1 Apologies for Absence: Mrs M Davidson, Mr B Davis and Mr L Port.

2 South Petherton Village Plan

a) David Lingham gave a presentation on the SP VP. It was proposed by C Willy and seconded by M Willy that the Parish Council should adopt the SP VP. The team that produced the plan were thanked for their commitment and hard work. It was agreed that in future it would be known as the South Petherton Parish Plan to better reflect the area that it covered and the importance of an annual review was emphasised.

b) It was agreed that once the SP PP Action Booklet was available there would be two presentations, one in the afternoon and one in the evening to inform parishioners. This is likely to be in January 2006, so in the shorter term it is planned to send a newsletter to every household explaining progress to date.

3 Declaration of Interests

There were no declarations of interest.

4 Co-option of Parish Councillor

The co-option if Ms Nikki Greenleaf to the Parish Council was confirmed.

5 Young People’s Parish Council

There were no members of the YP PC present.

6 Late Correspondence

a) A questionnaire about Health Care, which was passed to M Willy and S Dickie for completion

b) An application form from English Heritage and Wolfson Trust for a grant to the war memorial repairs. The grant is up to a maximum of 50%. The Parish Council agreed to proceed on the basis that their contribution is likely to be approximately £1,500.

c) M Robinson has made a donation for the cost of a bench to be sited at the cemetery.

7 Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the monthly meeting held on 13 September 2005 were signed as a correct record of the meeting.

8 Matters Arising or Raised by Members

a) The ownership and future use of the land behind St James Street car park will be investigated by C Hockey.

b) Following the letter from R Duffy, Somerset Highways have held a site meeting and because sewage is involved will now be having a site meeting with the Environment Agency.

c) SCC Rights of Way have been contacted regarding the points relating to Isle Moor Lane Bridge and the ‘bull’ sign raised in a letter from Mr Lucas.

d) C Willy proposed that the planning application for the siting of a caravan on land at South Harp Farm, Lower Stratton should be reconsidered following the points raised during the public session. After discussion it was agreed that the decision had been made within the proper legal guidelines. The Parish Councillors who were able to attend the last meeting made the decision and there should be confidence in their decision. Potentially a decision to revisit could be applied to the whole agenda as well as future planning applications and a precedent would have been set. It was agreed that the decision to recommend refusal should stand. It was agreed unanimously that a decision made at a quorate Parish Council meeting should stand. It was further agreed unanimously that this application should be referred the SSDC Area North Committee for a decision. This request will be made to the planning officer.

e) R Beale requested that in future his highways report should be included in the correspondence list under item 2 ‘Clubs and Groups’.

f) More information on the feasibility of a flower bed and sign at Lower Stratton and a flower trough on the wall by the brook in Silver Street will be sought for discussion at a future Parish Council meeting. This could compliment some of the actions in the SP Parish Plan.

9 Parish Council Procedures

Some points from a recent newly appointed Parish Councillors’ training meeting that require clarification or discussion.

a) Both personal and predudicial interests should be declared and it should be stated which interest applies. It is only necessary to leave the room for a preducdial interest; if in any doubt leave the room.

b) Signed notice of a meeting should be given by the clerk. The discussion on this was inconclusive so advice will be sought from SSDC.

c) It was suggested that there should not be any late correspondence but after discussion it was agreed the only sensible approach was to include time sensitive late correspondence.

d) Matters raised by members should be important issues only; otherwise they should be an agenda item for the next meeting. The other Parish Councillors could veto this.

10 Planning Verdicts

The verdicts on planning applications received during the month were reported.

11 New Planning Applications

a) 01911rem Approval of reserved matters for a detached dwelling with garage, revised drawings and resiting of the dwelling at 24 Lightgate. A letter from Mr and Mrs Thayer, the neighbours, was circulated. After consideration the Parish Council recommended refusal, as the changes were insignificant. The Parish Council’s reasons, expressed previously will be repeated.

b) 02638ful and 02639lbc Insertion of roof lights at The Sunday School, Roundwell Street. The Parish Council recommend approval providing they were in the style of the existing building.

c) 02644ful Proposed erection of a single storey extension at 66 Summershard. The Parish Council is unclear from the site plan which property this planning application applies to. They have assumed that 66 Summer Shard is the postal address and 24a, as marked on the site plan, is the plot number. On this assumption the Parish Council recommended approval and will request written confirmation that their assumption is correct.

d) 02663tpo Application to fell one beech tree at 7 Elizabeth's Way. The Parish Council would recommend refusal unless the advise from the SSDC agrobiologist is that there is a safety issue.

12 County Councillor’s Report

a) A list from the Environment Agency of Critical Water Courses includes Hele Brook.

b) The Parrett Catchment and the Levels and Moors projects are to be merged. The Parish Council should consider applying to join.

c) There is concern about the viability of a three tier school system as it creates problems for 9/10 year olds. Any comments should be addressed to J Sharpe.

d) J Sharpe’s Divisional Fund is sponsoring a half term puppet show in his ward.

e) Wyvern Waste has a new recycling centre in Taunton with a new automatic processing plant for plastics.

f) The Children and Young People’s Interim Plan has been sent out for consultation but no copy has yet been received by the Parish Council.

g) An update on Barcroft Lane gates was requested from J Sharpe.

h) The time it took Somerset Highways to respond to the problem brought to their attention was queried.

