Minutes of the Meeting of Freshford Parish Council held on Monday July 26th 2010 1. Present; Hugh Delap, Chairman 2. Claudia Towner, Rowena Wood, Guy Ritchie, Nick Stevens, Stuart Campbell, John Adler and Stephanie Jenkins, Clerk. 1.
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1. Apologies for Absence; received from Mandy Knowles, Jonelle Daniels and Neil Butters. 2. Declarations of Interest; Item 7,Planning, School application; NS as school governor and SC both declared an interest. 3.Minutes ; the minutes of the meeting of June 21st 2010 were agreed to be an accurate record and were signed by the Chairman. 4. Matters Arising Disposal of land to the south of The Glebe; HD reported that he had been unable to speak to Simon Memory, B&NES Allotments officer, about the suitability, for allotments, of the land available. After discussion it was agreed that it would be preferable if residents of The Glebe were consulted by B&NES and offered the option of purchasing land, before the Parish Council were to take any action. Appointment of new Clerk; HD and the Clerk reported that they were investigating the position of the three Parish Councils involved to achieve unanimity in the terms of employment. 5, Finance 1. Payments needing to be made in JULY; approved 2. Ian Croker, Street Cleaning, Aug 3rd, £215.57 Stephanie Jenkins, Clerk’s Salary April-June, £750 Hugh Delap, Bulletin Print costs, £158.20 Southern Electric, Supply April-June, £350.55 2. Receipts B&NES, Street Cleaning July, £310.10 1. Street Lighting Councillors agreed that the Clerk should investigate the cost of replacing the lamp and column by the phone box on the High Street. The scheme to light the footpath behind The Glebe has been put “on hold” until the matter of land ownership between B&NES and Somer Housing has been established and funding set in place. HD to pursue ownership and, at the same time report the damaged railings alongside the footpath. 6. Correspondence Clerks and Councils Direct, newsletter (useful article on Allotments; HD to scan and circulate) B&NES Connect magazine B&NES NHS, Guide to Care Homes locally B&NES Waste Management, guide to recycling leaflets.
Glasdon; products for local councils, catalogue. ALCA Newsletter and legal briefings B&NES Democratic Services, hard copies of PowerPoint presentations from Parish Charter Review Workshops and Health and Wellbeing Partnership. Wiltshire Council. Details of on-line consultation process for Parking Strategy. 7. Planning Matters 3. Decisions: Freshford Memorial Hall; 10/01569/FUL, installation of new door at the rear of the hall to provide direct access to the new pre-school garden; PERMIT 4. New Applications; None 1. New applications responded to since last meeting 2. None 3. On-going Items Sharpstone House, (10/00674/FUL), Change of use of existing detached store/summer house to ancillary residential accommodation; RW reported that, after the additional consideration by officers and confirmation from the applicant that ancillary use would be only for staff members employed by the applicant, the officers had decided that no planning consent was required for this application. On behalf of the Parish Council SC had been pursuing, with the officers, the actual planning rules or guidelines which would support such a decision. From informal discussions it would appear that the officers dealing with the case have decided that any building within the curtilage of a property (unless the property is listed) can be used as ancillary accommodation for relations or staff employed at the property. In view of the precedents set by such an opinion, SC is to follow up this surprising information with Lisa Bartlett. 4. Freshford Primary School; 10/01435/FUL, change of use of land adjacent to the school from agricultural grazing land to Use Class D, external play space; RW told Councillors that, according to the Case Officer, the application would be brought to Developmental Control Committee on August 4th , with officer recommendation to approve (with a condition that permitted development rights be removed). Following the PC’s email of complaint to the school, HD had met Anne Forrest, Headteacher and had asked that the incorrect information posted by the school’s agent on the Planning website be corrected. As yet there had been no action. HD had also been told that the school would be requesting direct access from the school grounds to the proposed playspace, although this had not been included in the planning application, which had included a detailed risk assessment for road access. Anne Forrest had indicated that the school, having discussed the matter with the case officer, Richard Stott, had made a number of amendments to the application. RW was asked to contact Richard Stott and request that the PC be updated on these amendments. 5. Enforcement Issues The Inn/ internal alterations; ongoing. . 8. Parish Charter Review Workshops RW and SC had each attended a workshop, one on planning procedures and one on enforcement and had been impressed both with the organisation of the meetings and the openness of the discussion generated. B&NES Officers are to report back via
