MADRON PARISH COUNCIL
Chairman: Councillor Mrs Clare Roberts
Clerk to the Council Corner Barn
W.E.(Wib) Wilkins Higher Trevurvas
Tel: 01736 762874 Ashton
E-mail [email protected] Helston TR13 9TZ
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MINUTES OF ANNUAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
MADRON PARISH COUNCIL
HELD AT MADRON COMMUNITY ROOMS
THURSDAY 7th MAY 2015
AFTER ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Draft to be approved on 28th May 2015
Present:
Cllr Mrs C. Roberts (chairman) Cllr V. Peake (vice chairman)
Cllr Mrs A. Jenkin Cllr Mrs G. Burlton
Cllr S. Pritchard Cllr G. Tanner
Cllr H. Eddy Cllr C. Bone
Cllr R. Matthews Cllr S. Bates
Cllr I. Phillips
Cornwall Cllr R. Mann
Clerk, Mr W.E. Wilkins, and 2 members of the public
1 Election of Chairman
Cllr Roberts, proposed by Cllr Peake, seconded by Cllr Bone and unanimously agreed
2. To Receive the Parish Council Chairman’s acceptance of office
Cllr Roberts signed her Acceptance of Office Form and this was countersigned by the clerk.
3. To receive the updated Notification of Financial and other Interests from Councillors
All councillors present signed their Notification of Financial and Other Interest forms and these were handed to the clerk.
4. To elect Vice-Chairman
Cllr Peake, proposed by Cllr Pritchard , seconded by Cllr Jenkin and unanimously agreed.
5. Apologies
Cllr M. Scoble, Cornwall Cllr W. Maddern
6. Declarations of Interest on items on this agenda
Cllr Bone – item 19 Planning, PA15/03482 at Rosemorron Farm, Gulval as a friend of the applicant
7. Dispensations
None
8. To appoint Councillors with Specific Responsibilities for :-
Footpaths and Public Rights of Way Cllrs Tanner and Burlton
Police Liaison Cllrs Pritchard and Bates
Parish Council website Cllrs Scoble and Eddy
Health and Hospital Services Cllrs Jenkin and Pritchard
Transport Cllr Pritchard
Waste Disposal and Re-cycling Cllr Eddy
Planning Councillors Chairman, Cllrs Scoble, Jenkin Tanner, Matthews and any councillor with a specific interest in the matter under consideration
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Auditing councillors (to include risk assessments) Cllrs Tanner and Cllr Scoble
Risk Assessment Cllr Pritchard
Liaison with Playing Field Committee Cllrs Burlton and Bates
Liaison with Madron Parish/Mont Dol Twinning Committee Cllr Roberts
Older Peoples Forum Cllr Matthews
Trustees to Daniel School Foundation Cllrs Jenkin and Bone
Trustees to Tripconi Trust Cllrs Peake and Phillips
Affordable Housing To be decided when needed
Routine maintenance throughout Parish Cllr Bates
Town and Parish Forum representatives Chairman, clerk, Cllr Scoble – any
councillor is entitled to attend if they so wish.
Press Liaison Chairman and Clerk.
All the above appointments were formally proposed by Cllr Peake, seconded by Cllr Pritchard and unanimously accepted.
9. To review the Conditions of Service of the Clerk
It was agreed that this item should be deferred to the end of the meeting
10. To approve Standing Orders
Clerk has adapted the new NALC Standing Orders to conform to the needs of this council and his recommendations have been circulated to councillors by email. He has deleted Standing Order 39(l) which needs written approval by the Council for anyone to film, record or broadcast at any meeting and replaced this with Standing Order 3(2) which now allows filming, recording or broadcasting under changed legislation As there were no objections this was agreed and Chairman signed the approved Standing Orders.
11. To approve Financial Regulations
There are no changes required to the Financial Regulations from previous years when they were formally approved. It was unanimously agreed that the Financial Regulations be adopted. The Regulations were signed as approved by the Chairman.
