Index

DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

Cllrs RWG Butt *, J Rich#, J Bolwell, Mrs M Button, Mrs P Dixon, D Edler,

M Gregory, Mrs M Kennedy, J Goring

Also Present Cllr Nathan Hartley

Two representatives from B&NES Play Rangers were welcomed to the meeting and gave a good insight into the aims of the Play Rangers. They would like to come into the village and would be looking for funding. The Chairman asked the councillors if they agreed in principle with having Play Rangers in the village and the consensus of opinion was that this council was in favour in principle.

1. Apologies - Cllrs F Day, Mrs K Thomas, C Rich, Mrs R Rich, G Matthews
   Peter Provest (Internal Auditor & Lay Member)

Those absent from whom no apologies were received – Cllrs A Spiller. R Formby

Members’ Interests. Members were reminded of their obligation to declare any interest they may have in any issue arising at this meeting, which might conflict with the business of the Council.

2. Minutes of the Full Council held on the 14 May 2007

These minutes, which had been previously circulated were taken as read, agreed as a true record.

3. Clerk’s Report

An alternative site has been forwarded to the Parish Council for the T Mobile mast. It was agreed by this council that their preferred option was on the other side of the bypass at the entrance to Braysdown Lane. The representatives from Pegasus were not in favour of that site and so an application has been received for it to be place near the existing 02 mast opposite the Mercedes garage.

4. Correspondence

• Olivia Pinkney of Avon & Somerset Police sent a letter with updates re PACT, Safer Neighbourhoods and Local Area Agreement. The letter was noted by the council
• Community Aggregate Fund – information regarding grants. This was given to M Gregory as Chair of Finance

1. Accounts

Motion to be put forward by Cllr M Gregory, Chair of Finance

1. To note the date of Audit is 31^st August and that the public notice of that fact was posted in all four notice boards on 9^th July thus giving the statutory period required for the public inspection of documents at the parish office.
2. That Section 1 of the Annual return prepared by the RFO be agreed & signed
3. That Section 4 of the Annual return prepared by the Internal Auditor is endorsed.
4. That all questions in Section 2 of the Annual return can be answered in the affirmative therefore it should be agreed by Council and signed by the Chairman of Council and the Clerk. This motion was proposed by Cllr M Gregory and seconded by Cllr J Rich and agreed by all present

It was suggested by the Chairman that a vote of thanks be extended to Mr P Provest – our Internal Auditor) for all his hard work during the year. The clerk will write a letter to Mr Provest .

b) To agree Payment to Accounts (to be tabled)

A recorded vote was taken and the payments were agreed by all present

1. Change of hours for clerks

Cllr Mrs M Kennedy reported that the Personnel Committee had met in June to discuss this matter and had a proposal for full council that the hours for both clerk and assistant clerk be raised to 37.5 for the clerk and 15 for the assistant clerk due to the heavier work load.

These hours would come into play on a need to use basis and the council would be billed at the end of each month.

Cllr Gregory mentioned that this increase had not been precepted for but it was thought that it could come from a contingency fund for this year and must be added to the administration costs for the next financial year.

It was agreed to put this item on agenda for the next finance meeting.

The Chairman pointed out that the Personnel Sub Committee has delegated powers to make such decisions.

2. Timings of committee meetings

The Chairman reported that he had received a letter from Cllr Mrs K Thomas regarding the meetings overrunning the time they were due to finish.

Cllr Mrs K Thomas felt that a discussion should take place between the Chairman and Clerk regarding how much time should be allotted to each subject. There was much discussion about this but after a vote all those present prefer to run the meetings as they are at present. The subject of cutting items was not received favourably.

The Chairman then asked all present if they were in favour of having 4 training sessions per year on the Monday evenings when no council meetings took place.

All were in favour

3. To receive the minutes of Planning Committee Meetings held on 4^th June & 2^nd July

These minutes were received with no comment

4. To decide which members of the Planning Committee deal with plans during August

It was agreed that Cllrs C Rich, J Bolwell and Mrs M Kennedy should meet and deal with any plans received during the August recess

5. Minutes of Environment Committee Meetings 18^th June & 16^th July 2007

The minutes were agreed but it brought to the fore the ongoing vandalism in the play area at the Recreation field. Some councillors felt that it would be preferable to leave the play area unlocked as the vandals would scale the fence, thereby causing more damage. The clerk is to ask the PCSO’s to keep an eye on the Play Area in particular

It was agreed that a new lock be purchased for the recreation field to give to the Football Club in order that emergency services can access the field in a crisis. Parking in the village was discussed – PACT may take this issue forward in August.

Knotweed has been reported in the village – clerk has received one quote and is awaiting a second – work can then be undertaken to eradicate the plants.

Cllr Edler asked if those who do not send apologies for absence could be noted on the minutes as such. This was agreed by all to take immediate effect.

