Milverton Parish Council Report

December 2016

Milverton Parish Council met on 5^th December to discuss an extensive agenda.

The meeting started with a presentation by Julian Hosking on behalf of the Alive in Milverton group about Community Benefit Societies (CBS) and how one could work in Milverton and the surrounding area. Essentially a CBS operates as a flexible legal entity which can act as an umbrella for a wide range of activities or functions. The scope of its functions is dictated by the Rules it operates under but for example as well as covering people based activities it could also hold and manage assets under an asset lock which effectively prevents their sale or disposal.

CBSs are membership organisations which are managed on a day to day basis by elected Directors and whilst the Directors hold overall responsibility the activities covered activities under its auspices would be managed by members and volunteers. It was suggested that membership be through ownership of shares which should be available for a one off payment at say £15 each but with the proviso that each member was only entitled to one vote regardless of the number of shares owned. One key point that Mr Hosking pointed out was that a CBS would need to pay a fee to set up and this, with other expenses, was likely to be in the region of £1000.

Councillors then discussed the presentation. There were questions about what role a CBS would play in relation to village organisations and the Parish Council. As long as the activities were within the Rules the CBS would be able to offer support to clubs and societies or even take over ownership of assets to coordinate management and fund-raising. Councillors felt that this had potential for widening participation in village affairs and was timely particularly as some village organisations were struggling to find Trustees and committee members. As for the relationship with the Parish Council The Chairman encouraged Councillors to consider the matter over Christmas with a view to having a detailed discussion at the next meeting on 9^th January. It was also agreed to put a detailed piece in the Parish Magazine. TDBC Councillor Gwil Wren said that he had promised to set up a meeting of village clubs and organisations to discuss issues around membership and recruitment and had booked the Victoria Rooms on 9^th February. He proposed that a CBS presentation be included on the agenda and Councillors thought this was an excellent idea.

Under planning Councillors approved a shed in front of the building line at Siskins in Bartletts Lane and supported the felling of a cherry tree in North Street and some amended plans for a property in Silver Street.

Under roads the Clerk reported that following speed monitoring in Wood Street SCC was prepared to install a pole for the Speed Indicator Device to be deployed on a regular basis. Councillors were happy about this a site visit will agree the location.

Under toilets the Clerk reported that he had managed to get a lower quote than that offered by TDBC's new contractors. Councillors therefore reconsidered their decision not to acquire the Fore Street toilets and hope to complete the transfer before the end of January.

The Crime report highlighted that thefts from sheds and outbuildings increased during the winter months and reminded people to be vigilant and lock up their property.

Cllr Mrs Lumby reported that problems with the telephone land lines through the Milverton exchange had arisen again. The problem was identical to the previous one in that calls dropped out or one participant could be heard but the other could not. This was all the more frustrating because the problem was intermittent and if a BT engineer was called and found there was no fault at that time the homeowner would be charged £130. Mrs Lumby reminded the Council that on the previous occasion the fault had been traced to a 'card' in the exchange which carried a random group of numbers, it was therefore easy and cheap to fix but it was proving very difficult to persuade BT to do the work in the exchange and not visit (and charge) householders. One potentially serious issue associated with this was that Piper Alarm systems were dependent on land lines so there was a risk that elderly and vulnerable residents would be unable to call for help if they had this problem on their line. Councillors were sympathetic but felt that those affected just had to keep on complaining and refusing to allow an engineer to call. Hopefully this should yield results.

The Clerk reported a successful allotment meeting on 21^st November which had been attended by 12 plot holders. A variety of issues were raised including burning and dogs using the site. Worryingly there were reports that a youth had been seen with an air rifle on site. It was agreed that the air rifle incident would be reported to the Police and the Council would put in a gate to deter casual access.

Councillor Wren reported that BT was proposing to close the phone boxes at Houndsmoor and Courtfield because they had made a combined total of one call over the previous 12 months. Councillors raised no objection to this.

Given that recent Parish Council meetings had gone on for 3 hours it was proposed to move the start time forward to 7pm. Whilst this can be done on a one off basis a permanent change would require an amendment of the Standing Orders. Although Councillors were receptive to this it was felt that the problem lay with the amount of business rather than the start time. It was agreed that the Chairman and Clerk would have a formal agenda setting meeting to try and streamline the business. It was also agreed that the January meeting would start at 7pm.

In November the Council spent £4176 on toilets (£2246), grasscutting (£1093) and salaries (£610). There were also payments for electrical costs relating to the Vodaphone booster at the Recreation Ground, the Memorial Wreath, gardening and TDBC Planning Officer attendance at meetings.

In matters to report the Council's attention was drawn to two untidy sites and a dangerous structure in the Parish which the Clerk will report to TDBC.

The meeting closed at 10:10pm.