November Minutes

    The most recent Minutes are belo

The most recent minutes are below. For last year's and previous year's minutes please use the link at the foot of the page or refer to the annual collection of minutes in the collected pdf files section on the Parish Council webpage. Please note that minutes are published as DRAFT minutes and will be approved at the next meeting of the parish council. The minutes for an extraordinary meeting will also be posted to this page. Such a meeting could be held prior to an ordinary meeting or after such a meeting.

Go to last year(s)? 
PC minutes Nov 2016

SOUTHWICK PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman – Cllr. K Noble

Minutes of the meeting of Southwick Parish Council held in the Village Hall, Southwick at 7.30pm on Tuesday 15 November 2016

Present:

Cllrs. K Noble (Chairman), S Carey, A Doel, D Jackson, S Jones, G Masters, F Morland, E Pomeroy, D West.  L Karas (Clerk), Wiltshire Council (WC) Cllr. H Prickett and PCSO E Porter also attended. There were some 30 members of the public present initially.

  1. Welcome and Introductions.

The Chairman opened the Parish Council (PC) meeting and welcomed everyone.

Open Forum.

The Chairman noted the presence of residents who had given up their time to attend the meeting. The PC unanimously resolved to hold an Open Forum. The Chairman reminded everyone it would be held from 7.30 to 745pm and questions would be limited to 3 minutes per person and that the Clerk would monitor the time.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting to begin the Open Forum and re-opened the PC meeting at approx. 7.45pm.

Request for a Part 2 Confidential Item.

The Chairman ask the PC, in view of the adverse information which is openly circulating across the internet, to consider an Agenda item at the next meeting where the PC could discuss drawing up a clear, written statement to Parishioners explaining  how the PC is working to protect the Parish from non-sustainable developments. Due to its nature, it should be treated as a Part 2 Confidential item. Cllr. Jackson proposed such a motion, seconded by Cllr. Doel and the PC resolved, by a majority vote, to add such an item to the next Agenda.

  1. Apologies.

The Clerk and Chairman both stated they had received no apologies for absence.

  1. Declaration of Interests.

The Chairman declared a non-pecuniary interest in the Village Hall to be discussed under Agenda items 8 b and c. The Chairman ask councillors if they wished to declare any interests bearing in mind the content of today’s Agenda. No other interests were declared.

  1. Minutes of the PC Meetings held on 18 October and 1 November 2016.

Cllr. Carey proposed that the minutes be approved and spoke in favour of the accuracy of our minutes and his disappointment about the number of errors  contained in the recent SOS Facebook report of the recent Extraordinary Meeting. The PC resolved that the minutes of 18 October meeting and 1 November 2016 were a true and accurate record and the Chairman signed the minutes.

  1. Community Policing Team (CPT).
  1. Local Crimes.

The Chairman invited PCSO Ellie Porter to present the CPT report. PCSO Porter read through the Local Crimes section of the report as indicated below (in italics):

Burglaries

11/10, Fleur-de-Lys Drive - Known suspects have caused damage to the back door of the reporting person’s home by unknown means.

20/10-30/10, Wesley Lane - IP's dwelling has been entered and searched by unknown suspects via the cat flap; several items stolen from within.

Criminal damage

11/10, Frome Road - Deep scratches made to both passenger side panels of a parked vehicle. Suspect is not known but cameras are being considered as this has happened more than once historically.

Public Order offences

21/10, Orchard Drive - Reporting person saying that he and his son have been verbally abused and shouted at outside their home by an unknown suspect who has made them feel very distressed and upset.

Vehicle crimes/ RTCs

22/10, Southwick Road - RP was on his motorbike coming into a 30mph speed limit, the vehicle in front slowed right down, the RP went to overtake and the vehicle swerved right out and the RP was almost knocked off his motorbike.

27/10, Chantry Gardens - Unknown suspect has used an unknown implement in an attempt to gain entry to the RP's vehicle. The rubber seals around the edges of the passenger side door have been damaged by this attempt.

01/11, Bradley Road - 3 vehicle RTC; no injuries and all parties happy to deal with via insurance.

Other

23/10, Chantry Gardens - Two young boys became aware of a small white van driving slowly behind them. The van stopped in an alley way and the male approached them. The boys ran and cycled off.

  1. Horses in the Country Park.

PCSO Porter reported that she had been working closely with a group who were installing re-enforced hedges in order to stop horses escaping into the Country Park and would continue to monitor its success.

