Meeting of Modbury Parish Council

Monday 13thNovember 2017 at 7.00 PM

In the Memorial Hall (side room)

MINUTES

Apologies: Cllrs Barnes, Keel, & PC Hayhurst. (Cllr Berry retrospectively).

Present: Cllrs Taylor, Weeks, Ward, Cole, Whybrow, Shepley, Harvey. Also present Cllrs Gilbert & Huntley, Ms Middleton, and 3 members of the public.

Open Forum: Mr Masters thanked the Parish Council for their assistance with the Remembrance weekend.

17.131. Declarations of pecuniary and other interests:

Cllr Weeks – Planning item 127 (as this is next door to his in-laws).

Cllr Cole wanted to stress he is not related to Mrs Cole (Planning item 126).

Cllr Taylor –Appendix 1 Payments & Receipts – payments for £147.34 and £4.99.

17.132. Vacancy for councillor.

One application had been received from Mrs Margaret Middleton, who has lived in Modbury for 8 years with her partner and they have a building and general maintenance business. In her “former life” she has been a golf club Secretary and hotel manager.She once owned a fruit and veg/pet shop in Modbury but sadly this did not work out. A Leader for Modbury Brownies, Mrs Middleton is keen to get involved with the Parish Council to see what she can do for the Community. Cllr Weeks/Harvey proposed she be co-opted onto the Council and all were in favour. Cllr Middleton was welcomed on board.

Devon Councillor’s Reports.

  • Bus Stop: Following last month’s meeting revelations, Cllr Gilbert arranged a meeting which took place on 8th November. Present were:Devon Highways Officers Adam and NickColton, Mark Phillips (DCC transport), Anthony Shree (Stagecoach), Cllr Taylor, Cllr Gilbert and Richard Jackson. After Cllr Taylor gave the histrionics, all were shocked and appalled. Result: Stagecoach have now agreed that (subject to DCC agreeing to provide Bus Stop Flags on the East and West bound carriageways) there will now be a request stop at Palm Cross. A section of footpath will be provided on the South bound side. Bloor have been asked to fund this by Cllr Gilbert.
  • Questions: “Teign Trees” inspecting a tree with fallen branches (for DCC) refused to remove/shred fallen branches as job order stated “Leave in place.” Yet subsequently attended a tree at a private house to cut down a thorn tree and left it on the verge (even though they were towing a wood chipper).If it was “Leave in place,” should it not have been left in the garden of the house, not dumped on the verge? Also why was DCC contractor attending private house.Clerk to email Cllr Gilbert in form of complaint and he will follow this up. Cllr Gilbert left.2members of the public arrived.

District Councillor’s Reports.

  • “One Council” merger votetook place on 31/10/17. 30 members were present. The consultation mustered a 3% response from the population, (more than the anticipated 1%,) of that 86% did not want merger to go ahead. 81% of Parish Councils said they did not want to go ahead with merger. Result:SHDC voted 19 in favour, 8 against and 3 abstentions. West Devon voted 13 in favour and 18 against the proposal. This means that the proposal to create one new council for South Hams and West Devon will not be submitted to the Secretary of State.
  • Tree trimmingoutside the Industrial Estate is supposed to be taking place in November so should be imminent but no dates or times as yet.
  • Industrial Estate: Cllr Huntley has spoken to the Vet who put a sign up for advertising purposes. This will be removed when the proper estate sign arrives.
  • South Hams is considering running a lottery to enable good causes (charities) to receive funding.Monies raised will not be for fulfilling the budget deficit. SHDC will take 10% to cover the admin.
  • Community Reinvestment Fund deadline is 8th January.
  • £154KTAPS funding available (but for how many councils?)
  • District Councillor’s Locality Fundstill has some money left – perhaps for Scout hut?
  • DCC no longer treat any weeds that are non-priority ones.
  • Air ambulanceare collecting milk bottle tops to raise money.
  • Cllr Huntley will shortly betrekking in the Himalayas if anyone want so sponsor her. Two good causes, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neurone Disease.
  • “Charterlands Chatter” (Facebook page) is working well but is under-represented by Modbury.The only criteria to joining this closed group is that you have an address within Charterlands Ward.
  • Joint Local Plangoes to examiners on 29th Jan. If found to be sound after that date the plan will acquire increasing weight.At a recent meeting Tom Jones (Strategic Planner) confirmed there is now a 5 year and 20 year land supply.
  • Questions:How did Cllr Huntley vote on the One Council merger. She voted as requested by her parishioners – Against. The results were published in the Gazette.
  • Any news on the raised manhole cover trip hazard inPoundwell car park?She will chase SHDC for a reply to her last email.
  • Bottle bank and paper bankare full to capacity. A new procedure was suggested by Cllr Cole. Could car park wardens not take photos and report the state of the banks as part of their patrol? Cllr Huntley will suggest this.
  • Poundwell to Church Lane needs the large road sweeper lorry to clean up the leaves. Could this be reinstated on the list of locations for the sweeper lorry to clean rather than MPC have to keep requesting this?Thesmaller leaf lorry is inefficient as it can only sweep 50 yards before it is full, then needs to go to Torr Quarry to be emptied, resulting in several trips. However, Cllr Cole stressed that he wanted to commend the man who drives the small sweeper for his hard work. Cllr Huntley will convey all of Cllr Cole’s comments to SHDC.
  • The higher bridge at Tucker’s brook still hasn’t been repaired and is currently blocked off. Cllr Huntley will chase this up.

