SHALDON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting on 26 th June 2007 at 7.15pm in the Methodist Church Hall 

Present: Cllr Clarance (CC) (Chair), Cllrs Steve Shelter (SS) Ann Storton (AS) , Rick Smith(RS), Kim Sturgess (KS) , Peter Williams (PW).
Prayers taken by: Fr J Stewart
Apologies: Cllr Mike Coley and WPC Joy Stoppard
In attendance: Cllr D Cox, Inspector Jon Perry. Mrs B Coley (Clerk)

1. Devon & Cornwall Constabulary: Inspector Jon Perry (JP) explained that he hoped to offer reassurance and dispel any false rumours regarding the recent murder in the village. He said this was a tragic incident and the victim, who was from Newton Abbott, was attacked by someone from Torquay who was not a stranger to her. The incident could have taken place anywhere and just happened to take place in Ringmore. Cllr Williams had been impressed with the activity of the local Police Officer who was in Ringmore reassuring everybody and helping the community.
JP had received complaints from some residents on the recent occasion when helicopters circled the area of the golf course late at night. This had highlighted six youths causing criminal damage and antisocial behaviour and the culprits had spent the night in police cells. CC felt the response was justified and the whole team should be congratulated.

2, Extended Licensing Hours: Royal Standard. The Chairman, CC, took the opportunity of seeking the views of Inspector Perry (JP) on this subject.
CC had a copy of the current licence to compare with the new licence application form. Currently live music ends at 11.30 which will stay in place. The variation applied only to recorded music being played from 11.30 to 12. They wish to take the alcohol to 1am with half an hour to closing time. Two major obstacles would be objections from the police and the Environment Agency. Objections must be in by 4 th July although CC has ascertained that this in fact should be stated as 10 th July. If granted, the variation would lead to all windows and doors except for ingress and outgress being closed and therefore most probably air conditioning would have to be in place. No drinking would take place outside the pub and all noise contained within the pub. PW asked if ‘within the pub' included the garden. JP thought that the garden would have to be vacated.
JP had not seen the application but explained that if it was not intended to provide door staff and CCTV in place, the police would object. Also Teignbridge policy dictates that door staff must be present from 9pm onwards when open after 12. He pointed out that there are currently no pubs in Teignmouth open that late and therefore many visitors would be encouraged to come across. JP advised that objections need to be based on fact - such as actual examples of when the noise had been very loud and caused a disturbance - crime and disorder and public nuisance being the most important acceptable reasons for objection. CC said the four pubs in the village had previously teamed up to agree they should finish selling alcohol at 12 o clock. PW was concerned about setting a precedent by allowing one pub to extend beyond these hours. JP felt the expense of doormen from 9 until 1.30am would not be feasible for all pubs. RS was concerned about the turning out of intoxicated people at 1am through a residential area and the nuisance to be caused when beyond the control of the landlord. Of particular concern was the application for off sales. AS proposed that SPC strongly objects to this application on the grounds of nuisance ie disturbance to residents in the early hours including off sales. PW seconded including highlighting the issues - located centrally in the village with no transport and everyone having to walk through the village. If there are off sales people can loiter in the ferryboat shelter and on the beach with no one there as it is unguarded. JP will not allow his officers to patrol beaches and woodland in the dark it would have to be a serious activity for an officer to curtail this.
All in favour. Action: Clerk to draft objection.

2. To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of 29 th May 2007:
Prop AS, Sec RS Carried  

3. Matters Arising from the minutes of the meeting of 29 th May 2007:
AS proposed monitoring the mobile library times and any resultant traffic issues at Shoreside. Prop AS Sec RS Carried

4. Chairman's Announcements: Sorry to hear about Mike Coley not being well. Proposed writing a letter to wish him well. All in favour.

