1 Apologies for Absence: L Port Absent: R Beale

2 Declaration of Interests

a) S Dickie declared an interest in the planning application for land at St Michaels’ Gardens and Lightgate Lane.

b) R Shutler declared an interest in the planning application for West End Close.

c) J Broughton declared an interest in the planning application for the Esso Service Station.

3 Youth PC

a) The Youth PC expressed concern about the possible road giving access to the development behind Lightgate Lane and the safety of those using the Youth Club as the proposed road would come so close to the Youth Club making access difficult.

b) South Petherton Youth Parish Council came second in a national competition organised by the Youth Opportunities Fund and have won £13, 500. They have not yet decided how to send this but one suggestion was workshops for the young people in South Petherton eg dance.

c) They recently organised and attended a residential course for sixty young people held at Avon Tyrell in the New Forest. There were a number of workshops, and they lead the workshops on how to organise and work as Youth Parish Council.

4 Late Correspondence

Will be dealt with under the appropriate agenda item.

5 Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the monthly meeting held on 13 March 2007 were approved and signed as a correct record.

6 Matters Arising

a) Market Towns Initiative - There is £50,000 available for capital projects for the Market Towns and a smaller amount available for CCTV.

b) Applications for funding from the Aggregates Levy have to be made by 16 April 2007.

7 New Planning Applications

a) 01172ful Residential development of 55 dwellings and associated works on and adjoining St Michaels’ Gardens and Lightgate Lane and 01252ful Create an entrance to the development from Lightgate Lane. The Parish Council recommend refusal of both applications, as they do not match the requirement of the Local Plan.

It was agreed in the Local Plan that there should be two entrances to the development and a specified number of houses, which was 51 houses. Both accesses are dangerous and will require work at Lightgate to provide safe access. Concern about vehicle access so close to the Youth Club premises. The Parish Council will reconsider the plans when they comply with the Local Plan and the proposal does not include an ransom strips or ‘hammer head’ roads allowing for future development. There are a number of misleading factual inaccuracies in the text supporting the application.

b) 01271adv Erection of one internally illuminated pylon sign at SP Service Station. The Parish Council recommended refusal. The revised position of this sign is much closer to the roundabout than that originally proposed. It will be too high and too dominating at the roundabout causing a possible distraction to traffic on this busy road. The current illuminated sign at the SP Service Station is easily visible to traffic travelling from the east so this traffic needs no further information to indicate the presence of a service station. Moving the sign closer to the roundabout will not make the service station any more visible to traffic travelling from the west, as it will not be visible to this traffic until such time as the traffic is actually manoeuvring on the roundabout and hence could cause a distract an and possible accidents. Considering this it will be an excess of unnecessary signage.

c) 01128ful Erection of a conservatory AT Cranleigh, 8 Lightgate Road. The Parish Council recommended approval.

d) 01396lbc and 01394ful Formation of a smoking shelter at The Brewers Arms, St James Street. The Parish Council recommended approval.

e) 01252ful Demolition of nos 2 -16(even only) West End Close and garage blocks in West End View and the erection of 19 dwellings and associated additional car parking. The Parish Council recommended refusal because of over development of the site, being of higher density than the Stoodham development. Also because of concerns about parking on the narrow road despite the provision of parking spaces as these were not close to the dwellings and most people park in front of their home not in separate parking spaces. The houses open directly onto the pavement. The parking spaces that are proposed next to the dwellings are too narrow and in tandem so inappropriate for the need. The proposed road is narrow which with parking may make access difficult for farm vehicles accessing the agricultural land at the back.

e) 01294ful Erection of a tractor/trailer shed on land adjacent to Barcroft Lane. The Parish Council recommended approval, but would first like clarification on whether an agricultural need has to be demonstrated for a planning application such as this.

06/04464cou The change of use of ground floor of premises for hot food takeaway at 8 St James Street. To be reconsidered as it had not previously been advertised properly. Their concerns are: -

· The extraction of smells at the back of the building so close to residential properties

· The additional pressure on a drainage system, which is already under strain to cope with the needs of the existing properties.

· The lack of any rear access, so where would waste be stored prior to collection.

· The close proximity of residential properties. South Petherton Parish Council strongly recommends a site visit to view the rear of these properties and see how close they are to each other.

· Problems of noise, smells, fumes and general disturbance in a mainly residential area of the village centre.

