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Minutes of the Meeting of Freshford Parish Council held on Thursday July 20th, 2006

Present; Stuart Campbell, Chairman,Pam Cobb, Mary Stanhope, Hugh Delap, Rowena Wood and Stephanie Jenkins, Clerk.

Also present, five members of the public.

1 Apologies for absence ; apologies were received from Betty Harris, Alison Cavaliero, Ray Benfield, Gitte Dawson and Richard Blamey.

With considerable regret the Chairman accepted Alison’s letter of resignation and paid tribute to her strengths as a Councillor.

2 Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting of June 12th were agreed to be an accurate record.

3 Planning Matters

Morris’s Stores/Antique Shop;. RW reported that B&NES’John Trenoweth is still not prepared to accept the profile of the glazing bars and is awaiting a response from the owners.

The Shrubbery; erection of extension to garage. Still awaiting Officer decision..

Woodpecker Cottage;two-storey extension at rear over existing flat-roofed single storey building. Refused as representing a disproportionate extension in the Green Belt and an incongruous and unsympathetic addition to the building.

Woodwick Cottage, Midford Lane; Alteration to the retrospective garage application, reducing the building from three to two bays. The owner, Mr North and his architect, present at the meeting, explained details of the new plan to Councillors. It was decided to hold a site meeting within the week and to take advice from B&NES’ Ludek Maior as to whether the earlier plans should be consulted as well. The Chairman agreed to notify the owner of the date of the site visit and of when any discussion of the application would take place.

Studio Cottage, Station Road; replacement of existing porch. Councillors had no reservations in accepting this application but, in view of the increased footprint of the building, the Clerk was asked to contact the Planning Department to ensure that two further sets of neighbours, Orchard House and Combe Bottom received notification.

Farfields, Pipehouse; two-storey rear extension, following the demolition of existing conservatory. Because of time constraints this had been dealt with between meetings. Councillors had approved the application with the following reservation. “Considering the extent of the stained wooden panelling and glazing on the west and rear elevations, the Parish Council is concerned that neither glass, wood nor stain have been specified. The wood and stain need to fit in with the existing building.

Phone Mast; Brown’s Field; no decision as yet.

4 Freshford Mill

The Chairman reported the recent sale of the Mill and that exchange of contracts should have happened by now, new owners as yet unknown. He warned that any developer purchasing the site was unlikely to proceed with the approved 21 residence option without attempting to increase the number of residential units and/or re-negotiate the extensive conditions currently attached to the approved scheme.

 

  1. Parish Plan

HD reported that the analysis of the returned surveys was almost complete. The Steering Committee will meet on July 24th to decide on next steps. Amongst these will be decisions on the topics to be dealt with by the working groups to formed after the public meeting in September and the way in which the findings garnered during the special interest group meetings can be incorporated into the analysed information.

The Chairman felt that the system seemed to be working well.

HD had attended Community Action workshops on Village Shops and Parish Plans and he reported that there could be funding available for the Plan from an organisation called Quartet. Councillors approved a decision for the Chairman to contact Quartet to enquire.

Website; RW, HD and the Clerk had met Daniel Towner to discuss the management of the Parish Council webpage. Once Minutes have been approved, the Clerk is to send them to Daniel to re-format for the website. Eventually it is envisaged that she will be able to undertake this herself, as well as posting the Agenda before each meeting.

It was suggested that, on the Planning section, people be advised that it was necessary to have access to Broadband if they wished to study the detailed plans.

The Rail Timetable should be accessed from the “Services” section of the website rather than the Parish Council page. It was suggested that Gordon Edwards could be asked to keep it up to date.

6. Village Shop

HD reported no specific progress with the project, but a variety of options is still being pursued. The Freshford Shop Project Group will meet on July 24th. HD informed Councillors of the availability of funding for social enterprises through the Public Works Loan Board. Under this scheme a Parish Council can apply for a loan which they can then pass on (but still remain responsible for ). Applications go through ALCA to the ODPM. Councillors queried whether a privately –owned shop would qualify as a social enterprise, but had no basic objections to the idea in principle. HD agreed to investigate further before the September meeting.

7. Affordable Housing

HD reported that although the two sites on Station Road (sites 3 and 3a) have not been ruled out entirely, the owners of both have declined to enter into further discussion about selling. The owner of Site 1 (beyond The Glebe) has yet to respond to an approach. Attention is now being turned to Sites 2 and 6 (the Galleries and the old greenhouses behind The Old House) and to others not previously considered as seriously. An updated version of the tables setting out all options will soon be on the website. Drafts of an introduction have been circulated amongst Councillors and the various B&NES’ Officers to try and make crystal-clear what Affordable Housing aims to do, and who can and cannot benefit from such a scheme.

A letter from Chris Bocci regarding the difficulties attached to the choice of sites on Station Road was read. The Clerk was asked to reply to this.

8 Footpaths, Walls and Trees

Footpath alongside the Matthews’property; MS reported that this has now been cut back, although the B&NES’ Footpaths Officer felt that a further two feet of vegetation should have been removed.

