Cllr Phillips declared an interest in relation to the Dickensian Fair Committee.

3. Public Participation

Tony Moore briefly addressed the Council regarding the Playbuilder Scheme. Consultation has now been carried out by his colleague, Rob Warren, and this will be used to produce proposals for a design. The suggestions for items of equipment included climbing facilities, a tree house, and a trampoline. The budget will be around £23,000. The question of whether the available resources should be concentrated on provision at the Recreation Field, or to consider some facilities at Redhill, was discussed. It was agreed to make enquiries as to the need at Redhill in terms of the number of children who would benefit from such a facility.

Mr Moore asked what level of involvement in the project the Parish Council would wish to have. It was agreed that the Parish Council would be involved in reviewing and approving the proposed design, but the implementation would be the responsibility of NSC.

4. The Minutes of the Meeting held on 26th May were reviewed and it was agreed to make an addition to item 9(c) regarding a letter from Blagdon Parish Council to the PCAA, to clarify that the letter was noted but no further action would be taken. With this amendment, the minutes were signed as a correct record.

5. Correspondence

a. NSC – letter regarding a review of speed limit orders for the A38. The intention is to create one speed limit order for the whole length of the road. The order will be advertised shortly, and at that time the Parish Council will be consulted and will have the opportunity to comment.

The two local residents present commented that they were concerned about the lack of enforcement of speed limits on the A38 in the area of Redhill. They feel that motorcycles are the main problem, and are of the opinion that on some occasions motorcyclists travel at speeds up to 100 mph in the 50 mph limit. It was agreed to contact PC Tacchi to ask for further speed monitoring to be carried out.

b. NSC Tree Officer re: dead tree in South Meadows. It was noted that the tree has now been removed but part of the trunk is still in place. It was agreed to take up the Tree Officer’s suggestion of planting a Sorbus in the location.

Cllr Moss raised the issue of the large beech tree in another of the cul-de-sac areas in South Meadows. She feels this is now very overgrown and requires some work. It was agreed to ask the Tree Officer to look at the tree and make recommendations for action.

Cllr Yamanaka also queried whether there had been any progress in removing the dead ash tree in School Road. Mark MacGregor agreed to make enquiries about this and report back.

c. New recycling arrangements – letter from NSC: it was noted that the new containers had recently been delivered to most properties locally, although the new collections will not start until later in July.

d. National Grid re: Hinkley Point Connection C project: letter and CD with further information and inviting further comments by 23rd July. The Clerk also read out a letter from Yatton Parish Council to National Grid concerning the limited number of options included in the consultation and the lack of independent costings for using an undersea or underground route. The points made were endorsed by the Council and it was agreed to write a letter to National Grid making similar points. Cllr Bigg said she would also make some information available from CPRE.

e. Dickensian Fair Committee: letter of thanks for the Parish Council’s contribution to costs for the Fair held in December 2009.

f. Alcohol requests: letter from Ms Alison Robbie in relation to the annual minibus lunch to be held on 21st August. Permission for consumption of alcohol was agreed, although it was noted that the Memorial Hall will only be used if the weather is wet.

g. Copy of letter from Dundry Parish Council to the PCAA. This was noted.

h. Letter and booklet from NSC with information about the 2011 census. This was noted.

11. Rickyard Road Section 106 agreement: use of funds for sport and recreation facilities

This item was taken next. The potential for using the funds for replacing or upgrading play equipment in the Church Walk play area was discussed. The Clerk reported that the annual safety inspection of the equipment had just taken place, and the inspector had commented that the large multi-play item may need to be stabilised. A full written report is yet to be received. Mark MacGregor suggested seeking advice from Tony Moore in view of the work currently taking place on the Playbuilder Scheme, as he would be well placed to obtain suitable equipment. This was agreed.

6. Reports

a. Police report: PC Tacchi and PCSO Jordan had sent their apologies, but had provided a report containing details of recent incidents which was circulated and reviewed. It was noted that a significant number of incidents were entirely associated with the airport.

b. Clerk’s Report (circulated previously): this was received. It was noted that a delivery charge of around £60 will be payable for the new barrier to be installed at the Brockley Coombe end of the Old Hill bridleway.