12. To confirm three signatories to Barclays Mandate for Madron PC.
It was proposed by Cllr Burlton, seconded by Cllr Peake and unanimously agreed that Cllrs Pritchard, Jenkin and Bone continue as signatories
13. Acceptance of Minutes
The minutes of the Ordinary Parish Council Meeting held at Trythall CP School on Thursday 2nd April 2015 and Extraordinary Meeting on 23rd April 2015 were unanimously accepted
14. Public Participation
Mr. Jim Lee from Lawrence Associates Planning Consultants representing Natural Generation and Mr Rodda addressed the meeting as applicants for PA15/03482, the construction of a 25KW photovoltaic solar farm on land north of Rosemorron Farm, Gulval. They spoke of the purpose of the small scale solar farm to support Mr Rodda’s business in an area which was well screened by hedgerows covering an area of approximately one acre. The output was discussed which showed that it would supply the needs of the farm without any substantial extra power and conformed to the business plan of the farm.
15. Police Report
Due to the absence of police officers, the clerk read the police report for April. There was only one crime during the month as opposed to four in the corresponding month last year. Between 1430 and 1630 on 6th April a window of a vehicle parked in a lay-by on the B3312 near Madron was smashed – CR/023187/15 refers .
16. Chairman’s Comments
Cllr Roberts thanked members for her re-appointment as chairman.
17. Councillors’ Questions and Comments
Cllr Pritchard reported that he will attend a meeting concerning the future of Poltair Hospital buildings later in May and he would report back to the next meeting..
18. Comments from Cornwall Councillors
Cornwall Cllr Mann advised members that work on footpath 55 had now been completed and was open for walkers.
He then reported that the finger posts in New Mill were repaired and in place.
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Clerk added that he had been informed that the post at the top of ‘Break my Neck Lane’ had been moved to the opposite side and planning permission had been obtained for this move. Cllr Matthews felt that this was a bad move as the sign could not be seen so well as where it was originally sited. It was agreed that as planning permission had been obtained there was nothing more that this council could do.
Cllr Peake advised the meeting that all finger posts in that area were now in order.
19. Planning
Applications
PA15/03482 – construction of a 250kw photovoltaic solar farm on land north of Rosemorron Farm, Gulval (Cllr Bone declared an interest and left the room) – Madron Parish Council assesses the application as meeting the requirements for accepting a solar PV set out in the report for Cornwall Council “An Assessment of the Landscape Sensitivity to On-shore Wind Energy and Large Scale Solar PV Development in Cornwall (Nov 2013). This report recommends only very small scale, well sited and very occasional solar PV’s should be acceptable in the West Penwith AONB. The application for a 250KW array is small for a solar PV with the scale set to meet the energy needs of the applicant’s farm business, it is very well sited and well screened from view, it is on the very edge of the AONB and there are no other arrays visible from the site. On this basis the application is supported.
Results
PA15/01156 – retention of a dwelling on land SSE of Lower Bosulval Farm, New Mill – refused
Other Planning Matters
None
20. Public Rights of Way
Cllr Tanner informed members that he had walked footpath 24 and found that PAROW had done an excellent job in opening up the path and there are new signposts and gate. He has checked with Jennie Olds at Bolitho Estates and she is happy for us to press ahead with Ginger Lane which has been started. There is now a cleared area and hopefully the lane can be cleared to create a useful route through.
21. Clerk’s Report and Correspondence
Clerk reported that all instructions from the last meeting and extraordinary meeting had been completed.
The next West Penwith Town and Parish Forum will be held at St Clare at 7pm on Thursday 21st May when it is anticipated that senior planning officers will be present to take questions.
James Hardy, as the Community Link Officer, asks for strong support for this meeting and the public are also invited. Cllrs Peake, Pritchard, Jenkin, Tanner agreed to attend with the chairman.. The clerk has never missed a forum but asked to be excused due to an important family commitment
‘Smartwheelie’ have emailed concerning their product of ‘speed awareness wheelie bin stickers’ which cost £43.50 for a pack of 50. These are classed as temporary signs and visual impact is increased as they can only be used once/twice a week. Clerk has discussed this with PC Thomas and it was thought there was a question of legality and as such he could not recommend the use. However if there were speeding issues he would be happy to discuss problems with councillors. It was unanimously agreed that no action should be taken.
22. Case for Cornwall
John Pollard, the leader of Cornwall Council, has circulated to Councils ‘The Case for Cornwall’ in which they list reasons why more responsibilities should be passed to Cornwall Council. This is a 31 page document which has been circulated by email to councillors and Mr Pollard is asking for support from parish councils which can be shown through the link to www.cornwall.gov.uk/standup There is an opportunity to hear about and discuss the ‘Case for Cornwall’ at Penzance One Stop Shop, St Clare at 6.30pm Wednesday 27th May 2015. It was agreed that this should be deferred to the next meeting when support for the ‘Case for Cornwall’ will be considered.
