[speaker001:] and they said it was going on and they were pleased with it Right well what is the, I'm not quite actually clear what're they doing for us? So you didn't all have a stroll out there and have a look at it then? No, unfortunately I missed part of the evening and I don't know whether they had done that previously but when I was there they didn't do it, no. The only one I would mention Chairman is not strictly accurate, we all did, lots of us anyway, the, the British Legion service on Sunday at the church and I just wondered if we could agree to send a letter to the president cos once again a lot of effort and time and organization went into it and I thought it was an excellent occasion and I think he might appreciate Fine he should be thanked for organizing it on behalf of the Council. Well, he will be sending us a bill, I can pop it in when we get the bill
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] I can assure you that I did and I can assure you that I have already thanked him on behalf of the Council, shook his hand and said how well he done it, but if you'd like a letter to go to say how well he done it, then I'll send a letter telling him how well he done it. He always sends us a bill Well, I think he should have a letter anyway, definitely thanking him cos I mean he did like I suggest after we get the bill else it'll it went up last year
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Right, I just thought the Chair would like to thank Councillor for the immense amount of work I know that he's been putting in over certain things that have been going on lately and I now take councillors' questions if any of you got any for me. Thank you. Erm, I would like to close by saying that erm I just thought it would be just a nice idea that I would invite any of you members of the Council and wives who haven't got anything else to do on Christmas morning, if you fancy popping up to my house for a glass of sherry or whatever, just on a casual basis as a little thank you for what you've done over the erm over the last twelve months, I extend that invitation to you all and District Councillors if they wish to come and I would like to say, on behalf of the Council, that I hope you all have a, this is the last full meeting, and to everybody here I hope you have a very nice happy peaceful Christmas and I hope we all go into the new year with renewed vigour. Chairman I do have a couple of questions, I do have a couple of questions if I may. Oh, sorry. I thought you'd done that. Very quickly, audit report, audit report, do we have anything on that yet? Not yet. Erm, well we it's been accepted and I was, I was something over and the lady was horrified. I'm awfully sorry about it That's good. And the other one, I wonder if the Council would consider, over sixties club, I ought to declare an interest I suppose, erm have two hundred members and they are distributing this Christmas, as they al always do, a three pound voucher to each of those members in office you know and I just wondered whether the Council would consider a small contribution towards that expenditure. We do obviously make grants to youth clubs and organizations. We've never made a contribution to this club. I w Perhaps you'd like to talk to somebody a before the branch meeting. If that comes in I don't think I could take it in Oh no, no I'd Could it be referred to the grant first? Could we get something from them? Well it's up, you know, all I was asking I was just querying you said you, you when you said is they're issuing three pound to each member? Three pound voucher, er well not voucher no, erm box of groceries Yes, that's right Do you get one? You don't get one do you? My wife was embarrassed today yes You what Someone called her up yeah I'll make a note of that one
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Well well Well, it's nice to end the year in such good humour. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for all for your attendance. I'm sorry about that Mr Chairman but er I don't know if that's correct. Well just have a look and see if you think it alright Yeah, fine Could you phone in the morning Yes as well as? Yes says it would be we could get his opinion on why the Yeah, I know him quite well It appears to be that it's off the rails Finances, I think they're well up on that sort of thing Oh yes, they're very well up financially... [break in recording] that our total spending is still nought nought nought Nought nought nought It was indeed Could we just ask I'll fill it in Oh oh I'm not Eighty eight Yes, it's on the set you've got, it's there Well I'll, I'll read it out to you and then you can amend them. On the official ones it was resolved totalling four one two five and sixty pence for October and six hundred and seventy one twenty five for the T I C. Can I just explain why that was? The books were at the auditors and I didn't want to hold up the minutes and, as you'd all mostly seen them anyway, I felt that perhaps I could let them go. It does help with our twelve month projection if we haven't spent anything It makes you much closer to budget
