COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT
* Denotes Attendance
Cllr. M. Fice – Mayor (in the Chair) – *
Cllr. A. Biggs – *
Cllr Mrs C. Bricknell – *
Cllr H. Taylor – *
Cllr. R. Wheeler – *
Cllr D. Cohen – *
Cllr T. Lang – *
Cllr Miss J. Clark – A
Cllr Mrs R. King – A
Cllr R. Collings – A
Cllr R. Whitfield – *
Cllr J. Valentine – A
Also in attendance:
Dist. Cllr P Coulson – A
Dist. Cllr Mrs Pearce – *
Cty. Cllr. R Gilbert – A
Gill Claydon (Clerk) – *
Pete Robinson (Cemetery Manager and Project Officer) – *
WPC Jo Pengilly – A
PCSO D. Gibson – A
Toby Leigh Kingsbridge Gazette – *
366. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members were invited to acknowledge any declarable interests, including the nature and extent of such interests that they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting. Cllr Biggs declared an interest in planning application 2305/14/F The Bothy.
367. OPEN FORUM
Police Report emailed by PCSO Gibson. Crime figures since 17th September were;
2 x assaults
3 x theft
2 x criminal damage
The area had also been targeted for marine crime lately:
River Erme 15.7.14 Inflatable dinghy
Ditch End 21.7.14 Fuel tank
Woodleigh July-Aug Outboard from shed
Cliff Rd Salcomb 06.8.14 Kayak off car roof
Mill Bay 07.8.14 Kayak
Mill Bay 07.8.14 Outboard
Mill Bay 07.8.14 Outboard
Bantham 21.8.14 Kayak
Brixton 08.9.14 Outboard off driveway
Hope Cove 14.9.14 2 fuel tanks
Hope Cove 14.9.14 Outboard & fuel
Embankment Rd 14.9.14 Outboard off driveway
Crabshell KB 14.9.14 Outboard
New Bridge 20.9.14? 2 Kayaks
Island Street 24.9.14 Outboard
Hope Cove 26.9.14 Outboard
Hope Cove 26.9.14 Outboard
Hope Cove 26.9.14 Outboard
New Bridge 28.9.14? Fuel tank
Any information regarding such incidents from the public was welcomed especially suspicious activity during hours of darkness. Salcombe harbour security had recently stopped some fisherman poaching bass in the estuary for which they were currently being dealt with.
County Councillor Gilbert – None provided. It was advised that he would attend 22nd October with information for Salcombe.
District Councillor Coulson –Apologies due to a house move and its associated pressures.
District Councillor Mrs Pearce – She noted that she and Dist. Cllr Coulson had met with the developers and architects for Tides Reach Hotel and felt that they had taken on board comments received during the consultation and requested that they attend the following town council meeting to present these amendments. They had produced a 3D pdf which could illustrate what the proposed hotel would look like and they had pulled back one wing that was sticking out across the valley and improved parking. Due to the need to provide storm protection they had incorporated a sun terrace which would act as such should the storm come across the road. The planning application was currently being registered and would then be available for consideration.
Due to other commitments she had not been at District Council the previous week and was thus not sure of any decisions because such Minutes had not yet been published.
There was to be a further meeting the following day for District members to discuss the objectively assessed housing number that would go into their ‘Our Plan’. There had been a proliferation of views on how to assess this number and they would need to convince some members.
Cllr Taylor asked if Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce was still at the other District Council. She advised that she spent 70% of her time working in the South Hams and such other commitment would end May next year when her term of office their ended. This was akin someone changing jobs and over the coming months she was gradually relinquishing tasks and once her commitment elsewhere were dealt with she would be here more often.
It was noted that benches within Salcombe had been removed by District maintenance and questioned where these had gone. She would look into this and report back.
368. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting dated 24th September 2014 were approved by council and then duly signed by the Mayor as a true and correct record.
369. PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
Councillors considered the following applications and sent such observations to the District as Planning Authority:
Cllr Biggs left the meeting whilst the following application was considered.
• 2305/14/F Removal of condition 3 (residential occupancy) of planning approval 41/1926/11/F The Bothy, Church Street, Salcombe TQ8 8DH – Applicant Mr J. Gedye – Objection as it was felt that the original conditions on such application had been ignored. This proposal would remove another employment unit in an area in which it was desperately needed.
Cllr Cohen arrived at the meeting.
• 2353/14/F Householder application for alterations and extension of existing store Long Park, Higher Batson, Salcombe TQ8 8NG – Applicant Mr and Mrs G. Keeler. No objection in principle but it was felt to be overdevelopment and an overbearing building within a sloping residential site.
• 2361/14/F Erection of single dwelling with associated landscaping and access The Ridings, Bennett Road, Salcombe, TQ8 8JJ – Applicant Mr R. Brewster – It was noted that this would be a new property positioned at the bottom of land at The Ridings in Cliff Road. This would present a three storey building right up to and adjacent to the road next to the property Woodcott. Objection as this was felt to be overdevelopment which would have an overbearing impact on the streetscene and would not be in keeping with neighbouring properties that were set back from the road. There were also concerns raised with regard to the design impact which would also be visible from the estuary and as such an overdevelopment in the AONB.
PLANNING CORRESPONDENCE
• Most already forwarded by email for information.
• Letter dated 26th September 2014 enclosing a copy of the planning brochure for The Ridings above.
370. CYCLE RACKS
The sites proposed by Devon County Council were reviewed and Town Council noted as follows:
• Four single planter locks to be placed on the wall behind The Fortescue Arms (who own such land) towards the Quay. Objection – This was a very narrow roadway and it would be impossible to get vehicles through, especially emergency vehicles. The distance was 2.1 m from the end of the planter to the road but if a bike was left there it would only be 2m It was felt that a preferable site could be by the waters edge in front of Customs House but this land was privately owned. .
• A toast rack was proposed outside the bakers along with armadillo bollards to protect such. Objection – There was currently on road parking space outside of the bakers and the town could not afford to lose such parking in Salcombe. It was also noted that delivery lorries use this area to turn too.
• Three Sheffield stands were proposed on the entrance into Hannafords Landing. Objection – Delivery lorries back into this area to collect refuse which is why there is a collapsible bollard there to enable such collection.
• Outside the toilets at the Creek Car Park a couple of stands were to be placed. No objection – It was noted that the bench would need to be moved but this proposal was felt acceptable.
• Two more stands could be placed outside the Spar shop at the top of town. However the proposal was to place such right in the middle of such frontage area and the Spar probably needed access for their delivery trolleys. Owner consultation required with Gilletts Ltd as landowners as town council were concerned as to access.
Town Council were to suggest there could be more cycle provision on the left and right accessway of Whitestrand car park adjacent to the current stands. However delivery vehicles must still be able to offload in the bay area. Adjacent to the Day Care Centre on Victoria Quay there was quite a wide area to the right which could accommodate such provision. It was suggested that a site meeting be offered to walk around town and consider alternative locations.
371. COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT AND TAP FUNDS
It was AGREED to put forward the following projects before 31st December 2014 for:
• the Community Reinvestment Fund – Proposal for street lights along Ember Road towards Batson Heights plus bollards or railings to be placed along adjacent to the highway from Jubilee Gardens to Onslow Road.
• the Town and Parish Fund – DEFER for further consideration till November
372. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN UPDATE
There was now in place a Steering Group consisting of twelve people including Cllrs Wheeler, Mrs Bricknell along with Pete Robinson assisting with administration. On the 30th September two meetings took place one was publicised in the Gazette to encourage other residents to attend and the second was the meeting for the new Steering Group following on from their formation on 16th September. There was an agenda set and the Steering Group meeting was constructive and held upstairs at Bang Wallop. Downstairs there was an explanation of the criteria and progress so far which informed 9 or 10 residents who turned up what was happening. Considering those who had made comments on media sites previously there were not many residents who turned up. The Mayor attended on the 30th September to explain the details to those additional people who attended and Pete Robinson then joined them to explain what was being progressed upstairs. The outcome from the steering group was that they acknowledged they needed to broaden town engagement and to consider consultants for branding and such future communication. They were looking to put together a tender brief for consultants and those who knew PR companies were to come forward with names to put such tender to.
