Council Meeting – 12th April 2021

3,367.26

Mr M Bendle (Chair), Mr J Blackmore, Mr R Brown, Mr R Drew (Vice Chairman), Mr J Kidner, Mrs A Weekes, County Councillor R Radford and Mrs D Evans (Parish Clerk)

Apologies Mr N King

Nothing to report.

PROPOSAL:  The council minutes of the meetings of 8^th February and 8^th March 2021 are approved.

PROPOSED:  Mr Brown

SECONDED:  Mr Drew

DECISION: passed (all in favour)

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.

6.1       21/00592/LBC.  Listed building consent for refurbishment of existing dwelling, conversion of  attached barn, provision of extension and bat roost within adjacent barn.  Troakes Farm, Clayhidon.

PROPOSAL:  The council is content with the application.

PROPOSED:  Mr Drew

SECONDED:  Mr Brown

DECISION: passed (all in favour)

Permission granted noted for:-

6.2      20/02100/HOUSE.  Erection of single-storey side extension.  Carlingwark, Clayhidon.

6.3      20/01532/FULL.  Erection of a building for use as accommodation during building works on main dwelling and subsequent ancillary accommodation.

6.4      20/02082/FULL.  Change of use of agricultural land to private equine use, erection of stables, creation of lunge area, alterations to existing access and formation of new track.      Carlingwark, Clayhidon.

6.5      20/01848/FULL.  Conversion of stables to dwelling and erection of single-storey extension.      Applehayes, Clayhidon.

6.6      20/01853/LBC.  Listing building consent for above.

Nothing to report.

Councillor Radford circulated the following report before the meeting:-

This will have to be a short report, as we are now in purdah and I am restricted, being a County Council Candidate, in what I can do or say.

What I do want to say is thank you for putting up with me for the last 4 years, I have enjoyed the work that I have done, it is not always easy, you can`t do everything that everybody wants done, but I try and do my best and always will.

I enjoyed being your County Councillor so much, that it is my intention to stand to represent you at County again at the elections on 6^th May.

A bit about finance, I can tell you that County are in a strong financial position, over the last 4 years,  we have managed your finances pretty well, even with COVID, to which I think we can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Government have picked up the majority of the Covid cost, but we will still be between £5m -£6m short of which we will have to cover the cost.

The DCC Revenue budget at month 10 is now forecasting an underspend of £3.7 million which is a £5.6 million reduction from month 8 when the predicted overspend was £1.9 million; to put in perspective that is just over one day’s expenditure which indicates the scale of the operation .However not included is the projected deficit of £30.9 million on Special Education Needs and Disabilities which totals £49.8 million when including the 2019/20 deficit which will be carried forward in line with the Department of Education guidelines. Central government has confirmed additional Grant funding to help during the pandemic amounting to £91 million and DCC has made £1.75 million available to the District councils.

Winter Service 

There are a few more weeks of winter service possible – with a coldish snap for the coming weekend.  But to date

·  17,700 tonnes of salt used this season (last season was 9,600 tonnes!).

·  2257 route treatments this season.

So considerably more activity than last year, which has a consequence as described below..

Scheme Delivery

The challenging winter period and high level of gritting operations has had a corresponding impact on the delivery of the planned works.  The cohort of gritter drivers is made up of Skanska operatives who are the same people tasked with delivering our other work streams during the day.  They are often unable to work in the daytime if they have been driving gritters overnight or find that their normal working hours are cut short as they have been called in to undertake winter operations overnight.

The Service took an early operational decision to focus resources on repairing pothole safety defects in line with the recommendation of the CIRS Scrutiny Committee.  While this has been a key factor in controlling the number of defects recorded on the network it has also impacted the programme for the delivery of planned works.

There have been other obvious barriers to delivery that we have had to overcome.  The financial year 2020/21 has seen the authority deliver its largest ever capital budget of £74m.  This has been a real challenge, not only in scale but also due to the relatively late announcement of the increase limiting the time to effectively plan.  The pandemic certainly impacted the first two months of the financial year leaving us a reduced window in which to deliver the planned works.

Despite the challenges described above the Service has been able to deliver over 95% of the budget with a limited number of schemes not being delivered before the end of March.  The local teams have tried to work together to prioritise schemes that are important to communities to minimise the impact of the delays.

Traffic Flows

Generally traffic flows have been steadily rising, the last week for which data is available shows an overall reduction of 24% below 2020 levels.  The M5, A30 and A38 are showing a reduction of about 40%.

Skanska/Milestone

The team have been working hard on the Novation of the Term Contract from Skanska Infrastructure Services to Milestone Infrastructure Services (part of M group Services).  With the complexities of the divestment (involving 23 other contracts) the date of our novation has been put back one month to 1^st May 2021. Due diligence has been completed and the team are working to this revised date.

Many thanks for your support over the last 4 years, and if re-elected, I will support you all for another 4 years.

9.1  Income, expenditure & bank reconciliation

FINANCE

INCOME

EXPENDITURE

BANK RECONCILIATION

PROPOSAL:  The income is agreed and the above cheques/payments are paid/agreed.

PROPOSED:   Mr Blackmore

SECONDED:   Mrs Weekes

DECISION: passed (all in favour)

10.1    Future meetings after 7^th May and delegation –

Existing laws that allow for councils to hold virtual meetings expire on 7^th May.

PROPOSAL:  that the council holds its Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30pm on Tuesday 4^th May.  The meeting will consist of a summary of the year by the chairman.  The annual meeting of the council will follow at 7.40pm on the same evening and at the election of the chairman will be the first item on the agenda.

PROPOSED:   Mr Brown

SECONDED:   Mr Drew

DECISION: passed (all in favour)

11.1    The pc was disappointed with the recent pot hole repair work between Deadbeer and Palmers.  Clerk has reported it to Highways.

11.2    Mr Bendle is arranging a meeting with Highways to discuss a few matters in the parish and will mention the above, ditches by Graddage, road condition on corner of Broad Street and concrete blocking drain.

MB

Mr Brown has walked all of the footpaths in the parish and has submitted his survey report to DCC.  He politely requested that where landowners position electric fences across footpaths they provide a ‘gate’ for easy access.

Nothing to report.

The steering group will be meeting with local MPs with regard to broadband to inform them that the network is disappointed not to have been included in the latest government scheme.

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.

17.1     Half Moon use of church field –

PROPOSAL:  Although the field is usually cut for grass, in an effort to support the pub, the pc gives permission to the Half Moon to use a small section of the field for customer parking (not their own cars) until 21^st June 2021.  Mr Drew and Mr Blackmore will erect a temporary fence.

 PROPOSED:   Mr Brown

 SECONDED:   Mr Drew

 DECISION: passed (all in favour)

Nothing to report.

19.1    Mrs Weekes will promote litter-picking in the parish over the next few weeks.

19.2    A map of footpaths at the parish hall has faded and is unreadable.  This will be replaced by a sign giving the link to Devon County Council’s interactive map, giving details of footpaths, bridleways and byways.

AW

GW

Tuesday 4^th May 2021 (via Zoom)

7.30pm Annual Parish Meeting (summary of year from chair)

7.40pm Annual Meeting of the Council