Minutes of the Salcombe Annual Town Meeting of held in the Library of Cliff House, Salcombe at 6.00pm on Wednesday 8th May 2019
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT
* – Attendance; A- Absent; N – No Apologies Received
Cllr. Mrs N. Turton – Mayor (in the Chair) *
Cllr Mrs C. Bricknell A
Cllr T. Lang *
Cllr P. Lafferty-Holt *
Cllr Mrs L. Sinnott *
Cllr R. Moore *
Cllr I. Hatch *
Cllr M. Fice *
Cllr M. Long (also a District Councillor) *
Cllr G. Keeler *
Cllr S. Williams *
Also in attendance:
Dist. Cllr Mrs Pearce *
Cty. Cllr. R Gilbert A
Gill Claydon (Clerk) *
Pete Robinson (Cemetery Manager and Project Officer) *
WPC Jo Pengilly N
Kristen Bound Kingsbridge Gazette *
1. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 9th May 2018 were considered and duly AGREED for the Chair to sign as a true and correct record.
2. TOWN MAYOR’S REPORT
The Mayor was pleased to see a nearly full compliment of councillors, with returning faces amongst the new. She thanked those who were re-elected for all their hard work during the last year, and thanked Cty Cllr Rufus Gilbert, and Dist Cllrs Mrs Judy Pearce and Simon Wright for their input over the previous year. Heartfelt thanks also went to Project Officer and Town Clerk for their continued perseverance and loyalty to both town and council.
During the year Salcombe became affiliated to its very own Royal Navy ship, HMS Magpie, and hosted the ship, crew and other members of the newly-created “Magpie family” on two occasions over the summer. The Neighbourhood Plan, as would be discussed in the following Council Meeting, was drawing ever closer to referendum and she thanked the Steering Group for their determination and hard work in achieving this. The Open Spaces Sport and Recreation Working Group had been meeting with play equipment providers in relation to redeveloping Courtenay Park, and District were in the process of putting the project on the Contract Finder portal. This would be funded by District capital budget and S106 monies allocated from development projects in Salcombe. Once all the proposals had been received, town council would be taking them to public consultation, with the aim of work going ahead in the autumn.
Negotiations for a land transfer of The Berry back to Town Council from District had stalled a couple of times, with District determined to keep what was known as “Plot A” under their control for development. Town Council knew this was not what the Town wanted as set out at the public meeting, and this was why town council had signed the lease again so as to protect the position. On a positive note, town council would be revisiting these talks as soon as possible. A Town Council Working Group and the Harbour Board have started work looking at possibly taking on the joint running of the 6 toilet blocks in Salcombe and East Portlemouth. Once the final figures had been worked up the proposed project would come before full Council for a decision on its viability. Town Council had also started an overall traffic review together with District and County Councils, looking at parking permits, park and ride provision and so on.
She advised that jointly with Kingsbridge and Malborough town council had obtained funding for a feasibility study into a footpath from Salcombe to Kingsbridge, and this report was due soon. The repainting of Salcombe’s telephone boxes was continuing and the Mayor thanked Cllr Mrs Caroline Bricknell for doing this work. At Jubilee Gardens town council reluctantly decided to remove the sandpit due to severe damage having been done to the edging, leading to contamination of the sand with wood, rusty nails and broken metal fixings. Town council would be looking into replacing the sandpit with a new piece of play equipment in due course.
Town Council did, of course, continue to monitor all planning applications in the parish and those further afield that might impact upon the town, along with tree works, highway issues and street cleansing matters on town’s behalf and welcomed any problems being reported to them.
3. VERBAL REPORTS
POLICE: A report received in full council.
Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce – She read from part of the District Council Annual Report. The financial year 2018/19 reduced core funding to zero so they needed to find funds to meet community needs and they continued in their pursuit of ways to provide services but also make access to services easier. They were working on many services and setting the local strategy with the Joint Local Plan being adopted with the 20-year plan. A key project was a multimillion plan on street cleaning and waste management which would save District £3million over the term of the contract. In November 2018 they had a Peer Review carried out by the Local Government Association along with West Devon. The team reviewed everything, and their report was positive with plans for progress with several recommendations. There was a new Commercial Strategy and they were developing assets in areas or acquiring new assets to bring income in. They were working with the Heart of South West Committee to improve wider aspects of benefit for the community. There was an over spend in the last council. They had significantly reduced telephone calls by about 60,000 over the previous year due people having less to moan about and reporting more things online. Some things online were not perfect, but they had a continual improvement programme which they were working towards. District Council supported 92 events around the district, carried out 2100 play park inspections, cleared 53 fly tips and carried 397,104 passengers on Dartmouth lower ferry.
Dist Cllr Long – Had been newly elected so had nothing to report but was pleased to be in attendance as the new District Councillor.
4. OPEN FORUM
No members of the public being present this was dispensed with.
Meeting Closed: 18.13p.m.
……………………………………………….. 2019.
Town Mayor.