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Thank you for bringing that up. With that erm with that exception can I sign the minutes? Agreed. Thank you Move on then to matters arising, item four, number one, one three four, uses for the old hospital. Erm, you will remember that after the last meeting we were going to have a meeting with Mr which we, which we subsequently did have and we put forward several erm possible uses for the old hospital, including re-siting of the library, relocation of the council offices, police station, day centre for the elderly, day services for the physically disabled, for young mothers and children centre and for a mental health services centre and he was delighted that we had the meeting because he has to meet with his superiors late in December, early January, when he has been asked to put forward ideas. They are considering now short-term leases rather than sell on the market as it is at the present, and they are including the clinic in the buildings for which they are looking for alternative uses. So I think we er await further developments on that. Erm, item two one three four an update from Councillor. It's been overtaken by events in that you have apparently had an application in and that's being studied, when, next Monday? Yes, it'll come up on Monday next erm, no Monday fortnight, yes, twentieth. There is a planning application in for thirty four flats, that will include converting into flats as well. Right, there's not a lot more we can say until that At this stage we can't, but it will come before the Council on the twentieth. Let's make certain this time, nevertheless, Chairman, that this Council does spell out very thoroughly reasons for objection, if they wish to object, and not missing anything out I think we always have actually. This is a new a I take your point and that will be looked at, thank you. Right, item three one three four footpaths. It was my pleasure to chair a meeting between all interested parties at village hall. Erm, having been told that the County Council were running the meeting, I did find it a little difficult to chair, but I do think that we've come out of it with some constructive ideas. Erm, perhaps the Town Clerk would like to comment further as a er developments as you see them. Well it was a very successful meeting. I mean, considering there are only about five hundred people in there were just on forty people present in the room which is quite a good average or percentage of them and er a lot of the questions were quite positive and the Chairman sort of took them, there were one or two people there who obviously erm wanted to have everything either exactly as it was or whatever, but it looked very much from the conversation that I had with the ramblers afterwards that in large part this scheme could be accepted. Erm, the only area that I found that er there was a particular wish to keep was the road le was the path leading down from down to itself. They really don't seem to want to have that part closed off but that part along by the river and that seemed to be almost entirely er satisfactory to everybody and er Chairman fenced off one or two other people quite well. One of the warmer meetings I've done but th I think that we did come out in the end with all bar four people in the room, I believe that's right Councillor is it? Four was it? Er, the vast majority seemed to be generally in favour of the package and it was a small number that did seem to me. I think that puts it fairly well in er perspective and hopefully now the County Council will come up with the er d. Erm, it shouldn't, it should be noted that the er land owners are prepared to pay for a fairly expensive footbridge on their land to cure the problem and er I hope that this Council's initiatives follow through and a twenty five year old problem gets cured. Thank you Chairman and Town Clerk and Councillors for attending that meeting because this has been a problem here for so long that I think all of us would be delighted to see it resolved to the er satisfaction of the local residents. Right, item four, folio eighty five, one three five working party. I agree with the Town Clerk. He feels it's time we actually set up a working party. Well unfortunately we were scheduled to have a meeting erm something like ten days ago and then two or three of the key people had to drop out so I cancelled the meeting because obviously we want the people there who were going to actually get the thing up and running so that we can formulate a first public meeting and I would like erm, you know, now, to establish a working party but again a number of the people who one would expect to be on it are not here and it's slightly awkward. I know Councillor is quite happy to be on it, I would hope that Councillor is. Yeah How many do you want on it? I want at least five and I just wanted to erm establish that with one or two other people who er presently attend the tourism meetings are invited as required, rather than to every meeting. Er, how can we take this forward? Er, I presume we, we actually know that and are on it. will be on it automatically. Erm, you were thinking Ya two others? Ya And then coopt as they As we need Correct ya Wh anybody with a bursting ambition and desire to be on the working party? Or will it be another one that I have to join in with? Oh well and a volunteer will volunteer if they're not keeping anyone else away from things. Wonderful, there we are. I'll establish a first meeting as soon as I can. The odd name there with a familiar ring to it I fancy. However, we move on. Item five folio eighty six one three five public seats, an update. Well, I've circulated the letter that I got from. I don't agree with it because there are certainly seats there which are