Peasedown St John Parish Council
Minutes of a meeting of the Policy and General Purposes Committee held on the 1st October 2007 held at Peasedown School
Present: Cllrs J Rich*, J Bolwell, Mrs M Button, F Day, J Goring, M Gregory,
Colin Rich, Mary Kennedy, RWG Butt(SO43)
Also present Internal Auditor Mr Peter Provest
Public Session - None
1. Apologies for absence – Alan Spiller (
2. Minutes of Policy Committee Meeting 4 June 2007 were presented and signed as a true record.
3.
Clerk’s Report -
Already read out at Planning but feel this should be also aired on Policy
I have today received a telephone call from Mrs Gloria Maddison who lives opposite to the new Tesco store.
She is upset as the parking is totally inadequate, this now results in shoppers parking directly outside her bungalow, leaving windows open and music playing whilst they pop across the road to the store.
This continues all day and up to 11 o’clock in the evening.
The lights are on all day and causes problems to those living opposite. Her neighbour lives directly opposite and he has written to B&NES.
Other people within the village have also raised their objections to me today regarding the traffic congestion in the village.
Mrs Maddison would like the
Parish Council to record her dissatisfaction in the minutes as she feels it may
be beneficial if representations are made at a later date.
She feels all the problems are surfacing as predicted.
The football lease is still outstanding but it is felt that the football club should meet with members of the Parish Council to discuss an informal arrangement whereby terms and conditions could be finalised.
Regarding minutes of B&NES meetings - these may be downloaded from the
internet if there is anything discussed involving Peasedown St
NB There is a minute on the Policy Meeting on 4 June that pertains to payments to councillors for attendance
Lighting in Village – 9 lights have been handed over to B&NES and I have contacted our energy supplier to tell them. They will remove those lights from the equation, therefore we will be paying less this year. The maintenance contract will be updated to be agreed and signed by the Council.
Cllr R Butt
confirmed that upgrading of lights must be over a period of time taking into
account costs and upgrading required before handing over to
B&NES
Cllr J Bolwell
showed concern over the replacement lights in
4.
Correspondence
Ø Correspondence has been received from Avon & Somerset Police
The contents were discussed by the Committee and Cllr M Gregory will take this to the next PACT meeting and report back. Concerns were expressed regarding the role of Avon & Somerset Police and that they should show a higher profile in the village. It was also felt that there was a need for two individual PACT meetings, one for adult residents and one for the younger people. Cllr M Gregory will mention this at the next PACT Meeting. Cllrs Rich and Bolwell will also raise this at the next Police Parish Liason Meeting.
Cllr M Gregory reminded the Committee of the use of cards to state their concerns rather than bringing them up personally at the PACT Meeting. It was felt that older citizens may be reluctant to speak in public and they could use the cards to bring forward their needs. The cards will be made available in shops in the village. These concerns/subjects could then be discussed at the PACT Meeting.
5.
Chairman’s Working Party on
Cllr R Butt is in the process of forming a Working Party to discuss how best to manage the land owned by the Parish Council. The working party will meet independently from the Council. The Chairman can nominate who should be on the Working Party. They can make recommendations to put to Full Council. There is a need to do something for the younger people. B&NES council have been given instructions that costs have to be cut by 5 – 7.5% and the council will need to determine whether it is legal for the parish council to precept for monies to top up the youth services that should be provided by B&NES. The working party will need to look at the two parts of the recreation field, the POS, and the Village Green. The old football field that belongs to B&NES.
It
was recommended that this be brought to Full Council on the 25th
November 2007.
6. Remuneration for Parish
Councillors
The Committee discussed this subject in length, it was agreed that remuneration may attract the wrong sort of person who did not necessarily have the best interest of the village at heart. Councillors are volunteers for the community, and concerns were shown as to where the monies would come from – would the villagers be happy paying this money. Cllr F Day said we were not in a position to do this at the moment – it would take time, and it would need to be declared at the next election.
Cllr J Rich proposed that councillors should not be paid. Cllr M Gregory seconded that proposal and it was agreed by all present
The
Committee were in favour of inviting Cllr K Thomas to put forward a resolution
at the next Full Council Meeting.
7.
Policy for dealing with petitions
Cllr R Butt asked the Committee if they were happy with a hard copy of a petition or an electronic copy. He pointed out that a petition should be a single statement and is only an advisory document, which should be handed to the Clerk who in turn will notify the Councillors in writing of the percentage of the population assenting.
Concerns were raised that an electronic petition could be abused.
The subject was debated by the
Committee regarding a policy and all were in favour of a hard copy being used.
This item to go on the Agenda at
the Full Council Meeting and also Policy Meeting.
8.
Petition re Notice Board in Carlingcott
It had been agreed by Full Council that a wooden notice board be erected in Carlingcott, taking into consideration the environment. If the matter were to be judged against the voting population in Carlingcott then the percentage is 12.75%.
If, however, the petition were to
be judged against the voting population of the entire Parish of Peasedown St
It was decided that the Notice Board should remain where it is and it was felt that it is unacceptable that residents should be consulted for each decision made by the Council as the Parish Council is an elected body.
It
was recommended that the petition be debated at Full
Council
9.
Training – should it be compulsory
It was decided that the wording be “recommended” not “compulsory”.
The Committee agreed that every councillor should endeavour to attend training sessions as these are as important as council meetings. If an outside course was available then the merits of the course would be discussed and if the contents found to be beneficial then Councillors should have the opportunity to attend.
Cllr M Gregory said that a Quality Parish Council should have a Matrix and every endeavour should be made to keep to it.
It was agreed by the Committee that the Training Day on 29th October be a closed meeting, as it was felt that the B&NES representative was attending to advise the Councillors on planning procedure etc.
A letter was read from Cllr K Thomas regarding the planning of the precept, in which she felt that each member of the committees should have a form to fill in their ‘wish list’. This would then be given to the clerk to collate and obtain quotes.
Cllr M Gregory said that it is the responsibility of the chairman of each committee to fill in the document that he and the clerk have devised for the purpose and after discussion the projects to take forward will be agreed and the form will then be given to the clerk for her to obtain quotes.
All Councillors agreed with the procedure set by the Chairman of Finance Committee Cllr M Gregory.
Meetings have been arranged for Environment
to meet on the 15 October and Amenities Committee to meet on the 22 October to
start at 7.00pm to 10pm. These
extra meetings have been arranged for the Committees to set their
Precepts.
11.
Observation and Discussion re new parking arrangements within the
village.
To obtain the views of the public and report back at next Policy Meeting, bearing in mind the telephone call from Mrs. Maddison.
12.
Wansdyke Play Rangers
Wansdyke Play Rangers grant of £300 was discussed. Council to find out if the Play Rangers are owned by B&NES as this could be double taxation.
All agreed that the cheque be withheld until a report back at the next meeting.
13. Newsletter – discuss how often this
should be published/deliveries
Cllr M Kennedy read out the various costs regarding printing A5 size and additional pages. The Council need to make a decision by the end of the year whether to go quarterly. Quarterly would help with being able to print at the beginning of the month. Cllr R Butt suggested that a sub committee of three members be set up to look at this matter and come up with recommendations to advise the Policy Committee at the next meeting. Cllr F Day, Mrs M Kennedy and J Rich volunteered.
Cllr M Gregory suggested that the Newsletter should continue as part of being a Quality Council.
14. Items for inclusion on a future
agenda
Ø
Website –
Upgrading
Cllr M Kennedy thanked Peter Provest for the work he put in for the Village Plan Open Day. This was seconded by Cllr J Rich who congratulated all for their efforts.
Meeting closed at 9.45p.m.