MINUTES OF THE BISHOP'S HULL ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD AT THE FRANK BOND CENTRE, BISHOP'S HULL, ON THURSDAY 24TH APRIL, 2008
11 members of the Parish attended. Malcolm Summers was in the Chair.
1. Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 20th April 2007 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.
2. Bishop's Hull Charity
Mrs Mapletoft, the Clerk to the Bishop's Hull charity, presented the annual report. At the end of the financial year 2008, the Charity had £333.25 in hand. Five families had received donations of £20 each, one family is special circumstances had received £100, flowers had been sent to the local nursing homes at Christmas, and the Allotments Association had received a grant of £40. As it appeared that the need for this local charity was declining, there was talk of winding it up. That would not be before the end of this year, however. The residual sum of £7,000 might then be passed on to another local organisation to be put to good use but this had not been decided yet.
3. Parish Council Accounts
The Clerk to the Parish Council presented the Statement of the Council's Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2008 (appendix A to the signed copy of these minutes).
The Accounts showed total receipts of £28,989.20 and expenditure of £24,786.92, leaving a credit balance of £4,202.28.
The Clerk explained the accounts and then invited questions. The Clerk was thanked for her clear presentation of the accounts.
4. Parish Tree Warden's Report
Mrs Rose Humphreys, the Parish Tree Warden, presented her report.
She commented on the lack of information coming from Taunton Deane recently but feared it might be the 'lull before the storm'. A cedar tree in the cemetery had been felled for safety reasons; it might be first of many as most of the cedars and Wellingtonia were of about the same age. The new trees in the community woodland and along the verges by the railway bridge were doing well and liking the high rainfall. They would have to be thinned as they had been closely planted in case some died. Mrs Humphreys was thanked for her report.
5. Chairman's Report
Mr Summers presented his report. He thanked the members of the groups set up by the Parish Plan, particularly the Youth Group and VEG, who were doing very good work. Also the Local Action Team had been established and had various projects in the pipeline, including Speedwatch and a paintballing project for the youth of the village. He commented on projects which the Council was supporting, including the renovation of the children's play area by the playing field, the Celebrate 2008 events, the renovation of the Coronation bench, and, hopefully before too long, the renovation of the Netherclay cobbles.
Footpaths in the parish continued to be well-maintained, due to the efforts of Mr Burgess and Rick Moon, who did the strimming during the summer months. Parking remained a problem in the parish and was soon to be addressed yet again.
The predominant issue on the council's agenda over recent months had been the proposed development of the fields to the west of Bishop's Hull Road by Persimmon Homes. The Council had carried out a survey of residents and had tried to put together a valid objection but also to be realistic in terms of what might happen if the application was to be successful, which, given the shortage of housing land in the Borough, was not inconceivable. There was little support for a Village Hall, but there were other things which could be done to improve things for villagers should the new development come to fruition. Given the current housing situation there was some suggestion that developers like Persimmon might be putting further land purchase on the back burner for a while, but this was still to be confirmed.
Mr Summers thanked his fellow councillors for their support, also the Street Cleaner, the Clerk, those involved with Parish Plan work, the councillors from other authorities, and David Greig (the Parish Liaison Officer).
6. Other matters
Cllr Stuart Thorn said that the Principal of SCAT had arranged a meeting at he end of May to discuss parking difficulties but he did not know whether she was inviting Parish Council representation.
Mr Coombs mentioned that in less than 10 years time, it was likely that the Church Hall would be demolished, as it was only a 'temporary' building. Any monies from the development (S106) could be used towards a replacement building which the village needed. It was agreed that this should be given serious consideration in due course, as 2017 was not that far away.
The meeting closed at 8.20 p.m.
CHAIRMAN