MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BISHOP'S HULL PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT THE FRANK BOND CENTRE ON THURSDAY, 16th JULY 2009

Present: Mr K Burgess (in the Chair)
Mrs J Beaumont
Mrs C Bulbeck
Mr G Everett
Mrs W Lewis
Mr R Porter
Mrs S Ravenhill
Mr N Roper
Mr E Rose

Cllrs Morrell and Stuart Thorn were also in attendance.

E2073 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Summers.

E2074 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

The Minutes of the meeting held on 28th May 2009 were signed as a correct record.

E2075 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Minute E2006 (dropped kerbs) - Brian Gibbs from the Deane DLO who would be doing the work, had been in touch and requested a site meeting in order to clarify what was required. It has been agreed to await the return of Mr Summers, who would be asked to attend this site meeting.

Parking on Waterfield Drive - the Police officers present said that they were aware of the situation, which they thought had improved. However it was still a case of catching the offenders when they were committing the offence.

Bench at Haydon Close - the Clerk had obtained a plan of the land in question, which was owned by Taunton Deane BC, and it was agreed to ask Mr Summers to indicate the best position for the bench.

E2064 - Audit - the annual review of internal financial controls had been scheduled for this meeting but was not on the agenda. The Clerk apologised for the oversight. Mr Porter offered to have a look at the internal controls before the October meeting.

E2076 PACT

PC Claire Griffiths and PCSO Simon Parry were welcomed to the meeting. They gave a quick update on the situation regarding law and order in the parish. There had been an increase in calls regarding youths in the play park area and they expected this to continue during the summer months. Fly tipping was a general problem which Simon was monitoring. A community clean up day had already been held. Netherclay community woodland area - a few instances of illegal camping fires, swimming in the river and dumping of litter had been reported. The area would be kept under scrutiny.

There was a full and frank discussion of the Police reaction to the recent unfortunate incidents following the summer event held in the playing field the previous weekend, where there had been a fire and a windscreen smashed in the early hours of the morning. There had also been some damage done to the cricket pitch. The Fire Brigade had turned out but the police had not arrived. Mrs Bulbeck queried the chain of command, and whether information was being passed on to the right people. It appeared that the 0845 number was not resulting in call details being passed down to the local PCSO. Claire responded, adding that a witness had come forward, a suspect was already under observation, and the investigation was ongoing.

Mr Rose said it was no reflection on her and her colleague, but more on the senior officers - it looked bad to the community when the Police simply handed out incident numbers but did not bother to attend. Claire said that the best person to contact with any complaint was Chief Superintendent Sandy Padgett at Taunton Police Station, and it was agreed to write to her.

E2077 FLOWER SHOW INSURANCE

It was agreed to support the Flower Show by paying for their public liability insurance, in the sum of £183.75. Proposed by Mrs Beaumont, seconded by Mrs Lewis, all agreed.

E2078 CHEQUES FOR AUTHORISATION AND SIGNATURE

The following cheques were presented and signed:-

S Watts - Clerk's salary and expenses for June £532.30
S Watts - Clerk's salary and expenses for July £527.94
R Dezille - Street Cleaner's hours £486.62
Inland Revenue (1st quarter) £417.20
R Moon (strimming) £341.00
BH Flower Show £183.75

E2079 VILLAGE WEBSITE/COMPUTERS

David Jorgensen was welcomed to the meeting. He circulated a report about the village Website. Members also had Mr Burgess's report and a summary of the relevant figures. It was confirmed that the Parish Council had made no previous financial commitment to the provision of the website and the computers.

Mr Jorgensen said that as far as he was aware the project was still within budget, and the annual cost of the website was only £125. He outlined the priorities for the coming year - to train the staff, to update the website, to get all the due income in, and to try to increase the number of businesses eligible to pay. Everyone agreed that probably the most important issue was to bring the website up to date and in the meantime not to pursue advertising income.

After discussion, it was proposed by Mrs Bulbeck and seconded by Mrs Beaumont, and unanimously agreed, to underwrite the website every year in the sum of £200. Also, the two copies of Dreamweaver which had been purchased needed to be included in the Parish Council's Asset Register.

Mr Jorgensen was thanked for his attendance and contribution.

E2080 STREET CLEANING

Mr Porter introduced this item, and first took members through the street cleaning schedule which he had obtained from Taunton Deane. It was apparent that there was some duplication between the work being done by the Deane street cleaner and our own, while other areas were being neglected. It was agreed that litter picking should be the main focus, apart from when the leaf fall was at its worst, and that as much of the village as possible should be covered. Mr Porter would organise this. He added that, as far as he was aware, Mr Dezille was doing a very thorough job.

There was discussion of the draft Terms and Conditions, which were agreed with an addition under 'Other Procedures' - to add after the words 'Parish Council' - 'if required. Any problems or grievances should be raised initially with the Clerk to the Council'. Mr Porter undertook to clarify the number of hours holiday entitlement.

