The Chairwoman opened the Meeting at 7.30 pm.
2. Declaration of Members’ Interests
Cllr Moss in relation to Wrington Bowls Club.
3. Public Participation
Mr Andrew Tandy outlined a plan by the Bowls Club to build a new clubhouse, to replace the existing ‘portakabin’ type buildings. He explained that the club had been formed in 2000, and now had some 85 members. This has led to a desire to improve the facilities and to provide a clubhouse with changing rooms, toilets, a kitchen, a room where refreshments can be served, and somewhere to play short-mat bowls. The club is keen that the design should include features such as solar panels and rainwater harvesting, although as yet no specific design has been produced. The cost is likely to be between £150,000 and £200,000, which would be raised by the club itself.
Cllr Yamanaka queried whether the planning permission for the existing buildings is permanent – Cllr Glynn confirmed that it was. Cllr Irving referred to the leasing terms, by which the land is leased by Mr Roy Clements to the Parish Council, who in turn lease it to the Bowls Club. The lease has a 21-year term, and this raised the issue of what would happen at the end of this term. Mr Tandy said he was not able to answer this question, but would put the query to other members of the club.
The Chairwoman thanked Mr Tandy for explaining the club’s preliminary plans to the Parish Council. The Council will await further details in due course.
4. The Minutes of the Meeting held on 16th July 2008 were reviewed. It was agreed that when alcohol requests for events at the Memorial Hall are received, the names of those requesting permission should be recorded in the minutes. Under item 11, Open Forum, referring to Affordable Housing, it was agreed to amend the second sentence to ‘… nothing further could be decided until a needs survey has been carried out and completed’. With this amendment, the minutes were signed as a true record.
5. Correspondence
A copy of a letter from Mr David Turner, Director of Development & Environment, NSC, to Dr Liam Fox MP, was read out. This concerned the problems of flooding in Wrington and explained the investigations that are in hand to identify the causes. The letter made reference to storm drains and stated that all had been jetted and cleansed. However, members pointed out that several drains are so badly blocked that they seem to be incapable of being cleared by normal means. Mark McGregor agreed to check the situation with John Inman, Drainage Officer at NSC.
6. Reports
a. Police Report: a copy of the police report had been circulated immediately prior to the meeting. This raised the issue of the yellow lines in Broad Street, and whether they are appropriate or should be reviewed. PC Tacchi is of the opinion that a review would be helpful, and it was therefore agreed that the Highways Working Group would consider how the existing position might be improved. Cllr Dunn Morua described the problems she had experienced on the previous day in reporting to the police an incident in which her car had been badly damaged. This highlighted concerns that other residents may have in similar situations, and it was agreed that the Clerk should contact PC Tacchi about this particular incident, but also to question the system for reporting non-emergency incidents.
b. Clerk’s Report and Financial Report: The Clerk’s report had been circulated previously. The Clerk explained that she was in the process of making enquiries about the recent fire at the industrial estate, and had been in touch with Avon Fire & Rescue, HSE, Trading Standards at NCS, and Mr Barry Burnett. Once more information is available, this will be incorporated in the emergency planning process.
Allotments: the Clerk had obtained details of the rents charged for allotments by neighbouring councils, and it appeared that all charge considerably more than Wrington. Currently the annual rent is £10.00 for a full plot, and £5.00 for a half plot. Cllr Matthews proposed that the fees should be raised to £20.00 and £10.00 respectively, as from 1st April 2009, and this was agreed.
Approval was given for payment of the following accounts:
Prism (office supplies) £103.80
British Telecom (quarterly account) £94.98
S Arrowsmith - village orderly £108.00
Connaught Environmental (dog bins) £56.40
Cottage Garden Services (tree stump removal) £120.00
Clerk’s salary (August) – to be calculated
c. Working Groups
i. Finance – Cllr Matthews reported in the absence of Cllr Gallop that the Finance working group had met on the previous day, to consider a minor change to the figures submitted in the Annual Return. This had been made necessary by a different treatment of the Bowls Club loan. The Annual Return is currently with Mazars, the external auditors.
ii. Highways – Cllr Matthews had circulated a report prior to the meeting. A response to Mr David Turner at NSC on the subject of shared space had also been circulated, and it was agreed that this should be sent. On the GBSTS/Link road issue, Cllr Matthews said that he is now putting together all the information that has been gathered, to provide a report that will be circulated to members. He hopes to complete this by the end of September. His view is that a link with Junction 20 of the M5 is much more likely to be favoured. Cllr Glynn commented that this would also be a better option from a public transport viewpoint.
