Minutes of a MEETING OF LYTCHETT MATRAVERS PARISH COUNCIL

Held on Monday August 15th 2016 at 7:00 in the Methodist Church, Lytchett Matravers.

PRESENT were Cllrs M Colvey, A Bush, A Carswell, J Gracey, A Huggins, J Taylor, P Webb, E Wilson and Mr T Watton (Parish Clerk).

Dist Cllr W Meaden, and 3 members of the public were also present.

1. REceipt of apologies for absence – Cllrs A Cottman, K Norris, C Wood and County Cllr F Drane.

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

There was none.

3. CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS. The Chairman explained that the Council Chairman’s chain of office has been sent off to be updated. He reported that during the month he had attended an event to welcome the new minister to St Mary’s Church, and attended the Village Flower and Produce show to present prizes.

4. DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTEREST; AND CONSIDERATION OF REQUESTS FOR SPECIAL DISPENSATIONS UNDER SECTION 33 OF THE LOCALISM ACT 2011. There were none.

5. Minutes of Council Meeting on 18th July 2016 were approved as a true record of the meeting. The minutes were then signed by the Chairman.

6. MATTERS ARISING & UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS.

i. Minute 14, 21st September 2015 – website updating. In view of little progress being made by members submitting personal profiles, the Chairman indicated that he would prepare these himself.

ii. Minute 13, 20th June 2016 – securing Club Hall car park. Cllr Carswell has obtained quotations for two options for the proposed barrier. Action: Parish Clerk to circulate this in time for consideration at the September E&A cttee meeting.

iii. Minute 18, July 18th 2016 – footpaths: damaged bollard at Foxhills Road end of Stafford Row. It was noted that despite an explicit request to DCC to do so, the damaged bollard was NOT replaced like for like. It was also noticed that a second bollard has now been damaged. Action: Parish Clerk to report this to DCC.

7. District Cllrs report.

District Cllr Meaden reported that:

Most of the business dealt with by PDC during the month had been the reorganisation of local government in Dorset and the Partial Review issue. Regarding the latter, one of the tasks which had taken quite a bit of her time was that she had been personally invited into the homes of village residents to show them the options and leave paper response forms – which she then subsequently then later collected. This meant that especially residents who can’t get out were still able to place a response into the process. She also reported that she had collected hundreds of responses left in the Library – all of which were taken to Purbeck District Council. She emphasised to members that all of the responses being sent in on this matter have been entered into the database. Indeed, she commented that she had seen the staff doing this when I visiting their offices, on a random and uninvited basis. A Press Release is due to go out, and one of the facts within it says that the public response to this consultation has massively outstripped any other response to a public consultation run by PDC. This is all due to the exposure by such groups as CALM. All of the PDC councillors have been really impressed by the public response and greatly encouraged.

Cllr Meaden reported that there is a new Housing and Planning Act which came into being in May of this year and has a lot of detail still to come. A Councillor briefing by PDC officers points to this Act being the government’s way of streamlining and speeding up the planning process with penalties for councils who do not adhere to time limits which may be imposed for various stages of the process. She commented that on the “Housing” side of the Act, it seems to be targeting the private rented landlords and houses in multiple occupation with more safety legislation e.g. a fully certified electrical inspection with fines for non-compliance. She believes this will be a good thing for PDC because the District tends to be more vigilant than some other councils – and PDC has ended-up paying for the electrical inspections in order to keep rented accommodation in occupation – helping the Housing Register situation.

She reported that there has been an increase in the number of park homes being built – and some of these are now being used by PDC as temporary accommodation. She observed that this means that it is better for families to be temporarily housed in this way rather than in bed and breakfast – plus saving on the high cost in Purbeck of bed and breakfast accommodation.

In the village during the month Cllr Meaden has been involved in the proposed building in Eldons Drove. She spoke at the PDC Planning Committee supporting the objections of the Parish Council – although some of these had been addressed before the meeting. She commented that she felt it a great shame that the Neighbourhood Plan cannot be considered because it is not yet adopted. However, she reported that she had made some points drawn from the Plan document. She felt that the response of the Highways Engineer was most disappointing and when she raised the potential of traffic congestion issue with the school and the moving of the sports facilities he told the Chairman that he didn’t know anything about these issues and it still wouldn’t cause a problem. There were no objections in writing from the direct neighbours so she made points for consideration. However despite this the application was passed by PDC.

