COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT

* – Attendance; A- Absent; N – No Apologies Received

Cllr. M. Fice – Mayor – *
Cllr. A. Biggs – *
Cllr Mrs C. Bricknell – *
Cllr D. Cohen – *
Cllr T. Lang – *
Cllr R. Whitfield – A
Cllr Mrs L. Sinnott – *
Cllr Mrs A. Clacy – A
Cllr Mrs. M. Kemp – *

Also in attendance:
Dist. Cllr S. Wright – *
Dist. Cllr Mrs Pearce – A
Cty. Cllr. R Gilbert – *
Gill Claydon (Clerk) – *
Pete Robinson (Cemetery Manager and Project Officer) – *
WPC Jo Pengilly – A
PCSO D. Gibson – A
Chris Derrick – Kingsbridge Gazette reporter – *

The Mayor noted congratulations to Rob Wheeler and Julie on their marriage the previous weekend.

799. 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. None received.

800. OPEN FORUM

Howard Davis of Salcombe Distilling Company attended to explain about the company proposals for a liquor licence. He was passionate about Gin and Salcombe and they would be using Dartmoor smooth water for their gin making and botanical ingredients. There were two buildings on the site and in the rear on the first floor of the building was where they would be situated as most of the ground floor was being used for another business. There would be a large area for distillation and bottling with a smaller area open to the public. The core of the business was selling gin so they would be starting out with a London Dry Classic Gin and would progress to some seasonal gins in time but in addition to gin they wished to encourage people to learn about it and its ingredients and how they make it. There would be tours of the distillery showing production and they hoped to have a gin school with a miniature still to allow visitors to get ingredients and do it themselves. There would be a small bar for visitors to have a drink whilst enjoying the distillery. Last orders would be 10p.m. and they would close 10.30p.m. Mainly they would be serving gin but at the bar there would be other drinks for those attending with them. The building was going up quickly and they wanted to be open this summer and were getting production equipment in and finalising recipes. They felt they had good support from the area and other businesses. Cllr Biggs had thought a Fish and Chip shop was to be in the front area called Dizzy Fish as he felt this was up and advertised Mr Davis was aware of some of the applications for use but had not heard of any fish shop or website. The plan was to open July. The major concern was that Island Street on one side was residential and there had been complaints relating to other establishments and therefore town council queried the length of opening hours of 13 hours per day. It was advised that other business elsewhere was around the sale of food and drink whereas their core was making the gin. The opening hours were to cover for tours and tasting sessions on site with the additional off site licence to buy and take away the gin. They had put in as 9a.m.start in case of early tours but it was quite possible that people would come in for a lunch time drink and yes the bar would be open. There would however be no food offered only peanuts and olives as they did not have the room nor wish to serve food. The bar area would be over towards the creek side and on Island Street side there would be a glass window to see production. An area about 6 m wide x 10 m deep with a bar within it and a little thin bit about 4m wide where stairs came up. It was advised that the image of Salcombe would be on the brand Salcombe Gin and the sales intentions were initially this region but the owners would like to grow further in the UK and then perhaps export in the future.

County Councillor Reports

Cllr Gilbert – Had spoken with a resident who told him that the road drains around Salcombe were blocked. He advised that these were scheduled to be cleared every three years and were due to be done this summer as they had last been cleared July 2013. The Mayor highlighted one particular drain in Fore Street outside the newsagents as this was apparently blocked and he was told it had collapsed. This concern had been sent with photographs that it flooded and town council were told to provide another photograph within 24 hours and if the problem still was there they would clear. In view of the fact that South West Water were carrying out a flood alleviate scheme this sort of response was not helpful and would impede trust in the works. Town Clerk was to email Cty Cllr Gilbert with this report in order that he could address such concern.