their responsibility which are not on this list, particularly around this memorial outside and places like that and erm quite categorically they're theirs. What I would like is for all the Councillors to look at this, to advise me which other seats they think are indeed the responsibility of and then I'll go back and go to battle but er I'd like everybody's views on which ones they believe they are so that I can do it firmly. Erm, has had chance to cast his eye over that list? No. Well if we could send that with the amenities and perhaps if they've got any, we can't say that er, I view this as very much, we've, we've got a platform here. They've accepted the responsibility for a number of seats. If we can get a few more accepted under their responsibility so be it. There's the old seat up that they seem to discard but that's the last old seat of Council, the old fashioned seat. You couldn't find that one, could you? Yes, it's there It's responsibility Councillor, good evening. Chairman, good evening gentlemen. There is a seat by our place which Council have always maintained. It's not on this list. Right well we'll include that one then. If you could let me have these in writing it would make life easier How do you know they haven't maintained it? Could you just drop a note in to the Town Clerk as to where that is? I appreciate what you say but we wanna It's over the road just beyond our Well I'll leave you to liaison with that Right Fine, thank you for that. That's progress. Eighty six one three five level crossing gates. I'd just like to say a doesn't it look wonderful, the one gate we've done a I saw a I saw a train coming last week
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] However, the problem is that Mr is not keen, I think it's been a labour of love doing the one, he's not keen to do the other one. He says he doesn't feel that he can do it, does he? I wrote and thanked him on behalf of the Council for what he'd done but it's now a question of finding somebody who can match it. So at least now we've got a specification to go to,w we know what it looks like and er we've had one or two quotes in the past week and for firmed those up now and chosen exactly what we want them to do. I mean before it was a little bit difficult to describe exactly what we wanted. He's certainly done a, a very good job on that one, it's very Mhm, I'm delighted we've done that We'd really like the other one done by the tourist season because it's the sort of thing to send people to look at Is it? Well, compared to some of the other things that are supposed to be tourist attractions come and look at the gates sub- contract planning committee which has already had a look at that That's right yes You agree that the contract sub-committee looks at that d rather than the Council? All agreed? Thank you. Right number seven folio eighty eight one four six policing update. Successful I think, the phone's going in downstairs today, is that right It's er, the box is there, it's just gotta be the actual phone unit's gotta be put in Right It's all wired up in the back as well. And I will, although he's here, thank him in front of him, moving mountains to make sure we get an increased police presence in. I'm delighted to say that we're gonna have w what, a unit based in here, isn't it? Section. A section. The best thing I can do, with your permission, Council, is invite Inspector to talk about what we're gonna do for er er a police section in. Have I got your permission? Yes of course Yes. Agree with that? Yes Seconded? Alright, thank you,. Two points that I wish to update the Council on. The Chairman's already er done the first which is the box outside. I know that wishes to take a photograph of the Chairman and myself on Wednesday You won't both get in it together.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] standing in front of the box It won't be picture, will it? But of course it is important that the box is er in operational use before such a photograph is taken, so I will endeavour tomorrow to er to resolve the situation of actually putting the phones in the box so that er by the time Wednesday comes, and our photograph, then it is up and running as they say. The other thing that I wish to update the Council on is my deliberations in respect of establishing a section here at. Now, as a background to that, I actually had one of my officers at undertake research of the in to establish what the demands were made upon us from th the section which includes at the present time. Erm, she actually traced back calls on the station log and it was done from the first of October nineteen ninety two to the thirtieth of September nineteen ninety three and during that time we had over five thousand three hundred and thirty calls, of which one thousand one hundred and sixty six originated from, so that is erm twenty point three percent of the calls received at police station and were held on came from, which is quite a lot. True true I therefore worked on the premise that if, if a fifth of our work comes from then it must be right to have approximately a fifth of our staff based in Hear hear At the present time I have in a total of fourteen patrol constables and two community constables and, as you are aware, I have two community constables here in, and. My proposal, and er notice I have in my hand a final draft which will be submitted later this week for approval by headquarters. My proposal is that we