It was now not felt viable to meet next Tuesday as it was too short notice to draw everything together. Some were now questioning how the steering group was formed as some residents felt people were chosen. The response to the Neighbourhood Plan had been slow, it was a dry subject and hard to get engagement and everyone appeared to expect town council to do everything. The additional attendees, and some media comments, seemed to want to know what the Neighbourhood Plan was and yet Town Council been trying to get this going for 2 years. It was noted that they could not charge ahead because District had not got their planning policies formed yet. Thus Town Council representatives had only recently attended the Woolwell meeting held by District on Neighbourhood Planning. Town Council therefore always seemed to be educating people each time they attended anything and now needed to go ahead with the steering group and get ‘a buzz’ going to then include the wider community. Lots of people appeared prepared to sit down and criticise but not constructively contribute. On the positive side there was seen to be a need for a Facebook site as this appeared to be in sync with how people engage. It was noted that no one had ever used the Blog on the Town Council Neighbourhood Plan website so this was not a vehicle for engagement. Ironically two people who lived in London and were second home owners in Salcombe were the ones who had positively engaged, connected with the idea and put together useful information. Since its inception this document had gone from being a wide angled document to a small policy document and it was noted that business people like Lorna Yabsley felt they needed a town team i.e. akin to the suggestion in the Portas report who could draw information together.
Pete Robinson was asked by a councillor how he distributed Neighbourhood Plan information and this was explained i.e. emails and invitation to access a Dropbox. Cllr Wheeler explained that they wished to go through the information gathered for the original Town Plan and perhaps draft a questionnaire. Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce noted that infrastructure provision could be considered in a planning document.
Cllr Wheeler noted that having decided a next step, one criticism from the community was that even having been to quite a few free workshops, meeting sessions and discussed with various officers from District the first time the steering group engaged a consultant residents said they should use District officers. It was noted that town council needed to be mindful of the Frontrunner grant money and a strategy and budget plan needed to be drawn up. The Mayor said it was agreed by the Steering Group that town council administer the budget.
The Mayor noted he was disappointed at the lack of people turning up following the Gazette article but those present were keen and he had asked them to rouse the troops.
Cllr Biggs felt that the Steering Group should talk to the planning consultant who assisted Bloor Homes (Jeff Bishop Place Studio) or the like and not a PR consultant. The Mayor agreed that the steering group needed to understand there was a limited budget but no one had a crystal ball for the future budget. He also noted that Lee Bray (a planning consultant) had said that nobody, a planning consultant or not, could come in and tell ‘you’ how to do this plan, you the community develop this plan and then get advice on how to write up the findings and policy. The Mayor said that Town Council must now leave the way forward and strategy with the formed Steering Group.
373. MEDIA POLICY
Cllr Biggs had not been aware of the changes in legislation that allowed meetings to be filmed and broadcast on media and did not feel he had to accept such changes to terms of his representation as a town councillor. The Town Clerk was to send information on the protocol on this.
Discussion took place around the implementation of any Town Council involvement on social media sites. Cllr Taylor noted he was previously against such but in view of the change in legislation and current contact he was now in favour as long as Council took on board the responsibility of monitoring and keeping such up to date. Cllr Wheeler felt that anything that was posted on any website that related to town council must be monitored and he had real problems with other places where town councillors wrote personal comments and stated that they were a councillor. Any such post had to be a corporate opinion which could then be used in a positive way. Operating such coverage however was a full time job. The police Facebook was advocated by Cllr Whitfield as a good model as the police made a statement and people could then ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ and Town Council should mirror such as they just used it as a noticeboard. It was AGREED that such would be used just for bulletins with all entries made by a town council media representative, at present Cllr Wheeler.
