The minutes for the meeting held on 2 July are available below.
BRADFORD PEVERELL PARISH COUNCIL
July Meeting
Held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 2nd July 2024, starting at 6:00pm
MINUTES
In attendance:
Bradford Peverell Parish Councillors:
Gloria Towner - Chairman (GT)
Neil Howard (NH)
Jon Desborough (JD)
Prospective Bradford Peverell Parish Councillors:
Terry Bishop (TBi)
Brenda Edwards (BE)
Bradford Peverell Parish Council (BPPC) Officer:
Clerk — Christopher Cook (CJC)
BPPC Representatives:
Tess Buck - Village Hall (TB)
Cathy Bishop — Muckleford (CB)
Dorset Councillor:
David Taylor (DT)
Apologies for absence:
Paul Meaden (PM)
Tess Buck (TBu)
- The Chairman welcomed all those present and outlined the purpose of the meeting.
- G T then resigned as Chairman but expressed her willingness to serve as Vice-Chairman.
- Terry Bishop was proposed for co-option as a councillor by JD. NH seconded the proposal and it was agreed unanimously.
Brenda Edwards was proposed for co-option as a councillor by JD. NH seconded the proposal and it was agreed unanimously.
- No-one put their own or anyone else’s name forward for the post of Chairman. This item will therefore be carried forward to the next meeting.
- NH proposed that GT be elected as Vice-Chairman. TBi seconded this motion and it was agreed unanimously.
- The apologies for absence were read out and noted, as per the list above.
In the absence of a Chairman, GT, as Vice-Chairman, chaired the rest of the meeting.
- There were no members of the general public present, so no matters were raised under this Open Session.
- The minutes of the meeting of the 16th May were unanimously accepted and were signed as such by GT. The minutes of the Annual Parish meeting of the 16th May and the Annual Parish Council meeting of the 16th May were also unanimously accepted and were signed as such by GT.
- There were no matters arising that were not on the agenda for this meeting.
- DT was welcomed back after his recent re-election.
He reported on the recent spate of flooding and the work parishioners, himself and the Dorset Council staff had done to avoid more severe consequences. DT went on to inform the meeting of a recent meeting with Stratton Parish Council in relation to flooding and the new road scheme. There is a farm where banking up has taken place to the extent that it has created dangerous run-offs to the roads. The farmer has been warned that this is illegal. There was much discussion about traffic diverting through BP and other small villages whenever there are traffic problems on the A37. DT advised that there had been discussion at Dorset Council about the possibility of reducing the speed limits nearby but it was felt to be unlikely that anything could be achieved in the short term.
DT further invited the council to feedback whatever problems particularly needed addressing so that he could get things done. CJC invited the councillors to contact him so that he could write to DT on behalf of the Parish Council.
It was further noted that some of the problems arise from drivers having inappropriate satellite navigation systems (sat. navs.) in their lorries, vans, cars with caravans, etc. In many cases a car sat. nav. Is not the appropriate tool. DT promised to raise this with the Highways Department at Dorset Council.
- Planning – In the absence of PM, GT informed that no planning applications of relevance to Bradford Peverell had been reported.
Amenity Fields – Colin Chapman was not present and had not sent in a report.
Village maintenance – NH raised the matter of the road leading to the church. He advised that the surface was unsafe and particularly so for those less able.
Village Hall – CB spoke on behalf of TBu and informed the meeting that the recent event had raised nearly £1,000. These funds would be a significant contribution toward the cost of all the work that had been done on the ladies’ toilets in the Village Hall. Chris Ayres, the local plumbing and heating technician had been paid very promptly in recognition of the excellent work he had done on those toilet facilities.
Muckleford – CB informed the meeting that there was nothing to report from Muckleford. She further advised that, as TBi was now a councillor, he would in future make the reports from Muckleford.
River/Floods – Colin Hawkins was not present and had not submitted a report.
- CJC read a letter to the council regarding intrusive smoke nuisance from an illegal bonfire. There was a brief discussion on this and it was decided that nothing further need be done unless the problem recurs.
The second letter read to the members was from Dorset Police. It was an invitation to join the Dorset Alarm system. DT informed the meeting of the benefit of joining this community messaging system and council agreed that CJC should enrol the council.
- Finance. CJC addressed the meeting and raised for additional approval, an invoice received from the internal auditor for £92.33. This and the other amounts due for payment were unanimously approved. CJC further advised the meeting that there was just over £15,000 in the main account and just over £5,000 in the savings account. The meeting agreed that a better home should be found for a significant amount of these funds, in order to earn a better rate of interest than the bank is paying.
CJC informed the meeting that a letter of apology had finally been received from Lloyds Bank and that they had paid the amount of £75 into the main bank account by way of monetary recompense for all the trouble they had caused.
Finally, CJC asked NH to contact Paul Cooper and have him complete his details and add his signature to the bank forms to enable BPPC to resume operation of the Amenity Fields bank account.
- The newly appointed internal auditor, Paula Harding, had issued her report on the 2023-2024 AGAR. Both CJC and GT spoke to this. GT emphasised that she had spoken at some length with Paula and that many of the procedures and practices BPPC used were unacceptable or at least, in need of improvement. It was agreed that:
a: Paula would be invited to address council at the September meeting.
b: CJC would draft and circulate an Action Plan, prioritised according to Paula’s recommendations.
c: Subject to approval by council, CJC would then put into action that plan.
- The meeting agreed to adopt the Code of Conduct already circulated. TBi had one small question on the grammar of one item. He promised to look further into this and report back.
- Future meeting dates were acknowledged.
- No matters were raised under a.o.b.
- The next meeting would be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday the 3rd September 2024, in the Village Hall.
