Minutes – October 11th 2022

Minutes of the  meeting of Lydford Parish Council

Tuesday 11th October 2022 at 7:00pm

Present – Cllr Grigg (Chair), Cllrs Cook, Blackmore, MacIntyre, Cllr Southcott (WDBC), 4 members of public.

  1. Public Session

Parishioners were given an update on the progress of the DNP proposal to charge for parking in the village car park – essentially nothing can proceed until the DCC committee (HATOC) decides at their October meeting whether to approve the order. DNP are keen to maintain a dialogue with the Parish Council on ways to mitigate the impact of charges on parishioners and regular users.

  • Apologies for absence

Cllr Squires, Cllr Skeaping, Cllr Mott (WDBC), Cllr Sanders (DCC)

  • Declarations of Interest

Nil

  • Walking the Bounds 2023

Paul Brookes outlined his proposal to organise a walking of the parish bounds in 2023. Last walked in 2016, the plan is to hold the walk on Rogation Sunday (May 14). There will be an introductory meeting in the Castle Inn on Monday 17th October at 7.30pm (AP1 – Chair to attend)

Paul anticipates being able to provide a budget for the exercise following the meeting. Councillors expressed an appetite to support this project and asked Paul to come back once he has a better idea of the cost of the day.

  • Flying the Devon Flag as an alternate to the Union Flag

The mood of the meeting was in support of flying the Devon flag together with the Union flag, although Councillors felt it wise to have clear guidelines of which flag should be flown and when. AP2 – Clerk to write a flag policy for next meeting

  • Feedback on meeting with DNP re. proposed parking charges in Lydford

Councillors shared their briefing information with the meeting. DNP and the Parish Council are keen to continue their dialogue, although nothing further can be done until HATOC decision. – might DNP be encouraged to take over the running of the toilets if they begin charging for parking, given that they own both the toilets and the car park.

  • Speedwatch

Councillor Cook gave the meeting a summary of the findings of the group to date. Since this June speeds of 180 vehicles have been checked in 3 blocks of an hour. Of these vehicles 30% were recorded at speeds below 25mph, 50% were showing speeds of between 25mph and 30mph, 13% within 5mph of the 30mph limit. Only 3% were shown to have exceeded the limit by more than 5mph. Each of these was reported and the drivers would have received Police warning letters. The only conclusion available from this data is that the great majority of vehicles travel through the village within the limit. More checks are being planned. Councillor Southcott reported that another site for the group to operate from was being evaluated.

Councillor Cook went on to explain that the recent DCC 20mph speed limit experiment is being trialed in 4 villages. DCC stated that they will be looking in this financial year to develop this into those villages which were placed in the top 50% of applications. Lydford were within the top 50% of the 130 applicants for 2022-23.

  • Minutes of the Meeting 12th July 2022

It was resolved to agree the minutes, proposed Cllr Blackmore, seconded Cllr MacIntyre – all in favour.

  • Matters arising from the meeting 12th July 2022 

Councillors thanked Cllr Southcott for  the £50 localities grant towards new defibrillator cabinet from both Cllrs Mott and Southcott

  1. Reports from Outside Bodies

Cllr Grigg to attend the next meeting

  1. Climate Change Emergency (Standing Item)

Cllr Cook wondered whether the Council could build a register of vulnerable parishioners ahead of the winter and the possibility of cuts and increased fuel costs. This was not thought to be permissible under GDPR, although Cllrs MacIntyre and Tainsh know who are vulnerable or who to contact if needed. 

  1. Public toilets (standing item)

There followed an open discussion with Standing Orders suspended by the Chair, allowing parishioners to contribute. 

Running the toilets is getting expensive, what are the options going forward?

The following ideas were considered –

  • Changing cleaning rota
  • Charging for usage or a donation box
  • Approach the licensees of the Castle Inn – would they be willing to open their toilets to public, with financial support from Council?
  • Approach DNPA to take over toilets in a package with car park

Councillors were asked to consider a proposal – reduce cleaning to four days a week from April 2023. The matter to be further discussed at November’s meeting.

  1. Playground (standing item)

Cllr Blackmore raised his concerns over the current state of the play equipment. AP3 – Cllr MacIntyre to contact members of the Playground Committee to see if there were any guarantees supplied when the equipment was installed.

AP4 – Cllr MacIntyre to put up signs around the equipment to close the playground until such time as repairs can be effected.

  1. Finances
  1. J. Bright                              £59.99           Microsoft Office renewal 2022
    1. J. Bright                            £312.91           October salary
    1. HMRC                                £73.60           PAYE October
    1. Jade Tennant                   £613.10           Toilet cleaning September
    1. J. Bright                              £10.99           Flagpole Halyard
    1. WDBC                              £326.60           Toilets, electricity & water to August 2022
    1. WDBC                            £1081.66           Toilets, electricity 2/21-11/21 & water 2/20-11/21

Cllrs resolved to approve the payments above.

Proposed – Cllr MacIntyre, seconded Cllr Blackmore, all in favour.

  1. Actions taken under delegated authority

Councillors noted the actions taken by the Clerk under the Scheme of Delegation

Payments made during August –

  1. Jade Tennant                   £608.00           Toilet cleaning, July
  2. J Bright                             £312.91           Salary, August
  3. HMRC                                £73.60           PAYE, August
  4. Fire Rescue Ltd               £552.00           New defibrillator cabinet

Payments made in September – 

  1. J Bright                               £23.94           Printer Cartridge
  2. J Bright                             £312.71           Salary, September
  3. HMRC                                £73.80           PAYE, September
  4. Jade Tennant                   £611.50           Toilet cleaning, August
  1. Planning Applications:

Nil

  1. Any other urgent business for discussion by permission of the chairman.

(For information only)

Cllr Cook asked that the matter of purchasing and installing a bleed pack be placed agenda item next month.

Cllr Grigg felt that the notice boards outside the hall were in a poor state and need replacing. (AP5 – Clerk to explore prices for new boards and clarify ownership.)

Meeting concluded 20:25

Signed                          Chair                          Date

Action PointAction to be takenAction taken
01Cllr Grigg to attend Walking of the Bounds meeting 17/10/22 on behalf of the Council 
02Clerk to draft a flag flying protocol for the Council and circulate before next meetingWritten and circulated 14/10/22
03Cllr MacIntyre to contact members of the Playground Committee to see what guarantees came with the newly installed play equipment 
04Cllr MacIntyre to place Closed signs about the playground equipment 
05Clerk to identify possible replacements for the existing notice boards and clarify ownership with Hall trustees