Westleigh Parish Council Meeting Minutes

April 5th 2023

Held at Westleigh Village Hall on Wednesday 5th April 2023

Attendees – Cllrs David Fairbrother (Chair), Chris Heard (Vice-Chair), Colin Frajbis, Lyn Gear and Lesley Burgess. Also in attendance, Parish Clerk, and DCCllr Frank Biederman, and prospective Independent Councillor for Instow Ward, Beccy Coombs

1. Min 1 23/24 – Opening of the meeting at 7pm

2. Min 2 23/24 – Apologies received – None

3. Min 3 23/24 – Declarations of Interest – none

4. Min 4 23/24 – Westleigh Fete – Nigel Mann (Tapeley Events Manager). After much discussion around the plus factors of using Tapeley for the Village (& Tapeley) Fete on 12th August, the following was decided:- 1) A committee to be formed to oversee the event, to include Nigel, Cllr Gear, Cllr Frajbis, Cllr Heard, DCCllr Biederman, possibly someone from Fremington running club, and The Westleigh Inn, and the Village Hall. 2) Events Insurance would be needed, 3) No entrance fee, no parking charges but donations asked for, 4) £5 per stallholder, 6) Monies raised to be donated to Charity and the Parish Council to offset costs. The Chair thanked Nigel for attending and giving up his time, and also for his willingness to help.

5. Min 5 23/24 – the minutes from the 1st March were agreed as accurate

6. Min 6 23/24 – there were no matters arising

7. Min 7 23/24 – Correspondence & Communications – the Clerk reported that he had an irate phone call from the residents of Chestnut Cottage, complaining about the length of time that the scaffolding had been erected opposite the Church, and effectively removing 3-4 parking spaces. The Clerk spoke to the residents of Torr House, and they are just as frustrated as Chestnut Cottage, but as the contractors are based in Plymouth, often the weather has not been good enough to set out – the work is an insurance claim following a storm last year. Their message was relayed to ‘Chestnut’ by the Clerk, also reiterating the parking issues in general in Westleigh, which people who move to the Village should be aware of!  There had been much information received regarding the forthcoming local elections on the 4th May – the Clerk reassured the Council that he would ensure that all necessary paperwork would be sorted by the cut-off dates, so that WPC remained squeaky clean! The Clerk also informed the Council that there was a refresher course on the Code of Conduct on the 5th July for all Councillors, but based on the feedback from the last course, didn’t expect a mass rush to enrol!

8. Min 8 23/24 – Public discussion. Cllr Burgess speaking as a member of the public, wanted to express her concerns about the deterioration in the surface of West Living Lane. The Clerk asked Cllr Burgess to forward the photos she had taken, and assured her that it would be dealt with as a matter of urgency by himself via Andrew Woollacott at Christie Estates

9. 9 Min 9 23/24 – County and Ward member reports. There had been no report from the Ward, and DCCllr Biederman reported the following 1) The forthcoming election was at full speed now, and was taking up a considerable amount of his time 2) Devon CC was looking to make quite painful cuts in their allocation of funds, with a reduction in the monies received by North Devon Council to help with homeless projects and Youth Work. The mobile Library was also under consideration for ‘cuts’! 3) The Lovacott Solar Farm questions raised at the last meeting in March was still ‘in hand’, and Council asked the Clerk to write to Sue Squire (Clerk to Lovacott PC), asking when the Board of Trustees would be set up, as previously agreed. 4) The potential floating Wind Farm off shore some 50km out of Instow, was still in the discussion phase, with no firm decisions made as yet.

10. Min 10 23/24 – Finance. There were 4 cheques requiring authorisation, 1. Clerk’s 3 monthly salary (£707.37), 2. Annual subscription to Devon Association of Local Councils (£94.49), 3. 4 months of Village Hall hire for Parish meetings (£60), and 4. Clerk’s expenses incurred as a result of the local elections (£35.85)

11. Min 11 23/24 – Environment. Cllr Burgess thanked the Chair for taking over the overseeing of the Investment in Nature Grant, and expressed her thanks for his help to date. With the lead up to the local elections, the Council felt that the Grant should be placed on the agenda in the coming months, as Local and County Councils were likely to be extremely busy. It was agreed that a working group would need to be set up as soon as possible.

12. Min 12 23/24 – TTEF update. Cllr Frajbis informed the meeting that the next meeting was on the 17th April, and that he would report back in May.

13. Min 13 23/24 – Planning – it was noted that the planning application 76658 had been withdrawn.

14. Min 14 23/24 – May AGM and Parish Meeting. The Council had been informed that the AGM had to be held within a 20 day period following the election results, therefore the 17th May was agreed upon for the AGM, and the May Parish Meeing. As that date will be very close to the scheduled June meeting, it may well be that the June meeting is cancelled in entirety.

15. Min 15 23/24 – AOB.  Cllr Burgess raised an observation that a 3-5m  ‘verge’ all the way round the field below the Village Hall had been weedkilled, and that it was her understanding that weedkiller was banned from being used on Tapeley Land. The verge had turned yellow and was obviously dead. Much discussion ensued, covering legality of such an occurrence, had Tapleley been informed, was the Gov’t Incentive for keeping the verges intact, passed on from one farmer to another, and what should the next steps be? It was agreed that Cllr Burgess would send the photos of the dead verges to the Clerk, who would write to Andrew Woollacott at Christie Estates, expressing WPC’s concerns about the use of weedkiller, and the potential damage to wildlife. Cllr Gear also agreed to inform Hector Christie when she next saw him

16. Min 16 23/24 The meeting closed at 20.45hrs


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