[category Full-Council]

Minutes of the MEETING OF LYTCHETT MATRAVERS PARISH COUNCIL

Held on Monday October 19th 2015 at 7:00 in the Methodist Church, Lytchett Matravers.

PRESENT were Cllrs M Colvey, K Norris, J Taylor, E Wilson, C Wood, A Huggins, R Carswell, A Cottman, P Webb and Mr T Watton (Parish Clerk).

County Cllr F Drane, and two members of the public were also present.

1. REceipt of apologies for absence – Cllrs A Bush and D Bevan

2. CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS. There were none.

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

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

Mr C McDonald expressed concerns about a number of matters which he believes are currently preventing the Lytchett Red Triangle adult football team from playing their home matches on the Lytchett Matravers Recreation Ground. He was later supported in this by a Mr D Ricketts who is a member of Lytchett Red Triangle Football Club. He understood the gas has been disconnected and there is thus no water for showers and also that referees have been unable to obtain drinking water or hot showers.

Concerns were also expressed about the level of maintenance and overall cleanliness of the Sports Club Pavilion, and about inaction and / or low maintenance levels leading to the decline of other sporting facilities within the remit of the Sports Club. In this latter regard the Cricket wicket and the Lytchett Astro were both cited as examples. In addition, it was pointed by Mr McDonald that the Table Tennis Club which had formerly used the Pavilion had now moved elsewhere. The village cricket club also did not play their games on the Recreation Ground during the summer of 2015. Mr McDonald felt the above matters pointed to a lack of effectiveness of the Lytchett Matravers Sports Club. He maintained that the Parish Council should take a lead in investigating these matters and, using its resources, to resolve any shortcomings found.

Council members responded by pointing out that the Sports Club, and its component clubs, are comprised of members of the community; and as such should be properly constituted, administered & managed by their members. It was suggested by the Chairman that shortcomings of the Sports Club and its member clubs is the result of a steady decline in the number of members of the Lytchett Matravers community willing to take on the necessary administrative and governance roles to ensure the clubs are run appropriately over recent years.

5. THE MINUTES of the Council meeting on September 21st 2015 were approved as a true record of the meeting, and signed by the Chairman.

6. MATTERS ARISING & UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS.

  1. Minute 13, 18th August 2014. Establishment of Google Diary. Cllr Carswell had previously commented that he would develop and circulate some instructions to guide members in how to link their diaries to the online calendar on the Council’s website; and also how to add items to the website calendar. Action: Cllr Carswell to prepare and email this briefing – CARRIED FORWARD.

ii. Minute 22, 19th January 2015 –Venues for Council meetings. It had previously been discussed that Cllr Carswell would approach the nearby companies to see if it is possible for the Parish Council to have a similar arrangement. Action: Cllr Carswell to approach companies accordingly. CARRIED FORWARD.

