Gerrans Parish Council
MINUTES of the Meeting of Gerrans Parish Council
held on Tuesday 2nd September 2014
in the Memorial Hall Annexe
NEXT MEETING – Tuesday 7th October at 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall Annexe
Present:
Cllrs Case, Edwards, German, Hatwood, Hetherington, Iddison, Meek, Morse, Symons,
Taffinder ( Chairman); S Skull (Clerk)
3 members of the public attended.
091401
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Cllr Greenslade, CC J German
091402
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS IN ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
All Councillors except Cllrs Taffinder, German and Symons declared a Non Registerable Interest in planning application ref PA14/07779, to be discussed in item 7 on the agenda, on the grounds that the application concerns the Harbour Club, Portscatho, of which they are all members.
DISPENSATIONS
Cllr German proposed (seconded by Cllr Taffinder) that 3 dispensations be granted to members who had the least involvement, and therefore the most diluted interest in, the Harbour Club in order that the meeting remained quorate for discussion of this agenda item. This was agreed and Cllrs Hetherington, Meek and Morse, were granted dispensations.
091403
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Mrs Simone Kennett gave a presentation in support of her planning application ref PA14/07701 (to be considered in item 7 on the agenda) in which she addressed 4 issues raised by the PC in its objection to her previous application which she subsequently withdrew. She said her amended application also took account of other issues raised by the Planning Officer.
091404
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Council accepted the draft minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 29 July 2014 as being a true record. The Chairman signed the minutes.
091405
REVIEW OF MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING – MATTERS ARISING
The clerk reported that a site meeting with Mr Simon Derby of the Estate Office at Tregothnan had been held at the football field, Treloan Lane, on Wednesday 13th August. Mr Derby had inspected the field and shed and declared the condition of both to be acceptable. He agreed that the formal surrender of the PC’s lease could now go ahead, with effect from the originally proposed date of 24th March, 2014. The clerk said the matter was now in the hands of the PC’s solicitor.
The clerk further reported that he had written to Mr Howard Emmett with regard to the PC’s suggestion that the proposed Jubilee commemorative seating be sited in the open space land below Gerrans church, but had yet to receive a reply.
091406
CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED
The correspondence not covered elsewhere in the agenda was reviewed and actions determined.
- Letter from Sarah Newton MP
Mrs Newton enclosed a letter from Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, now Minister for Policing, responding to the PC’s complaint that the previous response from Rt Hon Damian Green MP failed adequately to address the PC’s concerns as to the Government’s policies in respect of local police budgeting.
Councillors noted the contents of the letter, which broadly stated that the Government would not change course on this issue, and agreed there was little to be gained by continuing the correspondence.
- Report from Bill Makin
The clerk drew attention to a recently received email from Mr Makin, the local National Trust General Manager, which gave a summary of a site meeting at Porthcurnick beach held in early August with the clerk and members of the PC to discuss the landslip below the Hidden Hut. The conclusion of this meeting was that the area was in fact relatively safe and additional beach signage or fencing was not required at this time. The situation would be kept under review and Mr Makin had asked a geologist from the Camborne School of Mines to take a look at the area and give his opinion.
- Notice from Cornwall Council (CC)
Letter received by the clerk advising that CC was publishing a Schedule of Focused Changes to the Cornwall Local Plan Strategic Policies proposed submission draft (March 2014). Public consultation would run from 4th September until 16th October and all documents could be viewed at www.cornwall.gov.uk/localplancornwall .
091407
PLANNING MATTERS
APPLICATIONS
The PC had received 5 applications. These are outlined below and comments are noted in the Planning Register.
| Application | Description | PC decision |
| PA14/06947 | New entrance off highway for residential barn at Higher Tregassa | Object (unanimous Planning Committee decision) |
| PA14//07534 | Proposed extension to barn at Higher Tregassa | Support (unanimous Planning Committee decision) |
| PA14/07471 | Extensions and alterations at Churchtown Farm | Support (unanimous Planning Committee decision)
|
| PA14/07701 | Demolition of existing single storey garage and construction of new 2 bedroom dwelling. Land rear of 6 Churchtown Road | Support by casting vote of Chairman |
| PA14/07779 | Variation of condition 4 of decision relating to original application PA11/04802 regarding permitted hours of use of proposed new balcony at the harbour Club, Portscatho | Majority object by 4 votes to 2 |
Cllrs Case, Edwards, Hatwood and Iddison left the room during the consideration of PA14/07779
DECISIONS
PA14/06396 (PC: support) – approved
ENFORCEMENT MATTERS
Nothing to report
091408
COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS
No Councillors had any reports.
091409
LOCALISM
– To consider making a formal response to the draft Roseland Neighbourhood Development Plan (RNDP)
There was debate as to whether a collective response or individual responses from Councillors would be most appropriate. Jon Smith, the Chairman of the RNDP Steering group arrived to take questions. Cllr Hatwood said he was concerned that local businesses had approached him to say the Plan was not business-friendly and there had been a lack of engagement. Mr Smith replied that all the businesses on the Roseland had been written to and he had had meetings with prominent business people on the Roseland. The Steering group had in fact been disappointed with the lack of response from businesses. Cllr Hatwood said that now they had seen the completed draft, businesses were voicing their concerns. Cllr Hetherington said the period of consultation was still open so now was the time to have their say.
Cllr Meek said he thought the PC should make a collective response, and it was agreed to hold a separate, extra meeting on Wednesday 10th September to discuss the issue.
