Allington Parish Council

Present: Cllrs. P Lathey, G Stansfield, T. Gruitt, I. Gay M. Norris, Cllr. Mrs M. Wrighton. Mr Adam Georgiou [Play Area Supervisor.] Mrs C. Harvey [Ancient Monuments Officer.] 3 members of the public.

The meeting began with the Chairman apologising for having to leave the meeting within a short space of time, the Vice Chair would be taking over the bulk of the meeting.

1. Apologies Received from Cllr S Wrighton.

2. Declarations of Members Interests. The Chairman reminded councillors that as we as a council had one of the planning applications being received they could not vote or discuss it, however they all declared an interest in this matter. Cllr Gruitt declared an interest in item 7[b]

3. The Chairman asked if all had received and read the minutes and if they were a true record ALL AGREED. At this juncture with councils permission the agendas schedule was altered in order.

4. Item 8 was now discussed. The Chairman explained the problem regarding the lease and the many differences that kept occurring for the Woodland Trust play area and that we had as a result had to have a solicitor [Richard Salt of Austin Whetham and Guest] to look over the lease and advise. The result was that the lease given in February 2004 which was first mentioned in August 2003 despite many requests never appear until February, was in fact almost totally incorrect for the purpose. It pertained to a building lease rather than a piece of land. The solicitor corrected the lease and this was sent to the Woodland Trust, however, only today had an email been sent to council stating that the person in charge of legal advice at Woodland Trust would be on holiday from Thursday 11th until 22nd March and could not look at it until then. This, yet another problem for our contactor.
Originally the chairman explained it was Valerie Staley from Woodland Trust who said the fencing to be in by end of February before the planting of the trees. To this end TMH Fencing agreed to this cancelling other work to do this for the council, then several more deadlines were given, each time the contractor having to alter his work schedule accordingly. Then a risk assessment hard copy plus proof of the contractor’s public liability was requested. This council felt should have been asked for way back in December at the latest. The council discussed this matter fully and decided that the contractor should not be expected to wait for payment for materials when it was neither the councils nor his fault for the delay. Being a new young business word of mouth recommendation is vital and council did not wish him to suffer unduly because of the Woodland Trusts not giving us the lease etc soon enough. Council asked Mr Hitt the Contractor who was in the body of the meeting if, the £1,000 proposed by Cllr Lathey and seconded by Cllr Gay as an interim payment for materials would be sufficient. He answered in the affirmative. A cheque for £1,000 was duly signed and given to TMH Fencing.
Cllr Norris asked if a letter could go to the Woodland Trust stating our annoyance at the delay and lack of communication between them and council. The entire council were not happy at the way The Woodland Trust had carried out the entire procedure. Also the Woodland Trust had neither notified the Licensing Office at WDDC nor the emergency service regarding the change of name for part of the Hill they purchased. Our lease says Coopers Wood, but the services are not aware of this, council feels this is vital information that should be noted. The clerk had already told the Woodland Trust they must notify the WDDC and the services, to date no reply had been received on this. Cllr Lathey left the meeting at 7.45pm and Cllr Norris took the Chair.

5. Matters Arising. As requested at the last meeting the Clerk had written to planning asking if Mr Henry Johnson the farmer who has verbal rights of way to his farmland if, it could be given in writing. To date nothing had arrived. The post-box was to remain in the new plans for the North Allington Stores, following a letter to the agents Humberts regarding this. The Clerk had received word from Monitoring Officer regarding Cllr Stanley Wrighton’s resignation through ill health. Apparently he has to either retire with immediate effect or wait until April. Cllr Mrs M. Wrighton on his behalf said immediate effect.

6. Finance report. The clerk gave the balance of the two accounts£4,552.66 and £1,995.91. The Clerk went on to explain that we had received a cheque for £1,000 from magna Housing towards the refurbishment of the Cherry Tree Play Area. It was agreed by all councillors present to place a cap on the amount of expenditure by solicitor on Woodland Trust lease. This to be £500. Letter to go to solicitor.

7. The Clerk asked if all had received the Letter from the Standards Board of England all agreed.

8. PLANNING.
1/W/004/000180 Pymore Industrial Estate. This is approval of reserved matters. The council discussed the access yet again and asked that the planning make a note of councils concern regarding access from Gore Cross site and also Victoria Grove as with the advent of the extra traffic generated by these units these would be increased.
1/W/04/000383 8 Laurel Close. Cllr Gruitt declared an interest in this application. Council could see no reason for objecting to this application.
1/W/04/000329 Coopers Wood Play area as stated earlier we could not discuss this application or vote on it.