Police Report (Read out by Clerk):

Between 9th October and 13th November this year there have been 2 crimes comprising 1 instance of Criminal Damage (relating to the Badger Cull) and 1 Assault. There were 4 crimes in this same period in 2016.

17.133. Planning-The Council considered the following applications:

126 / 3446/17/HHO / Ms P Cole / Trehele Bridge Trehele Modbury Devon PL21 0SA / Householder application for extension to property / Cllrs Ward/Shepley and all agreed this application be supported.
127 / 3391/17/TCA / 10 The Priory, Modbury, Devon, PL21 0TL / B1: Beech - crown height reduction by up to 8 metres, lateral crown reduction on East side by up to 5 metres, dominate west side of house and garden, causes excessive shading; B2: Beech - crown height reduction by up to 8 metres, lateral crown reduction on East side by up to 5 metres, dominate west side of house and garden, causes excessive shading; T7: Oak - deadwood removal (exempt), remove high level lateral branches apprx 3 metres in length on East side nearly overhanging house. / Cllrs Shepley/Harvey and all agreed, bar 1 Abstention (Cllr Weeks) this application be refused on the grounds that it is excessive and may put the life of the tree at risk.
128 / 3386/17/VAR / Bloor / Proposed Development Site at SX 655 518, West of Palm Cross Green, Church St / Variation of condition 2 following grant of planning permission 35/0059/15/F including amendment of materials layout and change of some house types / CllrsHarvey/Ward, and all agreed that MPC would submit comments “The council did not have enough information to be able to make an informed decision. Before and after plans should be provided so that changes can be easily identified.”
129 / 3263/17/LBC / 21 Brownston St, Modbury PL21 0RG / Listed building consent for internal alterations and improvements / Cllrs Shepley/Weeks and all agreed this application be supported
130 / 3262/17/HHO / 21 Brownston St, Modbury PL21 0RG / Householder application for internal alterations and improvements / Cllrs Shepley/Weeks and all agreed this application be supported

17.134. Minutes of Meeting of 9thOctober2017.

a)The Minutes were considered. Cllrs Shepley/Harvey and all agreed (bar 3 abstentions from councillors not present at the last meeting) the Minutes be approved as a true and accurate record.

b)The Clerk had previously circulated the Appendix 2 Action Plan to update councillors. Since then, a reply from Highways Officer had been received to say there was categorically no money in the pot for any new HGV advisory diversion signage for small lanes. The Clerk will forward Adam Keay’s reply to Cllr Gilbert so that it can be put on the HATOC “wish list” for the new year.

17.135. Finance and Human Resources:

a)The payments listed in Appendix 1were considered. Owing to Cllr Barnes being away there was no second signatory for cheque 2451 payable to Cllr Taylor so whilst two payments of 147.34 and £4.99 are on the list of transactions, this cheque (for £152.33) will need a second signature when an additional signatory has been appointed. Cllrs Cole/Shepley and all agreed (bar one abstention Cllr Taylor) that all payments and receipts be approved.

b)Future Grass Cutting: More information is needed before the council can make the necessary comparisons between purchasing a Grass Cutting Machine and Employing the services of a new contractor to cut the grass. A proper schedule for tenders needs to be drawn up. The Clerk/Chairwill contact grass cutting machine suppliers to inform them that a decision cannot be made until January.Cllr Weeks will be temporarily co-opted onto the Maintenance Committee for this task so that he can give advice and he and the Clerk will work together to draw up a schedule for tenders.

A non-agenda discussion about Section 106 monies took place and it was clarified that if there is a chance that such monies can be lost because a particular earmarked project is frustrated/falls through, then these funds can be transferred to other agreed projects. An example of this would be the “Tuckers Brook” money which was transferred to the Millennium Meadow project.

17.136. Palm Cross Green Development. There was no new update.

17.137. Committees and working groups -brief updates were received from the following committees and groups:

Communications: The website has been live for 3 weeks; but was down for a couple of days last week there were some problems with the site having been somehow compromised. This has now been resolved. Cllr Whybrow has given a very helpful critique and queried the target demographic that the site was aimed at. It was clarified that this was a Parish Council site not a community site. At present the home page lacks lustre as the text was merely transferred from the previous old site. Cllr Whybrow kindly volunteered to come up with a more suitable composition. Cllr Shepley will provide the Clerk with a copy of the Welcome Booklet to assist. (There are limited supplies so this will be marked as a “do not remove from parish Office” copy).

