MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGHELD ON MONDAY 9th March 2009

Present: Cllr M Smith (Chairman)

Councillors: Mr P Privett, Mrs B Powell, Mr G Preston, Mrs P Blackmore, Mr M Jolly and Mrs K Tonkin until 8.00pm.

In Attendance: Cllr R Giles (DCC) DCC, 1 member of the public and J Masters (FPC Clerk).

142. Questions from the public: -

No questions from the public.

143. Apologies for absence: - Cllr G Brown (EDDC) and PC Jim Tyrell

144. To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 12th January 2009.

The minutes were agreed and the Chairman initialled each page and signed the last page.

145. Police Officer’s Written Report: -

There were 4 recorded crimes which were as follows;

1 x criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Ely Close.
1 X criminal damage to a motor vehicle at The Signals.
1 x criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Wells Avenue.
1 x criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Greenacres Close.

In total 18 incidents were reported to the Police, a number of which were reports of low level Anti Social behaviour and alleged underage drinking by local youths, some of whom are connected with the Youth Club.

It is my intention to liaise with the Youth Club to address this issue and provide a Police presence to deter such behaviour at the pertinent times, subject of course to operational commitments.

It was agreed to ask the police to speak to members of the Youth Centre about this problem and to make their presence know to the trouble makers.

146. County and District Councillors’ Reports: -

Cllr Giles DCC submitted the following written report to the meeting:-

OTTERY HOSPITAL/HONITON HOSPITAL

Devon Primary Care Trust (DPCT) is planning to introduce car parking charges at all hospitals in east Devon (including Honiton and Ottery Hospitals) in the near future. This will impose a financial penalty on and inconvenience people attending the hospital for purposes such as treatment or visitors; it is also likely to create problems in roads around the hospitals. The Parish Council may wish to make an objection to the DPCT.

EXETER SCIENCE PARK

Exeter Science Park is jointly being promoted by DCC, EDDC, Exeter City Council, the Met Office, the South West Regional Development Agency and Exeter University; it has the potential to create up to 3,700 jobs in the first 20 years. A series of public exhibitions are to take place in advance of the submission of an outline planning application.
Tuesday 3 March Sowton Village Hall 11.30am to 7.30pm
Wednesday 4 March Broadclyst Village Hall 11.30am to 7.30pm
Thursday 5 March Rockbeare Village Hall 11.30am to 7.30pm
Monday 9 March to Friday 13 March Great Moor House, Sowton 9.30am to 4.30pm
The outline planning application is to be submitted in June, seeking permission for 68,700 square metres of development that would be constructed in phases over 20-25 years. Phase one would include a hotel and conference facility, science park centre and office space for let.

THE KINGS SCHOOL

The excellent new facilities at Kings (5 new classrooms; a 6th form common room; offices; toilets and group teaching rooms) provided by DCC at a cost of one million pounds are now in use.

FLOOD DAMAGE CLEAR UP

DCC arranged for the removal of 1,700 tonnes of debris from Ottery following the flooding of 30th October. This had to be disposed of in a landfill site. DCC had to pay more than £54, 000 in landfill tax charges (1,700 tonnes at £32 per tonne). I asked at the DCC meeting on 19th February that because of the exceptional circumstances an approach be made to Government to return the money to DCC to be used for something productive such as flood prevention works.

FENITON FLOOD PREVENTION

Tony Matthews of DCC attended the February Parish Council meeting and outlined possible flood alleviation measures in Feniton. It is intended to carry out drainage improvements and the creation of additional soakaways in Station Road in the Acland Park/Feniton Gardens area – thus increasing capacity. DCC intends to test the effectiveness of this planned work by releasing 9,000 gallons of water. This test is planned for March; it will take place during a dry spell! DCC also plans to raise the kerb on the south side of Station Road in the vicinity of the school, to reduce the volume of water going over the pavement.

PLAYING FIELD

I am allocating £1,500 of my DCC Locality budget towards the provision of a roundabout in order to improve play facilities. I understand that consultation at the school revealed that this is the piece of equipment that most pupils wished to see provided

The Parish Council thanked Cllr Giles for the money and it was agreed by all the Councillors to add £300.00 from the Playing Field Budget and place an order for a Children’s Roundabout to be installed shortly.

