"Dijon", Bath New Road, Radstock, Bath. BA3 3ED

Telephone: (01761) 433686 call minder E-mail: psjpc@btconnect.com 

Home

for the year 2000 - 2001

for the year 2001 - 2002

for the year 2002 -2003

for the year 2003 - 2004

for the year 2004 - 2005

1. The year started with the full complement of 17 Councillors, a part-time Clerk and three part-time caretakers. One Councillor resigned on 28^th February 2001.
2. The Precept was fixed at £53,895, being a considerable increase on the previous year but reflecting the true precept required to fund the level of services in a parish of this size. During the past ten years, reserves that were mainly accrued from a capital receipt acquired from the exchange of land at the cemetery, provided interest for the funding of many capital projects like the Millennium Play Area and the modernised footpath lighting. However, over the years, the reserves had reduced and the Council decided to fund all its services from the precept to allow the reserves to grow. The Council was mindful of its promise to fund a substantial part of the proposed new dressing rooms and pavilion in the Recreation Field.
3. The Precept also reflected a higher level of activity by the Environment Committee brought about by environment improvements proposed by the public during their participation in the Parish Design Statement process. (See 1.5 & 5.1.)
4. Since the publication of the Rural White Paper, all committees have been working to adapt their service provision to have an affinity with the spirit of the Best Value legislation that effects bigger Councils. It is hoped that when the legislation applies to smaller Council's, Peasedown St John will be ready. The Council is also working towards self-certification as a Quality Council, which in turn will attract money from Central Government.
5. This year, with the help from many members of the public, the Council has been able to have its Parish Design Statement - Supplementary Planning Guidance endorsed and adopted by B&NES as an addition to the Local Plan. This allows B&NES and the Parish Council to be guided by policies laid down in the plan whenever planning applications are considered. A Supplementary Planning Guidance is another necessary segment required for the self-certification of a Quality Council.

1. The committee continued to monitor all spending committees to check they kept within their budgets.
2. Later in the year the committee was able to look at bids for the virement of funds from committees, which could foresee certain monies not being spent in the year, to committees which needed the money to carry out unforeseen emergencies or fund projects planned for next year.
3. During the year the committee carried out several reviews of the Council's spending on administration and some policies were changed and new instructions given to the Clerk.
4. The regular Internal Audit reports from the Clerk were found to be most helpful to this committee (and others) and through its perusal each month the Council's spending could be monitored bearing in mind that the precept is paid in two installments.
5. The committee was able to streamline its work on the precept by the use of the Internal Audit reports and other aids generated by the Council's computer, which has been of great benefit to the Council and Clerk.
6. The committee continues to work within the Council's Financial Regulations and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996, thus insuring that the Council keeps to a rigorously high standard of public accountability.
7. The committee was again able to allot grants, within the Council's guidelines, to voluntary bodies based in or serving the village and notes that the money in estimates for next year's grants has been increased by 50%.
8. The committee has adopted several voluntary systems, which will be required if the Council is asked to conform to the new "Best Value" legislation and these systems, in turn, will support this Council's eventual application for Quality Council status. A Quality Council will be able to precept for central government funding for certain projects.
9. The committee, using its delegated powers, reviewed the Council investment strategies and some reserve money was transferred into a fixed term high interest account.

1. The committee continued its plans to correct wear and tear at the cemetery and last year's cleaning of the cemetery building was followed this year by its pointing and sealing against the elements.
2. The caretaker continued to keep the areas around the graves in a very tidy condition and a contractor mowed the un-plotted areas.
3. The caretaker, in the winter months, continued to keep the shrubs and trees tidy.
4. The caretaker at the Churchyard has continued to keep the area tidy and the grass cut regularly. This is a service carried out by the Parish Council free of charge for the Church Council.
5. Both caretakers were supplied with new mowers this year and a new strimmer was purchased for the cemetery.
6. A contractor was used to clear ivy and generally tidy up the boundary of the cemetery, which abuts the stopped off stretch of Eckweek Lane.
7. Burials have been at an average level and it is not envisaged that new plotting will need to be planned for several years.
8. The committee has been working on a capital project for the cemetery. Next year the entrance splay and car park will be re-surfaced.

1. The committee continued to monitor it's lighting stock and the Clerk reported repairs and outages to the retained contractor for action.
2. The committee, realising that monies earmarked for repairs this year would not be needed, was able to use the money to provide two lights on the footpath BA19/34.
3. A tour of the lighting stock was carried out in October and other black spots identified which were added to the Action Plan for next year.

