Bishop's Castle Town Council Meeting 26/02/2008

Draft
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BISHOP’S CASTLE TOWN COUNCIL HELD IN  THE TOWN HALL ON 26TH February 2008 AT 8.OO PM.

PRESENT     Councillor J. E. Gaffney, Mayor, in the Chair.
Councillors:    J. M. Carroll,  M. Furber, N. Hird, M. E. Holton,  J.A. Magill, W. J. Morris, Dr. G.N.St.J. Penney,  K.E.C. Pinches M. Stanley and R.D. Wright.
In attendance:  Mrs. M. Denton

1.  APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
  Resolved The following apologies were accepted: S.A.Farr,( Family Commitments.) Proposed by: Cllr. Wright, seconded by Cllr.  Penney.

2.  DECLARATION OF INTEREST:
a)  Declaration of personal interest:
Cllr:  Gaffney declared personal interests in item 6a as he has known the applicant as an acquaintance for many years.
Cllr Magill declared a personal interest in item 6a as she has been a personal friend for many years.
Cllr Stanley declared a personal interest in item 6a as the applicant is a personal friend
Cllr. Carroll declared a personal interest in item 10 as she is a director of ESWS.
Cllr.  Hird declared a personal interest in item 11 as he has property adjoining the footpath.

1. Declaration of prejudicial interest:

Cllr Wright declared a prejudicial interest in item 6a as he is the owner of adjacent property. Cllrs Penney declared a prejudicial interest in item 6a as they are neighbours and friends.
Cllr Pinches declared a prejudicial interest in item 6a as he has adjacent property.
Cllr. Stanley declared a prejudicial interest in item 8 as she owns an attached building and has an income from it.

3.  MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

1. Minutes of the Council meeting held on Tuesday 29th January 2008, having been circulated, were proposed as a true record Cllr Penney with the following amendments:

Item 2b) Add: Cllr Wright declared a prejudicial interest in item 6a as he owns neighbouring property.
Item 3  line 3 add Deputy
Item 4  Line 3  should read : The responsibility now lies with the Shropshire Waste Partnership.
Item 6. Line 1 and 13 Add Cllr Wright
 Seconded by Cllr Pinches.

The minutes were approved and signed by the Mayor.

1. MATTERS ARISING

Item 4 (Item 12) a letter was sent to Paul Sutton who is currently on leave and will respond when he returns.
Item 6a Letter received from Jake Berriman suggesting the clerk emails his office if we need any clarification.
Item 10  The local police advised us that as long as cars have tax discs, they can have For Sale signs. Vans parked for long periods were either local or working close by. It would be impossible to police yellow lines, and Parkright is not a preferred option.
Item 12 Brick Meadow  roads have not yet been adopted. The Clerk is in touch with the solicitors, there still appears to be an impasse.
Item 13 A spokesman for Wse appreciated our problem but felt that they could not help and suggested the Clerk writes to the developer. This action was proposed by Cllr. Penney and seconded by Cllr. Magill.                                                       Resolution.
Item 15. The Clerk has received a favourable reply from Graham Biggs who wished to know more details about the renovation,and three tenders for the toilets.            ATC   
Cllr Georgie Ellis (Item 7 and Item 15) reported that with the change to Unitary authority we need to apply for any monies for projects as soon as possible. Some suggested projects were:
Improvement to the allotments: perhaps the Town Council could take ownership.
There is also need for a new kitchen in the Public Hall.
Proposed that the Clerk should include some of these projects in letter to Graham Biggs. Proposed by Cllr. Wright Seconded by Cllr. Stanley. ATC
Cllr Stanley spoke on behalf of the Farmers’ Market. The provision of electricity in the Market Square would be a huge boost to the market.
 It was proposed by Cllr. Gaffney that Cllr Stanley should explore the possibility of providing power in the market Square and seconded by Cllr Carroll.

5. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO SPEAK: none

6. TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT:  Cllrs Wright, Pinches and Penney left the room .
a) 1/08/20376/CA Demolition of a dwelling and barn/storage utility building to the rear of 34-36 High St. and Sumac Station St.
Resolved  No objection. Proposed by Cllr. Carroll Seconded by Cllr Magill.  Unanimous decision.
Cllrs Wright, Pinches and Penney returned.
 
b) Reports of Planning Applications.
(i) 1/07/20225/F Erection of a horticultural building and alterations to existing vehicular access. OS Field no 8467 Bishop’s Castle Shropshire SY7 0EL  N & A Coull
Permission Granted subject to conditions.
(ii) 1/07/20173/LB Removal of bay window and insertion of entrance door and steps; replace window. 26A High St. Bishop’s Castle Shropshire SY9 5BQ  Mr. I.A.Frost
Listed Building Consent Granted subject to conditions
(iii)1/07/20031/F Erection of replacement dwelling(delegated matter). The Pines, Colebatch, Nr Bishop’s Castle Shropshire SY9 5JY   Miss Hicks
Permission Granted subject to  conditions.
(iv) 1/07/20188/F  Erection of 12x dwellings (including 6x affordable dwellings); formation of vehicular and pedestrian access and alterations to existing vehicular access (Re-advertised- additional plans.) Land to the rear of 34-36 High St and Sumach Station St. and land at Castle Green Bishop’s Castle Shropshire SY9    Mr R Davies and Mrs J Davies.
Permission Refused

c) Resolved  To write to the District Planning  concerning their apparent ignoring of Town Council’s proposals. This seems to happen particularly on delegated matters. With the unitary authority almost upon us, it is even more important that they listen to the Town Council as we have local expertise. 
We would like to know their reasons for rejecting our proposals in order that the Town council gains a better grasp of planning considerations.
Proposed by Cllr Gaffney, seconded by Cllr Carroll. Unanimous vote in favour.

