East Knoyle Parish Council - Annual General Meeting
8th May 2007
Minutes of a meeting held at the
Village Hall on Tuesday 8th May 2007
Present:
Cllrs Haworth-Booth, Garrett,
Campbell, Coffin, Dawson, Drake, Southerden, Webster, Wharton,
Wilson. Also Present: Ms Sully (Outgoing Chairman), 5 members of
the public and 1 press.
All Councillors present signed
the acceptance of office. (Cllr Hyde signed his on 9th
May 2007)
1. Election of Chairman of
Parish Council
(former Chairman Ms Sully chairing) Cllr Haworth-Booth was elected
Chairman and took the chair. Cllr Haworth-Booth thanked Ms Sully
for the work she had done for the parish.
2. Election of Vice Chairman
of Parish Council Cllr Garrett was elected Vice-Chairman.
3 PUBLIC OPEN FORUM -
Information and Questions from the Public.
None
4. Apologies for Absence
Cllr Hyde, Cllr
Wayman (WCC) and Cllr Fowler (SDC)
5. Notices of Interest.
None
6. To Appoint New Committees,
Selection of Committee Chairmen in addition to the Council Chairman
and Vice-Chairman sitting on each Committee:
Planning
Cllrs Webster, Drake,
Southerden, Wilson and Dawson
Finance
Cllrs Dawson, Campbell,
Wharton, Coffin, Southerden
Highways and Common
Lands Cllrs
Campbell, Webster, Hyde, Wharton and Wilson
Appointment of Parish Council
Representatives to:
Police
Liaison (formerly Cllr. Coffin). Cllr Drake
Village Hall Management
Committee (formerly Cllr. Williams).
Cllr Haworth-Booth
Highways (formerly Cllr. Hyde).
Cllr
Webster
Mere Community Safety
Partnership (formerly Cllr. Haworth-Booth)
Cllr Haworth-Booth
Link and Wigglybus (formerly
Cllr Swain)
Cllr Wilson
East Knoyle Community Shop
Association (formerly Cllr Coffin)
Cllr Coffin
East Knoyle Parish Planning
Group (formerly Cllr Sully)
Cllr Southerden
7.
To approve minutes of Meeting held on 13th March, 2007.
Cllr Garrett was present at the meeting
8
Matters arising from the
Minutes. The travellers remain at the southern
end of the village. They have indicated their intention of leaving
in the next few weeks. The donated bench for Knoyle House Ground
has been ordered by the donor and will be installed in the next
couple of weeks.
9.
Chairman’s Report The Chairman noted the report
had been prepared by his predecessor. The Chairman thanked retiring
Councillors Sully, Swain and Williams for their service as
councillors on the parish council and welcome new Councillors
Webster and Drake and the return of Councillor Southerden. He also
wished Tom Couper a long and happy retirement and welcome Michael
Fowler as our new District Councillor.
The Chairman
expressed the Council’s condolences to Sally Swain for the loss of
her husband, Francis, who recently died. A few days before his
death Francis and Sally made a very generous donation to support the
woodland purchase, an issue close to their hearts and he thank them
for this.
He noted the Parish Council will
face many exciting challenges over the next 4 years, whether
Wiltshire becomes a unitary council or not. Council will have to
decide the level of service it, as a Quality Council, wished to
adopt and negotiate with the principle authority (District or
Unitary) for the level of service and financial devolution which
will enable us to better care of our parish in the face of reducing
service from both County and District. The Council will also
continue the pressure on Salisbury District Council to make City
residents pay for their services rather than rural parishes
subsidise them.
The Chairman expressed
disappointment that Wiltshire Highways had decided that the Windmill
Crossroads towards Gillingham road was not to be resurfaced and will
continue to pressure them for early work on the appalling state of
this road. Council is also working to get Wiltshire County Council
to set aside their decision to remove the weight restriction on the
B3089 in order to enable them to reconsider the matter and be aware
of the likely road safety consequences of the change. The Clerk
had some discussions with the County legal team and awaited their
discussions with Highways and the Council Leader. The box markings
at the northern end of the village remained in the dangerous state
and Council will continue to pressure Highways for this work to be
done.
The new cricket nets have been
widely praised and have been extensively used. Disappointingly, the
Clerk had to ejects some youngsters two days after their
installation as they were climbing on top of the frame. More
seriously was the damage caused to one of Knoyle House Ground
benches. Several of the vertical panels had been kicked out. Damage
of this sort was not acceptable and Chairman asked that anyone with
knowledge of the offenders let the Clerk know.
The Parish Assembly was well attended and
interesting presentation were made on the Changes at Clouds, in
policing and the bid by Wiltshire CC for unitary status.
10. Committee Reports from
respective former Chairmen of:
·
Planning
Committee. The
Committee had not met since the Parish Assembly
·
Common Lands,
Highways and Rights-of-Way Committee.
It had not been possible to deal with the tree-houses as the rules
at the Household Waste Disposal Site meant it could not be removed
to there.
·
Finance
Committee. To receive a
report on finance, to retrospectively approve payments. The
balance sheet was presented, bills and payments approved. A
donation of £500 had been received to support the woodland
purchase. Former Cllr Sully had written a letter of thanks. The
grants for the parish planning group were deposited in the account
and were ring-fenced for that project.
