WEST CREWKERNE PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 14TH May 2019 at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall

Members Present

Mrs Julia Borland (Parish Councillor)

Mr Barrie Carter (Parish Councillor)

Mr Frank Freeman (Parish Councillor)

Mr Roger Franklin (Parish Councillor)

Also present

Mr Mike Best (Somerset County Councillor)

Mrs Sue Osborne (South Somerset District Councillor)

Miss Jackie Parsons (Parish Clerk)

4 Members of the Public

 

 

1.          The election of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Joint Burial Committee members.

Mr R Franklin (Parish Councillor) asked what the difference was between the Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual Parish Council Meeting.  Mrs J Borland and Mrs S Osborne explained that some parishes are so small, they do not have Parish Councillors and they do not set a precept.  The Annual Parish Meeting is to allow the parishioners to bring any concerns to the meeting and discuss those concerns.  A parishioner can give notice of a meeting, within a certain time frame and also state the nature of the concern, at any time and a meeting can take place.  The Annual Parish Council meeting is called by the Councillors to review the preceding year and for the benefit of the parishioners to raise any concerns.  Mr R Franklin asked if therefore it was necessary to have an Annual Parish Meeting.  It is a legal requirement to have both meetings.

The Chairman Mrs J Borland then stood down as Chairman and the Parish Clerk asked for nominations for Chairman.  Mr F Freeman nominated Mrs J Borland and Mr B Carter seconded the proposal, Mrs J Borland duly elected.

The Clerk then asked for nominations for the vice-chairman stating that Mr D Yeomans had stated that he was willing to stand as Vice-Chairman if there were no other nominations.  Mr D Yeomans was proposed by Mr B Carter and seconded by Mr F Freeman

The Clerk then asked for Councillors willing to serve on the Crewkerne and West Crewkerne Joint Burial Board.  Mrs J Borland and Mr F Freeman both were willing to stand and the Clerk stated that she believed that Mrs C Broom would be willing to stand again.  The Clerk asked the other Parish Councillors if they were in favour of the nominations, they all agreed.

The Clerk asked if any Parish Councillor was willing to stand as a trustee from West Crewkerne Parish Council for the Alms-houses as Mr J Wyatt wished to stand down as trustee.  Mr F Freeman agreed to stand as trustee and was proposed by Mrs J Borland and seconded by Mr B Carter and agreed by all the Parish councillors.

           

2.         Apologies for Absence

Apologies received from Mr Don Yeomans (Parish Councillor) and Mrs Caroline Broom (Parish Councillor)

 

3.         Public Open Forum – Each member of the public present is entitled to speak once only, in respect of business itemised on the agenda and shall not speak for more than 5 minutes.

            Nobody from the public wish to make any comments or raise any matters not covered on the agenda.

4.         Declarations of Interest in items on the agenda (Pecuniary or non-statutory                 

             Interests).

            Mr B Carter, Mrs J Borland, Mr F Freeman and Mr R Franklin all declared no interest in any of the items on the agenda.

5.         To approve the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on the12th March 2019

            The minutes of the meeting had been circulated to the Parish Councillors and members of the public present at the meeting.  The minutes were proposed for adoption at the meeting by Mr B Carter and seconded by Mrs J Borland.  All Parish Councillors in favour of the minutes.

6.         Matters arising from the minutes not covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

Mrs J Borland brought up two matters with Gigaclear.  The first was the spoils left in the pub car park in Roundham and the second matter was Axe Road in Drimpton.  Mrs J Borland asked Mr B Carter if the spoils had been removed, Mr B Carter stated it had.  Mrs J Borland then commented on Axe Road, two days after the Parish Council Meeting in March 2019 there were six people in Axe Road, 2 from Gigaclear and 4 from County Council.  On the road there are now yellow arrows, red arrows and white arrows with no explanation as to what they stand for and nobody has been back to do any work.  Mrs J Borland looked on Gigaclear’s website and it states on there that they are behind schedule with the work.  Mrs S Osborne (South Somerset District Councillor) stated that they are behind schedule on work in a number of parishes that she serves.

