MINUTES OF A PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON
MONDAY 11th JANUARY 2016 AT MEMORIAL HALL
PUBLOW LANE PENSFORD

Present: Chairman Mrs J Stephenson Vice-chairman Mr T Heaford.
Mr J Kelly, Mrs S Grimes, Mr P Baxter, Mrs J Gully, Mr S Filer, Cllr P May.
Clerk: Mrs J Bragg.
There were five members of the Public Present.

1. Public Participation: Concerns were raised regarding Recycling collections. It was reported that if recycling is off road it will not be collected. It has to be at the side of the road for the Recycling Lorry to collect it. This is causing problems with recent stormy weather. Clerk & Cllr May to follow this up.
Mr Baxter reported on behalf of the Memorial Hall that the Chairman and Vice-chairman will be retiring from their positions at the forthcoming AGM. A Booking Clerk is desperately needed.
Old Colliery: Parish Council were informed that because of problems with the Clerks Computer the response from the Parish Council had been submitted after the closing date.

2. Apologies for Absence were received from Mrs J Jones, Mrs T Jones.
Chairman informed the Parish Council of the resignation received from Mrs J Jones. Chairman will write to Mrs Jones.

3. To receive notification of any Members’ personal or prejudicial interest in any item on the Agenda: There were none received.

4. To confirm Minutes of the previous Meeting held on Monday 14th December 2015 as a true and fair record. The minutes were amended to read on page 54/15 item iii) Tennis Courts 2.8K in addition will be paid by the Tennis Club. They were then signed by the Chairman.

5. To Receive an update on District Matters from Cllr P May: Cllr May gave an update on the forthcoming election for Mayor. Devolution, The Spatial Strategy and the urban sprawl into the greenbelt. Keynsham will see a 50% increase in its size.
Government Cuts: Local Government are to cut Revenue Support Grants. Care budgets are under threat. There could be a possible 2% increase on Council Tax.
Ward Councillors Initiative: Many applications had been considered. It is hoped that the Ward Councillors Initiative will fund a Vehicle Activated Sign for Pensford. The Memorial Bench for Acker Bilk will be funded from other sources. The application for a Nativity Camel was refused.
Draft Capital Programme: 20k has been applied for in respect of improvements to Pensford Hill.
Horseworld: The application for the Master Plan is now in. The North South Route through the development has been stopped.
Recycling: Kier Staff had recently gone into a strike situation. The Council were putting additional help in to cope with the Recycling back logs.

6. To receive any updates on matters from the last meeting:

i) Acker Bilk Seat – Mr G Tyler has been instructed to create the Bench. To date there have been no donations from Members of the Public although piece had gone into the Church Magazine. The Community Trust have agreed to donate £1,200. Another piece will be put into the Magazine with a copy of the proposed sketch of the bench. It was agreed to pay a deposit of £2,000 to Mr Tyler.

ii) Restoration of Finger Posts Update: An update from Lydia Robinson was read out. A meeting has been held with BANES and the proposals for the restorations discussed. There are two approaches. Firstly BANES will look at getting funding for a number of posts to be restored in the Chew Valley. They are currently working with Compton Dando. It will be added to the Chew Valley Form Meeting for further discussion. If this is not favourable then the second option will be mean the money may have to be raised locally by asking for private donations, small grant sources and fund raising. Risk assessments have been carried out.

iii) The Old Colliery Site: The Stanton Wick Action Group will meet on the 12th January to discuss the application and look at and report on the objections from the Planning Consultant. An objection has now been lodged from the Parish Council.

iii) Tennis Courts: Recent expenditure costs have been put together and given to Cllr May. A new Coach is due to start in two weeks.

7. Matters for Discussion/Decision:

a) Accounts – Budget/Precept 2016/2017:
Mr Kelly circulated a Budgeted Income and Expenditure Account for the Year ended 31st March 2017. The main income for the Parish Council is the Precept and the Grant. The Grant will be phased out in stages by 2017/18. Money has been put into the budget to cover costs such as Allotments, Defibrillator. It was proposed to keep the Precept at the £11,000 as per previous years however on further discussion and the event that the Parish Council may be asked to take up extra costs it was agreed to raise the precept by 2%. This was proposed by John Kelly and Seconded by Janette Stephenson. Clerk to send the forms to BANES asking for a Precept of £11,220.00.

b) Footbridge to the rear of Mill House Woollard: This footbridge is now in need of repair. The Footpaths Officer has spoken to BANES who are to repair the bridge with no cost to the Parish Council.

C) Wick Lane Proposals: Mr Breach had emailed the Parish Council reporting that proposals for Wick Lane have been delayed but further points made had been taken on board and the planning application is ready for submission. However prior to this they thought that the PC would like to see the planning application. On discussion the majority of the Parish Council were of the agreed opinion that having had Mr Breach to two Parish Council Meetings and the subsequent held Public Consultation it would be better to let the application be submitted.
Clerk will reply to Mr Breach.

d) Ward Councillors Initiative: Discussed under Item 5.

8. Reports:

a) Clerks Progress Report:

Pensford Garage Site: Although the Parish Council had already submitted their decision and could not change it retrospectively, an email of support in relation to the concerns raised by a member of the public in relation to the application for this site has been sent to the planning department asking them to take all of the concerns into consideration.