11. Other
Reports from Councillors with former Special Responsibilities for:
·
Wiltshire County
Council (County
Cllr. Wayman). Not present
·
Salisbury
District Council
(formerly District Cllr. Couper). Cllr Farmer not present
·
Police Liaison
Not met.
·
Village Hall
Management Committee
No report
·
East Knoyle
Community Shop Association The
shop’s accounts were with the accountant. The shop had featured on
the Shaftesbury Food Trail.
?
Mere Community
Safety Partnership
not met
?
Wigglybus and
Link scheme
nothing reported
?
East Knoyle
Parish Planning Group
was to meet on 9th May, had commenced an
initial survey of youth and work was proceeding.
12 To
approve the Accounts 2006-2007. Accounts were approved
13.
To approve Cheque signatories for HSBC Accounts. The
following was approved as the current situation: That the Bank
Accounts remain with HSBC, The Bank is authorized to pay all cheques
and other authorisation for payment, or stop authorizations for
payment, signed on behalf of East Knoyle Parish Council by two
signatories whether the accounts of the Council are in debit or
credit. B) deliver any item held on behalf of the Council by the
bank in safekeeping against the written receipt of the signatory c)
accept the signatory as fully empowered to act on behalf of the
Council in any other transaction with the bank (including closing an
account). That any debt incurred to the bank under this mandate
shall, in the absence of written agreement by the bank to the
contrary, be repayable on demand. That the secretary from time to
time is authorized to supply the bank as and when necessary with
lists of persons who are authorized to sign, give receipts and act
on behalf of the council and the bank may rely on such lists. That
these resolutions remain in force until cancelled by notice in
writing to the bank, signed by the Chair Person or Secretary from
time to time acting or claiming to act on behalf of the council and
the bank shall be entitled to act on such notice whether the
resolutions have been validly cancelled or not. The new signatories
were approved as Cllr Haworth-Booth, Cllr Garrett, Cllr Dawson (all
existing signatories) and Cllr Southerden.
14.
To adopt the 2007 Model Code of Conduct including Section 12(2)
Approved
15
To amend Standing Orders:
In addition to the public forum the public may make representations
on any item on the agenda, present evidence and answer questions.
This contribution shall be limited to three minutes.
Approved
16. To discuss options for
tackling litter in East Knoyle and to approve a day of action
against litter, inviting public participation.
It was agreed to ask the Highways, Common Lands and Rights of Way
Committee to deal with this.
17. To approve the disposal of
the roller in Knoyle House Ground
It was agreed the roller was
dilapidated and of no value. Approved
18. To
decide upon and recommend to Wiltshire Association of Local Councils
this Council’s position on ‘One Council for Wiltshire’.
The Parish had been asked by WALC to contribute to them
on Wiltshire’s bid for unitary status as part of Central
Government’s consultation. The Council had a very useful talk from
Wiltshire at the Parish Assembly but were not able to attend
Salisbury’s presentation. Council had received copies of
Wiltshire’s bid and also Salisbury’s defence. Salisbury claimed
much of the bid was based on false premises but, disappointingly,
Salisbury’s defence was also guilty of spin.
Wiltshire made the
case for a new Council as opposed to a takeover. They offered the
area management boards currently enjoyed in the three other
districts which give parishes greater input in District affairs.
The Mere area, in which the Parish would sit, would have two county
councillors and they would meet with parishes to resolve area
issues. County had promised that we as a parish can take over some
services and finance will follow. Their proposals on planning
would need to be amended to allow the area boards to call in officer
decisions, rather than the centre call them in. The Council noted
how disappointed we had been with our highways services, however,
many of the services we currently enjoyed are County rather than
District and there was difficulty resolving highways issues where
there is a crossover between District and County.
The only services we
received from District, other than their regulatory
responsibilities, was bin emptying weekly (to go to fortnightly
under the wheelie bin proposals), cardboard collection if you live
in the centre of the parish and street sweeping if you have a
pavement. District ignored public opinion to delay the contracts
for Bourne Hill Council Offices until after the issue of Unitary
Status was resolved, consultation with the parishes is at a once –a
–year session rather than genuine consultation. There is apparent
resistance to devolving responsibilities and finance to parishes
other than large parishes. The previous council was evaluating the
position based on what was best for this parish.
A debate over the
differing aspects of the bid took place. The personal experiences
of some Councillors, particularly in relation to Education and
Highways, was that Wiltshire CC did not listen to consultation
advice. At the end Councillors voted unanimously not to support the
bid by Wiltshire County Council.
19. Correspondence. To note a
residents concern about vehicles exceeding the 30mph speed limit and
failing to make allowances for pedestrians – Shaftesbury Road
The Parish Planning Group was asked to include a road safety element
in the plan. A letter had just been received from the organisers of
the Semley Youth Activity Week requesting financial support.
Councillors decided to find out further information on the
involvement of East Knoyle youth allowing the Chairman and Clerk
to decide based on that information and confirm this at the next
meeting
20. Any Other Business
None
Chairman…………………………………………………………… Date……………….
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