MINUTES OF
MEETING OF STERT PARISH COUNCIL
held in Stert House on 22nd February 2018
Present:
Clive Boyes (CB) Chairman
Alick Edwards (AE) Dty Chairman
Lucy Barker (LB) Councillor/Treasurer
William Howkins (WH) Councillor/Clerk
1. Apologies for absence
Councillors Sam Deacon and Chris Lawrence sent their apologies.
2. Declaration of Interest
None.
3. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the PC meeting held on 11th December 2017 were approved (proposed by AE and seconded by LB) and signed by the Chairman.
4. Treasurer’s Report
LB reported there had been one payment of £197.87 to CB as reimbursement for the cost of the Christmas party that had been budgeted for £220. The balance in the PC account now stood tab £2293.99, confirmed in the pass book by WH.
LB did not anticipate any further major spending for this financial year. Our total spending for the current year comes to £767.12, well within our budget and well below the precept. Excluding the Christmas party, total expenditures for 2017/18 has been £569.25. I therefore suggest we budget £600 for regular expenses for 2018/19 plus the cost of parties. This was unanimously agreed.
LB proposed that a donation of £40 be made to the PCC for use of the church for Monday’s special PC meeting. This was proposed by AE and seconded by WH. CB reported that one quote had been received for painting the telephone box. Two more will be sought before awarding the work.
5. Neighbourhood Watch
Nothing special to report apart from a few general theft/scam warnings from the police passed on by email.
6. Tinkfield Recycling Centre.
CB reported he had visited Tinkfield and had met Mr. Nigel Grist and Mr Jonathan Taylor. He reported that the second weigh bridge was being installed and work will soon start on concreting the internal roads within the site. In the meantime, the wheels of lorries are being pressure washed before leaving the site. CB was satisfied that everything possible was being done to reduce the mud being brought onto the main road. A great improvement should be seen when the concreting work is finished by the summer.
Work is continuing on construction of the bund and the sorting shed siding should also be completed by summer.
7. Claironailes
The house agents, Humberts, have advised that the sale of the property to a private owner is proceeding. The buyers have indicated that they plan to build an extension on the house subject to planning consent.
8. Speed Limits.
Requests have been sent by the PC to WC for a 40 mph speed limit on A342 between the Lydeway and Stert junctions and for a 20 mph speed limit in Stert Lane. No response has yet been received.
9. Crookwood MotoX
A retroactive planning application to allow agricultural land on Crookwood Farm to be used for Motocross meetings has been sent to WC. The deadline for public comments on this application is 7th March 2018. At a recent meeting of Urchfont Parish Council, Councillor Philip Whitehead stated that if permission was granted for one such meeting, then WC could not set a limit on the number of such meetings in one year. Urchfont PC strongly objected to the application on the basis of noise, traffic safety and environmental impacts. It was agreed that while Stert PC could not comment on traffic and environmental aspects, it should register its objections to the application due to noise disturbance to Stert residents. LB will post this objection on the WC website.
10. Devizes parkway Station
Separate minutes have been prepared of the briefing on a proposal for a new railway station, held on19th February by two members of the Devizes Development Partnership working group. It was agreed to circulated these to Stert residents as well as posting them on the PC’s website. CB reported that he had already registered on behalf of Stert PC the following objection with the GWR Franchise public consultation:
“Stert residents have always welcomed the possibility of a train station for Devizes. However Stert village now has strong reservations about the funding of this particular scheme. We learnt that half the funding for the station will come from residential development adjacent to the station. We calculate this will involve building a considerable number of houses in open countryside and in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Furthermore, we understand the plan is to build the houses first, followed by the station but without any guarantees that the station is eventually built. There is no planned development at the proposed location in the Devizes or Wiltshire Council housing strategies.”
11. AOB
11.1 AE reported that he had received a supply of salt and that the salt spreader was ready in case of snow during the coming week. He and WH would keep an eye on the forecast.
11.2 WH had noticed that there were some potholes and surface deterioration down the village lane that he would bring to the attention of the Parish Steward.
12. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held in Stert House on Monday 30th April 2018, at 7.30 pm.
Stert Parish 