5. Correspondence: Councillors' Comments:
AS T4: Conservation Appraisal of Ringmore: Had acknowledged M Pearce's letter and promised to reply by July end. AS Circulating around councillors for comments to be collated and agreed at next meeting. Clerk: Next Agenda

CC T9: Steve Matson: Rural Aid Grant towards schemes to the value of, for example, £10,000 to get a grant of £5000. This year we are not making a claim.  

6. Devon County Councillor's Report
Care Homes being outsourced to an organisation called Sure - a semi-worker's co-operative in order to bring expenses under control. Devon is aiming to be the greenest county in the country in all its departments. £45m was received from the sale of the airport which must be put into capital expenditure. The school cannot be funded from this because it is Government funded.
In response to AS's question, he confirmed that the embankment is a Devon county highway and therefore benches on this land should be maintained by them.
DC said that the library building will be sold as quickly as possible. The money will go back into a cap ex pot. He will take the thought away that a proportion should come back to the local community.

7. Teignbridge District Councillor's Report: See Appendix I

8. Parish Councillors' Reports
SS : Met with Richard Elliot (RE) DCC, on 12 June, who was very helpful and covered most of the issues as follows:
(i) Drain opposite newsagents - following report that cement was being poured down the gully by builders at a residence near the post office, the residents replied that it was not the case. This report was therefore unable to be substantiated. In any case, RE has undertaken to clear the gulley.

(ii) Report of blocked drains at Barn End (Mrs Wadie): RE proposes to rectify this situation and it is on his agenda.

(iiii) Cutting and maintenance of the verges should be addressed to DCC.

(iv) RE had expressed concern re use of A boards by local businesses obstructing the highway and will deal with this if it is reported as a problem.

(v) Potholes in Salty, Peppery Lane etc: RE has this problem on his agenda but no funding. The best he can do is patch and mend. RS said that every time it rains the situation gets worse and more dangerous. PW said that age concern were asking people to send a postcard regarding any problems with pavements to their local council and felt this should be encouraged.

(vi) Curb on corner of Horse Lane opposite Beachcomber: A piece of granite curb stone has now been put in the middle of the latest repair to hopefully make this more stable.

KS : Plantings are now complete with no worries about watering in this wet weather. KS suggested finding out how much it will cost to replace broken container around the war memorial. AS prop RS sec. Carried. Action: KS

AS(i) Attended police liaison meeting at Bitton House which was excellent. A PCSO called Colin has been allocated to Shaldon and will be visible within the next few weeks. Speed checks have been in place in Laborador Bay and Bridge Road . Email address for leaving information or reports.
Boat crimes – idea of cascade system to liaise with Harbour Comm, boatwatch etc.

•  Village Hall AGM: continuing to look after monies from sale of hall. Interest on funds used for awards to local young people. 19 applied and were successful = £6107 in past year. More to go in Parish News in summer months.

•  Benches: Pleasing response from one relative of bench on Green. Awaiting official response from TDC re handing over green benches – verbally agreed. Issues re individual benches will be dealt with as they crop up. Thanked David Cox for help re ownership of land at the embankment which helped with sorting out bench maintenance.

•  Dogs & Litter: Not aware of any problems. Colin as excellent as ever.
AS proposed posting dog signs on the Green: Sec RS. Carried Action: AS
AS went on to problems reported by Shaldon Tourism Information Centre:

(i) Weeds and dead trees in flowerbeds at Ness Car Park: Clerk to report to Martin Weaver/Chris Hickson at TDC.

(ii) Sign on old toilet block indicating location of new toilet block: Clerk to report to Teignbridge Services,Sally Sutton

(iii) Signage at Ness to lead people to visit Shaldon Village : Clerk to report to Tracey Higgs to ask her to liaise on this problem with TIC.

