BAYDON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT THE BYPA HALL ON

7th July 2008 (Subject to approval at the meeting on 21st July 2008)

PRESENT: Don Carmichael, Tony Prior, Alison Tomkins

Also in attendance: Elizabeth Carmichael (Clerk), Cllr Humphries, Cllr Findlay & 12 members of the public.

1. APOLOGIES

None.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Tony Prior declared a personal interest in agenda items 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 & 8.1 as he is an allotment holder. Due to the re-ordering of the agenda these relate to minute items 8.4 – 8.7 & 10.1. Alison Tomkins declared a prejudicial interest in 5.1 as her property abuts the land in question.

3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

The minutes of the meeting on 9^th June were approved subject to the addition of the following sentence to 6.1 “As part of the discussion it was suggested that part of the allotment land could be sold to raise money”. The minutes were subsequently signed as a correct record.

4. SUSPENSION OF THE MEETING FOR PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

The meeting was suspended to give members of the public the opportunity to speak to the Parish Council about matters on the agenda before they were considered.

5. PLANNING

Due to a prejudicial interest the Parish Council was not quorate and consequently was unable to discuss planning application K/58950/F which proposes the substitution of plots 16-19 of the approved planning layout of application K/53477/F (ref. Land between Fortune Field & Baydon Cote).

The Meeting agreed with the Chair’s proposal to re-order the agenda so that certain key matters could be discussed early in the meeting.

6. FINANCE

6.1 The Parish Council approved sections 1 & 2 of the Annual Return & the Financial Statement for 2007-2008.

6.2 Payment of the invoice from Sodexho Land Technology for £ 1,146.33 was approved.

7. CO-Option of NEW MEMBERS

7.1 The Parish Council agreed to co-opt Tamsin Witt. The declaration of acceptance of office was signed at the end of the meeting.

7.2 The Parish Council agreed to co-opt Ian Timms. The clerk advised the meeting that Mr Timms could not act as a councillor until he had signed the declaration of acceptance of office in the presence of the clerk.

The Chair invited Steve Webb from the Baydon Resource Group to address the Council. Mr Webb advised the meeting that money in the BRG account amounted to approximately half of what would be required to build the BMX track. This includes money raised by the children themselves. The initial contractor is not currently available to do the work. Peter Bracey who installed the play equipment at the school may be able to do the required construction work. It was noted that the Parish Council’s insurance may be invalidated if a professional installer is not used. Mr Webb stated that he would be happy to meet with representatives from the Parish Council to discuss the proposal for a play area.

The Chair advised the meeting that, on the Friday after the agenda had been issued, the clerk had received some letters from the Head and school children regarding the state of the school paddock. Although the Parish Council could not make any decisions on the matter at this meeting, it could listen to the comments from one the School Governors. It was noted that the paddock is used by the school during the day and by the rest of the village on an evening. A lot of rubbish is being left in the paddock and there have been a number of incidents where school children have been injured. The paddock is owned by the County Council and sub-let to the school. It was unclear as to who had the responsibility for maintaining the paddock and fences, and for the removal of rubbish. The School Governors is looking for support from the Parish Council to get the issues resolved.

8. ITEMS FoR CONSIDERATION

8.1 To consider administration procedures for agendas, minutes & the clerk’s report

The Parish Council had a short discussion on administrative procedures. It was agreed that the clerk should put together an administration policy for approval at the next meeting.

Produce draft administration procedure Action: Clerk

8.2 To discuss the allocation of actions to Councillors

It was noted that although an individual Councillor could not make decisions on behalf of the Council, an action to carry out the decision of the Council could be allocated to a Councillor. The clerk advised the meeting that certain matters e.g. correspondence should always come from the clerk. It was agreed that the Parish Council would not automatically allocate all actions to the clerk but some will be allocated to individual Councillors as appropriate.

8.3 To receive a verbal update on the progress of the Village Plan

Tony Prior advised the meeting the questionnaires have now been returned. The Village Plan Steering Group was intending on presenting the report at the Parish Council meeting on 13^th October. A public meeting will be held on 20^th November.

As the meeting was over running it was agreed to continue until 10.15pm.

8.4 To discuss and agree the remit of the Allotments Liaison Officer