MINUTES DUNSTER PARISH COUNCIL TITHE BARN, DUNSTER 8 TH MAY 2017 7.30 p.m. Present: D Challoner, C Oliver, G Lamacraft, C Ell, A Webber, K Sully, G Witherford, A Vicary, G Dibble, G Ebbern Others: Cllr P Pilkington WSDC, Cllr Lawrence SCC (latter part of the meeting) Election of Chairperson: It was proposed Doug Challoner be elected as Chairperson. Proposed by Cllr Oliver, seconded Cllr Ell and all were in favour. Minutes of Last Meeting: There was one minor amendment of adjusting West Street to read West Close. The minutes were then signed as a correct record. Declarations of Interest: No new ones Dispensations: Casual Vacancy: There has been no interest or applications (despite advertising in the Parish Magazine) and all Councillors will canvass for potential individuals. Elections: Vice Chair C Ell proposed G Ebbern, seconded by G Lamacraft. All were in favour. Finance Sub committee D Challoner, G Witherford, G Ebbern, G Dibble, D Stanyon Cemetery Sub Committee D Challoner, C Oliver, A Vicary, A Webber, G Witherford, D Stanyon Buttercross Community Orchard Sub Committee D Challoner, A Vicary,G Witherford Packhorse Playing Field Sub Committee G Lamacraft,C Oliver,A Webber Marsh Playing Field Sub Committee K Sully,A Vicary,G Witherford Planning Sub Committee C Ell, G Lamacraft, A Vicary, C Oliver Allotment Sub Committee D Challoner, C Ell, K Sully, G Ebbern, D Stanyon Dunster Steep Toilets Sub Committee D Challoner, G Lamacraft,C Ell, D Stanyon The above positions were proposed by G Dibble seconded by G Ebbern and all were in favour. Parish Magazine report This will be done by G Lamacraft Reports: Cllr Pilkington reported that the wall in Park Street car park is collapsing and he is attempting to get this issue resolved. He has also been made aware of an issue with parking in Marsh Street, due to polite signs being put up, requesting people not to park outside resident s homes. K Sully suggested that this may not be a problem for too much longer and Cllr Pilkington is liaising with the residents in Marsh Street. K Sully requested that Cllr Pilkington investigate the fly tipping of hazardous waste and building materials at Croydon Hill. This has been reported to WSDC by Dunster Parish Council on 2 occasions but to date the items have not been collected. Cllr Pilkington will take this matter up. Cllr Lawrence is delighted to be voted in as SCC Councillor and said that she had discovered new places and met a lot of new people on her campaign. She stated that a lot of work had been carried out over the past 2 years and is looking forward to working with every one in the future. Cllr Lawrence will circulate a new list of contacts at SCC as soon as she has them.
Matters Arising: Dunster Steep Toilets The purchase legal documentation has now been completed. There were a couple of problems over the Easter period, the coin operating locks have not yet been delivered or fitted and due to a communication problem between the builders and the contract cleaners, a deep clean was not carried which resulted in some complaints. The deep cleaning has now been carried out. The coin operated locks are due to be delivered by 12 th May and fitted on 15 th May 2017. The toilets are now open between 8.00 a.m. 6.00 p.m. 2 toilet roll holders have been broken. There will have to be regular electrical testing and testing for Legionella, in the future but these tests are satisfactory at present. D Challoner is working with Dunster Tourism Forum to request for contributions from NON resident business owners towards the Dunster Steep Toilets. All resident business owners have contributed via the increase in the precept for 2017 2018 year. D Challoner will accompany the councillors collecting the money, which is due to start week commencing 15 th May 2017. The Clerk has confirmed that the cash can be paid in to the Post Office, although a deposit card will be needed from Nat West Bank to do this. C Oliver will speak to the Postmistress in Dunster Post Office. Dunster Tourism Forum will be organising a map and information board to be displayed at Dunster Steep Toilets. D Challoner has asked Councillors to consider what charges would be appropriate for businesses to advertise. ENP will need to be consulted regarding potential planning consent. DPC anticipates that all businesses need to be involved, not just members of the Dunster Tourism Forum. Further discussions will be needed regarding invoicing businesses to ensure the money is paid directly to DPC. Clerk to check whether Vat will be applicable as it is advertising. Marsh Farm Development To date H Vittery, Highways Dept has not responded to D Challoner s emails regarding the cycle path. D Challoner will continue to chase for a reply. Bremis Road Telephone Box To date DPC has not heard anything from BT. Clerk to follow up with BT Unsafe tree in Playing Field This is highly likely to be the responsibility of DPC. K Sully and A Vicary will inspect the tree to determine the next course of action and report back at the next meeting Yew Trees in Cemetery A Vicary will contact C Sully for a start date for the first phase of the works to be carried out. West Close Yellow Lines This will be ongoing until possibly July/ August 2017 as the correct procedures have had to be started again. Defibrillator G Ebbern has been communicating with the Luttrell Arms and they have offered 3 possible locations, subject to approval