· Pressure on parking which is already limited both daytime and evening in South Petherton.

· The grouping of two similar businesses so close together seems inappropriate in a mainly residential area.

· A potential increase in anti social behaviour and rubbish. Whilst appreciated that this might be a police rather than a planning issue, it is not something to be ignored.

8 County Councillor’s Report

a) SCC has been awarded four stars for excellence by the audit commission.

b) The waste disposal tax is to increase by £8 per ton for the next three years, so by 2010 will be £40 plus the cost of collection and disposal.

c) The government have recommended a single unitary authority and there will now be a consultation period to collect views. Meetings have been arranged in Shepton Mallet and Wiveliscombe. County and Unitary Authority councillors will be full time paid councillors.

d) Progress is being made towards Local Area Working is SCC, the next meeting has been arranged for 24 April 2007 at Victoria Hall, Crewkerne, to date no details have been received. There will be one panel for the whole of south Somerset with local areas below that. Areas similar to those of the SSDC local areas were considered but areas based on the market towns are now being considered.

9 District Councillors’ Report

a) The Scrutiny Committee met to discuss advertising in public places after a complaint the a parish council’s notices had been taken down. A protocol was agreed where by notices could be put up for a limited period of time if removed promptly.

b) The A303 proposed improvements were debated at the District Executive and it was recommended that the Parish Council’s letter should be included in its entirety.

c) Waterlinks was launched last week.

d) Bus service 680 from South Petherton to Yeovil, which is operated by Safeway buses, is being discontinued and Safeway Buses are closing down all public services in May. The route is being taken over by SW Coaches so it is likely to be a Silver Line bus on that route with no break in the service. The timetable has not yet been announced but it will be an hourly service.

e) SSDC have been awarded a third National Beacon, this is for the actions and ability of front line councillors.

f) SSDC has also been awarded the Local Government Chronicle and Health Services Journal Sustainable Communities Community Leaders Award for engaging with the community.

g) The District Councillors elected in May will serve for a minimum of a two-year term, even with the introduction of the Unitary Authority.

10 Enforcement Issues

The response from T Carroll the SSDC Leader of the Council only arrived on the day of the meeting, so Parish Councillors had not had the opportunity to se the response. R Shutler reported that he had received five enforcement notices that morning but as there are still other enforcement issue outstanding in the parish that affect the quality of life of parishioners, it was decided to deal with the content of this letter at this meeting rather than defer it. There was nothing new in the letter that the Parish Council did not know other than the fact that the new monitoring officers would not be in post until 2008/2009. P Robathan continues to discuss the outstanding issues in South Petherton so can let the clerk have details. A proposal that a complaint of maladministration by SSDC in this respect should be made to the Ombudsman was agreed.

11 Market Towns Initiative

a) South Petherton were able to join the other Market Towns in the project for Interpretation Boards. These have now been designed and will be situated in St James Street car park, the Recreation Ground car park and on the corner by the main entrance to the parish church on the corer near the hairdressers and should be in place late summer.

b) A quick decision is needed if South Petherton is to be involved with the CCTV part of the project. After discussion it was agreed not to pursue this.

c) The Parish Council supported the idea of purchasing flashing speed signs as part of the capital funding project as there is evidence that these have reduced speed in the villages.

12 Community Woodland Initiative

a) At the last meeting it was agreed that the fence between the cemetery and the community woodland should be removed but after considering the views of parishioners the fence has been left with a gap sufficient for the grass cutting machinery to pas through and the area levelled and seeded. At sometime in the future consideration will need to be given to replacing the fence and installing a gate. It was queried why a decision of the Parish Council was changed with out referring back to the Parish Council. It was accepted that this should not have happened.

b) A cheque for £2,350 has been received from SCC as a grant towards the community woodland tree planting.

13 Approval of Cheque Payments

a) Approval was given for cheques drawn as indicated on the list attached to these minutes plus a cheque for £35,000 to transfer some of the precept into a deposit account.

b) The line marking at the recreation ground car park was eventually put right but not without a level of difficulty with the contractor, who refused to meet on site to discuss the problem, so the cheque has now been paid.

c) With the number of Parish Councillors not standing for re-election, at the May Parish Council meeting there will not be enough Parish Councillors who are mandated to sign cheques. To ensure that invoices continue to be paid it was agreed that one of the current but retiring Parish Councillors would be asked to continue to sign cheques until the new mandate could be put in place.

