Minutes of the Meeting held at Church House, Widecombe on Thursday 25th May2000
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PRESENT Mr.N.Smerdon (Chairman), Mr.R.Newbolt-Young (Vice), Mr.S.Booty,
Mr.M.Nosworthy, Mr.M.Pascoe, Mrs.M.Phipps, Mr.C.Whale, Mr.S.Yates.
IN ATTENDANCE Cllr.H.Whitley, Mr.Claxton, five members of the public and the Clerk.
APOLOGIES Cllr.LWhittaker
ELECTION OF OFFICERS Mr.N.Smerdon was proposed for chairman by Mr.Pascoe andseconded by Mr.Newbolt-Young there being no other nominee Mr.Smerdon was duly elected for another year. Mr.Pascoe declined to stand as Vice Chairman foranother year. Mr.Newbolt-Young was proposed by Mr.Nosworthy and seconded by Mr.Whale. and duly elected as Vice Chairman for one year.
COMMITTEES
Other Committee Representatives were accepted by
Church House Committee: Mrs.Phipps
Dartington Rural Archive: Mr.P.Hirst
DNP Consultative Group: Mr.Newbolt-Young
Widecombe District Sports Group: Mr.Pascoe
Rural Aid Fund Committee: Mr.Nosworthy
DAPC: Mr.Smerdon
National Park Centres Committee: Mrs. Phipps
Divisional Surveyor Liaison: Mr.Nosworthy
Councillors were asked by the Chairman to let the respective Committees know of the names and addresses of the new representatives.
2330 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
(i) Mr.Claxton who had been invited to the meeting to inform Councillorsabout the Widecombe Web-Site began by making clear that the History Group wished other groups within the Parish to participate. The main aim was to create publicinformation and hopefully receive back reactions through e-mail. A number of pages were already being placed by the Fair Committee, the school, holidayaccommodation and hopefully the Parish Council.
The organisers made sure that it would be non-profit making and any incomefrom adverts would go towards the cost of annual fees. Mr.Claxton said there had been over 100 hits during April.
It was decided to place the minutes of the monthly Parish Council meeting on the Web. The Clerk will send a diskette to Mr.Claxton each month.
(ii) Hastoe Housing Association ; confirmation has been received that both Teignbridge District Council and Hastoe Housing Association will be representedat the June meeting of the Parish Council when an up-date on the housing development will be given.
The Clerk distributed documents received from both bodies relating to the criteria of eligibility for housing. Councillors were reassured that they wouldbe consulted on the methods used for the construction of the list of eligible residents and on the actual process used for selection.
(iii) Use of Widecombe Car Park ; the Clerk read the letter from Teignbridge District Council that had been sent by way of explanation for the way thefilming crew had taken over the Coach Park on two days before Good Friday. The Councillors did not find the explanation satisfactory .
The Clerk informed the Council that Mr.Gray had offered to attend a future meeting of WPC to discuss the TDC Review of Car Park charges. In reply the Clerkis to offer any Thursday in June or July for representatives of TDC to meet with the Parish Council
(iv) Community Forum : it was agreed that a Councillor would attend this months Community Forum meeting at Dartmoor National Park Headquarters. The Clerkconfirmed that he had placed the matter of the proposed road restrictions at Newbridge on the agenda of the Forum meeting.
(v) The National Park Best Value Performance Plan 2000/01 was issued for circulation for Councillors to read.
(vi) Millennium Project :The Moorland Merrymakers have sent a letter to the Co-pordinator of the Millennium Time Capsule Project, Chris Mayhead informingthe Councillors of their intention to place items of interest in the Time Capsule. If all organisations responded in a similar positive way the Projectwill be a success. Mr.Pascoe reported that Mr.Mayhead was making good progress. However, Mrs.Phipps reported that she had not received the letter distributed toevery household informing them of the Project.
The Clerk reminded Councillors that he would send out a suggested format forthe inscription on the Millennium Boulder with the minutes of this meeting. Councillors were asked to amend this format if they felt necessary.
2331 CORRESPONDENCE
(i) Modernising the NHS Consultation : Councillors were informed that therewas an invitation to attend a consultation meeting on 26th May at Newton Abbot.
(ii) Friends of Widecombe Primary School Appeal : after receiveing the letterfrom Mrs.Boston it was decided that ×100 would be donated towards the purchase of items for the children who attended after school activities.
(iii) TALC : as the meeting of the Association of Local Councils was being held this evening there would be no representation from the Parish Council.
