Minutes of the Stokenham Annual Parish
meeting held on Tuesday 7th April 2009
in the Stokenham Parish Hall at 7.30p.m.
with Cllr. Peter Greening Presiding
APOLOGIES RECEIVED:
Clare Pawley – Arts & Crafts and History Group (Reports provided)
Rosemay U’ren – Stokenham 1st Rainbows (Report provided)
Roger Ingall – SCOF (Report provided)
John Cadman – Short Mat Bowls (Report provided)
Ray Warden – Parish Councillor
Paul Arundell – Parish Councillor
34 People in attendance.
1. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting dated 15th April 2008 were proposed by Jonathan Ansell and seconded by Christine Nuttall-Smith for acceptance as a true and correct record of the meeting with all present in agreement.
2. LAY MAGISTRATES
The Chair welcomed Jeff Beer and acknowledged that he was known locally in many capacities but today was present as a Lay Magistrate. Jeff advised that he and his fellow Lay Magistrates take their role very seriously as the laws in this country are made and enforced by the people and belong to the people. He asserted that ordinary people untrained in the law should take part in local justice whether as Lay Magistrates or called as jurors. The Magistrates Courts are local justice for local people by local people. Jeff noted that the area had lost the Kingsbridge Court, Tavistock and others around and it now was to lose Totnes. However there are 30,000 Lay Magistrates nationally with 48/49% being women and a growing amount of ethnic minorities represented. They are all unpaid and there are no formal entry requirements as all legal advice is given by the court clerk and they also undergo lots of training and actually deal with 97% of all criminal cases. Up until 1979 people needed to be asked if they wished to be a Lay Magistrate but after then anyone could apply from the age of 18–70 yrs. Now there are other considerations such as length of time in community, gender, occupation and ethnicity in order to give good cross representation to the community. All Lay Magistrates must leave at age 70 but can continue to provide service for another five years to authenticate documents.
Their Oath says they must be fair to all manner of persons. Therefore the crux of the position is that there are 140 Lay Magistrates in South Devon currently serving Torquay Newton Abbot and Totnes Court. Totnes is a Family Court, Newton Abbot deals mainly with Youth whilst Torbay covers the adult court running 5 days a week.
Training is provided to help volunteers learn about their role as magistrates. They are trained how to take court proceedings and how to pass sentence in a structured way for sentencing. Most legal advisors attending are qualified to barrister standards and all Lay Magistrates are appraised after they have been there a year and then further appraised every 3 years by other Lay Magistrates.
Most cases are criminal cases and these courts take 97% of cases dealing with drugs and alcohol related offences mainly. Jeff noted the great results in Kingsbridge due to the work done by local police on drugs. He noted that when arrested suspects are taken to Charles Cross Police Station where there is a resident Crown Prosecutor in the station who will decide what the person is charged with and thus this speeds the process up deciding whether to keep the person in custody or go to court the next day. Minor cases and traffic offences are dealt with and Jeff noted that he personally felt that one description of a minor offence is the assault of police officer which he felt was not minor. If a case is too serious to be dealt with in a Magistrate Court (most cases start in a Magistrates Court) (he explained that the recent Doncaster case wherein young people are charged with attempted murder has gone straight to Crown Court) then they go to Crown Court where Judges who are far more qualified deal accordingly. Lay Magistrates also deal with some Civil cases such as family courts which are difficult with adoptions, maintenance payments etc. That said to finalise an adoption Jeff felt is one of most pleasing things to do.
Referring to Youth courts Jeff noted that he had recently been in the House of Commons speaking to MPs to improve youth justice. One main party has picked up such comments and wishes to ‘flesh out’ such ideas. Jeff felt that the role with young people is not always punishment but to change their ways. Recently he has dealt with arson, 3 attempted murders, ABH one such youth being under 15 and wondered whether this youth scenario reflected on present day society. They also deal with Defra cases, DVLA – vehicle fraud, plus TV licensing in court. There are more people who do not pay their television licence than carry out assault.
