Minutes of the Meeting of the

Exbourne with Jacobstowe Parish Council held on Wednesday 29^th October 2008 at 20:00 in Exbourne Village Hall

64. Those present

Cllr Glanville – Chairman

Cllr Cobb

Cllr Weeks

Cllr Luxton

Cllr Phipps

Cllr Hordern

2 Members of the public

P3 Co coordinator

Internal Auditor

65. Apologies for absence – Cllr Lawson apologised but was unable to attend this meeting due to being out of the country.

66. Declarations of Interests – Cllr Hordern declared a personal interest in item 6.2 Remembrance Sunday, Cllr Phipps declared a personal and prejudicial interest in item 9.2 Footpath Strimming, Cllr Glanville declared a personal and prejudicial interest in item 8.2 Footpath 3 update.

67. Minutes of the last meeting – Cllr Cobb proposed that the minutes of the last meeting were an accurate record this was seconded by Cllr Hordern. The Chairman signed the minutes.

68. Matters arising from the last meeting

68.1. Internal Auditor – Fiona Rook was pleased to agreed to accept the role of Internal Auditor, she stated that her fee for acting in this capacity would be £176.25vat inc. She asked the Council if there were any Terms of Reference for the IA. Cllr Luxton asked what had the previous IA worked with, the Clerk told the meeting that the previous IA did not have any specific guidelines. The Clerk had written a draft outline of the role of the IA but this had not been approved by the Council. It was agreed to circulate this draft to all members and the IA for comment and discussion at the next meeting

68.2. Quality Council – The Clerk reported that he had investigated the cost of gaining quality status and benefits associated with a Quality Council (QC). He estimated that it would cost in the region of £800-1000 to attain the in quality status, of this the larger part would be training for the Clerk to achieve the Certificate in Local Council Administration. The Clerk had previously circulated a list of all QC in Devon and of these most were larger town councils. Cllr Weeks said that he had contacted Talaton Parish Council and had spoken to the Chairman of the Council about the benefits of becoming a QC, he (the Chairman of Talaton PC) was not sure if the PC would go through the process again and that they were disappointed with the added responsibility that becoming a QC had brought. Cllr Weeks proposed that the Council should not to pursue Quality Status at present, this was seconded by Cllr Hordern.

68.3. External Audit - The External Audit had been concluded with no comments. An invoice for £141 had been received from the Audit Commission. Cllr Hordern proposed that the bill be paid and Cllr Glanville seconded.

68.4. Highways Report - Cllr Hordern gave the meeting a report on the meeting that she had had with Mr Newcombe outside the Red Lion Pub at 15:15 on 14^th Oct. Mr Newcombe agreed to conduct a speed survey within the next few weeks and also to carry out a crash investigation at Exbourne Crossroads. Mr Newcombe had walked through the Village and had comment that at the time only one person seemed to be going fairly fast. Mr Newcombe would try to get the results to the council in time for the next meeting.

69. Matters arising from Circulated correspondence – Cllr Luxton made a general comment that the Circulation file contain several items that were out of date by the time that he received them. The Clerk agreed and told the meeting that he had made comments to West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) on more than one occasion about the short notice given for some events. It was agreed to bring this matter up at the next Northern Links Committee and to also try circulating a file once a fortnight.

70. New Items

70.1. GP Dispensaries - Cllr Weeks told the meeting that within WDBC there were three GP dispensaries which were subject to consultation by The Department of Health one being Okehampton Medical Centre. He said that the income from the Dispensaries helped to defray the cost of other services provided by the Centre and that these might be in jeopardy if it lost its dispensary. He said that the Dept of Health had carried out consultation exercise but that these were in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle. The meeting agreed to write to the Minster for the South West asking how was this area consulted and in particular how were the rural communities considered. The meeting also agreed to send a letter supporting GP Dispensaries to the Dept of Health.

70.2. Remembrance Sunday donation in lieu of wreath. Asked the meeting to consider making a donation of £25 to the poppy appeal in lieu of purchasing a wreath. Cllr Luxton proposed that a donation of £50 be made, this was seconded by Cllr Phipps.

71. Parish Paths Partnership

71.1. Public Enquiry rerouting of Footpath 1 – The Clerk reminded the meeting that there would be a public enquiry on the 14^th of Nov in Exbourne Village Hall commencing at 10:00 into the proposed modifications to the route of Footpath 1

Cllr Weeks assumed the role of the Chairman

71.2. Update on Footpath 3 – The Clerk told the meeting that he had written a letter to Landowner about Footpath 3 as per the councils instruction (see page 307 min 60.2) and had sent it to the P3 coordinator for his comments prior to sending it. However after receiving his comments Clerk considered that the Council may have made a decision outside its jurisdiction and that the Council may wish to review its decision after hearing from the P3 Coord. The Chairman asked the P3 coordinator for his comments. Mr Brooker the P3 Coord told the meeting that £600 of the P3 budget was earmarked for Footpath 3 improvements and that the P3 office were fully aware of the situation. These improvements were part of larger project that the Landowner was in the process of undertaking for which funding from DEFRA had been available but had been withdrawn. The latest situation was that the Landowner had been invited by DEFRA to submit a new application for funding for the work to be completed by February 2009. The Landowner would know if his application had been successful by Christmas, he had also agreed to undertake the Footpath improvements in isolation by the end March if his application to DEFRA was rejected. Cllr Cobb proposed that the in view of the P3 coordinators comments the previous action be rescinded this was seconded by Cllr Phipps.

Cllr Glanville assumed the role of Chairman

71.3. Jacobstowe Footpath/Burial Ground. The Clerk said that Michelmore-Hughes the Land Agent for the Totnes Archdeaconry had confirmed that the matter had recently been discussed and that they had no objection in principle to the idea. They did mention that the covenant associated with the sale of the land would have to be eased and that the cost would have to be met. Although money was available for creating the footpath, the P3 coordinator was unsure as to if the Devon County would assist in meeting the legal costs, he did say that they were however very keen to create this footpath from a health and safety point of view. It was agreed to make the Burial Ground an agenda item next month. It was requested that if possible statement of exactly what funding was available and that the clerk should seek advice if legal advice was available from DCC.

71.4. Transfer of £25Admin cost from P3 budget - Cllr Weeks proposed that £25 be transferred from the P3 budget to the general precept budget for admin costs. Cllr Hordern seconded the motion.

72. Finance

72.1. Lloyds Bank Statement - The latest bank statement showed a balance of

£4501.27

P3 £725.10

General Precept £3776.17

Outstanding debts

Hall Hire £60.00

Balance £3716.17

72.2. Invoice for Footpath Strimming - An invoice for £58.75 had been received for footpath maintenance from Mr & Mrs Phipps. It was proposed by Cllr Luxton that this bill be paid and was seconded by Cllr Cobb.

73. Date of next meeting - The next meeting will Nov 26^th