COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT
* – Attendance; A- Absent; N – No Apologies Received
Cllr Mrs N. Turton – Mayor (in the Chair) *
Cllr. M. Fice *
Cllr Mrs C. Bricknell *
Cllr T. Lang *
Cllr Mrs L. Sinnott *
Cllr K. Baker *
Cllr P. Lafferty-Holt *
Cllr M. Long A
Cllr Mrs Kemp *
Also in attendance:
Dist. Cllr S. Wright *
Dist. Cllr Mrs Pearce *
Cty Cllr. R Gilbert *
Gill Claydon (Clerk) *
Pete Robinson (Cemetery Manager and Project Officer) *
WPC Jo Pengilly A
PCSO P. O’Dwyer A
Kristen Bounds Kingsbridge Gazette *
29. 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.
30. OPEN FORUM
Police Report – WPc Pengilly provided by email the following report. Crimes within the Salcombe Beat Code for the past 30 days, were as follows:
1 X Burglary non-dwelling (still under investigation)
1 x Common Assault
1 x Possession of Drugs
1 x dog not under proper control
1 x Send a letter/communication conveying a threat
Marine Crime was on an increase force wide, however NOT in the Salcombe area and there was still only one reported in 2019 of which the property was recovered following an arrest.
Op Saracen – Drugs operation was still ongoing with proactive action being taken to help detect/prevent the drugs possession/use within the area. Any information provided would be treated as confidential and could be phoned into Crime stoppers/101 or direct to her mobile number. No matter how small the information it was very important to build the puzzle.
The speed of vehicles had been brought to her attention and she attached two leaflets produced by Devon County Council and these provided ideas of how to try and deter this. One document explained how speeding was assessed under SCARF and the other was information about Vehicle Activated Signs.
During enquiries in Fore Street, following the burglaries earlier this year, she advised there was a lot of positivity from retailers regarding help towards Town CCTV. She was willing to have a meeting however this initiative would have to be driven by a nominated person as unfortunately this was not something she would able to assist with. If it was something the Town Council were considering then nominating a person to compose a letter to be distributed to all premises in the town, with a time limit on it for them to respond, asking if they would consider donating towards CCTV may help towards the cost. This would assist in the Detection and Prevent of Crime and Disorder within Salcombe Town and would be an asset to all.
PCSO Paul ODwyer was no longer at Salcombe as he had been temporarily moved to another unit, where he would be restricted to Office duties, so at this busy time of year she not have any direct support.
Future activity by the Neighbourhood team would be: Proactive Action – Possession and Controlled use of Substances and Marine Crime (including multi agency work).
She wished to thank Town Council for the use of part of Whitestrand Carpark on the 17th April 2019 where the police would be running the annual Marine Awareness Day 10.00 hours to 15.00 hours highlighting crime prevention and safety on the coastal area and within the home.
District and County Councilors’ Report.
Cty Cllr Gilbert noted that the preparation and provision of Park and ride signs was proceeding well. Regarding scaffolding on Buckley Street they had a permit till 21st April but it was noted they probably would not finish by then so what would happen. He advised they would have to go for renewal, so contact should be made with Adam Keay to ask what was proposed. Better place this year with scaffolding than last year.
On March 18th the highway lines on the First Responder space went in and had been marked with ‘permit holders’ rather than ‘reserved and hatched yellow’. It was felt that motorists did not read the adjacent sign that stated First Responder. Permit holders could make residents believe that they are entitled to park there. The Town Clerk was asked to email Neil Oxten to ask why hatching had not been done and mention that permit holders on the road was unclear. Devon County had approved maintenance for Devon roads not covering resurfacing but other works but as it had been a mild winter the roads were better. Cllr Fice asked if works postponed from last year due to lack of County fund would be done. Cty Cllr Gilbert had advised Adam Keay of works to be done out of the pot of money, with each division having £60,000 over and above their normal budgets. Devon was a large geographic area but metropolitan areas who had back to back housing but not so many miles of road were not treated pro rata. This Government contribution was officer dreamt up and should have been on length of road in County areas. Various roads were mentioned within the meeting to Cty Cllr Gilbert and he would liaise with Adam Keay. Cllr Lafferty-Holt advised that at Bennett Road where it turned around before the junction with Sandhills and Devon Road the shrubbery was overgrown so the lines and ‘S’ on slow had disappeared. Cars cut this corner and with pedestrians this made it very narrow. Cty Cllr Gilbert responded that this was followed up previously and officer work done on it to get it done so he would follow this up as the administration was done and it was down to the landowner.
