The Meeting of the Parish Council of Withypool and Hawkridge

Withypool Village Hall, Tuesday 15th January 2019 at 7.30PM

Attendees: Parish Cllrs: A Howard (AH - Chairman), K Branfield (KB), A Collins (AC), T Lloyd (TL), J Davies (JD), P Williams PW), County Cllr F Nicholson (FN) District Cllr S Pugsley (SP) Clerk C Hornsby (CH)        Members of the public: 0

18/74    Apologies of Absence - R Lock (RL)

18/75    Declarations of notifiable interests - None

18/76    Approval of the Minutes of the previous meeting on 13/11/18 – AC proposed and JD 2nd as a true and correct record of what took place, all agreed and AH signed them

18/77    Matters arising from the Minutes of 13/11/18 – 18/60: PW reported that some stones had been cleared but some remain and that the measuring device for the height of the river was in the wrong place. 18/64: The matter of the purchase of the laptop was raised and the clerk is still looking in to the best offer. The clerk asked permission for a cheque to be authorised before the next meeting, if she was able to purchase a laptop within the next 8 weeks. All agreed. Clerk will send the invoice to all Cllrs and then see AH for a cheque to cover the Withypool and Hawkridge cost of £500 or less. 18/65: JD reported that there was still lots of water and was unsure if any work had been done on Quarry Head, clerk read an email dated 5th Dec 2018 from Highways saying this was on their agenda to look at. SP was asked if the drains either side of the entrance to his property were ok and he commented that the upper drain was still blocked. 18/66: KB reported that due to a BT wire going through the tree at the Jubilee Gardens it was unsafe for anyone to deal with it. Clerk to contact BT and inform them of the situation.

18/78    Withypool Bridge Common Land – (i) Following the meeting, held on Wednesday 19th December at Withypool Bridge and then after at the Withypool Village Hall, both parties could not reach an agreement. It was agreed by both parties concerned that they would leave the meeting thinking about how they wish to take the matter forward. It was stated by Mr Steven Pugsley, who chaired the meeting, that both parties should move forward in an amicable and constructive fashion even though there currently seems to be no agreement at the present time. (ii) The Withypool and Hawkridge Parish Council would like to formally record in the minutes that it has set up a ‘Working Group’ on the matter of the common land and its access. The ‘Working Group’ consists of the following parish council members: Tony Howard, Patti Williams, Alan Collins, Tim Lloyd and Jeremy Davies. It will report back to the full parish council in due course when it has more information to discuss and also any points of interest that require a decision by the full parish council. (iii) It was discussed that the removal of the rails beside the road, - which had been removed after the fence went up at the end of the common land slip way to allow the public a small amount of access to the river - should be replaced. It was agreed by all Cllrs that the bank is becoming unsafe due to extremely muddy conditions and is also eroding away the stone wall underneath that protects the mains water. The rails will be replaced as soon as possible.

18/79    Report by the District Councillor – Salt bins, salt bags and salting routes were discussed

18/80    Report by the County Councillor - Car parks review, road signage by utility companies.

18/81    Finance report – Total amount £8949.71, of which £1400 is earmarked for the Flood Defence.

18/82    Highways – (i) Salt bins and purchase of was discussed – JD to find prices and get back to Cllrs via email as winter will be nearly over by the time of the next meeting. (ii) AH had a meeting with Highways about the drain outside Oliver’s Cottage and Highways have reported that the drain has collapsed right beside the road between Oliver’s Cottage and Raymond’s Cottage. Highways are looking into it. (iii) A local resident has complained to AH about the gully opposite and above his drive on Sandyway Road. The rain water from the moors pours right down his drive washing it away. AH has tried to organise a meeting with the owner of Withypool Common about several gullies along that stretch of road and is awaiting her response. In the meantime AH is getting quotes from a local contractor to do the work.

18/83    Parish Gardens - AH raised the issue of the car parking in the village and wanted Cllrs to think about using a parish garden as one. This will be on the Agenda for March

18/84    Planning - None

18/85    Parish Maintenance – see MA 18/66

18/86    Flood Defence – RL not at meeting so AH will discuss this with him

18/87    Correspondence – (i) Housing Need Survey: after discussion it was agreed for the parish to take part in the survey. (ii)  Somerset Water Pollution article, (iii) Somerset Wood, (iv) Somerset West Lodging Scheme, (v) Buckingham Palace garden party nominations.

18/88    Report from representatives of other groups:

                                           Withypool Village Hall - none

                                           Hawkridge Village Hall - none

                                           Henry Leigh Trust - meeting on Wednesday 16th January with several                                                                                             applications to discuss

                                           Exmoor Panel - meeting on Tuesday 22nd January

                                           Consultative & Parish Forum - meeting on Thursday 17th January how to                                                                            encourage young people in to farming

18/89    Extra Items for March 2019 agenda GDPR, Aims and Objectives of PC and Standing Orders to be reviewed and approved. Car parking in the village. Salting of village roads.

18/90    Date and time of next meeting:

Tuesday 12th March 2019 at Hawkridge Village Hall 7.30pm