MINUTES of the PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

held on Monday 12th October 2020 at 7.30pm. Remote meeting via MS Teams

20/106 Approval of Apologies given: Cllr D Rogers could not attend due to building work at her home. Cllr Bates proposed these apologies be accepted. Cllr Duke seconded and all Cllrs were in favour. Ward Cllr Sumner did not attend the meeting or provide a report.

20/107 Public recess. No public.

20/108 Co-option of New Cllr. No candidates

20/109 Declarations of interests & vote on any dispensations applied for. Cllr Sunners works as a volunteer with the WARP team.

20/110 Approval of minutes from 14th September 2020 Page 2 – note that Cllr D Rogers was noted as the Cllr who could not attend a Thursday meeting. A proposal was made by Cllr Rawlings that these minutes were accurate. Seconded by Cllr Kearsey, all Cllrs were in favour.

20/111 Action points:

Clerk

19/24 Arrange completion of new Rec Hall doors and frames within £2000 budget. COMPLETE

19/197 Ask Cllr Jefferies for Turnball planning update ref retaining wall application. ITEM TO BE CLOSED. RESIDENT HAS 3 YEARS TO UPHOLD CONIDTIONS OF APPLICATION. NO BENEFIT IN MONITORING CURRENTLY.

20/92 Schedule monthly CVPA opening review for Oct full council agenda.DONE

20/94 Invite WARP representatives to Oct meeting& send Cllr Harris the rest of the requests for the 2021/22 budget. DONE

20/96 Contact SBC to see if the original shielding list for Covid19 can be used again for contacting the vulnerable. DONE. YES WE CAN. CLLRS TO CONTACT CLERK FOR NUMBERS TO CALL

20/98 Find out if there is a central list of what allowances other parishes are claiming for Cllrs and Chairman. CHECKED WITH SBC. CENTRAL LIST NOT KEPT

20/105 Add items to Oct agenda as stated in minute 20/105. DONE

Cllr Jefferies

20/09 Investigate end of Badbury footpath being blocked. ONGOING. SBC TO BE CHASED BY CLLR JEFFERIES.

ALL CLLRS

Provide head and shoulders photo for new website contact page. DONE

Cllr Sunners

20/65 Chase up request to South Swindon Police for speed enforcement checks on Hodson Road. CLLR HARRIS AND CLLR RAWLINGS TO CHASE UP DATES FOR THIS

20/112.  Discussion with WARP in regards to Washpool boardwalk repairs.   Hilary Howe representing the group.

  • Boardwalk installed in 2009 and made of oak.  Now starting to deteriorate.
  • Hard to maintain as metal mesh stops the wood from being slippery but this prevents leaves being brushed off.
  • Would like to “future proof” the site. Remove the boardwalk and replace with a permanent path structure. This would prevent long term maintenance issues
  • Could repair the existing boardwalk but would need to have it taken apart to check the condition of it. Hard to quote for this work without investigating first.

Consideration needs to be given to wildlife movement on the site – tunnels for frogs etc if a new path is built.  Wheelchair access to be considered.

Could recycled plastic boards be used?

Suggested that WARP contact other groups such as Westonbirt to see how they handle their walkways.

Hilary was asked if she can gather more quotes for different types of solutions and come back to the November meeting if there is more information to be shared.

20/113 Community Safety report, including crime stats.  Cllr Sunners

August crimes in the parish – 12, which included 7 fuel drive-offs. The South Swindon rural police team has a full complement of officers. Neighbourhood Watch is trying to get Community Safety on other PC’s agendas.

20/114 Ward Cllrs update.

  Ward Cllr Mattock for Chiseldon & Lawn Ward.

The Gov. has provided local authorities with funds to be granted for those isolating and loosing income due to Covid.  There is criteria to be met to apply. SBC website has details.

Recent stats show an increase in cases in Chiseldon, Wroughton and Wichelstowe. 1402 cases and 174 deaths.

However this is down to 18 per 10,000 new cases and is the lowest in the South West, when the figures were checked one week ago.

Ward Cllr Jefferies for Chiseldon & Lawn Ward.

It is believed that figures from care homes affected the figures when there was last a spike in in the area for Covid. Everyone needs to be reminded to be aware and careful and not become complacent.

Broadband for the parish is still being discussed as a lot of people are interested. The plan is moving slowly forward.

Noted that bus shelter on Marlborough Road still not repaired. A request is to be submitted by Ward Cllr Mattock for a street light in this location to deter vandalism.

Ward Cllr Mattock leaves the meeting at 20.21

20/115. Update on CVPA from Clerk

Risk assessments show no new extra risk. Area is tidy and bins emptied on schedule.

Cllrs were happy for the area to remain open pending the next monthly review.

20/116.  Discussion on MS Teams functionality.

Potential issue with having 2 logins discussed. No definitive solution known.

20/117 Budget for 2021/22. Discussion & vote on completed budget

The Finance Committee had convened and drafted a budget with the requests from Council and Committees.

The final draft was made available for review prior to the meeting.

