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 reported that 11-17 year olds and people 60+ were now eligible for free swimming lessons at Wincanton, Goldenstones, Chard and Crewkerne. The green waste collection is now available for anyone who wishes to pay for it.
Mr Little said he was continuing to chase the situation of drainage on the High Street by Gala Cottage.

6 HIGHWAYS
The Clerk reported that the first phase of scheme activity was successfully completed on the A303 Willoughby Hedge to Mere in June and July. The next stage will commence during the week commencing 16^th November 2009 and will continue for 5 weeks which will entail preparation for the widening, continued drainage works, signage and safety fencing. During this time the A303 will be closed overnight from 22.00 to 06.00 and traffic will be diverted.

The Clerk had received information from Roger Meecham, Engineer at SSDC regarding two further flood awareness workshops, the first of which is arranged for Thursday 3^rd December 5pm - 7.30pm at Churchfields, Wincanton. Another event is planned for Thursday 20^th January at the Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil. These events will be open to the general public to attend as well as Parish Council representatives. Mr Meecham also sent a leaflet setting out "Land Drainage Responsibilities, Powers, Rights and Roles" which the Clerk had emailed to all Parish Councillors.

a) Ditches/drains
Mr Tuck said he wishes Mr Meecham would follow the advice in the leaflet distributed and serve notice on people in the village who hadn’t cleared their ditches. This was discussed at the site meeting with Mr Meecham. He reported that Mr Rankin’s ditch still has not been cleared and the footpath was not accessible. Also at the back of Ainstey Drive up to the railway wasn’t clear and the culvert under the railway was ¾ full all the time. He suggested we go back to Mr Meecham as it is now the third year after our survey with matters not resolved. It was agreed that the Clerk would contact Mr Meecham. Mr Tuck also asked if the situation at 2 New Cottages, High Street, had been resolved as there had been workmen there for over a week. The Clerk will contact Scott Davies to see what the situation is now.

Mr Lewis asked if the Clerk could give copies of the Flood Awareness Workshop to the parishioners whose properties flooded last year.

Mr Piper reported that the footpath from the end of Wolfester Terrace to Sparkford Hill Lane was overgrown and it is virtually impossible to push a buggy down this path. The Clerk agreed to contact the landowner to ask them to cut back the hedge. If no action was forthcoming the Clerk will contact Mr Lewis.

7 LOCAL PLAN/VILLAGE DESIGN
Mr Crawford reported that Mark Dillon has confirmed they have finally exchanged contracts with Mr Ansty and they are intending to put in a planning application within 2 weeks and also apply for funding. Mr Bourke said at the Area East Forum the question was raised as to whether South Somerset Homes had the cash for this project but obviously this is now being applied for.

8 CRIME/NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
PCSO Thelma Mead reported that under the umbrella of Operation Relentless the police had distributed posters to shops in time for Halloween about the selling of eggs and flour. Leaflets were also distributed to vulnerable householders which had on one side "Yes to Trick or Treat" and on the other "No to Trick or Treat". A mobile patrol was in the area but things were fairly quiet with the main problems being in Wincanton, Castle Cary and Bruton. There had been an incident of robbery and threatening behaviour at The Mount in Sparkford which is still being investigated. Crimes reported since 5^th October were 3 for fraud/forgery at Hazelgrove Services. There were 9 calls to the police – 4 from Hazelgrove Services, 3 abandoned calls and 1 rowdy nuisance behaviour in the High Street. A meeting for The National Neighbourhood Home Watch week was being held on Tuesday, 10^th November at 7.30pm at Churchfields, Wincanton and PCSO Mead gave the Clerk a poster and some leaflets for this. She also reported that she had been holding her regular Beat Surgeries at the Evergreen Club and everything was fine. PCSO Mead asked Mr Braithwaite if there had been any other instances of damage in the playing field and he reported that apart from lots of electrical fencing and connectors being found in the playing field all was very quiet otherwise.

