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Minutes of a meeting of the Town Council held in the Council Chamber, Windmill Lane, Northam on Tuesday 28th June 2005
PRESENT: Chairman - Town Mayor – Cllr E J Davies Members - Cllrs Mrs M M Cox, Mrs S A Mounce, A Barnes, J Bell, R D Bradford MBE, A Eastman, A Eastwood OBE, L Ford, K A Lane, R W A Miller, P Sturges, R M M Tisdale, P Waters together with PC M Tricker, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary and 5 Parishioners
1. Minutes
The minutes of the Town Council meeting held on 31st May 2005 were approved and signed.
(Vote: Unanimous)
2. Matters of report to/from Police Beat Manager
PC Tricker reported on crime figures for the past month.
3. Town Clerk’s Report
(a) Monthly Financial Report – The Town Clerk presented the monthly financial report that included payments for this month and it was RESOLVED to accept.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(b) Possible new Bank Account arrangements – The Town Clerk reported on the Community Direct Plus Bank account which the Co-operative Bank operates. It was RESOLVED to transfer the Council’s cheque book account with the Portman Building Society to the Co-operative bank.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(c) Information Sheet – Members considered items on the June information sheet.
(1) With regard to the wildlife corridor at Burrough Farm it was RESOLVED to write back to the Torridge District Council’s Enforcement Officer asking whether the wildlife corridor is to be enforced.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(2) It was RESOLVED to consider the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 at the next Council meeting.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(3) The Old Fountain, Northam Square – It was RESOLVED to continue to pursue the provision of a planter at this site.
(Vote: Unanimous)
4. Notice of Motion from Cllr Sturges - “That this Council modernises its operations to facilitate the decision making process:
(i) Establish a Planning/Licensing Sub-Committee of 6 Councillors plus the Deputy Mayor as Chairman to respond to consultation on planning and licensing. (ii) Establish a Finance Sub-committee of 6 Councillors plus the Mayor as Chairman to make recommendations to full Council regarding the making of grants and other financial issues. (iii) Establish a Sub-committee of 7 Councillors to work on the local development framework and to make recommendations to full Council regarding a 5 year plan for Northam, Appledore and Westward Ho! (iv) To abolish or formalise the cyclical election of Chairman. If formalised the cycle must take into account the number of Members in each Ward. Thus over a 14 year period 6 Members from Northam, 4 Members from Appledore, 2 Members from Westward Ho!, 2 Members from Orchard Hill.”
Members considered the above Notice of Motion and it was RESOLVED as follows: -
(1) To establish a Planning/Licensing Committee with the executive function of responding directly to the District Council on planning application consultations and licensing applications. The following Councillors were nominated: - Cllr Lane (Chairman), Cllrs Mrs Cox, Barnes, Ford, Miller, Tisdale and Waters.
(Vote: 9 For, 5 Against)
(2) To establish a Finance Advisory Committee. The following Councillors were nominated: - Cllr Davies (Chairman), Cllrs Barnes, Bradford MBE, Eastman, Eastwood OBE, Lane and Sturges.
(Vote: 13 For, 1 Abst)
(3) To establish a Local Development Framework Advisory Committee. The following Councillors were nominated: - Cllrs Barnes, Bradford MBE, Davies, Miller, Sturges, Tisdale and Waters.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(4) With regard to the Annual election of Chairman and Vice Chairman, it was RESOLVED to retain the cyclical system.
(Vote: 8 For, 6 Against)
At this juncture Cllrs Ford and Sturges left the meeting. 5. Victim Support
Members considered the amount of grant they should award for this financial year, this matter having been deferred at a previous meeting for further information. It was RESOLVED to award a grant of £1,000.
(Vote: Unanimous)
6. Northam Burrows
(a) Agricultural Management of Common Land
Cllr Waters outlined the Government’s intentions with regard to the future agricultural management of common land. Cllr Mrs Mounce advised that the District Council were aware of it but that the draft legislation had not yet been published. It was RESOLVED to write to Torridge asking them to consider their position and to organise meetings with appropriate bodies.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(b) Information required from the District Council in connection with the management of the Burrows.
Cllr Waters advised that if there was to be meaningful discussion with Torridge over the future management of the Burrows it was essential to have to hand detailed accounts of income and expenditure. It was RESOLVED to write to Torridge District Council requesting the detailed accounts for the past three years.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(c) Assessment of vegetation condition and grazing impact
Members considered the summary of the assessment carried out by the Rural Development Service and before responding RESOLVED to send details to the Chairman of the 1716 Committee and make the active graziers aware of the report.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(d) Unregistered entire horse on the Burrows
The Town Clerk reported on difficulties experienced with identification of horses, particularly when it was suspected that the horse was unregistered. It was RESOLVED to approach the 1716 Committee to ask if they would be involved in assisting with the registration of the stock and also with the annual round up in August.
