PEASEDOWN ST JOHN PARISH COUNCIL

Annual Parish Report for the Year 1st April 2002 to 31st March 2003

  1. General
    1. The year started with a full complement of 17 Councillors, a part-time Clerk and three part-time caretakers. Cllr. Mrs. M Thomas announced her retirement from the Council for personal reasons on 31st December 2002. The seat will remain vacant until the ordinary elections for the Parish Council due to take place on 1st May 2003. Mr. Garth Pearce retired as Cemetery Caretaker after over seven years on 31st December 2002 and was replaced by Mr. Evetts.
    2. The Precept was fixed at £63,050, 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. However, in January 2003 the Finance Committee recommended that the pledge should be withdrawn and Council agreed at its meeting on 27th January 2003.
    3. The Precept also reflected again this year 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.
    4. The Council has now purchased the recognised training manual required to instruct the Clerk, and future Clerks, on the way forward to get a Clerk accredited with the necessary award to enable the Council to proceed onto Quality Council status.
    5. The Council remains signed up to the new Ethical Framework whereby all Councillors are bound to a new Code of Ethics. They are also required to declare, in writing, personal interests that may conflict with their judgement on Council matters. After the ordinary elections of the Council to be held on 1st May 2003, all new members will be expected to sign before taking their seats.
    6. On 1st 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 funding of £53,000 to carry out a pre-determined scheme to open up the area to the public. Limited clearance work only was carried out in the autumn mainly because the determination of the planning consent dragged on for several months. Eventually members of the Council joined the Clerk to speak at the Planning Committee meeting as officers had recommended the plan should be refused. The permission was verbally granted in October and the official certificate received just before Christmas. Work was slow at first because of the inclement weather but the job should be complete by March 2003.
    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. The Clerk is still a member of the Society of Local Council Clerks and attends local weekend training and the annual conference.
    8. The Council supported financially and co-ordinated the committee, which organised the celebrations for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, held in June 2002. A whole weekend of celebrations, dinners, fetes, firework displays and a huge village draw helped to raise £900 which was distributed equally to the Beacon Hall Age Concern Lunch Club, the Community Bus and Primary School Playground Project. Mugs were given to children under 16.
    9. Several meetings have been convened to discuss the possibility of installing Parish Wardens in the village, although the plan will stand or fall on whether funding can be found.
    10. Meetings have been held with the Youth Leader and schools in order to gauge the support for a Youth Parish Council. A "shadow" Youth Parish Council has been formed by six youths that will now decide for themselves how to proceed before being officially ratified by the Council.
    11. Following a plea from the Peasedown St John Community Association for help in running the Beacon Hall, the Council agreed to support the part-time post of Hall Administrator for one year.
  1. Finance Committee
    1. The committee continues to monitor all spending committees to check they keep within their budgets.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. The committee continues to work within the Council's Financial Regulations, the Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996 and the new Lighter Touch Audit procedure.
    5. The Council has a duly appointed Internal Auditor who does the day to day checking of the books for the Clerk. The External Auditor receives the signed certificates produced by the Clerk, Internal Auditor and full Council and duly agrees the accounts at the end of the year. The new system thus insures 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 2003/2004 is £1,500 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, continues to review the Council's investments always using the best offer available.
  1. Burial Committee
    1. The caretaker continues to keep the areas around the graves in a very tidy condition and a contractor mows the un-plotted areas.
    2. The caretaker, in the winter months, continues to keep the shrubs and trees tidy.
    3. 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.
    4. One of the toilets in the Cemetery Lodge has been open now for the whole year, except for a few weeks in the winter when the extreme cold caused the pipes to freeze. A part-time caretaker has been appointed to open and close the door to correspond with Cemetery opening times. The exercise has proved a success so far with little vandalism reported.
    5. The number of burials this year has dropped back to the average.
  1. Lighting Committee
    1. The committee continues to monitor it's lighting stock and the Clerk reports repairs and outages to the retained contractor for action.
    2. The committee installed two new lights in the footpath beside the Church, which was the site of a mugging earlier in the year.
    3. A tour of the lighting stock was carried out in the last financial year and suggested sites were re-appraised. Black spots and desirable sites were identified which were added to the Action Plan for next year.
  1. Environment Committee
    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 again 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 for 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. Dual funded projects have been carried out with B&NES e.g. flowerbeds. Hanging basket frames have been purchased from the B&NES engineer's department for erection through Bath Road and a machine for watering high baskets has been purchased. B&NES will fund footpath signing researched by this Council.
    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 support 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 high standard reported by the Judges and the publicity generated in the local press, it was considered again to be a success in 2002 and will be continued this summer. This summer it has been decided to hold judgement day two weeks later as entrants thought this year that the date was too early.
    7. The allotment holders have this year been paying the new rent of £5 per plot. The holders of tidy plots receive a discount of £3.50 per plot. The discount was instigated to reward the good tenants and to encourage new tenants to get their plots up and running in a shorter time.
    8. Plans to put a bus shelter outside the Bath Road Methodist Church have been shelved due to the fact that a plan for new shops nearby will provide a much better site for a shelter. The money saved was used to purchase hanging baskets and their frames and a battery run watering machine suitable for watering high level flower displays.
    9. The committee now looks forward to the opening of the new Public Open Space abutting the by-pass (see 1/6). Extra funds have been found to up-grade the kissing gates to steel, as they can be a popular target for vandals.

