West Ashton Parish Council

West Ashton Parish Council

Please reply to the Clerk – Ms N Duke, 6 Shetland Close, Westbury, Wiltshire BA132GN

Tel: 01373 864127 email:

Minutes ofa meeting of the Parish Council held on Wednesday 18th January 2017 at 7.15 pm in the Village Hall, West Ashton.

Present: Cllr R Covington (Chair), Cllr M Workman, Cllr S Alford, Cllr Le Mare and Cllr H Barrow

In attendance: Nicola Duke (Parish Clerk)

Public Participation– There were no members of the public present.

• Highways– including Wiltshire Council consultation on traffic calming features, Bratton Road, which was noted as now being advertised.
• Wiltshire Council– no update due to Cllr Prickett’s absence.
• Police– no police presence, report previously circulated.
• Wiltshire Council works in the village–Cllr Alford reported he continued to liaise with the Parish Steward, who had now attended to the majority of the identified tasks. It was confirmed that he attended twice per month and prioritised his workload according to the requests send in by the parish council. Cllr Workman reported that along West Ashton Road there was a road sign in the ditch. Cllr Le Mare responded that the cutting of the hedge along that road had allowed the detritus in the ditch to be visible. Clearance of this ditch would be added to the list for the Parish Steward. It was also noted that the West Ashton sign had been hit by a vehicle some time ago and Cllr Alford had been liaising with Wiltshire Council and Cllr Prickett. It was agreed Cllr Workman would take this forward with Pat Whyte. Cllr Le Mare asked whether a couple of skips could be arranged to empty Blackball stream. Residents were happy to carry out the work but requested that Wiltshire Council supply the skips. The parish clerk would send in a request to Pat Whyte.
• Community speed watch–Cllr Workman reported that the figures had been sent into the police. A new volunteer (Jo Walton) had submitted her application form however, her training in December had been cancelled by the police. This was still to be re-arranged. Cllr Le Mare reported on the SID, which he was currently storing. He had been asking for volunteers for training but no one had come forward. It was confirmed that the training related to safety and enabled volunteers to move and erect the SID. Members agreed they would need to reconsider how to proceed with this project.
• Village Hall–redecorating had been carried out, noticeboards had been erected and there were plans to revamp the bar. There had been a complaint regarding noise at 9.30 pm on Saturday night and Wiltshire Council had carried out an inspection. There were a few adjustments required but overall there were no issues identified. The plan of the building needed to be updated following work carried out.
• West Ashton Magazine–the next edition was due in March. Cllr Workman noted that there was no sponsorship identified and this was noted to be have been a trial. Cllr Le Mare reported that this had been investigated but the feeling had been that adverts were not appropriate and sponsorship was unlikely without agreeing for some advertisement. The Chair agreed to discuss this with Geoff Watkins, who had been involved with the editing of the magazine.
• Neighbourhood Plan–the steering group meeting had been re-arranged and the next meeting was scheduled for Monday 23rd January 2017.
• Traffic calming–already covered above.
• Village defibrillator – to receive report from Cllr Alford as to an appropriate operating model to ensure maximum accessibility–it was reported on how the project had been delivered in Melksham. The issue had been that the unit was locked and it had been noted that this could create difficulties in gaining access. The Chair reported on the need for the unit to be regularly checked. He also reported on a scheme where users are asked to call 999 to obtain the code to unlock the unit. Cllr Workman reported that a road sign had been erected in Steeple Ashton and suggested that this could be useful in the West Ashton parish. It was resolved to purchase a defibrillator sign for £22.96 (proposed by Cllr Alford, seconded Cllr Covington) and the Chair would approach his NHS contact for additional support in addressing some of the issues.
• West Ashton crossroads – to consider proposal from Cllr Alford for the purchase of a wooden flower box–this was agreed as being a good idea and it was agreed to allocate up to £200 for its purchase and that Cllr Alford would source and plant (proposed Cllr Le Mare, seconded Cllr Covington). Cllr Workman would report this plan to Pat Whyte at Wiltshire Council.

There being no further business the meeting was closed at 8. 30pm.