6. Minutes of Amenities Committee Meetings 18^th June & 16^th July 2007 Agreed. Cllr RWG Butt brought before the council the fact that the Ashgrove Car Lot still had a hole in the ground. Apparently work has begun there recently. Cllr Butt remarked that the Planning Enforcement Department should have been chasing this problem at least two years ago and asked the clerk to enquire of the Planning Department why no enforcement appeared to have taken place. The extra rules relating to the allotments were discussed and they are: No dangerous chemicals should be kept on site that any fuel for rotivators should be kept to a maximum of 10 litres. Any parking on site is at the car owner’s risk. Cllr J Rich added that this item should be on the next agenda for the Amenities Committee.

The Zero Waste has been given to Cllr Mrs Kennedy to put in the Magazine – perhaps the Council should take part. The day burning light in Braysdown Lane has now been repaired and is, hopefully, now working correctly. Cllr RWG Butt is to finding out if the matter can be legally dealt with because the fault lay originally with Western Power and this council should not have to pay for that error.

 The Amenities committee would like to provide Christmas Lights through the old part of the village this year. To that end the Chair of Finance will recommend to the Finance Committee that some of the balances for last year be vired to the Amenities committee to pay for this to be done in its entirety this Christmas.

Clerk to finalise costings.

7. Minutes of Finance Committee Meeting 2 July 2007

The delivery of the Newsletter is still ongoing. It went well last time but this month may be problematical as the schools have now broken up for the summer holidays.

Cllr Mrs M Kennedy is still trying to cost the supply of recycled paper for use in printing the magazine.

8. Minutes of the Policy Committee Meeting 4^th June 2007

These were read out and then agreed

9. Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of the Full council held on 21 May

These were read out and then agreed

10. Reports

Chairman’s report – The Chairman had received correspondence from Cllr Mrs K Thomas in which she suggested that there should be one full time caretaker for the village rather than the existing three part time staff. This was passed to Cllr M Gregory as Chair of Finance and Cllr J Rich to investigate all jobs to be done and then costed out.

The amount of weeds in the flower beds are causing concern. Cllr Mrs M Button pointed out that the Cricket Club has a cricket player from India here at the moment, and he is supposed to work to pay his way here. He would be charging £6.00 per hour.

The clerk pointed out that the Health & Safety aspect of this would be the responsibility of the Cricket Club, and explained that correct safety wear should be available for the person, also that the only way the Parish Council could pay him would be by invoice from the cricket club. This was agreed and a vote taken – all were in favour.

Police Parish Liaison Meeting – Cllr Bolwell reported that whilst crime has risen so has the detection rate. Inspector Kendall gave an overview and apologised that he is no longer able to supply the crime stats by email as there is a new computer system which does not make it easy for such reports to be extrapolated. Apparently more training is required before this can once again become the normal method of communication. The parishes need to identify vulnerable people in the community in order for the bobbyvan to visit them and update the security in their homes. It is felt that the fear of crime is often worse than the crime itself. The idea is to design out crime in the area and those planning new homes should take this into account.

CSAG/PACT- Cllr Mrs M Button reported that the PACT meeting was held in the Youth Club and many young people were present. The three items that have to be taken forward this time are:1) Youth Activities 2) Bath Road exit to bypass 3) BMX Track / Mini Motos Track.

Over to page five………………………

Page five of the minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on 23 July 2007

Parish Liaison Meeting – The Regional Spatial Plan was discussed and policy may be amended shortly. With the present level of flooding in the worst hit areas the Chairman is concerned that Peasedown St John may become the target for many more houses as there has to be substantial number of new homes built in North Somerset.

If that were to be the case then Peasedown St John would no longer be a village. One advantage should it become a town would be that the infrastructure would have to be improved. News regarding double taxation was encouraging – may see news in the budget by 2009.

There was an item on the parishing of Bath and was noted that all the local parishes were in favour of that taking place as it may mean a reduction in Council Tax.

Discussions regarding Beacon Hall are ongoing. Thanks to Cllr Nathan Hartley for helping with this project.

ALCA – Cllr RWG Butt attended a training session for Parish Plans along with Mr P Provest at Long Ashton.

Due to the time it was proposed by Cllr J Rich that standing orders be rescinded and this was seconded by Cllr Mrs M Button to allow five minutes extra time at the end of the meeting

11. Cllr Mrs M Kennedy

Cllr Mrs M Kennedy thanked the Assistant Clerk for all her had work during the Clerk’s absence due to sickness. As Mrs Ann Jones had only been in post for a short time it was agreed by all present that she had done a sterling job.

Standing orders re-instated

12. Items for a future agenda

None

13. Dates of next meetings:

3 September 2007 Planning & Finance

10 September 2007 Environment & Amenities

17 September 2007 Full Council

1 October 2007 Planning & other committees as required

The meeting closed at 21.35