Tyning Wood Footpath; MS reported that a fallen tree has been removed and that it is hoped that the fencing damaged in the fall may be repaired when the scheduled work on the other section of the footpath takes place shortly.

Freshford Lane/ overgrown hedges; MS had checked with B&NES’ Officer Steve Gees and the responsibility for cutting back vegetation alongside Freshford Lane lies with the owners, the Dawsons.

Iford Blackthorns; MS had been approached by the owners to find out whether permission would be required to take out a stand of Blackthorns in one of their fields. She had agreed to investigate.

Cemetery Trees; Stuart Suckling, a resident in the Glebe, had complained about the loss of light now that the conifers on the unconsecrated section of cemetery land have grown so large. MS will speak to the Arboricultural Officer about this.

Proposed Tree Work at Farthings Cottage; no objections.

Bank Replacement; SC agreed to ask the residents at The Hall when the promised reinstatement of the bank/hedge is to take place.

 

9. Highways and Railways

Tyning Passing Place; this is now formally on the B&NES’ future projects list.

Proposed Chicane; David Swift (B&NES’ Traffic Engineer) has said that there is currently no budget available for work on the corner by Tyning View. He suggested that it might be worth trying a white line/ please leave clear option for the moment. RJB was asked to notify the Taits and Mr Phipps of this possibility)

Railway Issues; new timetables are available and it was agreed that it would be useful to have these on the website. Plans for the flowerbeds at the station are in hand and RW is liaising with the relevant authorities over possible funding. The vandalism of the new shelter was reported to the Beat Police Officer who wanted to investigate further before arranging a meeting with Councillors and residents.

Signage/ Station Road; it was agreed that this would be useful, but Councillors felt that a very modern design would be detrimental. RW offered to approach the Friends of Freshford to see if they might assist with funding for a more attractive option.

Signage/ Ashe’s Lane; Lynne Parfitt (B&NES’ Road Signs) was reluctant to authorise the removal of the sign on the A36 because of causing difficulties with emergency vehicles approaching the village. RJB was asked to contact her to discuss the matter further.

Station Lights; residents on Station Road had asked whether the new lighting system at the station could be switched off overnight. RW will investigate at her meeting with the station manager.

Pictorial Map; RW reported that Phil Affleck is prepared to design and produce a poster for the noticeboard at the station giving a pictorial view of the village. The cost would be around £500. Heart of Wessex would contribute £100 towards this and Councillors felt that local businesses could be approached for sponsorship; The Inn, Homewood Park and Iford Manor Gardens were suggested. By extending the map to include Limpley Stoke, the Hop Pole and the Cliffe Hotel could also be included. SC offered to speak to Limpley Stoke’s Chairman and also the Hignetts at Iford.

Flowerbeds/ Planting; RW and RJB are to discuss plans with the station manager.

Allotments; Gitte Dawson has suggested contacting Heart of Wessex to see if any land owned by the railway could be used as allotments. This has been the case in Bath.

Parking at the Station; RW was asked to establish Heart of Wessex views on increased/improved parking.

Tree-Felling alongside rail track; Gitte Dawson has obtained an agreement from Network Rail that, before any more work is undertaken, neighbours will be informed.

10 Correspondence

Wiltshire County Council; Statement of Community Involvement

CPRE; magazine

B&NES/ West of England Waste Management; Consultation survey on Rubbish or Resource?

 

11 Finance

Payments needing to be made in July/August

Ian Croker. Street Cleaning , £189.37 Two payments necessary before Sept.

Southern Electric, supply March-June; £254.84

SEC, Routine Maintenance Lighting; £176.06

They have also sent us a bill for non-routine maintenance of £26.52 but I am challenging one charge on this of £14.69 + VAT and will let you know the outcome.

VAT

I have claimed the sum £1977.

Approximately £1100 of this came from the Inquiry costs and so I am proposing to return this to Reserves, which will improve our position should the Auditors challenge spending at this level on a non-capital project .

Street Lighting

It was agreed that the two lights to be replaced this financial year should be Number 7 on Station Road and Number 24 near the Old Chapel at Pipehouse.

Banking Resolution

Peter Davies has been through the first quarter’s documentation. A signed resolution statement will be available at the meeting.

12 Items for the Parish Magazine

Whereabouts of the missing Parish Council Banner; Access for Emergency vehicles; responsibility for overhanging hedges.

13 Pre-advised Other Business

Pump at Park Corner; pressure of time meant that this item will appear as an individual item on the September Agenda.

Regional Spatial Strategy; SC and HD had examined the document and felt that the only Freshford-specific threat came from the local Friends of the Earth idea that new housing should be concentrated along railway lines. The draft document looks forward over the next twenty years in an attempt to project needs in terms of local economy, housing , transport and infrastructure. Responses are due by the end of August. SC and HD suggested three points to be made

14 Date of Next Meetings

Monday September 4th

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