Minutes of meeting held 26th July 2018
MINUTES OF THE MEETING THURSDAY, 26th JULY 2018 AT RANTON VILLAGE HALL
PRESENT :
Cllr. M. Russell (Chair)
Cllr J. Forrester (Vice chair) Cllr R. Edwards
Cllr. M. Winnington (part time) Cllr. N MacLeod
18/78 Apologies
G. Whelan (Clerk) - Minutes recorded by Cllr. MacLeod
18/79 Declarations of interest in the following agenda:
None
18/80 Previous minutes:
Minutes agreed as a true record.
18/81 Public questions:
Public: 2 persons
Replacement of bollards
Mrs D Lloyd Asked for an up-date on the situation. Cllr Edwards had contacted SCC and they have no objection if RPC removes and replaces the bollards with wooden ones. SCC will make no administrative charge for this. The new bollards would become assets of RPC and come under their insurance. Cllr. Russell formally proposed that RPC proceed with the procurement of new bollards, at an anticipated cost of £1300. Cllr. Edwards seconded the proposal.
Action : Mrs D Lloyd volunteered to get three quotations for the work and present these to RPC.
Flagpole
Mr D Batchelor asked why the flagpole was not flying the Union Flag. It was clarified that the English flag had been flown during the recent world cup, but would be replaced by the Union flag.
Action: Cllr. Forrester has the spare union flag, which RPC will arrange to be flown from the flagpole.
DriveMe
Mr D Batchelor asked for an up-date on the RPC monitoring of DriveMe's activities. Hementioned that an F1 experience day was being advertised of the site, implying the driving of single seat sports cars. It was understood that only road legal cars could be used at the site. It was noted that the bunds originally agreed for the site had never been completed and all tree planting had died.
Action: Cllr. Forrester will write to SBC Environment and Planning departments and copy to the Chief Executive raising all of these issues. He intends to do this as a private individual. Action: RPC will write to SBC about the issues related to noise, bunds and tree planting.
Mrs D Lloyd asked why RPC did not invite DriveMe to a meeting to discuss these on-going issues, as complaints to SBC have made no progress over many years.
Action: RPC to write the DriveMe to propose a meeting
18/82 Finance matters
Nothing to report. Cllr. Edwards is now authorised to sigh cheques for RPC.
18/83 Accounts to date:
Invoice received from Mr D Bourne for £35.00 for the removal and disposal of the Christmas tree.
Monthly accounts statement showed no recent activity. Cllr. MacLeod queried how frequentlythe Clerk's salary was paid, as no payments are shown since April. Currently the Clerkinvoices on an annual basis. Cllr. MacLeod suggested that this be changed to quarterly.
18/84 Reports:
a) Mowing: There has been no activity during the recent dry weather.
b) Highways: Bollards to be replaced as discussed under Public Questions. The state of the roads through the village was considered to be poor.
Action: Cllr Edwards will contact Streetscene to see if a road sweeper could come through the village.c) Footpaths: It was noted that a member of the public had complained to SBC about the state of a footpath on Mr P Jones' land. It was preferred if members of the public contacted RPC about such issues, which we could then raise with the relevant landowner.
d) Gullies and weeding: SCC has carried out work on Long Compton Lane to repair and clear the drains. A new ditch has been dug in the field, which will drain into the repaired drain. This should clear the flood on the road which had been experienced over the winter. Cllr Edwards contacted SCC highways department who will clean the gullies on a 3-year cycle. The cost for RPC to clean the gullies in the intervening 2 years would be around £500 per year.
Action: The Clerk is to contact our insurers to enquire about insurance to cover D Bourne to undertake weeding in the village. This may include the footpath through the church. However, this is the responsibility of the PCC and would need discussion with them.
18/85 Clerk's reports
Cllr Russell has designed a draft web site using Webnode and circulated access information to the site to all councillors. The site allows for 500MB of data storage, which should suit the purpose of the PC. The cost is £3.99 per month for the site, plus a one off charge of £9.99 for the domain name [ RantonParishCouncil.org.uk].
Cllr. MacLeod proposed that RPC proceed to purchase this web site plus domain name and develop the web site as described by Cllr. Russell. Cllr. Winnington seconded the proposal. Al members voted in favour of the proposal.
Action: Cllr. Russell to proceed with the development of the site.
18/86 Planning updates
There were no planning applications before the council.
18/87 Chairman's Questions/Items for Information/Next Agenda
Cllr. MacLeod asked if a parish Newsletter would be issued soon. The Chair confirmed that a Newsletter would be prepared, once the website was operational so that information on the new site could be included.
18/88 Date of next meeting
The next parish council meeting will be held on Thursday 20th September, 2018 in Ranton Village Hall at 7.30pm.
Signed.................................................. Date...........................
Gayle Whelan, Ranton Parish Council Clerk rantonparishcouncil@gmail.com