1 Apologies for Absence: Mrs M Willy

Absent: Ms N Symes

2 Parish Council Vacancies

Mrs Caren Forsey was welcomed to the Parish Council. Parish Councillors were asked to consider who should be approached to fill the remaining two vacancies.

3 Declaration of Interests

a) S Dickie and C Willy declared an interest in the new planning application for the land adjoining St Michaels Gardens and Lightgate Lane.

b) J Broughton declared an interest in the planning application for The Building at The Firs, Over Stratton.

4 Late Correspondence

A letter from C Hockey about affordable housing

5 Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the monthly meeting held on 8 August 2007 were approved and signed as a correct record.

6 Matters Arising

a) K Ronaldson explained why the planning application for West Down Orchard was not referred to the SSDC Area North Committee. More information is needed and possible enforcement action. The decision has been made and any change would require a new application.

b) It was noted that the MUGA at Shepton Beauchamp could be used as a skateboard park.

c) It is the decision of the owner of the property on whether he wished to have a gate installed at the library entrance and K Ronaldson has spoken with him about submitting the planning application.

7 New Planning Applications

a) 03954ful Alterations and extension to existing barn to form a dog training facility and two flats for dog owner’s accommodation at Frogmore Farm, Frogmary Green. The Parish Council has serious concerns about the visibility splay, which is currently very difficult and they do not feel that this planning application addresses that problem. Providing this safety issue can be addressed, the Parish Council would recommend approval.

b) 03929ful The erection of an extension to The Buildings, The Firs, South Harp, Over Stratton. Revised application. The Parish Council recommend approval.

c) 03984ful The erection of 55 dwellings and associated works on land adjoining St Michaels Gardens and Lightgate Lane. The Parish Council recommend refusal for the same reasons as last time, ie this does not match the requirements 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 particularly at Lightgate to provide safe access. This revised plan only provides vehicle access at Light Lane for emergency vehicles and bicycles. There continues to be a number of misleading factual inaccuracies in the text supporting the application ie references to bus services that do not exist, sustainable communities to promote walking but there are no pavements on part of the route to the centre of the village, protecting existing rights of way but plans show removal of a footpath, a small play area so close to the recreation ground, references that relate to the previous planning applications not this one etc. The Parish Council will reconsider the plans when they comply with the Local Plan and the proposal does not include any ransom strips or ‘hammer head’ roads allowing for future development; the road at the edge of the development rather than through the centre could easily lead to future development.

d) 03462ful The erection of a first floor extension to 20 Lightgate Lane, over the car parking spaces. Amended plans. The Parish Council recommend approval.

e) 00719ful Demolition of existing house and outbuildings, formation of a new access and erection of 6 dwellings. Revised scheme, units reduced from 7 to 6, mitigation of wildlife. The footprint of the 6 dwellings is similar to that of the 7 previously proposed and hence the Parish Council still recommend refusal as this does not address their main concern of over development of the site and future parking problems. The original comments relating to this application stand i.e. concern of the close proximity to existing residential properties, over development of the site, an unsympathetic design for a conservation area and the impact of the lack of light that three storey buildings fronting on a narrow road would create. Whilst the plans allow for one car parking space per dwelling plus two extra, the level of off street parking when most households, even smaller dwellings, have two cars is a concern in this narrow road.

f) 03841ful Erection of a single storey extension to Oakford, Hele Lane. The Parish Council recommend approval.

8 West End Close Site Meeting

C Willy reported on the site meeting to discuss the planning application. The houses on the west side of the road will have a pavement. There is potentially still a problem for larger farm vehicles, but SCC Highways say the road width is satisfactory. M Willy recommended that a letter should be sent to D Mansfield, the head of SSH regarding the allocation of the houses between social and affordable and suggesting that these should be mixed rather than the affordable homes being on the edge of the site. This was agreed.

9 SP Parish Plan, Discussion with David Lingham

As time has moved on, people changed and parish councillor responsibilities changed, eg for Community Safety, SP PP is N Greenleaf and SP PC is N Symes, it has become clear that both the communication and the links between the SP PP and SP PC need to be reviewed to avoid duplication. Unlike many of the villages in Somerset, one of the reasons for the success of the SP PP has been that it has been implemented by a group separate to the Parish Council, thus increasing resources. It was felt that the SP PP survey had not addressed the needs of the young people or included the Business Association. It was agreed that with ‘housing’ being some of the last questions on the survey, the results were inconclusive and there is a need to look again at the housing requirements in SP. The village facilities are beings stretched and there needs to be an infrastructure to support sustainability. It was agreed to have a working group with N Greenleaf, D Lingham, R Neve and members of the SP PP group to come back with a proposal for the way forward.

