1 Apologies for Absence: Mr A Ashdown, Mrs J Beale, Mr R Beale, Mrs M Davidson, Mr L Port,

Ms S Wallis and Mrs M Willy.

2 Declaration of Interests

C Hockey declared in interest in the planning applications for Wigborough Manor and 1 Orchard Close.

3 Sparkplug Initiative

a) R Palmer explained the Sparkplug Initiative. After the initial application by the clerk, he had attended a workshop and South Petherton has been successful in being awarded the maximum grant of £4,000 for a project to develop the negotiating, presentation, and marketing and presentation skills of the Young People’s Parish Council. As well as being of benefit to the young people, the project will develop a presentation to be given to other Parish Councils on how to set up and develop a Young People’s Parish Council.

b) With his increased workload with the Young People’s Parish Council and the Sparkplug Initiative, R Palmer tendered his resignation from the Parish Council

(R Palmer left to attend a meeting about the Sparkplug Initiative with the Youth Club)

4 Co-option of Parish Councillor

There were not enough Parish Councillors present to be able to co-opt a Parish Councillor to fill the vacancy after the resignation of H Warden. Having explained her background, Ms Nikki Greenleaf was invited to join the Parish Council subject to her co-option being ratified at the next Parish Council meeting.

4 Young People’s Parish Council

There were no members of the YP PC present.

5 Late Correspondence

A letter from R Beale which included confirmation that the village caretaker had resigned so Beale Heating and Plumbing Ltd will be withdrawing from their contract to provide a village caretaker.

6 Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the monthly meeting held on 8 August 2005 were signed as a correct record of the meeting.

7 Matters Arising or Raised by Members

a) At the next meeting S Wallis will be asked to clarify the position relating to the to replacement of the stile on footpath Y24/13 for the disabled access improvements funded by £400 received last year from J Sharpe’s Divisional Fund.

b) A letter of congratulations will be sent to South Petherton Carnival Committee.

c) Parking in the centre of the village is getting increasingly worse and a request will be made for regular visits by the traffic warden.

d) It was noted that Michelle Haines, PCSO is now visiting South Petherton regularly.

e) It was agreed to support the joint photo competition,’ the good and the grotty’ proposed by The David Hall Committee with prizes to the value of £100.

f) A poop scoop bin has been requested for Over Stratton, close to the car park.

(J Sharpe arrived)

8 Planning Verdicts

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

9 New Planning Applications

a) 02138ful Demolish existing rear lean-to and replace with a new structure at Lucere, Whitfield Lane. The Parish Council recommended approval.

b) 02205ful Erection of three detached dwellings to replace the existing dwelling at 23 Silver Street. The Parish Council recommended refusal as they considered this to be over development of this small site. The earlier planning application was for one dwelling to replace a dwelling that was to be and has since been demolished. The Parish Council also had concerns about the levels of the land and the height of these proposed dwellings in relation to the adjacent properties. They were also extremely concerned about the volume of traffic from four dwellings coming out across a busy pavement on a main pedestrian route to the centre of South Petherton and the fact that the traffic from four dwellings will be coming onto Silver Street opposite an already busy road junction with Lightgate, which they consider to be a danger.

c) 02395ful Insertion of a window in a new breakfast room at 1 Orchard Close. The Parish Council recommended approval.

d) 01994cou Change of use of agricultural building to a polo clubhouse and to install all weather polo pitch, manege, car parking and access track. This was considered again as the neighbours had not been previously consulted by SSDC. The Parish Council had previously recommended approval but had concerns regarding the volume of traffic this would create. Having now been informed by the applicant that the plans are to be amended and the polo traffic will be using their private drive from Norton sub Hamdon, the Parish Council recommend approval of the amended entrance route.

(P Robathan arrived)

e) 02436ful Erection of a two story extension and new window openings at Windermere, Over Stratton. The Parish Council recommended approval.

f) 0245ful Retrospective permission for a residential occupation of a mobile home for agricultural holding and erection of a field shelter for cattle at The Mobile Home, South Harp Farm, Lower Stratton. It was noted that any permission would relate to the site not to the individual. After a vote 3 against, 2 for and one abstention, the Parish Council recommended refusal.

10 County Councillor’s Report

a) Some of the county farms owned by Somerset County Council are to be sold with just two being kept as estates. There is a prospectus for land based commercial activities for the smaller farms, so they will be let on the basis of enterprise rather than just farming. In the past they have been ‘starter’ farms for young farmers.

b) South Petherton raised the funds needed for their MUGA themselves and had previously queried the criteria used by SCC for the new MUGAs being erected in Somerset. The Government gave the funds to SCC to administer and these were subsequently passed to SSDC to allocate. South Petherton would like an explanation on whether their scheme for a MUGA was not considered when they were working with T Huxley, from SSDC on the project. SCC has awarded the contract for the MUGAs to Base Leisure, the company that installed the South Petherton MUGA.

c) There is a special planning strategy for the waste disposal of mineral rights. South Petherton parish Council will be asked if they want to be a consultee and it was agreed that they would like to be.