Speaking then of those detained he noted that 70% of people in Youth Custody centres cannot read or write or even add up, or at least one of those 3. Lay Magistrates are given Government guidelines on sentencing but can vary them slightly. Jeff had recently been trouble because he had been perceived to harshly jail a lady for abandoning her baby in a toilet. She was let out 4 days later but to review his stance on this one people need to know that this was the third child she had left and when police caught up with her she was in bed with her new boyfriend and is now 5 months pregnant.
He then referred to Community Orders, curfew orders etc. Out of court Lay Magistrates sign passport applications and other documents etc. A lot of people who come before them do not agree with their sentence but about 95% who do appeal do not win their appeal. Jeff noted that knife crime is getting horrendous along with drug and alcohol abuse together with gangs. He then extended an invitation to anyone present to go to Plymouth Court one Monday morning and he would arrange to meet them and show them around and explain the process.
Question from the floor: If there are 3 Lay Magistrates sitting what happens if one disagrees with the others. If it goes by a majority decision can the other one appeal. Answer: Jeff noted that this has happened. The main problem is when the chairman does not agree with his two ‘wingers’ and then he must give/present the decision that the wingers took. A Lay Magistrate can have his comments registered before they leave the room. This Government however have brought in the ability for an application by the Lay Magistrates to reveal a bad character reference which can bring into the open previous information.
Question: Are ASBOs within Lay Magistrates’ remit. Answer: Yes. Jeff noted that for some miscreants it is a badge. Also it is important for people to realise that those brought to court for such have had many levels of warnings and other offences before even coming to court for the first time and thus they are not as perceived, a first time offence.
Question: How much time is spent as a Lay Magistrate. Answer: This is an unpaid post but if you had a job with a minimum wage you can withdraw your losses. However the maximum return in a day is £100 before tax. Jeff felt that the usual time scale spent is 40 days per year.
The Chair thanked Jeff for a thoroughly informative and interesting presentation and invited him to stay on and be available to talk to people during the informal part of the meeting hereafter.
3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Cllr Greening as Chair of Stokenham Parish Council then gave his annual report with regard to the work that parish council had done during the year (report attached).
He then noted and thanked all those that had submitted reports from organisations and advised that these were available around the room for people to read.
4. VERBAL REPORTS
DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORT
Cllr. Baverstock noted that it was 2 years since he had been elected as District Councillor and how time flies. He gave everyone a rough idea of his involvement in District Council and noted the relatively mundane tasks he had inherited from the former Magistrates duties such as Chair of Licensing Committee. Years ago Magistrates had powers to grant or refuse licences for pubs but this has been rescinded and given to District Council with as Cllr Baverstock noted, a million and one strings attached! This post was not very time consuming as there is a manager who does mundane duties such as licensing of taxis etc. His role of champion for young people was important to him and is a huge area that has a good source of finance for youth projects. He had started and was hopefully proceeding to provide 14-19yr olds with a free bus pass as in such a rural area the stress of transport and costs was the most prohibitive factor against inclusion. Locally during the year Cllr Baverstock had resigned from parish council but he noted that as far as he was concerned this action had facilitated another person becoming a parish councilor but he, as District Cllr. still continued a great partnership with parish council. When planning applications are considered by parish council district officers then speak to him to enquire if he will delegate such decision to the officers. Cllr. Baverstock noted that he more often than not listened to parish council and thus the line of communication from parish to District is working.
District wise the officers are delighted to offset grass cutting etc to Stokenham Parish Council. This Parish entered into a pilot and Cllr. Baverstock noted that this is the way we locally change the face of Local Government. With regard to the Local Government Review he hazarded a personal view that personally on an 80% chance we would go unitary. The current bad effect is that officers within Follaton House are sitting in a job that might not be secure in 12/18 months. These are young people, with young families, in decision making job unsure whether they will still be there in the next few years. Thus the effect is that any forward looking decision might be tarnished by such feelings. These last few months Cllr. Baverstock has been involved with the new structure of coastal defence to 2105 He noted with some amusement that he was not too sure what effect he would be able to stand by, by this date! Each part of the coast is divided into units and one is Slapton Line, Torcross. The options offered are to hold line, second managed retreat and finally leave to nature!