– to consider sending a delegation to one of the new Planning Conferences for Local Councils
Councillors agreed in principle to send a representative. Cllr Hetherington volunteered and said he would inform the clerk in due course of his choice of date and venue.
Cllr Hetherington also said he would attend the meeting of the Network Community Panel on 9th September. In future official representatives of parish councils would be called for and it was agreed Cllr Hetherington would represent the PC with Cllr Meek as deputy.
091410
JOLLITY FARM OPEN SPACE LAND
The clerk referred to the previously circulated Heads of Terms of the lease proposed by Enys Estates, which had not included a plan of the site. He said the lease was now being considered by solicitors for both parties. Cllr Hatwood proposed (seconded by Cllr Taffinder) that the PC should agree in principle to sign the lease as proposed subject to sight of the plan and due legal process being completed. This was agreed unanimously.
091411
NEW ROAD CAR PARK LEASE AND GENERAL PARKING RESTRICTIONS
– The clerk read from the minutes of the joint meeting of the Car Parks and Traffic and Travel Committees held on 5th August.
As regards the New Road lease that meeting resolved that the clerk should write to CC to say that the Committee would recommend to the PC that it should accept a new lease under the terms offered subject to the split of income post-threshold being changed from 50/50 to 60/40 in favour of the PC. This would result in more equal returns for both parties. The clerk said that since then CC had announced its intention to sell off the freeholds of its smaller and relatively low-earning car parks. Cllr German proposed (seconded by Cllr Taffinder) that the PC should continue to pursue the new lease terms and await further developments. This was agreed unanimously.
The clerk then moved on to the subject of parking enforcement – also discussed at the Committee meeting. The minutes recorded that CC had originally approached the clerk in June with a warning that the enforcement agreement would be suspended because “most of the restrictions were technically unenforceable”. Clarification was sought and on June 30th a report was received from CC giving more detail. It appeared the problems lay mainly in the fact that most of the signs and lines were old and no longer complied with current legislation. Furthermore a new raft of legislation in this regard was expected in Spring 2015.
At a meeting on 24th July with representatives of Cormac Ltd, maps were provided showing the status quo as recorded onto the new computer system in 2006. There were many implications but the main issue was that seasonal restrictions were indicated by the signs but all year round restrictions were indicated by the lines, or vice versa.
The meeting on 5th August agreed that nothing could be remedied this season, but Cormac should be requested to provide an estimate of how much it would cost to bring the current restrictions as logged on the computer system to an enforceable condition. If the PC was in possession of this estimate, then, depending on the implications of the expected new legislation in the Spring, a decision could be taken as to how to proceed and hopefully involve as little delay as possible in remedying the situation next year.
The clerk reported that the current situation was that Cormac had confirmed their intention to carry out a complete survey of the Parish’s restrictions in the coming months.
Cllr Hetherington said he would bring the subject up at the next Community Network Panel meeting and ask if other parishes had encountered the same problem.
091412
CODE OF CONDUCT
– to consider the implications of the government’s Localism Act
The clerk drew attention to a previously circulated email from Cornwall Association of Local Councils (CALC). The new legislation only affected the Code of Conduct with 2 minor changes, but CALC also pointed out that the PC’s standing orders would have to be amended in the light of the new “openness” regulations. It was agreed to put this on the agenda at the next meeting. Action clerk
091413
MICRO LIBRARY
In view of CC’s decision to cut back the mobile library service and create part-time micro libraries, a draft operating licence and micro library checklist from CC was reviewed, and discussions as to potential sites took place. It was decided that, as there was still more detail to come from CC on this, it should be an agenda item at the next regular meeting, and in the meantime the clerk would liaise with Cllr Hatwood to publicise the issue in the Roseland Magazine and online. Action clerk
091414
PORTSCATHO PUBLIC CONVENIENCES
Cllr Taffinder reported on a meeting of the Toilets Committee on 6th August at which the sublease previously signed by the tenant was signed by herself and Cllr Iddison. The minutes referred to conversations with the tenant about addressing the various planning issues that had been raised, but to date no confirmations had been received. The clerk was asked to send the previously drafted letter on the subject to the tenant to provide a record of the PC’s concerns. Action clerk
Cllr German said he thought the PC should approach CC with a view to recovering part of the Tarmac costs because the area resurfaced included land not included in the lease. This was agreed. Action clerk
Cllr German further said that there was a problem with the original main lease in that the drawn plan did not agree with the wording. He said the PC’s solicitor was investigating.
091415
MOBILE PHONE RECEPTION
Cllr Case said he was still in the process of gathering information on a new scheme being promoted by Vodafone and would report back to the Council in due course.
091416
FINANCIAL MATTERS
ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT
It was resolved that the outstanding invoices totalling £9,967.01 (including VAT of £693.50) be paid. A schedule of these payments is available from the clerk.
BANK RECONCILIATION
The reconciled bank balance as at 25th August was £58,726.33
091417
OTHER PARISH MATTERS
Cllr Hatwood reported that the recent night-time charity run organised by St Austell Brewery had caused disturbance to residents in the setting-up of tables, etc in the street late at night, and there had been rubbish left and signs not taken down the next morning. The clerk was asked to write to the Brewery. Action clerk
Cllr German reported that an amount of Cornish stone which was being stored at the football field had been removed without permission by persons unknown
Cllr German also reported another incident of a driver sustaining a puncture by colliding with the raised pavement by the bus stop at Gerrans Church.
The meeting closed at 9.40 pm