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ANNUAL REPORT TO THE PARISH MEETING Introduction
and Membership This
report presents a summary of the activities of the Brent Knoll Parish Council
for the year 2005/6. The
Council year under review started in May 2005.
There
are 11 seats on the Council. Council
membership as at the start of the year was as follows: Cllr
Mrs J E Baker Wick Farm, Wick Lane, BS24 0HG Cllr
M A Borland Flat 3, The Manor House, Manor Ride, TA9 4DY Cllr
R D Filmer Wascelyn, 48 Brent Street, TA9
4DT Cllr
B D Freestone Bramcote, 135 Brent Street, TA9 4BB Cllr
Mrs E M House Laurel Farm, Burton Row, TA9 4BY Cllr
G R Humphrey 8 Coombe Side, TA9 4ED Cllr
P T Osborn Underknoll, 142 Brent Street,
TA9 4BG Cllr
Miss J J M Owen Anvil Cottage, 86 Brent Street, TA9 4EQ Cllr
B Rich Far Side, Hill Lane, TA9 4DE Cllr
Miss S J Rich The Orchard, Burton Row, TA9 4BX Cllr
D R Wootton Chelsea Farm, Harp Road, TA9 4HQ At the first meeting of the new Council year (the Annual Meeting) the Council elected Cllr Miss J J M Owen as Chairman and Cllr Wootton as Vice-Chairman. Over
the course of the 2005/6 Council year the Council met on 11 occasions for main
meetings and on a further 10 occasions for short meetings restricted to planning
applications and any other urgent issues. The record of attendance of
Councillors is shown in Table 1 attached but the figures exclude attendance at
the final short Meeting held immediately prior to the Annual Parish Meeting. At
the first Meeting the Council re-adopted resolutions acknowledging its duties
with regard to Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Policies. The Council
operates under the Model Code of Conduct and members have completed Registration
of Interests forms which are available for inspection if required.
The Council has also adopted a Code of Practice for Handling Complaints. The
Village Green and Village Maintenance The
Parish Council maintains the Village Green, and the children’s play equipment
thereon, and also arranges for the cutting of various areas of grass verge in
the village. Councillors
take it in turns, a month at a time, to be responsible for keeping the Green
tidy and for checking the condition of the play equipment. This equipment is
also checked annually (each June) by RoSPA and any works recommended by the
Inspector are carried out. In the past year only minor repairs have been
required. A
hard surfaced pathway has been provided between the car park and the play area:
the need for this was identified when the play area was audited for compliance
with the Disability Discrimination Act. The
net cost of the path was £3,400 but grant assistance totalling £2,750 was
received from various sources. The
Council continues to employ a Contractor to trim the areas surrounding the
Green, and the various village verges: the Contractor originally appointed for
2005 abandoned the contract during the course of the year and was replaced by
another firm who have now also been awarded the contract for 2006 Highways The
Council continues to maintains a watching brief on the condition of all highways
in the Parish, and reports any matters needing attention to the highway
authority. The low priority
afforded to repairing defects on the more minor roads remains a cause for
concern but is a reflection of the tight budgetary constraints imposed by
Somerset County Council as highway authority. The
Council has also devoted a considerable amount of time to endeavouring to assist
the Community Speedwatch initiative, although unfortunately it has not always
been possible to achieve the results which both the Council and the Group would
wish (an example being the insurance issues which have, so far, precluded the
erection of more prominent signs drawing attention to the Group’s activities).
The
Council has also been able to arrange for two visits from the County Council’s
“Speedvisor” equipment which flashes up the speed of approaching vehicles
and also keeps a record of the speed of all traffic passing the equipment.
These records have indicated an unacceptable level of speeding in Burton
Row and a less serious but still worrying problem in Brent Street: efforts will
continue to find a solution to the speeding problem which will not cause
unacceptable side effects to the majority of residents.
