OAKE

Home
Location
Events
Activities
Profile
History
Church

Profile
History
Church

HILLCOMMON

Profile
History

HILLFARRANCE

Profile
Church
Flood Prevention
History
Photos

AMENITIES

School
Pre-school
Post Office
Oake Hall
Recreation
Food & Drink
Where to stay
Transport

COUNCIL

Introduction
Contacts
Agenda
Minutes
Past Minutes

Business Directory
Our website
Links
Photo Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MINUTES 

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF OAKE PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON

TUESDAY 15 TH NOVEMBER   2011 AT OAKE & DISTRICT HALL

PRESENT:   Cllrs. C. Bishop, M. Marks, C. Stokes, D. Roots, Mrs. Yeoell, Mrs. Sargent the Parish Clerk, S.C.C. Cllr. T. McMahon, Peter Lacey County Secretary, and 8 members of the public.

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIME:  

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:   Cllr. Bishop Finance for the village hall, and planning.

APOLOGIES:   Cllr. A. Dyke

MINUTES: The Minutes of the meeting held on the 11 th October were signed as being a correct record.

7.04 Standing Orders suspended to allow Cllr. McMahon to speak

7.06 Meeting resumed.

MATTERS ARISING: .

Police Report: To be circulated.

Stephen Williams – Chairman of the Shop Steering Committee was invited to speak. Mr. Williams said they had been looking at the options as the present owner wished to sell the business and that significant developments had taken place within the last week. Ian McMath has struggled with the business to make it viable and this has led to a situation where they find it difficult to offer a wide range of products and with staff having to be stood off. The steering committee have been looking at the options and seeking guidance from the local authority and lottery funding. A business model has been completed with it being run on a voluntary basis. Is it possible to sustain the shop in its present location? What happens if the shop is divided with Ian and Heidi living in the bungalow and the shop being run by others, another strategic event is that the Post Office is looking to change the way main and local Post Offices are run, they want to move away from fixed terms to being run by a local postmaster. The Post Office has set a deadline of the 21 st   December to know their preferred option. Ian intends to get out of the Post Office contract and a decision has to be made by April 2012. The Steering group have got to the second stage of an SOS lottery bid.
They are planning to hold an open meeting in December for the whole parish to see if sufficient interest and support is shown to proceed to the next stage.
Cllr. Marks said that the amount of work done by the steering group would be hard to realise, with Fern having visited Dillington House and that everything has been done to the highest standard and that they should be congratulated.
Mr. Williams said the McMaths are willing to enter into a rental arrangement up to 5 years but that eventually they would want their bungalow back but it would give the group an opportunity to look for a more permanent solution.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Williams for the presentation and congratulated the steering group on the work they have done.

School Seat: Both Cllr. McMahon and the Headmaster had been contacted regarding the ‘no show’ of this seat and both are doing all they can to get the seat replaced as promised by the builders. Cllr. Marks was not happy about this and said more should be done to force the builders to replace the seat immediately. The Chairman informed him that it was not the responsibility of the P.C. and that they have no power to force the County Council to do anything.

7.32pm Standing Orders suspended to allow Cllr. McMahon to reply

7.33pm Meeting resumed.

The Clerk had obtained prices to replace the plaque which is in a poor condition. To replace it with a brass one would cost around £50 there is the option of choosing a cheaper version for around £20.

Telephone Box: Cllr. Stokes said he had not yet had time to finish painting the inside of the box. Dave Sedgwick has kindly agreed to fit shelving for books as and when he has time.

Jubilee celebrations: The Clerk had found a firm who produce very nice bookmarks which can have the Council name or logo printed on them and suggested that 500 be purchased at a cost of around £167, this would be enough to give each child one and plenty left over for other people. It was agreed that we purchase these without delay, however, until Councillors say what is to be printed on them the order cannot be placed.

Bags of grit: the allocated 10 bags have been collected from Highways.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION:
Awards:
Dave Sedgwick was congratulated on receiving a Chairman’s award from Somerset County Council, congratulations were also sent to John Sharland who received the same award, these two men have worked tirelessly for the community and the hall.
Clerk’s resignation: This was tendered after the October meeting to the Chair, she had been asked by the Chairman to continue but in light of the fault finding and bullying attitude by one of the Councillors she refused to carry on. She read a statement that pointed out she is only paid for 4.5 hours a week but has never asked for more as she had been happy to help the community.

