Minutes of the Westleigh Parish Council Meeting held on 2nd March 2022 at the Parish Hall – 19.30hrs
Attendees – Cllr David Fairbrother (Chair), Cllrs Chris Heard (Vice-
Also attended, David Paull (speaker), Veronica Leat, and Peter Hames
Agenda
1. Apologies – NDDCllr (&MP) Selaine Saxby, DCCllr Biederman, and Cllr Farrell-
2. Declarations of Interest – none declared
3. David Paull (environmentalist and artist) – David introduced himself, and confirmed that he was willing to carry out a study of the flowers, birds, and insects of the Parish. Tapeley had been consulted, and confirmed that ‘grazing tenants’ permission had been granted. David briefly mentioned that due to modern farming methods, hedge decimation, use of pesticides, and climate change that natural habitats were being lost, and gave just 2 of many statistics, in that the Turtle Dove population was down by 93%, and Moths by 50-
4. Minutes – to confirm and agree the signing of the minutes of the meeting held on the 2nd February. Agreed
5. Correspondence and Communications – Storm Eunice had formed the greater part of the month’s communications, but it was noted that the Airband Community Co-
6. Public Session – nothing received
7. County and District Ward Members reports – apologies noted and no reports received.
8. Finance – to receive an update on the current financial position of Westleigh Parish Council. Balance currently £4626.75. The Chair noted that the Westleigh Defibrillator would need new pads in the next few weeks, and that we should as a Council give a donation to the Charitable Organisation that was going to conduct the Defibrillator Training -
9. Village/Neighbourhood Plan – Cllr Frajbis had produced the first draft of the outline, which he passed to the Chair for his comments.
10. Queen’s Jubilee Celebration – the Council expressed their gratitude to Hector Christie who was willing to allow Tapeley to be used as the venue. There is much to be done in a short period of time, and various tasks were allocated to check that efforts wouldn’t be duplicated, before anything was confirmed. Clerk to contact Village Hall Committee. Additionally, if as we hope an event is viable, then a working party will be formed to liaise with Nigel Maun (Tapeley Events Manager)
11. Planning matters – none received
12. Defibrillator training – Booked for Wednesday April 20th, at Westleigh Parish Hall, 7-
13. Highway issues – none raised apart from noting that the potholes at the road junction of the Bideford/Instow road were still very evident.
14. Councillor training and refresher training – Clerk to liaise with DALC
15. Environmental issues – Cllr Heard to check for potential re-
16. Agenda items for the next meeting (Wednesday 6th April 2022) – Queen’s Jubilee, Defibrillator Training, Hedge Management Forum, and Councillor Training
17. The meeting closed at 21.00hrs
David Fairbrother -