10 County Councillor’s Report

a) The Local Area Working Panel will be meeting on 12 September to consider bids and it is understood that the SP PC bid for additional youth work has scored highly enough to be agreed and the local CAB is likely to be approved. Healthy Living is to be an area initiative.

b) The Environment Scrutiny Committee are considering demand response service ie extension of the Slinky bus service. There has been confusion over the withdrawal of the standard Nippy Bus service but the demand service to Martock still operates.

c) The River Festival is on 22 and 23 September.

d) There will be consultation on waste facilities and this includes recycling. The new Waste Board, which is as joint board of SCC and SSDC will take over responsibility for waste on 16 October 2007. It is considered that a larger Household Recycling Centre is required to cover the area around SP.

11 District Councillors’ Report

a) The SSDC environmental facilities have been assessed by the Audit Commission as ‘good with promising prospects’.

b) The consultation for the Yeovil Sports Zone should be with the whole area ie including SP as it is to be a facility for the whole area.

c) The Tour of Britain cycle race was in Somerset on 11 September.

d) The SSDC Community Safety Action panel held a very successful meeting which included a mock Local Action Group meeting. It was noted that the Somerset Rural Youth Project has ten volunteers working in a scheme offering education about drugs to adults.

12 Local Action Group

a) The non alcoholic bar is still being considered but will not be pursued at this stage as local residents are unhappy about it being in one of the empty shops so the ‘Time Out Bus’ in the car park is being considered and SP PC supported this initiative.

b) Having identified the need for more activities, dance and martial arts classes in SP are being investigated.

c) D Lingham reported on the letter he had received from the newly appointed local inspector, who will be invited to a future SP PC meeting.

13 Affordable Housing in SP

a) SP PC has been approached by Gleesons to develop a Rural Development Site on the land owned by SP PC at Pitway. Whilst recognising that there is a requirement for affordable homes for local people, it was also recognised that Pitway could be a valuable building land in the future. There were also concerns about how SP PC could be sure that any affordable homes created under this scheme, would be allocated to local people and future allocations and who would control the allocation. It could create a two tier system of affordable housing. The need for any more homes in SP without an infrastructure to support it was queried. It was agreed that the Community Council Somerset should be asked to carry out a survey to indentify the level of need for affordable housing for local people before any decision is made about a Rural Development Site.

14 Approval of Cheque Payments

Approval was given for cheques 3532 – 3570 drawn as indicated on the list attached to these minutes.

15 Highway Matters

a) Somerset Highways have indicated that they are not prepared to downgrade the track from Compton Road to the garages at West End, but neither do they intend to maintain the track going forward. It was agreed that this down grading to a footpath, getting it cleared and signposted, should be pursued through Sarah Little, the Acting Head of SCC Rights of Way team.

b) The removal of the telegraph poles around St James Street car park and the Blake Hal is being pursued but K Dexter is finding it difficult to make progress.

c) The blocked drains in South Street and St James Street have been reported to Somerset Highways.

d) K Dexter has met with residents in North Street to discuss the damaged road surface and problems with the drains. Somerset Highways have agreed to take remedial action on this.

e) The light in George Lane continues to be an outstanding issue. Somerset Lighting has now said that a spare lighting unit has to be purchased by SP PC as the lantern is a special order. The company supplying the lanterns have confirmed that it is only the size that is different to their stock items and that they have templates of all the lanterns made so could repeat the order at any time. A response on this from Somerset Lighting is awaited and J Sharpe offered to pursue this.

f) The lighting on South Street Bridge still not been installed. Again J Sharpe to chase this.