The Chairman said in light of all the above he would resign as Chairman and Cllr. Roots said he would also consider resigning.

The Chairman thanked Marcia for all she had done for the Council during her 15 year term as Clerk and was extremely sorry that she has been put in this position of having to resign.

Peter Lacey gave details of the procedure to be adopted when filling the vacancy for a Parish Clerk and stated that, if an experienced clerk was available , a temporary appointment could be made but it would be necessary to advertise the post before making a permanent appointment.

The Council appointed three members Cllrsr Dyke Yeoell and Stokes to consider the job specification, terms and suggested temporary appointment..On completion of their deliberations a recommendation should be made for consideration at an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council.

The Future of Oake: This was a document presented by Cllr. Stokes – it was decided to leave this to be dealt with at a future meeting.

Precept: Figures had been presented to Council by the Clerk at the last meeting, it was decided to increase the precept from last year by £250 therefore £5000 will be asked for. The Chairman and Clerk duly signed the forms.

Procedure for placing Item on an Agenda: Cllr. Marks had raised this as he said the Clerk had refused to place an item on the agenda when asked to and that he had the backing of half the council. This was with reference to the award ceremony he wished to make to John Sharland at a PC meeting but he did not want Dave Sedgwick to be present. The Clerk did not refuse to put this on the agenda but she did insist that both men should be present on that night. John had been on holiday when the presentation took place and Cllr. Marks received the award on his behalf, Dave had been to the awards ceremony and it was argued that as he had received this in front of 200 people that he should not come and be congratulated at a PC meeting. The Clerk said she was absolutely disgusted with Cllr. Marks attitude and that it was against the ethics of the PC not to invite both men.

Parish Council Contact detail on the web site:  This has been rectified and telephone nos. and email addresses now appear where appropriate.

Speed Sign at Oake: It was reported that this is quite invisible when viewed from Oake towards Bradford. Highways to be contacted.

School project board: Cllr. Marks wants to know who owns it and wishes to have it painted and sign written. Cllr. Yeoell to contact the headmaster.

Timescales: Cllr. Marks wants timescales set for items such as painting the phone box, the seat and any other work undertaken. The Chairman explained to him that this is not how Parish Councils work and that often things are done on a voluntary basis for example the telephone box, whilst other things are taken up with Taunton Deane and once they have been asked it is out of the Parish Council hands.

Provision of information to – campaign to protect rural England – this to be circulated.

Request for funding: Three requests had been received, Citizens Advice Bureau, St. Margaret’s Hospice and Age Concern. Councillors were told that under Section 137   there was money set aside to enable them to give money to good causes like this. They asked that the letters be circulated for them to consider.  

PLANNING:  

4/27/11/0019 Retrospective application for the deposit of soil on the former Railway Embankment (land registry plot no. 4580) Oake Farm, Oake.

Cllrs. said they would have objected to this application had it been put before them initially and not retrospectively. They expressed regret that in their opinion the action taken has damaged the wild life in that area and will continue to have a detrimental affect.

Proposed Cllr. Stokes seconded Cllr. Yeoell all agreed.

FINANCE:  

Brought forward

Current Account
50. 00
 
Business Reserve
4326. 77
transfer £566. 00 to C/A
Post Office
1025. 52
 
Total
5402. 29
 

            Cheques for payment proposed Cllr. Yeoell seconded Cllr. Marks.

            Cheque no. 000424 Magic Webs (hosting web site)                                         £   66. 00

            Cheque no. 000425 Oake Hall (annual grant towards upkeep of play area.         £500. 00

            Carried forward

Current Account
50. 00
Business Reserve
3760. 77
Post Office
1025. 52
Total
4836. 29

Correspondence for circulation :

  • SCC Replacement of defective paving with tarmacadam
  • SCC Consultation on Somerset’s draft countrywide parking strategy.
  • The Playing Field
  • Clerks & Councils direct
  • SALC meeting 8 th December at West Buckland village hall 7.30pm
  • Boundaries
  • Items of interest from SALC
  • Letters requesting funding
  • Police report.

The Chairman submitted his letter of resignation from the Chair position.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING    to be arranged.      

 

                                                            Chairman………………………….                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 


Oake Parish
parishclerk@oake.org.uk

© Oake Parish 2006

disclaimer