Exmoor Parish Council Meeting

Held at The Sportsman Inn, Sandyway on Thursday 28^th March 2019 at 7.30pm

In Attendance: Cllrs B. Duke (BD - Chair), A. Vigars (AV), F Schott (FS), County Cllr F Nicholson (FN), Mr Steven Pugsley (SP - who arrived during point 18/92) and Clerk C. Hornsby

Members of the public: 0

18/79                  Apologies for Absence     T. Hawkins (TH), J Chanter (JC)

18/80                  Declarations of Notifiable Interest See Planning                                                                                 

18/81                  Approval of Minutes - dated  07/02/19        FN wanted an amendment to

point 18/75 which the clerk noted. The minutes were then proposed by AV and seconded by FS as a true and correct record and the chairman signed them                                                                                 

18/82                  Matters arising from the Minutes discussed as they arose during the meeting

18/83                  Finance Report

I. Bank Reconciliation: £3795.68 from bank statement dated 05/03/1

II. The Responsible Finance Officer (RFO) stated that she had kept the purchase of the laptop to a minimum of which the Withypool and Hawkridge Parish Council (WHPC) has paid £563.99 in full. Once the VAT of £92.58 is claimed back and Exmoor Parish Council (ExPC) will then pay their 3/8th of the cost which is £176.78 The cost of the security has been purchased for £62.99 for 3yrs which will once again be shared by the two councils. We are not doing a repair and protect scheme and so the rest of the £300 that was originally proposed as an amount for the laptop will be kept as a reserve for any future cost of damage to the laptop. Ear mark reserve of £123.22

III. The clerk is hoping that there are not any election costs but this may be between £500 and £1000

IV. The precept has been increased from £2035 to £2500 which will come in to effect in April 2019

V. A grant of £119.00 was paid to ExPC for the insurance for the Simonsbath Sparkle from Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) as detailed in 18/54

VI. Clerk pay for Jan, Feb, Mar 2019 was presented for payment on 5^th April 2019 of £189.25 plus expenses of £6.30 for mileage to Sportsman inn Sandy way for March Meeting. Total cheque is £195.55 Chq No 229 To Mrs C Hornsby £195.55 for next financial year.

VII. New bank signatures paper work needs to be completed as BD stepping down in May Clerk to look in to online banking.

18/84                  Highways          Including salting of parish roads. FN spoke about the review that is underway with Somerset CC over the salting routes as there is now an extra amount of money that has become available. AV spoke about the recent salting during the bad weather and that they are looking in to ways of dealing with future salting of the untreated roads.      

18/85                  Planning

6/14/19/103      Honeymead, Simonsbath                                                                                   

Proposed replacement swimming pool and enclosure. No Objection by Cllrs. AV and JC declared an interest                                                                                                          

6/14/19/102      Whiterock Cottage, Simonsbath                                                                       

Application under Regulation 3 of the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992 for proposed partial demolition of building and alterations to door and window openings. No Objection by Cllrs FS, TH and JC declared an interest.

GDO 19/04         Aclands, Simonsbath, Somerset                                                                       

Prior notification for proposed lean-to extension to existing building (19.8m x 6.1m).   No Objection by Cllrs

6/14/19/101      Pinkery Outdoor Education Centre, Simonsbath

Application under Regulation 3 of Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992 for proposed removal of existing PV solar tiles and replace with 36 Trina 300w PV modules. No Objection by Cllrs.

18/86                  Parish Maintenance       CH stated that the road signs need to be cleaned and FN stated that village signs are the responsibility of the parish council.

18/87                 Aims and Objectives previously circulated. These were propsed by AV and seconded by FS and have been approved. They will be reviewed in March 2020                                     

18/88                  Correspondence      Details of the Parish Member Elections to th ENPA, Details about the new district council Somerset West and Taunton Council which comes in to effect on 1^st April.                                                                                                         

18/89                  Report from District Councillor  this was discussed when SP arrived during point

18/92                                                                                                                                                                

18/90                  Report from County Councillor   FN stated that Somerset CC set the budget in Feb and ended up with slightly more than had first been proposed – the salting routes are under review but due to the extra money it may mean than some salting routes will be reinstated. She spoke about the Troubled Families Programme and also about the number of applications for Special Needs within schools.

18/91                  Report from the Simonsbath Steering Group  

1. The conservation of the Gardeners’ Store, funded by Caremoor, is nearly. All it needs now is a final few coats of whitewash, some doors and gutters. 2. On Friday last we had a visit from BBC Countryfile. 6 hours of filming for a 7-minute slot on the programme seemed like hard work, but they do reach over 5 million people…so plenty of oxygen of publicity to come. They focused on the gardens and the volunteer effort there; pieces to camera from Rob Wilson-North and Charlotte Hornsby with the wonderful presenter Margherita Taylor. Look out for it when it is broadcast on 7th April. 3. We have just received our amended bat licence from Natural England. 4. White Rock Cottage goes to ENPA’s Planning Committee on 2 April for consent for the demolition works and changes to window and door openings. 5. The building pre-commencement meeting is on 4th April. 6. Simonsbath Springtime coffee morning event on 6th April, St Luke’s Church. To let the local residents, know what is happening to the cottage and gardens. 7. Building work begins at White Rock Cottage on 8th April. 8. The garden volunteers continue to meet on the first Monday of the month.

18/92                  Items for next Agenda   GDPR, and Standing Orders of Exmoor PC to be reviewed and approved, A/cs to be presented and approved, Audit.

18/89                  Report from District Councillor SP stated that it was worth while taking part in the ballot for the Parish Member Elections to ENPA. The papers will be sent out to parish councils on 29^th May and so parishes will need to meet before the 18^th June when the ballot closes at noon. Each parish can nominate a parish cllr to stand and closing date is 28^th May. SP also wanted to say that as it might be his last meeting as a DC he wanted to thank the parish council for 32 years of support and also to Brian Duke the outgoing chairman for his many years of service.

18/93                  Date and Time of next Meeting -                                                                                                                                                             Thursday 23^rd May 2019 Exmoor Forest Inn

 Future meeting dates, all tbc: Thursday 25^th July, Thursday 26^th September, Thursday 28^th November

There being no further business the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.45pm.

Chairman………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Date…………………