SHIPTON GORGE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting
13th January 2010.
David Smith Chairman (DS) Sally Parker (SP)
Richard Cunningham Deputy/Planning (DC) John Kent (JK)
Peter Varney Highways(PV) Peter Gates (PG)
Jean Ayers Village Hall /DAPTC (JA) Jane Mallet (JM)
Robert White Vice Playing Fields /Planning (RW)
Robert Langran Rights of Way (RL)
In attendance
Mark Parsons WDDC (MP)
Tom Grace Clerk
Meeting opened by DS at 7.30pm. No items from public
Item 637: Apologies for Absence from Simon Cleveland but report sent on Village plan. Council approved absences.
Item 638: Declarations of Interest. DS invited all councillors to declare any possible interests. There were none.
Item 639 Minutes of last meeting. As the Clerk’s computer had crashed it was proposed the minutes of the last meeting should be signed when the computer was fixed. Proposed by JA Seconded by RC. Vote unanimous.
Item 640 Matters arising from Minutes:
PV reported he had visited Innsacre about the hedge on the road, had found no one with authority available but will try again.
DS confirmed he had no recommendation about interest on the Council funds since Scottish Widows had ceased paying interest. He and TG will continue enquiries.
TG confirmed nothing had been heard from Townsend Engineering about security work to be done for the Council. TG was instructed to chase by phone.
PV recorded the Precept (Income) submitted to WDDC increased by 7.5% and TG was asked to incorporate that in the minutes of the last meeting. DS stated the Web Site upgrade was responsible for most of the increase.
Item 641: Additions to Council:
DS confirmed no applications had been sought for an election but he had circulated two CVs of Peter Gates and Mrs Jane Mallett. In the absence of any comments from any councillors these two were co-opted onto the Council with immediate effect. Peter was asked to assist PV with Highways and Jane was to assist RL on footpaths.
Proposed RW
Seconded JA. Vote unanimous.
Item 642 Clerk’s Report:
As instructed TG had written for guidance about planning for the new Shelter on the Playing Fields and had heard this would not be required.
He struggled to get an address for the King George Playing Fields Trust but he was continuing with enquiries. He had written to Dorset CC as landlord for their consent. He had lodged a search with Weymouth Land Registry to get a copy of any lease or other agreement about the playing fields and the return of that search was awaited.
It would become apparent due to time and other pressures TG admitted he had yet to get to grips with the accounts. There had been just two cheques (see General Finance) and he asked if a review of the accounts layout should be undertaken. He will report to the next meeting.
Item 643; Review decision about salt bins:
Due to the recent icy conditions the Council had been asked by one Councillor JA to review the decision in 2009 not to buy and fill salt bins. There was a general consensus there should be provision of a number of bins with discussion about size location and who would be the spreader. TG was asked to research, discuss with local residents and report back for next meeting.
Item 645 Resilience Officer:
A review from last January’s meeting was carried out. Councillor Amy Steele was the Resilience officer with a retired Councillor as her Deputy. Jane Mallet was appointed the Deputy and DS explained the concept. The Officer was to act as Disaster Manager in the event of a major crisis like extreme bad weather or a major disease outbreak. There was discussion whether TG or DS should be first point of contact but it was agreed this should be better researched and the individuals concerned better prepared. TG to liase with JM and AS to assist in research.
Item 646 Councillors Reports:
Planning:
RC commented there had been recent failures to advertise meetings on village notice boards. TG to change policy and to ensure he make telephone contact with any applicants personally.RC went on to explain the Council’s policy was to not advertise the application on the appropriate building unless it was in a conservation area or a listed building.
General Finance:
TG acknowledged he had not got to grips with the accounts mainly due to lack of need over the last two months. He will review the form of the current accounts before the next meeting asking if there is scope to simplify.
Two cheques 536 in favour of Ernie Thomas for £14.47 for phone bill contribution and 537 again in favour of Ernie Thomas for £50.19 for expenses (duly documented) should be ratified.
Proposal put by PV seconded by JA was passed unanimously.
Playing Fields:
In the absence of Amy Steel RW reported about the proposed Shelter showing plans prepared by Sam Chant. A proposal to proceed to tender of three builders was put by RL and seconded by RC carried unanimously. It was suggested TG should do the tender letters to Osmington Mills, Steve Elliot and Mark Parsons telling them there was a village group tendering to prove they had the expertise.Please note these minutes must be read as draft until approved by the full council at their next meeting in March
A work gang for maintenance of the playing fields will meet on Saturday 27th march at 10.am and all villagers are encouraged to assist.
