MINUTES OF PREVIOUS COUNCIL MEETINGS
SHALDON PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING 27th September 2011 following planning
IN THE METHODIST CHURCH HALL
Present: Cllr Peter Williams (Chair) (PW), Cllr Hugh Davey (Vice) (HD), Cllr Chris Clarance (CC), Cllr Eddie Holden (EH), Cllr Maia Miller (MM), Cllr D Yates (DY)
In attendance: Maddie Williams (Clerk)
Prayers taken by: Rev W Robertson
1. Apologies: Cllr Lisa Pash (LP)
2. To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of 26th July 2011: The minutes were approved.
3. Matters Arising from the minutes of the meeting of 26th July 2011:
PW Item 10: Low chain across the Clipper Quay: PW suggested that this matter be deferred until the next meeting as LP is not present.
EH Item 5: Street Trading: Mr G Ballman has confirmed that he hopes the SPC will support the Business Forum in lobbying TDC to restrict street trading in the village. HD stated that there has only been one case of street trading reported to SPC, but that he will investigate what effect this has had on businesses in Shaldon and report back to the next meeting. Action: HD
PW: Item 9: Councillor Jeremy Christophers had informed him that the new goal would be in place on the KGV field by the end of the summer but the work had not yet been carried out. CC said that he had passed the field only that day, had seen the work underway and understood that it would be completed by the end of the next day.
4. Declarations of Interest: There were none.
5. Devon & Cornwall Constabulary: Colin Rider (CR) presented the latest crime statistics. He also advised that a new non-emergency telephone number has been introduced to contact the police. Callers can dial 101 and be connected with their local police force. The service is now available in several counties including Devon and will be rolled out nationally over the coming months.
CR responded to queries over alleged dog poisonings in the village. The police had not received a report by a dog owner in relation to the alleged incident and had therefore not investigated. MM stated that she knew the dogs involved. Cllr Williams suspended S/Os to allow Philip Winchester to ask whether the recently reported case of bird poisoning in Ladbroke Bay could be related and whether it pointed to a spate of deliberate poisonings, especially in light of the recent deaths of fish in the pond at the Ness. With S/Os reinstated HD said that TDC had informed him that the deaths of fish in the Ness pond had been due to overfeeding and associated contamination. Action MM: agreed to speak with her contact in the RSPB regarding the bird poisonings in Ladbroke Bay and liaise with Colin Rider on her findings.
6. Chairman’s Report:
The summer break has been relatively quiet for your Chairman but the Agenda today raises a number of issues with major implications for the future.
Firstly though to deal with summer events: The Shaldon and Ringmore Flood £8.6 million Defence Scheme has now effectively been completed with the issue of the Flood Defence Manual which I have delivered to all the volunteers. All but one volunteer has been trained. Volunteers are being asked to check their details and we will then organise a rehearsal to make sure there are no glitches in the system.
Another big event was the formal opening of the totally revamped and expanded Teign Heritage Centre (Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum). I attended the opening with Joan Lord as my guest to reflect her long association and support of the venture. With substantial Lottery Funding and other charitable donations exceeding £800,000, it is an amazing tribute to the efforts of the museum staff and volunteers who have achieved what many believed was impossible.
I think we should also put on record our thanks to the Regatta and Carnival Committees and volunteers who have once again given Shaldon a summer to remember. I can report also the first meeting of our Diamond Jubilee Working Party which has been formed to coordinate activities over the Jubilee Holiday (2nd-5th of June 2012 ). The Parish Council is keen to have a Street Party from WestBay House to the end of Marine Parade on the Monday Afternoon - with clubs and societies providing tables with food to share. The Shaldon Bowling Club has offered a Fun Bowls event on the Sunday Morning. The Over 60’s are organising a tea party on Sunday afternoon. The Regatta and Carnival committees suggested beach sports. The Church of England has offered a civic service and the use of facilities for musical or other events. There were several other great suggestions and we will be meeting again on October 18th to get the momentum going for a great celebration.