Cty Cllr Gilbert noted that County had a new Traffic Regulation Order going through and Salcombe hadjust one item listed being the location at Bonfire Hill being proposed for extending the double yellow lines into the spur. Town Council was not aware of this recommendation but they would be receiving details for this through consultation. Town Council were also aware that further changes were wished but this first TRO by County under the new scheme would not address these needs. At Chandlers Heights the parking issue remained the same and Cty Cllr Gilbert stated he would take up this concern with highways. Cllr Biggs challenged the reason for the concern at Chandlers noting that County withdrew eligibility for all Chandlers Heights to have residents parking permits and that he felt was the issue. It was noted however that Devon County gave residents permits to second homes and this was a worry as it affected the ability for all year residents to obtain such. The Mayor questioned why the Rules of Residents permit stated an applicant should pay council tax at the property where such car parked and that such car should be registered at that property but this was not happening for those who owned second homes. Cty Cllr Gilbert advised that officers were not breaking the rules in allowing such but would appreciate a few bullet points of why Town Council felt that Chandlers Heights should be put forward for a change and the Town Council reasoning. It was noted that Town Council had previously submitted a list of potential areas that they wanted to be included in the next TRO. Cty Cllr Gilbert advised that everyone used to have to wait for five years for a County TRO previously so with this new yearly scheme things should go through faster. The Salcombe Crab Fest was this weekend and he would be attending and hoped that all the plans were for road closures were complete.

He was advised that the Annual Town Meeting would be held Weds 18th May at the Rugby Club 7pm as after the informal town meeting protocol the main reason was that the community would be invited to stay and contribute to the OSSR Plan through informal feedback.

With regard to the Section 106 agreement put in place for the school footpath the developer would not agree to allow the £30,000 to be used for barriers and street lights. The original agreement said it was to create a safe pathway between the school and Ember Road and as this was now said not to be possible due to terrain town council wished to make the existing route safer. Town Council still challenged that this use of the monies was not a change terms to the Section 106 and were advised by the County Councillor to email their disagreement and he would pursue this.

Cllr Biggs noted that on the Main Road just past the new development where a traffic island was situated there was a drain on the left hand side opposite Batson Hill which had sunk. There was currently a traffic cone on it and town council were asked to report this on line and come back to Cty Cllr Gilbert with a reference number and he would also chase that.

District Councillor Reports

Cllr Wright noted that District Council had a new complaints policy approved which was in ‘plain speak’ and they must respond within a certain amount of time, 30 days. He felt it was easier to follow and would speed things up. There had also been a peer review where they looked at the District planning side of things and had received an initial feedback from it with a full report to be written to be considered by the Executive in May or June. The parish comments were that better consultation and exchange of thoughts was expected.

The Batson units planning application was coming forward although it was noted that some people were raising issues on it. The small marine companies were extremely interested and all tenders were to be in by Friday and one strength was that a number of marine based people would be working together as a marine centre. On the Torbay NHS Trust there was a proposal to close a few hospitals, Dartmouth being one of them, but this did not directly affect Salcombe as this came under a different Trust. He noted that on a personal note he had someone stay with him the previous weekend who had been evacuated from the East End and had many photographs and stories. The Mayor asked him to liaise with the history society. Cty Cllr Gilbert noted on the request of the Mayor he had agreed to grant some money to Salcombe History Society and Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce was also to speak to Ken Prowse.

With regard to the recent changes to the Waste Services and collection the Mayor had been in email correspondence with Nathaniel Bannister. He was very concerned about what seemed to be mis information as originally town council had been informed this was not a blanket change and there would still be weekly bag collections. Now they were told this is not the situation at all. His neighbour received a letter and then a caddy, he did not. Now he had. He had sent Nathaniel an email the previous day and asked to know which areas of Salcombe were still going to have weekly sack collections as some in Buckley Street not told but he was advised by a lady on Monday that thee would be no sack collections in Buckley Street.

