Parish Council of Langton Matravers
www.langtonmatravers-pc.org
Minutes of a meeting of Council held in the Village Hall on Thursday, 12th June 2008 at 7.00pm
(Present Cllr Mrs P Kwantes,(Vice Chairman)  in the Chair, and Cllrs Mrs V. Murray, N. Priddle, M Lovell, J Bradford, P Bradford, P White and P. Loudon.)

1.	Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. M Kirby.
2.	Public Discussion period: 
The Meeting was adjourned for discussion.
Mr Ian Mckenzie of the Ramblers Association spoke about his application to DCC on behalf of the Parish Council to have Windmill Lane/Knap added as a restricted byway. He asked that any information that the Parish Council or residents of the Parish might have regarding previous applications be forwarded to him to assist his case. He is particularly keen to hear from parishioners who remembered walking the track or having personal knowledge of the track being a public byway between 1925-1945 and who are willing to make a legal deposition to that fact. He also asked that he be formally appointed by the Parish Council as their representative to make this application on their behalf. It was agreed that this matter should be added to the next Agenda.
PC Ashdown asked that a date be set for an EVA of the Parish and Cllrs. P Bradford and P White agreed to liaise with him to arrange a suitable date. 
He also asked that the Homewatch for the Parish be reinvigorated and the Council instructed the Clerk to contact Mr Roy Smith who Chairs the local Neighbourhood Watch Committee with regard to this matter.
Mr Ken Bailey spoke against the threatened closure of the Panorama Rd Recycling Centre and the suggestion by DCC that people who currently use it should in future drive to Wareham Centre. He also raised the matter of wind farms.
Mr T Howlett spoke about his Planning Application, Plan 0337, to demolish and replace the existing dwelling at “Woodfield” , Valley Rd, and asked that the Parish Council support his request that the Application go before the Full Planning Board. 
Cllr. Mrs V Murray spoke about her Planning Application, Plan 0377, explaining that they wanted the additional days so that campers could stay throughout the Spring and August Bank Holidays, rather than have to move on, as happened now. 	
3.	Matters arising from the Public Discussion.
Cllr. N Priddle proposed that the subject of wind farms be added to the next Meeting’s Agenda, which was unanimously agreed.
	The Meeting was reconvened.	
4.	Planning Matters: 
(1) Receive comments from the public concerning Plan 0337 submitted by Mr and Mrs Howlett to       demolish existing dwelling and erect new detached dwelling with garage at” Woodfield”, Valley Rd, Harmans Cross.
Mrs L. Arnold of Valley Rd, who is a next door neighbor of “Woodfield” mentioned during a telephone conversation with the Clerk that she had no objection to this application.
(2) Determine Council’s comment on Plan 0337; On the proposition of Cllr Priddle it was unanimously agreed that;
“The Parish Council fully supports this Application and Mr and Mrs Howlett’s request that it be brought before the Full Planning Board rather than delegated.”
    (3) There were no comments from the public concerning Plan0377, submitted by Mr & Mrs Murray. Use of land for camping (tents, caravans and motor homes) outside of existing lawful dates (Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Spring Bank Holiday – Friday, Saturday and Sunday after August Bank Holiday and 20th to 24th July) annually. West Acton Field (Acton Field Camp Site), Langton Matravers.
    (4) Determine Council’s comment on Plan 0377: Cllr Mrs V Murray declared a prejudicial interest and left the room. On the proposition of the Chairman it was then unanimously agreed that; 
	“The Parish Council supports this application.”
Cllr Mrs V Murray returned.
    (5) There were no comments from the public concerning Plan 0383, submitted by Mrs D Tyrer: add lead capping to top of roof extension and insert dormer window to rear elevation (revised scheme to PA 6/2008/0059. At “Greystones” The Hyde.    
(6) Determine Council’s comment on Plan 0383: On the proposition of Cllr N Priddle it was unanimously agreed that;
	“The Parish Council has no objection.”
(In all the above voting Cllr M W J Lovell abstained as a member of the Purbeck District Council’s Planning Board).
(7) The following Planning Decisions were noted:
(8) Plan 0207, Coombe (Greensleeves), erect a single storey extension at rear: approved.
(9)	Plan 299, submitted by T-Mobile, to upgrade existing T-Mobile base station comprising of addition of one ground based radio equipment cabinet and ancillary development within the existing compound, at Nine Barrow Down at Knitson Farm: Permitted Development.
(10)Any other Planning Matters;
The Planning Inspectors decision to grant Planning Permission for the Spyway Orchard Appeal was circulated and it was unanimously agreed that there was nothing more the Council could do.
5.	Minutes of the last Meeting, held on the 8th of May were confirmed and signed.
6.	Matters arising from the Minutes:
(1) Item 9 (1); The Chairman read out a note from Cllr. Kirby which stated that Alan Davies of PDC Planning and David Brown of DCC Highways Depts., together visited the Leeson Park and Capston Field sites. With reference to the Leeson Park site adjacent to the B3069 Mr Brown commented that although good access and visibility could be achieved with a set back of the wall, the footway is extremely narrow and unless substantial improvements were made to the footway he did not believe that this was a suitable site.
With reference to the Capston Field site he commented that because good visibility could be achieved with the wall set back and because the footway links are reasonably good he did not see there being any highway problems if affordable housing was constructed on this site.
These comments will be presented to the National Trust at a meeting in mid-June with Raglan Housing and PDC.
(2) Item 9 (6) The bus shelter at Steppes Hill; on the proposal of Cllr Priddle it was unanimously agreed that no further action be taken.
(3) Item 9 (9) Cllr Loudoun reported that he had received an informal quote of £20 an hour for 1 – 2 days work to clear the Council’s strip of land adjacent to the Cemetery and, because the work could not be done during the summer, he would get a formal quote in due course.  The matter was deferred until the autumn.
(4) Item 9 (10) Cllr Priddle reported that the Cemetery Caretaker had already started to make safe the unsafe monuments. This was confirmed by Cllr Lovell.
(5)Item 11 (6) The Clerk was instructed to buy new links for the swings from Wicksteed Leisure and to ask Mr J Burden to fix them.
(6) Item 11 (7) Details of the Alliance & Leicester Deposit Account were handed on to Cllr Lovell for his inspection.
(7) Item 13 (6) The Clerk read out a letter from Mr R Saville thanking the Council for its donation to the Local History and Preservation Society and adding his personal best wishes for the future to both the Council and the new Clerk. 
 7.	The Clerk’s Report for the period 2.5.08-4.6.08 was received.
 8.	Matters arising from the Clerk’s Report:
1. Item 44. In response to Mr R Brasher’s, email asking that the Council consider placing an emergency phone at Dancing Ledge, Cllr P Bradford said that there was a phone at Anvil Point and in the last six months there had been several incidents of vandalism and hoax calls. However, there are ongoing negotiations with the National Trust for signs pointing out where the nearest public phones are. Accordingly, the Council unanimously declined Mr Brasher’s request.
2. Item 50 On the proposal of the Chairman it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should buy a new, bigger, post box for the Council Office and to ask Mr B Glassock to fit it and remove the old one.
 