1. The committee has had a very busy year as problems and suggestions, prompted by the public meetings held to discuss the Parish Design Statement, have been addressed by an ongoing comprehensive Action Plan. The Action Plan has involved the largest ever investment in environmental improvements the village has ever seen, including new roadside seats, roadside planters (and their planting - twice a year), and a new bus shelter. Other minor irritations have been remedied.
2. The committee has continued to monitor footpaths, highway matters (not related to planning applications), youth and elderly peoples' problems, countryside questions and the environmental input into planning matters.
3. B&NES Council have consulted the committee on many aspects of service delivery. It has been involved in their audit of gully traps, recycling, street trading, parking, roadworks, road safety and tree planting. The committee monitors footpath clearance and blockages and is due to take over, on an agency basis, the clearance of vegetation on footpaths next financial year. Again, a Quality Council will be expected to do agency work for higher authorities if "Best Value" savings can be proven.
4. The committee is delegated to carry out the Council's legal requirement under licensing laws in that it has to be informed and is expected to comment on licenses for entertainment and the selling of liquor in public houses and public halls.
5. The committee continues to oversee the work of the School Crossing Patrol, a service that is fully funded by the Parish Council.
6. The committee launched the first Peasedown St John in Bloom Competition and, judging by the large number of entrants and the publicity generated in the local press, it was considered a success and will be continued this summer.
7. In June 2000 the committee reviewed its allotment rules as they had become very much out of date. The new rules were sent to all allotment holders and plots are now fully taken.

1. The committee administers the Field on behalf of the Council, which is the Trustee of the Charity recognised by the Charity Commission.
2. The committee, having taken over a property that had had little money spent on it for many years, has given itself time over the last year to carefully plan improvements and to place them into a workable and affordable three-year programme. Much work is required on the perimeter hedging and fencing and some hedge laying work has taken place this year. B&NES Council is contracted to mow the grass. Next year the entrances will be defined and improved and a start on informal paths for walkers will be funded.
3. The committee, and Council as a whole, has had problems with youths riding scramble bikes on the Field. Several remedies have been tried to stop the dangerous practice including putting up signs and calling in the Police. Environmental officers from B&NES Council have also been called in to use their powers under the nuisance laws. The committee hopes that actions listed in 6.2 will help to bring peace back into the Field and make it safe for all users.
4. The committee has continued to liaise with the Football Club and meetings have been held to see if there is a way forward towards the building of the proposed Pavilion and Meeting Room, although it may not now be possible to pursue the full-blown scheme. Talks are to continue to see if a compromise scheme might be funded.
5. Two of the Play Area units were heavily vandalised during the first part of the year and a local carpenter was contracted to repair the damage. All equipment is now fully usable and ready for its annual inspection by RoSPA in June. A part-time caretaker trained in the maintenance of play equipment, looks after the Play Area.

1. The committee has continued to pursue a policy of informing, consulting and

entertaining having been given the task, through printed publicity, of involving the whole village in the workings of the Parish Council. Bearing in mind the Council's commitment to working in the spirit of the "Best Value" legislation and its intention to self-certificate as a Quality Council, the Newsletter is an essential prerequisite of both aims.

2. The committee carried out an extensive campaign in the Newsletter to get the public to clear up their dog's mess and together with the B&NES Dog Warden, a reasonable improvement was noticed. Further publicity may be required as evidence of carelessness has been seen and referrals to the Dog Warden have increased.
3. During the year the committee experienced problems with the delivery of the Newsletter as a 100% guaranteed delivery was not possible with the original contractor. The problem has now been resolved by using the local newsagent but certain savings had to be made on the number of pages to allow for the higher price of the new delivery system. The Newsletter will return to its usual size next year.
4. The committee is grateful for the news items supplied by organisations - without which the publication would turn into a Council newsletter that would maybe satisfy "Best Value" ideology but completely ignore public participation.

1. The committee has reviewed the contracts of all its employees and an anomaly has been ironed out concerning the Clerk and the payment to him for the supervision of staff.
2. Now that the Newsletter has settled into a regular timetable, the payment to the Clerk for his work has been regularised and a fixed sum per year will now be paid.
3. Following a request from the Finance Committee, this committee has agreed that all employees' salaries should be funded from a central source (under the control of this committee) and not from individual committee funds as had been normal practice in the past.
4. The committee has noted the rise in the National Minimum Wage and adjustments have been made where necessary.

1. The committee has considered and made comment upon over fifty plans during the year. Although the main village extension is now complete, two major housing and one commercial application have been considered and comment given after very comprehensive study. To assist with that aim, Planning and Highway Officers from B&NES were asked to meetings when their advice was used to help the committee to make comments that were legal and helpful.
2. The committee is now able to view planning applications with the help of policies laid down in the new Supplementary Planning Guidance to the Local Plan. The committee is grateful to the many members of the public who spent long hours at meetings working on the Guide. The committee would also like to thank all residents who took time to answer the questionnaire, which prompted much of the work carried out in 5.1. and became the supporting papers to the final draft of the Guide.
3. The committee looks forward to the time when it is given delegated powers from the District Council to make final decisions on minor planning applications as described in the Rural White Paper.

