M I N U T E S

Parish Council Meeting

St Ewe Village Hall

Monday 12 January 2015

The meeting began at 7.00 pm and the Chair welcomed all.

• Co-option of new member. Mrs Jenny May was unanimously co-opted as Member of the Council to fill the position vacated after Cllr Tregunna’s resignation. Everyone present gave her a warm welcome. Cllr May signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, countersigned by the Clerk, kept in the book for this purpose which dates back to 20^th April 1931.
• Apologies for absence. TH and DC could not attend because of illness.
• Declaration of interests. None
• Public Session. None
• Meetings and notices
  1. The minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2014 were approved as a true and correct record and were signed by the Chair (proposed JL, 2^nd WR).
  2. The Clerk briefly explained the new Local Council Award scheme which begins this month and is available at three levels: Foundation, Quality and Quality Gold. Details of how to qualify will be available soon and the Clerk will keep the Council informed.
• Ward Member Malcolm Harris’ report.

I hope you’ve all had a great festive break, and I wish you all the very best for the new year ahead.

In December, at full council, the Cornwall plan was approved by a large majority. As I have stated before, I withdrew my support for the 47,500 housing numbers as substantial evidence from a third party recommended far fewer were needed.

However, after discussing this issue in depth with other councilors, including Dick Cole, the leader of Mebyon Kernow, I did vote for the plan. Getting the plan adopted quickly is paramount to having more powers to make our own decisions in planning. I am satisfied that submitting a lower number could hinder the plans approval at inspection and a rejection could extend the developer’s “open season” by another 12 months.

My stance on the housing number is still firm, and a number of us have pledged that the day it is adopted, we will immediately bring it under review and put forward a strong case for a substantial reduction in the numbers whilst having the powers of the plan behind us.

Also in December at Strategic Planning, we approved amended opening hours of the proposed Morrisons supermarket site off Pentewan road, which would seem to confirm that the development is going ahead which is good news.

I spent some time in St Austell over the holiday period, and we did most of our Christmas shopping there, and it was reassuring to see our town so busy and doing so well.

There’s not a lot else to report for now, other than the new year started this week with a briefing at County Hall by the leader on the draft of our ‘Case For Cornwall’ business plan including much greater devolution of powers from Westminster to Cornwall.

Cllr Harris also advised that the CC Local Plan is now with central government and should be approved sometime this year. It will then be possible to immediately ask for a review of the housing numbers.

Cllr Harris has also requested a response from CC Leader John Pollard concerning the possibility that in the future CC (and therefore the taxpayer) will subsidise the expansion of the Western Power grid connections for renewable energy projects. Cllr Harris will keep us informed. Currently the cost of any necessary expansion to the grid is paid by the owner of the energy project.

• Hemmick Beach Parking, St Goran Parish. The Council voiced its dismay that vehicular access to yet another beach is being restricted and it voted unanimously to support St Goran Parish Council’s request to the National Trust that it place the boulders at the entrance to Hemmick Beach only during the School Summer Holiday period (proposed AB, 2^nd JD). Mevagissey PC has also written to support St Goran’s request. The Clerk will write to the Senior Ranger of the National Trust for Roseland and Veryan Bay.
• Planning
  1. Reports on Planning
     5. ST EWE. 05.12.2014 PA14/09889 Prior approval not req’d (AF/TEL/DEM). Mr And Mrs Lobb. Barns At Corran Farm St Ewe St Austell Cornwall PL26 6ER. Prior approval of proposed change of use of agricultural building to 3 dwellinghouses and for associated operational development
     6. ST EWE. APPEAL IN PROGRESS. PA14/03225 | Proposed conversion of barn to form a holiday dwelling with parking and turning area | The Barn Tucoyse Farm Tregony Truro Cornwall TR2 5SJ

• PENTEWAN VALLEY. 11.11.2014 PA14/10446 Screening Opinion – EIA Required. Applicant: Westcountry Land (St Austell) Ltd. Location: Land At Higher Trewhiddle Farm St Austell Cornwall PL25 5DA. Proposal: EIA screening request for mixed development.

