Report of Milverton
Parish Council meeting 13th
April 2015
Councillors considered a
packed agenda in their last meeting before the elections. Thanks and
appreciation were given to the four Councillors who are standing
down. The longest serving was Rachel Renfree who had been on the
Parish Council since 1991 and had been Chairman twice. The others
were Eileen McHardy, Ian Gauntlett and Guy Hannaford who had all
served 12 years.
It was noted with some
disappointment that only three new prospective Councillors had come
forward and that as a result there would not be the need for an
election. This is the first time for many years that there has not
been a Parish Council election in Milverton. In the past these
elections have frequently delivered a turnout of 60% one of the the
best in the South West. The only bright spot is that the Council
will save £700 of election expenses.
Therefore the first
task of the new Council will be to co-opt a new member to fill the
vacancy and Councillors will discuss this at the Annual Parish
Council Meeting on 11th
May.
Under Planning,
Councillors used their delegated planning powers to approve
application 23/15/0004, an extension to a property in Wood Street.
Councillors noted that the development was of sufficient size to
attract a charge of £16000 under the provisions of the Community
Infrastructure Levy (CIL). TDBC Planning Officer Bryn Kitching
explained that the figure was correct but that relief would be
available under certain circumstances.
Councillors were aware
that Parish Councils are eligible for 10% of CIL payments in their
area and the Clerk reported that TDBC had offered training in how
this would operate. Councillors thought that this was an excellent
idea in what was bound to become an important and probably
contentious aspect of local planning.
The item on Creedwell was
dominated by traffic issues. It was becoming clear that SCC Highways
were only prepared to judge the application on the information
supplied when the road widening requirement was removed in 2012.
There seemed to be no acknowledgement of the traffic impact away from
the Creedwell junction onto Fore Street and an assumption that
traffic flowed freely along the B3187 and the presence of on street
parking in Silver Street, Fore Street and Sand Street was being
ignored. Councillors were told that SCC Highways would be prepared to
consider a further traffic assessment if the village cared to
commission one – however the costs were expected to be between
£3-5000. Unsurprisingly Councillors were incensed at SCC's apparent
abdication of its responsibilities and the Chairman, Vice Chairman
and Clerk agreed to meet to take the matter forward. TDBC Councillor
Gwil Wren agreed to speak to his SCC counterpart James Hunt with a
view to getting a meeting with the SCC officers involved.
(NB Since the meeting
Notaro has withdrawn its offer of Affordable Housing and is pressing
TDBC to determine the application as soon as possible.)
As previously reported SCC
has offered to supply the village with its own Speed Indicator Device
(SID). These display and record vehicle speeds and make drivers slow
down. Before taking responsibility for a device Parish Councils have
to sign up to a series of undertakings including training
operatives and providing adequate insurance. Parishes also have to
have a minimum of 8 qualifying sites but can team up with
neighbouring communities to make up the numbers. Councillors were
very happy to endorse their previous decision to acquire a SID and
invited the local Speed Watch group to take part in the management
and deployment of it. The Speed Watch group will consider this and
let the Council know.
The Clerk reported
that the Triathlon will again use the village. It would be on Sunday
17th
May and a one way system would operate around St Michaels Hill, North
Street, Silver Street and Fore Street between 9am and 3pm.
The Clerk also
reported on a meeting with TDBC about the transfer of ownership of
the toilets to the Parish Council. All but two of the Heads of Terms
were agreed and the Clerk is reworking these into a counter proposal.
Cllr Wren reported that he would be attending another meeting on 22nd
April to discuss how the extra £80000 allocated by TDBC tow toilet
transfer would be distributed. To honour this long running saga
retiring Councillor Ian Gauntlet presented the Parish Council with a
copy of Clochmerle, a humorous account of a small French town which
also had its ups and downs over the provision of public conveniences.
Mr Cotton reported that
the Community Defibrillator project was almost complete and was in
the process of getting an invoice so that it could be paid for. The
Clerk reported that the extra insurance cost would be £26pa.
Following the Milverton
Trust request to use the Jubilee Gardens again as part of the Street
Fair, the Clerk had drawn up terms for a licence, which would remove
the need for annual discussions as long as there were no changes.
Councillors were happy with the terms and the Clerk was asked to
offer them to the Trust.
Councillors spent
some time debating telecommunication and internet issues. Mrs Lumby
reported a long running problem with the telephone exchange. Over the
last six months over 20 residents of Milverton, Fitzhead and
Hillcommon have had problems with calls when they can hear but they
cannot be heard by the other party. These breakups have lasted for
about an hour before clearing. All the residents had contacted BT who
denied it was 'their fault' and in some cases charged the £130 call
out fee. Eventually, as a result of extreme persistence and the
involvement of a 3rd
party land line provider, BT acknowledged that there was a fault in
the exchange and have replaced the broken part. Despite the apparent
resolution of the problem Councillors felt that this issue deserved
to be escalated. The Clerk was therefore asked to write to BT and
Offcom.
Still on the subject
of telecommunications Mrs Hoyle reported that several residents had
contacted her about housing a Vodaphone base unit. These boost
Vodaphone signals up to 500m and would significantly increase and
improve signal coverage in the village. Vodaphone would be following
this up with a site suitability survey on 14th
May.
Councillors were
told that the new Milverton Village website would be demonstrated by
the Trust at the Annual Parish meeting on 15th
April. It was hoped that the site would 'go live' in mid May.
The Clerk reported that
the Council's regular gardener had suffered a car accident and would
be off work for several months. He was asked to find a temporary
replacement to cover the gap. Councillors asked for Best Wishes to be
sent.
Councillors authorised
expenditure of £1569. This included salaries, grants, gardening
costs and annual subscriptions.