The Clerk reminded that the Parish OfficePrintercontract expires in March 2018 and there is a 90 day notice period. A new quote had already been provided by the current supplier a couple of months ago. This will be added to the December Agenda.

Neighbourhood Plan Group Report to the Parish Council was read out by the Clerk (copy available on the website or upon request from the Parish Office.Their next Meeting is on 14th November.

Maintenance Committee: Cllr Cole willremove the ivy/plant growth affecting street lighting along Barracks Road wall if someone can help with ladder. Cllr Taylor will assist. The mats in the play park also need to be pressure washed off as they are slippery.

Parish Paths Partnership (P3):Cllr Weeks will begin updates on P3 at the next meeting.

17.138. Copper’s Corner: Cllr Colehad spoken landowners about the possibility of acquiring some land for the future construction of additional footway and there are indications that they would not be opposed to discussions in future. Further investigation is necessary.

17.139. Bus Stop: An update was given by Cllr Gilbert earlier in the meeting.

17.140. Modbury “Citizen’s /Big Clean upday. It was generally agreed that a Working Group (Cllrs Middleton, Shepley and Whybrow) should be formed so that arrangements/logistics can be discussed. A date for this event will be set at the December meeting.

17.141. The publication of councillors contacttelephone numbers was discussed. Councillors that were present agreed their phone numbers could be published on their profiles on the Website. Clerk will update the Website.

17.142. Parking in Modbury: Cllr Harvey raised the issue he experiences as a driver for Modbury Caring. Parking in Modbury general is a problem, in particular, there is a shortage of patient parking at the health centre (with only 5 parking spaces). He felt that in view of the size of the area it covers there should be more parking available for patients. It was generally agreed that the PC would support some revision of the Health Centre parking arrangements/seek their views on it. The Clerk will write to the health centre.

17.143. Adoption of Benches/Seats in Modbury, by Councillors. Cllr Harvey hadpreviously offered to adopt the seat on the left going up Prigden Hill). Cllr Weeks currently looks after 4/5 seats. MPC has a duty of care to look after the parish seats. Cllr Weeks will go through the current schedule to update it and will allocate seats to specific councillors. This will be ratified at the December meeting.

17.144. Correspondence:

a)The Council considered whether it would wish to take part in Brixton Parish Council’s “Quiet Lane Status” project.Cllrs Weeks/Shepley and all agreedthat MPC should join in with Brixton to explore this further.

b)Mike Day of JACS (UK) Ltd’s email “Village Gateways” waspostponeduntil next year as council monies are needed elsewhere at present.

c)Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) Draft Integrated Risk Management Plan Consultation(31st December,)was postponeduntil the December meeting.

d)Cllr Shepley and the Clerk will attend the South Hams District Council Town and Parish Council event on the evening of 27th November.

e)The Council discussed possible projects that might qualify for TAP Funding 2017/18. Cllr Weekssuggested the new Community Orchard could do with start-up funding. SHDC are to clear the land but access to site and a link to existing Millennium Meadow will need sorting out. Also the creation of 5 parking spaces at the top of GalpinStreet. The Clerk clarified that to qualify there has to be specified,innovative, community project. Quotes must be obtained for specifics for submission with any application, along with a precis of the works/project aims and goals etc. (Last year the Clerk secured funding for the new cycle racks by the health centre).If anybody has any projects then please get quotes prior to the December meeting when this will be considered.

f)Discussions about theCommunity Re-investment Projects Fundwere postponed until the December meeting.

g)Last yearCllr Huntley’s Locality Fund contributed£160 for “two-way” radiosand Christmas lights rental.There is some money left in the pot.Cllr Shepleymentioned that Modbury Tiddlers are looking for money for equipment and carpet. There would be no conflict with the Playgroup as this groups is for new born to 4 year oldswith the purpose of introducing new mothers to other mothers. This Scouts for such funding for their hut also.

h)A letter from Beers Solicitors had been received confirming their instructions to Act in connection with the new Lease for the Scout Hut. There is no provision in their paperwork for the Scouts to bear their legal costs. The Clerk will contact them to inform them the Scouts will be paying all legal costs.

17.146.Cllr Whybrow gave a brief update onChampernowne Play Park. He has now clarified that the Steering Group are asking Modbury Parish Council take on the responsibility of management of the equipment i.e. an inspection (costing £70 per year) and maintenance regime. The Memorial Play Park Inspection fees for the current year are under £200. Cllr Wybrow would be happy to attend a 1 day course run by ROSPA at Exeter which would enable him to be able to carry out monthly inspections. The qualification lasts for 3 years. An annual Inspection would still need to be carried out by an Inspector. Cllr Whybrow will prepare a costing proposal to be put forward at the December meeting.

Meeting closed 10.15pm

Signed by Chair: ………………………………….Dated: ………………………………………..

- 1 -