Baydon Parish Council Meeting of
Monday 11th August 2014
News report by
The Parish Council meeting was held at the BYPA Hall on Monday 11th August 2014 with Mr Andy Knowles in the chair. All councillors were present except Councillor John Cockcroft who had sent his apologies and was on holiday. Wiltshire Councillor James Sheppard also attended the meeting, together with 6 members of the public.
Councillor Tony Prior declared an interest in Agenda item
7.6 regarding the introduction of a £30 deposit for allotment plot holders.
Councillor Andy Knowles stated that the Parish Clerk had resigned last week, and this was to be discussed at Agenda item 7.1.
The Minutes for the last meeting of 30th June
2014 were approved.
The meeting was then suspended for Public Question
Time :-
A comment was made that the local footpath known as Baydon 2
had become very overgrown and in need of maintenance.
There was then a debate about the physical traffic calming
project which became very argumentative at times. Two members of the public
stated that the new chicanes were not working and they believed had actually
made speeding worse along that stretch of Ermin Street, and that other traffic
calming measures needed to be considered. In response the Parish Councillors
explained that many other alternatives to slow the traffic down had already
been considered but for various reasons they had not been a feasible option. It
was agreed that the Contractors undertaking the road project on behalf of
Wiltshire Council had not completed the work within the original outline
schedule, which was some 2 to 3 weeks but the work had started 3 months ago and
still was not finished. Wiltshire Councillor James Sheppard agreed to chase up
the completion of the works, with the street lighting still not finished. Once
the work had been completed, there would be a thorough review of the traffic
flow and speeds along both
Concerns were expressed again about blocked drains especially
with the recent heavy rain. Wiltshire Councillor James Sheppard agreed to
follow this up.
It was asked if the income could also be shown on the
published Parish Finances statements, such as those on the Baydon website. Councillor
Tony Prior explained that the annual Precept monies could easily be added to
the current financial reports and that he would look at this further.
It was noted that a few residents had allowed their garden
hedges to grow out and partially block adjacent pavements, and the Parish
Council noted the details of the houses concerned.
Mark Farrell and Jim Grove then spoke about the defibrillator
fund raising that they had been involved with and they had collected £650 to
date. In the last few days they had become aware that the local NHS were
providing loan defibrillators to villages that were able to provide their own
special cabinet and an approved location, but they needed a further £120 to
purchase such a cabinet. The equipment (worth approx. £1,600) would then be
provided to Baydon on a 4 year free loan during which time the NHS would also
fund its maintenance (a cost of approx. £400 per year). The Parish Council were
keen to understand the detail of the terms and conditions such as paying for
training, what happened after the 4 years. Mark Farrell and Jim Grove explained
that there was a very tight deadline as there were now only 2 loan defibrillators
left and although the Parish Council could not agree to provide the £120
shortfall as the item was not on this meeting’s Agenda could they confirm that they
are happy to support the idea of the project as the NHS required such support.
The Parish Council agreed that they were fully behind the project and would
discuss providing the £120 at their next meeting, in the meantime the shortfall
would be made up personally by the fund raisers.
Correspondence :-
There had not been any recent correspondence. Councillor
Andy Knowles stated that he was now going to look back through the history of
the Parish Clerk emails over the last few months to ensure no important correspondence
had been missed.
Planning :-
14/06977/FUL re a single storey extension to the rear of 1
Ash Terrace was discussed and there were no objections.
Since the last Parish Council meeting planning applications
for the footpath surface at Baydon House Farm and for window replacement to
Woodley Cottage had both been approved with conditions. No Wiltshire Council
decisions had been made regarding planning applications to the rear of Foxfield
and Escots, nor regarding the proposed house and farm buildings at Baydon
Valley Farm although Highways had objected due to the poor access roads.
Items for consideration :-
Following a performance review meeting last week, Angelina Grieve
had resigned as Parish Clerk. The Parish Council thanked Angelina and confirmed
that sadly they were back to not having a Clerk again.
The Parish Councillors agreed to arrange on a visit by visit
basis as to who would coordinate and plan works for future Parish Steward visits
to Baydon, although there may now only be 1 or 2 such visits each year. The
next Parish Steward visit will be Thursday 9th October 2014.