  1. Non-apprehension of Offenders.

PCSO Porter reported that some statistics relating to the success rate of offender identification for the total Trowbridge Area (which included Southwick) had been made available to the Clerk by PC Hough, but as yet he was unable to drill down to just Southwick statistics. The Clerk commented that other parishes were receiving statistics which related only to their Parish. PCSO Porter agreed to investigate this further with PC Hough.

  1. Abandoned car in Village car park.

PCSO Porter reported that the abandoned car had now been removed by the Police. Wiltshire Cllr. Prickett stated he was surprised at how quickly it had been removed once he had reported it some 2 days before it was removed, but Cllr. Pomery pointed out that it had been reported to the CPT many times previously and no action had been taken.

  1. Any other CPT Questions.

The Chairman asked if any councillor wished to ask PCSO Porter further questions. Cllr. Carey stated that, in his view, the parishioners present should also be able to ask PCSO Porter questions so he raised a motion for a temporary adjournment and the PC resolved to allow such an adjournment. The Chairman adjourned the PC meeting for a short time after which she resumed the PC meeting.

  1. Wiltshire Council Report.
  1. Missing Bus Timetable.

Cllr. Prickett reported that a Parishioner had notified him that, at a bus stop near Hogginton lane and Frome Road, the bus timetable was missing because someone had vandalised the fittings.

  1. Request for Bus Shelter.

Cllr Prickett was not aware of the detail behind the request for a Bus Shelter near Chantry Gardens and he requested more details and the Clerk agreed to provide this to him.

  1. SHLAA and Housing Site Allocation Plan.

Cllr Prickett stated that he had been asking questions about the Trowbridge Area SHLAA and the associated Housing Site Allocation Plan. He had been advised that the list of possible SHLAA locations was closing in mid-December and being reported on in mid- January. He had been advised that as the Trowbridge Area Housing requirement had been fully met, it was likely that Wiltshire Council would declare that there should be no development in Southwick and that the Southwick SHLAA would be discarded.

  1. Solar Farm Development Traffic.

Cllr Prickett reported that there had been complaints about heavy vehicles coming through Southwick heading to and from the solar farm being installed by Solafields. Cllr. Noble advised Cllr. Prickett that the Solafields Traffic Management Plan had been received by all households. It had been a condition by Wiltshire Council that there should be no traffic through the village during the installation of this project and Cllr. Prickett urged Parishioners to report to him any vehicle registration numbers and dates and times of offending vehicles.

e. Heavy traffic on Wynsome Street.

Cllr Prickett reported on the discussions he had with the Highways Department regarding the heavy traffic on Wynsome Street, and he considered that there was little chance of changing the solutions proposed in the Atkins report. (See also 1320c below.)

The Chairman thanked Cllr. Prickett for his report.

  1. Highways/Environment.

a. Parking at Arnold Corner.

The Clerk presented his findings after researching the history concerning car parking at Arnold Noad Corner, which had been distributed to all councillors on 8 November 2016. Following a general discussion as to whether a further letter to Selwood Housing would be effective, and that the only solution might be for the residents to find a way to fund the project themselves, no further actions were discussed.

b. Missing Street Light.

Cllr Morland stated that the ‘missing’ street light at Arnold Noad Corner had been implemented as a Wiltshire Council facility and that it should be Wiltshire Council who replaces it. Cllr. Prickett agreed to take the matter further within Wiltshire Council.

c. Heavy traffic on Wynsome Street.

The Clerk read out the email that the previous Clerk had received on 10 November 2016 from Laura Gosling, the Senior Transport Planner at Wiltshire Council. Cllr. Morland stated he was very disappointed at the conclusions reached by the Atkins report and that a C road should not be treated as if it was an A or B road. The situation had been exacerbated by weight restrictions being imposed on other links which could have been used. Cllr. Prickett stated he had raised the issue with the Highways department and their view was that they were maintaining this C road to the standards of an A road. The Highways department recognized that work needed to be done on a section of Wynsome Street as the traffic was “bashing up the surface” but they were also aware that two utilities were about to do work which needed part of Wynsome Street to be dug up in places. They saw no advantage in doing the repair work now, only to have it dug up again shortly, so their plan was to do road repairs after the two utilities had finished their work. No further actions were discussed.

d. Request for Bus Shelter.