Parish Liaison Meetings as to how the proposals, to improve the delegation process and the procedures for informing PCs, discussed at the workshops are to be implemented. Councillors agreed that, over the past two years, a much better two-way communication system with the Planning Department had developed and they welcomed this. 9 Updates a Valley Parishes Alliance: no meetings this month. HD and Simon Coombe of LSPC had prepared and circulated a report on affordable housing to the other members for discussion at the September meeting. b. Roads and Traffic; NS reported that Limpley Stoke PC, in conjunction with Wiltshire Council, had been active in implementing various aspects of the School Travel Plan. It is hoped that there will be similar developments in Freshford subject to support from B&NES Highways Department. Following discussion with Hinton Charterhouse PC, Freshford PC has agreed to write to the Highways Agency supporting Hinton’s request for a reduction of the speed limit to 40mph along the A36, from Farleigh Garage to the Freshford boundary. Freshford will also express concern to the Highways Agency about the current dangers of the Branch Road junction and the need to establish a safe pedestrian and cycle link between the two villages. Signage; it was agreed that Ian Croker be asked to remove the currently redundant YRD road signs and to store them safely until work is due to resume. The associated unofficial sign at the top of Ashe’s Lane should also be removed. HD to check the planning status of the new Homewood Park signs with Hinton PC. Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment; the Parish Council has been asked to provide information about any flooding issues, past or present, within the parish. NS to collate a response including details of flooding of the river Frome, affecting roads at the Inn and Freshford Mill, the flooding caused by a blocked culvert at the bottom of Church Hill, problems cause by surface water on Dark Lane, Church Lane, The Hill and Rosemary Lane, most of which is linked to blocked road gulleys and collapsed culverts. Joint Local Plan Transport Questionnaire; this had been sent out by B&NES requesting a single co-ordinated PC response, but Councillors felt that the questions were designed for individuals to answer. NS to place copies at the shop for residents to fill in. c. Communications; The revamp of the website is underway. GR asked Councillors to let him have any suggestions for additional content. HD suggested that, as additional publicity for sponsors, the back page of the Bulletin which has sponsorship details along with a list Councillors responsibilities and contact numbers, should be placed on each notice board for the appropriate three month period. The cost of sponsorship could be raised to £200 per edition. Councillors agreed to this. JA reported on a “Parish Online” meeting; the service has been upgraded from its basic initial stage and could provide a useful resource, particularly in planning matters. However there are likely to be increased costs for the service and Councillors agreed that it would be sensible to wait until these are revealed before committing to the service long-term. d.Footpaths, Walls and Trees; GR told Councillors that the Village Ramble had
again been a great success and Alan Dodge had already been booked for the next walk on July 10th 2011. e. Children and Youth Affairs ;CT suggested that, in the interests of fostering better school/parish communication, the PTA be asked to write a regular Bulletin article. f. Street Cleaning ; Hedge-cutting; MK’s report stated that Freshford Lane had been tackled. It was agreed that, before the hedges have a chance to grow back, Ian Croker be asked to scrape back the soil which has encroached onto the pavement area along the lane, establishing a clearer boundary and preventing the creation of a problem like that opposite the school, where the pavement width has been reduced. The Clerk reported that she had received a complaint about the growth of saplings on graves in the cemetery. Ian to be asked to remove these. Rubbish bin at station; according to the station manager this must remain as a plastic bag supported by a ring. RW to liaise with MK to see whether B&NES would be prepared to provide another, (if not, the PC to seek funds to supply one) and collect from just outside the station. g. Dog Issues; the Clerk had received a complaint about dog-fouling, specifying an owner. It was agreed that a letter should be sent from the PC, asking that, in future, suitable cleaning up action be undertaken. In view of the fact that this would be on hearsay evidence, the letter should indicate that there could possibly be a case of mistaken identity. h. Public Transport;. RW reported that the old station sign had been successfully installed and Councillors recorded formal thanks to Friends of Freshford for organising the event and to Heart of Wessex Community group for funding the installation. The last 95 bus will run on July 27th. New service 95 going, 96 returning to start on Thursday August 5th . i Emergency Planning; JA had contacted Richard Look, B&NES Emergency Planning Officer, and had been told that he is currently producing a “Major Incident Plan” for the council. Once the outline for this has been established (later this year or 2011) Community Resource Advisors will liaise with individual Parish Councils to set up parish-level plans. In the interim, JA and HD will work together on gathering some preliminary information for a Freshford Emergency Plan. j. Affordable Housing; NS reported that, as forewarned in the Bulletin, landowners had been sent letters by Louise Davidson of EHRA, asking if they would be prepared to discuss selling land for affordable housing. With Limpley Stoke, he was also seeking clarification of a communication from Gary Ward which appeared to require the parish councils to chose between the two housing associations (EHRA and Community First) rather than working with both, which was the position of choice for both PCs. 10 AOB There was none. 6.
12 .Date of next meeting; MONDAY SEPTEMBER 13th 2010