I am very conscious that it is now about six months since we were elected as Parish Councillors and our new members have had to engage in a sharp learning curve. We have 3.5 years of service left I think it is a good time for us all to reflect on what we hope to achieve in that time span. Local government responsibilities are being subjected to a major rethink. It is easy to sit back and simply react to situations but we can also be proactive and develop plans and policies to achieve new objectives. I suggest that after this meeting we need to develop an action plan or series of plans to maintain and improve our village. I would like each committee member to take this on board and come up with suggestions. Suggestions from residents would be most welcome
I would like to thank Philip Winchester for his work on the memorial railings. He has really worked hard to get them prepared for painting and they are now undercoated and will be finished in time for the Remembrance Service on 13th November. The morning service on the Green and the evening service at St. Peter’s (with refreshments provided by the Parish Council) are important dates for our diaries.
Finally, after saying goodbye to our Parish Clerk last month, I would now like to formally welcome Maddie Williams as our new clerk to the first full council meeting since her appointment.
7. Correspondence: Councillors’ Comments:
A2: Affordable Housing:
MM: an important issue and an interesting scheme outlined in letter A2, but this particular scheme is not relevant to the village.
CC: agreed that this scheme is not applicable to Shaldon but felt that affordable housing is an important issue for SPC to consider given the current unfulfilled demand for housing locally. He commented that TDC were more likely to approve development despite local objection where that development was to provide 100% affordable housing. Therefore it was important to identify suitable sites for the provision of affordable housing rather than have development in unsuitable areas imposed upon the parish.
HD: agreed to liaise with TDC on identifying feasible sites and report back to the Council. Action: HD.
D1: Street Lighting:
DY: DCC had announced that street lights would be turned off in the village from 12.30am to 5.30am everywhere except the main Torquay road.
PW: Not the best outcome for the village but since the decision was now finalised there did not seem to be anything that SPC could do about it.
8. Devon County Council Councillor’s Report:
CC: As members of Shaldon Parish Council know we now have our Fuji towable parish council gritter, with our Mount Blanc hand pushed one about to be delivered soon.
County Council policy is now that we are able to obtain up to 4 tonnes of salt in 25kg bags and that our snow warden is to be trained up by the local highways neighbour team, rather than one officer at a central location, also we don’t have as a SPC, the responsibility of filling up the grit bins. So with that in mind I hope our council tonight will opt into the DCC Snow Warden Initiative Scheme, responding to the local highways neighbour team with a letter to that effect, which will mean we would like this salt asap please.
The highways neighbour team are hoping to hear from us as to what in effect we propose to do by helping out in times of snow and ice, my take is that now we can do quite a bit more than just asking residents to put rock salt grit from the grit bins on the highway and that residents will come forward as volunteers to use the appliances we now have and parishioners will be able to phone into the parish council, if they believe they could benefit from some self help from volunteers who might be able to help them.
Remembering the County Council grit the primary and secondary roads and nothing different there is occurring.
I believe no organisation has come forward interested is acquiring the old school hall, formerly the Congregational Church, so DCC will be selling it off before too long and hopefully recuperating a small amount of the money they spent in building a new school assembly building and classrooms.
9. Teignbridge County Councillor’s Report:
CC: The Shaldon Parish Council members have seen the preliminary plans that TDC have drawn up for us for a changing room/pavilion on the south side of the KG5 field measuring 45ft x 15ft. Indeed input from the police liaison architect to hopefully avoid vandalism and the TDC Conservation officer have both had a say in the design. Thus what has been produced for us should not meet any hurdles at TDC as any planning application that SPC makes for this facility has to go before the Planning Committee at TDC, as TDC are in effect the custodial land owners of the field. Therefore on tonight’s agenda is this particular item and as your TDC Councillor I hope SPC will promote what has been produced for us by TDC. I believe one of the items that came out of the Turner Centre deliberations was the clear need to have a changing facility for the KG5 field, long overdue now, I therefore believe this is the best way of taking this to the next stage when finance for this project will have to be found, which will be quite a challenge.