Cllr. Morland pointed out that bus shelters were usually provided where the service starts and finishes, and that the need for other shelters was determined by usage. He pointed out that if there were a reasonable number of residents using that bus it might be appropriate to apply for funding via the Trowbridge Area Board grants. Following a further short discussion the Chairman stated that she would look into the matter. Cllr. Prickett noted that at the last Trowbridge Area Board meeting there had not been a single representative from any Parish Council and that the meeting was dominated by Trowbridge Councillors. He stressed that if the PC wanted to have an appropriate influence, the PC would need to send representatives more frequently to such meetings.

e. PC Representation at the Operational Flood Working Group.

Following a discussion as to who might be an appropriate person to represent the PC at such meetings, Cllr. Carey proposed that Mrs. Johnson, who originally raised the issue, should be asked to act on the PC’s behalf. There followed some discussion as to how effective any representation would be because of the Group’s terms of reference. Nevertheless, the PC resolved, by a majority, to ask Mrs. Johnson, if you would be prepared to attend the next meeting on behalf of the PC and report back on any progress.

  1. Other Items of Concern.

Community Area Transport Group issue.

Cllr. Noble reported that a lady parishioner lady had nearly been knocked down by an HGV mounting the pavement near the roundabout at St. Thomas’s Church/Wynsome Street. There was some discussion about the kerb being flattened and broken due to the heavy vehicles mounting the pavement when turning the corner so that bollards or heavy duty kerb stones should be installed. The PC resolved to raise this issue at the next Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting.

Clearance of Lambrok Stream.

Cllr. Prickett had noticed a problem with a report about clearing the vegetation in Lambrok stream near to Wynsome Street. He asked for further details which the Clerk agreed to provide.

  1. Finance

a. Clerk’s Report.

The Clerk had provided copies of the provisional Financial Statement for October 2016 to councillors at the start of the meeting (attached to these Minutes). He stated that he had been unable to reconcile the payments from the account because Lloyds Bank had not yet implemented the charge over mandate provided to them on 12 October November by the previous Clerk (Roger Coleman). Nevertheless, he had been able to reconcile the receipts because the Bank statement for that had arrived the previous day (14 October). The VAT refund of £1565.12 had been paid into the account and the overall breakdown, given below, was more or less the same as last month:

Parish Council Funds                                                  £27,186.42

Solar Farm Community Funds                                   £19,993.00

Playing Field Management Committee Funds           £  6,478.65

The Clerk stated he would update this provisional statement as soon as he received the payments Bank Statement.

b. Solar Farm grant payments

A discussion followed as to the process the PC should adopt to enable a proper audit trail for grant money paid out. The Clerk suggested that initially quotations would be provided to the PC along with a short summary, if necessary, describing the work to be done. This would be examined and approved, as appropriate, the work/purchases would be carried out, invoices on completion would be provided to the PC for examination and approval and then the cheques made out to the supplier in the normal way by the PC and sent to the supplier. In cases where some upfront payment was necessary, this again would be considered and agreed, as appropriate in the normal way by the PC and paid as necessary by the PC. Following a short discussion, during which it was noted that the PC would require all quotations and invoices to name Southwick Parish Council as the purchaser and addressed to The Clerk, the PC resolved to accept this as the process to be adopted.

 c. Village Hall Improvement Grant.

Taking account of the process described in para. b above, the PC resolved to handle the Village Hall improvement grant in exactly the same way.

d. Solarfields Solar Farm grants.

Following some discussion as to how the PC arrived at not being the custodian and authorising body of grant money from Solarfields, the PC noted that, in future, it would be more aware of any such agreements which prevented the PC from managing the allocation of grants. The Clerk was requested to send the PC any information he had received from the previous Clerk relating to this matter.

e. Payments.

The PC resolved to make the payments shown under ‘Accounts due for payment’ in the attached provisional financial statement.

  1. Planning

a.  Extant applications.

The Clerk stated that there was nothing further to report on the extant planning applications which were included in the Agenda.

b. New Applications.

The Clerk stated there were no planning applications received up to 15 November  2016.

c.  Handling of new Applications

As there were no new applications there was nothing to discuss.

d. Relationship with Save Our Southwick (SOS) group

Cllr. Carey introduced the discussion by enumerating a number of possible approaches which might be adopted. His preferred option was for SOS to provide a short written monthly report to the Parish Council expressing what it was that SOS wanted the Parish Council to do.  Cllr. Morland went through a similar list of possible approaches. Following further PC discussion, the PC resolved, by a majority vote, to ask the SOS group to provide a written monthly report and to include a list of actions they wanted the PC to consider.