establish a section of four constables here in. Now that I propose will be achieved by the use of the two existing community constables and transferring two officers from to. The review that we undertook of the calls shows that the peak demands in are between eight A M and twelve midnight, so the four officers will work a sixteen hour duty scheme er of eight till four, four til midnight, and then the cover between midnight and A M will come fr eight A M will come from as it does at present. By having four officers here it means that they will be able to man the police car for those shifts seven days a week and in addition there will be one spare constable on every day except for Sunday either to cover deficiencies in that crewing or carry out er foot patrol or enquiries within the town. Now, my proposal is that this section is established on the seventeenth of January nineteen ninety four. Certainly Superintendent, who is my immediate senior officer, is very supportive of this proposition. I am aware that the Chief Superintendent in, Superintendent, Chief Superintendent is also supportive of the idea. So I would anticipate that my proposals will receive favourable consideration from headquarters. So hopefully by the erm, I should be in a position by the next Council meeting, to report that we should be in a position to be up and running on the seventeenth of January. The problems er that face me accommodation have been overcome with the assistance of the Chairman and the Town Clerk ah and we have been offered additional accommodation here in the Council offices, which is most welcome. Erm, there is one slight technical problem which I have to overcome in relation to a computer terminal but I'll erm face that problem at if and when that situation develops. Hopefully then er on that date, as I say, we should have a fully fledged section here in. The other thing which I feel is important is that the section is supervised. There are two ways that it can be done, either by a sergeant at being totally er dedicated to the policing of. The disadvantage is that he would be based at and he would still be working a twenty four hour shift system at. The preferable proposal is that a sergeant is redeployed from from another town in and er I won't mention where I have my beady eye [LAUGHTER] I could get myself into trouble with a colleague of yours in another town but er I am hopeful, so as I say, er on the seventeenth of January then we could be returning to the situation and I understand in nineteen seventy four when there was a sergeant and six constables here in until the demise of the Urban District Council when they were all moved to. Twenty years later my plan is to move most of them back again. Well done. Thank you ever so much for that. I've moved back into and er I'd just like to say I'm sure on behalf of all of you and the people of that we see this as a tremendous move and thank you for the work you've put in. Er, I've been fortunate enough to share in some of that work with you and I know how much work's been involved. At the annual meeting, the annual meeting last year in the institute, it was obvious to me that one of the major concerns of people in this town was policing and police presence and I think the joint effort that we've put forward, and I must mention as well since he's, we've worked very well together, the police liaison office has been running extremely well I feel, the number of calls have gone up since we started. I would just like to say that I see this as an absolute benefit to and look forward to us working together in the future. Thanks very much. Hear hear Chairman, I would just like to add that er you and the Town Clerk are to be congratulated on this achievement
[speaker002:] Yes, yes
[speaker001:] and it should be recorded. Thank you. Thank you Councillor, that's very nice of you. Right, well Can I just make one point? Yes I think the fax would still be a highly useful element between us. I mean, that door is always open for you so there's no reason why we can't continue. I pumped one through today on something lost and it does give you an immediate link to, a written link. I would see no change to the exiting No police liaison arrangement. good, okay. I would just say that what we've done, we looked at the hospital, we looked at the youth building and at the moment we've come up with the idea of the s the back room, the second room across the corridor, erm where we actually store some of the T I C books and pamphlets. It is gonna be the second room for the police and by moving one door we can put their two rooms together and you've got access to the toilets, cloakrooms and all the necessary things, so without very much expenditure at all on anybody's back, we've actually created the section within this building. And so we've got our public part, our telephone, our fax machine, all through to the police, and now we're basing the car here. And so we've, now, you know, in these times when you get tied up in red tape and bureaucratic mess everywhere the speed at which has achieved this is admirable and I do really thank you for that. Hear hear ? Right, now we've reached item eight under matters arising. Thank you I know you've and I'm gonna vacate the chair now and let deal with. Right? Erm, no. That one. I'll let you know Right, ladies and gentlemen, fellow Councillors. Erm, we now move on to item eight appendix two and it's in matters arising regarding the estate. update