Cllr Giles told the meeting that Devon County Council has agreed to spend an extra £1 million.

Cllr Giles was asked about the number of pot holes that are appearing in the village at an alarming rate. Reply, the men who usually work on filling the pot holes are still working on the Flood Cleanup or have been gritting the road during the cold spell this has delayed some of the work.

147. Declarations of Interest from Members and Officers.

The Parish Clerk declared two interests:-

148. Finance: – To authorise February payments.

149. Correspondence: -

150. Allotments.

Cllr’s Powell and Blackmore recently attended the second meeting of the Feniton Allotment Association where a number of points were put to them for discussion with the council.

In the new tenancy agreement section 5.k ‘The Tenant will not erect any building or structure i.e. sheds etc except compost bins and tool boxes’. The Association asked if it would be possible for the council to apply for planning permission to erect sheds on the plots where the tenants wanted one. After a discussion it was agreed that the councillors would go away and think about this matter and instructed the clerk to put it on the Agenda for April.

In section 5.l ‘The Tenant will not plant any fruit trees’, the definition of this was queried as some fruit bushes can be larger than some small fruit trees. Again it was agreed to look at some sort of height and number restriction on and fruit trees planted.

Section 5.x The Tenant will ensure all water receptacles are stable, not sunken and have secure covers. The council agreed that Ponds have no place on Allotments.

The Association would like at least two extra water taps put on site. It was agreed that no further taps be provided as it could lead to water wastage that would in turn cost the council more money in water charges. The Association would also like to see the reintroduction of a hose pipe ban on the site because of fears some people may abuse the current rules and hog one or two of the taps. It was agreed that the ban would be reintroduced in the near future.

Concern was raised about the state of the access road to the Youth Centre and the number of cars using the road instead of using the car park that is provided for parking. One Allotment Holder complained that the road now has a large dip which fills with water then runs down through his allotment washing the soil away. The Clerk was instructed to find out who is responsible for the maintenance of the access road and report back to the council in April.

151. Village Handyman’s Report: - Used petrol disc cutter to remove redundant goal posts from the QEII and arrange disposal.

152. Clerks Report: -

The Clerk explained about the misinformation that came out from EDDC about Grants that were said to be available from the Environment Agency which was very misleading and caused a lot of anger from local residents who were then told they are not available. On Friday the Clerk received another Email from EDDC saying that all claims had to be in by Monday 9th March and attached a form to be completed by residents. With only three days to print the forms, distribute them and collect them and deliver them to EDDC it was totally unacceptable so I demanded that EDDC extend the deadline which they now have done.

153. Emergency Planning Meeting Monday 30th March

It was agreed that the Vice Chairman would chair this meeting as the Chairman is working away that day.

154. Public Notice Board; delivery date Saturday 14th March

The Clerk was instructed to ask the Handyman to install the new Public Notice Board and agreed the purchase of some cement etc for its installation.

155. Clerks Contract of Employment.

The Clerk offered to leave the meeting whilst this item was discussed, but was told that it was not necessary.

The contract of employment was checked trough, two copies were signed by the Chairman and the Clerk and each kept a copy.

156. Individual Member responsibilities: -

Cllr Tomkins said she had received several complaints about the new all weather surface at the QE11 playing field which were two fold 1, it is not square to the boundary 2, it is not level and makes it hard to play ball games on. Although EDDC were the agents who arranged for the Lottery funding they have said they are not responsible for the work which came in under budget, the Parish Council said it would be much better to spend all the money in the first place and have the job done properly. Cllr Tomkins will continue to take up this with EDDC.

Cllr Preston again queried the two drains that regularly overflow at the junction of Ottery Road and The Signals, just south of the railway crossing. The Clerk has not received a reply from South West Water and will follow this up before the next council meeting.

Cllr Privett said he attended two meeting of the Flood Recovery Group including the recent EDDC Executive meeting were he was given three minutes to speak about the recent flooding in Feniton, the executive then went on to discuss funding for an in depth survey of Feniton which would be necessary before a Grant Application can be put into the Environment Agency. Cllr Privett intends to attend the next Flood recovery meeting latter this month.

157. Date of next full Parish council meeting: - Monday 20th April 2009 at 7.00pm. This will be held in the Main Village Hall

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 21.50hrs

Last Updated 6th September 2010