E2081 PERSIMMON HOMES APPLICATION

Mr Burgess reported back on a recent meeting held at Taunton Deane, organised by Cllr Morrell. There was to be a further meeting with SCC Transport officers on 23rd July at 3.00 pm. Mr Burgess, Mrs Kelly and Mr Porter would be attending on behalf of the Council. The traffic change proposed was very small, basically removing the traffic signals and 'no entry' provision at the junction of Bishop's Hull Road and Wellington New Road, some white lining and bollards.

It was noted that the previous application made in 1989 had been turned down on traffic grounds and this would be worse. The predicted queue was 25 vehicles, which would take it beyond the junction with Waterfield Drive. Mr Burgess asked members to email him any comments before the meeting. He anticipated that some members of the parish would be in favour of the original scheme as it eliminated 'rat runs' through the village.

The PCSO, Claire Griffiths, said that in her personal view the traffic situation in Bishop's Hull Road was already intolerable and she could not see that having more houses and therefore more cars, was a good idea, although increased congestion might help to reduce speeding. The matter had already been referred to the Police Traffic Management Unit, who would comment formally. Claire agreed to write a letter to the Parish Council about these matters, confirming her views.

S106 agreements - a list had been obtained from Taunton Deane, but there were several queries and points of clarification required e.g. was there a time limit on the village hall contribution, would the sports allocation be going to Taunton Deane or to the Parish Council? Mr Burgess thought that small group should be set up to include local interested groups (the Church, the Trust, Frank Bond Centre, etc) to discuss and agree the detail of the S106 items. There should then be a meeting with Karen Hughes of the Leisure Development Team at Taunton Deane.

The Clerk was asked to inform the Planning Department that this Council would not be in a position to comment on the revised Persimmon application until after the meeting on 23rd July.

E2082 PLANNING

The following planning application had been considered and no objections raised:-

05/09/014 - erection of a two storey extension to the rear of the Croft, Upcott Road (this had been granted);
05/09/015 - erection of a two storey extension at Three Bridges, Bradford on Tone;
05/09/016 - erection of ancillary building to provide support accommodation at Longrun Farm (this had been granted);
05/09/017T - felling of one ash tree, two beech trees, and two pines to thin out up to 12 immature beech and sycamores and to carry out other management work at Milligan;
05/09/019LB - alterations to internal arrangement and elevations to provide mixed use of domestic and commercial offices at Roughmoor Farmhouse.

E2083 REVISION OF PARISH PLAN

It was agreed to postpone this item to the October meeting. In the meanwhile, Mr Porter said he would go through the Plan to see what had and had not been done.

E2084 REPORTS FROM OTHER BODIES

Local Action Team - Mr Porter reported that the Police had withdrawn support for the paintballing project, which was very disappointing. LAT had written to Chief Superintendent Sandy Padgett about this to complain. It was agreed that the Council should also write to our local MP to complain especially as the LAT had put some money into the project.

Speedwatch was continuing - Silk Mills Road had now been approved as a Speedwatch site. In response to a query about statistics arising from the Speedwatch project, Mr Porter said that Claire Griffiths had agreed that these could be provided if needed.

The Trident Centre at Galmington was to be refurbished - this was a major project, and Bishop's Hull had not been consulted, which was disappointing.

VEG event on the field on 11th July made a small profit which unfortunately would be wiped out by the damage caused by the subsequent fire. Despite the disappointing weather the event had been a great success. It was agreed to put VEG on the next agenda.

Frank Bond Centre - AGM on 30th July.

E2085 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday, 10th September 2009, at 7.30 p.m.

E2086 ITEMS OF REPORT

Frethey House - it was reported that the bad smells in the area of Frethey House, thought to be from their sewage plant, had returned.

Footpaths - it was noted that SCC were strimming some paths, but only enclosed ones and up to certain stiles, not across fields.

Taunton Deane's full Council meeting held on 14th July - there had been a presentation on 'envisioning the local Taunton economy' by Professor Mark Hepworth of the company Geo Economics. Mrs Beaumont had been present at the meeting and said that Professor Hepworth had come to the conclusion that if nothing was done by the Council then there was a distinct possibility that Taunton could fail. He said that Exeter, Bath and Bristol had all taken certain actions several years ago and were now heading towards continued viability. Taunton, he felt, would not be able to build its way out of the problem, in fact just building more houses was not the answer at all. As Taunton has not got ahead of the "growth" game then it should look towards more 21st century aims, and go for sustainability and prosper in that way. It had an enviable position surrounded by beautiful country, and should promote that as an ideal area to encourage green businesses (the 21st century buzz word) . His message was sustainability rather than growth at any cost.

PACT - a review sheet had been given to the Clerk but she did not feel able to complete it on behalf of the Council, particularly given the strong expression of views during this meeting. It was passed to Mr Porter for completion and 'sign off' by the Chairman.

New bus stop - a letter had been received from Mr Peter Chandler, requesting a new bus stop between Waterfield Drive and the Post Office. The Clerk was asked to write to the bus company.

CHAIRMAN