  1. Minute 13, 16th February 2015 – Primrose donation to Village Hall toilets refurbishment project. Cllr Wilson advised that she understood that the whole of the Village Hall Committee have expressed a wish to be on the Working Group managing the toilets project. Cllr Colvey is to lead this joint Working Group. He will request two representatives to join him. Members were reminded that it is to be a Parish Council-led project.
  2. Minute 21, 18th May 2015 – Risk Assessments. It was noted that the risk assessment from Cllr Wood is outstanding. CARRIED FORWARD.
  3. Minute 19, 20th July 2015 – car park entrance, surface repair by DCC Highways. It was noted that this work was not done at the same time as the High St re-surfacing. It is not known why this was overlooked by the DCC Highways contractors. Action: Cllr Taylor to raise this with his contact at DCC Highways and report back. CARRIED FORWARD
  4. Minute 13, 17th August 2015 –Approach to DCC regarding training for footpath maintenance. Cllr Colvey commented that he has not yetcontacted DCC about this. CARRIED FORWARD
  5. Minute 11, 21st September 2015 – Village Appearance Project. It was confirmed that the grass area in front of the shops in the Hugh Street is owned by DCC. Cllr Huggins agreed to write an article for Lytchett Link promoting residents’ attention to the condition of residential hedges and pavements so that they are not an inconvenience for pedestrians. Cllr Norris has approached PDC to clarify whether there are any byelaws limiting the use of the memorial green for leisure activities. He has also asked DCC to reconsider their policy on broken finger posts so that the post at the High St / Middle Rd junction can be repaired or replaced by them.
  6. Minute 12, 21st September 2015 –consideration of response to selection of development sites put forward in the partial review of the Purbeck local plan part 1. As both Cllr Bush and Cllr Bevan were unable to attend this Council meeting it was is unclear if the intended meeting between them to discuss a response to this took place. CARRIED FORWARD.
  7. Minute 13, 21st September 2015 – request from food vendor for trading pitch. The Parish Clerk had prepared a policy based on the points discussed as in minute 13, 21st September. It was unanimously RESOLVED to accept this – treating week commencing 19th October 2015 as “week 1”. The agreed policy is attached as appendix 1 to these minutes. Regarding the practicalities for deployment and handling the recently received request to trade by a further vendor, Cllr Wood agreed to investigate the implications of applying for “change of use” for the High St car park to permit trading beyond the 26 occasions per year currently permitted.
  8. Minute 14, 21st September 2015 – discussion / agreement of options for website training dates. This is still to be set up in liaison between Cllr Taylor and Mr Gracey. CARRIED FORWARD.
  9. Minute 17, 21st September 2015 – Consultation on oil & gas fracking in Dorset. Cllr Norris confirmed that he had written to Mr M Tomlinson MP on this matter. He has examined the consultation but has advised that since Oliver Letwin MP is looking into this matter a result of that activity is awaited.

7. District Cllrs report.

District Cllr Webb provided the following report of proceedings of Purbeck District Council:

The Lytchett Matravers Neighbourhood Plan grant application for £5,000 was approved by PDC on 13th October.

PDC has granted £50,000 towards the restoration of the Swanage Pier. This is similar to the grants of up to £50,000 that PDC will make towards Village Halls in certain circumstances.

PDC has approved a response to the Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset Draft Mineral sites and Draft Waste Plan consultation.

The District Council has discussed its proposed investment alongside DCC into buying land and creating starter units on Dorset Green. The funding will not involve PDC incurring any external debt. Dorset Green has been put forward as a Local Enterprise Zone.

The main issue being dealt with at present by the District Council is the Partial Review of the Purbeck Local Plan pt.1. Publication of the East Dorset Strategic Market Housing Assessment is expected within the next 6 or so weeks. The numbers could be reduced in the final plan by virtue of allowable constraints. It is understood by PDC that Natural England, DCC Highways & Education and probably NHS are unlikely to say that the effects of the final SHMA numbers are too severe or can’t be mitigated. The briefing note on the last Partial Review Advisory Group implies that the numbers (expected not to be less than around 2,200) in the Issues & Options Consultation earlier this year, cannot be accommodated unless serious consideration is given to one or more larger settlement extensions and green belt being built on. Cllr Webb suggested that a major concern for PDC is to what extent it puts forward lower housing numbers in the Partial Review than they submit to the Inspector. If the reasoning for lower numbers is not backed up by NE, DCC etc. there is a danger that the Inspector could refuse to adopt the plan. If this were to happen then there would be no Local Plan in force for Purbeck – opening the way to a developers’ free for all. The Preferred Options paper, to go to the PLPPRAG in December, may well put forward large settlement extensions where it can be argued that PDC can get high levels of affordable housing, good infrastructure and necessary environmental mitigation. The paper will go out to consultation early in 2016. Cllr Webb remarked that if, as seems likely, Lytchett is to be allocated more houses, then in order to get some infrastructure improvements, landowners/developers should be required to pool some resources to make a worthwhile impact. 15% or 25% of the CIL collected from new houses, depending on the presence or not of a Neighbourhood Plan, can be aggregated over a 5 year period to make a useful sum that could be spent on a project that would have impact.

8. County Councillor’s report

County Cllr Drane reported that he had attended an Adult Community Services Overview Committee. Among the issues considered was the matter of Collaborative Library Services between Bournemouth and Poole boroughs and Dorset County Council. Examination of this matter is to be completed in early November 2015. Also considered was the launch of Tricuro. The Committee is concerned that £112m of the Directorate (£161m gross) expenditure is on commissioned services (i.e. consultants). Cllr Drane has requested an explanation on this, as he thought DCC should have enough management expertise of its own to provide adequate advice.