Electronic Planning: Clerk has made contact with Farrington Gurney PC. They lodge their applications on their web site for all pc members to look at.
S Wilcox who mended Clerks computer has informed the clerk that it now has a larger memory to accommodate plans electronically. He is going to provide a quote for a tablet/laptop which could be brought to a meeting with a small projector to display the applications. An email has now been sent to Mark Reynolds at BANES to come and offer further advice on Electronic Planning, however clerk has been advised that there is a lot of information online which details benefits of electronic planning, grants available.

Yellow Lines: The Parish Council have not been sent a final map of the Yellow Line Scheme for the Parish. Clerk has written to the Traffic Management Team to ask for a copy of the final map for the Yellow Line Scheme after the closure of the consultation. One query has been made by a member of the public asking why there are no Yellow Lines outside of the Church Room by the entrance to the gates of St Thomas a Becket Churchyard. Clerk to reply.

Referendum: Notice has been received from BANES informing us that there will be a Referendum on whether BANES should have a Directly Elected Mayor. A copy of the notice will be place on the noticeboard. The Poll for the Referendum will be held on Thursday 10th March 2016…

Litter Picking: A member of the public has emailed me to offer help with the next Litter Pick. This person lives on Old Road.

Recycling Collections: As you are aware there have been disruptions with the recycling the latest is that from today the Council will bring in additional crews to clear the recycling and food waste that remains from Thursday’s and Friday’s collections. This is in addition to the Kier crews which will be out making Monday’s scheduled recycling and food waste collections as usual.

High Street: Tracy Jones has been asked by a member of the public. Can they have “Keep Clear signs” outside a lane/driveway by the Spangles House (opposite the village green). They would like the Keep Clear Lines by the entrance to the lane which is on the left hand side to the property. Original lines which used to be there have eroded away and now that the double yellow lines are down they are concerned about people starting to park in front of their lane/drive.

Allotment Site: Clerk has received an enquiry from a member of public who would like to rent an allotment. A site meeting to be arranged.

Short Lane. Lyn Parfitt has emailed the Clerk to inform the Parish Council that three properties namely Hirwaun, Stepstones and Sunningdale were formally readdressed from Hillcrest to Short Lane in October. This change of address was carried out at the owners request. So that properties can be easily located BANES are to arrange installation of two Short Lane street nameplates as marked on the attached location plan. Before installation is carried out BANES would be pleased to receive comments from Publow and Pensford Parish Council concerning this matter and whether the Parish Council is happy for installation to take place. Clerk has circulated to all PC members. 3 PC Members have confirmed that they are happy with the suggested location for the nameplates.
Cllr May reported that he has had contact from 2 residents and has been in contact with Lyn Parfitt regarding the siting of the Short Lane Name Plates. It was agreed that the Clerk would arrange a meeting between Lyn Parfitt, BANES, Cllr P May, Parish Council Chairman and other involved parties.

Royal Garden Party: Nominations are open for the Royal Garden Party on Tuesday 10th May 2016. ALCA can allocate invitations to Two Local Councils to send two representatives. A councillor taking their partner/relative/friend or two councillors accompanying each other. Nominations have to be received by ALCA by Thursday 4th February Noon.

Unauthorised Advertisements: Details circulated from the Council to all PC Members.

9. Planning:

Applications received Discussed by the Sub- Committee:

15/05583/FUL Mr K Dawe Church Farm Peats Hill Publow. Erection of Pool House and associated works. Parish Council to send comments only regarding the loss of the view from the river. Suggestions made to landscape the wall which will be south facing. Concerns were raised regarding over-development of the site. Planning will be asked what is considered to be over-development. It was also noted that neighbouring property “Woodleigh” had not received a Neighbourhood Notification letter in respect of this planning application.

Planning Outcomes to Note:

15/05135/TCA Mr S Raper 2 Hillside Publow Woollard Lane. Tree Works in Conservation Area. Fell Conifer as too large for area and close to road. Replace with appropriate tree. NO OBJECTION

15/04996/ADCOU AMP Electrical Ltd Belluton Yard Belluton Farm Stanton Road. Prior approval request for change of use from Agricultural Building to dwelling (C3) and associated operational development. REFUSE

15/04995/ADCOU AMP Electrical Ltd Belluton Yard Belluton Farm. Prior approval request for operational development in conjunction with the change of use from Agricultural Building to Dwelling (C3) reference 14/05615/ADCOU approved on appeal. APPROVE

10. Financial Matters:

Payments to be authorised over £100.00

Mrs J Bragg Clerk December Salary 637.52
Computer Services Repairs to Clerks Computer 255.00
Computer Services Data Recovery from Clerks Computer 100.00
Pensford Post Office Neighbourhood Plan Vouchers 20 x £5.00 100.00
Memorial Hall Neighbourhood Plan Open Days March.
15 Hours @ £15 per hour 225.00
Mr G Tyler Deposit for Acker Bilk Memorial Bench 2000.00

Payments to be authorised:

Mrs J Bragg Clerk Imprest 26.40
Mrs J Bragg Computer Ink 9.00
Bristol Water Allotment Charge 22/5/15 – 25/11/2015 22.53

Receipts:

Groundwork UK Neighbourhood Plan Grant (2nd amount) 1460.00

11. Items of Report to carry forward to the next Meeting

12. To Note Future Meetings: Neighbourhood Planning Meeting Wednesday 13th January 2016 Parish Councils Airport Association Meeting Tuesday 26th January 2016
BANES ALCA Meeting 27th January 2016
DATE OF NEXT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING: MONDAY 8th February 2016 AT 7.15 pm