Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 12th September 2011

Present: - Cllr P Privett (Vice Chairman)

Councillors Present: - Mr G Preston, Miss P Valentine, Mr G Broom and Mr N Spence.

Also in attendance: - Cllr R Giles (DCC), John Scott Community Council of Devon, 6 members of the public and J Masters (FPC Clerk).

79. Questions from the public: -
Mr Gillingham from the P3 Footpath Group asked if the Parish Council would ask EDDC for some ‘Dog Fouling Signs’ for the local Footpaths. The Clerk was instructed to ask EDDC for some.

80. Apologies for absence: - G Brown (EDDC) and Cllr M Smith

81. To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 11th July 2011
The minutes were agreed and the Vice Chairman initialled each page and signed the last page.

82. Declarations of Interest from Members and Officers: -
Cllr Spence declared that Item 90 in these minutes, Devotec Ltd was one of his tenants.

83. Police Officer’s Report: - No Police Report has been received this month:-

85. John Scott Community Council of Devon:-
Mr Scott explained that the CCD have noted that Feniton is being inundated with developers wishing to build in Feniton, CCD can if the Parish Council wish carry out a housing needs survey with in the village to establish what the real need is in Feniton for affordable housing and then report pack to the Parish Council, he then ran through some typical results through years of experience. The Parish Council agreed that this would be a good idea. Mr Scott said he would Email the Clerk a sample questionnaire, the PC can if they wish add or subtract some of the questions and send out its own covering letter. The PC will have to arrange for the questionnaires to be distributed in the village, prepaid envelopes are provided and CCD will do all the number crunching.
The Vice Chairman thanked Mr Scott who then left the meeting.

85. County and District Councillors’ Reports: - Cllr R Giles DCC report
Cllr Giles apologised for the delay over resolving the Car Park Light problem, he has come to agreement with DCC Highways who still do not accept responsibility for the light, DCC will repair the light and Cllr Giles will pay for it out of his locality budget, DCC will continue to supply the electricity free of charge, hopefully the light will be repaired in the very near future. DCC cuts will mean that Ottery Library will reduce its hours to 21 hours per week. Kings School had an outstanding Offstead Report and Exams this year, the school has a total of 1,130 pupils and is full. The ramp opposite Feniton Primary School is being re-profiled as it was too steep.

86. Finance: – Confirmed payments made on the 1st August, authorised September payments, Money Received and confirmed two new Cheque Signators: -
As the Vice Chairman and Clerk were the only two authorised signators present it was agreed that the Clerk would counter sign the cheques.

86.1

86.2

86.3
Money Received:-
EDDC, Second part of Precept £7250.00

86.4
Two New Cheque Signators Cllr G Preston & Cllr N Spence, the Vice Chairman & Clerk signed the NatWest forms to enable the above two councillors to be added to the list of cheque signators.

87. Correspondence received since 12th July 2011: -

88. Planning Applications:-

89. Charter of Fraternity with the village of Bertea in Romania
This item has been deferred to the next meeting.

90. Replacement Play Equipment for Ely Close, small Slide: -
The council looked at a small slid but decided that it was too expensive; Cllr Broom said he would look for an alternative; any decision will be deferred to next month.

91. Village Handyman’s Report: -
Carried out the normal summertime duties including grass cutting & hedge clipping.

92. Clerks Report: -
Tuesday 6th September I attended the SoLCC course in Tiverton, one of the presentations was by NatWest talking about Local Government Banking., the Banks have reversed their decision to stop issuing Cheque Books. The Banks can now offer Internet Banking to organisations like Parish Councils, this includes NatWest our bankers, using two people to authorised payments. However the basic cost is from £15.00 per month. In the light of the recent banking crisis Local Government Organisations are advised to spread their money because public bodies like Parish Councils are not covered by the Banking Guarantee for deposits etc.

The Localism Bill presentation was given by the new Chief Executive of the SoLCC’s, there is much for local councils to take on board and it is recommended that PC’s delegate this task to one of it’s Councillors.

The SoLCC have issued a list of the minimum equipment that Clerks should be provided with to carry out their duties, this is mainly directed at small councils that do not provide an equipped office for the Clerk to work in, i.e. those clerks who work from home. For clerks who are not currently provided with this equipment the Council should put it in their Precept Budget for 2012/2013 as a matter of priority. This equipment should be then listed as Council Assets and marked down over a three year period.

The Parish Council agreed that this should be put on the Agenda for the next Precept Budget meeting in November.

The Cups for Feniton Best Garden & Best Allotment have been collected from last year.

The Parish Council agreed that they would select winners for 2011.

2012/2013 S137 Payments, the Parish Council agave the Clerk permission to advertise for local organisations to apply for the grant.

2011 Armistice Day Rockets, the Parish Council gave permission to place an order them.

93. Individual member responsibilities:-
Concern was raised over parked vehicles blocking the roads around Feniton causing grass verges to be worn away. The Clerk was instructed to speak to Highways about this.
There is a problem with teenagers climbing on top of the shelter in the QEII and jumping up and down, the Clerk was instructed to ask the Village Handyman to check the shelters condition. A small tree needs removing in the Ely Close play area; the Clerk was instructed to ask the Village Handyman to remove the tree.
It was agreed to hold a meeting soon in preparation of the revised Village Plan.

94. Date for next meeting of the Parish Council: - 7.30pm Monday 9th October 2011

There being no further business the meeting closed at 21.15hrs

Last Updated 10th May 2012