HAMBRIDGE & WESTPORT PARISH COUNCIL

Transcription

1 HAMBRIDGE & WESTPORT PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 9 th JANUARY 8pm IN THE VILLAGE HALL PRESENT: Cllrs Simon Denley (Chairman), David Cload, Richard Maidment and Paul Masters. District Cllr Sue Steele and County Cllr Christopher le Hardy were also in attendance. 237). APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE An apology for absence had been received from Cllr Brian Flack 238). DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 239). MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 12 th DECEMBER 2016 The Minutes of the meeting, having been circulated, were approved on the proposition of Cllr Paul Masters, seconded by Cllr David Cload and signed by the Chairman. 240). MATTERS ARISING a). Footpath from the Primary School to the Church update Cllr Simon Denley had noted in the report received from Cllr Christopher le Hardy that the proposed scheme was now in the initial design stage. He would be seeing the initial plans in advance and suggested that would be the right time to approach the residents concerned before it goes out to public consultation. b). c). d). Future of the Village Website update Mike Evans said that you are now re-directed to the new website and the old one is in the background and can still be accessed. All the relevant Parish Council information is available on the new Website. The posting of future information will be undertaken by Cllr Simon Denley. Information concerning the access codes, domain name etc., will be made available to him but, it will be necessary to review the situation in about a year s time. Installation of the Broadband - update Cllr Simon Denley said that he had been involved in weekly conversations with BT during which he had been informed that the order has been cancelled and then that it had been re-instated. He understood that an engineer had come on site without any notification and they had then tried to fine us because he had not been there to meet him. He had today been promised that he would have an within twenty-four hours advising the current situation. Part of the funding Mike Evans had obtained for us covered the purchase of a laptop and this has now been purchased. Westmoor lane update There had been no further correspondence from Chris Weeks of County Highways. Cllr Simon Denley felt that we should keep on file our concerns about the safety of this road. They had said that new signage would be installed but, this has not happened. The provision of passing places and white lining had also been suggested by the Parish Council to improve safety. District Cllr Sue Steele suggested that County Cllr Christopher le Hardy should be asked for his support to meet on site so that he can be made aware of our concerns. (The following is an excerpt from the January Newsletter, The Parish Council are discussing with County Highways how the lane can be made even safer after the re-surfacing. High unmarked edges 1

2 seem the main concern and it is still a bit wavy. Highways say that is a feature of moorland roads. Permanent signs perhaps and a speed limit might help?) 241). TO RE-VISIT THE VILLAGE PLAN a). Speedwatch - update Cllr Simon Denley said that we had spoken about Speedwatch last month. He understood that Vic Faulkner had tried unsuccessfully to send some information to the Clerk. He now had Cllr Denley s to which he would send relevant data and this would be passed onto County Cllr Christopher le Hardy to use as ammunition for possible traffic calming. Cllr Richard Maidment advised that on two occasions there had been police motorcyclists with cameras stationed opposite the Barn Owl. 242). FINANCE REPORT a). Accounts for payment The following accounts were approved for payment on the proposition of Cllr Paul Master, seconded by Cllr David Cload. Clerk s wages Month HMRC PAYE Months 7/ Mike Evans January Newsletter Curry PC World Laptop incl vat. b). To set the Precept for 2017/2018 The Clerk had prepared a schedule showing Income & Expenditure to the end of December 2016 against Budget for the year 2016/2017 and copies were circulated to the members for information. A detailed discussion took place on the various elements relevant to the Precept for 2017/2018. Taking into account the views expressed by the members, the following schedule contains the recommended figure for each element of expenditure. Budget for 2016/ Expenditure to end December excl VAT + or - Precept Precept Clerk's Salary & PAYE 2015/2016 bal Clerk's Salary & PAYE 2016/ Clerk's Expenses 2015/2016 (not claimed) Clerk's Expenses 2016/ SALC Fee Audit Fees Grass Cutting/Hedge Cutting 4, , , , Hambridge Churchyard Bumps & Babes Town Crier Training Courses H & W Noticeboard H & W Recreation Trust 1, , , General Charity Rent Insurance Premium War Memorial - 1, , General Maintenance Contingencies Hambridge & Westport Website Domain Name Future Projects 2, , ,000.00