Mr Westcott said that the Neighbourhood Watch Christmas evening was being held on 11^th December in the Village Hall and everyone was welcome.

9 PLANNING DECISIONS  No planning decisions had been received.

10 PLANNING APPLICATIONS  No planning applications had been received.

Mr Lewis reported that the planning application for Trackside Farm was going before the Joint Area East meeting on Wednesday, 11^th November.

11 MATTERS ARISING
a) McDonalds
The Clerk commented on an email she had circulated from Alex Skidmore, the Planning Officer concerned with the application for the new banner. The Clerk had raised the issue of the broken fencing and Ms Skidmore had responded that since enforcement of planning conditions can only be carried out for the 5 years after the decision is issued she was unable to do anything through enforcement but she will put an informative on the decision notice for the banner bringing this matter to the applicants attention and ask them to consider putting it right in the spirit of the original permission.

A suggestion was made that we write to McDonalds asking them to cut the hedging back from the Highway. If no action is taken then SSDC will complete this work and charge McDonalds for doing it. Mr Braithwaite asked if there was anything we could do about all the rubbish/litter that is around the village and a discussion ensued. The Clerk suggested writing to the Manager of McDonalds inviting them to the next Parish Council Meeting so these issues could be discussed in full.

After further discussion it was agreed the Clerk will write to the Manager, with a copy sent to the Area Manager, about cutting the hedge and the state of the litter in the area which was giving McDonalds and Sparkford a bad reputation, suggesting more litter patrols. It was agreed that as Mike Lewis and Justin Crawford had held various meetings with McDonalds the evidence of these meetings be mentioned in the letter. A suggestion was also made that we inform them a press reporter has offered to visit the area to look at the litter situation but we have declined at this stage.

b) Garretts – tree planting
Mr Lewis has spoken to Simon Fox who has gone back to the applicant and the applicant’s agent. The screening which is Condition 03 has not been discharged and he wants to determine what they plan to do about it. Mr Lewis said if Councillors wanted to look at the details on the SSDC website Page 65 showed all the details of the indicative screening. Dependant on the screening it may be possible to get some form of agreement with Highways to plant more trees on the slip road. This is in hand and Mr Lewis is talking to someone in the Highways Agency who deals with the tree screening side of things.

c) Repairs to Cricket Ground fence
The Clerk reported she had spoken to the Chairman of the Sparkford Cricket Club who confirmed that the donation from the Parish Council had been spent on repairing the pedestrian gate and bridge over the ditch. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, he had been unable to get things going with regard to involving the village in events but hoped this will change very soon. He confirmed he would speak to the President of the club with regard to repairing the perimeter fence along The Avenue.

12 PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS
a) Clerk’s Salary & Expenses
The Clerk’s salary of £129.23 and expenses of £7.50 were approved.

b) Setting Precept 2010/2011
After a short discussion Tony Bourke proposed that the precept stay at the current level of £4,650. This was seconded by Larry Piper and all Councillors were in favour.

13 CORRESPONDENCE
a) Adoption of red telephone kiosks
Following discussion at last month’s meeting, the Clerk reported she had been in touch with BT regarding the adoption of our two telephone boxes. They had confirmed that although they would remove the telephony they will only transfer ownership of the kiosk with the power connected. Once adoption has taken place we would then have to arrange disconnection but BT suggests that we ask our local electricity supplier for more information on the procedures and charges for disconnection. Meanwhile we would still need to contact the local electricity supplier to request a new MPAN for an unmetered supply. After adoption the kiosk would become the property of the adopting body and, as such, the adoptee would be free to move it, subject to any necessary planning consents. However BT does not recommend removing a red kiosk as it is prone to hairline cracks on removal, weighs 380kg and BT uses a 17 ton HIAB crane to move them. It would therefore be advisable for the kiosk to remain at its present location.

The Clerk had also been in touch with our insurance providers regarding additional public liability insurance. They have confirmed that there would be an annual cost of £25 for one or two boxes.

