MINUTES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING - 21 JUNE 2010

MINUTES
of the Meeting of
CHIRTON PARISH COUNCIL
held in the School on
Monday 21 June 2010 at 19:30

Present

Councillors Stephanie Robertson (Chair), Ian McKinnon, Stewart Neale, Jonathan Oliphant (Clerk). Apologies were received from Sarah Withers. Also in attendance were prospective councillors, Lucy Craddock and Rohan McMillan, and Robert Hall (Chairman of Wiltshire Council and our member on the Pewsey Area Board). Four members of the public attended. Stephanie Robertson welcomed all those present.

Co-option of New Councillors

Lucy Craddock and Rohan McMillan were proposed by Ian McKinnon and seconded by Stewart Neale. The Chair welcomed them onto the Parish Council and both duly signed their declarations of acceptance of office having previously completed their Registers of Member's Interests, which had been sent to the Monitoring Officer at County Hall.

Statement by Robert Hall

The Chair then asked him to address the meeting. Robert Hall stressed the importance of making use of available funding from Wiltshire Council by applying for grants to cover local projects. He also said that our previous concerns on speeding through the village were still very much on the table.

Finance

  1. The Bank Account on 15 June 2010 stood at £2,835.13
  2. The following payments needed ratification — SEB, £7.56. Insurance, £261.86. WALC membership, £120.27. Website Hosting 2010/11, £58.75. Richard Dunn for Infopoint, £78.18. Community First membership, £36. These were agreed nem con.
  3. Clerk's Expenses — Currently £75pa. Agreed nem con.
  4. Community Cleansing Grant 2010/11 — He had applied for £200 but the letter from Wiltshire Council implied that this might not be forthcoming due to revisions in budgeting at County Hall.

Devizes Night Taxibuzz

The Clerk explained that this had been discontinued with effect from 28 May. He, together with Lucy Craddock and Ian McKinnon, had attended a meeting of The Kennet Passengers Group which, was also attended by representatives from Wiltshire Council. After much discussion, during which it was acknowledged that there were a number of people living in the Pewsey Vale who had relied on the service which was now seen to be financially unviable, Kate Freeman of Kennet Passengers Group agreed to explore further what scheme could be put in place which could go some way to ameliorating the situation. It would appear that there might be a funding gap of around £5000pa and if Parish Councils in the affected area were willing to offer some financial help then a revised scheme might be possible. The Council took note of what had been said and subject to more details of any proposed scheme it was agreed to inform Kennet Passengers Group that we would be willing to make a contribution of up to £50.

New Plan for Improving School parking

The Clerk tabled the paper he had drafted on the revised plan to improve the parking which consisted of widening the layby and repairing the damaged area. This had been circulated to councillors beforehand and it was agreed to proceed with it. This entailed contacting Planning and Highways officially to obtain Planning permission before going out to tender. [JBO]

Report on Speeding Issues from Pewsey Area Committees

Stephanie Robertson, who attends these meetings on our behalf, gave the following report. Following the results of a number village speeding surveys and their consequent speeding issues, it has been suggested by the Area Board that the many problems which have arisen are re-visited.

The stringent police regulations for follow up Community Speed Watch action are to be relaxed from the requirements of the 85% rule for speeding vehicles to a lower percentage, which means that Chirton's issue remains on the table. Although we are not particularly in favour of taking the camera route because it will not prove anything more than the speed survey, we will now be invited to take part in a workshop which will discuss options for traffic-calming measures. This ensures that our issue is still being considered seriously and a positive outcome looks to be a possibility. [SR]

Planning Applications

There was only one application since the last meeting.

  • E/10/0387/FUL — 12 The Hollow. Two storey extension. Revised application. The council raised no objections and Wiltshire Council granted consent.
Any Other Business
  1. Pewsey Environmental Action Team — This is a wide-ranging environmental study group. It was decided to take no action now but to monitor future developments. [ALL]
  2. Devizes Health Matters — This is an open forum to all who make use of health facilities in the Devizes area. It was confirmed that any action we need has to be taken up through the Pewsey Area Partnership it was still worth circulating to the village as a whole in case anyone wanted to attend the meeting on Thursday 1 July from 7-9pm in The Town Hall. [JBO]


There being no further business the council meeting closed at 20:30 and the Chair invited questions from members of the public.

  1. Mrs Hues stated that she thought the school should have taken more steps to make car parking available inside the school grounds. It was pointed out that this would raise several safety issues with children running about. The school had shown willing to considering providing parking for staff cars within their grounds and were supportive of the steps the council was taking to help with safety issues outside. Mike Tucker concurred with the view that staff cars could be parked inside.
  2. Lucy Craddock suggested that neighbouring property owners might be persuaded to allow their drives to be used by staff members thus freeing up space in the layby. She was willing to ask suitable people and her offer was gratefully accepted.   [LC]
  3. Mrs Hamblin raised the question of parking in the cul-de-sac off Small Street. There were too many cars, including one which was untaxed. It was agreed to approach Sarsen and Ian McKinnon said he would approach Wiltshire Council's enforcement office about getting the untaxed car removed. She also complained about the constant dog barking. The Clerk said that he would contact Wiltshire Council to get advice on how to deal with this.   [IM/JBO]

    4. There being no further business the meeting closed at 21:00.

    Posted: 27 June 2010