2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were none

3 APPROVAL OF LAST MONTH’S MINUTES
The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and accurate record of last month’s meeting.

4 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARISHIONERS There were none.

5 COUNTY/DISTRICT COUNCILLOR
Mr Lewis apologised to anyone who had been trying to contact SSDC as their phone lines had been down for most of the day. They have been putting in new equipment to cover the risk in case the IT servers and telephones went down! He has spoken to Ian Clarke, the District’s Solicitor, and the lease for the playing field is in hand and he has asked the Clerk to email him 10 days after the next Parish Council meeting if we had not heard from Mr Clarke. He has also been looking at the trees on the Garrett site. Simon Fox is talking to Highways as the land the trees should be on is owned by Highways and will get back to Mr Lewis.

Mr Crawford reported that he and Mr Bourke had attended the recent Annual Meeting between SSDC and the Parishes and it had been a very interesting evening and he thanked Mr Lewis for organising it.

6 HIGHWAYS
a) Vehicle Activated Signs
The Clerk reported that she was still awaiting information from Tim Cook.

b) Corton Denham broken finger post
Mr Crawford said he had now found the metal piece that fixes the finger post and the Clerk had emailed Highways to see if they could get it repaired.
The Clerk reported that the A359 Old London Road and Wolfester Terrace were being surface dressed on 29^th April.

7 LOCAL PLAN/VILLAGE DESIGN
There was nothing to report. Mr Tuck asked if we could contact Mark Dillon as he had originally said the funding for Sparkford ran out in August 2009. Mr Crawford will contact Mr Dillon.

8 CRIME/NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
Mr Crawford said Mr Westcott had nothing to report but the police had been trying to catch the motorcycles using the Copse after the recent complaints.

9 PLANNING DECISIONS
Two planning decisions had been received:

· 09/00438/TPO Application to carry out tree surgery works to Lime tree. Catalina, Church Road, Sparkford. Mr M Greed. APPROVED.
· 08/04314/FUL Construction of ancillary accommodation above garage (revised). Cherry Pie Cottage, Cherry Pie Lane, Sparkford. Mr M Harcourt. APPROVED.

10 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
Two planning applications had been received:

a) 09/01013/FULThe erection of a dwelling and 2 garages one to serve Lone Pine and one to serve new dwelling. Lone Pine, Church Road, Sparkford. Mr & Mrs G Tate.
Mr Crawford said everyone has seen the application and made comments and asked if there was anything else Councillors wanted to discuss during the meeting otherwise he would collate all the comments and send them back to the Planning Officer. There were no other queries.

b) 09/01029/LBC & 09/00987/FUL Conversion of redundant barn to form dwelling and associated outbuilding to provide storage and parking. Barn at Brains Lane, Sparkford. Highways Agency

Mr Crawford said he had not sent this planning application around as there is a planning policy to discuss. Firstly we have been advised by SSDC that Highways need to prove they have strongly advertised this barn for commercial use as per the original planning approvals in 2004; also the barn is outside the building line. The Clerk said she had spoken to the Planning Officer who said that Highways had worked closely with the Conservation Department and had included all their requirements in their application and as this was classed a historic building they would probably be more inclined to agree to it being turned into a dwelling as it would save the building. Mr Crawford said as a Parish Council we need to consider consistency and whatever the Planning Officer’s views are we should be consistent; if we agree to this one and disagree with another we may be seen to be inconsistent. Mr Piper said when the coal yard application was received we had disagreed with the level of marketing they had undertaken.

Mr Lewis said each planning application at District level is treated on its merits. Of two similar applications last month one was rejected and one accepted. You don’t set precedent if you look at each application as a separate entity.
Mr Bourke said anything they do will be better than it is at the moment but it is outside the building line and we have to make sure we don’t set a precedent; if we step outside the line it will be thrown back in our faces at a later stage.
It was agreed that Mr Crawford would speak with the Planning Officer tomorrow to get a ruling on whether they need to advertise and also if it is outside the building line and he will email Councillors with this information.
Mr Lewis brought up the subject of the planning application for McDonalds which had just been received and was therefore not included on the Agenda:

09/01271/FUL Alterations and refurbishment of restaurant and patio area

09/01260/ADV and the display of various illuminated and non-illuminated signs. McDonalds, Sparkford Hill.

He had been contacted by parishioners living in Wolfester Terrace and said the Parish Council may like to consider the conditions that were supposed to be imposed from their original permission: 1) lights switched off at 11pm; 2) the HGV sign being put back to prevent overnight parking of the refrigeration units; 3) the hedge – it is 3 metres high but has grown out substantially and McDonalds need to take ownership of it; 4) noise aspect.

Mr Bourke mentioned that a Wolfester Terrace resident had been down to look at the plans and had mentioned having a 3 metre fence rather than the 1 metre fence that was currently in place. This would stop some of the noise and also litter blowing over to Wolfester Terrace.

The plans would be passed round all Councillors for their comments.

Mr Crawford said that David Braithwaite had expressed interest in becoming a Councillor but before we took a formal vote did Councillors want to discuss this item. Councillors did not want to discuss the matter. Mr Crawford then asked Mr Braithwaite if he was still willing to come onto the Council and he confirmed he was. Mr Crawford then proposed we co-opt Mr Braithwaite. The motion was seconded by Mr Tuck and all Councillors were in agreement. Mr Crawford welcomed Mr Braithwaite to the Parish Council and thanked him for putting himself forward for the position.