Cllr Lang raised concern with regard to usage of a disabled space along St. Dunstans Road. Discussion took place but it was felt that it had been there previously, and any dwelling/resident could ask for such but there was no consultation on provision with town council. Due to the sensitivity enforcement did not like to book vehicles parked in disabled places even if it was evident it was being abused.
Angus Lumsden was present at open forum as he had put in an application for beach touch rugby on 22nd August and wanted to address any queries. They had held this event for the last two years and it had been very successful, much enjoyed and there were no incidents nor rubbish left on the beach. It was noted that the information was copied and pasted into the application, so it was wrong and there was no charity named. There was an entry fee for teams and last year the charities had been RNLI and Regatta. As they were not holding this in Regatta week this year they were donating to RNLI for their 150th anniversary. The drinking vessels they used here and also at Dartmouth were biodegradable, so all was in hand and their team cleared the beaches afterwards. Cllr Lang commented on date it was being held but was informed this was dependent on the tides for usage late afternoon early evening. Cllr Fice questioned provision of boats to take attendees down. As nobody had taken them up on this previously it was not being done as most people had taken their own boats so most still arrived by water. There would be no more than the normal issues of traffic to South Sands.
Dist Cllr Wright apologised for missing the last meeting. District had signed up FCC for waste collection and as from Monday the staff servicing this would be in new uniforms badged for FCC. There were no reported issues as a result of the change of contractor, but it was the same operatives and vehicles. Glass recycling would be another year before being implemented along with all new vehicles.
A link on the District website to the neighbourhood plans was now up and running so others could view other area ideas. Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce noted she had problems accessing this on her phone so she was interested if anyone else had problems and could they please let her know.
As part of the District Capital Programme the Health and Wellbeing hub in Dartmouth was progressing.
Cllr Fice asked what was happening with the shelter at Cliff House that was cordoned off as viewed from the water this looked awful. Dist Cllr Wright advised that they were awaiting a survey report. On another matter Cllr Fice asked why District never removed old planning application notices when the application was decided because they littered the town. Dist Cllr Wright agreed they should be taken down.
Cllr Fice noted the list of planning decisions had arrived and 0374/19LBC Watch House decision had been made. Town Council had raised a query that it should not just be a Listed Building application but a full application as it contained major structural changes. The officer’s report said comments did not apply to Listed Building permission but the works might need planning. So the question was where did town council go from here. Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce said that Richard Gage felt it was alright as it was. However there was more to the application than Listed Building as they were demolishing a wall and balcony. Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce would investigate this matter. On 0530/19 Ballustrade at Devon Court the officer stated there was no response from town council and yet the town council response was on the website and Town Council had objected.
Cllr Lafferty-Holt noted that Shadycombe car park started the new Spring pricing on Monday morning but at 10a.m. the car park was half empty when a week before it was full. Was the pricing structure to blame or was it mismanagement of permits? In winter local residents were penalised as they could not park. Dist Cllr Wright responded that there was no change in pricing but from 1st April the car park became short stay not long term. From 1st November – 31st March Shadycombe was long stay and then short stay permit holders could not park April – Sept so they went to the long stay.
Cllr Lafferty-Holt continued and asked when the extra bin emptying of public bins commenced in town and as Dist Cllr Wright was unsure he would check and report back. It was noted that last Monday evening at 5.30p.m. bins were overflowing and again this evening and as Easter holidays were upon the town this needed to be done. At Whitestrand toilets the chemical toilets stated no water, no chemicals, no odour. He had photos that illustrated the operatives were spraying the area with bleach which was counter to what signage said. They sprayed very high so unless usage aimed high the bleach mark did not disappear at certain levels. As the toilet and waste services were no doubt a large staff cost were these contracts terminated or moved across to FCC. They were moved, and nobody was sacked but they were no longer the responsibility of SHDC. A site survey was conducted the previous day and today relating to the Whitestrand toilets building. As a result, painted had been sprayed on the floor and along the way to points to measure so the whole street appeared graffitied. They were advised it would last about a week and rain would wash it away, but it was a shame this was done for tjhe school holidays. Was it a pollutant if it washed away? Also they had to close the toilets to do the survey.