3 Newsletters Wreath for War Memorial Totals 12, , , , Precept 2017/ , On the proposition of Cllr Paul Masters, seconded by Cllr David Cload, it was unanimously agreed to apply for a Precept of 12, On the Precept form submitted to South Somerset District Council, it would show the amount to be collected from Council Tax Payers as 12,670 plus the Council Tax Reduction Support Grant of 130 giving a Budget figure of 12,800. Adjournment to Allow Public Comment Colin Baker wished to raise the consequences of over-filling the sewage system repeatedly. There is a window of opportunity for development in the village and we have been having infill for several years. To his knowledge there has been no strategic overview about addressing the overall infrastructure on the sewerage side. Doubling the problem is the fact that the sewage system was never designed to carry the run-off from Hambridge or Westport. It was always designed to carry sewage. Since day one there has been a problem during heavy rainfall or when we have got the lower parts of Hambridge flooding. There seems to be a certain amount of infiltration into the sewage system whenever that is under water. We always get an overhang of about twelve to twenty-four hours when the pump at the station opposite the Barn Owl regularly trips out when it is overloaded. The tankers have to come out to deal with it. He was a bit encouraged recently when we had heavy rain and it did not get overwhelmed. This was obviously after Wessex Water had done some servicing. We have never been able to extract from Wessex Water what their maintenance schedule is or whether they have made improvements. We did notice that, although the pump did not trip out, at Westport during the last heavy rain, the pumping station at Barrington was overwhelmed and they had to tanker from there. He understood that Barrington was scheduled for development yet, when he was last at a meeting here, it was mentioned that we had the opportunity to comment on the Local Plan for Area North. There seemed to be very little interest in the knock-on effect of any development in Barrington to our problems in Westport and again, our problems in Westport seemed to be ignored if there is more development in Hambridge. We felt that in the desperate situation that we had a few years ago, when Wessex Water resorted to switching off the Hambridge pump, we wanted to get the Westport pump working again. It is a common problem to the two villages. It is not really a sewage problem; it is a run-off problem. When they invented the scheme, anyone living in the village at that time will know that we all agreed that run-off water would not be put into the sewer. Wessex Water have done several surveys, mainly in Westport, and they have never taken any action to prevent surface drainage from going into the sewer. He felt that there was no common purpose anymore between the District Council, the Parish Council, Wessex Water, the Drainage Board and the customers. There appears to be ad hock development with no pressure on Wessex Water to fulfil their requirements. He felt that the system would grind to a halt. Cllr Simon Denley said that he definitely took Mr Baker s point because every time we get a heavy downpour it results in the bottom end of Hambridge and the bottom end of Westport getting flooded. Mr Baker said that when our system was built, a public meeting had been held and we had agreed that we would all contract to separate our surface water from our foul water. When there is over-topping in the lower part of Westport, sewerage comes out into people s houses and goes up their toilets and, of course, it is contaminated. It may be their own sewerage but, imagine the Hambridge sewerage. The silt system has got adequate capacity for the houses we have at the moment but, it is vitally important that the surface runoff is controlled and does not get into the sewer. It is the responsibility of the District Council to ensure that the building control is enforced so that only sewerage goes into the sewers. Mike Evans said that he had been visited by a gentleman who was carrying out a survey and he wanted to know whether my surface water was going into the sewerage system but, he did not carry out a check. 3