the Chairman, I believe that the man who's major in this is Councillor who's now, as I understand, got a dispensation from the D O E. Is that correct Councillors? That indeed is correct Would you like to, to give us an update on that please? Thank you very much. Erm, I've written it out here if I may read it. It's the first occasion in fact on which I've been permitted to speak at any meeting dealing with this application. The D O E has authorized me to do so, but not to vote. I need hardly say I have found it difficult to hold my tongue on so important a matter over the last eighteen months. The latest situation is County Highways have recommended refusal. The Town Council, of which you are very aware, in a very detailed submission written by the Town Clerk, recommended refusal. All four District Councillors have written in and recommended refusal. County Councillor, Councillor on my right, I think is to be congratulated on the work he has done with County Highways on our behalf, and has written to District Council recommending refusal. The public have written thirty letters, representing about a thousand people, living in all corners of have written and recommended refusal. There have been no letters of support. The applicant has consistently, in three applications,t to develop this site, omitted to include a link road from the site into Lane, a road required by a policy statement in the statutory town plan. A policy that quite clearly states, in plain English, [reading] without a link road there shall be no development of this site []. In nineteen seventy, if I take you back to twenty three years ago, County recorded in the outline development plan the following and I quote [reading] growth in the town not accompanied by measures to alleviate the traffic problems in the existing road network would merely add to the deterioration in the quality of the environment in the town and without such measures no further expansion is environmentally acceptable [] unquote. In the past twenty years the population of this town has almost doubled and the number of cars using the roads has trebled, making that quote much much more topical. A further quote, if I may, from the same document [reading] in association with the construction in a link road between the site and Lane shall be provided and the Lane Road junction closed [] unquote. That is a comment twenty years ago regarding the most dangerous crossroads in, Hill. The amount of traffic using Hill and Street is destroying, in my opinion, and polluting the town. The elderly are terrified to cross the road in what is the main shopping centre. An elderly lady, this weekend actually,i it sounds funny but it's rather serious what she said actually. We are now buying ourselves white sticks that we don't really need to help us cross the road. What a sad thing to have to say. And this development if allowed, without a link road, will generate an additional estimated four hundred cars daily into the town centre. There are other quotes but I will save these for my submission to District Council if needed on the fourth of January. I'd heard it said that th the development of this site has been in the development plan for twenty years Absolutely correct. but I sh I, my opinion is the test we should apply when determining this application surely is, if we were today, nineteen ninety three, preparing a development plan for would we include in the plan this site for development? The answer is an emphatic no, of course we wouldn't. As you know, the application has been withdrawn from the agenda of the coastal planning committee twice in recent weeks. I ask myself, is this delay in any way connected with the decision of the t the developer to appeal to the D O E against the previous refusal of this application? You may wish to draw your own conclusions. Especially when the applicant recently suggested, and I quote, we should not indulge in further procrastination in reaching an early decision on this application. I ask that this impudent remark can only be far from being dilatory, we are being diligent in safeguarding the environment of and the quality of life of the people, and we are not merely interested in financial gain. The fact remains, if this ev development is allowed, it will have an irreversible detrimental effect on the fiscal environment of the town centre and the amenities of the people for generations to come. is being choked and polluted by the motor car, coming specially from large housing estates built on the wrong side of Hear hear requiring travel through the town centre, the town centre that was designed and built for horse-drawn traffic. The development of this site in nineteen ninety three is unacceptable and must be not be approved. We who live in know best and must be heard. Now I can tell you a little, one final remark, I at five thirty this afternoon met Mr, Mr, Councillor, Councillor, Councillor at five thirty to discuss the delay in dealing with this application. The delay was with the approval of District Council at the request of the developer, who asked for time to consider if Hill could be improved. They agreed it will go before the District Council without change on the fourth of January, whatever the decision on County on the improvements, if there are any, to Hill. And they've also agreed that any alteration of the plan will be referred back to this Council for their consideration. Thank you. Thank you Councillor. Councillor? The Town Clerk's just pointed out that their tape recorder's run out and wondered if you would go back to the start and work through all that again.