Cllr Meaden has been speaking to the Police and residents about inconsiderate parking on junctions and she has been contacted or spoken to about the brambles overhanging the pavement on Huntick Estate, plus the seat there being broken. To this, she was able to explain that the Parish Council was aware as it was spoken of in the Public Participation slot last month. Brambles also overhang the pavements in Wareham Road between the top bus stop and Eldons Drove plus at the lower end at Mr Palmer’s hedge. She commented that she has pointed out that hedge cutting cannot take place at this time of year, and it will hopefully be taken care of in the autumn. She observed that potholes continue to cause problems and seem to be ever increasing rather than decreasing. She noted that the closure of Colehill was well publicised and signed, took only the actual time stated and all signage etc was removed. She was asked by DCC highways for her opinion and gave a “satisfactory” response. In a Councillor survey on Highways generally her response was “Very dissatisfied” and she gave specific examples and job numbers. She has also escalated some jobs to the Highways Team Leader.

Regarding her civic duties, she reported that she had attended the Civic Walkabout in Wareham. She is entitled to an Escort when I attend these events. It is usually the spouse, but as she does not have one of those she has elected to invite a village resident. A different resident escorts her to each event and this appears to be very successful. The village resident who escorted her in Wareham was made very welcome and was given an information pack about Purbeck with some free entries to attractions. This resident is fairly new to our district so she was delighted with all the free information. Cllr Meaden will be attending the civic events in Ferndown and Portland in September plus it is Purbeck’s Civic Day on 7th September. The Portland event is mostly sitting and she has identified a very elderly village resident who wants to attend something but is not very mobile. Consequently she is making suitable arrangements for her to attend – and everyone at Purbeck and Portland has been very helpful.

8. County Councillor’s report

County Cllr Drane was unable to be present.

9. REPORTS FROM SUB-COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS

Village Hall Toilets Refurbishment Working Group. It was reported that the Village hall Committee has obtained a second set of estimates for this planned work.

Sports Club Governance Working Group. Cllr Webb reported that the minutes of the last Working Group meeting had been circulated to those who had attended. Cllr Bush reported that he had held a meeting with the Co-Treasurer and noted that he had been running the youth football accounts for the past 2 years. However it is understood that no progress has been made by the Sports club in supplying any of the missing financial / book-keeping information related to the period for which there is a gap. It was also noted that the Sports Club has not yet held the meeting to cover the range of topics identified at the last Working Group meeting. This meeting is also intended to be an inaugural meeting of the new Sports Club Committee.

Neighbourhood Planning Working Group. Cllr Bush commented that the Examiner was due to deliver an initial report w/c 22nd August.

Huntick Cycle Way Working Group. Cllr Huggins advised that the next meeting of this Working Group would be on 13th September 2016. He referred to some useful contacts provided by Dist Cllr Meaden. It was noted that Ms Claire Lees has been in touch with the Council Chairman on this matter.

10. Recommendations from Committees:

(a) Finance & Policy Cttee – meeting 8th August 2016:

· Acceptance of the Bank Reconciliation and Accounts update as attached at Appendix 1 to the Finance & Policy Cttee minutes 8th August 2016. AGREED.

· Acceptance of the revised policy for Grants as attached at Appendix 2 to the Finance & Policy Cttee minutes 8th August 2016. AGREED.

· Adoption as policy the “Discretions Statement” in relation to Local Government Pension Scheme as attached at Appendix 3 to the Finance & Policy Cttee minutes 8th August 2016. AGREED.

· Allocation of expenditure of up to £600 for a one-off Working Group meeting to take place in December 2016 to undertake forward planning. AGREED.

It was RESOLVED to receive the minutes of both of the above meeting.

11. Consideration of a proposal to purchase a Defibrillator Case at a cost of £395 if SWAS will not donate a case. (Spending power LGA 1972, S137).

Cllr Gracey clarified that this concerns the purchase an installation of a container, with power, on a wall where the defibrillator may be accessed by the public when necessary. She has already secured the services of an electrician who will fit it free of charge. £150 in donations has been raised so far towards the project – which also includes the provision of training. It was RESOLVED to approve the expenditure of £395 for the purchase of the defibrillator case.