Cllr Harris explained that the plans for this development are in the early stages and it may not look exactly the same when time comes for the application to be decided. Road works will need to be studied and approved in conjunction with the development if it goes ahead.   There is a lot of pressure to use these new homes to make up the new builds required in the new Local Plan.

28. MEVAGISSEY 28.11.2014 PA14/10856 Screening Opinion – EIA Not Required. Mevagissey Bay View LLP. Land Off School Hill Mevagissey Cornwall. EIA screening opinion request for proposed residential development Mevagissey
29. ST GORAN. 04.12.2014. PA14/07553 Arqiva Ltd. Former Observer Corps Sub Station Land At Trelispen Farm Gorran St Austell. The development of a shared electronic communications base station comprising of a 15m high lattice mast, six antennas, two 0.6m DIA dish, and six ground based radio equipment cabinets installed within a fenced compound.
30. ST MEWAN. PA14/11659 Goonamarth Farm St Austell Cornwall PL25 5RD. 
Formal EIA Screening opinion for the erection of a single wind turbine.

• ST MEWAN. PA15/00132 Land At Blackpool Quarry South St Austell Cornwall PL25 5TH
Request for an EIA screening opinion for the erection of a single wind turbine development – Clean Earth Energy – (Case Officer – C Pitt).

Cllr Brooks, as Lead for renewables, reported that this is too far away to affect the parish, though it might just be visible from some points. Cllr Harris reported that St Mewan PC will not object to it because it is on a brownfield site which it feels is much more appropriate for turbines than the countryside. However, this application has not yet reached the stage for consultee comments with the parish council.

1. Planning correspondence. None.
2. Applications for consultee comments.
   1. PA14/10763 | Extension to Existing Commercial Units | Hewas Water Ltd Hewas Water St. Austell PL26 7JF. After a short discussion, the Council offered NO OBJECTION to this extension (proposed WR, 2^nd AB).

• Website. The web designer will begin work on 19 January if she has enough material to work with. Photos and content were requested from anyone interested in helping with the website for the following proposed pages:

PAGES. The Council will request a core of 6 pages. More pages can be added on later:

Home page

Parish Council

Events

Village Hall

St Ewe Country Fair

Places to stay and places to eat

EDITORS. It is important that each page has a designated Editor who is responsible for the content and any updates of material. Here is a proposed list of pages and possible editors:

Home page                                           EDITOR: Clerk

Parish Councillors & Cttees                EDITOR: Clerk

PC Meetings, Agendas & Minutes     EDITOR: Clerk

Parish Planning                                     EDITOR: Clerk

Public Notices                                       EDITOR: Clerk

Local Business Directory                    EDITOR: Clerk

Useful Links                                           EDITOR: Clerk

Places to Stay & Eat                             EDITOR: Clerk

Events                                                    EDITOR: ???

St Ewe Gardening Club                        EDITOR: ???

Village Hall                                             EDITOR: ???

St Ewe Country Fair                             EDITOR: ???

Parish Footpaths                                  EDITOR: ???

St Ewe Church                                      EDITOR: Kathy Lobb

Parish History                                       EDITOR: ???

The Clerk explained that she had applied on behalf of St Ewe PC to receive a grant for website training for all the webpage Editors with ‘Locality’. Unfortunately, the bid was not successful; however, the Council now has two quotes for web training and it may be possible to ask for this training through Cllr Harris’ Community Chest Fund. The Clerk will stay abreast of the situation and consider applying for a grant if and when the training is needed. She will also investigate to possibility of applying for a grant through the St Goran Parish Community Fund set up with S.106 funds from a wind turbine.