     

  2. Recreation Field Committee
    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 the second year of its Action Plan. Further work has been completed on two boundaries, which has reclaimed many square yards for seeding with new grass. A kissing gate and plant gate has been fitted to the Whitebrook Lane entrance and a new four-bar post and rail fence will be erected in April to complete that boundary.
    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 more secure, although there is still a lot of work to do to make the Field absolutely motorbike free.
    4. The Finance Committee and Council has agreed that liaison with the Football Club over the dual funding of the Pavilion should go no further until the Football Club can prove that they have funding for their proportion.
    5. The local Scout group has asked the Council for help in identifying land for a Headquarters for their Group. The Council has agreed in principle that they should push forward with their plans and fund-raising on the understanding that the Council will supply land in the Recreation Field - subject of course to planning permission being granted.
    6. 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. The Play Area fence was vandalised in October 2002 when ten sections of fence were demolished. The repairs were done in November but in February 2003 two of the new panels were again broken down.
    7. A seat dedicated to the late Cllr. Fred Sellars was unveiled in February 2003.
  3. Magazine Committee
    1. The committee has continued to pursue a policy of informing, consulting and entertaining having been given the task, through printed publicity and the web site, 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 a 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.
    3. The committee's problems with the delivery of the Newsletter have been practically resolved by using the local newsagent. Newsletters to addresses outside the newsagent's 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.
    5. The committee published a special commemorative edition in June 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
    6. The committee continues to service the Council's Web Site with Cllr. Mrs. K Thomas acting as un-paid Webmaster. The Web Site receives nearly 2000 hits a month.
  4. Personnel Committee
    1. The committee decided to employ the Clerk for more hours from 1st 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 service the new public open space and other extra duties asked of him this year.
    2. The committee has noted the rise in the National Minimum Wage and adjustments have been made where necessary.
    3. The committee has now funded for a year a part timer caretaker to oversee the opening, closing and cleaning of the toilet in the cemetery (see 3/4). People visiting the Cemetery have welcomed the service and little vandalism has been seen so far. It is expected that the service will continue.
  5. Planning Committee
    1. The committee has considered and made comment upon fifty planning applications during the year. Although the main village extension is now complete, the committee was consulted on the traffic calming platform outside the new development in the Belle Vue Farm site and a proposal for five new shops on the Ashgrove Motors site in Bath Road was welcomed. This new development includes a bus bay and it is hoped that this Council will now have a very suitable site for a bus shelter, which will answer the problems mentioned in paragraph 5/8.
    2. B&NES have asked the committee for its comments on a possible 20-mph limit zone in Bath Road outside the school. This Council has put forward several suggestions for the zone to be expanded to take in the possible Quiet Zone in Frederick and Albert Avenues and to continue for the whole of Bath Road as far as the new platform outside Belle Vue Close. The committee awaits the B&NES decision on its suggestions.
    3. The committee is able to view planning applications with the help of policies laid down in the new Supplementary Planning Guidance to the Local Plan.
    4. The possibility of the Parish Council having delegated powers to determine and issue certificates for some minor planning applications has now faded as similar practices in other parts of the country have been abandoned.

 

First Published for the Annual Parish Meeting held on Monday 24th March 2003. Extra copies are available from the Parish Council office. Ring 433686.