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 Wrington Parish Council
 Minutes
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Minutes of a Meeting of Wrington Parish Council held in the John Locke room on
                Wednesday, 28th July, 2010

Present:

1. Apologies:
Ms E. P. Irving, Chair
Mr M. Berkley
Mrs G. J. Bigg
Mr D. W. Glynn
Mrs P. Ledbury
Mrs G. Moss
Mrs C. A. Phillips
Mr P. Robinson
Mrs C. Turton
Mrs D. J. Yamanaka
Mrs G. Wilson,
Clerk
Mrs F. Burke, Assistant Clerk
Mr F. Cowgill

In attendance: Max Wilkinson - Weston Mercury; Richard Thorn and John Adams
Cllr Irving presented Gabrielle Wilson with bunch of flowers and a gift from Council members as a thank you for her three years of work as Parish Clerk.

2. Cllr Bigg declared an interest concerning the WVMP agenda item as she is Chair of LINK.

3. Public Participation

John Adams gave a report on the current situation concerning the twinning of Wrington with Villeneuve-lès-Béziers. He stated that, if it was decided to go ahead with the twinning, a formal agreement would be drawn up to be signed stating general commitment. The main outcome of the twinning would be as a cultural exchange between the two places. An important part of the process would be for the various interest groups in the village, such as the drama club, church groups and the school to get in touch with each other. It would be necessary to have quite an active group in Wrington liaising with Villeneuve-lès-Béziers.

It was agreed that members were in favour of the twinning and it was agreed that Richard Thorn and John Adams would continue to forge ahead with the scheme. Cllr Yamanaka agreed to find out what connections, if any, the school had already made.

The Chair thanked John Adams and Richard Thorn for attending the meeting.

4. Minutes of the meeting held on 28th July, 2010

It was agreed to take the word ‘Dead’ out of the correspondence article d).
The minutes were signed as a true record.

5. Correspondence

a. Letter from residents re: A38 residents. A letter had been received from Mr Geoff Watts and Ms Sally Bateman thanking the Parish Council for their supportive letter on the matter of speeding on the A38.

b. Winford Parish Council re: use of land at Felton School. The Clerk reported that Winford Parish Council had written to request that leaflets be distributed to properties within reasonable reach of the proposed allotment site, as some of these properties are within Wrington Parish. A copy of the proposed leaflet was circulated. Members agreed that they were happy for this to be carried out but would like to make sure that Church Road and the residential area around Redhill Church were included in the leaflet drop.

c. Ropers Lane and Wrington Hill - drainage proposal. The Clerk read out a letter from North Somerset Council concerning proposed drainage works to be carried out in September along Ropers Lane. Members raised concerns about why this was being prioritised at the moment and whether it would impact any other drainage work in the Parish. It was agreed that the Clerk would write to North Somerset Council to get further details on this issue.

d. NSC Tree Officer re: trees in South Meadows -It was reported that the Copper Beech in South Meadows would be getting a light trim.

e. Public Path diversion Order, Yeowood Farm. The diversion order was circulated amongst members. It was agreed to make no comment on this.

f. Hinckley Point letter from Dr Liam Fox. This was noted.

g. Wrington Bowling club re: open day 22nd August. This was noted.

h. NSC Electoral Services Manager re: Community Governance Review. It was noted that some properties that had been within Wrington Parish on the Wrington side of Downside Road would now be within Backwell Parish.

6. Reports

a) Police Report

A police report was circulated. As there were no reported incidents at Bristol airport this month it was agreed to check this with PC Taachi. The Clerk informed members about arson attacks on 4 sheds in the allotments. A member also reported continuing vandalism at the tennis courts. It was agreed to ask PCSO Yvette Jordan or PC Taachi to attend next month’s Parish Council meeting as members are very concerned about the apparent recent escalation in vandalism in the village.

The Speedwatch scheme was also discussed. Members agreed on the locations they felt were most in need of the scheme, these were: Long Lane, Havyatt Road, West Hay Road, Downside Road, Butts Batch and Church Road, Redhill. These sites need to be assessed by the police on their suitability and safety for the person stationed at the site. It was agreed to pass these locations on to the police.

b) Clerk’s report

The report had been received previously. The Clerk wished to raise the issue of the current lack of communication between North Somerset Council with regards to works being carried out in the village. It appears that matters agreed to by the area officer quite often do not continue to completion, with no explanation as to why. The current quality of the workmanship, in particular on the resurfacing of pavements throughout Wrington was also brought in to question. It was agreed that the Clerk would write to the Parish Liaison Officer, Mark McGregor, about these concerns.

c) Finance Report

It was agreed to proceed with ordering the streetlights needed.