It was agreed to meet Pittmans to discuss the village grass
cutting contract and confirm exactly what land was covered and if they could
clear the nettles by the zip wire on the Parish Field. There was uncertainty
regarding the continued inclusion of the BYPA Hall grass cutting within the contract
and this is to be reviewed.
After a discussion about the introduction of a £30 deposit
from allotment plot holders, to be used if a plot was left in an unmanaged
state, with the need to change the current tenancy agreement, etc it was agreed
to defer this issue to a subsequent meeting.
Possible dates were considered for the next two village
Litter Picks, just the date of the next Litter Pick was set, being 10am on
Saturday 11th October being just after the Parish Steward visit.
Councillor Tamsin Witt gave an update regarding Baydon
getting a BYPA youth worker. A youth worker plus a couple of volunteers had
been found, but to be successful this also needed the support of parents to
volunteer to help. A related questionnaire has been handed out to Baydon school
children at the end of term asking for their comments on what they would like
to do and on which night. This questionnaire is now also available on the
Baydon website.
£4,305 of s106 money was still available to purchase
additional items for the playground on the Parish Field. Some quotes had been
obtained for 2 sets of swings, but a quote was also needed from Miracle who provided
the original play equipment plus this would ensure the new items matched what
was already there.
Councillor Tamsin Witt gave an update regarding a recent
Marlborough Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting that she had
attended. Manor Lane was now on the reserve list for a 20mph speed limit
review. Also the road between Baydon and Aldbourne (
It was agreed to start the process to assess what traffic
calming options would be feasible at the cricket field and shop end of Ermin
Street as this process may well take a few years, but any decision would be
after the review of the impact the chicanes at the other end of the village
have had on slowing traffic down.
It would soon be time to order the village Christmas Tree,
and the Parish Council will investigate the kind offer of a tree by the
Johnsons at Baydon House Farm. If a tree did need to be purchased then a budget
of £200 for a 22 foot tree was set. The reappearance of a hole on the Village
Green where last year’s tree was needs to be investigated and made safe if
required.
The date for the annual Christmas Carols around the village
Christmas Tree was set as 6pm for a 6.30pm start on Friday 19th December,
being the last day of Baydon school term. Local brass band players are to be
contacted to see if they will be able to accompany the carols again this year.
A decision on the provision of mulled wine and mince pies was deferred to the
next meeting.
Quotes are to be obtained for replacing the dead trees on
the Village Green. It was agreed to replace the dead trees with the same or
similar types of tree.
It was noted that the annual Baydon fireworks evening will
be on Saturday 8th November 2014.
Finance :-
The RBS Bank had improved their management of the Parish
bank accounts recently, plus will soon be allowing cash to be paid in via the
Post Office so a possible move of banks was put on hold. Changes to have the
bank interest paid gross of tax and to the bank signatory mandate are also
taking place.
Some previous HMRC estimated assessments for the PAYE and
National Insurance relating to the Clerk’s salary had resulted in a small
refund now being due, which Councillor Tony Prior is dealing with.
The outgoing Clerk’s travel expenses of £54 for attending
Parish Council meetings, the Parish Assembly, etc were approved.
Payments between meetings were approved for Pittmans grass
cutting (£72),
The Parish finances balances stood at £28,217.98 (Treasurers
account as 15th July 2014), £2,909.86 (Reserve account as 11th
August 2014) and petty cash of £9.58 (as 11th August 2014) being a
total of £31,137.42.
Items to note :-
The baby change unit has now been installed in the BYPA Hall
and was made possible by funding from a
Councillor Tony Prior stated that he had been through past
Parish Council Minutes and discovered a number of items that had not been fully
addressed at the time, and that it would be beneficial to keep a list of
outstanding action points. It was noted that such a list had been issued as an
appendix to Minutes in the passed, plus also that a good example of such issues
included Barbara Furber obtaining quotes for a footpath rail and providing
these to the Parish Council but then the item disappearing off subsequent
meeting Agendas.
The meeting then closed at 10.26pm.
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