1 Apologies for Absence - Mrs C Forsey and Mr J Johnson

2 Youth Parish Council

a) There are seven new members to be elected and interviews are next week and it is hoped that some of the ‘new’ group will be included.

b) A grant application has been made to SSDC for an event to coincide with SP carnival.

c) There are plans to upgrade the Youth Club facilities but the grant application missed the date for the Youth Opportunities Fund so other sources of funding are being investigated.

d) A ‘wish list’ has been started at the Youth Club.

e) An ‘art wall’ will be the next project.

3 Declaration of Interests

M Willy declared an interest in the application for a grant from the Methodist Church for a families and young people’s worker.

4 Late Correspondence

Covered under the relevant agenda item.

5 Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the monthly meeting held on 6 May 2008 were approved and signed as a correct record.

6 Matters Arising

On investigation it seems that the system for contacting Somerset Highways has only changed for District Councillors but not for the Parish Council.

7 New Planning Applications

a) 02021ful The erection of a conservatory to the rear of 2 Old Vicarage Gardens. SPPC recommended approval

b) 01935lbc Repainting windows and doors to the front elevation of the house and garage doors dark oak brown at 1 Palmer Street. SPPC recommended approval.

c) 01922ful The erection of a conservatory at the rear of 3 Coach House, North Street. SPPC recommended approval.

d) 00726rem The erection of 31 houses, amended plans on land at Hayes End. SPPC recommended refusal as the concerns and comments made previously by residents and SPPC have not been addressed. The comments from last time will be repeated and emphasised.

e) 01553ful Erection of conservatory at Well Cottage, Silver Street. SPPC recommended approval.

8 Highway Matters

a) A site meeting with Somerset Highways has been requested to discuss the traffic problems in Harp Road but to date there has been no progress on this. A flashing mobile speed sign has been requested through the SSDC Market Towns Initiative which may help in the short term.

b) A most unsatisfactory response to the request for a pavement in Lightgate has been received. A response to this effect will be sent to Sonia Davidson-Grant at SCC.

c) The concern about the safety of the trees in Carey’s Hollow has been referred to Somerset Highways who have asked the SCC arborist to inspect them.

d) Somerset Highways has been asked to deal with the pot hole by Creedy Bridge.

e) K Dexter will discuss the ideas for improving the signing in Hayes End with Somerset Highways. This to include moving the 30mph sign closer the Hayes End roundabout and including twinning sign near the ham stone SP sign.

9 Footpaths

J Johnson has made contact with Somerset Highways to improve Doctors Row. They have agreed that some repairs are necessary but do not feel that it is currently unsafe. Some of the problems are being caused by over hanging branches from neighbouring properties. As it is in a Conservation Area they are consulting with the SCC Conservation Team. They have raised the point that with the blue lias stone they will need to balance what can be done against the cost. SPPC have emphasised the need for this to be repaired in a similar style as it is a feature of SP.

10 Recreation Ground

a) The football pitch is to be moved about four yards to make it easier to accommodate the new youth shelter. Quotes will be obtained for this work to be done.

b) The football pitch was sprayed last year and initially it was thought that spraying would not be necessary this year, but this is not the case. The cost will be £85 and Somerset Landscapes will be asked to carry out this work.

c) To date only one quote has been received to rebuild the steps at Bridge Road.

d) The Garden of Remembrance and the possible moving of the memorial stone is to be discussed with the PCC.

11 Cemetery

a) A cedar tree has come down and is lying across some head stones. Quotes will be obtained and in order to facilitate the work being done, it was agreed that J Broughton, S Dickie and R Neve would consider these rather than wait until the next meeting.

b) It was agreed to precept next year to replace the hedge with a fence. The existing railings to be retained and to consider extending with something similar. Advice will be sought on what sort of fencing should be considered for this site.

c) There is still a head stone and base that has been moved in to the Community Woodland. The stone mason will be asked again to remove this.

