In attendance: Philippa Penney (Parish Liaison Officer, NSC), John Adams, George Lankester and PC Lloyd Nethercott

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1. To receive apologies from Members for non-attendance.

Apologies were received from Cllr Yamanaka (holiday).

2. To receive Members’ declarations of interests on known agenda matters and any amendments to the register of interests.

Cllr Howells in relation to her role as Secretary to the Wrington Sports and Social Cub Committee.

3. To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held 17th July 2013

The minutes were approved and signed as a true record.

4. To adjourn the meeting for Public Participation:

John Adams addressed the Council about planning application 13/P/1560/F, which concerns a proposal to erect a wind turbine with an overall height of 34.2m (24.6m to hub height with 9.6m blade radius). This proposed development site is located in Butcombe parish but, due to its proximity to the parish boundary, it will impact on both Butcombe and Wrington parish residents. Mr Adams reported that an action group of local residents had been formed and he commented on their grounds for opposing this wind turbine development, which were: a) misrepresentation on the application form with regard to the height and lack of local economic benefit b) the proposal conflicts with environmental and Green Belt policy guidelines c) if approved it would set a precedent for other large wind turbines to be erected in the area and d) NSC does not currently have a related policy in place relating to wind turbines.

The Chairman thanked Mr Adams for attending the meeting and for explaining the residents’ concerns. While he advised that the Planning Committee had already met to consider this application, Mr Adams was assured that his concerns had been raised in the discussion and proposed response.

5. To receive a report from the Police representative.

No police report had been received but PC Nethercott attended and provided an update of current local policing issues. There had been ten recorded incidents in the village over the last month including thefts from motor vehicles.

On another issue, PC Nethercott offered to draft a leaflet to distribute to local shops and residences concerning inconsiderate and obstructive parking in the centre of the village, particularly around the junction of High St and School Rd. This is in response to local residents’ complaints.

6. To note items of correspondence received and consider any resulting actions (see related agenda items below)

· Email from the Rural Services Network, 14th August, requesting Council support for the Rural Fair Share Campaign and the petition previously highlighted by NSC and to be submitted to the House of Commons, by 30th September.

Resolved: The Council to support the petition and respond as requested.

· Email from the Countryside Alliance Awards, 19 August, concerning the ninth ‘Rural Oscars’ inviting nominations for awards to rural businesses.

It was agreed to nominate Amors under the village shop category.

· Letter from National Grid concerning the Hinckley Point C connection project and details of the next Community Forum meeting to be held at 7pm on 24th September at the Webbington Hotel, Loxton. Noted.

· Letter received from the Local Government Boundary Commission dated 10th September concerning the draft recommendations for revised North Somerset Council ward boundaries. See Consultations, agenda item 15 below.

Resolved: It was agreed that Councillors would now further assess the draft recommendations and reconsider the options at the October Council meeting.

7. To receive the Clerk’s report.

This was received.

Dog mess on the Recreation Field- It was resolved that the Council would erect more prominent signage at both entrances to the Recreation Field highlighting its use as a play and recreation area and requesting that dog owners should keep their dogs on leads and remove any dog mess.

8. To receive the Finance Report, including payments recommended for approval.
Copies of reports provided separately.

Approval for the following payments is sought:

Memorial Hall – Grant, 2nd instalment 2013/14 £4,000.00
Grant Thornton UK LLP – External audit 2012/13 £480.00
Getmapping Plc (Parish On Line) – annual subscription 23.09.13 to 23.09.14 £36.00
Rialtas Business Solutions Ltd (RBS) –
Annual fee for Omega accountancy software support £270.00
North Somerset Council – Dog Bin emptying, August £124.80
Society of Local Council Clerks – Clerk’s annual membership £127.00
Greenslade Taylor Hunt –Rent for the Glebe Field, 2nd quarter £100.00
Prism – photocopier paper £51.00
HMRC – PAYE Tax & NI, 2nd quarter 2013/14 – to be calculated
North Somerset Council – Dog Bin emptying, July (paid) £124.80
Jayne Hitchborn – cleaning of Broad Street toilets, July and cleaning materials (paid) £167.05
City Web Design – initial payment for web site design (paid) £200.00
Gavin Hunt - new playbark and edging for the maxi-play unit and
Climbing trees in Church walk play area (paid in two instalments) £1,120.00
NALC – ‘Putting Communities First’ conference 19th September, for Cllr Glynn (paid) £132.00
Jayne Hitchborn – cleaning of Broad Street toilets, August (paid) £200.00
Village Orderly’s salary August (paid) and September (to be calculated)
Clerk’s salary - August (paid) and September (to be calculated)
Assistant Clerk’s salary - August (paid) and September (to be calculated)
Assistant Clerk – reimbursement for purchases made:-
Digital projector bulb (£84.95) and sand bags (£54.00) (paid) £138.95
Note: Payments include VAT where applicable.