9. The Anti Social Behaviour Order had been mooted to the Police but no reply other than extra patrols had been forthcoming. Sergeant Stephens of Bridport Police had spoken to the clerk.

10. One of the items on the agenda for next month will be the funding for the Cherry Tree Play area. The quotation following the consultation from Play Design Ltd was agreed to be the best one. This is a total of £18,710 this is excluding the fencing which needs replacing. TMH Fencing to send council a quote for this before next meeting so council can have an idea on costs for application. Cllr Stansfield asked regarding the swing seats and Mr Georgiou replied they were at present alright.

11. The Clerk raised the issue of allotments following comments by the auditor. We have no powers to pay for the allotments but apparently this is a decision that was raised in approx. 1982 one of the members of the public who is an allotment holder explained about the allotments. The clerk to go to archives to view the relevant minutes as without this we are acting illegally by paying part of the rental.

12. Next meeting March 23rd Cllr Gruitt sent his apologies he would be on holiday

The Vice Chairman – Cllr Norris thanked everyone for coming -The meeting closed at 8.45pm

Present: Cllrs. P.Lathey, M.Norris, I.Gay, G. Stansfield. Cllr Mrs M. Wrighton. Mr Adam Georigou Play Area Supervisor. Mr A. Lloyd Housing Enabling Officer with Dorset Community Action. Mr. R. Dawe Mr J. Gurd Photographer Bridport News and 2 members of the public.

Councillor Lathey was in the Chair and the minutes taken by Mrs C Stansfield.
The meeting commenced with the Chairman welcoming everyone and explaining they would have the presentation first as the photographer had to attend other events that evening.

A photographic record by the Bridport News was taken of Cllr. Lathey presenting the cheque for £150 to the West Bay Sea Angling Jetty Fund [under section 137] presented to Mr Dawe and The Mayor of Bridport. The Chairman explained to everyone that the council at present with the expenditure we had to undertake meant the cheque could not be for more than the £150.00. The Mayor accepted gratefully the cheque on behalf of the fund.
After presentation the photographer and Mr Dawe left the meeting. The general business of the meeting then proceeded as follows:

1. Apologies had been received from Cllr. T. Gruitt, District Cllr A. Alford and Cathy Harvey Ancients Monuments Officer.

2. Declarations of Members Interests. Cllrs Lathey & Stansfield item 10c.

3. The Chairman asked if everyone had read the minutes and if they were a true record. The Clerk apologised for the date being incorrect. This should have read March 9th not March 10th 2004. The minutes were signed and dated All Agreed.

4. Matters arising. The clerk told council that she had heard from Claire Pinder of the Dorset Archaeology Dept. After much discussion Ms Pinder called the clerk to apologise as there had been a problem with their data base and the Ancients Monuments Officer, Mrs Harvey had not received any documentation. These to be sent within the next few days. Council requested that the clerk remind Ms Pinder if the documents had not arrived by this weekend. We still had not received a written confirmation that Mr Henry Johnson from Pymore Farm had received from Developers a written confirmation of his rights of way through the development; at present he only has a verbal agreement. Other items have their own agenda.

5. The Chairman introduced Mr Andrew Lloyd of the Dorset Community Action. Mr Lloyd gave an interesting talk with some hand outs. Councillors were able to look at a proposed scheme that would be of benefit to Allington. He congratulated Council on getting Flaxhayes Paddock into the Local Plan. Flaxhayes Paddock fits all criteria. It would be legal and accessible in 3 years, He suggested that he did a survey for Allington of Housing need to see if Flaxhayes could be designated an exception site. This if successful would cut the time down to eighteen months. Handouts for other plans in Maiden Newton to show councillors what it would entail were handed out. Much discussion ensued and a lively question and answer session ensued. The survey would go out from Dorset Community Action. We could for our part put the survey forms into envelopes and then send them back to D.C.A. for postage. The main concern the councillors had was the fact that the houses when built on Flaxhayes Paddock must always remain affordable to local people. Council was assured they would remain so. Several scenarios were presented from rented properties, shared equity, bought, self build all would be considered. Survey to be completed by early June. The council would have no rent to collect, the land would always be owned by the District Council not the occupier of the properties. No right to buy and the buildings would be at building cost not land cost. Approx 52 low cost starter homes for local people were envisaged. The proposal put to council was: Do council wish for Mr Lloyd to do the Housing Needs Survey for Allington Parish? Propose Cllr Lathey seconded by Cllr Stansfield ALL AGREED. A report to go to the Bridport News about the survey and why we need it. The Chairman thanked Mr Lloyd for coming and speaking to council.

