Corscombe, Halstock and District Parish Council
Minutes of Parish Council meeting 7.30pm on Monday 11th January 2021
Meeting held by Zoom due to concerns about Coronavirus, with arrangements for telephone participation
Members present: Henry Lovegrove (Chair), Katharine Singleton Smith, Liz Southern, David Hallett, Roger Hallett, Grant Prior, David Clary, Nigel Clarke, Debbie Rix, Don England.
Dorset Councillor Mary Penfold attending.
Report from Dorset Councillor Mary Penfold:
Due to Covid all meetings are still being held virtually. Meetings are also now being held fortnightly with our MP Chris Loder and a Covid health letter will be sent out by Chris Loder in the near future. The PC is asked to continue to raise awareness of Covid and the new regulations and to support the health service were ever possible. It was also noted that there would be a Local Plan consultation, details will be sent out soon.
Reports from Dorset Council Councillor and police
- To receive and accept apologies and declarations of interest.None
- Toconsiderco-optingDeborahChildstoreplaceJoVassieas Corscombe councillor.
Approved 10/0. Deborah Childs was welcomed on to the Parish Council (PC). - ToapprovethedraftminutesoftheParishCouncilmeetingheldon Monday 30th November 2020 (A).
Approved 10/0 subject to changes to items 7 and 9. (minutes will be re issued) - TodiscussmattersarisingfromtheminutesnotcoveredintheAgenda.None
- Tonotethestatementofexpendituretodateandbankreconciliation(B) and to approve the schedule of payments since the last meeting. (C). The statement of expenditure (B) will be discussed at the next PC meeting on the 25.1.21.Bank reconciliation (B) was approved 10/0
Schedule of payments since the 1st of December approved 10/0
01/12/2020 02/12/2020 07/12/2020 28/12/2020 28/12/2020 28/12/2020
28/12/2020 5 /1/2021 5/1/2021 5/1/2021 13/9/20 6/1/21
001191 Finger post repair
001194 Clerk’s salary Nov.
001195 Playground maintenance PH 001196 DC Dog signs
001197 DC Speed survey
001198 Grant to Fox Cricket club 001199 Clerk’s salary Dec.
001200 DAPTC subscription 001201 DAPTC course fees x4 001202 Stickland’s school grant 001185 ROSPA
001204 Nordcat grant re-issued
£43.51 £451.46 £60.00 £72.00 £720.00 £315.00 £429.89 £451.60 £235.00 £410.00 £82.20 £250.00
Note: correction to appendix B Scheduled payments replacement of cheque number 001201 with 001208 as reissued.
6. ToconsiderareportonAdultGymEquipmentatCorscombePlayground (D).
Thanks to Liz and the working group for all their work to move this forward. Recommendations were all approved 10/0.
- delegating the decision for selecting the winning bid to the Bid Evaluation Group
- authorising the placement of contract by the Bid Evaluation Group once the winning bid has been selected.
This will allow the working group to move forward quickly with the awarding of the contract in February.
The Risk Assessment was also approved 10/0.
To allocate £5000 to provide support for local charities and voluntary
bodies providing Covid 19 hardship relief (E).
It was agreed (10/0) that the £5000 fund would be split between this and next
financial year.
There are been no applications for Covid Hardship relief to date. It was
agreed that approaches would be made to local schools to see if we could
offer a grant towards internet fees or purchase of equipment to help facilitate
students learning at home during Covid. Requests for such would be made
through the Hawkins Trust.
DR to approach Beaminster School and KSS to approach Stickland’s School
to make them aware of the allocation. DR and KSS will lease with MP re
Dorset Council response in this area.
7.
8. ToconsidertheCouncil’sresponsetotheDorsetCouncil’sClimateand Ecology Emergency Plan (F).
It was agreed 10/0 that the PC should support the plan put forward. It was agreed that Climate Change will appear on the March agenda as a separate item with the aim to discuss future PC action in this area. To date it is noted that we have been less active in this area since a Chimes article in November 2018 and the 2019 Road Show. HL to forward links to two good websites. A personal as well as a PC response to the emergency plan was encouraged to maximise support of this initiative. Notices encouraging responses from the public will also be placed on local notice boards. The closing date for responses is 20 Jan 2021.
