BAYDON VILLAGE NEWS

Baydon Parish Council Meeting of Monday 19^th October 2009

A County Councillor, three Parish Councillors and several members of the public attended the meeting in the BYPA Hall on Monday 19^th October. Cllr Tony Prior chaired the meeting and began by making a plea for people to fill the 3 vacancies on the Parish Council.

Mr Prior announced that Mrs Rowan Cockcroft was to begin as Parish Clerk at the next meeting.

Mrs April Dukes observed that the road saltbox in Manor Lane had been removed. Mr Prior agreed to look into the matter. The street light in Manor Lane also needed attention.

Planning:

The application for an extension to 8 Ermin Close had been refused.

The fence around the new driveway entrance into Finches Farm will need retrospective planning.

An invitation to speak about the Baydon Resource Group was sent to Mr Steve Webb, but Mr Webb did not attend the meeting.

The Bonfire committee Trevor Dominy and Jim Grove attended the meeting and requested stewards from the Parish Council. Chairman Tony Prior agreed to help out.

Mrs Debbie Moxon, Baydon Post Office Stores, has been asked to provide a shorter Christmas tree than last year, and Mr Jim Grove has agreed to dig the hole for the tree.

The Terms of Reference for the Traffic Calming Working Group (TCWG) were considered and approved. It was also agreed to acquire traffic calming gates for the main entrances to the village at a cost of £1,074.70 Inc VAT. The gates would be painted by councillors and erected free of charge by Highways. Cllr Tamsin Witt agreed to prepare a grant application. Cllr Michael Edmonds suggested that there be press coverage when the gates are erected.

A letter to Highways requesting reflective surrounds on the 30mph signs and additional signage asking for careful driving was considered and approved.

Cllr Witt proposed to look on eBay and buy 30mph stickers for wheelie bins when they are available. Cllr Tony Prior said that he thought the impact that stickers caused had now passed and they no longer made a difference. The matter was deferred.

A decision was made at the Parish Council meeting on 15^th October 2007 to set aside an area of the Parish Field for allotments. The Parish Council therefore resolved to retrospectively appropriate, pursuant to the Local Government Act 1972, that the piece of land west of a line along the boundary of Willow House and extending down to the Ermin Street boundary, be classed and recorded as statutory allotment land, consisting of 15 plots. Mr Prior gave a short history of the field and added that after the Parish Council had advertised their intentions in the local press only 2 letters of objection had been received, from just one person. Due consideration had been given, he added, to those letters, however the proposal that allotments be sited on the field was also considered and approved. It was also agreed that an application for a grant be submitted for a water supply to the Parish Field.

Cllr Tony Prior said that an application for the Playbuilder grant scheme had been submitted but unfortunately Baydon, it appears, were not successful. Mr Prior is to write asking why Baydon were not considered when other towns and villages in Wiltshire received large grants.

Cllr Edmonds suggested the Parish Council apply for a Lottery grant.

It was proposed to spend up to £50 on leaflet circulation throughout the village as the final stage of consultation concerning the proposed play area. The proposal and the content of the leaflet were approved and agreed.

It was agreed to put into place a procedure to retrieve the Parish Council email correspondence and its access codes from the previous Clerk starting with a solicitor’s letter.

A letter had been received in July 2009 referring to previous correspondence of June 2006 concerning street lighting in the new development adjacent to Aldbourne Road, now to be known as Newton’s Walk, but no plans were available. Cllr Prior said that they should be sodium in keeping with the rest of the village. County Councillor Chris Humphries suggested that if it were an adopted highway, Wiltshire County Council would take the decision. It was agreed to defer decisions until a plan was submitted. It was agreed in principle that there should be lighting in Newton’s Walk.

Finances:

The Bonfire / Firework committee were paid £200

The repayment of £1,067.24 being the residual balance from the Village Plan account is to be paid to Community First.

It was agreed that Cllrs Alison Tomkins and Tony Prior be signatories for the Parish Councils two Lloyds TSB accounts. The closure of the Nationwide account was discussed. As the account was set up wrongly when transferred from the Portman some years ago the bank have advised closing the account.

Cllr Edmonds suggested keeping Parish Council monies in one bank with three accounts. Royal Bank of Scotland was agreed upon. Which monies would be kept in which account would be decided at a separate meeting.

Cllr Prior said that due to a mistake made by the previous Clerk he had quoted the wrong figure when referring to the unallocated reserves in the Parish Council accounts. The true figure was £3,400.

Sections 1 & 2 of the Annual Returns were finally agreed and signed.

It was agreed to make a formal resolution making Cllr Michael Edmonds the Responsible Financial Officer at the next meeting.

The 2010 – 2011 Budget was considered and approved and the Precept set at £2,000 less than the current year.

The acting Clerk is to contact the Parish Steward’s office to ensure that the 30mph signs are visible on each side of the village.

Questions from Public Time will be included in Items for the Next Meeting in future.

It was agreed that 11^th January 2010, 15^th February 2010 and 29^th March 2010 will be the dates for Parish Council meetings until the end of this financial year.

The play area, noticeboard on Downsmead and draft Allotment Tenancy Agreements are to be discussed at the next meeting on 30^th November 2009.

The meeting closed at 9.15pm.

Barbara Furber

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