STINCHCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
HELD ON WEDNESDAY 4TH JULY 2007 AT 7 30PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL

Present                     In Attendance
Mr G Brown (Chairman)       Mr D Wride (District Councillor)
Mrs M Shaw (Vice Chairman)  Mr D Andrewartha (County Councillor)
Mr R Bartlam
Mr J Sant                   Apologies for Absence
Mr j Larroucau (Clerk)      Mrs M Wannell

Chairman welcomed the District Councillor and opened the Meeting.

1-Approval of Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 16th may 2007

The Minutes as circulated were accepted as true record of the Meeting and signed by the Chairman. (81/07)

2-Matters arising from Minutes

-Trustee to Stinchcombe United Charities-Clerk has notified the Secretary of the Charity of Mr Sant’s nomination. (82/07)

-Quarterly Newsletter-Mr Bartlam reported that this is now likely to be self funding. Mrs Shaw then proposed and Mr Sant seconded the motion that the current £80 payment to cover the production costs of the Newsletter be discontinued and that a new payment should be agreed with Mr Bartlam at the next Meeting. This was unanimously agreed. (83/07)

It was also agreed that any payments made by sponsors should be paid into the Parish Council account. (84/07)

It was noted that Mr Bartlam will be relinquishing the editorship of the Newsletter next April  and  that he will be continuing to organise its publication. A new Editor will therefore need to be appointed. The matter will be raised at the Parish Plan Meeting on 9th July next. The Chairman then thanked Mr Bartlam warmly for his outstanding efforts in the production of the Newsletter to a fully professional standard. (85/07)

-Playsafety Ltd-Clerk has asked the Company for a detailed report on the circumstances leading to the failure of the Junior Swings shortly after the annual safety inspection and has informed the Company that the failed timbers are available for inspection at the back of the Village Hall. The report is awaited. (86/07)

-Gloucestershire Highways-Despite further exchanges of Emails a response to the October letter is still awaited. Clerk intends to write to the Chief executive of the County Council. Clerk was asked to send copies of the correspondence to the County Councillor. (87/07) Action-Clerk

-Bund at Clingre Farm-A synopsis of the current situation for the attention of the District Councillor will be prepared next week. (88/07)Continuing Action-Mr Sant

-Revised Code of Conduct-The letter from SDC has been circulated to Councillors. (89/07)

3-Reports by District and County Councillors

-Mr Wride reported that the Planning Application by Messrs Saintsbury for the Dursley Supermarket had been approved. He also noted that the financial accounts of the District Council had been approved and asked for the paper on Enforcement Procedures prepared for the recent Planning Training Session to be circulated to Councillors. (90/07)  Action-Clerk

-Mr Andrewartha-reported that new procedures are being introduced for contacting Gloucestershire Highways. This will be the subject of an E mail. Pilot trials are proceeding on switching off street lighting after midnight in selected locations with the objectives of saving energy costs and reducing CO2 generation. Comments have been received from Residents. Finally Mr Andrewartha reported on the work in progress at the County Council to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. (91/07)

4-Planning Applications

Current Planning Applications were reviewed.Clerk reported on the various Enforcement Actions 

The Crest Nicholson Signs at Taits Hill and Echo Lane were still in place. The matter has been raised again with SDC Enforcement Officers but is seen to be a low priority issue. 

SDC Officers have held a Site Meeting with the Agent at Melksham Court on the matter of the fencing. Close boarded fencing near the gate will be taken down and ultimately replaced by Hedging. The Listed Building Officer has been involved in discussions regarding the attachment of fencing to the structure of the Barn. It is unclear whether new Planning Applications will be raised to cover the changes and what the degree of consultation with the Parish Council will be. Mr Wride agreed to look into these matters. (91/07) Action-Mr Wride

5-Adoption of Modified Code of Conduct

Chairman outlined the three options presented in the SDC letter previously circulated to Councillors. Mr Bartlam then proposed and Mr Sant seconded the motion that Option A be adopted ie that Stinchcombe Parish Council adopt the Local Authorities Model Code of Conduct 2007 including paragraph 12(2) with effect from 1st September 2007 and also the non enforceable Annex to the Code  the Statement of General Principles from the same date. This was agreed unanimously. (92/07) Clerk was asked to notify SDC accordingly. (93/07) Action-Clerk

6-Footpaths and Rights of Way

Clerk noted that the Bridleway signs on Oldhill Lane have been repositioned to  more prominent  locations and that the surfaces of the various bridleways in the Parish have degraded significantly following the recent heavy rain storms. (94/07)

7-Highways

Clerk noted that a letter has been received from Gloucestershire Highways asking Parishes for suggestions and comments on switching off street lighting after midnight. This will be circulated to Councillors. (95/07) Action-Clerk

Clerk has contacted Gloucestershire Highways on the unsatisfactory state of manhole covers following the recent resurfacing of Dursley Road Woodfield. This was noted by the County Councillor. (96/07)

8-Facilities

Chairman noted that two issues needed to be addressed in regard of the Playground, the failure of the Junior Swings and the new .access track to the field behind the Village Hall. Clerk was asked to arrange a site meeting with Officers of Dursley Rugby Football Club to review the implications of the new access on the siting of the swings considering  that the Parish Council had budgeted for their replacement. (97/07)    Action-Clerk

9-Community Safety

Clerk intends to raise the matter of the recent break in on Taits Hill Road at the next Meeting of the Dursley Cluster of Parishes and ask the Police representatives for further details. (98/07) Action-Clerk

Mr Sant noted that the schedule of visits of the Mobile Police Station remains unclear. Clerk will raise the matter again with the Community Safety Officer. (99/07) Action-Clerk

10-Parish Plan Update

Chairman noted that a Public Meeting had been arranged on Monday 9th July at 7 30PM in the Village Hall. (100/07)

11-Correspondence

The Schedule of Correspondence is appended to these Minutes. (101/07)

12-Financial Matters

-Approval of Accounts for Financial Year ended on 31st March 2007 Clerk noted that the accounts had  been audited by the Internal Auditor. The annual Return was now being presented to  the Parish Council for formal approval.

-Statement of Accounts-Mr Sant proposed and Mrs Shaw seconded the motion that the Statement of Accounts (Section 1 of the Annual Return) be adopted as presented. This was unanimously agreed. The Statement was then signed by the Chairman (102/07)

-Annual Governance Statement-Mr Sant proposed and Mr Bartlam seconded the motion that the Annual Governance Statement (Section 2 of the Annual Return) be adopted as presented. This was unanimously agreed. The Statement was then signed by the Chairman. (103/07)

-The Statement of Receipts Payments and Authorisations was approved and is appended to the Minutes. The Building Society Account was verified. (104/07)

13-Reports by Councillors

-Mrs Shaw noted that the footpath along the far boundary of Stagglers Field had been disturbed by recent power cable burying operations and was in a dangerous state. It was agreed to discuss the matter at the Site Meeting with DRFC Officials. (105/07)

Other Councillors had nothing further to report. (106/07)

14-Dates of Next Meetings
-Wednesday 29th August 2007 at 7 30PM
-Wednesday 10th October 2007 at 7 30PM

The Meeting was closed at 9 35PM

J Larroucau (Clerk)                                                         min 203