Cllr Drane reported that Adult Services are still overspending and further talks are taking place on the need for people to take up Personal Budgets. It is understood that DCC believe that not enough people are taking these. Cllr Drane explained that “Persona Budgets” were created by DCC 4-5 years ago to enable people the option to source their own service needs if they wished to. In response to this concern expressed by the committee Cllr Drane had suggested that clients should be offered someone who can give advice about the advantages and practicalities of taking a personal budget. He also reported that a proposal was put forward by this committee for Revenue Funding of £42,000 of savings i.e. 2 posts to be made redundant. Cllr Drane put forward the suggestion that DCC should first review the savings that could be made in the Sport Centres in the County. He believes these would be worth investigating because a considerable amount of expenditure goes on them.

Turning to the matter of the possible combined authority (Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, East Dorset) Cllr Drane offered a view that if this was arranged it would not affect Parish or Town Councils directly.

He reported that DCC are proposing a change in the Scrutiny Committees, these changes have been looked at by consultants who have come up with 5 proposals which will be discussed at the Audit and Governance Committee 26 October 2015.

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel is on 10th November 2015.

9. REPORTS FROM SUB-COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS

Neighbourhood Planning Group. Cllr Norris reported that a further meeting would take place on 29th October and that all documentation for the Neighbourhood Plan should be complete by mid-February 2016. Expertise will be drawn on to prepare a Basic Conditions Statement – which will also require some additional specialist administrative support. This input will be obtained commercially and therefore will need to be paid for. Cllr Webb suggested that the Council delegates authority to the Working Group to spend up to £1000 on this. It was unanimously RESOLVED to approve this.

10. Recommendations from Committees:

(a) Planning Committee – meeting 1st October 2015:

There were no recommendations to bring forward.

(b) Finance & Policy Committee – meeting 12th October 2015:

Cllr Norris reported on the following recommendations for Council consideration:

· Approval of the Bank reconciliation and accounts update

· Approval of expenditure of up to £1000 (excl VAT) for emergency repairs the fence at each end of the Lytchett Astro pitch.

· The establishment of a Sub Committee to look into the governance of the Lytchett Matravers Sports Club.

It was RESOLVED to approve all three of the above recommendations.

It was also RESOLVED to receive the minutes of both of the above meetings.

11. Consideration of draft plan for Allotments / Dyetts Wood Boundary Restoration project. The Council Chairman expressed concern at the length of time it may take to undertake the activity indicated in this plan and that due to the seasonal constraints of not being able to undertake any hedge work during bird nesting season (i.e. from February onwards) he felt that a faster and more direct approach was necessary. He indicated that he wished to move straight to obtaining quotes for the work.

12. Consideration and responses to issues arising from report “Working Together – A Pilot Project for Locality Working in Dorset” It was felt that, since this report was prepared by Clerks form four town councils it did not represent or reflect well the situation for Parish Councils which have fewer resources and therefore much less capacity to take over services which DCC may wish to delegate.

13. Consideration of renewal of membership of Fields in Trust (£50 annual membership fee) It was RESOLVED to approve this renewal.

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

Cllr Huggins attended PDC’s training course on “Material Planning Considerations” presented by officers from the Planning department.

The Parish Clerk attended two training course provided by DAPTC – the Clerks’ Seminar (1 day) and the Budgeting and Precept course (half day).

15. Reports of Representatives (by exception):-

Village Hall DAPTC Footpaths School Liaison
Youth Organisations Sports Club

Sports Club Cllr Cottman expressed some frustration with communication with the Sports Club officers. It was noted that the Council has on record a number of approaches regarding the level of maintenance and the need to resolve reported defects with the Lytchett Astro playing surface, fences and lighting. It has also not seen accounts for the Sports Club overall nor the income and expenditure statements for the Lytchett Astro since Summer 2012. Taking these matters together with the comments made during the Public Participation section of this meeting, as well as some insights gained by Cllr Colvey during a conversation with another member of the public who had separately contacted the Council to express similar concerns, it was considered by the Council that there is a need to take action.

It was therefore RESOLVED that the Parish Council would investigate whether it could help in restoring the sporting clubs to better order. It would do so by forming a Sub Committee to look into the governance of all aspects of the Lytchett Matravers Sports Club.

