Minutes of the Meeting of the

Exbourne with Jacobstowe Parish Council held on Wednesday 24th September 2008 at 20:00 in The Vestry of Jacobstowe Parish Church.

 

52. Those present

Cllr Weeks – Chairman

Cllr Cobb

Cllr Lawson

Cllr Luxton

Cllr Phipps

Cllr Hordern

 

0 Members of the public

 

53. Apologies for absence – The Chairman of the Council Cllr Glanville apologised but was unable to attend this meeting.   

 

54. Declarations of Interests – Nil   

 

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

 

56. Matters arising from the last meeting

56.1. Parish Plan – Following last months meeting Cllrs Luxton and Lawson had reviewed the Exbourne and Jacobstowe Parish Plan 2005.  Cllr Luxton agreed that subject to the Councils approval he would be prepared to take the lead on the plan. He had looked through the plan and felt that business permitting it should be reviewed on a topic by topic basis monthly.  Cllr Cobb agreed and proposed that Cllr Luxton's offer be accepted this was seconded by Cllr Phipps.     

   

56.2.  Internal Auditor.   Cllr Glanville had spoken with Fiona Rook who had expressed an interest in becoming the Council’s Internal Auditor and had forwarded a message to the clerk that she would like to come to next meeting to discuss with Council the Terms of Reference and scope of the Internal Audit.  Cllr Weeks proposed that the Council should invite Fiona Rook to the October Council Meeting this was seconded by Cllr Hordern.  Action Clerk to invite Fiona to the next meeting in the mean time the Clerk was asked to supply Fiona Rook with as much information as possible about the role of the IA.

56.3. B3216 near Keepers Cottage.  The Council had written to Devon Highways to investigate the placing of signs warning of hidden dips etc along this stretch of road after an accident in March (see March minutes page 289 min 140.2).  Devon Highways in response had investigated the accident record relating to this stretch of road and prior to the one in question the last recorded accident was 5 years ago, consequently they did not therefore consider this road particularly dangerous would not take any action.  Cllr Hordern requested that the response be passed to Mrs Al Shawi.  Action Clerk to forward response.

 

57. New items

57.1. Quality Councils – Cllrs Hordern and Luxton had attended a  Devon Association of Parish Councils course on Quality Councils.  Cllrs Hordern and Luxton had circulated a summary of the course.  The Council debated the merits of attaining Quality Council and its financial cost.    Cllr Luxton told the meeting that the chief requirement would be for the clerk to become qualified and that would clearly have a financial implication and that once the Clerk had obtain his qualification the Council would then have to reach and maintain a standard so that it would be accredited quality status which again would cost.  Cllr Luxton asked the Clerk if he had considered the matter since the Council last discussed the issue.  The Clerk advised the meeting that he hadn’t given the matter a great deal of thought but was aware that there was a financial cost both in obtaining the qualification, and in the council’s accreditation and going management of Quality Status.  Cllr Lawson wanted to know what becoming quality council would mean and was it worth the cost.  Cllr Luxton asked the Chairman if in his knowledge as Borough Councillor did West Devon Borough Council give added weight to any comments from Quality Councils, Cllr Weeks said that as far as he was aware that WDBC did not.   The Clerk agreed to provide to the next meeting a summary of what he foresaw the costs would be in becoming the Quality Council he also undertook to contact DAPC to find an equivalent size council who were of quality status to try to find out what benefits they had had since becoming a Quality council.

 

57.2.    Website -  The Clerk told the meeting that the website was once again live and that that Exbourne Cross Garage had sponsored the site for £50 in lieu of charging rent for the bus shelter.  After a brief discussion it was proposed by Cllr Luxton that the Council should try other local businesses to see if they were willing to sponsor the site.  This was seconded by Cllr Cobb.  

 

58. Planning

58.1.  12225/2008/OKE Risdon Farm Jacobstowe. Some members had been to the proposed site and gave the meeting their opinion of the application.  Following a short discussion Cllr Lawson proposed that the Council fully support the application the was seconded by Cllr Luxton. Action Council fully support  

58.2.  12213/2008/OKE 1 Pooks Cottage Hayfield Lane.  Some members had been to view the proposed site and gave the meeting their opinion of the proposal.  The meeting held long debate on this application.  Cllr Weeks was of the opinion that this style of development (a small 2 bedroom house) was what was required in the village although it was noted that this application was only for outline permission and that many changes could take place between outline permission being granted full permission.  Cllr Weeks thought the site was large enough for a small dwelling but considered the access onto a road of this width to be a problem.  He said that this had been a reason cited for refusing other applications in the village by the Planning Authority in the last 4 years. It was felt by some that Devon Highways had been inconsistent in applying their access criteria considering recent planning applications.  The Chairman asked for a proposal on how the Council should respond to this application.  Cllr Phipps proposed that the Council should object to the application on the grounds of the limited access to the property. This was seconded by Cllr Hordern.  On taking a vote 4 Cllrs voted to support the proposal, 1 against and 1 abstained. Action Council objected to the application on the grounds of the limited access.       

 

58.3. 12263/2008/OKE Hayes Barton Jacobstowe  The Council considered the application and Cllr Cobb proposed that the Council support the application this was seconded by Cllr Lawson.

 

59.        Parish Paths Partnership - See finance

 

60.     Finance

60.1.  Bank Statement The latest bank statement showed a balance as of the

12 Sept 2008                            £2,078.57

         P3                                       £725.10

         General Precept                  £1,353.47

         Outstanding debits

         Hall hire                                 £60.00

        Unpresented cheques           £50.00

               Balance                                £1,243.47

 

60.2. P3 Balance -The clerk told the meeting that he had contacted the P3 coordinator regarding the continual carrying forward of the P3 balance.  The Clerk told the meeting that Mr Brooker the P3 coordinator would press Mr Glanville to complete the work on Footpath 3 (Barton Head) and that the money had been earmarked for this work for the last 3 years.  Cllr Luxton felt that this work should have been carried out by now and he proposed that the Council give the Land owner 3 months to complete the work before it started looking for a contractor to do the work.  This was seconded by Cllr Cobb.  Action  Clerk to write to the Landowner.

 

60.3.   Clerks expenses -   The Clerk had submitted a bill for £108.15 for miscellaneous expenses.  Cllr Hordern proposed that bill be paid this was seconded by Cllr Lawson.

 

61. Matters at the Discretion of Chairman – Exbourne War Memorial Cllr Hordern reported that there had been an accident recently where a young child had fallen off it the War Memorial after using as a climbing frame.  Cllr Luxton was unsure what the council could do about this, Cllr Hordern agreed especially as the child in question was supervised by its mother.  Cllr Hordern however felt that the council should know.

    

62.  There being no further business the meeting closed at 21:30.

 

63.  Date of the next Meeting Oct 29th at Exbourne Village Hall at 20:00