9.	Chairman’s announcements;
1. On the proposition of the Chairman it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should write a letter of thanks to Mr M Collins for his work on the village sign.
2. The Chairman asked that Councillors email the Clerk so that he would have their email addresses to circulate emails he received from DCC, PDC, etc. A number of Councillors declined as they either did not use email or because they were too busy otherwise to check their emails regularly and would prefer that correspondence continue to be circulated in the Circulation Envelopes. 	
10.	Financial Matters:
	(1) Note the following additions to the Council funds since the last Council Meeting:
	There were none.		
	(2) Note the following payments by cheque, already authorized, since the last Council Meeting:
	 £72.84 to Cllr. M Lovell, ex-Yahoo website.
	£4.32 to RJ Saville, ex-Post Office for postage stamps.
	£300.00 to J Bellucci for Assistant Clerk’s salary.
	£330.00 to RJ Saville for Clerk’s salary.
	£19.99 to J Bellucci, ex-Sainsburys for answerphone.
	£10.00 to the Village Hall Management Committee for the April Council Chamber.
	£25.00 to H Arnold for Internal Audit.
	£111.62 to B Glassock, builder, for various works.
	£73.72 to BT for phone bill.
	 £4.32 to J Bellucci, ex Post Office for postage stamps.
	£15.99 to Nildram for broadband conncection.
	£167.50 to PDC for Allotments Planning Application.
	£250.00 to The Local History and Preservation Society as a donation.
	£670.00 to I Travers, payment for work on cemetery.
£24.91 to J Bellucci, ex-Staples for office equipment. 
(3) Payments by Direct Debit:
£72.00 to PDC for May Business Rates on Office/toilet block.
(4) Section 1 of the Statement of Accounts for the District Auditor was approved and signed.
(5) Section 2 of the Statement of Accounts for the District Auditor was approved and signed.
(6) Section 4 of the Statement of Accounts for the District Auditor (Internal Auditor’s Report) was noted.
(7)Any other Financial Matters:
 On the proposition of Cllr M Lovell, the Council unanimously accepted the Annual Statement of Accounts.
11.	Cemetery Matters:
	(1) Council cemetery.
	(a) Copies of the Regulations and Fees for other local cemeteries were circulated.
	(2) Closed cemeteries.
	Nothing to report.
12.	Allotments.
There was some discussion as to whether Planning Permission was actually required. Cllr Priddle read out part of a recent article from Clerks and Councils Direct, which stated that planning permission was not needed. However, Cllr M Lovell had spoken to Mr Alan Davies of PDC who said that case law stated that a change of use application was needed. Cllr P White had rung Symonds & Sampson and was told that it was their understanding that Planning Permission was not needed. However, it was decided that as PDC were saying that it was required it would be best to make an application.
Cllr N Priddle announced that he had received 26 applications for the 28 planned allotments.
13.	Affordable housing;
	Already dealt with.
14.	Enhancement of street furniture;
On the proposition of Cllr N Priddle, who had originally raised the matter, it was unanimously decided to take no further action for the time being.
15.	The Clerk was asked to phone ROSPA with reference to the rusty links on the swings.
16.	On the proposal of Cllr N Priddle, it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should write to the Chief Executive of DCC to express the Council’s great concern at the forthcoming closure of the Panorama Road, Swanage , Recycling Centre. 
17.	On the proposal of Cllr J Bradford it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should write a letter of thanks to Mrs John for all her hard work at St George’s First School.
18.	On the proposal of Cllr J Bradford it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should telephone Mr & Mrs Kossoff with reference to the dead tree in their grounds, the branches of which overhang the public footway, and ask that they might have it pruned or cut down.
19.	 The date of the next Council Meeting was confirmed as July 10th at 7 pm.
20.	Items for the next Agenda;
	(1) Wind Farms.
	(2) The Council’s Cemetery’s Regulations and Fees.
	(3) Mr I Mckenzie of the Ramblers Assoc.,’s application on behalf of the Council re. Windmill Lane.
	(4) A Charitable Trust for the village.

There being no further business, the Meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Signed……………………………..(Chairman).               Date…………………………..