  1. Other planning related matters.

Cllr. Morland discussed his concern about the imminent Housing Site Allocation Plan which was going to be debated by Wiltshire Council next month and he was not confident that the Southwick SHLAA would be discarded, as Cllr. Prickett had suggested, and it was important that Wiltshire Council confirmed a rational 5 year Housing Allocation plan at the earliest opportunity.

  1. Website.

Following some discussion about the positioning and format of the link to the Save our Southwick web site on the Village web site, the PC resolved that Cllr. Carey should review the link and discuss, if necessary, any required changes with the webmaster.

  1. Members Reports.

a.  Parish Steward

Cllr West reported that from the Public House to the Old School House on Frome Road, a number of kerbs and paths needed to be cleared of leaves and debris. The Chairman agreed to add this onto the Parish Stewards work list.

  1. Community Matters in Trowbridge.

Following a discussion about the likely effectiveness of this meeting, the PC resolved that Cllrs. Noble and West should attend to represent Southwick Parish Council.

  1. Post Office in the Village Hall.

Cllr. Jackson noted that the post office no longer appears to attend the village hall to provide a service to nearby Parishioners. Cllr. Noble stated that the Village Hall Management Committee was already looking into it.

  1. Clerk’s Report.
  1. Items brought to the attention of the PC.

Auditor’s Recommendation.

The Clerk drew councillors’ attention to a letter from the Internal Auditor dated 27 April 2016 which had been given to him by the previous Clerk. The Auditor recommended changes to the accounts, particularly for managing the Playing Field component. The Clerk requested an item on next month’s Agenda in which he would present a proposal for implementing the Auditor’s recommendation and for the PC to consider. The PC resolved to add this as an Agenda item.

Email Delivery of Agendas.

The Clerk drew councillors’ attention to the updated ruling which now allowed Agendas to be delivered to a councillor by email provided that councillor gave his/her consent. Following a discussion, the PC resolved that the existing practice of delivery to all councillors a paper copy of a forthcoming meeting Agenda along with a paper copy of the last meeting’s Chairman’s approved Draft Minutes should continue, even if some councillors also wished to receive copies of these by email.

  1. Date of Next meeting.

The PC noted the date of the next Ordinary PC meeting: 20 December 2016 at 7.30pm.

The Chairman closed the meeting at approx. 9.45pm.

Chairman

Southwick Parish Council

 

ACTION LIST – Meeting 15 November 2016

Action 5                       Action 1                       Clerk

Min 1301a                   Min 1314                     To include a Part 2 item on next month’s Agenda.

Action 2                       PCSO Porter

Min 1318c                   To discuss with PC Hough provision of statistics relating only to Southwick.

Action 3                       Clerk

Min 1319b                   To provide Cllr. Prickett with more details about the request for a bus shelter.

Action 4                       Cllr. Prickett

Min 1320b                   To further investigate the provision of the ‘missing light’ within Wiltshire Council.

Action 5                       Clerk

Min 1320e                   To write to Mrs. Johnson to see if she was willing to attend the next Operational Flood Working Group and report back to the PC at its next meeting.

Action 6                       CATG Member

Min 1320f                    To raise the issue of broken kerbs at St. Thomas’s Church/Wynsome St. roundabout.

Action 7                       Clerk

Min1320f                     To provide Cllr. Prickett with details re. clearing vegetation in Lambrok stream.

Action 8                       Clerk

Min 1321b                   To advise successful grant applicants of the process to be adopted for handling grant

payments.

Action 9                       Clerk

Min 1321e                   To make the payments shown under ‘Account due for payment’.

Action 10                     Clerk

Min 1322d                   To ask the SOS group to provide a written monthly report and to include a list of

actions they wanted the PC to consider.

Action 11                     Cllr. Carey

Min 1323                     To review the SOS link on the Village web site and discuss, if necessary, any

required changes with the webmaster.

Action 12                     Cllr. Noble

Min 1324a                   To ask the Parish Steward to clear leaves and debris from footpaths between the

Public House and the Old School House on Frome Road.