This Sub-Committee will be led by Cllr Webb and include Cllr Cottman and its initial remit will be to develop an approach to the investigation, this may include co-opting other members of the community. A letter of concern, advising of the formation of the Sub-Committee and of its purpose, will be sent to the Sports Club Secretary by Cllr Webb. Action: Cllrs Webb and Cottman to set up the Sub-Committee accordingly.

16. Council to approve the following payments already made: –

Inv To Whom For What Net VAT Total
3505 Mark Gracey Website retainer 2015 (replacement for cheque 100284) 450.00 0.00 450.00
3506 HMRC PAYE & ENI Quarter 2 2015/16 921.80 0.00 921.80

The Council APPROVED the above payments

17. Council to approve the following payments due:-

Inv To Whom For What Net VAT Total
3507 T Watton Clerk’s salary – Oct (12 equal monthly payments by standing order) 905.05 0.00 905.05
3508 T Homer Handyman duties and reimbursement for purchase of materials – Sept 211.50 0.00 211.50
3509 Continental Landscapes Grass Cutting, Southern end of Rec – Sept 20.00 4.00 24.00
3510 The Landscape Group Cemetery maintenance – Sept 303.49 60.70 364.19
3511 SSE Carpark lighting quarter 2 16.35 0.81 17.16
3512 Brighstone Landscaping Ltd Foxhills Open Space Maintenance- July-Sept 2015 620.43 124.09 744.52
3513 Mark Gracey Neighbourhood plan website 750.00 0.00 750.00
3514 DAPTC Fee for Clerks’ seminar 50.00 0.00 50.00
3515 Fields in Trust Annual membership fee 50.00 0.00 50.00
3516 S P Mills Work to tidy up High St Car park and Lytchett Astro 450.00 0.00 450.00
3517 Anglebury Press Printing Lytchett Link 57 302.00 0.00 302.00
3518 A Cottman Reimbursement of expenditure on behalf of council – litter pickers and materials for flower tubs. Mileage for training course 81.79 0.00 81.79
3519 K Norris Reimbursement of expenditure on behalf of council – litter pickers and hi vis vests 35.55 7.11 42.66

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 advised council members that he had arranged for two specialist companies to visit the Lytchett Astro to provide inspection reports on the condition of the playing surface, the necessary repairs to the “carpet”, and its ongoing regular maintenance. The requested report is to provide quotations / indicative costs for all three of these elements, including the possibility of fulfilling a regular maintenance contract for the playing surface.

The Parish Clerk had already reported by other means to the council the requirement for emergency repair work to the fence around the Lytchett Astro pitch.

19. CORRESPONDENCE.

Cllr Wood wondered if, in the light of recent correspondence generated by an article in Lytchett Link on the nuisance caused by dogs, authorship of articles should be restricted to Council members only. It was RESOLVED to limit authorship in this way. However, it was pointed out that to make this effective it is incumbent on council members to provide sufficient copy of each issue. It was noted that the next issue of the Lytchett Link would be around the end of January 2016.

The Parish Clerk drew attention to the receipt of a Supplementary Planning Document issued jointly by by Borough of Poole, PDC, NDDC, and WDC entitled “Nitrogen Reduction In Poole Harbour” and dealing providing the detail of a plan dealing with the implementation to achieve nitrogen neutrality from future residential and commercial development across the catchment of Poole Harbour.

20. MATTERS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION

Cllr Cottman reported that a village fete is being planned for 14th or 21st May (provisional date) by a committee being led by Ian Maitland. It is expected that the committee will apply for a parish Council grant towards the cost of necessary insurance. Cllr Cottman reported that the fete committee is awaiting a response from the Sports Club regarding the use of the recreation field on the day.

Cllr Wilson advised that the WI are holding a sale in the Village Hall on 21st November 2015 and have asked if they can cordon off and reserve part of the Council’s High St car park for the convenience of stall holders to get their goods in and out. It was AGREED to allow them the equivalent of 20 vehicle spaces at the end nearest the Village hall for this purpose. Cllr Wilson will advise them accordingly. Cllr Cottman indicated that he would advise the Sports Club of this. Action: Cllr Cottman to advise the Sports Club accordingly.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 21:07.

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

Full Council minutes 19th Oct 2015