7.          Planning Matters.

 West Crewkerne Parish Council is a Statutory Consultee for Planning Applications

and as such does not make the final decision on any application.  Any decisions        and comments made by the Parish Council will be fed into the planning process and added to the report by the Planning Officer.  South Somerset District Council is the Planning Authority and will issue the final decision notice (Planning Determination) once their investigations into the application, consultation period and decision making process has been completed.

A): 18/03873/HOU. 14TH January 2019 Clapton Court , Clapton Road West Crewkerne Crewkerne TA18 8PT, Alterations to dwelling including replacing a single building with new single storey garden room and conversion of part of an existing outbuilding into a games room and yoga studio.

Application permitted with conditions and the Parish Council had no issues with this application.

B): 19/00301/HOU. 5TH February 2019 Manor Barns (10) Manor Barns Annexe (10A) Henley Crewkerne Somerset TA18 8PQ, Erection of a fence to separate 10 and 10A.

The Parish Councillors had no issues with this planning application.

Status Approved

C): 19/00297/HOU 5TH February 2019 1 Wetstone View Council Houses Hewish Crewkerne Somerset TA18 8QX, Demolition of existing porch and rear conservatory and erection of side, front and rear extensions.

The Parish Councillors had also looked at these plans and had no objections to the plans. 

Status Approved

D):19/00844/HOU. 4TH April 2019 Lyminster Farm Hewish Gates West Crewkerne TA18 8QP, Erection of Single Storey extension and replacement

Mrs J Borland also stated that there was an ongoing application for the erection of an agricultural building at Little Shabby Farm.  Mrs J Borland had written to the planning office asking why the application was for three years only and she had received a reply from Mike Hicks regarding the matter.  Mrs J Borland read out the reply.  The letter stated that where the business is a new business there is a bedding in period of 3 years to ensure that the business is a success and that the business meets all the requirements then for an application for a permanent dwelling.  If the business fails then the residential use ceases to exist after the 3 year temporary period.  Mrs J Borland thanked Mr M Hicks for his clarification.

8.         Highway Matters

Roundham Small Improvement Scheme.

Mr M Best (Somerset County Councillor) stated that he had been in contact with Mr G Warren of Somerset Highways on a regular basis and they are in the process of putting together the construction drawings, once they have come together they will forward the drawings to Mr M Best, if the drawings are the same as the ones that the residents and the Parish Council held meetings about and approved the plans, then Mr M Best will push the plans back to them to send them out to contractors to tender for the work and give a price.  Mr M Best is fairly confident that the process will not take too long.

Mrs J Borland had taken a copy of the flowchart of the processes of a Small improvement scheme for Mr B Carter so that he could see the various processes that have to be done before the scheme gets approval.

Mr B Carter would like Mr M Best to accompany him in Roundham to see the speed of the traffic coming in and going out of the village, so that Somerset Highways can be made aware that the de-restriction zone needs to be moved along with the speed limit signs.  Mrs J Borland had also taken off the internet information on the applying for a speed warning sign to be erected.  Mr B Carter stated that Mr G Colman estate manager of Coombe Farm Roundham had offered to pay for a speed warning sign from one of the estates charitable bodies which would benefit the community.  Mrs J Borland had also looked at the Avon and Somerset Police website  and stated that the Police speed van was also deployed in Roundham this week.  Mr B Carter was adamant that no Police speed van came to Roundham, they did have a speed motorcyclist but he only stayed approximately 40 minutes and therefore it was only a token gesture and did no good whatsoever.  Mr B Carter feels that the scheme Somerset Highways has come up with is just an appeasement to try and keep everybody in Roundham happy but that Somerset Highways have failed to research the matter properly.  Mrs J Borland then asked Mr B Carter if he had done anything about setting up a Speed watch group, Mr B Carter stated that he had asked 3 or 4 people but they were just not interested.  Mrs J Borland had also printed off some material regarding speed watch and communities working with the Police on speeding and gave this to Mr B Carter for his perusal.