Mr Crawford said he had spoken to some parishioners in Weston Bampfylde who were, in general, of the opinion that the WB Hall Committee adopts their kiosk, which is listed. It was therefore agreed that before we go any further Mr Crawford would speak in more details to the Weston Bampfylde parishioners and that the Clerk put an item in the Parish News asking for views on the adoption of the Church Road kiosk.

b) Share of Youth Worker
The Clerk had circulated details of the proposed share of a Youth Worker between Sparkford, Queen Camel and North Cadbury which would cost in the region of £300 per annum.

Mr Tuck said he disagreed totally with the arrangement of the clusters. Mr Crawford said this doesn’t explain to us how the money is going to be spent on the grounds of someone who is supposedly co-ordinating things and he found it very difficult to understand. Mr Braithwaite said he has spoken to one of the Queen Camel Councillors who said they had thrown the idea out. It was generally agreed that the job description was extremely woolly and people applying for the job wouldn’t know what was expected of them.

Mr Little said he was at the last Queen Camel Parish Council meeting and they expressed reservations similar to Sparkford’s eg the job description and the grouping of clusters, but he didn’t think they had rejected the idea on the spot but wanted to look into it further.

Mr Crawford said we have the option of saying yes or no on the spot or asking for a breakdown of the job description and discussing this with the other villages we have been grouped with. Mr Piper said we should find out what the job exactly is and how it is going to work. Mr Bourke asked Mr Crawford to contact the Chairs of Queen Camel and North Cadbury to discuss their feelings.

Mr Lewis said Queen Camel were concerned about the four month period. He also said that the District Council and County Council youth workers had been in discussions about this. There needs to be a longer term sustained for young people and a commitment from the District and County Councils to provide ongoing support and this should be the focus.

It was agreed that Mr Lewis would talk to Tim Cook about the job description and that Mr Crawford would speak with the Chairs of Queen Camel and North Cadbury.

c) Mobile post office
The Clerk reminded the meeting that Michael Perry had attended the Annual Parish meeting to advise that he would be able to help with providing Sparkford with a mobile Post Office service. She had been trying to get these details ever since and finally spoke with him at the Harvest Supper. Last week she had received an email from Revd Perry giving details of the post mistress in Yeovil who may provide this service. However, when the Clerk spoke to the post mistress the slot she had in the Spring had now been filled. She also confirmed that she only undertook this type of work at the behest of the Post Office themselves.

This item will be left on the Agenda for further discussion.

d) Somerset Waste Management Strategy Stakeholder Workshops
The Clerk confirmed that these two workshops will be held on 20^th November and 27^th November at the Bridgwater and Albion Rugby Football Club in the mornings. Unfortunately no Councillors are available to attend these events.

e) SSDC Cluster Workshops
The Clerk confirmed that these workshops were to do with the Core Strategy Development Plan Document following earlier area workshops in July. Two Councillors were asked to participate in the cluster workshops on behalf of the Parish Council and the first briefing will be held on 16^th November at 7pm in Merlin 1 Room at Haynes Motor Museum. The first Cluster workshop will take place on Tuesday 24^th November at Marston Magna Village Hall with a follow up meeting (if needed) on Tuesday, 7^th December, again at Marston Magna Village Hall. It was agreed Tony Bourke and Justin Crawford would attend.

14 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mr Tuck reported that bulb planting would be taking place again this year and would commence in a couple of weeks with the Scouts carrying out the work. We had received a good mix of bulbs this year and a diagram of the planting scheme would be in the hall for people to see. Mr Crawford said this work was much appreciated and to pass our thanks on to the Scouts.

15 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARISHIONERS     There were none.

16 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM COUNCILLORS
Mr Little mentioned that he had been speaking to a resident of Queen Camel recently who was very interested in getting Sparkford Station up and running again and he wondered if there was any interest in this. Several members of the Parish Council indicated their enthusiasm and Mr Little said he would report back at the next meeting.

17 ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA
No further items were requested.

18 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday, 7^th December 2009.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.45pm
KB/03.11.09