Members agreed to the proposal of adding Cllr Robinson and Cllr Cowgill as bank signatories.

The following payments were approved.

Playsafety Ltd – safety inspections £217.38
Scott Arrowsmith – village orderly £108.00
Avon Youth Association – 1st quarter £1,000.00
SEC Ltd – street light maintenance – 1st quarter £750.23
Ken Richardson – internal audit fee £210.00
Portrayal – photocopies £14.41
Northcliffe Media – Clevedon Mercury job advert £150.40
Clerk’s expenses – 1st quarter: postage £172.89*
stationery £62.61; travel £39.67 £275.17
Clerks’ salaries - July – to be calculated

*includes £74.52 for postage of Parish Plan & newsletter

d) District Councillor’s Report

The report had been received previously. Cllr Yamanka raised the issue of the extra time burden on the recycling lorries with the much larger volume and type of recyclable waste collected. It saves considerable time if green box waste is separated in the boxes by householders. It was agreed the Clerk should write about this in next month’s journal.

The Rickyard Road affordable housing scheme was discussed and the Clerk reported that we had still not received a response back from David Turner to the letter we wrote concerning Section 106. It was agreed to write to him about his lack of response.

e) NE Ward Report

The report had been received previously. Cllr Turton reported that although airport taxi drivers now have a code of conduct to only use local roads if there is no alternative, no roads are actually banned. The pick up/drop off car park at the airport is causing a lot of problems currently as the time limit before payment is now 10 minutes with no return within 15 minutes. This is causing a lot of congestion and parking problems around the area of the car park. The airport planning application has now gone to the Secretary of State who has an extended period to make a decision on it. The plans for the proposed airport hotel have been changed to be moved further into the airport, and the roof is now 8m lower than the atrium. Some schools in the local area had been supplied with a hardback book ‘Take Flight’ about the history of the airport, however Wrington Primary had been omitted from this. Members agreed this was rather unfair as Bristol Airport lies in Wrington Parish. It was agreed the Clerk would write to the airport asking for copies of the book for Wrington School.

f) Wrington Vale Medical Practice

Cllr Robinson discussed the report on Formal Public Consultation – Primary Care Services, Wrington Vale Medical Practice. Cllr Robinson stated that he felt that not enough notice had been taken to the petition in the report and asked members if they would agree to him writing on behalf of the Council or from him personally. It was agreed that Cllr Robinson should draft a letter on behalf of the council to be circulated and any comments on it to be sent back to him as soon as possible, to enable the letter to go out.

It was agreed to check the minute note written on the Council’s Policy to the single surgery issue.

7. Working Group Reports

a) Finance Report

The Clerk reported on the recent finance meeting as Cllr Cowgill was absent.

It was proposed that half of the £4,000 saved on the Council’s insurance premium this year be put aside to meet any uninsured losses in the future. This was agreed.

It was proposed and agreed that the Council would pay the membership expenses for the Clerk to join the Society of Local Council Clerks. It was proposed and agreed that the recommended gratuity amount be given to the departing Clerk, Gabrielle Wilson.

b) Environment

Cllr Bigg reported that a meeting had been with held with residents affected by the flooding in the Garstons Close area and John Inman. Some notes on this meeting would be circulated at a later date.

c) Highways

Cllr Ledbury proposed for the meeting to take place on August 10th, after the planning meeting. This was agreed.

8. Church Walk Play Area

The Clerk reported that the annual inspection had taken place and a report had now been received. Some items in Church Walk and in the Rec would now need immediate replacement along with quite a few small repairs on other equipment. The £13,000 from the Rickyard Road Housing developers could be used to cover some of the costs for some of the items.

9. Playbuilder Scheme: update

The Assistant Clerk read out a letter from North Somerset Council reporting that the Playbuilder Scheme money would no longer be available to Local Authorities due to recent government cutbacks.

10. Proposal for twinning with Villeneuve-lès- Béziers: report from Mr John Adams

This had been dealt with previously.

11. Consultations

a. NSC Development Management Policies for Development in North Somerset’s Green Belt and Residential Parking Standards.

It was agreed that this would be dealt with in the next Planning meeting.

b. Joint Local Transport Plan 3 – 2011-2026.

It was agreed that this would be discussed in the next Highways meeting.

12. Open Forum

Cllr Irving requested that the Clerk write to British Telecom concerning the speed of Broadband in Wrington and whether they have any plans to update the system.

There being no other business the meeting was declared closed at 10.05pm.


Echo Irving
Chair