Footpaths The
Parish Council also maintains a watching brief over the condition of footpaths
in the Parish and deals with issues such as obstructions etc either by direct
action or by contacting Somerset County Council, which has now resumed direct
responsibility for footpath maintenance. Unfortunately,
since Sedgemoor District Council relinquished the agency agreement under which
it looked after footpath maintenance on behalf of the County Council there has
been a noticeable slowing in response times to reported problems. Finance The
precept for 2005/06 was £15,500, which meant that the approximate cost of the
Parish Council to a Band D household was slightly less than £27.00. A surplus
of £2,200 was carried forward from 2004/5, but almost all of this was accounted
for by grant monies received in advance towards the cost of the new Village
Green pathway referred to above. The
largest single item of expenditure in the year remains the Clerk’s salary
which is based on 12 hours work per week at an hourly rate set annually
following negotiations between the National Association of Local Councils and
the Society of Local Council Clerks. Other
main items of expenditure in the year under review include Public Liability
Insurance at £745, (up by £112 on the previous year), Village Green and
Play Equipment Maintenance at £3,300, Village Maintenance costs such as verge
trimming, at £1,480 (increased because of the need to appoint the new
contractor mid-year) , and various grants to local organisations.
These were largely at the same level as the previous year’s awards, and
included £1,000 to St Michael’s Church for churchyard grass cutting, £1,000
to Brent Knoll Parish Hall towards their rebuilding project, and £500 towards
the St Michael’s Church new boiler house/toilet project. Despite
the increased costs of Village and Green maintenance it has been possible to
reduce the precept for 2006/7 to £14,000, equivalent to about £25.25
for a Band D dwelling. Planning The
Council is consulted by Sedgemoor District Council on all planning applications,
and applications for Listed Building Consent, falling within the Parish.
Special meetings are held if necessary
in order to enable the Council to respond before the Sedgemoor District Council
deadline. 47
planning applications were received for comment during the year (including 3
relating to developments adjoining but not actually in the Parish) , which
compares with the figure of 37 received in 2004/5.
The
Council has devoted considerable time to considering the best way of ensuring
that the outcome of its deliberations on the forthcoming planning application
for the proposed establishment of a Wind farm at Inner Farm, Burnham, are given
full and due weight. It was
necessary for 8 individual Councillors to make application to Sedgemoor District
Council Standards Committee for a dispensation to enable them to participate in
the debates on the issue. Village
Website Matthew
Warnes has continued to maintain the Village Website on behalf of the Council,
who thank him, most warmly for all he has done. TABLE
1: PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGS - RECORD OF ATTENDANCE During
the year under review the Council met 11 times for main meetings and 7 times to
consider planning applications and any other urgent matters. The
record of attendance is as follows:
TABLE
2 - PLANNING APPLICATIONS Statistics for the period April 2005- March 2006 Total number of applications received for comment 47 Applications
for new buildings, extensions, etc Total received 33 Supported by Parish Council 12 No observations from Parish Council 13 Opposed by Parish Council 8 Granted by Sedgemoor District Council 26
Refused by Sedgemoor District
Council
5 Withdrawn 1 Decision pending 1 Applications for outline consent Total received 2 Supported by Parish Council 2 No observations from Parish Council 0
Opposed by Parish
Council 0
Granted by Sedgemoor District
Council
1
Refused by Sedgemoor District
Council
1
Withdrawn
0
Decision pending
0 Applications
for Listed Building Consent
Total received
5
Supported by Parish
Council 1
No observations from Parish
Council
4
Opposed by Parish
Council 0
Granted by Sedgemoor District
Council
5
Refused by Sedgemoor District
Council
0
Withdrawn
0
Decision pending
0 Applications
for consent for works to trees
Total
received
7
Supported by Parish
Council
1
No observations from Parish
Council
5
Opposed by Parish
Council 1
Granted by Sedgemoor District
Council
6
Refused by Sedgemoor District
Council
1
Withdrawn
0 Decision pending
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