1. The year started with 16 Councillors, a part-time Clerk and three part-time caretakers. Mrs. Maria Thomas was cop-opted onto the Council on 21^st May 2001. Cllr. Sellars died in August 2001 and was replaced through co-option on 26^th November 2001 by Mrs. Jennifer Lewis-Mason. The year ended with a full complement of 17 Councillors.
2. The Precept was fixed at £60,500, being a small increase on the previous year but reflecting the true precept required to fund the level of services in a parish of this size. Reserves were kept reasonably high to enable the Council to ring fence the sum of £20,000 for the proposed Football Pavilion.
3. The Precept also reflected a higher level of activity by the Recreation Field Committee brought about by the need to give the Recreation Field a higher degree of security to keep motor bikes off the ground. Extra spending was also felt necessary to improve the amenities on the ground following the lack of investment by the previous trustees.
4. The Council has now been consulted on the forthcoming legislation, which will set up the machinery for recognising Quality Councils. The Council has agreed in principle that the system proposed is workable and is looking forward to the day when it may apply for accreditation.
5. The Council has now signed up to the new Ethical Framework whereby all Councillors will be bound to a new Code of Ethics. They will also be required to declare, in writing, personal interests that may conflict with their judgement on Council matters.
6. On 1^st March 2002 the Council bought an area of land off the by-pass near Underleaf Way for £1. The land, which is designated as a public open space in the District Plan, was bought from the Westbury/Beazer/Persimmon consortium. The land was transferred freehold with nearly £53000 to carry out a pre-determined scheme to open up the area to the public. The work is planned to start in May 2002.
7. The Council is still a full member of the Avon Local Councils Association, a body on which a Councillor from this Parish plays a big part thus giving this Council an informed view on all matters coming down from local and central Government.
8. The Council is supporting and helping to co-ordinate the celebrations for the Queen's Golden Jubilee to be held this summer.

1. The committee continued to monitor all spending committees to check they kept within their budgets.
2. During the year the committee was able to look at bids for the virement of funds from committees, which could foresee certain monies not being spent in the year, to committees which needed the money to carry out unforeseen emergencies or fund projects planned for next year.
3. The monthly Cash Flow Statements from the Clerk were found to be most helpful to this committee (and others) and through its perusal each month the Council's spending could be monitored bearing in mind that the precept is paid in two installments.
4. The committee was able to streamline its work on the precept by the use of the Accounts Summary and Cash Flow Statements and other aids generated by the Council's computer, which has been of great benefit to the Council and Clerk.
5. The committee continues to work within the Council's Financial Regulations and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996, thus insuring that the Council keeps to a rigorously high standard of public accountability.
6. The committee was again able to allot grants, within the Council's guidelines, to voluntary bodies based in or serving the village. The amount placed into budget for 2002/2003 is the same as this year.
7. The committee has adopted several voluntary systems, which will be required if the Council is asked to conform to the new "Best Value" legislation and these systems, in turn, will support this Council's eventual application for Quality Council status. A Quality Council will be able to precept for central government funding for certain projects.
8. The committee, using its delegated powers, reviewed the Council investment strategies and some reserve money was transferred into a six month fixed term high interest account in November 2000. The benefits of the scheme have been reviewed and the initial sum and interest have been re-invested twice during this year.

1. In February 2002 the car park at the Cemetery was re-surfaced to a high specification.
2. The caretaker continued to keep the areas around the graves in a very tidy condition and a contractor mowed the un-plotted areas.
3. The caretaker, in the winter months, continued to keep the shrubs and trees tidy.
4. The caretaker at the Churchyard has continued to keep the area tidy and the grass cut regularly. This is a service carried out by the Parish Council free of charge for the Church Council.
5. The committee has been making plans to open one of the toilets in the Cemetery Lodge and a part-time caretaker has been appointed to open and close the door to correspond with Cemetery opening times.
6. A contractor was used to clear overhanging trees on the boundary of the Cemetery as they were getting very close to the new houses build in Underknoll.
7. Although burials have been at their highest level since the Cemetery opened it is not envisaged that new plotting will be needed for several years.
8. A new park bench was erected in the Cemetery to honour the life of Alec Stock, the well-known football manager who, although traveling extensively in his job, always kept in touch with the village of his birth.

