The First Meeting of the new year of Stoke Gabriel Parish Council was held on
Monday 16th May 2011 in the Village Hall
19 members of the public were present
Present: Mr R Tully (Chairman), Mrs C Hunt, Miss E Bridge, Miss P Ellis, Mr P. Fenwick, Mrs R. Garner Mr H Rawlings and Mr J Robinson.
In Attendance District Cllr. R. Rowe
Cllr Ellis asked for a minutes silence in memory of Nick Hill who was a Parish Councillor for many years
1 Apologies – Mr I. Jones
2 To elect Chairman and Vice Chair –
It was proposed by Cllr Hunt and seconded by Cllr Bridge that Cllr Tully be re-elected as Chairman. This proposal was carried unanimously. It was proposed by Cllr Tully and seconded by Cllr Ellis that Cllr Hunt be re-elected as Vice Chair. This proposal was carried unanimously. Cllr Tully thanked the Councillors for their support and for the honour of being Chairman for another year.
3 Councillors to sign forms of Acceptance of Office and Undertaking to Observe the Authority’s Code of Conduct – the elected members present signed their forms in the presence of the Proper Officer of the Council. Cllr Robinson advised that Cllr Jones had signed his form after the election and before he left for holiday. Forms for General Notice of Registrable Interests were handed out to councillors with instruction to return them to Cllr Robinson as soon as possible for submission to the Monitoring Officer.
4 To consider formation of Committees – The Chairman advised that he would like a new committee formed to oversee and monitor current major development such as Midas Homes and White Rock. It was agreed that Cllr Fenwick should head this Committee together with Cllr Garner. It was agreed that the planning Committee would be chaired by Cllr Hunt with Cllrs Ellis, Bridge and Robinson attending. The Finance Committees would be Cllrs Robinson and Jones with the Chairman attending. Cllr Hunt advised that Cllrs were welcome to attend any of the sub committee meetings and that if there was a contentious or difficult planning application this would be brought to the attention of the full Council who would be expected to make any decisions.
5 Police Report – PC Nick Talbot attended the meeting and advised that his shifts would soon be changing but PSCO Paula Frain would still be visiting the Parish regularly. PC Talbot reminded the meeting about Community Messaging which is a “ring around” system either by telephone or e-mail to advise Parishioners of any issues and to enable Parishioners to advise the police of any suspicions they might have. Cllr Ellis advised that the neighbourhood watch required a coordinator and agreed to liaise with PC Talbot. The question of speeding within the village was raised. PC Talbot advised that a Speed Indicator Device machine would be deployed soon on both Aish Road and Paignton to advise drivers of their speed. DCC would be contacted to arrange new 30 MPH signs to be erected on both roads leading into the village.
6 To confirm the minutes of the last meeting on 18th April 2011
Taken as read and signed by the Chairman,
7 Matters arising from the Minutes – None
8 Chairman’s Report - The Chairman welcomed the new Cllrs and looked forward to working with them. Cllr Tully raised the subject of travellers and asked everyone to be vigilant and to report if they appear in the Parish. Cllr Hunt requested that local caravan sites should also be warned when they are in the area.
9 Reports from County & District Councillors District Cllr Rowe stated that the last year had been taken up with the issues regarding Rowes Farm and the conclusions. The Parish had got a better plan than when it was first started two years ago. The local football club premises were coming on well with the roof going up at present. The cricket club were also busy with new projects such as a new pavilion, bowls greens and a croquet lawn. Each District Cllr is allocated £ 1, 00.00 each year and Cllr Rowe advised that she had given money to the Scouts for refurbishing their hut, the football club for junior training and to the school for their cookery club. The problems concerning travellers continue in East Devon. It is important to monitor our boundary with Torbay especially the proposed developments in Paignton Road. Cllr Rowe advised that there had been some properties built in the Parish which were considered in fills but there were some properties which were owned but had no residents. Cllr Rowe also stated that the Council was waiting to find out more about potential development for the Community Land Trust. There were concerns about the local bus service subsidies which are likely to be cut again and it is possible that we could get a much reduced service after September. Finally Cllr Rowe thanked the Chairman and Council for their excellent work and also to Cllr Robinson for his duel role and stated that in the opinion of South Hams District Council Stoke Gabriel Parish Council was one the best run Councils in the District.