4 Cllr Simon Denley questioned when Wessex Water carry out a check. Is it only if there is a new development that they have to ascertain whether or not the system can cope with it? He was advised that Wessex Water was responsible for the sewerage system and ensuring that the surface water is separated from the sewerage. Mr Baker said that building control were responsible for inspecting the site. He felt that most of the things that the local authority does make things worse. They let the run-off run down the roads instead of getting it into the ditches. County Cllr Christopher le Hardy said was the problem not partly addressed through the Somerset Rivers Authority, which brings together the relevant organisations. It was suggested that the Parish Council should invite someone from the Drainage Board to come and speak to us with a view to improving the current situation. We would also write to Wessex Water to express the concerns that have been made and Mr Baker felt we should ascertain what their course of action will be to ensure that the situation does not remain as it is at present. 243). REPORTS FROM COUNTY/DISTRICT COUNCILLORS a). County Cllr Christopher le Hardy He had sent us a written report and he was about to send us an Annual Review which summarised where we have got to this year and looks ahead. The integration of Health and Social Care is beginning to get quite a bit of steam behind it. It is a very important issue for them to work together because of the pressure on both elements. In Somerset County Council, we have already put eighteen outside care workers into Musgrove Park Hospital. There is another team in Yeovil and basically, they are linking up with the discharge teams. There are quite a lot of adult social care improvements. There is a quite an interesting theme that is coming out. If you have got someone who is elderly and has to go to hospital after an accident and you do not start to think about a plan until after they leave, there is a chance of them landing up in care in a residential home. However, if you start right at the beginning and have a plan in place to get them back to independent living. That has enormous potential for not only resulting in savings but, also for doing the right thing for people and getting them back to where they want to be. That involves the Sustainability and Transformation Plan that the NHS are putting together and Somerset County Council are also involved in that. He felt that this would be a very big subject for next year. He enquired whether speeding through this area for still a problem? Cllr Simon Denley said that we do have some data coming to us even though the chap who dealt with Speedwatch has moved away. He had been promised it in the next twenty-four hours. He would pass it on to County Cllr le Hardy who said that one of the things that he would be looking at was there any more that could be done to educate drivers. If you are caught speeding, there is a speed awareness course you can go on. He wondered if there was anything more that could be done and does it need more resources? He was looking at the situation as a whole issue and it was, of course, one of the locations for the footpath. Cllr Richard Maidment pointed out that one of the junctions in Westport was blind and most days there is skidding of cars coming out of the turning or driving along the main road to avoid a collision. County Cllr le Hardy said that the big question mark was, what was the best way to spend the money? Would it be better to put in speed limits, chicanes etc., or is education better? Mike Evans said that we should make it socially unacceptable for people to speed but, if the proper penalties were issued we could stop it. Colin Baker said that the County Council had produced a report many years ago on the effectiveness of various calming measures, such as Village Gateways and delineating the edges of the road more clearly with white lines. b). District Cllr Sue Steele Cllr Sue Steele advised that the wheelie bin collection of rubbish would in future be collected every third week and contaminated items must now be put into them. The re-cycling boxes would continue to be emptied weekly and you would be able to put more things into it such as batteries. Details of exactly what can be re-cycled will be advised. Dirty nappies and clinical waste will also be dealt with separately. 4

5 Cllr Sue Steele referred to Musgrove Park Hospital and the fact that it was reporting that A & E were repeatedly overloaded but, there is really good work going on in there. They have not gone into the black but, they have come very close to it. She had recently spoken to a patient who had said that she could not have been treated better and wanted her to pass this on. Cllr Sue Steele referred to the received from Bleadon Parish Council which the Clerk had circulated to the members for information. They had ed PCC Sue Mountstevens to ask why there was rarely a Police attendance at Parish Council meetings and why Police Reports were not often received. They had been told it was not cost effective unless you have a particular problem which they could be advised of. They still want the Clerk to send them the meeting dates. The Clerk had received an suggesting a one to one meeting with them at a venue to be decided upon. A large document had been received from PCC Sue Mountstevens and this would be circulated to the members. 244). LAW & ORDER On the Police UK Website there was a report of - one violent and sexual offence at Playses Green PLANNING REPORT The Clerk had not received any new planning reports and decisions CORRESPONDENCE a). No extension of referendum principles Somerset Association of Local Councils b). Report a road problem poster 247). ITEMS FOR A FUTURE AGENDA a). Footpath from the Primary School to the Church update b). Future of the Website update c). Installation of Broadband update d). Westmoor Lane update e). Village Plan Speeding issues f). Sewerage update CHAIRMAN DATE 5