1. The committee continued to monitor it's lighting stock and the Clerk reported repairs and outages to the retained contractor for action.
2. The committee installed four new lights in the village this year
3. A tour of the lighting stock was carried out in January and black spots were identified which were added to the Action Plan for next year.

1. The committee has had another busy year as problems and suggestions, prompted by the public meetings held to discuss the Parish Design Statement, are still being addressed by an ongoing comprehensive Action Plan. The Action Plan this year has been split into two, one which lists all Parish Council funded schemes and a second that covers dual-funding with other agencies or complete funding by other agencies.
2. The committee has continued to monitor footpaths, highway matters (not related to planning applications), youth and elderly peoples' problems, countryside questions and the environmental input into planning matters.
3. B&NES Council have consulted the committee on many aspects of service delivery. The committee has now taken over as agent the clearance of vegetation from public footpaths. To be accredited as a Quality Council the Council will be expected to do agency work for higher authorities if "Best Value" savings can be proven.
4. The committee is delegated to carry out the Council's legal requirement under licensing laws in that it has to be informed and is expected to comment on licenses for entertainment and the selling of liquor in public houses and public halls.
5. The committee continues to oversee the work of the School Crossing Patrol, a service that is fully funded by the Parish Council.
6. The committee continues to support the Peasedown St John in Bloom Competition and, judging by the large number of entrants and the publicity generated in the local press, it was considered again to be a success in 2001 and will be continued this summer.
7. The allotment holders have this year been told that from 1^st April 2002 the rent for an allotment will rise to £5. It was felt that something had to be done to make holders more responsible for the general tidiness of their plots. Work was also needed on the gate and fences. Plots were taken and not worked causing uneconomic work for the Clerk and it was decided that a rise from the present 47p per plot might keep only keen and responsible tenants.
8. The committee now looks forward to the opening of the new Public Open Space abutting the by-pass (see 1/6). Funds have been earmarked for the first year's maintenance.

1. The committee administers the Field on behalf of the Council, which is the Trustee of the Charity recognised by the Charity Commission.
2. The committee has now completed one full year of its Action Plan for the Recreation Field. Informal pathing has been laid to the Play Area and two boundaries have been tidied by good hedge laying and trimming.
3. The committee, and Council as a whole, still has problems with youths riding scramble bikes on the Field. The work planned for the next two years should make the field secure.
4. The committee has continued to liaise with the Football Club and meetings have been held to see if there is a way forward towards the building of the proposed Pavilion and Meeting Room. Very little progress has been made and until the Football Club can fin their funding the project cannot progress.
5. All equipment in the Play Area is fully usable having passed its annual inspection by RoSPA in June. A part-time caretaker trained in the maintenance of play equipment, looks after the Play Area.

1. The committee has continued to pursue a policy of informing, consulting and entertaining having been given the task, through printed publicity, of involving the whole village in the workings of the Parish Council. Bearing in mind the Council's commitment to working in the spirit of the "Best Value" legislation and its intention to get certification as a Quality Council, the Newsletter is an essential prerequisite of both aims.
2. The committee again carried out an extensive campaign in the Newsletter to get the public to clear up their dog's mess and together with the B&NES Dog Warden, a reasonable improvement in some areas was noticed. Further publicity may be required as evidence of carelessness has been seen and referrals to the Dog Warden have increased.
3. The committee's problems with the delivery of the Newsletter have been practically resolved by using the local newsagent but certain savings had to be made on the number of pages to allow for the higher price of the new delivery system. Newsletters to addresses outside the newsagents area are now sent by post.
4. The committee is grateful for the news items supplied by organisations - without which the publication would turn into a Council newsletter that would maybe satisfy "Best Value" ideology but completely ignore public participation.

1. The committee has decided to employ the Clerk for more hours from 1^st April 2002. The rise from 26 to 33.5 hours per week was thought necessary to enable the Clerk to tackle the extra work required to obtain certification as a Quality Council and to maintain that status when obtained.
2. The committee has noted the rise in the National Minimum Wage and adjustments have been made where necessary.
3. The committee has agreed to fund a part timer caretaker to oversee the opening of the toilet in the cemetery (see 3/5).

1. The committee has considered and made comment upon just under fifty plans during the year. Although the main village extension is now complete, two major housing and one commercial application have been considered and comment given after very comprehensive perusal.
2. The committee is now able to view planning applications with the help of policies laid down in the new Supplementary Planning Guidance to the Local Plan. Some residents of the village, and also their agents, are still not aware of the existence of the SPG so it was decided by the committee to send reminder letters to all applicants when a plan is received from the District Council. The position has improved slightly.
3. The committee looks forward to the time when it is given delegated powers from the District Council to make final decisions on minor planning applications as described in the Rural White Paper. Some progress has been made and B&NES are now talking about the possibility.