(iv) Devon Local Transport Plan 2001-2006 Consultation Document: this document was placed for circulation to the Councillors. The Clerk also read theletter from County Councillor Mrs. Lesley Whittaker asking that we respond to Devon County Council on this document. It was decided that the Clerk shouldrespond mentioning road safety near the village school and also the on-going matter of the 40 mph speed limit on Moorland roads.
(v) Women’s Royal Voluntary Service appeal : it was felt that although this Service was a good cause, the Council had already donated large sums todeserving groups.
(vi) The Old Grist Mill Leat : The Clerk reported that he had received atelephone call from the owner of the Mill complaining about the barbed wire fence and the lack of progress on the water that was not flowing through theParish Field to his property. The land registry entry for the field was read to Councillors. In it the right was given for the owner of the Mill to have accessto the field to maintain the flow of water. However, there was no indication on this title that the Parish Council had a responsibility to supply this water. Itwould appear that the cause of the problem rested with SWEB who had placed a pylon on the neighbouring land in such a way as to divert the stream water awayfrom the leat leading to the Mill via the Parish Field.
The Chairman reported that he had checked that the barbed wire fence placedaround the field had been done correctly. The owner of the Mill also had the right to access onto the field to maintain his own fence on the North side ofthis property adjoining the Parish Field.
It was decided to ask the Clerk to convey this information, together with acopy of the Land Register entry to Mr. and Mrs. Denman of the Old Grist Mill.
2332 PLANNING
(i) 0281/00 Wren Cottage, Bonehill Lane : Recommended for approval.
(ii) 0478/99 Badgers Holt, Dartmeet, Amended Plan : ditto
(iii) 0262/00 Blackslade Manor, Widecombe : ditto also that the Parish Council strongly supported the principle of modernising old buildings to keepthem viable as businesses and homes as well as maintaining them as attractive listed buildings.
(iv) Street Naming and Numbering : the new property at Poundsgate will in future be known as The Drydens
(v) 0286/00 Higher Northway Farm : ditto as for (iii) above.
2333 HIGHWAYS
(i) Proposed Road restriction at Newbridge : the Clerk reported that on the instruction of the Chairman he had telephoned DCC Highways Department to ask whyno response had been received from the Council’s communications dating back to February 2000.
Mr.Bob Jones reported to the Clerk that there was to be a meeting next Tuesday 30th May between DNPA, DCC Highways and Cllr.L.Whittaker to discuss theproposed solutions to continued damage to the Bridge at Newbridge.
The Parish Council was alarmed that this meeting had been called withoutreference to the PC and also without representation from same. The Clerk would attempt to contact both Cllr Whittaker and Bob Jones before the meeting toconvey the deep concern of the WPC on the proposals to issue licences for vehicles to cross the bridge.
(ii) Other items of road maintenance were reported to Mr.Nosworthy for liaison with the County Surveyor.
2334 MATTERS RAISED BY THE CHAIRMAN
(i) The Chairman thanked the Councillors for the past years successesespecially considering the fact that those who resigned last May carried with them so many years of experience.
(ii) Mr.Smerdon also reported that he had received an estimate from Mr.C.Dry for the repair of the three Parish Council Notice boards. This was accepted.
(iii) Mr.Pascoe reported that the toilet lights could not be turned off. He asked if TDC could address this matter as this not only wasted money but gavethe impression that the toilets were open when they were in fact locked at night. This might encourage vandalism.
(iv) Local Needs Houses : Mr.Pascoe also reported that the DNPA officer in charge of the new housing development should be encouraged to consult with theParish Council on matters relating to the ‘Finishing’ of the site. eg. the possible entry to the land by cattle and ponies and the naming of the site. TheClerk was asked to write to Mr.G.Wall the senior planning officer of DNPA.
2335 DELEGATES REPORTS
There were no reports from Councillors
2336 FINANCE
Expenditure
(i) Clerk’s Salary £109.39
(ii) Disbursements £25.92
(iii) Hire of Hall 4 months £27.00
(iv) Church House Cttee Rural Aid Grant £3,710.01
(v) Audit Charges £104.59
(vi) Cornhill Insurance Premium £123.90
(vii) Friends of Widecombe School £100.00
Councillors were asked to sign the Bank of Ireland Mandate so that any two of the nine Councillors could sign a cheque for future transfers from deposit tocurrent account.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 10.00 pm.