The Mayor Cllr Ackerman left the meeting at 8. 15 p.m.

6. Public Participation. A member of the public had noticed someone sleeping in Magna Garages it was decided until we were fully cognisant with all details before informing Magna Housing Association. The Clerk informed everyone of the Homewatch items received from police that afternoon and to alert neighbours of them. They were also reminded as we had a neighbourhood watch scheme, house insurance was less.

7. FINANCIAL REPORT.
[1] The clerk read out the balance to council and gave out details of the state of the finances to date. Ordinary account £995.97. In play area savings account £5552.66p this included the £1,000 cheque from Magna. We have a healthy play area account.
[2] The internal auditor will be coming this week to do the internal audit for year end. As everything had to be rounded up we now had two sets of accounts one exact to the penny and the other rounded up as per external auditors remit. The amounts were broken down as council requested.
[3] Allotments – Despite extensive searches by clerk through recorded minutes there had been no item giving the power used for us to pay the rent allotment account from Bridport Town Council. The clerk had found two records of items minuted in book Sept.7th 1983 and 28th Nov 1984. But the whereabouts of the correspondence mentioned was unknown. Bridport Town Councils archives were only small since relocation to Mountfield. If council requested Clerk would go to Dorset Record Office and look through all correspondence. We have to abide within legal parameters and at present we are acting ultra vires by paying the rents and NOT reclaiming it back from the allotment holder. Under the Smallholding and Allotments Act 1908 sec 23 we have a duty to provide and let allotments. The Chairman requested that we write to Bridport Town Council and ask them under what power they request the portion of allotment holders rent from us.

8. The Chairman read out a copy of the vacancy notice for the position of Councillor. He explained the wording of the notice. We do have someone interested and will co-opt if we have heard nothing by April 1st.

9. Planning Applications. We had received notice that the Approval of Reserved matters for Pymore Village Phase 3 had gone through. Bridport Community Hospital 1/W/04/000135had withdrawn from planning applications.

10. Woodland Trust Play Area. After much discussion and other meeting with Valerie Staley we were no nearer with the Woodland Trust for the lease. Ms Staley apologised for the delay in eventually getting lease to us but said that in light of our solicitors comments about the lease being incorrect and for buildings not a play area then this would holds things up longer. A resume of the meeting with Valerie Staley to be sent to her at request of council. Confirming the name of the area and the discussion at the meeting. The clerk asked for authority to purchase two locks. One for our contractor’s maintenance gate on the play area and the other for the Woodland Trusts maintenance gate for access onto the field. Council agreed clerk could purchase these items.

11. Cherry Tree Play Area. The council were informed that the clerk had contact Brian Evans Johnson from Dorset Community Actions Play Area Officer and an interesting and informative discussion had ensued. We could either lump the two play areas together and there by get a bigger grant or we could do as we originally intended and pay out of our play area account the Woodland Trust/Coopers Wood bill. That will be the two goal posts [without nets] a seat made of half rounds and the balance of the fencing account. This should still leave us with a couple of thousands to put towards the refurbishment of the Cherry Tree Play area together with the grant. Figures quoted were, if we had an amount of £22,000 then the council would be looking at having to find around £7-10,000 or nothing at all dependent upon what grant facility we were successful at getting. Council agreed that the amount at present is around £19,000 plus fencing. Council had received a quotation from TMH Fencing for the area and had been given three options. Considering the age of the fencing now in place and the fact that is was in need of a full repair soon, rather than patch up the 23 or so posts needing doing it would be more prudent to replace them all now before any more get loose. It was decided to go for option three. The cost entailed £2468.00

12. Correspondence. The Chairman read out letters from Magna Housing regarding the communal room; from W.D.D.C. Tree Officer regarding Simene Close trees. The Chairman told council about the literature available for them to read, Cllr Wrighton took the Listen In magazine, and others were available for councillors if they wish to avail themselves of them. All councillors had received the DAPTC Newsletters with their minutes. The Standards Board communication had been received. Dorset Waste Forum letter read out and the Chairman reminded all that the Green re-cycle boxes would be coming to Bridport shortly for kerbside collection. As is usual at council meetings every manuscript book, ledger and all books used by council was on display for any one of the electorate to peruse.

13. Date of the Next Meeting. The Clerk reminded councillors that the meeting on April 13th would be a double meeting. The Parish Meeting with its own agenda would begin at 7pm followed by the Ordinary Meeting of the Parish Council at 7.30pm. Two separate meetings two separate agenda’s. The Parish Meeting to be advertised in the Bridport News.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and the meeting ended at 9.40pm


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