12 Churchyard

a) Mrs Heard and Mr Ballard have now started to work on the flower beds in the churchyard. It is expected that the side beds will be just spring bulbs.

b) The rector and the Chancellor of Wells have some concerns that they would like addressed about the trees and possibility of fencing. Clarification will be sought on what is required to keep the church yard in good order.

c) The quotes for the repairs to the wall will be discussed at the end of the meeting

13 Approval of Cheque Payments

a) Approval was given for cheques 3701 - 3710, value £6260.76, drawn as indicated on the list attached to these minutes.

b) The cheque for George Lane lights that was signed at the last meeting in order not to delay matters further has not been sent as the invoice from Somerset Lighting has still not been received

14 Donation Requests

a) A list of requests showing a possible value of donation was circulated as a starting point to the discussion, but all figures and recipients are open to change after discussion.

b) A decision on a donation towards the fencing of the allotments was deferred as the total cost could be £16,000 if all sides were fenced as was being considered. Although the intention was to start with just two sides, there was concern that the problems would not be addressed until all four sides had been fenced. A chain link fence was not favoured by everyone so other quotes for deer fence with barbed wire similar to that at Scott’s fields will be obtained.

c) The meeting was closed to receive an explanation of ‘Breathe’. They are one of already thirty communities across the country with concerns about climate change; starting with education and awareness that want to encourage people to think about the future.

d) The Methodist Church proposal for a youth and families worker is a three year project; SPPC are considering a request for this year and will then review future years.

e) Donations were agreed as per the list attached to these minutes. Further requests will be considered in October.

15 Internal Auditor’s Report

Responses to the points raised by the internal auditor were discussed and noted. It was agreed that there would be no change to the current fidelity insurance cover.

16 County Councillor’s Report

a) There will be funding for local initiatives to meet the Local Area Agreement and there will be a meeting on 3 June 2008 to give guidance on how the £15,000 allocated to each County Councillor should be spent. R Neve will attend the meeting. Last year SP received £5,000 for each of two projects, CAB in SP and a youth worker for an additional evening each week. This year there can be a maximum of five projects in each Ward and J Sharpe is proposing that this is based on population so approximately £6,000 for SP, so SP should identify a principle and back up project for consideration.

b) J Sharpe will look at the issue of why the library service was throwing away plastic carrier bags because advertising was out of date, which seems to be against other recycling policies, but he thought there would be a commercial reason behind it.

c) The response to the lack of pavement in Lightgate and George Lane light were mentioned again so that J Sharpe could be made aware of the lack of progress. He suggested inviting Tony Shires the portfolio holder to the next SPPC meeting. It was suggested that before he comes to the SPPC meeting he should visit Lightgate at about 3.30pm when the children are going home from school.

17 District Councillors’ Report

a) The emergency planning worked well in last week’s heavy rain and there were relatively few flooded houses. Pre-filled sandbags were made available. The Sunrise Festival was cancelled and 5,000 people were assisted with blankets and food.

b) A new woodland grant scheme has been launched and a there is also a new grant scheme to encourage landlords to get properties back into a condition suitable for letting

c) In the Comprehensive Performance Assessments, SSDC is in the top twenty of the fastest improving councils. d) The Chief Executives of SCC and SSDC have met to discuss how £20 million can be saved over the next five years by working together, streamlining and outsourcing. This follows the discussions last year on the future of both councils and now the savings have to be made.

18 To Consider

a) Market Towns Investment Group – CCT and radio links were discussed at the meeting in March. PCSO P Brember has discussed radio links with local businesses but there is little support for this idea in SP.

b) Review of BT Pay Phones – BT are not proposing to remove any of the SP pay phones.

c) Yeovil Sports Ground – SPPC had no view to give as they did not feel this would be of any benefit to residents of SP.

19 Meetings

a) South Somerset together AGM, 18 June 2008 – no one was available to attend.

b) South Somerset Area Working Panel, 3 June 2008 – R Neve will attend.

The meeting then closed to the public to discuss the quotes for the work on the churchyard wall.

20 Churchyard Wall Repairs

The PCC and the church architects will be consulted on the scope of the work and SPPC selected Martock Masonry to carry out the work. It was noted that the dioceses can grant a faculty for Health and Safety reasons i.e. the wall is a safety issue.

Chairman……………………… Date…………….