Cllr Gilbert noted in his District waste portfolio capacity that he did have a meeting that day about this and other matters. Firstly he thanked the Mayor for his help in this and he felt that so far the waste review had gone really well, out of over 5000 changes less than 5% contacted District with concerns and out of 5% only 1 or 2% were being reviewed. He could not accept the Mayor’s kind offer to liaise locally as it was really between house owner and District due to confidentiality. Some house owners had been in touch already and some contextual issues discovered. An example they had found in some cases, which they wanted to identify, was where a second home holiday let had been putting rubbish out through the residential waste service which should be covered by business use so these would come to light. They could not share that information although they wanted to but unfortunately under Data Protection it was not possible. What house owners must do was get in touch with District direct. The Mayor noted that people would not have the waste phone number because they had no idea it was changing. The form that some information came in people might think it was junk mail and some records were not correct so they would not get a card. The Mayor’s concern was that the Monday after next visiting people would leave rubbish out to be collected that will not be. In some cases District might collect these and in others they might put stickers on the bin but District would have to find out what happened on the day. At the Mayors and Clerks meeting the impression given by senior officers and the Leader was that the impact on Salcombe would be minimal but this information had been withdrawn and initially Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce had also indicated this. This change affected the bottom end of Salcombe which was highly visible.

Cllr Biggs felt that 5% was the tip of the iceberg when people started to come down and it could dramatically increase. Holiday homes companies had written to their clients and Cllr Wright had not heard any complaints about this whatsoever, they had phoned and been dealt with. Cllr Mrs Sinnott noted that last Saturday afternoon there were caddy bins delivered in Courtney Street properties and they took them into the houses. They did meet one couple in Buckley Street who had no idea what to do with the bins and where to put them. It was advised that there were comprehensive instructions within the bin and the number to advise people to ring was 01803 861521. They Mayor wanted clarity on the issue of second homes, if people were letting them out should they be using the commercial waste service? Cty Cllr Gilbert advised that there were certain regulations if someone was letting a house for more than 10 weeks then paid business rates so they must pay for their rubbish to be collected. The bulk of properties were felt to be in contravention of the rules and should not be putting their waste out with residential bins. On this point the Mayor noted that technically if a property was under business rates the payees should not then have County residents parking permits.

The refuse collectors would in future have in cab technology so that all cabs were computerised and would know outside each property whether they were business rate payers or not so whether they should pick up refuse. When someone phoned in to the customer services the person taking such call would send information to a dustcart and if a collection had been missed they could go back. They would also know back at customer services when bins were put out too late and this would be a hardening up on service delivery. There were also lots of people with two bins, if there were four children in a family they could have another bin. However when the property is sold and someone new arrived they often continued with two bins. Town Council questioned how District would know how many children the house contained but Cllr Gilbert advised that the house would be registered as having changed hands and they could check. In future District would no longer drive down farm driveways and they would have to put their residential bins at the end of the road. District would also switch to a four day collection service, with longer hours for four days, as this would cut the long distance driving out and back.

Dist Cllr. Wright noted on a final point that when people claimed business rates for a second home and they then claim business rate rebate they had also been having their bins collected too and this needed to be stopped.
Cllr Gilbert left the meeting.

Police Report – PCSO Gibson emailed and advised that there had been one crime within the last 2 weeks in Salcombe which was a drink drive. Apart from that on the night of 24th April there was one/possibly two outboards taken from boats on moorings from South Pool Creek.

801. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting dated 13th April 2016 were approved by council and then duly signed by the Mayor as a true and correct record.

802. CO-OPTION

Due to no applications this was DEFERRED.