13 District Councillors’ Report

a) It was confirmed that no enforcement action has been taken on Barcroft Lane gates but it has been referred to SCC legal department.

b) An issue relating to the South Somerset Homes Stoodham development and a play area in South Petherton was raised and will be discussed at the next Parish Council meeting.

c) The information on the Power of Broadband Open Day will be passed to the Business Association.

d) The planning enforcement process is now in place on the SSDC website.

e) Planning booklets will be made available to the Parish Council.

f) From a meeting with Andrew Marsh, the Chief Superintendent, crime detection rates have doubled in the past year; they are targeting known offenders through the prison and probation service. SSDC Area North has a relatively low incidence of drug crime. He wants policing delivered ‘with’ the community not ‘in’ the community and has made requests for forty additional police officers and thirty additional CPSOs.

14 Development Control, Scheme of Delegation Workshop

C Hockey and S Blake will attend on 1 November 2005.

15 Recreation Ground

a) A quote is still awaited for repairing the safety matting in the play area. R Parr form SSDC is unable to help so G B Sports and Leisure have been approached.

b) The Lengthsman is going to clear the area at the back of the recreation ground behind the memorial garden and burn the rubbish on site. There are also three silver birch trees that have died and need to be removed. Trim Trees have been asked to contact C Willy to arrange to meet on site.

c) The weeds on the BMX track have been sprayed.

d) A meeting of SPRUG was held on Monday 3 October 2005 but was not well attend.

16 Christmas Lights

J Beale proposed a ‘banner’, 5 metres by 1.2 metres, across St James Street between Balfours and the house opposite, both the owners of which have been consulted and agreed. The cost for the ‘banner’ is £983 plus a one off fee for the electrician’s work of £500 and reimbursement of the cost of the electricity used, approximately £30. Knight electrical put up the lights each year at no charge for the labour, just the hire of the ‘cherry picker’ approximately £100. There is £1,000 in the budget and the Carnival Committee has pledged a donation of £300 towards Christmas lights. After a vote it was agreed to purchase the banner even though it was over budget.

17 Highway Matters

Covered elsewhere on the agenda

18 Footpaths

a) The weeds on Church Path between the church and the infant’s school need spraying.

b) The stile across Y24/13 will be supplemented with a York gate. This has been agreed with the landowner and SCC Rights of Way have confirmed that only the owner of the boundary has to be consulted for permission. Although this means his permission is not required a letter has previously been sent to the owner of the neighbouring land explaining what has been proposed. The gate will cost £171 plus fitting and it was proposed that this should go ahead and that Somerset Landscape services should be asked to install the gate.

c) B Priddle reported that the footpath from Stoodham to Barcroft Lane is likely to be closed for the next twelve months. The route goes along the ditch and then into a hedge. In the past an alternative route to the ditch has been ploughed but with out the hedge being cut the footpath is blocked.

19 Lengthsman

a) There was no formal half year report at the recent Lengthsman’s meeting, but all five parishes are very happy with the scheme. The funding from SSDC has yet to be received. C Cooper from SSDC attended the recent meeting and said the report on the Coker Scheme was now being considered.

b) It was confirmed that South Petherton are the paymaster for the scheme.

(J Sharpe left and offered his apologies for the next meeting)

20 Allotments

There was a well-supported allotment holders meeting on 5 October 2005. Following the number of thefts, recently by 6 or 7 year old children, they have requested a 6 feet high chain link fence around the allotments. This will be considered at the precept meeting, although it would mean using an advance on the allotment budget for future years.

21 Cemetery

a) The cemetery is in a reasonable state.

b) There has been one grave stone damaged. The pieces have been removed for safe storage until it is decided what should be done.

c) There is increasing evidence of badgers marking their territory.

22 Churchyard

a) The rubbish is an ongoing problem particularly after the weekend and the caretaker will be asked to spend one hour per week clearing this. The requirement to be reviewed in March 2006.

23 Pavilion

a) It was agreed that a contribution of 25% of the premises licence cost should be made to the Pavilion committee, as the licence covered the recreation ground.

b) The problem with the Brewers Arms Football Club use of the pavilion facilities was discussed at the SPRUG meeting and as soon as the advance payments have been made they can continue to use both the pavilion and the recreation ground. They are not tied to using the pavilion for after match refreshments.

24 Tsunami Appeal

The target for the local appeal in the village has now been reached.

25 Village of the Year

Sue Wallis and her team were congratulated on the success in becoming Somerset Village of the Year 2005. The village needs to capitalise on this and ideas suggested were:

- A sign at the entrance to the village; get a quote and budget for this

- A logo; there is a competition in the two schools and the Youth Club to design a logo.

- Write to all groups in the village and invite them to use the logo and share the success.

Any other ideas would be welcomed.

The judging of the regional final is on Thursday 13 October 2005.

26 South Somerset Disability Forum Donation

Deferred until next meeting

27 Approval of Cheque Payments

Approval was given for cheques drawn as indicated on the list attached to these minutes.

28 Parish Precept Meeting

The meeting will be at 7pm on Wednesday 7 December 2005 at the pavilion. All Parish Councillors are invited to attend and S Dickie, N Greenleaf, C Hockey, P Mottram, C Willy and M Willy confirmed their attendance.

The meeting closed 10.22pm

Minutes Approved by: Chairman……………………… Date…………….