middle management personnel have now been sorted in terms of shared
management with West Devon and it was noted that there were a number of
departures from employment. They are
currently progressing with 16 projects under the 2015 proposals which is
intended to improve all services that District provide coupled with a 10%
saving.
Dist Cllr. Foss noted the boundaries for
Members of Parliament had just been changed and Gary Streeter MP constituency
will completely disappear. Next year
Government want to reduce the number of councillors who represent at District in
the parish.
12.
COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
None received.
13.
FINANCE AND CHEQUES
Balances were provided and the below cheques were noted and agreed for
signature:
001849 Nick Walker Printing Ltd – 500 Newsletters £57.00
001850 Audit Commission – Audit Fee 2010/11 £342.00
001851 HMRC – Tax & NI £280.43
001852 Claydon – Wages £1025.20
Current Account: £6265.96
Savings Account (1) : £34207.42
Savings Account (2) : £4915.84
Dist.
Cllr. Baverstock urged parish council to bear in mind when setting their precept
that they need to be mindful of responsibilities that are likely to fall to
parish council in the coming months and a number of parishes have increased
precepts in view of this.
15.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
Points of information
on the table.
16.
NEXT MEETING
The next full parish council meeting
will be held on Thursday 17th November 2011 at 7.30p.m. in Stokenham
Parish Hall. The next planning
committee meeting will take place on the first Monday in November, if plans
received make it necessary to call such.
Meeting finished: 9.45 p.m.
Signed ………………………
Dated: 17th November 2011.
Chairman.