10 Planning
The following planning applications were considered at a planning meeting held on 16h May 2011 at which the following councillors were present: Hunt, Ellis, Robinson, and Bridge.
1) Home Farm, Waddeton – Amendments to application for demolition of wall and new porch
No objection
2) 10 Rydon Acres – Attic conversion No objection
Planning Applications Granted by SHDC - None
Planning Applications refused by SHDC - None
Applications Withdrawn - None
Appeals Received by SHDC None
11 Items raised on behalf of the Clerk - Cllr Robinson advised that he had received a request to consider changing the start time of Council meetings to 7.30 or 8.00pm. This was discussed and it was agreed that the start times should not be changed. It was suggested that an additional Council surgery could be held once a month to enable Parishioners to put issues and comments to Cllrs. It was agreed to hold additional consultation meetings at “Emma’s” in Paignton Road on a Thursday at 2.pm for one hour as an experiment. The first surgery would be on Thursday 9th June. An invitation had been received to attend a SHDC Community Involvement workshop on Tuesday 24th May at Follaton House. It was agreed that Cllrs Fenwick and Garner would attend. Cllr Robinson passed a thank you card from Rebecca Gilmore to the Chairman which thanked the Council for the gift recently presented to her for her efforts regarding the new play area.
12 Hoyle Copse – Cllr Garner advised that the school were looking at involving the pupils in forest ring and asked whether they could use the Copse. It was agreed that Cllr Jones would be consulted on his return.
13 Highway and Hedgerow Matters – Cllr Ellis advised that the sign in Broad Path had been damaged, the Footpath sign in Hillfield was broken and the litter bin at the War Memorial was full and had not been emptied for some time.
14 Matters raised by Councillors – Cllr Ellis asked whether planning permission was required for the erection of poly tunnels. Cllr Hunt agreed to find out. Cllr Bridge raised concern over the Gabriel Court swimming pool which was full of water and unguarded. It was agreed that a further letter be written to the owners and an additional letter to the Environment Officer at SHDC. Cllr Rawlings requested that as he was a web site designer he would like to look at improving and updating the Village web site. It was agreed that he could see what he could do and report back to the Council. District Cllr Rowe suggested a Cyber café type course to teach those without computers how to visit web sites. It was agreed that a Communication Committee be set up to assist with this idea. Cllrs Fenwick, Garner and Rawlings agreed to work on this idea. Cllr Fenwick advised that he was arranging a meeting with Nick Hodgson of Midas Homes, now Linden Homes, to discuss the development activity at Rowes Farm. Cllr Robinson advised that since he took over the role of the Council representative on the board of school governors he was unable to attend all their meetings and requested that a new Cllr take over this role. Cllr Rawlings indicated that he would be happy to do this and it was agreed that Cllr Robinson would contact the Chairman of the Governors. Cllr Tully advised that he had received a reply to the letter sent to Cllr John Tucker, the Leader of the Council. In his letter Cllr Tucker advised that he thought the view that the inspectors sound findings in respect of the five DPDs was extremely good news for South Hams and the District Council had not ignored local views.
14 Accounts
Cllr Robinson requested agreement to sign the Annual Return form prior to the Audit being completed and that £ 345.45 had been received from DCC as their contribution towards the verge cutting
To agree the following payment of accounts
It was proposed by Cllr Ellis and seconded by Cllr Bridge to make these payments:
Aviva Insurance – Annual insurance £ 598.49
Planscape – April grass cutting £ 178.26
South Hams District Council – Annual play ground inspection £ 120.00
There being no other business the meeting closed at 9.15pm
Next Meeting: Monday 27th June 2011 in the Village Hall.