Parish Council of Langton Matravers
www.langtonmatravers-pc.org
Minutes of a meeting of Council held in the Village Hall on Thursday, 10th September 2009 at 7.00pm
Present Cllr N Priddle, in the Chair, Cllr P White (Vice-Chairman), and Cllrs, J Bradford, P. Bradford, P Loudoun ,M Lovell. 

1.	Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Mrs P. Kwantes, Mrs V. Murray & M. Kirby.
2.	Declarations of interest: there were none.
3.	Public Discussion period:
 The Meeting was adjourned for discussion.
Mrs S Painter, Chair Designate of the Board of Governors for St George’s First School, said that the governors are convinced that, following further work carried out over the summer, a primary school suitable for the 21st century is viable on its present site. Ms C Drayson, speaking on behalf of the St George’s Action Group and Education Swanage, asked that the Parish Council write in support of St George’s to all the people on the list provided by the Action Group. Ms S Spilling asked whether any councillors would be attending the Options Forum Meeting on September 14th and if so would they be speaking in support of St George’s. The Meeting was reconvened.
4.	Matters arising from the Public Discussion: 
It was unanimously agreed that the Chairman should attend the Swanage and Langton Matravers Options Forum on the 14th September.
On the proposition of Cllr M Lovell it was unanimously agreed that the Clerk should write to all County Councillors and to Jim Knight MP and Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate  Richard Drax  and the Diocese in support of the Board of Governors and that the Clerk should emphasize that the Council is fully supportive of the view of the Board of Governors that St George’s could become a primary school and believe that any physical obstacles can be easily overcome. 
5.	Planning Matters:
(1) There were no comments from the public concerning Plan 0448, submitted by Mr P Ferris; erect porch and conservatory at The Ship Inn, Langton Matravers.
(2) Determine Council’s comments on Plan 0448;
On the proposition of the Chairman it was unanimously agreed that; 
“The Parish Council has no objection.”
(3) There were no comments from the public concerning Plan 0473, submitted by Mr T Howlett; Insert window in garage on south-west elevation, increase size of rooflight on north-west elevation and use natural slate instead of clay tiles for the roof at ‘Woodfield’, Valley Road, Harmans Cross. (Revised scheme to PP 0337). 
(4) Determine Council’s comments on Plan 0473;
On the proposition of the Chairman 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).
(5) Planning Decisions that affected the parish this month.
(a) Plan 0101, submitted by DCC; to rebuild the entrance gate pier in a different position to allow access to be widened, at Leeson House Study Centre. Withdrawn by applicant.
	(b) Plan 0371, submitted by Mr D Fisher; erect conservatory at 52a High Street, Langton Matravers. Approved.
	(c) Plan 0367, submitted by Mr Bowers; erect summer house – Certificate of Lawfulness. Approved.
 (6) Any other Planning Matters;
(a) Tree Preservation Order 65.09/10. Garfield Cottage, Garfield Lane, Langton Matravers; prune or cut down 3 lime trees.
6.	Minutes of the last Meeting, held on the 13th August were confirmed and signed.
7.	Matters arising from the Minutes:
	(a) Item 7 (a);Acton access road. The road has been further widened.
	(b) Item 17; Clerk’s salary and hours. The addendum to the Clerk’s contract was signed by the Chairman and Clerk and a copy retained by the Council and the Clerk.
8.	The Clerk’s Report for the period 7.08.09 – 3.09.09 was received.
9.	Matters arising from the Clerk’s Report:
(a) Item 7; A donation to Vitalise. It was agreed that all requests for charitable donations should be put to one side and looked at later in the financial year when the Council would have a clearer idea of what funds were available in the budget.
(b) Item 31; Windmill Lane. The Clerk reported that Rodney Legg of Open Space Society had written to DCC in support of the Council’s claim for Windmill Lane.
(c) Item 37; Street lighting. The Clerk reported that DCC had written to say that trials were still ongoing regarding switching off street lighting around midnight. However, even if this proved practicable it would be unlikely to be applied to the High Street as it is a B class road.  
10.	Chairman’s announcements;
	The Chairman announced that the planned pavement widening between Steppes and Crack Lane on the south side of the High Street was now pencilled in by DCC for autumn 2010 and that land acquisition had not yet been completed. Before any work commenced DCC would send the designs to the Council. 
11.	Financial Matters:
	(1) The following additions to Council funds since the last Council Meeting were noted:
	£58.00 received for the rent on three allotment plots.
£25.00 received from James Smith Funeral Directors for the interment of the ashes of the late Mrs Diane Rietdyk.
(2) Note the following Payments by Cheque, already authorized, since last Meeting:
 £63.25 to Purbeck Housing Trust for ROSPA inspection of the Play Area.
	£429.75 to J Bellucci for Clerk’s salary for July.
	£115.00 to P Newell for one visit to the cemetery and to the Play Area.
	£20.00 to Langton Matravers Village Hall Committee for two hires of the hall.
	£39.00 to J Bellucci, ex Post Office, for 100 1st class stamps.
	£139.11 to J Bellucci for backdated salary increase.
	£18.58 to J Bellucci, ex Staples, for 5 reams of copier paper and 2 pens.
	£15.00 to Scott Estate for rent on office/toilets block.
 (3) The following payments by Direct Debit were noted:
 £76.00 to PDC for Business rates.
£29.08 to XLN Telecom for phone and broadband.
(4) Any other Financial Matters: 
 There were none.
12.	Cemetery Matters:
	(1) Council cemetery. 
(a) Cemetery wall; The stone had been delivered, but not as far as the wall and it was agreed that Cllr Loudoun would arrange to have it moved.
(b) The Clerk was instructed to defer all cemetery matters until November.
(2) Closed cemeteries. There was nothing to report.
13.	Allotments. 
(a) Declarations of interest. Peter Aston, Head of Democratic Services for PDC had advised that in the event that all of the Councillors rented an allotment the Council could write to the Monitoring Officer and apply for dispensation to allow them to vote on allotment matters. Cllr Lovell said that as far as he was aware this applied if a majority of the Council had allotments, but that otherwise any councillor who had an allotment should declare a prejudicial interest and leave the council chamber.  
14.	Affordable housing update.
Raglan Housing Association have still not put in for detailed planning permission, but hope to around springtime in 2010.
15.	The Parish Office. It was agreed that the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Clerk should see what work needed doing to update and increase the storage space in the office.
16.	Widening East Drove. Cllr Lovell explained that he had only meant this to mean widening the entrance to East Drove. He felt that, as the planning application to build a chalet bungalow in the garden of 1 Durnford Drove was likely to be approved, the Parish Council should try and get some planning gain from it. He suggested asking PDC to require the developer to widen the East Drove where it ran alongside the proposed development. The Chairman felt that it was a very dangerous step to interfere in this way in a planning application which had not yet been decided. On the proposition of Cllr M Lovell it was agreed by 3 votes to 2 and 1 abstention that the Clerk should write a letter to all householders in East Drove and those on the High Street whose properties backed onto East Drove, asking whether they were in favour, in principal, of the road being widened between the junction with Durnford Drove and the entrance to 2 East Drove.
17.	 The date of the next Council Meeting was confirmed as Thursday the 8th October.
22.	Items for the next Agenda;
	There were none.
23.	There being no further business, the Meeting was adjourned at 8:17pm.

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