The other item on the agenda tonight is that of what should be done with the Ferryboat Workshop, owned by TDC and on the list of assets for disposal. I think we might hear tonight confirmation that it really is not needed anymore by the current ferry contractor.
Another outcome from the Turner Centre deliberations was the clear need to provide a facility for the youngsters, namely the sea scouts, who I know would like to obtain the building and with that in mind I believe we should back the sea scouts as our preferred bidder in what plans they negotiate with TDC to obtain this facility.
10. Parish Councillors’ Reports:
EH: The new Head of Shaldon Primary School is keen to work with FOSS and SPC. The school is very pleased with its new play area but is currently fundraising to provide a path between the play area and the school.
HD: TDC has shown increased willingness to approve planning applications in the light of the current recession. The problem of the sinking boats has been dealt with by the Harbour Master.
MM: Will attend the TALC meeting on 6th October and report back to SPC at the next meeting. She had been monitoring hedge-maintenance and all was in hand, although she was somewhat concerned about instances where large metal gates had been installed.
MM wished to make her fellow Councillors aware that only 37% of the residents of Shaldon and Ringmore live in the centre of the village as traditionally defined and stressed that SPC must consider the needs of all residents, taking care not to be overly village-centric in Council business.
CC: Had suggested to the Victoria Hall Committee (VHC) that they may be able to receive £5000 from the locality budget for improvements to the hall, especially in regard to heating which would be hugely beneficial to the pre-school group. However he was still chasing their application for this grant. PW commented that TDC was opposed to the proposed installation of double glazing and extension to the rear of the hall and that the VHC would be lobbying SPC for support. He summarised that SPC supported the VHC in principal but would need to see plans of the proposed works.
DY: Drainage pipes in the village are being lined according to the drainage plans. He requested that any reports of blocked gullies are forwarded to him.
The League of Friends physiotherapy department is now operational at Teignmouth Hospital, meaning that many patients are now able to receive physiotherapy locally and do not have to travel to Torquay.
11. KGV Field Changing Facility/Pavillion:
PW asked the Councillors whether they approved of TDC’s preliminary plans. CC said that these plans had been revised three times and that, while revisions could still be made to the design, he proposed that SPC now take the project to the next stage and put in the planning application with the current plans at the site as previously agreed. Sec HD. Carried. Action: PW.
12. Public Toilets:
Regarding the letter from TDC, PW felt that the maintenance of the village’s public toilets should not fall to SPC which as a parish council does not have the managerial capacity or resources for such a task. TDC should continue to maintain them. CC said that it was not a statutory requirement for a local authority to maintain these facilities so this was a cost cutting attempt by TDC. He pointed out that all three of the conveniences in question were vitally important to the village and that local businesses may react badly if visitors were forced to try to use their conveniences instead. The Ness facilities serve a car park providing 398 parking spaces used by tourists visiting the village and the golf green which has recently been improved in order to promote it as a Teignbridge tourist attraction. The Shaldon facilities serve a village and beach which is the jewel in the crown of the whole region in terms of tourism and as such the District Council should maintain responsibility for them. The KGV field lacks the changing facility that it desperately needs and as such TDC should maintain the only facility which is available at this location. Action PW: to reply to TDC to this effect.
13. Dogs on Beach:
CC and HD were in favour of increasing the period of the current dog control order on Shaldon. MM said that the current order was flouted in the summer and asked how an increased ban would be enforced and how much this would cost? DY and EH were not in favour. EH believes that law-abiding people that picked up after their dogs should not be penalised for the actions of a minority of dog owners. He suggested that the current dog order should be better enforced. CC proposed increasing the current dog control order to include 1st April to 31st October. 2 in favour. 4 against. Not carried.