Financial Report and accounts for May (circulated previously). These were received and the following accounts for payment were approved:

Connaught – dog bins: May £63.25
Prism – office supplies £76.33
Scott Arrowsmith – village orderly £108.00
Northcliffe Media – job advertisement (paid in advance) £75.44
NALC – ‘Localism in Action’ event – 2 places £211.50
Councillors’ printer ink – reimbursement £10.26
Memorial Hall grant – 1st quarter £3,000.00
Redhill Village Hall grant – annual £3,200.00
Clerks’ salaries - June – to be calculated

c. District Councillor’s Report: Cllr Yamanaka had circulated a report prior to the meeting. It was noted that the new Government is likely to abolish the Regional Spatial Strategy, although no formal announcement has yet been made. Cllr Yamanaka said she had been informed that a site meeting had been arranged at the Plush Hotel to consider their application for expansion. This will be on Friday 9th July at 4.00 pm, and residents and members of the Parish Council will be invited to attend.

d. North East Ward: Cllr Turton was unable to attend the meeting but had indicated there were no significant issues to report at present.

e. Wrington Vale Medical Practice Consultation

Cllr Robinson circulated a report on recent meetings of the Consultation Reference Group and the Project Board. The report on the public consultation would be available at the end of June. Cllr Robinson said that there was a feeling among the lay members of the Board that restrictions on public expenditure might result in the cost of a new single surgery being unaffordable, although it had not been possible to discuss the financial aspects with the PCT members.

Cllr Robinson asked Councillors to contact him if there were any issues they would like him to raise at future Project Board meetings. The next meeting will be on 24th June.

7. Working Groups

a. Finance: no meeting had been held since the last Parish Council meeting.

b. Environment: Cllr Bigg had previously circulated a report of a recent meeting of the Environment Group attended by John Inman, NSC Principal Drainage Engineer. Unfortunately, Kevin Gibbs, who had advised NSC on a bid for funding for flood prevention work, had not been able to attend as originally planned. A further meeting is due to be held later in the week when residents affected by flooding will be in attendance. It appears that Wrington is not very high on any list of places requiring flood prevention measures, and Cllr Bigg is therefore not hopeful that any significant work can be undertaken in the near future.

c. Highways: it was reported that Cllr Ledbury (Convenor of the Highways Group) was currently away so no meeting had taken place.

8. Annual Accounts

The questions to be considered under Section 2 of the Annual Return (the Annual Governance Statement) had been circulated to members prior to the meeting. The Chairwoman read out each question in turn and a positive answer was agreed in each case. The Annual Accounts, circulated at the previous meeting, were formally adopted. The Clerk explained that the Annual Return will now be signed off and submitted to the external auditors – the deadline for receipt is 14th July.

9. Internal Auditor’s report

The internal auditor’s report had been received on the previous day, and copies of this were circulated. The Clerk suggested that discussion of the report and the recommendations contained in it should take place at the next meeting.

10. ALCA: update

Cllr Irving reported on a recent meeting of the North Somerset Group of ALCA, which was also the AGM. She felt that the meeting had not been well run, and was rather dull. If the meetings were more interesting, perhaps with a speaker on a matter of concern to Councils, there might be more enthusiasm for attending. Both Cllr Glynn and Cllr Bigg agreed with these comments, but also drew attention to the influence available via ALCA on other decision-making bodies, such as the North Somerset Partnership and the Airport Transport Forum (Cllr Glynn is the ALCA representative on this).

It was agreed that these opportunities for influence were often overlooked, and that Cllr Irving would write to Cllr Walters, Chair of the North Somerset Group, to suggest ways in which the situation might be improved. Cllr Irving agreed to circulate this in draft form to Cllr Bigg and Cllr Glynn.

12. Playbuilder Scheme

This had been considered earlier in the meeting.

13. Open Forum

a. Cllr Glynn said that he would like to look at the Council’s Publication Scheme under the Freedom of Information Act at some convenient time.

b. Cllr Robinson asked if a Finance Group meeting could be arranged and the Clerk confirmed that a date will be arranged in July.

There being no other business the meeting was declared closed 9.20 pm.