14 Highways

a) The draft report on the A303 proposed development that was considered by the SSDC Scrutiny Committee will be sent to the Highways Agency as the Parish Council response. J Sharpe requested a copy so that he could ensure that the SCC response covered the same points.

b) An acceptable quote has been received for the installation of two solar-powered light son South Street Bridge.

c) A breakdown of the costs fort the George Lane lights has been received and following a request to see the design of light for which the quote had been obtained, Somerset Lighting have chosen a completely different design that has not been discussed with South Petherton. Hence a new quote will now have to be obtained.

d) A request for no parking signs in front of the garages and entrance in St James Street was supported by the Parish Council.

15 Footpaths

a) There is concern over the siting of a new gate in Over Stratton. The SCC officer who approved the gate did not make a site visit and the gate is not believed to be in the correct place, so the consultation process that should have happened originally will now be put into place.

b) The South Petherton walking guide in with the printers. S Wallis and P Kidner were thanked for their work on this.

c) S Wallis and P Kidner have offered to complete the SSDC footpath questionnaire.

16 Recreation Ground

a) The car park gate has now been installed and is being locked each night. The Lengthsman will be asked to look at a method of securing the gate to the fence in the open position during the day. The bolt for the gate has split the pier and is not secure so the contractor will be asked to carry out remedial work.

b) The Bowling Club are going to be inviting the Parish Council to a bowls afternoon on 20 May 2007, similar to last year.

c) The new cricket netting is in place.

d) The BMX track has been sprayed and the work will soon be done to improve the surface.

17 Cemetery

It was agreed that the grass maintenance contractor should hire a skip to remove the soil from the grave digging and the general garden waste that has been fly tipped at the cemetery before keeping this area clear as part of the grass maintenance contract.

18 Churchyard

The clerk has met with D Durrant, the SSDC Building Control Officer to discuss what work is needed to repair the piers and wall of the churchyard. His report has yet to be received.

19 Blake Hall

a) A standing order has not yet been set up by the Sports and Social Club.

b) The scaffolding and repairs to the Blake Hall roof and bell tower is being organised and paid for by The Blake Hall Committee.

20 To Consider

a) Annual Parish Meeting - The agenda will include PC Mark Edgington, South Petherton Youth Parish Council, SPRINC, the Scouts to mark their centenary and South Petherton Bowling Club to mark 75 years. Parish Councillors are asked to arrive at 6.30pm for a photograph.

b) Internal Audit - S Doble has indicated that he will not be able to take on the role of Internal Auditor. It was suggested that D Farr be approached as well as the clerk at Hinton St George who has previously indicated that he might be interested in the role.

c) Community Council for Somerset - It was agreed to subscribe

d) Date of May Parish Council Meeting Following the Elections - As there are insufficient nominations for there to be an election the May Parish Council meeting will still be on 8 May 2007.

e) Local Action Group - The chairman and clerk attended a meeting of the Area North Community Safety Action Panel to discuss the problems of anti-social behaviour in South Petherton and seek help from other agencies. A meeting of a Local Action Group has been arranged for 26 April 2007. N Greenleaf and P Mottram will attend as C Hockey is away. It was noted that Zara Scott- Davies, the Youth Worker, has been promoted and it is not yet known who her replacement will be.

f) Publication Scheme - Under the Freedom of information Act every Parish Council should have a publication scheme. It was agreed in principle; to adopt the draft prepared by R Neve, who will now complete this work.

g) SPRINC Membership - It was agreed to write to the Parish Council representatives before the May Parish Council meeting to ask if they wished to continue as the Parish Council representatives to SPRINC.

h) Smoke Free Somerset - The pavilion and Blake Hall will be made aware of the new regulations and will be asked to confirm that they are complying.

i) Street Trading - There will be no response made to this consultation.

j) Water Supply Across Pitway Allotments - It was agreed that Mr Powers could also have a water supply across Pitway allotments, but they both have to get the legal agreements place and pay the cost for this themselves.

21 Questionnaires to be completed

SCC, Highway Related Services - S Wallis offered to complete

22 Meetings

SCC, Unitary Proposals - R Neve offered to attend

The meeting closed to the public at 10.30pm and the clerk’s salary and hours were discussed.

The meeting closed at 10.35pm

Chairman……………………… Date…………….