Dorset Association Of Parish and Town Councils PACT:
JA reported she attended a meeting in November where the Speaker was Linwood Newman, Enforcement Officer for West Dorset Planning Department. He had urged members of the public to report instances of fly tipping and waste dumping which the Council would prosecute where there was sufficient evidence.
Rights of Way:
RL reported the closure order on the footpath across the seweragePlant expired in November and had not been renewed (subsequently an application has been made).
He advised a scheme to get minor works approved by?** but done by the Parish Council’s employee was under way. He was asked to get details and report to the next meeting.
Village Hall:
JA reported the Hall wanted to renew the heating system .TG indicated the Church had asked if storage heating being removed from his house would be available and JA indicated a more modern system was required for the hall.
Highways:
PV indicated some progress on a number of places around the village and he put this down to his work that may have contributed. He was concerned new potholes were appearing as a result of frost damage. He wanted input on parking outside Peas Hill Development and ideas to improve vehicle progress past.
He had a bundle of Dorset Timetables for trains and buses covering the whole county and was trying to find the best home for these. Suggestions about the Church porch or the pub were made but nothing positive decided. Any volunteers to display these should be made to PV or the Clerk.
Parish Plan:
PG read a report from Simon Cleveland a copy of which is attached.
Item 647 Clerk’s Correspondence Log:
TG reported he would like to see better access to this log and undertook to forward a copy to all councillors more frequently. In return it is hoped more people will ask for copy correspondence not just the Clerk.
DS reported he had been contacted by Simon Cleveland asking for the Council to note the emphasis on better communication via all
Methods especially Notice Boards. It seems the Village Society, who is in the process of replacing three Notice Boards and adding one new site outside the new Peas Hill site, feel the Council should own the boards. The Village Society has asked if the Council would purchase these new boards with a contribution from their own funds. This was agreed after debate and it was agreed the Council would be the owners of such boards.
Item 648: Annual Parish Meeting.
A date was fixed for the Annual Parish Meeting of 28th April and the Clerk is to circulate interested parties before the next meeting.
Item 649: Next Parish Council Meeting: 24th march 2010 due to Clerk’s absence on previous date suggested.
Meeting closed 9.25pm
UPDATE ON THE SHIPTON GORGE PARISH PLAN AND 2009 VILLAGE APPRAISAL
THE PARISH PLAN
The drafting to the proposed Parish Plan continues and it is planned to hold an open day in mid February 2010 where the draft plan will be presented to the Parish together with an exhibition of the various parts of the plan. Much has been gained from the 2009 Village Appraisal which will be explained shortly by Peter Gates.
The principal areas for inclusion in the Parish Plan, supported by the Appraisal results, are identified as:
- Communications.
- Water disposal from roads and paths.
- Road repairs (potholes)
- Integration and support to the Peashill Project.
- Taking advantage of local availability of funding for projects.
- Vehicle parking.
- Promotion of the Parish Council (based upon the Appraisal results that most people are content with the Parish council’s performance)
The Parish Plan presentation is planned to take place either on Fri/Sat 12/13 Feb or Fri/Sat 19/20 Feb. It is still planned Parish Plan will be published in both electronic and hard copy form in April/May.
RESULTS FROM THE VILLAGE APPRAISAL 2009
Progress from the last report is that now all the data from the paper entries and the on line data has been consolidated into spreadsheet form.
All the household data has been analysed into Bar and Pie chart form and is available to the Parish Plan Committee.
Fifty percent of the individual questionnaire has been analysed into Bar and Pie Chart form, the remainder will be completed before the end of January 2010 .
It remains then for this Bar and Pie Charts data to be edited into a publishable format.
Again I must emphasis that the amount of data is considerably larger than previous surveys and is taking time to compile.
Simon Cleveland
Chairman, Parish Plan Steering Group
13thJanuary 2010
Shipton Gorge Parish Council Meeting 13 January 2010
Web site report from Ernie Thomas
Following the Parish Council’s decision at its November meeting to upgrade the Shipton Gorge web site to the Joomla operating system, Damon Allen of Ensign IT has been transferring the site content onto the new system. Today Damon gave Ernie Thomas (webmaster) and Victoria Maxfield, who is assisting him, a comprehensive training session on Joomla and this demonstrated that it is a very considerable improvement over the old obsolete system. Some more work is needed over the next two weeks to fine tune the site content, but it is hoped the new site will go live by the end of January or soon after.
Ernie Thomas13 January 2010