DY suggested that there should be another sign informing the public of the current dog order towards the Ness end of the beach, so that people coming from this direction were made aware of the order. CC proposed that SPC request such a sign from TDC. Sec MM. Carried. Action: Clerk.
14. Ferry Boat Workshop:
PW summarised that SPC had decided not to bid for the workshop but supports any bid that would result in the resource being maintained and put to sensible use. Cllr Williams suspended S/Os to allow Peter Bayliss (PB) and Ben Miles (BM) to update the Council on their findings. After consultation with local ferry operators, PB reported that no such operator would wish to use the workshop for ferry boat maintenance in the future, as it would not be cost effective. BM reported that Greg Allen had also been consulted and agreed to this effect. BM had spoken with Stuart Barker at TDC and registered the Sea Scouts interest in bidding. The District Valuer had valued the premises at £80,000. Stuart Barker was supportive of the Sea Scout bid although he had a duty of care to raise as much on the sale as possible. PW informed the Council of an offer by Mr John Pope of the Slipway, 2 Riverside, to contribute £30,000 to a SPC or Sea Scout bid in order to secure a car parking space, and turning and passing space for other residents. MM and HD felt that this would make the premises too small. BM agreed that the Sea Scouts could not use this offer as it would render it impossible to extend the building as they would hope to. EH commented that he supports the Sea Scouts bid to use the building but asked whether TDC would be favourable to leasing the building instead of selling it. He is concerned about the village’s assets being stripped and feels that the building should be retained for possible future need. He reminded the Council that the old village ferry was also reportedly no longer cost effective and yet it had been restored and was being put to good use on another route, resulting in the loss of an important historical link between this asset and Shaldon. CC and BM agreed that the TDC position strongly favoured selling the premises over leasing it. HD, EH and CC were concerned that if sold the premises would go to the highest developer bid and suggested that SPC should lobby TDC to lease the building to the Sea Scouts. BM reported that TDC have said that the £80,000 valuation will not change and that this would be discounted to the Sea Scouts. He was concerned that they would not be able to afford a market rent on the premises and that in the event that they sold the premises in the future, they would be required by covenant to sell it back to TDC. It was agreed that SPC would support the Sea Scouts bid to buy the Ferry Boat Workshop.
15. DCC Snow Warden Scheme:
CC proposed writing a letter opting into the DCC Snow Warden Initiative Scheme, asking that our snow warden is to be trained up by the local highways neighbour team and requesting our allocated salt. Sec PW. Carried. Action: Clerk.
16. Localism:
PW said that the new localism bill would have a considerable effect on the remit and workings of parish councils. He said that he would circulate a copy of the bill to all the Councillors so that they could read it and comment at the next meeting. Action: PW.
17. Chairman’s Board:
PW will approach the Methodist Church to ask if they will allow SPC to put up another Chairman’s Board in the Methodist Church Hall and will ask Barbara Coley regarding the costs. Action: PW.
18. Accounts:
It was agreed that the accounts should be amended to show more clearly what cheques 110 and 111 were for, otherwise they were taken as read. Prop CC. Sec PW. Carried.
19. Public Comment:
Mr Tony Willan: asked whether the Councillors would prefer to have their personal contact details made available on the SPC web page. PW said that the previous council had voted that all enquiries and correspondence should be channelled through the Clerk. EH commented that the Councillors should be easily accessible to the public and answerable on their areas of special responsibility. EH proposed that the web page be updated with the Councillors’ telephone and email contact details. Sec MM. Carried.
Mrs Joan Lord: Asked whether CC as a Devon County Councillor and Teignbridge District Councillor could report to SPC whenever he was made aware of county or district-wide budget cuts which may affect Shaldon. Action: CC agreed to do so. Mrs Lord also asked whether any progress had been made obtaining railings on the last flight of steps before the Ness. Action: DY
Mr Tony Brown: raised the issue of an existing memorial plaque. The plaque can not be read from the road and would be better placed elsewhere. The clerk requires specific details of current site and the suggested new location.
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