The Clerk reported that Cllr Piper had mentioned the bad state of repair of the fencing around the cricket ground after the last meeting. She managed to get in touch with the new Chairman, Mark Ogborne, who was very enthusiastic in getting the club back to its former successful days and to involve the village in various events. Previously the Parish Council had offered to look at purchasing some new fencing if the club could get the work completed but we had received no response to this offer.

Mr Ogborne said they now had a group of people who were very interested in promoting the cricket club within the community. They want to get involved in the community and try to put on a fun day to get people interested. He has looked at the fence and some timbers are rotten although some can just be repaired. Mr Crawford said as far as the new fencing was concerned would Mr Ogborne be in a position to report back to the Parish Council giving full details of what is required so we know what is required. Mr Ogborne said he would do this. Mr Bourke said the Parish Council had been concerned about access to the site as the gate had been left open and Mr Ogborne said as soon as the Clerk had brought this to his attention they had purchased a padlock for the gate and it was now locked. He said they were quite concerned about the trees but he was informed that the Parish Council had spent quite a lot of money approximately two years ago getting works done to the trees and that the most important thing now was to remove the ivy growing up the trunks of the trees. It was agreed the Clerk would give Mr Ogborne details of the Arborist who had carried out these works along with details of the Sparkford website, Mr Lewis and Mr Hobhouse’s contact details and also those of Tim Cook, the District Council’s Officer for Community Grants. Mr Ogborne also agreed to put information on fixtures into the parish newsletter. He also mentioned that they had requested a grant to help pay for a bowling machine. Mr Bourke mentioned that the Somerset Community Chest also made grants of up to £750 for sporting activities.

c) Annual Parish Meeting
The Clerk said that the Annual Parish Meeting would be held prior to the Parish Council Meeting on 11^th May and would commence at 7.30pm. She would contact all the groups in the village asking for reports.

d) Flooding issues
The Clerk, as requested, had emailed the parishes of North & South Cadbury, Queen Camel, West Camel and Bridgehampton about collaborating on the flooding issue of the River Cam. South Cadbury were not interested and she had not received a response from West Camel, but North Cadbury and Queen Camel were definitely interested whilst Bridgehampton had already had meetings with the Environment Agency and their local MP but would try to send a representative to any meetings we arranged.

The Clerk also said that a meeting had been arranged with the Environment Agency and Roger Meecham for 2pm on 23^rd April but this was separate from the above matter.
Mr Crawford said the Environment Agency had confirmed that the work of cleaning under bridges had been contracted out to SSDC and he would be asking Mr Meecham about this at the meeting.
Mr Tuck asked what effect the flooding had on the sewage works as there had been reports of dirty water in Queen Camel and Sparkford. Mr Lewis said he did not know and the Clerk was asked to get in touch with Wessex Water and ask this question.

e) Parish Paths Liaison Officer
The Clerk reported that Ian Campbell of Konkers had agreed to take on this role and she had passed over all the relevant paperwork and tools and had emailed Peter Keenleyside to inform him of the new appointment. It was agreed that the Clerk would put these details in the parish newsletter.

12 PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS
a) Clerk’s Salary & Expenses
The Clerk’s salary of £151.94 and expenses of £13.00 were approved.

b) Approval of Annual Accounts
All Councillors had received a copy of the accounts and these were duly approved.

13 CORRESPONDENCE None had been received.

14 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mr Tuck reported that No 7 Ainstey Drive had taken down a blackthorn tree and removed all the mature hedging. Also no work had been done on the ditches around the new development which is having an effect on the drainage. This work was one of the conditions of the permission for the development. It was agreed that the Clerk would contact Roger Meecham and Phil Poulton and arrange for them to look into these matters.

15 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARISHIONERS
Mr Tate asked how far McDonalds cleared rubbish into the village as he sees rubbish in Sparkford Hill Lane and beyond. Mr Crawford said they originally had a litter picker but this doesn’t seem to have happened recently. When he and Mr Lewis met with the Manager of McDonalds he confirmed they had been contacted by SSDC regarding litter within the site. The main problem is with take-outs and people throwing litter out of their cars. Mr Crawford said it would be good if they took more responsibility for this. Mr Lewis said SSDC litter pick every Thursday morning in Sparkford and that the village come out as poor on the detritus scale.

Mr Tate then asked about the procedure of having his planning application referred to the Parish Council. Mr Crawford said we have a statutory obligation to make our comments and pass these on to the Planning Officer who then either makes the decision to approve or if there have been objections to pass it on to the monthly Area East meeting. The application is sent around to all Councillors who make their comments and recommendations and these are then sent on to SSDC.

Mr Braithwaite asked who was responsible for the upkeep of Cherry Pie Lane. It was confirmed that the first part which is tarmac is the responsibility of Highways and from there on it is the responsibility of the landowner or the person who holds the lease.

16 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM COUNCILLORS There were none.

17 ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA
Affordable Housing.

18 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday, 11^th May 2009.    There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.50pm

KB/07.04.09