It was noted that in relation to the Neighbourhood Plan dropbox steering group member Andy Groves had assisted with such.
With regard to reviewing and updating the Town Council’s website Cllr Taylor believed that this was still contracted with Vision ICT. Although a review of provision was requested, since considering the term would have to take place at the end of the contract period. He felt the interface of the content management system was bespoke and not easily interactive, plus the Blog was impossible to use. His suggestion was that Town Council must review their provider. Town Council must ensure that all councillors details were updated and put the extra photos up. Discussion took place with regard to the content Management System and who else could host the site to enable disabled access and ‘ .gov’ compliance and it was felt perhaps a change was not the best move. It was agreed to DEFER this matter pending further investigation and consideration of the current capabilities.
It was AGREED to accept the Media Policy as drafted.
374. GRANT
It was agreed to DEFER this matter to await actual specification and costings of such provision.
375. CIVIC LUNCH
It was noted and AGREED to request Galley Girls to provide the catering at the Cliff House venue and increase the provision of the Civic Lunch to a cost of £2000 in view of the costings provided.
The Mayor requested that Town Councillors attending the church service greet all on entering the church and for each councillor to sit on a different table to other councillors at the luncheon. It was noted that a further organisation invitee had been suggested by a councillor since the invitations were sent out but such additions had been requested and approved at two previous meetings. This would be added to the list next year.
376. MAYOR’S REPORT
The Mayor noted he had received an invite for 26th October to the District Civic Service at Cornwood but he could not attend and asked if anyone else could substitute him. He advised of the District proposal for a tidal gate installation at Clifton Place. Chris Brook had secured funding and asked for assistance as to if the property owners were known. He also noted that District would remove the grills from the North Sands culvert and install a flat valve instead.
Also the Mayor attended the Field of Light meeting at Bang Wallop when Bruce Munro explained that three fields above the fishermen’s compound were going to have a 10,000 lights art project installed to raise funds for RNLI.
With regard to concerns relating to on street parking, two meetings ago Cty Cllr Gilbert had asked all town councillors to forward comments to the town clerk to collate and pass to Chris Rook but so far no councillors had done so. He therefore requested they please do.
Jubilee Gardens play equipment had been completed and therefore a photograph and official opening were to be planned. Cllr Mrs Bricknell would sort such arrangements and make contact with the Gazette. A requeste had been made for a picnic table or bench within the park for parents to sit at. She also noted she had swept up all the loose stones but the slope of the path was still dangerous and it was suggested it should be tarmac or block paved.
377. COUNCILLORS REPORTS
Cllr Biggs – A District Councillor at another parish meeting mentioned if parish/towns had changes to Traffic Orders as there were lots of new developments around these additional ones could be added to any Order to speed things up. Town Council were urged by the town clerk to be cautious of this suggestion as to whether it was feasible.
CllrWheeler – He advised that with regard to car parking in Salcombe he was preparing a response letter which he had honed down to four pages and needed to reduce further before sending to all town council for consideration. The Mayor and Cllr Wheeler would sit down and further consider this. With regard to charging for use of toilets at Whitestrand Car Park and such responses to why Totnes and Dartmouth were not charged seemed to receive different reasons when questioned to officers and challenged at the District Mayors meeting. There had only been one meeting with Stuart Jellings and thereafter town council was advised and not consulted. Cty Cllr Gilbert was also challenged at the Chamber of Commerce meeting as to why Dartmouth and Totnes were not included and his response was different to the Mayors meeting at District. Cllr Lang said that there were a large proportion of people working in shops with no toilets and on minimum wage. The Mayor had emailed requesting special dispensation for waterborne and shop workers. This going to create unrest and perhaps future vandalism etc.