7. REPORT BY COUNTY AND DISTRICT OFFICERS
Cllr. Georgie Ellis reported on the following:
The Unitary Authority went through Parliament, and its first meeting will be on Friday 29th February.
Town and Parish Councils have a greater part to play in liaising with Shire Hall.
Concerning the winding up of finances, most will pass on to the unitary authority but there will be some available for any projects, there is also some money from the reserved funds.
Each Council is now able to spend money on the Youth Council as it likes.
One suggested project is a new kitchen in the Public Hall.
(See other suggestions in Item 4 Matters Arising)

8. HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND
Cllr Stanley left the room.
A letter of rejection has been received on the grounds of conservation and education. Surprise was expressed concerning conservation as we had consulted the best advice available and had also shown that there would be an educational aspect to the building.
The Council felt it must pursue this matter. It was proposed by Cllr Gaffney that we contact Chris Tomlins and Colin Richards for advice. We should continue with plans for the final work, clarify exactly where we failed and retrieve our original application. Call a meeting of the Renovation Partnership then re-apply.  Seconded by Cllr. Carroll.    ATC
Cllr Stanley returned.
9. KERRY LANE LIGHTING TENDERS
The clerk explained that E-On, contractors for Central Networks, only work on the cables. Because we had only two tenders for the columns we could not discuss this. The Clerk is to get another tender.  ATC

10. UPKEEP OF WEBSITE   Cllr. Stanley left the room during this discussion.
Two letters have been received, from ESWS, and  “All About Resources”. Several points were made:

• The mayor wondered whether we were comparing like with like and perhaps more information is needed. The on-going support and maintenance for the website, and for the Council’s IT arrangements which has been provided by Enterprise House may not be on offer from “ All About Resources”. 
• Cllr Wright pointed out the advantages of close links to the other Bishop’s Castle websites.
• Cllrs Carroll, Wright and the Mayor had all inspected the website maintained by: “All About Resources” and concluded that it was not at an equivalent standard to our existing one.
• Cllr. Hird pointed out that the BC Group’s website had been set up at a cost of only

£35.00 the mayor felt that this involved a short term, voluntary commitment and was not comparable to the on-going professional maintenance that we need.

• The mayor said that the achievement of Quality Council status included a very positive response to the quality of the website maintained for us by Enterprise House.
•  Cllr Carroll added that Enterprise House has managed our website for seven years free of charge and she felt it was high time that the council demonstrates its support and appreciation for the services offered by Mr Ashwell and Enterprise House to the Council and to the community.

Cllr Carroll proposed we agree to pay Enterprise House £200.00 for maintenance, the amount to be reviewed annually. Seconded by Cllr Magill .
                                                            Resolved Unanimously.

11.FOOTPATH FROM BANKS HEAD PAST THE LONG HOUSE
This is an on-going matter which needs to be resolved. In a popular walking area, this path is causing problems. Although it is accepted as a right of way by all parties, the part that is in Shrops does not appear on the definitive map. This prevents it from being included in, for example, walking guides. Proposed by Cllr. Carroll that the Clerk should write to the County Council asking them to get on with including it on the definitive map as soon as possible.
 Seconded by Cllr Magill.                                ATC

12. PARKING IN BISHOP’S CASTLE
No new decision can be made on this matter as it is less than six months since the last decision was made.

13.GROUNDS MAINTENANCE, GRASS CUTTING
The Clerk suggested that we could go out to tender for grass-cutting . Proposed by Cllr. Penney, seconded by Cllr Wright.                                                ATC

14.REPORT OF RECENT MEETINGS ATTENDED BY COUNCIL
REPRESENTATIVES.
Cllr Carroll reported that she had attended a Six Towns Meeting. Ludlow felt they ought to have more than one member on this committee as it is so much bigger than the other towns. Town and Parish Councils should be much more involved with decision making under unitary authority. Some towns are unhappy with “Parkright” as they are over zealous and some thought they were ruining business. It was agreed that “Parkright” should be under greater control.

Cllr Carroll had also attended a “Better Welcome” Meeting. She reported that there is £25,000 of West Midland money available, some of which could be spent on tidying up and re-furbishing the information panels in the auction yard, and some could perhaps go to help the museums in the town. We may be able to access some money for the walkway between the Auction yard and Church St. which the District Council could match fund.

15.       a)  Correspondence.
                        i) Transfer of Oak Meadow
                        ii) Larger Councils Forum
                        iii) Post Office Closure
                        iv) Street Closures
v) Introduction of the Standard Planning Application Form, moved to        Circulation 
vi) Bus route no 553.  Need to respond to this. Proposed that Clerk and mayor take up this issue for the council. Proposed  Cllr. Wright, seconded  Cllr.Magill
                        vii) School Closures
                        viii) Flooding. Moved to circulation
b)  Circulation
            1. Standard planning form
            2. Flood Report
            3.Letter from prospective buyers from Drews Leasow to Shropshire Housing           Association 

The Mayor declared the meeting closed at  9.50 p.m.