Changes/amendments/inclusions were:

  • £10,000 for new flooring for Castle View Play area approved
  • £2,000 for new goal posts for Recreation Ground approved
  • Badbury funds for extra SID £2,500 – changed to zero.  No firm evidence that the Hodson Road SID has been worth the expenditure.  The existing funds set aside for this will go towards the first SID for Badbury to see if there is benefit before allocating more funds.
  • BMX track £10,000 requested. Changed to £1,000 to cover research and marketing etc.  The group should look to fund this from grants and fundraising to get public support and buy in.  Group should supply council with a plan to show how any future council funding is to be spent and why it is required.
  • Neighbourhood Plan £10,000 approved.
  • Parking layby’s. £25,000 added to this fund for Windmill Piece and Draycot Foliat.
  • £18,000 moved from general funds to reserved funds for the creation of a new Rec Hall/community hub

These figures were approved by Finance Committee in Oct 2020.

Cllr Harris proposed that the draft budget for expenditure for 2021/22 including the items above be approved by the council. Cllr Jefferies seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/118 Discussion and vote on 2021/22 Precept figure

Taking into account the budgeted items above, the proposed precept for 2021/22 is £143,000.

Cllr Kearsey proposed that the precept for 2021/22 be £143,000. Cllr A Rogers seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/119. Changes to Standing Orders – meeting end time and duration.

Proposed changes that meetings after 9.30pm be voted on to determine it to continue, defer or hold an extra meeting. To also include any meeting with a duration over 2 hours. The Clerk is to update Standing Orders with this change.

Cllr McDonald proposed that these changes be made to Standing Orders. Cllr Jefferies seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/120 Approval of New/Updated Council policies

Policies are: Equal Opportunity, Social Media and Communications, and Petitions.

Cllr Jefferies proposed the approval of the Equal Opportunities Policy. Cllr A Rogers seconded & all Cllr in favour.

Cllr A Rogers proposed the approval of the Social Media and Communications Policy. Cllr Jefferies seconded & all Cllrs in favour.

Cllr Duke proposed the approval of the Petitions Policy. Cllr Jefferies seconded & all Cllrs in favour.

20/121 PLANNING. Discuss and vote on revised planning application S/HOU/20/0813. 36 Draycott Road. Juliette balcony and first floor rear extension.

Cllr Jefferies proposed a reply of “no comment” the same as the previous reply. Cllr Bates seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/122 PLANNING. Discussion and vote on what to do with the funds of £6,000 in reserves to remove the New Road Build Out.

Council in 2017 voted to remove Build Out and replace with appropriate traffic calming scheme. £6,000 set aside in 2020/21 budget for this purpose.

Council should consider whether if the plan from 2017 is changed then the PC needs a good reason as to why it has changed from the original vote.

Should alternatives for the site be looked at?

Site is unkempt and overgrown

Some Cllrs still think it could cause an accident.

Should residents near the site be surveyed now to find out their views 3 years later?

Should the area have street lights? Would residents want street lights?

A decision was made to pass this back to the Planning Committee to get a consultation approved for residents and spend some of the £6000 on having a professional survey carried out. Should ask if more lighting should be considered.   The Clerk is to add this to the next Planning agenda.

The survey results to be fed back to Full Council.

Cllr Harris proposed this course of action. Cllr Bates seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/123 FINANCE. Discussion & Vote of EGPA decision to spend £11,110 plus VAT of CIL funds on outside gym equipment from Caloo.

Cllr Jefferies proposed this £11,110 plus VAT be spent with Caloo on this equipment. Cllr Rawlings seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

20/124. FINANCE Discuss and vote on EGPA decision to spend £335 plus VAT from Allbuild on a 3rd allotment water tank.

Cllr Bates proposed the expenditure on a 3rd water tank for the allotment. Cllr Duke seconded and all Cllrs were in favour. Cllr Rawlings did not vote.

20/125 Committee Reports

Finance – September 2020 financial reports-review & vote on approval.  No questions on this report.

Cllr A Rogers proposed approving the September finance figures as accurate.  Cllr Rawlings seconded and all Cllrs were in favour.

EGPA  – Xmas lights will go on this year but with no organised event.  BIOS currently not attending due to Covid. BMX track group has had one meeting, another one is booked for November.

Planning – No interest so far on parking layby quotes. Trying to find alternatives and Ward Cllr Jefferies trying to find out if SBC can assist.

Risk Assessments – September 2020  

  • Clerks Job Description assessment – all ok, no issues
  • Parish owned trees – all ok, no issues.  Tree work identified as priority 1 on annual tree inspection to be carried out shortly.
  • Monthly RA on infectious diseases  – all ok, no issues.
  • Clerk will send round Nov RA’s for volunteers
  • Clerks Correspondence – no comments

20/126 Items for next agenda.   None

Meeting closed 21.15

All Actions to be completed by the next Full Committee meeting unless otherwise specified.

Clerk

20/111 Ask handyman to install door stops at Rec hall for new door

20/111 Request written confirmation from Allbuild that Rec Hall doors are secure without steel frames

20/119 Update Standing Orders with new addition ref meeting duration

20/121 Reply to SBC planning ref app S/HOU/20/0813.

20/122 Add to Oct Planning agenda the New Road build out consultation

Cllr Jefferies

20/09 Investigate end of Badbury footpath being blocked

Cllrs Harris & Rawlings

20/65 Chase up request to South Swindon Police for speed enforcement checks on Hodson Road.