Resolved: To approve the payments as proposed. Cllr Taylor proposed approval and Cllr Rawlins seconded the motion.

9. To receive and consider reports from:

a. District Councillor, Cllr Yamanaka
This was received.

b. WVMP report, Cllr Robinson.
Cllr Robinson reported on a meeting that took place on 17th September 2013, chaired by HOSP and attended by WVMP and residents. Cllr Robinson informed Councillors that the representative from HOSP had stated that the Wrington branch surgery could not be closed as this would be a breach of contract by WVMP. A further meeting is to be arranged for December with an update expected on progress with improvements to the Wrington branch surgery.

c. Sports & Social Club, Cllr Howells.
No report had been received.

d. Twinning Association, Cllr Rawlins
No report had been received.

10. To receive and consider reports from Council Working Groups:

a. Finance, Cllr Rawlins. This was received and the meeting minutes noted.
b. Environment, Cllr Bigg. No report had been received.
c. Highways, Cllr Ledbury. No report had been received.

It was agreed to arrange a combined meeting of the Environment and Highways Working Group groups in the near future.

11. To consider and approve the following recommendations from the Finance working group:

a) To agree that in recognition of good service and the terms of their contracts of employment, both the Clerk and Assistant Clerk will be moved up by one scale point on the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) 2013/14 salary scale, with this from SCP31 to SCP32 for the Clerk and from SCP20 to SCP 21 for the Assistant Clerk. These revisions to be effective from April 2013.

This item was deferred for discussion at the end of the meeting and in the absence of the Clerk.

b) To note and agree that Cllrs Bigg and Glynn will attend the NALC ‘Putting Communities First’ conference to be held in Bristol, 19th September, at a cost of £110.00 for each delegate, plus VAT.

Resolved: To agree to this proposal.

c) To agree that the small slide (currently off-site awaiting repair) and the frames for the two swings in the Church Walk Play Area should now be refurbished, with a maximum budget provision of £1000 for the slide and £750 for both the swings.

Resolved: To agree to this expenditure.

12. To discuss a proposal received from the Wrington Tennis Club for a change to the times when the tennis courts at the Recreation Field are made available for public use. To consider what, if any, revisions should be made to the days and times previously agreed for public use.

The Chair reported that the courts had not been booked for public use since the beginning of August and prior to that had only been booked a small number of times in the last year.

Resolved: To leave the public play tennis timetable as it currently stands until next Spring, to advertise the availability of the courts for public use more fully around the village from February and then to re-assess the situation next Spring/Summer.

13. To consider whether the Council might attend the next Central Area Committee Parish Voice, scheduled for Thursday 10th October 2013, to raise the matter of the Council’s Community Right to Bid application relating to the surgery building and site, and to request clarification of the procedural requirements and an explanation of why the Council’s application was refused.

Resolved: To not attend the Central Area Committee Parish Voice at this time but to consider resubmitting a new Right to Bid application for the surgery site and building, subject to this being permitted under the relevant regulations. Cllr Glynn would first check the rules for resubmission. Cllr Howells offered to help write the new bid.

14. Memorial Hall – to consider requests to serve alcohol as follows:

· Wrington Pre-school – to sell alcohol at their Quiz Night to be held 5th October 2013.
Resolved: to agree to the request.

15. Consultations

· Bristol Airport consultation on the implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south. Closing date for comments 31st October (details previously circulated). See: http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/environment/rnav-consultation.aspx

This was noted. Cllr Bigg offered to look through the consultation documents and circulate any relevant comments for possible inclusion in the submission.

· Local Government Boundary Commission consultation on draft revised electoral arrangements for district council ward boundaries, closing date 18 November 2013.

This had been discussed previously under Correspondence.

16. Items raised by Members for information and for possible consideration at the next meeting to be held Wednesday 16th October 2013.

No matters were raised.

11 a) To agree that in recognition of good service and the terms of their contracts of employment, both the Clerk and Assistant Clerk will be moved up by one scale point on the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) 2013/14 salary scale, with this from SCP31 to SCP32 for the Clerk and from SCP20 to SCP 21 for the Assistant Clerk. These revisions to be effective from April 2013.

Resolved: To agree to the proposal, with the Chair to prepare an appropriate notice of variation to the contracts of employment for signature by the Clerk and Assistant Clerk.

There being no other business the meeting was closed at 9.05pm.

Chairman