803. PLANNING APPLICATIONS:

The following applications were considered and town council observations submitted to District Planning:
• 0528/16/FUL Alteration to balustrade (no’s 1-5) and erection of fence to upper boundary of no 1, 1-5 Carbery, Newton Road, Salcombe TQ8 8HH – Applicant Mr F. Wass – The plans submitted were felt to be unclear. It appeared that the intention was for a galvanised open mesh fence and currently Carbery had wood balustrades to be replaced by stainless steel and glass. It was noted that the application was submitted by one owner at property number 1 and stated he had served notice on the other properties but someone at a property said a lot of other owners had no knowledge and/or were not in favour of it. Therefore there was grave concern with the contents. The fence behind Carbery would be 12 feet high to Higher Carbery as they proposed to build a fence 6ft 6in above the top of the wall. It was also not clear where the fence was to start or end. Objection as the balustrade materials were not sympathetic to the building and would have a significant impact on the AONB. Town Council was concerned with regard to the proposed height of such fence which was more visible from the estuary than the balustrade and by virtue of its height felt to be unneighbourly. Further information was requested as the plans were unclear and did not show exactly what materials were to be used and the location of the fence.
• 0580/16/HHO Householder application for proposed porch extension and removal of existing chimney stack 25 Island Street, Salcombe TQ8 8DP – Applicant Elaine Jones – No objection.
• 0778/16/FUL Conventional balcony to replace existing CABRIO roof light balcony of same dimensions 3 Blue View, Devon Road, Salcombe TQ8 8GZ – Applicant Mr P. Stedman – No objection.
• 0943/16/LBC Listed building consent for emergency structural repairs to rebuild a cracked stone pier and replace a concrete encased steel beam which together from an archway over a public thoroughfare and replace the decayed and warped timber panelling to south elevation The Studio, Victoria Quay, Salcombe, TQ8 8DA – Applicant Mrs D. Thackray – No objection.
• 0947/16/HHO Householder application for alterations and extension to existing dwelling Hembury, Coronation Road, Salcombe TQ8 8EA – Applicant Mrs C. Wethered – Objection due to the significantly increased massing of the building this was felt to be overdevelopment of the site. There were also concerns raised with regard to loss of light to two neighbouring properties.
• 1078/16/HHO Householder application for replacement of second floor dormer and addition of balcony High Ridge, Main Road, Salcombe TQ8 8JW – Applicant Mr Johnstone – No objection.

PLANNING CORRESPONDENCE

• Most information already passed on to town councillors.
• Email dated 27th April 2016 attaching an Appeal Notice: 1797/15/F Appeal Ref: APP/K1128/W/16/3147659 Proposal: Construction of replacement dwelling with swimming pool and landscaping Netherwood, Bennett Road, Salcombe TQ8 8JJ Appellants Name: Mrs J. Morton. The appeal would be determined on the basis of written representations but town council had nothing further to add.

804. NEW PREMISES LICENCE

The application by Salcombe Distilling Company Ltd for the sale of alcohol on and off the premises, Monday to Saturday from 9a.m. to 10p.m. and Sunday from 10a.m. to 10p.m. at The Boathouse, 30 Island Street, Salcombe TQ8 8DP was discussed and it was AGREED there were no concerns nor comments.
Cllr Wright left the meeting.

805. STREET FURNITURE

The accessibility due to street furniture around town was discussed and further action required this year was DEFERRED to the next meeting pending comments from the Chamber of Commerce meeting.

806. HANDYMAN WORKS

It was AGREED to approve the work and materials required to:
(a) Jubilee Gardens water trough/planter £314.70
(b) Jubilee Gardens/Main Road roadside wall and around the new planter along with repair/rebuild of wall by the Bonfire Hill junction £713.10

807. CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

The nominations received were considered and town council selected the recipient for 2016 to be Tim Mattocks.
Chris Derrick Kingsbridge Gazette left the meeting.

