WEST CREWKERNE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday
8th September 2020 via Zoom Conferencing
Members Present
Mrs Julia Borland (Chairman)
Mrs Caroline Broom
Mr D Yeomans
Mr Frank Freeman
Mr Mike Best (Somerset County
Councillor)
Also present
2 Members of the Public
Miss Jackie Parsons (Parish
Clerk)
1. Apologies for Absence.
Apologies were received from Roger Franklin, Barrie Carter and Sue
Osborne (South Somerset District Councillor).
Sue Osborne was absent from the meeting due to a technical error on the
part of the Clerk. One member of the public Mr Henry Ploszek was also absence
from the meeting due to a technical error on the part of the Clerk.
2. Public Open Forum
No member of the public had anything to bring up at this stage.
3. Declarations of Interest in items on
the agenda (Pecuniary or non-statutory interests).
Mrs Caroline Broom declared an interest in all the planning
applications. Mrs C Broom was asked to
withdraw from the meeting after declaring an interest in all of the planning items on the agenda. The Chairman later apologised as this was not
necessary for a non-pecuniary interest.
4. To approve the minutes of the Parish Council
Meeting held on the 14th July 2020.
The minutes were approved by the meeting and proposed for approval by
Mr D Yeoman and seconded by Mr F Freeman.
5. Matters arising from the minutes not
covered elsewhere on the Agenda.
No matters were brought up for discussion.
6. 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). Fuzzy Ground and concerns
raised. Update from Councillor Best
regarding his discussions with the planning enforcement department at SSDC.
Mr Mike Best stated that he
had reported the matter to the planning department but could get no information
from them regarding the matter and on file the matter has been marked as
closed. Mr M Best asked the Parish
Councillors if they had seen any further activity at the property but they all
stated that the hedge was in full leaf and you were unable to see into the
property. Mr F Freeman stated that there
was a gateway nearby from which the property could be viewed; Mr M Best stated
he would follow up the matter.
B): 20/02394/PAMB Agricultural
Building at Henley Manor Henley Crewkerne Somerset TA18 8PQ. Notification for prior approval for the
change of use of agricultural building to 5 no. dwelling houses.
Awaiting
Decision
The Chairman asked for any
comments from the Parish Councillors on the above planning application. Mr D Yeomans had looked at the plans and
stated that he felt the design was poor; two of the properties had only 100
square metres of area. However, he had
looked at the guidelines for a two bedroom property and the square meterage is
100 square metres. Therefore this was a
personal opinion of his and he had no objection to the application. Mr F Freeman had looked at the plans and felt
that if the design was poor then it was up to the planning department of South
Somerset District Council to recommend revision of the plans. No other Councillors had any comments. The Chairman would make a note on the
planning application that the West Crewkerne Parish Council had no objections
to the planning application.
C): 20/02291/FUL Little Shabby
Farm, Axe Road Drimpton, Beaminster,
Dorset DT8 3RJ. The erection of two
agricultural buildings for hay/feed/straw and machinery store.
Awaiting
decision.
The Chairman stated that this
planning applicant was just down the road from where the Chairman lived and
where they are proposing to erect these agricultural buildings is a
considerable distance from the road and will not be seen from the road. No other Parish Councillor had any comments
to make, so the Chairman will reply to the application stating that the Parish
Council has no objection to the application.
D): 20/02195/FUL 9 Lily Court Clapton
Road West Crewkerne Somerset TA18 8RA.
Proposed change of use of agricultural land to residential and proposed
first floor balcony with associated French doors.
The applicant Mr Alcock and Mr
Shaun Travers from the Boon Brown partnership who had drawn up the plans for
the above planning application both attended the meeting. Mr S Travers explained the reasons for the
planning application and the proposals they had put forward in the
application. Mr F Freeman asked about the
site line when coming out on to the road the new proposals would not affect the
curtilage already agreed under the
original plans for 9 Lily Court. There
were no further comments from Parish Councillors. The Chairman stated that the Parish Council
would support the Planning application from Mr Alcock.
Because both Mr S Travers from
Boon Brown Architects and Mr Alcock had both attended the Parish Council
meeting specifically for this planning application this item was dealt with
after item 1. The Clerk asked at this
stage whether any of the Parish Councillors had any declarations of interest in
this planning application and you can see from item 3 that Mrs C Broom declared
an interest.
Axe
Farm Axe Road Drimpton
This planning application had
been received after the Agenda for this meeting had been sent out. There are some minor alterations to the rear
of the building that need to be made to accommodate a new boiler being
installed. The property is listed which
is why planning permission has to be sought.
The Parish Councillors had no objection to the planning application.
7. Highway
Matters.
Progress report on Small Improvements made to
Roundham
Mr D Yeomans stated he had spoken to the
Police Officer with whom he had been corresponding over the Roundham scheme and
he had passed it on to the Community Support officer who stated that they would
be putting in a more covert speed check system but he could give no indication
of when. It would be determined on the
availability of the equipment. Mr D
Yeomans asked if he could attend when they install the equipment but the answer
was no. Mr D Yeomans also stated that
according to Mr Barrie Carter (Parish Councillor) two of the old signs were
taken down but do not appear to have been replaced as was proposed in the small
improvement scheme. Mr D Yeomans asked
the Clerk to follow this up with the Small improvement Scheme team at Somerset
County Council and also to follow up whether all the work that was proposed and
agreed under this scheme has been carried out and if not when is it going to be
completed. According to Mr Mike Best
there has been a change of staffing on the Small Improvement Scheme and the
person leading this scheme has left.
