MINUTES OF MEETING - TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER 2008


Minutes of the Meeting of
CHIRTON PARISH COUNCIL
held in the School at
7:30 p.m. on 9 December 2008

Present

Councillors Anthony Mather (Chairman), David Baker, Jeremy Cross, Stewart Neale, Stephanie Robertson, Sarah Withers and Jonathan Oliphant (Clerk).

Apologies were received from Mr Tony Molland, District Councillor. The Rev. Gillie Baker, Chairman of the School Governors and Mrs Kate Lloyd-Jones, Headteacher, also attended.

Presentation by Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Melanie Jezzard, representing the Service, gave a presentation on their aim, which was to help "high risk people" such as the elderly and infirm to prevent house fires and the loss of life that may follow. The Service relies heavily on local cooperation which acts as their "eyes and ears". They offer Home Safety Checks and the installation of free smoke alarms. She handed out information cards which could be distributed with the current Parish Newsletter inviting people to contact the Service if they would like to take up either of these two offers. It was agreed:

  • To review the list of vulnerable people in the village
  • To ask Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators for their views
  • To put a suitable notice on our website. The Chairman thanked her for her informative talk

(After Note. Since every house in the village had been given a card it was agreed not to proceed with the first two items above.)

Minutes of the meeting on 9 September 2008

These minutes having been circulated beforehand were agreed nem con.

Matters Arising

  • Wiltshire Alternative Youth Sports — David Baker reported that although he had canvassed support among the young of the village and received an enthusiastic response, once the event had been arranged no one accepted the invitation to attend. The chairman thanked him for his efforts.
  • BT Phone Boxes — The Clerk confirmed that our request to adopt our box had been logged by BT who would be in touch in due course.
  • Parish Plan — Stephanie Robertson confirmed that the Shadow Area Board in Pewsey had noted that we would be formulating a Parish Plan sometime in the future.
  • Flooding — David Baker reported that flood action had been activated earlier in November and as a result sandbags had been delivered by Kennet District Council. After some discussion it was agreed that the sandbags would be stored at The Horseshoes and No.56 The Street, the two places where they had been needed.
  • School Road Safety — The Chairman invited The Rev. Gillie Baker to outline the position so far. She said that a meeting had been held with Mr Mark Stansby from WCC which was also attended by Mrs Kate Lloyd-Jones and Jeremy Cross. Various options were put forward and after much discussion, including input from Jeremy Cross, it was decided that the Clerk should write to Mr Stansby in the following terms:
    • Paint another 'SLOW' sign on the road just before the corner at a point opposite the church and No. 50 The Street
      • .
    • Refurbish the two other 'SLOW' signs before that as they are becoming indistinct.
    • We would also like to make the 'School' sign on the right of the road more prominent either by a slight realignment or by backing it with a high visibility back.

    The Parish Council would like these measures to be put in hand as a matter of urgency and if this means getting the painting done before considering the other matter then so be it.

    The Chairman thanked The Rev. Gillie Baker and Mrs Lloyd-Jones for attending the meeting and giving us their views. It was agreed that the separate topic of parking outside the school would be addressed at a later date.

Finance

  • The clerk said that the balance at the bank stood at £2442.16
  • The precept for 2009/10 was discussed and it was agreed to keep it at £1500 for the third year running. This was to be publicised on our website.
  • The following payments were agreed:
    • Chirton with Patney PCC — £100
    • Devizes and District LINK — £50
    • Kennet CAB — £75
    • Victim Support — £50
    • Splash — £10
    • Rod Bridewell for grass cutting on Small Street and The Village Hall — £310
    • The Clerk, for the maintenance of the Millennium Bench — £12.13

Community First Aid Courses

The clerk explained that he had been approached by a commercial firm running these courses. The cost to the parish would be in the order of £299 per course of up to12 people. After some discussion it was decided not to proceed with it primarily on the grounds that it would be difficult to keep those trained refreshed and up to date.

The Redhone Trust

A paper on this initiative from Urchfont Parish had been circulated beforehand. In the discussion that followed no one was able to see what benefit the parish would gain from joining it even though the subscription was only a one-off charge of £10. In addition we were very much linked to the Pewsey Area Community Trust who were an established and strong supportive body for any initiatives we might wish to pursue. It was decided to decline the offer but to ask Urchfont PC if they would be willing to keep us informed of any initiatives in the Devizes Board Area which might affect us.

Allotments

A paper had been circulated before the meeting and the Clerk confirmed that there was still only one application. Discussion followed during which it became clear that there were two views on how we should proceed, one that we should wait for the necessary six applications and another that we should publicise the present, limited, interest and ask if there were any others. There was a view that we might be accused of not actively canvassing for applications but on the other hand we needed to certain that those who applied would really want to have an allotment rather than just be interested in the idea. If we were to go ahead, as we are obliged to do if six people apply, it will incur significant capital cost which may require an increase in the precept. It was decided to wait until the applicants reached six and then to have an Open Parish Meeting to tell everyone about it.

Freedom of Information Act

The government had published this document in 2000 and have produced a Model Publication Scheme which states what information public bodies such as Parish Councils have to make available to the public. We are required to "adopt" the model scheme in toto unless we have strong reasons for wishing to exclude any items. The new scheme comes into operation on 1 January 2009. It was agreed to adopt the scheme as it stood.

Planning Applications Received

  • K/59512/TR2 — Tree work at No.34 The Street
  • K/59603/TR2 — Tree work at No.11 The Street

The council had raised no objection to either and KDC had granted consent.

Correspondence

  • Defibrillators in the community — These are operated by First Responders, of whom we have one in the village. More volunteers have been asked for and one person from Chirton has attended a familiarising talk in Bishop Cannings. The local branch has acquired enough funding to purchase another defibrillator which could be based either in Chirton or Etchilhampton.
  • Wiltshire Wayfarer — Details of Parish Improvement Grants had been circulated before the meeting. It was agreed to take note of the availability in case we had any future projects which would qualify.
  • Boundary Commission — Final Recommendations for Electoral Review of Wiltshire had been published and were in line with what had been proposed. We had been invited to complete an opinion survey but it was agreed not to do so.

Date of Next Meeting

Tuesday 10 March 2009 at 7.30pm in the school.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 20:45 hrs.



Posted: 4 January 2009