Exmoor Parish Council Meeting

Thursday 27^th September 2018 at the The Exmoor Forest Inn, Simonsbath at 7.30pm

In Attendance: Cllrs B Duke (BD - Chair), T Hawkins (TH), J Chanter (JC), F Schott (FS), County Cllr F Nicholson (FN) and Clerk C Hornsby

Members of the public: 0

18/35                  Apologies for Absence     Parish Cllr A Vigars (AV) and District Cllr S Pugsley (SP)

18/36                  Declarations of Notifiable Interest     None                                                                            

18/37                  Approval of Minutes – It was resolved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 26/07/2018

18/38                  Matters arising from the Minutes    Any points were raised during the meeting

18/39                  Finance Report - Bank reconciliation as of 5th September 2018 £3228.68 with no cheques outstanding                     Received: 15th September: Precept £1017.50 received after bank statement making bank balance £ 4246.18                         Invoices: Clerks pay: 195.00 for July, August and September to be paid 5th October Clerk expenses: fuel for training May 2018 50 miles at 45p a mile £22.50 ( shared with WHPC) The amount was resolved to be paid to the clerk for the date of 5^th Oct 2018 Cheque No: 224 £217.50 To Mrs C Hornsby

The issue of how the clerk was paid at present was raised and it was agreed that it needs to be brought in line with NALC and their pay scale. The amount of pay is fine for the hours of work that the clerk of Exmoor is required to do but it needs to be on an hourly rate rather than a monthly lump sum. The clerk will change the way the pay is calculated for the Oct, Nov and Dec pay which is due to be paid on the 5^th January. This will be presented at the November meeting. Clerk to also organise a contract of employment too.

Quotes for laptop: Any laptop purchased will be shared with Withypool and Hawkridge parish council. Best laptop for our needs must be able to do the following: documents, photos, Inland Revenue software for PAYE, office package and a laptop that withstands travel and also a repair and support package. The clerk had received quotes from PC world and Mr A Howard, Chairman of Withypool had also given the clerk a couple more quotes from Fort House Systems in South Molton. The shared cost was reaching an amount of £500 for each council and this was discussed. The Cllrs agreed that this was too much for Exmoor and that an amount of £300 to £350 was the absolute top they would be prepared to pay but would like it to be less if possible. They understood that the laptop must be suitable for the clerk and councillors to use but suggested another quote could be looked in to at Edward Martin Computer Services in Wiliton. Clerk to inform Withypool & Hawkridge Parish council of the amount and also to search out more quotes.

18/40    Highways      FN spoke about the lack of money at County and that this meant that severe cuts were being proposed. The cuts that would affect the parish are the reduction of precautionary salting routes and the cancelling of salt bags over the area. FN said that SP was looking in to a meeting to discuss a possible way forward as all were very concerned across the area about the problems that the winter weather will cause.

18/41   Planning              6/14/18/104 Land west of Larkbarrow Corner, Exford. Proposed change of use of agricultural land to site one shepherds hut for private leisure use – Retrospective. This came through after the agenda was published. The Cllrs all agreed to fully support the retrospective planning application due to the fact that it has been there for nearly 10 years and there has never been a problem. It has also not done any harm as it is not for business, just for personal use only. Clerk to Email support to ENPA.           

18/42   Parish Maintenance     Clerk to check with AV about the path leading out of the village towards Exford.

18/43   Correspondence     Letter from Love Musgrove about the final £100,000 for a MRI scanner.                                                

18/44   Report from District Councillor    None

18/45   Report from County Councillor   Spoke at the Highways point 18/40

18/46   Village Social  - Simonsbath Sparkle - Saturday 10^th November  Clerk reported that the

Simonsbath Sparkle was going ahead and will be held in the Ashcombe Plantation with food and drinks available to purchase. Posters and leaflets were being distributed and also adverts in Across Exmoor for October and November editions. JC added that all should tell as many people about it so that the Simonsbath community and wider Exmoor area can join in with the Simonsbath event.                                                                                                                  

18/47   Report from the Simonsbath Steering Group       JC and FS spoke about the event that was held to learn about setting up a Simonsbath Trust. It was a very successful event where everyone learnt a lot about what being a Trustee actually means. There is hope that this will start to move things forward.                                                               

18/48   Items for next Agenda                                                                                                                     

18/49   Date and Time of next Meeting Thursday 29^th Nov 2018 The Sportsman Inn, Sandyway (tbc)

Future meeting dates:                                           Thursday 31^st Jan 2019 Simonsbath tbc

                                                                                      Thursday 28^th Mar 2019 Sandyway tbc

                                                                                      Thursday 30^th May 2019 Simonsbath tbc

There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 8.50pm

Signed…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Date……………………………………..