Cllr Mrs Sinnott raised the issue of the long stay parking in Gould Road as District had taken away permits for visitors at £40 weekly. Numerous people were phoning, emailing and arriving at the Information Centre expecting the service but it was no longer there. However someone could go to Gould Road and put an APP on their phone and pay daily at £8.50 to park. For 7 days this was £59.50 so an increase of £19.50. They were paying more to park but surely the goal was to stop people blocking the lower car park to enable a quicker turn over but this had not alleviated just taken the permits away and made it more expensive. Someone else had paid by APP for a whole day in Whitestrand when it was only a 2 hour stay so how could this happen. The District website was miscommunication regard parking. Also placing a sign saying what a week in the P&R would cost would assist. Dist Cllr Wright said a decision had been taken last March/April and only 8 people objected and he wrote to all of them and all removed their objections to removing the weekly permit. Another question was do properties still have weekly permits for their property to give out but it was advised no these had been stopped. Town Council needed to review their 6 monthly and 12monthly permits and offer these to holiday property owners.
Dist Cllr Wright stated that if Town Council suggested wording for a P&R sign District would produce this.
Cllr Lafferty-Holt noted an article in the ‘Telegraph’ advised cash could disappear quickly as bank branches disappear and shops refused cash. He said the town needed to know if District was planning ahead for machines in toilets, car parks etc which allowed contactless payment.
The Mayor advised that a resident asked what the District Council were going to do about their planters at Whitestrand in readiness for Easter as they were a mess. It was noted that the hair braiders continued to display their wares and sit customers on them and town council wished something done before Easter.
31. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting dated 27th March 2019 were amended to read that Cllr Lafferty-Holt ‘left’ the meeting before being approved and duly signed by the Mayor as a true and correct record.
32. PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
The following applications were considered and such observations from town council submitted to District.
- 1768/18/HHO READVERTISEMENT (Revised Plans Received) Householder application for addition of a new entrance porch and door and a separate double garage on existing hardstanding Byelanes, Moult Road, Salcombe, TQ8 8LG – Objection and town council supported the tree officer comment that the tree should remain untouched.
APPEAL
- 2748/17/FUL Appeal reference: APP/K1128/W/18/3215145 Proposal: The demolition of all existing buildings on site while retaining the southern stone boundary wall and concrete quay, erection of circa 265sq m commercial floorspace at ground floor and a 6 bedroom dwelling with guest suite complete with existing access and the creation of five associated parking spaces Brewery Quay, Island Street, Salcombe, TQ8 8DP Appellants name: 1st Asset Appeal start date: 15 March 2019 – It was AGREED that town council respond as follows:
Salcombe Town Council (‘STC’) wished to reiterate their previous objection to this application and support South Hams District Council (‘SHDC’) on their reasons for refusal of the application. STC add further comments set out below.
Employment
The application site sits within a designated employment area as defined by the Joint Local Plan (‘JLP’) (policy DEV 14) and the emerging Salcombe Neighbourhood Plan (‘NDP’) (Policy EM2). The NDP has now passed the regulation 16 stage, has undergone examination and the inspector’s report is imminent.
The Appeal Statement (page 9 para 5.11) states that the relevant policy within the NDP has been changed to exclude criterion (d) of policy EM2 – this criterion is as follows
(d) Residential use will only be permitted if it forms a minor part of the overall development and it is ancillary and subsidiary to the manufacturing, craft and other service enterprise in the area.
The Appeal Statement goes on to say that the updated version which has undergone examination does not make any reference to residential use as the above criterion has been withdrawn (page 9 para 5.12). However, this is not correct as the new policy starts with the following statement
Within the area of Island Street and Gould Road shown as employment policy area C on figure 17 only employment uses shall be permitted.
Para 6.6 on page 11 of the Appeal Statement states that the employment use of the site is no longer viable and has no prospect of becoming so. This would suggest that the applicant paid too much for the site and never had any intention of developing it for employment use. There are several adjacent sites which have been redeveloped for purely employment use and all appear to be viable – they are the Gin Distillery, Island Square, and Hannaford’s Landing.