(Vote: Unanimous)
7. Streetworks and related matters
(a) Threatened Urban Pathways Members considered a letter from the Open Spaces Society in relation to their campaign to protect urban pathways. It was RESOLVED to award a grant of £100.
(Vote: Unanimous)
(b) Members’ items
Cllr Mrs Mounce reported on problems with the children’s play area at Lords Meadow. Residents of the new development, Kimberley Park, were objecting to the re-erection of the goal posts and there was concern that the planning process had not adequately dealt with the obvious conflict between the play area and the residential area. It was RESOLVED to write to the District Council’s Chief Executive , the Enforcement Officer, the Head of Planning and also release the letter as a press release to the effect that the Town Council were very unhappy with the situation and that the goal posts need to be erected immediately and the developer of Kimberley Park required to erect defensive fencing as agreed.
(Vote: Unanimous)
Cllr Miller reported on the need for a bus shelter in Lenards Road. It was RESOLVED to consider this.
(Vote: Unanimous)
8. Planning applications Cllrs Bell and Eastwood OBE left the meeting at this juncture.
Cllr Davies left the meeting while planning applications were being discussed. Cllr Lane took the Chair for this item.
0868/05 Proposed erection of a single dwelling, demolition of existing garage and minor access alterations - The Little House, Chope Road, Northam – RESOLVED - Recommend approval subject to appropriate screening being provided.
(Vote: 8 For, 1 Abst)
1028/05 Proposed 2 bungalows to garden of Folly House. Folly House, Raleigh Hill – RESOLVED - Recommend approval
(Vote: Unanimous)
1034/05 Proposed pitched roof to provide additional accommodation. 113 Morwenna Park Road, Northam – RESOLVED - Recommend approval. (Vote: Unanimous) 1047/05 Proposed construction of new dwelling and garage on land together with revised access - 72 Atlantic Way, Westward Ho! – RESOLVED - Insufficient details provided and a proper plan required.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1048/05 Proposed new bungalow - Land adjacent to 79 Richmond Park, Northam – RESOLVED - Recommend refusal, too high a density, insufficient curtilage left for each property.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1097/05 Proposed variation of condition 3 of planning permission 939/86 to allow holiday occupancy for 12 months of the year. 33 Lenwood Country Club, Lenwood Road, Northam – RESOLVED - Recommend approval.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1103/05 Proposed new dwelling - Land adjacent to 28 Atlantic Way – RESOLVED - Recommend refusal. Inadequate steep access with poor visibility. No footway provision on south side of Atlantic Way. Would spoil the attractive escarpment which is protected in the Local Plan. The elevated site would give rise to serious overlooking problems. Concern that surface water drainage problems could be further exacerbated due to earth works and tree felling. Concern about the wildlife and badger setts.
Cllr Tisdale declared a personal interest.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1106/05 Proposed loft conversion to include front dormer window and rear roof light - 58 Atlantic Way, Westward Ho! – RESOLVED - Recommend approval.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1107/05 Reserved Matters application - Proposed construction of 9 no dwellings with garages, screening landscaping, access and associated works. Land east of Goodwood Park, Northam – RESOLVED - Recommend approval but concerned about wildlife, i.e. badger setts on the site and the access.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1114/05 Proposed extension to dwelling to form dining room with first floor rear extension with decking. 7 Polywell, Torridge Road – RESOLVED - Concerned about the decking and whether this would cause overlooking problems.
(Vote: Unanimous)
1152/05 Proposed demolition of existing detached garage and erection of a two-storey extension to the side of the property with new integral garage. 17 Scott Avenue, Appledore – RESOLVED - Recommend approval
Cllr Waters declared an interest and left the meeting for this item.
(Vote: Unanimous)
Cllr Davies rejoined the meeting and took the Chair.
9. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 Public Entertainment Licences (a) Northam Community Centre [Main Hall and Meeting Room] - RESOLVED – No objection
(Vote: Unanimous)
(b) The Buccaneer [Dance and Bar area] – RESOLVED- No objection.
(Vote: Unanimous)
10. Transfer of Justices’ Licences
Transfer of Licence – Riversford Hotel, Limers Lane – RESOLVED – No objection.
(Vote: Unanimous)
11. Dragon Boat Racing
It was RESOLVED to support a Northam team for the Bideford Dragon Boat Racing at a cost of £270.
(Vote: 9 For, 1 Abst)
12. DAWN MCTi
Cllr Barnes reported that this was gathering momentum and encouraged the Council to continue to support it. It was RESOLVED to award a grant of £500 and Cllr Barnes undertook to report back with more details later.
(Vote: 7 For, 3 Abst)
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