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 CRIME/NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
The Clerk read out a report from PCSO Mead:
There were 16 calls to the Force Service Centre in the period Dec – Jan 2012
1 Suspicious / Wanted, 2 Disturbance/Nuisance, 2 Contact requests, 2 Theft, 2 Drugs, 1 Unconfirmed Intruder Alarm, 4 Traffic , 1 Admin and 1 Miscellaneous.
There were 5 Crimes reported in the period Dec – Jan 2012
2 Making off without payment has been dealt with and filed
1 Theft Under Investigation
1 Possess Cannabis investigated and filed
1 Burglary in a Building Investigated and Filed
Another incident involving the bollards/ concrete In the High street Sparkford 2 punctures on a Police Car Highways were notified and the ref is 33430.

Mr Crawford reported that the Avon & Somerset Neighbourhood Watch sell security devices cheaply and if anyone was interested he would email the details.
There will be a talk given at the Area East Safety Panel on 17^th January at 10am regarding the possibility of an elected police commissioner being brought in.

5 COUNTY/DISTRICT COUNCILLOR
Mr Lewis said that discussions were still taking place on the Core Strategy which is important as far as the future is concerned. Businesses are being placed into towns rather than in rural areas. This element of the core strategy to only locate businesses within market towns should not go through. It was agreed that Mr Crawford would speak to Mr Lewis to see what we can put into this discussion.

Mr Little mentioned the car parking strategy and said responses need to be in by 20^th January. The County will enforce regulating parking. Castle Cary has had a large campaign to say no to car parking charges and he fully endorsed this. He said that no parking metres would be installed. Retailers feel strongly that they will lose business if this went ahead. There was a public meeting last week in Castle Cary. Although the District Council own the car parks it would be the County Council who would enforce the parking. Mr Crawford asked if Councillors were minded he would put something together to send. This was agreed and Mr Little said he would send the Clerk the email address for the comments.

Mr Bourke said if members had been reading the Blackmore Vale recently Dorset had withdrawn all parking charges over the Christmas period so businesses could gain further traction. Also, in the Western Gazette, it was reported that parking charges have raised a contribution of £294,000 for the South Somerset District Council budget. It had also been reported that the Department of Transport states it is unlawful to introduce parking charges primarily to raise funds. Mr Lewis said one part of the argument is that Yeovil, Crewkerne, Chard and Ilminster all have parking charges and some District Councillors are arguing strongly for charging.

6 HIGHWAYS
a) Bollard in High Street
The Clerk said there had been two incidents on 3^rd January; one was a police dog van who crashed into the concrete plinth where the bollards were and burst two tyres, the other was a parishioner who had done a similar thing. The Clerk had received copies of emails between the parishioner and Highways where John Nicholson had stated that "it had been agreed with the Parish Council and the PCSO to remove the concrete plinth". The Clerk refuted this statement; it had been presented as a fait accompli because they refused to replace the bollards. Neither Mr Braithwaite nor Mr Crawford could remember this being mentioned at the site meeting recently.

Mr Piper said we should emphasise that we need to get something more substantial. Mr Braithwaite agreed that the bollards needed to be reinstated with proper illumination and Highways should be made aware that we are strongly worried about the situation and we must stress the urgency. Mr Tuck asked if it was worth mentioning that our County Councillor was considering releasing funds for new bollards. Mr Little said he had agreed to look at installing a chicane but not the bollards and the Clerk said she was extremely doubtful that a chicane would ever happen. Mr Little said he would therefore look at releasing funds for the bollards. A further discussion took place and it was agreed that the removal of the bollards/plinth would lead to an increase in speeding traffic. The Clerk was asked to speak to the PCSO to get her to write a letter to Highways supporting the Parish Council and she would contact Highways. It was a matter of urgency that Highways did not remove the concrete plinth until this situation was sorted out. Mr Tuck said we should also ask for Highways to put hatching either side of the island. They should put back a properly illuminated base plinth plate in the centre of the island. At the moment it is a danger in the middle of the road. Mr Tuck said put a day glow bollard back but have high intensity lights to illuminate it via the street light or the 30mph signs. It was agreed that the Clerk would contact Mr Little with all this information and that he would contact Scott Davies in the morning to stop any work being carried out to remove the concrete plinth until this is sorted out.

b) Sewage smell in High Street
The Clerk confirmed that Highways had reported this to Wessex Water who had been out more than once investigating this. Highways had also confirmed that the A359 had been scheduled for gully clearing pre the end of December so they would hope this would not be the cause of any issues. Mr Tuck agreed to check if the gullies had indeed been cleared.

c) Location of SID on the old A303
The Clerk confirmed she had a site meeting with Dave Grabham just before Christmas with a view to placing a SID on the old A303. This caused a slight problem in that the device needs to be placed at least 100 metres from the speed limit sign and, as such, there was no suitable post to erect the SID. However it was suggested that the SID be placed on the opposite side of the road on the directional post. Dave also proposed placing another device on the same post which would do a vehicle count and also monitor the speed of vehicles travelling on both sides of the road to enable us to gain evidence as requested by Highways. The Clerk said she had just received an email confirming that Scott Davies had agreed the location and that the first installation would be during week commencing 6^th February for two weeks and would come down during week commencing 20^th February which was the week when the other SID would be installed in the High Street.