12. Consideration of issues and a proposed policy and procedure for keeping the website up to date.

A copy of the discussion paper towards a policy and procedure is attached as appendix 1 to these minutes. It was agreed that the material detailed in category (a) in the discussion paper is the responsibility of the Parish Clerk and it was noted that its availability to the public is governed by the Freedom of Information Act. After a brief discussion it was agreed to trial the procedure for the material in category (b) for a period of 3 months. Cllr Taylor agreed to act as scrutineer for these “latest news” items.

13. Consideration of DCC Highways temporary closure of Rushall Lane for road works (email to council members 10th August 2016).

It was noted that this work needs to go ahead and the road closure and diversion is necessary.

14. Consideration of £50 donation to PPAC.

It was RESOLVED to approve this.

15. Report of any training activity undertaken in the past month.

There was none.

16. Reports of Representatives (by exception):-

Village Hall DAPTC Footpaths School Liaison
Youth Organisations Sports Club

There were none.

17. Council to approve the following payments due:-

Inv To Whom For What Net VAT Total
3627 T Watton Clerk’s salary – August (12 equal monthly payments by SO) 848.68 0.00 848.68
3628 DCC LGPS pension contrib. 270.32 0.00 270.32
3629 T Homer Handyman duties – July, plus reimbursement for purchase of replacement fence rails for Rocket Pk. 256.80 0.00 256.80
3630 The Landscape Group Cemetery maintenance – July 2016 303.49 60.70 364.19
3631 Paul Fay Supply of post & installation of noticebd, Wareham Rd. 75.00 0.00 75.00
3632 N W Adams ROSPA play areas inspection and report 292.75 58.55 351.30
3633 Lytchett Matravers Village Hall Hire of village hall for CALM meeting 23/07/16 40.00 0.00 40.00
3634 Lytchett Matravers Methodist Church Hire for council meetings May -July 2016 300.00 0.00 300.00
3635 M Colvey Chairman’s allowance 2016/17 250.00 0.00 250.00
3636 M Colvey Reimbursement for expenses incurred – key cutting and printing 22.95 2.39 25.34
3637 A Huggins Reimbursement of expenses incurred – CALM banner. 48.00 9.60 57.60
3638 J Taylor Reimbursement of purchase of batteries and PA lead for CALM meeting 25.47 0.00 25.47
3639 J Watson Best allotment – 1st prize 15.00 0.00 15.00
3640 A White Best allotment – 2nd prize 10.00 0.00 10.00
3641 A Young Best allotment – 3rd prize 5.00 0.00 5.00
3642 PPAC Donation towards Pan Purbeck Action campaign CALM 50.00 0.00 50.00
3643 A Bagley Reimbursement of expenses incurred for purchase of 4 x AO posters CALM 66.63 13.33 79.96
3644 Replay Maintenance Ltd Regular maintenance of Lytchett Astro pitch, Jul 16 495.00 99.00 594.00

The Council APPROVED the above payments

18. “Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014”, Part 3, Paragraphs 6-10, Record of Decisions and Access to Documents – record of decisions taken by Parish Clerk.

The Parish Clerk reported that he had arranged with the insurers to increase the cover for the Lytchett Astro floodlights to £5000. This will be at an additional annual charge of £15 on the premium, but the insurers have waived the charge for the remainder of this year ending 31st May 2017.

19. CORRESPONDENCE.

The following correspondence was received:

A letter and posters from PDC concerning witness reporting of fly tipping.

Cllr Wilson reported on correspondence she had been dealing with from a resident of the High Street concerning the installation of the bund around parts of the Recreation Ground and Village Hall.

20. MATTERS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION

Cllr Bush referred to a notice recently displayed at the site of the former British Legion club concerning it’s potential disposal. The Council confirmed its intention to press ahead with an application for it to be registered as a “Community Asset”. It was clarified that there is a form on the PDC website to start this process – but that it will be necessary to demonstrate in that application the ways in which the Royal British Legion Club premises were used for events of community benefit and involvement. Action: Council members to email Cllr Bush with example of such uses, and to encourage other members of the community to do the same.

The meeting closed at 21:10

Annotated by/on …………………………….. Signed by……………………

FullMinutes160815 Appendix 1 (Discussion paper – LMPC website).doc.docx

Full Council minutes 15th August 2016