11 District Councillors’ Report

a) The SSDC Corporate Plan for the next seven years is now complete and parishes will be asked for their comments.

b) Yeovil has won a gold medal in the Britain in Bloom contest and Chard was awarded a silver-gilt medal for their clean streets.

c) A new Assistant Chief Executive for SSDC, with expertise in performance management and managing projects will start work on 1 December 2005.

d) All four Area Committees supported the recommendations of the car parking charges survey and it will now go to the District Executive on 6 October 2005.

e) There will be a meeting on 17 November 2005 when Parish Councils will be invited to discuss the SSDC financial plans for the coming year.

f) The first south Somerset Food Festival will be from 1 to 9 October 2005.

g) There is a planning guide for householders and K Ronaldson offered to get some copies for the library.

12 Parrett Catchment Project

J Sharpe will be attending the Parrett Catchment Project AGM on 20 October 2005 and offered to report back to the Parish Council.

13 Nippy Bus

B Davis offered to attend the Nippy Bus meeting on 20 September 2005.

14 Beacon Open Day

This is a presentation to councils from around the country to see why SSDC has been awarded their Beacon Status and Parish Councils have also been invited. South Petherton will not be attending the meeting.

15 Domain Registration

It was agreed he that three website domains should be registered as recommended by A Ashdown.

16 Public Conveniences

a) Following the on going problems with the public conveniences in Prigg Lane car park, both the David Hall and the Blake Hall have been consulted for their views on having pubic conveniences in their halls.

b) C Hockey offered to explore the possibility of using the land at the rear of St James Street car park for public conveniences or an extension of the car park.

17 Community Safety Panel

Two grant applications have been submitted. One for an awareness event for the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. The second for a police post to help stop anti-social behaviour, possibly sited at the David hall.

18 Allotments

There are three allotment holders who are still not working their allotments. It was agreed that they will not be offered allotments this year.

19 Recreation Ground

a) Following the resignation of J Hill as the village caretaker, Kevin Harris, who applied when the vacancy was last advertised, has indicated an interest in taking on the role. It was agreed that he should be offered the post.

b) The hedge at Bridge Road has been cut.

c) A quote has been provided by Trim Trees for cutting the tennis court hedge. This was agreed.

d) David Allen has been asked to quote for repairing the rubber safety matting at the recreation ground play area, but to date this has not been received.

e) The recreation ground will need to be sprayed again in the spring and C Willy will arrange for this to be done.

f) There has been a meeting with Base Leisure about the problems with the MUGA. They have agreed to manufacture new equipment, to remove the existing MUGA in the next two weeks and to repair the tarmac. They agreed the lengthy list of faults with only one query.

g) There is a private footpath at the edge of the recreation ground that the Lengthsman will be asked to clear.

h) The bowls club entertained the cricket club and the social event raised £266, which will be split between the two clubs.

i) It will not be possible to apply for a grant from English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation for the memorial garden as these only cover war memorials and not memorial gardens.

j) No inspection reports have been received from SSDC since 9 August 2005 although the inspections have apparently been carried out.

20 Lengthsman

a) Funding from SSDC has still not been received.

b) C Hockey has discussed the management of the overall scheme with D Harvey, who will be producing a half yearly review.

21 Highway Matters

a) The culvert and spring in South Harp between Over Stratton and Lower Stratton is causing the road surface to break up again.

b) The monthly reports from the Parish Council highways group have proved to be a useful contact with Somerset Highways.

c) The second spraying of the weeds has been done by SSC. SSDC are responsible for spraying the weeds on the pavements and C Cooper will be contacted about this.

d) It was suggested that the possibility of changing the priority at the landing at the junction of Silver Street and Lightgate should be investigated.

22 Footpaths

Three applications have been made to the Community Access Fund; one for footpath leaflets, one for replacing a stile with a gate and one for improving the footpath between Hospital Lane and Lightgate. J Sharpe may be able to help with funds from his Divisional Fund towards the balance needed to improve this footpath.

23 Cemetery

Once again the grass has not been cut, the path not sprayed or the litter collected. A letter wil be sent to the contractor asking him to contact L Port to discuss this as a matter of urgency. His payment wil be with held until a satisfactory standard has been reported.

24 Churchyard

a) A letter of thanks will be sent to Mr and Mrs Thompson who maintain the flowerbed in the churchyard.

b) The grouting in the war memorial requires attention. Quotes will be obtained and a grant application made to English Heritage and Wolfson Foundation.

25 Pavilion

a) The Parish Council have received no paper work relating to the cost of obtaining the licence at the pavilion and recreation ground; so have yet to consider a contribution.

b) The doors to the pavilion have been damaged and are now likely to require replacement rather than repair.

c) There was no damage to the recreation ground following the fair and carnival.

26 Bank of Ireland Savings Account

It was agreed that S Dickie, P Mottram, C Willy and M Willy would be the signatories on the account.

27 Approval of Cheque Payments

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

28 Parish Allowances

It was agreed that Parish Councillors would continue not to claim but supported the SSDC principle.

29 October Parish Council Meeting, South Petherton Village Plan Presentation

The presentation wil be at 7pm on 11 October 2005, prior tot the Parish Council meeting for a maximum of sixty minutes. Reports on the cemetery, churchyard, footpaths, highways and pavilion should be made available for the correspondence box.

The meeting closed 10.10pm

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