Mr Tuck reported that there were pot holes outside Duneagles in Church Road and around Church Corner. There were also numerous overgrown hedges in Church Road, The Avenue and the High Street and the Clerk was asked to put an item in the Parish News asking home owners to trim overhanging growth. He also said that the gullies in Church Road, Sparkford Hill Lane and Weston Bampfylde were all blocked. The Clerk will contact Highways about this.

7 LOCAL PLAN/VILLAGE DESIGN
Mr Crawford said that Yarlington are looking for a name for the affordable housing development and had found out that the field had previously been called Twines Orchard and were proposing this as the new name. None of the Councillors thought this a good idea as we already have Twines Close and Orchard Close and this could get very confusing. Mr Lewis suggested calling it Bennett’s Close and this was greeted with much enthusiasm. Mr Crawford would contact Yarlington Homes.

8 PLANNING DECISIONS   None had been received.

9 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
a) 12/00006/DPO – Application for the modification of a Section 106 Agreement attached to planning permission 10/00368/FUL dated 31.03.2011 to exclude Castle Cary and to include South Barrow within the defined cluster of parishes relating to the development of the permitted rural exception scheme (GR 360725/126275). Yarlington Housing Group. Land Os 6817 Part The Avenue, Sparkford BA22 7JT

Mr Crawford explained to Councillors that Castle Cary had been included in the defined cluster of parishes by mistake and that a planning application had been needed to replace Castle Cary with South Barrow in the cluster. All Councillors agreed to the change and Mr Crawford would send this information back to SSDC.

10 MATTERS ARISING
a) McDonalds
The Clerk had contacted Roger Wotton, the Enforcement Officer at SSDC, and he, in turn, had passed on our concerns regarding overnight parking of HGV’s to Adrian Noon, the Planning Team Leader for Area East, and she was currently waiting for information from him. Mr Lewis had contacted Anita Legge in Licensing who sent him the legal condition when McDonalds decide to implement the 24 hour permission. This document has no time limit, unlike planning, but the conditions need to be adhered to when the licence commences. It is at that stage that enforcement can be a factor. If there is a public nuisance from the 4 bay HGV park such as noise from fridges of parked HGV’s, then Environmental Health can be requested to look into the matter. It was also mentioned that there had been a considerable improvement in the litter pick situation since a local parishioner had been taken on in this position.

b) Diamond Jubilee – Queen Camel request
This item was carried over from the last meeting as most Councillors hadn’t had the chance to read the information. Mr Braithwaite said Queen Camel is to be congratulated for organising this on behalf of their village and the surrounding areas. Mr Piper said that Queen Camel was approaching all businesses locally for funding for the event.

11 PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS
a) Clerk’s Salary & Expenses
The Clerk’s salary of £169.00 and expenses of £10.00 were approved.

12 CORRESPONDENCE   None had been received.

13 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
a) Reduction in Bus Subsidies
The Clerk had sent all Councillors details of this. The reduction that would directly affect Sparkford was a 20% reduction in the funding of Service No 1/2 Yeovil to Shepton Mallett. We have several parishioners who use the service and have no other means to get into Yeovil. We are a rural community and we don’t want to see the service reduced or cut.

Mr Lewis said a bus subsidy is a cheaper option than reinstating the railway station in Sparkford.
Mr Crawford agreed to send our responses to the County Council.

The Clerk had received two late emails; one relating to the new SSDC Customer Service Charter and the other regarding Community Funding. Both emails had been forwarded to all Councillors for their information.

14 QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM COUNCILLORS
Mr Braithwaite asked if anything had yet been found out about the petrol pump at Trackside Farm. The Clerk was still awaiting information from the PCSO. Mr Lewis said he would speak with David Norris at SSDC regarding this.

Mr Crawford pointed out that in the information envelope currently being circulated to Councillors there was an item regarding Yeovil Hospital. They are relocating their doctor and nurse housing and there will now be an empty 1 ½ acre site opposite the main hospital. They are asking for suggestions as to its use.

15 ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA   There were none.

16 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday, 6^th February 2012.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.40 pm.
KB/10.01.12