• Highways. Cllr Lockyer announced that Cory had done a fine job cleaning up the leaves and unblocking drains around Polmassick. It was requested that the Clerk again write to Cormac about 1) the large potholes between Polmassick and Tucoyse, near the deer park; 2) potholes in Luney Lane; and also 3) Flytipping of sheet material between Heligan and Pengruga, past the cottages.
• Footpaths. An email about an overgrown area of Bridleway 418/13/1 was read out and Cllr Dickinson will check it out and consider any action. The Clerk will reply explaining that the Council does not have the funds to cut the footpaths and bridleways outside the normal cutting schedule.
• Verges. The Council agreed that the payment made at the last meeting for the grass cutting will be rectified with an additional £20.00 because the Contractor and the Clerk both overlooked the increase agreed last November (Item 087/13). The Council also accepted the revised quote for the grass verges, so that it is now equal to last year’s agreement, £415 (both proposed JL; 2^nd SR).
• Finance
  9. Clerk’s finance report was distributed which included a Budget Comparison and Cash Flow. An increase in pay has been agreed by the National Joint Committee and the Clerk’s hourly pay will rise from £9.009/hour to £9.207, with one non-consolidated payment of £100, pro rata (i.e. £13.51), for the month of December. A number of small over-expenditures were noted in the Budget Comparison which are compensated for by under-expenditure in other places. However, the Council declined to make any virements to adjust the amounts in the budget categories, because the amounts were minimal and the discrepancies will highlight the adjustments necessary for next year’s budget.
  10. It was agreed to pay Luxulyan Parish Council 25{c8c3b3d140ed11cb7662417ff7b2dc686ffa9c2daf0848ac14f76e68f36d0c20} of PC office supplies (not including VAT). Luxulyan will pay the supplier and receive the VAT refund. The Clerk will calculate the payment every other meeting; i.e., in March, July, and November.
  11. Payments totalling £513.06 were approved and authorised. Mr Giles McGuffie, £20.00; Clerk’s salary and expenses, £493.07 (which includes £29.50 for 25{c8c3b3d140ed11cb7662417ff7b2dc686ffa9c2daf0848ac14f76e68f36d0c20} of the Clerk’s SLCC membership).
• Correspondence and Invitations. (A complete list in Clerk’s Notes 12-01-15)
  1. Special Notice from the ST EWE COUNTRY FAIR Organising Committee:

St Ewe Country Fair 2015

A note to contributors, helpers and visitors to the fair

Dear All,

You will know how popular and successful an event the Country Fair has become over the years. Indeed, since 2005 it has raised over £64,500 for charities and local organizations. Many of you reading this will have been very involved in making it that successful and enjoying the day. Attendances have grown year on year and in 2014 we had record crowds of towards 2000.

The organizing committee hoped to continue the event in 2015 however, the farming tenancy of the fields we use for parking has changed and they are also in need of a break in cropping types. This is a fully understandable circumstance but it places us in a difficult position. There is a grass field available to us but it does not have the capacity nor safe enough access/exit points for the numbers we need to park.

It was a difficult decision to make but rather than hold a watered down event that would not meet your expectations the organizing committee decided, reluctantly, not to hold the fair in 2015.

We are very keen that the fair returns in 2016 and beyond if we can fit in with farming needs. So keep the appropriate dates circled in your diaries and hope to hear from us next year.

Best wishes,
The St. Ewe Country Fair Organising Committee

1. Letter of response from Chief Executive about an important proposed A30 – St Austell link road was read out by the Chair, which explained that CC will be commissioning a feasibility study.
2. Chacewater PC invited St Ewe councillors to a meeting to “try to get the [Cornwall] Council to listen to our concerns”. St Ewe PC made its feelings clear that the best way to deal with the frustrations of working with Cornwall Council is to work with our Ward Member and the Cornwall Association of Local Councils (CALC). St Ewe will ignore this and any further correspondence with Chacewater on this subject.
3. WR and RC requested the Clerk forward them an email about a project to help Small Businesses boost their digital skills.
4. An American woman emailed for help finding her ancestors buried in St Ewe graveyard. The Clerk will forward her email to AB who will enlist the help of the Church Warden.

• Business for the next meeting
  1. Report on St Austell and Mevagissey Community Network Panel Meeting.
• Date of the next meeting. Monday, 9 March 2015, 7.00 pm St Ewe Village Hall. An interim meeting to discuss planning may be arranged if required.

The meeting closed at 9.10 pm and the Chair thanked everyone for attending.

Mrs C Wilson ~ Parish Clerk ~ 18 January 2015