808. MAYOR’S REPORT

The Mayor attended the District Planning Peer Review which was carried out by Jack Heggarty of Malvern Hills Council and Alan Pogg of West Norfolk/Kings Lynn. Every town and parish council in attendance had the same concerns; lack of information from Our Plan to enable Neighbourhood Plans, lack of communication, total lack of delivery of planning applications in any numerical order, no feedback on planning application decisions. The new IT system and search engine thereon were impossible and it was felt there was a lack of enforcement in the District. It was noted that to be fair to the staff they were under pressure as lot of the senior staff with knowledge and experience left during the Transition 18 changes. All in all this was quite a negative session from feedback. Those taking the views were strongly implored by members of the various groups to put everything in a report for SHDC to publish. The Mayor had since received a letter to say thank you for his time and confirmed that the report would be provided. The Mayor noted that he was now trained to close the flood defence gate and would train Cllr Biggs and Pete Robinson.
The History Society had requested a link from the Town Council website to theirs. All were in agreement that this was acceptable through the town and community a section on the website but a Disclaimer would be added to note that the town council had no control over the content of the History Society website.
Pete Robinson and the Mayor walked around the Berry with regard to fence placement. The Mayor outlined reasons for consideration of the adjacent area due to the previous fencing of land that was registered. It was concluded that a plan be drawn up that included all areas as the intention was to prevent the land being acquired for development. This would be sent with a letter from the town council solicitor and anyone who felt they had a greater claim could then be asked to prove this.
Salcombe Minibus Committee were applying for Charitable Status and therefore changing their Constitution. The old Constitution stated that the committee should contain four town councillors but currently there was only one, the Mayor, Mike Fice. These changes would be placed on the next agenda to be considered and such decision approved by Town Council.

809. COUNCILLORS REPORTS

• Cllr Lang – Noted he had sent the media report to the Gazette.
• Cllr Mrs Bricknell – Advised of the concern with regard to the culvert at North Sands and had spoken to Cllr Wright. A resident had sought confirmation that the South Wester Water works in Camperdown Road would be completed before their Queen’s 90th Birthday street party and this confirmation had been sought from the South West Water representative by the town clerk.

CLERK’S REPORT.

• Devon County Parish Paths Partnership Scheme had this year awarded £500 for the use on definitive footpaths.
• Chris Brook had met with the Batson to Salcombe path contractor and considered the proposed works within the Community Reinvestment funding grant. Following this a Licence had been drawn up by Kerry Tidmarsh South Hams District Council with Heads of Terms for the works in order to permit these works to be carried out. The contractor expected to do the works during September.
• Following a Land Registry search on the town trough/pump area it appeared unregistered. As the Regatta Committee had secured the door and therefore appeared tohave taken ownership this issue would be raised with them with regard to the health and safety of the water tank and enquiring whether they thought they had ownership of this area.
• Devon County Footpaths had advised that they would not make a payment towards grass cutting unless their Agreement was signed and such agreement stated that the contractor had to be Chapter 8 trained.
• Richard Jackson of County Highways had approached the developer at Bonfire Hill to request that the Section 106 monies of £30,000 set aside as a safe pathway to the Salcombe School be moved to street lighting. The terrain for a footpath was not suitable and town council felt that the route used across Jubilee Gardens and down Onslow Road would benefit from street lighting and roadside barriers but the developer would not allow the monies to be used as such and therefore the monies would be lost and returned to the developer.
• It was noted that the sign for the commemorative Oak tree on The Berry would be a short wooden stump with a suitably worded plaque.

810. FINANCE

Bank Balances
Current Account £501.00
Deposit Account £252,590.55

Receipts:
Harbour Hotel quarterly rent Dec – Mar and Apr – May £5750.
Half yearly precept plus Govt Grant £39,146.50
Salcombe Information Centre – Annual rent £4,250.00

Councillors APPROVED the following payments:
BACS payments:
SHDC – Bonfire Hill bins £27.01
HMRC – Tax & NI £706.29
Wages – £1726.93
Nest – Pension £142.40
P. Robinson – Stamps NPlan £47.25
Cheques APPROVED for signature: None

811. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 11th May 2016 in the Library at Cliff House, Cliff Road, Salcombe at 6.30p.m.

Meeting Closed: 21.11p.m.

……………………………………………….. 11th May 2016.
Town Mayor.

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