Mrs J Borland then asked Mr M Best if he was happy to meet with Mr B Carter in Roundham which he was but Mrs J Borland stated that she did not want the small improvement scheme for Roundham jeopardised in any way otherwise the scheme could face longer delays in being implemented.

Mr M Best asked the meeting as Highways was being discussed could he bring up about the Maiden Beech cross roads.  There was now research going on into Cathole bridge road due to developers planning to build 160 houses at the top of Lang road in Crewkerne.  They originally stated that only 9% of people would use Cathole bridge road.   Mr M Best stated that he had pushed for this to be reviewed.  Somerset Highways had given their approval to the developer’s plans but had stated they were not happy with the state of Cathole Bridge road, so the developers were now looking at ways of widening Cathole bridge road.  The plans are due to come before South Somerset District Council at the earliest in June for approval.  Mr M Best stated that maybe the alterations to the Maiden Beech cross roads that had been discussed at previous Parish Council Meetings could be incorporated into the developer’s plans and costs instead of waiting for the Small Improvement scheme to come to fruition.  However, Mr M Best will not withdraw it from the Small Improvement Scheme at this moment in time.

 

9.         Reports from Councillors, including District and County Councillors.

Mr F Freeman and Mr B Carter had nothing further to bring to the meeting.  The Chairman Mrs J Borland explained to Mr R Franklin the new Parish Councillor that this was where he could bring up any concerns he may have or any concerns that parishioners had come to him with.  As this was his first meeting he nothing to report.  Mrs J Borland brought up the number of tractors with slurry trailers that are using the roads around the parish over the last six weeks and because they are so huge they are eroding the edges of the roads.  The only good thing is it has been dry and therefore the erosion has not been as great as it would have been if it had been wet weather.

Mrs S Osborne (South Somerset District Councillor) had nothing to report as the full council did not meet until next week.  The first full meeting was like an AGM and a Chairman would be appointed and portfolios would be given to Councillors, so it would not be until those committees starting meeting that there would be anything to report back to Parish Councils.

Mr M Best (Somerset County Councillor) had nothing further to report.   Somerset County Council does not meet until next week to resume business.

10.       Finance  

                   A) To pay:-

1. Clerk Salary of £251.85 which includes travelling expenses of £27.00 Cheque No. 314

                        2. HMRC - £56.20 Cheque No. 313

3. Crewkerne Joint Burial Board Precept of £3107.00 Cheque No. 307

                        4. Annual Public Liability Insurance of £257.60 Cheque No. 311

                        5. SALC Annual Subscription of £147.47 Cheque No. 309

                        6.Grant to the Village Hall as agreed in the Precept of £800 Cheque No. 310

                        7. SALC Training Course £30.00 Cheque No. 312

                        8. SALC Good Counsellor Guide Books £24.00 Cheque No. 308

The Chairman, Mrs J Borland, stated that she had booked a refresher course with SALC (Somerset Association of Local Councils) for being a Councillor and she felt that all the Councillors should go on a refresher course.  The Clerk stated that she had a list of courses available and that Mr B Carter should go on a course as he had not been on one yet.

The Chairman, Mrs J Borland, explained to our new councillor, that the Clerk does not sign any cheques and that the current signatories are four in number and they are Mrs J Borland, Mr D Yeomans, Mr F Freeman and Mrs C Broom.  The Chairman thought that four signatories were adequate, there was no objection from the Parish Councillors.

 

B)  The Clerk proposes to exempt the West Crewkerne Parish from the External    

      Audit.  The approval of the Parish Councillors to take this course of action.

The Clerk explained that the external auditor P.K.J. Littlejohn and Co. can accept an exemption from a council if their income and expenses are under £25000 in the year.  West Crewkerne Parish Council’s income as you can see from the Accounts is made up of the Precept, a small grant and a small amount of interest on the business reserve account.  Our expenditure is mainly clerk’s salary, tax, new website and new laptop, grants and SALC and insurance.  Our Income and expenditure are under £25000 in the year.   The Clerk would like the approval of the Parish Councillors to take this course of action.  This course of action was proposed by Mrs J Borland and seconded by Mr F Freeman.