16 Footpaths

a) The ‘walk through’ of the footpaths in Over Stratton to establish the route of all the footpaths has taken place but the report has not yet been produced. This should clarify the position and requirement of any gates.

b) J Johnson was asked to report routine maintenance requirements directly to the SDDC Rights of Way team.

c) SCC Rights if Way team have been in discussion with the Highways Agency about the crossings for non motorised vehicles across the proposed new A303, but as SP had not been consulted, a meeting with P Hobley from SCC was arranged. Under the proposed scheme, which impinges on the Parrett Trail, the suggestion is to combine this with South Street Bridge, which would become the footpath from Over Stratton to SP. Other options requested were Bridge Road to Drayton and Watergore to Moor Lane, but there was little progress on these. J Sharpe had recommended that the SP junction should be at Frogmary Green as having two roundabouts and a bridge would be a problem.

17 Market Towns Initiative

a) The interpretation boards should be in place by the end of October.

b) The Market Towns group is considering their investment in CCTV, SP PC had not previously requested CCTV but there was still time to reconsider. After discussion which included concern that if SP were the only Market Town without CCTV would this attract problems and a wish that funds should go into resolving rather than watching a problem, it was agreed after a vote not to proceed with CCTV.

c) Each Market Town has been asked to request projects to be considered by the whole group. SP has proposed a bus shelter opposite the Esso garage and mobile flashing speed signs.

18 Allotments

a) The allotments at Pitway have not been worked this year so a letter will be sent to Mr Dalwood and they will then be offered to Pitt Bros who farm the rest of the filed.

b) SP PC agreed they would consider paying for the materials to fill in the ditch at the allotments when a quote has been received and to accept P Vaux’s offer to provide the labour.

19 Recreation Ground

a) It was agreed that the seat originally intended for the memorial garden should be placed by the tennis court overlooking Ham Hill.

b) K Vincent will be reminded that the work on the memorial garden is still outstanding.

c) The scouts will be asked about picking up the leaves by the memorial garden.

d) Two seats on the swings have been removed because the frame requires some repairs.

e) One quote has been received from the company used by SSDC for a water quality survey of the water supply at the pavilion. Two more contractors were recommended to be approached for quotes.

f) R Shutler said he no longer wanted to be the SP PC representative on the pavilion committee.

20 Cemetery

a) The proposed siting for an avenue of trees will be marked out to give time for consultation. There was concern expressed about future maintenance of these trees so K Parkin, the Tree Warden, will be asked to attend the next SP PPC meeting to discuss this further.

b) It has been difficult to get quotes for the work required at the tree work required at the cemetery. It was suggested that Philip Bartlett at Lopen be approached to quote.

c) Commemorative trees in the Community Woodland are being considered.

21 Churchyard

Nothing to report.

22 To Consider

a) Internal Auditor’s Report - It was agreed that Fidelity Insurance would be left at £32,000. The draft responses were accepted, plus 7.2 should say ' to be examined and considered in due course'.

b) Recycling Site - As part of the SSDC strategic plan, a site meeting is to be arranged with SSDC to discuss the possibility of having a recycling site at the recreation ground instead of St James Street car park.

c) St James Street Car Park Drains - As the car park floods with heavy rain it was agreed to get the drains cleared even though it is not possible to get a quote in advance of the work being done.

d) Venue for SP PC meetings - It was agreed that SP PC meetings would move to the Blake Hall at 7pm on the first Monday of each month. There are still issues relating to the stair lift to be resolved, so this will be reviewed after six months. J Sharpe announced that the first Monday clashed with to other meetings that he was due to attend so he would not be able to attend SP PC meetings as regularly.

e) SP Youth PC Insurance – SCC has withdrawn insurance cover for SP Youth PC. It was agreed that if SP Youth PC could meet the conditions of the insurance company they should be included on the SP PC policy.

23 Meetings

a) Precept meeting - This will be at 7pm on Thursday 3 January 2008 at the Blake Hall Committee Room.

b) SCC Local Area Working Panel, 12 September 2007. R Neve will attend.

c) SP Twinning Group Reception, 27 September 2007. J Derbyshire, N Greenleaf and R Neve are already attending, representing other groups.

d) SSDC and Mendip Joint Strategic Day Focusing on Affordable Housing Provision, 25 September 2007. R Neve will attend.

e) SSDC, Licensing Trade Fair, 3 October 2007. SP PC will not be attending.

f) SSDC, Rights of Way Workshop, 27 October 2007. P Kidner and J Johnson will attend.

g) SP Tennis Club, official opening of the third tennis court. N Greenleaf will be attending.

The meeting closed at 10.01pm

Chairman……………………… Date…………….