from the Owner and ENP. Funding from the British Heart Foundation has now closed, but there are other initiatives planned and G Ebbern will monitor when future funding becomes available. Caravans on old A39 Martyn Ford (Somerset Enforcement Officer) has visited site and spoken to both caravan owners and requested that they relocate. He found the site to be tidy and clean with no evidence of human waste. He stated that the police and area highways team have not raised any concerns about the occupation apart from (and I think this would apply to all involved) not wanting it to expand. The occupants have both indicated that they are not associated with each other and both have said that they wish to remain local and that if they are forced to move from here they will go somewhere nearby. He felt at present there is insufficient evidence to start legal proceedings. However, a parishioner has made a complaint to DPC, regarding the state and smell from one of the
caravans. DPC will monitor the situation and Cllr Pilkington will endeavour to see if WSDC can take more of an involvement. Adoption of The Land at The Ball K Sully has now completed all the paperwork required by the solicitor and it has now been forwarded to The Land Registry Office. West Street Pavement East side G Lamacraft reported that he will follow this up with SCC Highways Dept as he is still waiting for a response. Packhorse Bridge Flooding Update D Challoner is communicating with the Environment Agency and they are looking to fund the gabions. There has not been a response to date. The shingle clearance, which was planned for March 2017, is still on the Agenda to be carried out. Buttercross Community Orchard In order for the Buttercross Community Orchard to be covered under Dunster Parish Council Insurance, there were several criteria which needed to be met i.e. that guidelines for sub committees are observed, publishing of meetings and Minutes being recorded and passed to DPC and the accounts are fully incorporated within the DPC accounts. Some of these are already being met. A copy of the relevant Insurance pages were passed to D Challoner. The above was unanimously agreed. Matter closed Land for Extension to the Pavillion Correspondence from P Webber has been received regarding proposed plans for an extension to the pavilion, should a grant be confirmed from Sport England. C Oliver has the draft details and plans and DPC will await further details from DAVSCA, should they be successful in obtaining a grant to carry out the works. Matter closed Standpipe Allotments The new standpipe has been installed and replacement posts have also been put in at the existing taps. These are 2 separate jobs and the cost will be under 250.00 per job, which the Chairman has sanctioned. K Sully has worked voluntarily to keep the costs down. An enquiry was received by a Parishioner requesting the vacant plot. She was under the impression that Parishioners had precedence over anybody from outside the Parish of Dunster. It was confirmed, that this is only the case if a Parishioner is already on the waiting list. There are currently 2 people on the waiting list and K Sully will contact the person next on the list regarding the vacant plot. R Blundell and allotment holders thanked DPC for the new standpipe. Retail Unit Dunster Steep Toilets 2 enquiries have been received from local businesses regarding renting the retail unit, although one of these parties withdrew their interest at the meeting. D Challoner confirmed that the original quotation received from G A Sully ( 27,400) included the refurbishment of the retail unit. DPC will need to investigate planning consent and how the unit will be fitted out. Potentially, discussion could involve a prospective lessee carrying out the planning and conversion themselves, with a reduced rent etc. ENP, originally, had no objections to a retail unit being constructed within part of the Steep Toilets building. The sub committee will set up a meeting as soon as possible to move the project forward and also arrange a meeting with ENP. Mill Lane A meeting between NT, ENP and Councillors took place on 5 th May 2017. The length of road which is causing the issue is between the end of the tarmacked section to the wooden gates at The Mill. This is currently a mix of old cobbles and stone and although the potholes have recently been filled in by SCC, they are already deteriorating. It has been suggested that the road is tarmacked up the 1 st bungalow and
then a surface of rolled stone is laid to The Mill. Drainage will need to be considered, to ensure there is no damage from excess water. The National Trust are seeking support from DPC to continue with the above plans. Clerk to write to D Peake at SCC to support the NT with their plans. Accounts Report The Clerk has prepared the Audit figures for 2016 2017 and were circulated to all Councillors. These were agreed as correct and signed by D Challoner. C Oliver raised a query regarding the artificial matting value of 9,000 which was gifted to DAVSCA. The matting was 3,000 and the artificial wicket was 9,000. It is the wording of artificial matting which appears to be confusing, but the Clerk has reported on what was passed to her from 15 16 figures. The correct wording is Artificial Wicket. April expenditure and income figures were circulated, plus the new budget spreadsheet for 17 18 year. The April bank statement