Copies of all above reports to be sent to TIC: Action Clerk

PW As part of secondment to Museum had attended meeting and overlapped with Joan Lord. The Museum have accepted with grateful thanks the picture of the clock. Museum plan to put emphasis on Shaldon. Every Weds a delegate will dress up in suitable clothes and will come over on the ferry and promote 1785 day and the museum. The museum will regularly report in the Parish News - PW will do the copy for that. Next meeting will be in Shaldon. SPC pay 1/10 th of running costs and he hopes we can liase closely with them.
CC: Party on the Shaldon Beach: Tracey Higgs has sought special advice from Head of Policy and this will now be approved subject to the conditions such as £2m liability. SS proposed writing to Tracey Higgs noting her comments. SS will send a draft to the clerk. 5 for 1 abstained. Carried Action: SS

Drain outside the Beachcomber is being combined with the highway system to assist with rain water run off.

9. Case for Ownership at Topcliff Road CC reported that the District Council are not interested in owning land such as this. One resident has now collected the file and the residents are planning on seeking advice from a solicitor on the cost of a project to establish ownership. She will return to SPC with a proposal that the 6 residents pay the entire cost of ownership and maintenance. They may make an approach to SPC to own the land. PW felt it was more sensible for the residents to buy it and maintain it as common land. AS agreed there was no reason why SPC should own the land. All councillors were happy to wait and see the outcome

10. Environment Agency Flood Defence Exhibition: PW explained that this was held on the basis of 11 months of work of the flood liaison committee following the suggestion that Shaldon needed a flood plan. Such consultation is unique in this country. The purpose of the exhibition was to present the findings of the group. All observations from attendees were recorded and the EA are going to respond to those comments. PW felt that individual emotive letters should not be responded to because the purpose of the exhibition had been to collate and respond to feedback. PW suggested SPC should meet to consider the outcomes when the results come through in the next month or so.

Emergency Flood Plan: Shaldon is built in a basin on sand and a number of houses are at risk. PW was asked to put together an emergency flood plan and any alert would be received by recipients of the warning. A team of volunteers will assist in sandbagging the more vulnerable parts of the village. The length of the village causes a problem and TDC and the EA have worked out the number of sandbags involved and PW has been asked to find volunteers. Currently has 25 out of 55. In September a 'false alarm' will take place. 5 volunteers will receive the warning and it will cascade down to everyone else. Other issues are private land, holiday homes owners etc who should have appropriate home defence in place. Above a tide of 5.8 metres evacuation to the Ness Hotel will take place and the volunteers will then become assistants and carers for disabled or elderly people. He asked for SPC's support in his draft plan. He asked for options and ideas for storage points for sandbags.AS made him aware that SPC has a stock of fluorescent jackets
TDC had raised an issue about the ownership of the flood boards at the ferry boat shelter which were lying on the beach. AS said they were previously kept under lock and key. CC proposed that the boards were kept locked and the key placed at the Beachcomber and the Brigantine. Clerk to write to Tracey Higgs All in favour.

11. Adoption of the new Code of Conduct: AS proposed RS sec All in favour.

12. Pinch Point at 14 Fore Street: AS said that at the recent lorry meeting, in the absence of traffic calming, one of the actions was to explore the installation of a sign at 14 Fore Street advising against parking. AS to give copies of minutes to SS and this matter to be deferred to next meeting. Action: Clerk for next Agenda

14. Planning
RS gave an overview of applications this month. Cllr Sturgess expressed interest at joining the planning sub-committee. This was proposed by RS Sec AS. All in favour.
Ringmore Conservation Plan: To be placed as a separate item on next Agenda. Action: Clerk for next agenda

15. Accounts
- AS proposed that the Internal Audit accounts be approved. Sec SS. Carried
•  AS proposed that the accounts be taken as read. Sec RS Carried
•  Draft letter to TIC was approved by all. Councillors details not to be held on website.  

16. Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 31 st July 2007

17. Public Comment:
Tony Willan: Thanked SPC for the generous donation to TIC of £400 and was very happy to hold minutes of the SPC meetings and other special meetings on the website

Mrs Rowe: Asked for a sense of urgency re the pinch point.

Meeting finished at 9.30.