Cllr Lang – Cllr Cohen and he attended the Salcombe and Kingsbridge Estuary Forum after the water ski ing decision. One item that affected Salcombe was that even the water ski ing outside harbour needed attention because a couple of fishermen noted that control and speeds went unregulated. Nigel Mortimer was looking for volunteers for beach cleaning around the estuary. Someone from SW Water also attended and talked about steps the taken to remove algae around the estuary and he was impressed with these steps.
Cllr Whitfield – Noted that the basin swing stated 4 persons and enquired when 10 children climbed on to it how did town council insurance stand. A noted stating ‘all children should be under supervision’ should perhaps be installed and the town clerk was to enquire of the insurance company.
CLERK’S REPORT.
• Chris Brook District engineer had advised that he had requested the depot to remove the two grills at North Sands ahead of the storms. This would ensure that kelp and seaweed did not cause blockages and a flood in the car park. In the slightly longer term he would be installing a tide flap on the culvert which should stop the car park flooding for good. The tide flap was currently being manufactured.
• Chris Brook had also notified town council that he had been successful in obtaining funding through the Environmental Agency to install a tide gate at the end of Clifton Place. He had requested town council for information as to the owners of the properties directly affected in 3, 4 and 5 Clifton Place.
• Play equipment now installed at Jubilee Gardens and opened for use. The insurance company had been notified of such. It was noted that the delay was due to the tower and net unit coming from Europe and as most of such closes down over summer this had been out of Mant Leisure’s hands.
• An email had been sent responding to the President of Cabourg’s Twinning Committee and requesting further information as to the student who wished to correspond with an English student and why this request was being made. No response had been received since 30th September.
• It had been advised that the maintenance contractor would charge £80.00 to spread the woodchips around the Berry footpaths.
• Copy email forwarded byCty Cllr Gilbert advised that there was nothing unusual in the permits in Salcombe but a community that was tight for parking. Only one resident’s permit allowed per household and only those in new development were excluded in line with new Policy. Chris Rook suggested a full review of parking restrictions.
• The County ‘Tough Choices’ Highway Services consultation document was raised and would be put on the next agenda.
• Financial Regulations and new Standing Orders were compiled however yesterday NALC issued a Financial Regulations update so this work would have to be done again.
• Email received from a resident noted boundary hedges overgrown and blocking footways. One at the lower half of Newton Road covering the yellow lines. No others detailed. Town Council needed to know the landowners or someone put a request letter in the letterbox. The resident also questioned the removal of the Berry bench too. The Mayor agreed to take up the resident’s offer and do a circuit of the town to view such concerns.
378. FINANCE
Councillors APPROVED the following cheques for signature:
0032018 Lee Bray- Planning and Regeneration Consultant – Neighbourhood Plan £877.65
0032019 P. Robinson – Travel to Woolwell for Neighbourhood Plan £48.76
0032020 SHDC – Caddy bags liners £216.00
0032021Bayleaf Gardening Ltd – Maintenance Jubilee Gardens £400.00 and War Memorial Pots £240 = £640.00
0032022 DALC – Finance training £132.00
0032023 John C. Smallman – Shadycombe Cemetery perimeter trees works £340.80
0032024 P. Robinson – Tesco: Nokia Mobile Phone for Town Council £24.00
0032025 T. Lang –Travel to Follaton House for Strategic Planning meeting £18.22
0032026 Mant Leisure – Jubilee Gardens play equipment and installation £18000.00
0032027 Greenspace – Maintenance grass cutting £446.33
0032028 D.J. Young – Refund of Park and Ride ticket £3.00
0032029 R. Harris – Refund of Park and Ride ticket £3.00
0032030 Greenscape – DCC highway verges £497.00
379. NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 22nd October 2014 in the Library at Cliff House, Cliff Road, Salcombe at 6.30p.m.
Meeting Closed: 21.55p.m.
………………………………………………….. 22nd October 2014.
Town Mayor.