Paras 6.9 – 6.15 on page 13 states that the application provides suitable replacement employment space of an equivalent floor area with the same number of jobs. This is a misleading statistic as it does not take into account a local business employing over 100 people which occupied part of the property, with which they were very happy, a few months before the application was made. This business was effectively given ‘constructive notice’ as they were offered a 12-month lease with a 6 month break clause which was not viable for a growing business.
Salcombe needs affordable employment space in this area as evidenced by the list of traders looking for employment space in close proximity to the water’s edge set out in appendix B43 of the NDP (list attached).
It should also be noted that when SHDC went out to tender for 8 employment units (this has now been reduced to 6) which they were intending to build adjacent to Batson Creek, there were submissions for a total of 26 units. This further shows the requirement of employment space in this area.
Residential
The Appeal Statement (page 2 para 1.8) states that the dwelling will contribute to housing stock. However what Salcombe needs is affordable housing for local key workers and this 6-bedroom house does not fit the bill.
Conservation Area
The application site is within the Salcombe Conservation Area and the changes to the Island Street frontage (South elevation) and the Shadycombe Creek frontage (North elevation) are not felt to be in keeping.
Para 3.5 on page 6 of the Appeal Statement indicates that the windows in this front façade are of a domestic nature and are at odds with the original marine use. This is not correct as these are the original openings.
The frontage onto Shadycombe Creek is proposed to be 3 floors of glass all with bifold opening doors. This is not in keeping with the area and will cause light pollution to both the Conservation Area and the AONB.
Conclusion
Salcombe is a very busy tourist town with a second home ratio over 50% (the majority of which are rented out) and a lot of the visitors need marine facilities. If there is insufficient affordable housing or employment space to service these needs, be it property or boat maintenance, then visitors will stop coming to Salcombe and the town will gradually die (see appendix B44 of the NDP attached).
The north side of Island Street is a very important employment area. If this appeal is granted there could be many more such applications to follow which would eventually wipe out the majority of employment space in Island Street leading to the scenario above.
STC request that this appeal is dismissed.
Dist Cllr Mrs Pearce noted that District had asked the Inspectorate for an extension of time to 19/20th April due to the examiner’s report on the Neighbourhood Plan being due. If they did not agree statements would need to be in by Friday. In the interim as the Neighbourhood Plan Inspector did not question the Island Street employment use this was felt to add weight.
The District Councillors left the meeting.
PLANNING CORRESPONDENCE
Nothing further received.
33. PARK AND RIDE
It was AGREED that;
a) the template signs provided by Devon County Council advising of the park and ride were approved at a cost of £555 for creation and installation.
b) a request by the RNLI to utilise the car park free of charge for those attending their 150th Anniversary Party at Salcombe Rugby Club could not be accommodated due to the car park Traffic Regulation Orders in place.
34. LICENCES
The following applications for a temporary event licence were considered and AGREED as stated:
a) ref: 1064522 Salcombe Marine Awareness Day for use of part of Whitestrand car Park on the 17th April 2019 – Request that the police cordon off the far end so it was safe on land for pedestrians using the car park.
b) ref: 1066018 Salcombe Gin Beach Rugby event Regatta Week to be held on South Sands beach on 22nd August 2019 – No objection.
35. MAYOR’S REPORT
The Mayor suggested that the town meeting be held ahead of the Annual Meeting in May. The Town Clerk’s contract needed to be brought up to date with new legislation and the Finance Group would review this. A complaint was received regarding changes to the window Casse Croute/Salcombe Yawl and a retrospective planning application was requested to consider the narrow pavement and lorries in this area. There had been a further complaint today about properties along Cliff Road just along from Bennett Road where builders were using the area as a car park and town council would ask County Enforcement to make a visit. The Mayor urged town councillors to check the town website for errors, omissions and then media group could meet and discuss any changes. It was stated that 2016 referred to on the Park and Ride page.
36. COUNCILLORS REPORTS
- Cllr Lafferty-Holt – Noted the newly marked taxi rank and had seen a taxi parked there but also in parking bays. It appeared that some taxi drivers had wanted this space and some did not but it was a focal point for collections purposes as a taxi rank. Also as there was a charging policy for taxis coming from further afield it cost more so this would negate that.