had not been received before the meeting, so the bank balance will be circulated as soon as possible. Income Precept 13500.00 Sustainability Grant Dunster Toilets 8000.00 Allotment rent 709.00 Cemetery 140.00 Expenditure D Challoner Re imbursement for Toilets 72.64 Marsh Playing Field Grant 300.00 Packhorse Playing Field Grant 200.00 Memorial Hall Grant 300.00 Doll's Museum Grant 200.00 Girl Guiding Ass Grant 100.00 Tithe Barn Grant 300.00 Football Club Grant 150.00 D Challoner Re imbursement of key purchased 30.00 GA Sully Interim payment D Steep Toilets 9600.00 D Stanyon Clerks Salary 556.85 A cheque has been written to Mrs S Sully for a refund of interment fees, due to an error made by DPC regarding allocation of a grave space 10 years ago. The refund was proposed by G Ebbern, seconded by C Oliver and was agreed by all. Standing Orders In order for the Buttercross Community Orchard to meet the requirements of the Insurance Company the Standing Orders have been amended to reflect this. The change was unanimously agreed. The Clerk asked for clarification on the contribution of 90.00/ year from SCC for grass cutting. It was explained that A Vicary has the maps of the areas which DPC are responsible for cutting but includes the area around Dunster Steep and the bus shelters. Dunster Parish Council organises this twice a year. A full report has been received from the Internal Auditor, Bryan Howe, and these will be discussed at the next meeting. A copy of the report has been circulated to all councillors. Planning:
14 Butlers Cottage, Dunster Consent for a hanging sign and fascia sign. A vote was taken regarding the Fascia sign as not all councillors agreed with the proposed plan. 5 voted in favour and 4 against the proposal. There were no objections to the hanging sign. Correspondence: A letter of thanks from Mrs R Webber, for the grant for Marsh Playing Field was read out. See attached list for other correspondence and circulations received. Items on Report G Witherford raised the question of levelling the graves in the Cemetery (around June 2017) and the associated costs and who would carry this out. This will be raised as an Agenda item in June. A Vicary reported that 2 signs requesting that dogs must be kept on leads at the allotments have disappeared. K Sully will look into this and try and replace them. The ditch in Sea Lane has been cleared. This was carried out voluntarily by K and T Sully and thanks were passed to both for doing this. K Sully asked if the Bremis Road phone box will be considered an asset once DPC has ownership. It will become an asset at the purchase price of 1.00. K Sully raised the question of insurance and responsibility once the phone box has been re sited. The rabbit fence around the allotments and from the top of the path to Grabbist is about to be started. The cost will be 430.00 as K Sully will do a lot of the work voluntarily and this figure will cover materials and machinery hire (where needed). All voted in favour of this. K Sully raised a question to Cllr Lawrence regarding the standard of workmanship of the tarmacking towards Nutcombe Bottom. He stated that the workmanship is very inadequate and asked if the standard of the work was checked. Cllr Lawrence will contact David Peake (SCC). K Sully requested that the Clerk contacts WSDC again, regarding the fly tipping at Croydon Hill. This has been done but no action has been taken by WSDC. Cllr Pilkington will also take this up with WSDC. K Sully will contact P Storey to carry out the twice yearly spraying of weeds around the Village. C Ell reported that the seat at the bottom of Castle Hill has been damaged in a collision. She will let DPC know if it can be repaired, at the next meeting. C Oliver reported that she attended the recent Dunster panel meeting and there were very few reports supplied. Cllr Dewdney spoke at length regarding the support and work being done at Blue Anchor toilets and C Oliver would like to take a full report on the work and success of Dunster Steep Toilets to the next meeting. This will be provided. The light is still on permanently outside the Tithe Barn. Clerk will report this again. An electricity pole is being replaced outside the Tithe Barn and the Village Gardens. There may have to be a road closure possibly in Church Street/Priory Green later in the year. C Oliver has found a spare Exmoor flag, should the existing one need to be replaced next year. D Challoner reported that he had been passed a Village of The Year 2017 competition form from a parishioner. There is a 10,000 prize. C Ell, A Webber and C Oliver will look at this and report back at the next meeting. D Challoner attended a presentation by the National Trust on the extension to Mill Tea Rooms. It is proposed to increase the inside covers by 50 due to the increase in visitors and opening 364 days of the year. The NT has lost income from the Central Office and each site has to increase their own income to make up the shortfall. There is concern from some businesses in the Village but D Challoner pointed out that the castle is a huge draw for visitors visiting both the Castle and also the Village. There appears to be
some incorrect information circulating around the Village and D Challoner has asked that people be corrected with the facts. A planning application will be received in due course, for full discussion at that point. Meeting closed at 9.45 p.m.