Finally Cllr. Baverstock gave thanks to all those who have given their support over the last couple of years.
POLICE
Pc Mutton advised that he had for the 4.5 years been the Neighbourhood Beat Manager for this area which had been a very enjoyable time. Last year parishioners had asked how many Neighbourhood Beat Managers Stokenham had and was anyone taking on Pc Muttons patch. At that point he had replied that he was it. However he was pleased to say that he was wrong and 6 parishes have been removed from his beat leaving him with Halwell to Prawle Point. Another officer had been brought it to cover the other side of his patch and this had freed him up to do more community engagement work. Pc Mutton then noted that he was so lucky to be able to say that he had the best patch in the whole of Great Britain.
He urged those present to look at the new Force website. A Google for ‘Devon Police’ and then the drop down menus on the right hand side for neighbourhood policing and crime figures for the area provides much information. The crime figures in the system at moment cover the entire Kingsbridge patch so users must bear this in mind and be advised that this is not just the Stokenham or Chillington area etc. Pc Mutton still has the assistance of 2 PCSOs and is sharing these with Rachel on the other new patch. He then provided the crime figures for 2008.
COUNTY COUNCILLOR
Cllr. Brazil advised that the County Council tax budget is up by 2.89% this year, the lowest rate of rise ever for County. Within this budget they have found £1million for flood prevention and £0.5million for the youth budget – providing things for young people to do on Friday and Saturday evening in towns. County have also just been awarded a 4 star rating by audit. More importantly to Cllr. Brazil they have achieved some environmental goals ahead of time, particularly the amount of rubbish they are now sending to landfill. Devon are bucking the national trend by sending less rubbish to landfill. They are also using cars less, a recent report suggested differently but the air quality in towns and cities is much better.
Cllr. Brazil are just as disappointed as everyone in the Parish with regard to the A379 and was aggrieved at the roundabout way he had been informed that the works were not to go ahead this year.
Having sold Exeter airport County had made money and been investing in areas around Devon. Each County Councillor had been given £25,000 for their own area and Stokenham Parish Hall had requested funds to upgrade the kitchen and received £7,500 towards works starting in August, of course such funding to be matched locally.
Mr Heavisides questioned whether County makes a profit out of recycling? Cllr. Brazel is responded that he was not aware of anything as they had to pay landfill taxes. District however is now the best recycling District in Devon but East Devon is the worst as only 18-20% is recycled so South Hams effectively subsidies East Devon. Cllr. Brazil felt that this imbalance should be changed so South Hams residents get the credit. Unfortunately when putting forward this argument at County there are 8 South Hams councillors against 52 others across all other regions in Devon.
A parishioner felt that we could not recycle any more because not all plastics are dealt with. Cllr. Brazil noted that was corrected as collection was limited however at Torr Quarry they have just received permission for an all plastics processing plant so this may increase in future.
Another parishioner alluded to an item on Radio Devon this morning advising people about traffic congestion in towns and that they would be taking photos of how many cars go through areas at certain times to highlight such congestion. The parishioner enquired who is going to pay for this? Cllr. Brazil noted the concern with regard to cost for such research but noted that Devon have the infrastructure of such cameras on roads already so probably they already have this information but this is more about how they are going to use it. The parishioner was concerned how such distribution of information would cost the tax payer and if disseminated wrongly could further exacerbate such costs. Cllr. Brazil noted these concerns and also highlighted his annoyance that Local Authorities such as District and County charge masses for parking but do not charge their employees at work. County however is now beginning to charge and also only allowing employees to take their car to work 3 days a week so this was an attempt to rectify congestion etc.
6. OPEN FORUM
The Chair asked for any questions or points which members of the public wished to bring to the meeting.
Cllr. Baverstock – As a resident of Stokenham he noted he was enjoying the parking facility that District have now provided for a £10.00 p.a permit that allowed unlimited parking.
The meeting closed for people to be able to read these and talk to other organizations in attendance.
Meeting Closed: 9.37p.m.