9. Toagreethe2021/22budgetandparishprecept(G).
All recommendations Agreed 10/0
1. Membersagreetheproposed2021/22budgetandyearendreserves. 2. The 2021/22 precept be set at the level of £19,000.
10.To receive a report concerning progress with changing bank signatories and setting up electronic banking (verbal).
Progress has been made in removing previous signatories and registering new signatories. A request to change the Parish Clerk contact has also been made.
While this process has taken some time, for a number of reasons including Covid, it was agreed to stay with TSB for PC banking.
Registering for electronic banking is ongoing.
11.To receive a report on updates on village and playground maintenance issues (Verbal).
Thanks to Henry, Liz and Roger for their work to clear the playground area.
A playground inspection on the 3rd January 21 indicated no issues and all ROSPA issues raised last year have been met. Covid issues relating to the use of the Playground have been addressed by a new Covid sign on site, and an article for the February Chimes and information on the village website and Facebook.
An area of the playground (approximately 9x39m) has now been cleared of brambles etc and it has been suggested that we ask the community how we should use this area e.g., community orchard. DR will coordinate this. Common Lane resurfacing work has been completed and KSS will report if further work is required in this area.
12.To consider and discuss planning applications and decisions (H).
APP/D1265/C/20/3263828
It was agreed 10/0 that the PC would support the letter raised by a Yew Tree resident and the planning department in relation to Yew Tree Farm and the unauthorised use of a mobile home beyond the date agreed by the planning department. Concern was raised that the use of mobile homes could become tenanted if not challenged and would set a bad president as well as impacting on an area of natural beauty (ANOB)
13.To consider a report on progress on the Parish council website and email (verbal).
The PC email address gov.uk is no longer functioning and for the present all mail is being directed to the CHparishclerk@gmail.com. Dorset Council has been made aware of this and have altered the contact details on their website. The PC website is nearing completion and the CHDPC.org.uk address should be live by February. It will still be a period of time before all documents are fully uploaded.
14.To receive Highways update regarding signage at Court Lane (verbal).
Highways are not willing to place a ‘Not suitable for heavy vehicles’ sign at the Highstreet end of Court Lane as it is against their policy which aims to reduce the amount of signage. HL to follow up with highways (Paul Thatcher) and request that the PC be allowed to place a sign at our expense, that matches the one currently at the Court Hill end of Court Lane.
Note: Progress with signage and fencing in Halstock will be reported at the March meeting.
15.To consider urgent matters to report from members and items for the next meeting.
- ApprovalofDebbieRixtoreplaceSarahMitchellasatrusteeofthe Hawkins Trust – agreed 10/0
- CorrespondencerenewCulturalStrategyforDorset–emailtobe circulated to councillors.
- RequestforPCtosupportlocalresidentsincompletingthelargely on-line Census 2021 to be held on March 21st 2021 – email to be circulated. Awaiting further details from Philip Eades Census Engagement Manager for Dorset
- BAVLAPupdate–Minutesfromtheemergencymeetingheldonthe 20th November 2020, in response to funding changes, have been received and the key points are;
- look into the idea of merging local area partnerships (LAP)
- possible name change e.g. West Dorset Rural Alliance
- raise profile of work of BAVLAP in the community through theuse of Facebook etc.
It was agreed that an item ‘Correspondence’ should appear on futureagendas.
16.To exclude the public and press due to the confidential nature of the next agenda item.
Agreed 10/017.To discuss a report on a confidential staffing matter.
The Council noted a verbal report by the chairman on a staff matter.
18.Date of next meeting 25th January 2021 (To focus on the updating and approval of PC policies and documents prior to launch of the new PC website.)
Clerk to the Council: Tessa Safadi, Tel: 01935 891068
Email: CHparishclerk@gmail.com