Action 13                     Cllrs. Noble & West

Min 1324b                   To attend the next meeting of Community Matters

Action 14                     Clerk

Min 1325a                   To include an item on next month’s Agenda in which the Clerk would present a

proposal for implementing the Auditor’s recommendations.

Action 15                     Clerk

Min 1325a                   To continue the existing practice of delivering to all councillors a paper copy of a

forthcoming meeting Agenda along with a paper copy of the last meeting’s

Chairman’s approved Draft Minutes.

Details of the Actions are contained in the minutes.

Southwick Parish Council - Financial Statement for October 2016

   

N.B. Now reconciled with current account Bank Statement received 17/11/2016

 

Business Account (A/C 317648) Balance as at 30 September 2016 (11 Oct on statement)

£2,228.71

           

RECEIPTS

         
 

Transfer from A/C 07005390 (17 Oct)

 

£2,500.00

   
     

TOTAL

 

£2,500.00

PAYMENTS

       
           

Standing Orders

       
 

R P Coleman (Oct. Final Salary) - Paid 31/10/16 - £307.83

 

£307.83

         

£307.83

           

Cheques presented

   

VAT incl

 

1437

Clerk's Expenses (Sep & Oct) & Back Pay

 

£84.92

   

1438

New Clerk's Expenses & Salary October

 

£315.81

   

1439

HMRC PAYE Month 6

 

£126.00

   

1441

M West Caretaking(10/9/15-27/7/16)

 

£317.50

   

1442

Doveton Press Inv 389460

 

£280.00

   

1443

XYZ Web Ltd

 

£12.50

   

1444

WJ Fox Village News Honorarium

 

£50.00

   

1445

Clerk's LCA Book 10th Ed.

 

£96.00

   
 

TOTALS

 

£1,282.73

£0.00

£1,282.73

           

Late Presented Cheques

       
           
 

TOTAL

 

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

           

Unpresented Cheques

       

1440

Greenacres Inv 675

 

£282.68

£47.11

 
 

TOTAL

 

£282.68

£47.11

£282.68

           

Balance at 31 October 2016 (4 Nov on statement)

     

£3,138.15

           

Accounts due for payment - November 2016

   

VAT Incl.

 

1446

Clerk (LK) Expenses  - October

 

£39.54

   

1446

Clerk (LK) Salary - November

 

£315.81

   

1451

Clerk (LK) HMRC PAYE Mth 7

 

£126.00

   

1451

Clerk (LK) HMRC PAYE Mth 8

 

£63.20

   

1447

PA Slade (Iron Slats) INV 26

 

£144.00

£24.00

 

1448

JT Jackson (Hedge Cutting) INV 180

 

£108.00

£18.00

 

1449

Raye Johnson (Plants)

 

£27.90

   

1450

Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal

 

£20.00

   
 

TOTAL

 

£844.45

£42.00

 
           

Business 30 Day Account (A/C 7005390) Balance at 30 September 2016 (5 Oct on statement)

 
       

£51,695.24

 
           

RECEIPTS

         
 

SUN Adverts (ref 500081)

   

£222.00

 
 

R P Coleman HMRC PAYE Month 6 (final)

   

£126.00

 
 

Interest

   

£2.07

 
 

HMRC VAT Refund

   

£1,565.12

 
     

TOTAL

£1,915.19

£53,610.43

           

PAYMENTS

       
 

Transfer to A/C 00317648 (17 Oct)

   

£2,500.00

 
     

TOTAL

£2,500.00

 
           

Balance at 31 October 2016 (2 Nov on statement)

     

£51,110.43

           

Total funds held by Southwick Parish Council as at 31 October 2016

 

£54,248.58

   

PROV = Provisional as reported at 15 Nov mtg

 

Current Status of Funds

 

LAST MONTH

THIS MONTH

PROV

 

Parish Council Funds

 

£27,452.30

£27,776.93

£27,186.42

 

Solar Farm Community Funds

 

£19,993.00

£19,993.00

£19,993.00

 

Playing Field Management Committee Funds

 

£6,478.65

£6,478.65

£6,478.65

 

(£7959.43 spent to Date)

       
 

TOTAL

 

£53,923.95

£54,248.58

£53,658.07

           

Southwick Parish Council - Mr L Karas

       
           
Count of comments: 0
Posted on 21 Nov 2016 by geoff edwards

Name: Remember me
E-mail: (optional)
Smile:smile wink wassat tongue laughing sad angry crying pacman 
Captcha
Powered by CuteNews