C)   To approve the Annual Governance Statement

The Clerk stated that although she is exempting the Parish from the external audit she still has to complete all the external audit forms in case they are required if the external auditors do an interim audit.  The forms also have to be presented to the Councillors in a set order.

Mrs J Borland proposed the acceptance of the Annual Governance Statement and Mr F Freeman seconded the motion and all Parish Councillors were in agreement.

D)   To approve the Annual Receipts and Payments account for the year ended 31st March 2019 

      Mr R Franklin asked a question on the receipts and payments.  The balance carried forward was approximately a £1000 less than the previous year, was this going to be a continuing trend.  The Clerk explained that we had purchased a new laptop in the year to 31st March 2019, a new website had been created with setting up costs and gift vouchers had been purchased.  All this expenditure had been one off payments, although there would be an ongoing maintenance charge on the website.

      The approval of the receipts and payments for the year ended 31st March 2019 was proposed by Mr F Freeman and seconded by Mr B Carter and carried by all the Parish Councillors.

E)   To agree the bank reconciliation as at 31st March 2019

The approval of the bank reconciliation as at 31st March 2019 was proposed by Mr B Carter and seconded by Mrs J Borland with the approval of all the Parish Councillors

F)  To approve the Annual Statement of Accounts to 31st March 2019

The Annual Statement of Accounts to 31st March 2019 was proposed for approval by Mrs J Borland and seconded by Mr F Freeman and carried by the Parish Councillors

G)  The exercise of Public Rights to the financial records of the Parish Council will be available from Thursday 20th June 2019 to Wednesday 31st July 2019.

      The Clerk stated that the Public Rights to the financial records of the Parish Council has to include the first 10 working days of July and has to run for 30 working days.  The Clerk is on holiday from the 13th June to the 19th June so she proposes starting the Public Rights notice from the 20th June.  The notice will go up on the village hall noticeboard one day before the commencement of the period and will also go on the website on the same day.  The Parish Councillors agreed with the proposed period for Public Rights to the financial records of the Parish Council.

H)  To confirm the appointment of the internal auditor.

The Clerk asked the internal auditor Mr Mick Wilson if he was willing to audit the Parish Accounts for next year, he was willing to audit them again.

           

            11.  The adoption of a Red Telephone Box in Hewish.

The Clerk had received an e-mail from a Christine Klein a resident of Hewish.  Ms C Klein stated in the e-mail that they have a disused Red Telephone Box in Hewish which they would like to use for the community as a book exchange and also for selling eggs.  However the adoption of the telephone box has to come from the Parish Council as an individual cannot adopt a telephone box.  The only concern that the Clerk had was the health and safety issue, Mrs S Osborne stated that you would put the telephone box as an asset on your Public Liability Insurance.  The Chairman Mrs J Borland wondered who would pay the electricity for the telephone box.  The Clerk stated that she thought from reading the adoption rules and regulations that BT continued to pay the electricity but she would re-check this information.  Ms C Klein had stated in her original e-mail that the number in the Red telephone box was discontinued.  The Parish Council was in agreement to adopt the telephone box subject to ascertaining who pays the electricity.

S

           

12. Correspondence;

      Various e-mails

The e-mails are primarily waste recycling, police commissioner, rural bulletin and Road Closures.  The Chairman Mrs J Borland had printed off the change of days for recycling and had displayed on the village hall noticeboard together with the extended opening hours for the Crewkerne waste recycling centre.  These will also appear on the website.

 

13. Training Courses for Parish Councillors

Mrs J Borland is already booked onto the 31st July 2019 course at Somerton.  Mr F Freeman would like to go on that course on the same date as well.  Mr B Carter and Mr R Franklin would like to go more into the Autumn and in the daytime if possible.

      

14.   To confirm that the next meeting of the West Crewkerne Parish Council will be 

         held on Tuesday 9th July 2019 at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall at 7.00pm.

            Confirmed that the next meeting will be on the 9th July 2019.

 

Meeting closed at 8.30pm

 

 

 

 

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Chairman