ARLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting of Arlington Parish Council held on Tuesday 8 March 2016 at the Tea Rooms, Arlington Court, Arlington at 7:30pm.

1008.  Present:

Cllrs R Kilburn(Chair), Mrs L House(Vice-Chair), B Francis, Ms A Chylak and Mrs S Hill.

In attendance:

2 members of the public, Mr T Squire (Parish Clerk).

1009.  Apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Mrs J Kimberley,N McKernan-Lewis and Cllr R Edgell (DCC).

Cllr Francis, unhappy that Cllr Kilburn remained in the Chair, left the meeting.

1010.  Public Consultation

It was reported that only two parish magazine subscriptions remained to be collected.

Various potholes were reported. Cllr Kilburn reported that he had been advised that these would be repaired in April.

Report from Highways Officer are attached to these minutes, together with Highways Co-ordinator’s Report..

1011.  Declarations of Interest

None.

1012.  Approval of Minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2016 

Min 993. Those on the sub committee were Cllrs Mrs Hill & Mrs House, and Mrs M Grantham.

The amended Minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed as a true record.

1013.  Matters Arising from the meeting

Min. 991.Cllr Kilburn responded to Cllr Mrs Hill’s statement made at the last meeting.

Cllr Kilburn’s statement is attached to these minutes.

Cllr Mrs Hill responded that new councillors had requested a copy of the Standing Orders a number of times, and that only a very old copy could be found. Although the venue of the meetings (in a private house) had been included in the Standing Orders, it had not been legal.

1014.  Highways

It was reported that potholes were getting worse at Arlington and Arlington Beccott.

Concern was raised over the amount of silage wrap and mud on the road. Although the mud was unavoidable in the recent wet weather, the silage wrap made the area look very untidy.

It was agreed to write a letter to all farmers in the parish, not just those thought to be responsible, requesting that the silage wrap be picked up.

Cllr Kilburn declared an interest in the above item.

1015.  Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations

1.Report from the Sub Committee

A discussion took place as to whether the report was from the sub-committee or working party.

Cllr Ms Chylak considered that the important matter was that the event took place, and not to get tied up on the name. this was agreed.

It was reported that Kentisbury and Trentishoe Parish Council was matching this parish council with a donation of £200, but no response had yet been received from East Down.

June 4 or 5 was considered the best day to hold the event.

The next meeting would be on 21 March in Kentisbury Village Hall.

1016.  Planning

No planning applications received.

1017.  Public Consultation on the North Devon Local Plan

The current proposal from NDC on the Local Plan was that the whole area was suitable for wind turbines, although with some restriction on size in sensitive areas.

It was agreed to oppose the proposal, and to request NDC to consider its present landscape character assessment in relation to wind turbine sites. The area should be given the strongest protection against these sites, in order to protect the countryside, the important tourist industry and safeguard employment.

1015.  Correspondence

1.North Devon Record Office. Barnstaple Town Council were appealing for financial assistance from parish councils towards the cost of retaining the Record Office in Barnstaple.

Cllr Mrs Hill proposed to contribute £100 this year, and to review the request when preparing next year’s budged. Seconded by Cllr Mrs Chylak. All in agreement.

2.DALC Highways Conference, 16 March at Exeter Football Club.  Noted.

3.North Devon Council were conducting a Planning Enforcement Review, and were asking parish councils what aspect of planning enforcement should be a priority. it was noted that planning enforcement had not been an issue in Arlington.

4.Clerks & council Direct – January 2016.  Noted

5.Local Government Boundary Commission  - Final recommendations.  Noted.

1016.  Reports

1.County Councillor

None – County Councillor unable to attend.

2.District Councillor

None – District Council not present.

1017.  Finance

1.Payments

1.   Clerk’s wages and expenses      £86.73         Cheque No. 197

The account was agreed for payment.

1018.  Matters Raised by the Chairman.

Cllr Kilburn reported on a dog attack on his farm in recent weeks in which 12 sheep had been killed. A further 16 sheep had subsequently died from shock

1019.  Items for consideration for the next Agenda

Queen’s 90th Birthday Celbrations.

1020.  Date of next meeting

Tuesday 10 May 2016, 7.30pm at the Tea Rooms, Arlington Court. This would be the Annual Parish Council Meeting.

It was agreed to hold the Annual Parish Meeting on a separate evening, and to invite the Fire Officer to speak. Date to be arranged for the end of April, whenever suited the Fire Officer. 

Subsequent meetings would be held on: 12 July;13 September;  8 November

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed.

Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Date . . . . . . . . . . . ..  .. . .

Chairman

Email from Highways Officer received 15 September 2015

Dear Jacky Walters and Robert Kilburn

Thank you for your email.

Trees are dealt with by our Environmental Landscape Management team (ELM), please could you supply them with more details on location i.e. postcode, building reference, junction, bend, landmark etc and details of your concern i.e. overhanging, dead, broken branch etc., so that they may be better placed to investigate and take the appropriate action.  I have supplied a map of Arlington Parish which may help, alternatively you may wish to mark the issues on this map and send back to environmentallandscapemanagement-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.

I have taken photos of the potholes reported at Arlington Beccott as evidence in the hope to secure a bid for funding to carry out works along this road.  I have also put in a bid for funds at the entrance of Arlington Court car park, as this site is smaller I have made a note for next year’s patching list in the possibility of securing funding via the minor patching budget.

I have taken photos of the wall damage to Winford Bridge and passed them to our Bridges Team.

Yours sincerely

MARTIN STODDART

Neighbourhood Highway Officer

Highways & Traffic Management

Devon County Council

Parish Highway Co-odinators Report

January 2016

Parish Lengthsmans Duties

Over the past 2 months problem drains on the A39 and by roads within the parish have been reported to Highways and only those on a Primary Salting Route will receive priority attention .

As DCC no longer send a lengthsman to clear drains and gulleys the TAP fund money for this parish has been collected by LLTC to employ a private lengthsman to clear a limited number of drains within the parish, which have been done in August and December 2015 and another check will be made again soon.

The TAP fund has been replaced by the Community Grant and the Rural Alliance have approached Arlington PC to join with them to apply for any available monies to employ a person to do lengthmans duties throughout the Rural Alliance area

  All the financial side it is understood will be administered by the RA .

THIS FUNDING WILL HAVE TO BE APPLIED FOR ASAP .

Mechanical Water Table Clearance

Water tables between the A 39 and the Old School are gradually being cleared by The Parish Highways Coordinator at NO expense to the parish

(ie free ) , this has already increased the road width by up to 4 feet and is aimed at  making the roads safer to use by everyone .

Several residents have appreciated the improvements , including National Trust staff.

Chairman's Reply to Councillor Hills statement

Every councillor agrees to adhere to the Code of Conduct whilst in office .

At the May meeting Councillor Hill caused myself to attempt to address her conduct whilst interests were being explained . The meeting was adjourned for a short while whilst I attempted to control my panic attack .

Standing orders were available and 37 Churchill Cottages was the designated meeting place .

The email that I had received and considered a threat was from Councillor Francis and is now in the hands of the police .

As Chairman I receive any resignations and as there was NO CLERK NDC were informed to take the necessary action .