Baydon Parish Council Meeting of Monday 11th August 2014

News report by Mark Austen

 

 

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 Ermin Street and Manor Lane to properly assess the effectiveness of the chicane and any impact on Manor Lane. Wiltshire Highways will also then be invited along to a local village meeting to discuss the results.

 

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 (Aldbourne Road / Oxford Road) was on the list for a C Road review, which may consider moving the start of Baydon’s 30mph speed limit area outwards to where the village white gates currently are.  Councillor Tamsin Witt had also been invited to attend a recent Aldbourne traffic calming meeting, with Aldbourne keen to explore the possibility of setting up a Community SpeedWatch scheme which had been so successful for Baydon in provided detailed statistics of speeding over a long period of time and contributed to the successful bid for substantial government funding to pay for the chicane project.

 

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), Thames Water (£5.86), Clerk’s training day (£54), and the reimbursement of some stationery costs to Councillor Tony Prior.

 

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 Marlborough Area Board (MAB) grant given to the Baydon Toddler Group.

 

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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