- Cllr Mrs Bricknell – Noted that in Island Street by the boat stores work was being doing on the roofs with moveable scaffolding and could be asbestos. If it was asbestos it would need to be reported to the Environment Agency but she would check before anything was done.
- Cllr Mrs Sinnott – Complimented the Kings Arms new owners for clearing the opposite area adjacent to the cashpoints and decorating it with flowers, much improved. Devon Road above Courtney Park from Baptist Lane to the bus stop builders had partitioned the road off taking 3 – 4 parking spaces. This was the bus route and there was no room to pull in.
- Cllr Fice – Attended the Future Town Strategies meeting held in Modbury. He noted that no one from Ivybridge nor Dartmouth attended and the only representative from Totnes was a Visit Totnes person. Tom Jones of District Planning wanted to have meetings once a month and the next one was scheduled for May in Salcombe. Town Council could potentially could consider 15th May but the idea was to discuss topics relevant to all towns. Tom Jones outlined the grant application for Ivybridge but he did not feel they would get it as there was limited funding for towns in hardship. The purpose going forward was for groups to meet to discuss common ambitions for all towns. Electric charging points was raised and Tom Jones said District was making plans to put electric charging points in their car parks. Highways England were also installing charging points all the way along the A38. For some reason James Kershaw District Officer was against these charging points. If an organisation wanted to install their own charging point connecting to the grid it would cost £30,000. If usage of electric cars became high enough maybe it could be considered at the park and ride but presently there were lots of different types of charging adaptors for various cars. This discussion ought to be a South Hams network so was a topic going forward. Cycle routes and linking up was another topic but with the project with Kingsbridge this was in hand. Signage for parking was a concern as many around town were not clear and an audit needed to be done with signs saying short stay/long etc. Civic space and town squares were raised as Modbury wanted to use the car park behind the White Hart for certain events and District charged. Town wide wifi and how this could be accommodated along with identifying projects for generating money to put directly back into the community were further topics. The Chair was from the Neighbourhood Plan group for Modbury and Cllr Fice suggested they brought four topics forward and left 30 minutes at the end of each meeting for the host town to raise issues. Every town would have different things and very few of these projects joined up. A suggested venue for Salcombe was the Rugby Club 15th May but the format of the meeting needed consideration so that Cllr Fice plus others from the community could attend. After further discussion it was felt that May would be too soon due to Easter and forthcoming elections and therefore Salcombe should be the beginning of June after 5th.
- Cllr Baker – Noted the Gallery fence down the side had advertising. The Salcombe DIY leased it and they charged for advertising. There was no planning permission and formerly the advertising was on the store and they were told no planning was necessary but because the store moved over it placed the signs on the gate.
CLERK’S REPORT
- Letter received from Council’s solicitor advising that The Berry Leases had been completed and he was now completing the applications for registration.
- Seafarers Uk letter inviting councils to arrange to fly a Red Ensign on 3rd September, British Merchant Navy Day.
- The park and ride barriers had again been bent significantly more than a vehicle just making contact. The gates were also not meeting correctly. These problems should be rectified to ensure that the area was secure and the contractor approached to do the recent repair works would be asked to quote for this work as obtaining other estimates had proved impossible previously.
37. FINANCE
Bank Balances
Current Account £500.00
Deposit Account £383,002.95
Received:
SHDC – Half Yearly Precept 47,025.00
Councillors APPROVED Internet payments to:
ICCM – Annual subs £95.00
DALC – Annual subs £456.34
Krystal Hosting Ltd – 2 Year Renewal of town council ‘. gov.uk’ £60.00
SHDC – March Maintenance Contract £998.95
Claydon – Legal letter returning signed Leases £3.55 and Coffee £3.99 £7.54
Hi-Line – Works to trees at The Berry and Shadycombe £1152.00
Greenspace – Redfern Woods repair and replacement post and rail for the steps £141.95
38. NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 24th April 2019 in the Library at Cliff House, Cliff Road, Salcombe at 6.30p.m.
Meeting Closed: 20.25p.m.
…………………………………………….. 24th April 2019.
Town Mayor.