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23. Penzance Town Neighbourhood Plan
Madron Parish Council has been informed that parts of the Penzance Town Neighbourhood Plan affects areas of Madron, Marazion and Ludgvan. A meeting was held with councillors from Penzance and representatives from the affected councils at Penzance on Wednesday 29th April and Madron was represented by Cllrs Peake and Eddy. Cllr Mann attended in his capacity as a Cornwall Councillor.
Cllr Peake reported that the plan was based on benefiting Penzance and surrounding parishes in the future but the main emphasis was on the cost repairing the pathway between Penzance and Marazion and there were some contentious issues reported to Ludgvan representatives. The housing issue was briefly mentioned and it was agreed that some format was required for future issues. Cllrs Peake and Eddy agreed to represent this council at any future meetings on this subject.
24. Common Land 2849 Penwith Moors
Clerk has circulated by email the Planning Inspectorate decision in relation to application COM 576, Carn Downs and land at Bosullow Trehyllis Settlement which has been subject of comments by this council. The application has been approved in part. Cllr Eddy explained that it was only a very small area which had been approved in the decision and it had been well worth fighting for in order to retain the major part of the moors as they are. Comments were made in relation to the thoroughness of the Inspectors report and indeed she had walked the moors to be fully aware of the application.
25. Parish Council Insurance
Clerk reported that Aon Insurance has quoted the same price as last year for the Parish Council Insurance with a reduction if an agreement is made to remain with the company at the same rate for three years. Clerk discussed this with the chairman and auditing councillors and it was felt that the three year agreement was beneficial, but there were amendments to check. Clerk has been in contact with Aon and the two new defibrillators and equipment will be included in street furniture to the value of £60,000, the war memorial will remain as a part of agreement to obtain the present price and allotments will be covered automatically The cost of the cover will be £270.95 or £258.75 if we agree to stay with the company for 3 years.
It was proposed by Cllr Pritchard, seconded by Cllr Jenkin, and unanimously agreed that the quote of £258.75 be accepted and payment made for the new insurance to commence on 1st June 2015.
26. Finance
Clerk has circulated, by email and hard copies, details of the Receipts and Payments and all accounts to councillors with the agendas for this meeting. These accounts have been audited by Cllrs Scoble and Tanner as auditing councillors throughout the year and at the end of the financial year. An independent internal audit has been carried out by Mr D. Gallie, the ex-clerk to Penzance and he has responded to the effect that all accounts are correct in good order with a proper paper trail and he is pleased to endorse them as approved.
It was proposed by Cllr Jenkin, seconded by Cllr Peake and unanimously agreed that the accounts for the financial year 2014-2015 be accepted and approved. Clerk will now send off the details and forms to Grant Thornton on behalf of the Audit Commission.
Clerk reported that he had submitted a VAT refunding return to HMRC for the sum of £2580.18 for the last financial year and payment is awaited.
It was proposed by Cllr Bone , seconded by Cllr Eddy and unanimously agreed that: the following accounts be paid:-
W.E. Wilkins, clerk – salary £620.13, office allowance £30.00, mileage £ 38.70, disbursements £ 53.34; HMRC – PAYE and Nat. Ins. £168.45; D.J.L. Gallie – audit and PAYE assistance £120.00; Cllr Pritchard – mileage payment to St Erme (with Cllrs Scoble, Tanner and clerk) for audit and risk assessment training £30.60
It was agreed that a request for a donation from ‘Homestart’ Cornwall be deferred to the last meeting of the financial year.
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9. To review the service and conditions of the clerk – deferred.
It was proposed by Cllr Matthews, seconded by Cllr Eddy and unanimously agreed that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst this item is discussed on the grounds that it may disclose exempt information in accordance with Part 1, Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972.
Clerk reported that he is paid at NALC scale 26 for 65 hours per month with an office allowance of £30.00 per month and mileage at 45 pence per mile. (Clerk left the room at this point). It was proposed by Cllr Bone, seconded by Cllr Burlton that the clerk should be now paid on salary scale 27.
Clerk reported that he had received a request from Penzance Police to comment confidentially on a local matter and this was done in a proper manner.
27. Time and Date of Next Meeting
7.30pm, Thursday 28th May 2015 at Trythall CP School (to avoid the Royal Cornwall Show on first Thursday in June)