Progress on the Lang Road Development
The Chairman stated that the diversion of the
footpath alluded to in the Inspector’s report which falls in West Crewkerne
Parish has never been put forward for diversion and was not on the plans
originally submitted by the developers.
So West Crewkerne Parish Council has no input into these plans at present.
Mr M Best( Somerset County Councillor)
but in his role as Crewkerne town Councillor stated that the Crewkerne town
Council had lodged an objection to the findings on several grounds, but the
Town Council have heard nothing back.
The date by which the Council could ask for a judicial review has also
passed. The Chairman asked Mr M Best
about the Cathole Bridge Road cross-roads small improvement scheme. This was on hold until Crewkerne Town Council
had received a decision on the Lang Road development.
New
gullies had been put in along by Coppersfield Bungalow by Somerset Highways so
hopefully the water will drain away and not flood at this particular spot. Mr D Yeomans stated that if they did not
clear the drains then the gullies would silt up again and cause flooding. Mrs C Broom stated that the water that flows
into these gullies and drains in this road is run off from the fields above
which carries a lot of debris. Mrs C
Broom also stated that these fields are now owned by Clapton Court owners and
not by her brother-in-law Mr F Broom.
Mrs
J Borland (Chairman) stated that if you report anything on Somerset Highways
website such as potholes etc., you can now track the progress of your complaint
and on the whole the complaints are dealt with quickly.
8. Reports from Councillors, including District and
County Councillors.
No
reports from Mrs C Broom, Mr D Yeomans or Mr F Freeman. Mrs J Borland (Chairman) stated that during
lockdown the local bus service went round into the village of Drimpton and
picked up passengers and then on into Crewkerne. Now that the lockdown restrictions have eased
it no longer comes into the village of Drimpton to pick up any passengers,
thereby losing revenue. Mrs J Borland
will be following this up.
Mr
M Best (Somerset County Councillor) stated that Somerset County Council had
submitted their plan for one unitary authority for Somerset to the Government
minister concerned and the four District Councils who were proposing two
unitary authorities were submitting theirs to the Government minister this
week. The Government minister will then
look at the two proposals and a consultation period will take place with the
residents of Somerset County and then the Government Minister will decide which
plan will become the new plan for Somerset County.
9. Finance
A) To pay:-
1. Clerk Salary of £117.65 Cheque No.336
2. HMRC - £29.60
Cheque No.335
3. SALC Affiliation Fee of £153.69 Cheque No.337
4.
Grant to the village hall of £800.00 as agreed in the precept (already paid)
Cheque No.334
5.
Invoice of £30.00 to SALC for planning applications training which Mrs J
Borland attended. (already paid). Cheque
No.333
B) The Clerk has received notification from the
external auditor that they have
accepted the “exempt status” for West
Crewkerne Parish Council.
The
Clerk explained that the external auditor P K J Littlejohn had accepted the
“exempt status” that she had submitted on behalf of the West Crewkerne Parish
Council and that the Parish Council would hear no further from the external
auditor for the year 2019/20 unless they wished to query the accounts. The Clerk did not think that this was likely
in view of the external auditor tight time frame.
11. Correspondence;
A):
Various e-mails. Coronavirus updates from various sources, Avon and
Somerset Constabulary, Somerset Waste
Partnership and Rural Bulletin. An
e-mail from Somerset Wildlife Trust asking for the support of Parish and Town
councils with regard to the monies available from the environment fund of South
Somerset District Council. As the Parish
Council understands the monies are only available for environmental projects
within the Parish. Mr D Yeomans had
looked at the list of projects that the Somerset Wildlife Trust wish to pursue
and none of them would be beneficial to this Parish. The Parish of West Crewkerne at this time
would not be applying for any monies from the fund.
The
Badger Cull in Somerset memo, the Parish Councillors looked objectively at both
side of the argument and those present at the meeting neither agreed or
disagreed with the cull.
B): Broadband coverage in West Crewkerne-
what plans for completion of coverage in this area. (This question raised by a
parishioner)
The Clerk had sent an e-mail to Connecting
Devon and Somerset and had received a reply but referring to West Coker and
asking for my postcode. A follow up
e-mail will be sent to Connecting Devon and Somerset explaining that as a
Parish Council and not an individual we could be told the name of the private
contractor who is going to take on the work from Gigaclear and also pointing
out that I am e-mailing on behalf of West Crewkerne Parish Council not West
Coker Parish Council.
C): A query has been made regarding the
siting of a mobile home and the erection of a sign within the parish.
The
Clerk wrote to the gentleman on 11th August 2020 on whose land the
mobile home is sited enclosing a copy of the document that Don Yeomans had
researched.
To date the Clerk has not received a reply to
her letter or seen an application for planning permission to site the mobile
home on the land. Mr D Yeomans asked the
Clerk to follow up the letter asking for a reply to the original letter and
whether planning permission has been sought.
If no reply then consideration will have to be given to the enforcement
route.
12. To confirm that the next meeting of the West
Crewkerne Parish Council will be
held
on Tuesday 10th November 2020 at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall
at 7.00pm
The
village hall opens on the 19th October 2020 and the meeting will
possibly be in the big hall so that social distancing measures can be ensured.