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Minutes of the meeting of Yarcombe Parish Council held at 8.00pm on
Monday 2nd June 2014 in the Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe
Present: Councillor Lesley Pidgeon (Chairman),Cllrs A Long, C Button-Stephens, N. Randle, S. Horner,B Anning,A Wiggins, D Barnes, H Derryman, P Diviani, A Moulding, and W Randle (Parish Clerk). No members of the public were present.
1. Apologies
None
2.Declarations of Interest
Cllr B Anning for item 12b
3.To receive a report from PCSO Phil Anning / PC Clive Vickery
PCSO Phil Anning attended the meeting to give the police report.
Three crimes have been reported:
a) Criminal damage to a motor vehicle at Yarcombe. Rear windscreen smashed of vehicle parked on driveway.
b)Burglary at Yarcombe. Large metal shutter door to barn rammed by unknown vehicle; quad bike & trials bike stolen from inside.
c)Dog worrying livestock at Marsh. Dog escaped into farmer’s field and attacked a sheep.
PCSO Anning also recommended the use of a free app for modern smart phones which is called ‘Track my phone’. This app is very useful as it can track the whereabouts of lost or stolen phones even if the SIM card has been removed.
4.To confirm the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 7th April 2014
The minutes were confirmed and signed as a correct record.
5.Reports on ongoing activities of the Council
a)Update on Affordable Housing meeting held on 7th May – there was no progress to report as we are now waiting for a revised proposal from Richard Jones-Perrott.
b)Neighbourhood Plan update–the Clerk reported on our progress in the process so far. She was pleased to say that she had received confirmation that our application for a government grant had been successful for the full amount of £7,000.
Approval for the contract with the Consultancy was agreed. The fee proposal from the Consultancy for £5,600 was also approved and signed and it was agreed that when the grant money was deposited in the bank the Clerk should pay the first stage invoice of £1,800 after our July meeting.
The Clerk reported on the meeting at Dunkeswell on 29th May that she and Graham Wadey had attended. The stages of the process had been explained again and a timescale agreed. The bulk of the work should be done by the end of December and the report will be written up in Spring 2015.
The display for all the parishes’ launch events was available to look at along with aerial maps of Yarcombe for us to use. It was agreed that our launch event will be at the Village Market on Saturday 12th July when the community will be encouraged to give its views on local issues.
A steering group needs to be formed to check and approve the process and so far, three Councillors, the Clerk and one member of the community have agreed to sit on this group. Terms of reference for the Steering Group will need to be approved and signed at our July meeting.
A press release has gone out and the parishes have been divided into three areas for ease of working. Yarcombe will join Membury, Chardstock and Stockland in the East group.
The Councillors were asked to think about specific issues to Yarcombe that they would wish to be included in the Community Council’s survey and the following were suggested: rural broadband, affordable housing, traffic speed through the village and access on and off the A303, particularly at Stopgate junction.
6. Open session for public participation
None
7. Discussion of possible projects for this year
This item followed up a suggestion by Cllr Randle that surplus funds should be earmarked for definite purposes in the coming financial year.
The following suggestions were made for further consideration:
a)Laying of hardcore for village parking on part of the layby or possibly elsewhere in the village.
b)A contribution to a community facility at the back of the Village Hall.
c)An additional lockable noticeboard outside the Church.
d)A new printer.
e)Grouping together with other parishes to employ our own lengsthman.
f)A suggestion was made that members of the community might have a project in mind.
8.Financial matters
a)Payments were approved and made in line with the following schedule:-
Date / Payee / Particulars of Payment / Cheque No / Amount12/05/14 / Community First / Annual Insurance Renewal / 000411 / £199.01
12/05/14 / DALC / Annual Subscription / 000412 / £104.58
12/05/14 / Doreen Parris / Welcome Tea Refreshments / 000413 / £10.65
12/05/14 / Wendy Randle / Salary 01/04/14-30/04/14 + £19.28 Anti virus software expenses / 000414 / £253.28
Date / Payee / Particulars of Payment / Cheque No / Amount
02/06/14 / Peter Tarrant / Website fee / 000415 / £11.99
02/06/14 / Wendy Randle / Clerk’s salary 01/05/14- 31/05/14 / 000416 / £234.00
02/06/14 / Sandra Bristol / Internal audit / 000417 / £80.00
b)Presentation of end of year accounts- An internal audit has been completed successfully and the end of year accounts for 2013 – 2014 were presented and approved. Cllr Pidgeon signed the Annual Return form that will now be sent to the External Auditor.
9.To hear reports from individual Councillors / Clerk
a) The Clerk reported on the press release that had gone out about last year’s ‘grab boxes’ Parishes Together project.
b)Cllr Moulding reported on the Parishes Together Funding meeting at Axminster that he had recently attended. Several ideas for projects for the coming year were discussed and these will be circulated shortly.
10.Parish paths
Nothing to report at this meeting.
11.Highway matters
a) The Clerk had received a reply from Richard Brown regarding the request for road markings to make walking safer between Rag Lane and Pound lane to be restored and also regarding unsuitable vehicles using Rag Lane.
Mr Brown pointed out that it would be against DCC policy to mark any lines that might be regarded as a ‘virtual footway’ but that they would look again at the hatched lines at the top of Rag Lane to see if they need remarking.
Rag Lane is currently classified as a category 11 road and could be downgraded to category 12 which is defined as a green lane. It would therefore not receive any regular maintenance but vehicles would be able to use it if they wished.
It was agreed that the Parish Council could see no advantage in having it downgraded so the meeting resolved to leave it as it is.
b) The Highways log was updated.
12. Planning
a)14/1114/HRN Application for removal of 95m of hedgerow at Elscombe, Bishopswood
Yarcombe Parish Council object to the proposal. We have looked at the hedge. We can see the subsidence that Applicant mentions but we do not feel that removing the hedge is part of any solution to it. We also noted that the hedge has many native species within it.
b)14/0754/FUL & 14/0823/AGR Original and amended application for alterations to existing field access to create a new access track to serve Watchford Farm to include new hedgebank and tree planting.
Having read the additional information supplied, Yarcombe Parish Council still object to the applications and think that the entrance is best kept where it is in Brown Down Lane.
c)14/1270/FUL Application for single storey entrance lobby and utility, single storey garden room and dormer to first floor bedroom at Waterhayne Cottage, Yarcombe EX14 9AX
Yarcombe Parish Council would support this application to update the property.
13. To discuss items of general correspondence received
An offer has been received from the A303 Ahead team to speak at a future Parish Council meeting. It was agreed that this would be useful and that the Clerk would contact Katherine Bright with the dates of our next two meetings or alternatively let her know that we would make another evening available if necessary.
14. Publications received:-
a) Junkmail – Devon Community Recycling & Composting Network News
b) Healthwatch Voices
c)Helipad – Magazine of Devon Air Ambulance Trust
15. Date of next meeting – Monday 7th July2014
(Apologies from Cllrs Diviani and Moulding given in advance)