A date is currently being set up for the next meeting of the group.
iii. Airport – Cllr Matthews reported that the planning application for the terminal extension and car parking is awaited, when the next consultative meeting with BIA management will be set up.
iv. Environment – in the absence of Cllr Bigg, the Clerk said that she understood the survey of local residents affected by flooding is still in progress. Cllr Irving said that there was still some more work to be done on reducing the length of the report on the Parish Plan, and she will be arranging to meet with Cllr Bigg as soon as possible to complete this.
d. District Councillor’s report
A written report had been circulated previously by Cllr Yamanaka. The issue of the 121 bus service was discussed, as it is understood this is currently following a circular route via Havyatt Road to avoid having to turn the bus before returning to Weston-super-Mare. Cllr Yamanaka said that she would like to wait to see if First Bus will re-submit a bid for the route and if this is accepted by NSC, the previous service can be reinstated. If this does not happen, then it would be reasonable to ask for bus stops to be provided along the Havyatt Road section.
7. Emergency Planning
Cllr Thorn said that a date would now be fixed in early September for the first meeting of the working group. Cllr Irving said that she would make reference to this in the Parish Council item for the Wrington Journal.
8. Rights of Way
The Clerk reported that she was having some difficulty in obtaining up to date details of the various rights of way in the parish. The ‘Definitive Map’ dates back to 1956 and copies cannot be provided by NSC because of copyright. However, a survey of public footpaths had been carried out in 1999, and it was hoped that this would provide more useful information. Mark McGregor agreed to look into this.
On the more specific question of registering the narrow footpath between Lawrence Road and School Road as a Right of Way, the Clerk reported that details of how to progress this had been provided by the Rights of Way section at NSC, and this will now be put in hand.
9. Consultations
a. Draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy
The Clerk reported that the Parish Council had been sent details of the changes to the RSS, with an opportunity to comment on these. The whole document is very long (over 1,200 pages), however there was a general feeling that the proposed changes in terms of Green Belt do not go far enough. Cllr Yamanaka suggested re-submitting the comments made on the original consultation exercise, and this was agreed. It was also agreed to ask Cllr Bigg to review the response and advise. The deadline for receipt of comments is 17th October, so there is a little time to consider this.
b. Review of Civil Parish Boundaries
The Clerk read out relevant sections of the consultation document received from NSC. This provides an opportunity to review parish council boundaries, along with the related electoral arrangements, ie. the provision of any parish council wards, and the allocated numbers of parish councillors, and to propose amendments if these are felt to be appropriate. This gave rise to a discussion on the issue of Downside Road residents who fall within Wrington parish boundary, and the difficulty of ensuring representation of the views of these residents. Several attempts have been made to fill the vacancies for this ward on the parish council, but without success. It was agreed that members would give some thought to the question of the parish boundary prior to the next meeting. The deadline for comments is 24th September.
c. South Bristol Urban Extension
The question of whether an Environmental Impact Assessment was required for this was discussed. Cllr Glynn said he was sure an EIA would be required, and it was agreed to comment to this effect. Cllr Glynn will review the documentation and comment accordingly.
d. North Somerset PCT – ‘Making North Somerset Healthier’
A request for comments on the changes to the above document, first published in November 2007, had been received from North Somerset PCT. Cllr Thorn had reviewed the document, and Cllr Bigg had also indicated that she would be interested in submitting comments, although she was not able to attend the meeting. It was felt that the objective of transferring more procedures from a hospital setting to primary care would be beneficial in that more resources would be required for GP’s to accommodate this. It was agreed to comment along the lines suggest by Cllr Thorn. It was noted that the deadline for comments was very short – 31st August.
10. Open Forum
Cllr Dunn Morua raised an issue in relation to New Earth Solutions, who are proposing to install a composting facility at Brockley Combe. She had obtained information about an investigation into the relationship between landfill operators and local government. Some of the people involved in this investigation appear to have links with NES, and she felt there may be some concerns about this. It was agreed to write to Dr Liam Fox MP for information on the outcome of this investigation.
There being no other business the meeting was declared closed at 9.45 pm.
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