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] It's a joke But this is a very serious matter and difficult to follow Councillor because he's gone through nearly every point. Er, there is just one crucial one I think that I'd like to refer to briefly. What concerns me in particular is how District Council is handling this and I'll come back to that in a moment. The only thing that didn't say was a letter from, Headmaster of the County Primary School. He wrote to, Chief Engineering and Planning Officer. [reading] I read with some concern that a housing development planned for the Valley is to disgorge its traffic on to the Road near the Hill Lane Lane crossroads. Any increase in traffic at that already dangerous crossroads will, I feel, place my pupils at risk. During the twelve years that I've been head teacher at this school I have waited for promised improvements at the crossroads, and in particular the Lane junction. My P T A have re regularly voiced their concerns. Now it appears that no improvements are in the pipeline but increased traffic is. Surely this is prejudicial to all who regularly use the crossroads []. I think touches on er the thing that concerns me most about this this before Yes, we have. Wh what I'd like to suggest, without going through it all again, is that perhaps we could agree to ask the Town Clerk to write to Planning Department and voice our concern at the way this matter is being handled. I didn't want to go through the arguments for and against. I think they've been discussed previously and I think the arguments for refusal are very clear cut. As said, all the District Councillors are opposed to it, I'm opposed to it, and there's very clear cut Highways Authority reasons for refusing, but in spite of that District Council seems to be going out of its way to bend over backwards and, and help the, the applicants for some reason or another, presumably to get this thing through. And a that surprises me and concerns me because when this went to District Council's Environment and Planning Committee first of all speed was of the essence. I mean I, I enquired why it went to the District Council Environment and Planning Committee rather than the Coastal Planning Committee and the one reason I was told was speed, they could get the thing brought up there that much more quickly. A couple of months ago they were pushing it through as quickly as possible. It was shrouded in secrecy at that time. It was held in with the present public excluded but now we seem to have a completely different situation. The one thing that seems to be doing now is to string it out as long as possible. The one thing they seem to be trying to do now is obfuscation and delay er and I think we ought to voice our concern and I hope the Council will agree to ask the Town Clerk to express concern at the way it's being handled. Thank you Councillor. I, I think you've gone through it now. I see no reason for us actually to go through the whole pros and cons. We've made our view quite clear. I think the things that have come out of this for me er from Councillor actually is that it would be unlikely that we, we or would be allocating that plan today and I think the amount of traffic has increased through the town centre would make it foolish and one does wonder at the wisdom if all the development went along which had to be serviced then through er Street and through the town centre in to the main areas of employment that happened years ago. Erm, the other point that I think we should be clear and we should remember, that this Council has still not wavered. We have never gone away from the fact that the town plan and the policy statement in there that if the road was provided the land is in the town plan and this Council would have approved it. I think it is important to remember that if they complied with the properly doc adopted and formulated town plan then the permission would have been granted, obviously subject to details and. That has been our major worry and I think for us now to go away and just allow it to go ahead, twenty years on, without any improvements, without the link road and without improvements to Hill I think is an abdication of our duties and I really do think that. Right, it's been suggested by Councillor that we write a letter to. I think we should express our concern in the way that it's being handled and I think there are grounds for concern and I think must be aware that this Council is watching what they're doing. I mean, we, it was very nearly went through had a meeting which had the press and public excluded and I think it was not handled well at that time from and we should make it quite clear that we are watching and hopefully we do understand the situation. Now, how does anyone else feel about the situation? Chairman, you, you may wish to, with the Council's approval, and your approval, Councillor wishes to make a short statement on this. It might be useful. Someone who again. This is an unusual evening isn't it? Twice in one evening., yes, agreed? Just briefly, I have been correspondence right back erm it's difficult to see why that land was designated for land except that it's agricultural land and erm my point is that the gradient on a lot of the site, especially on the northern erm banks is one in five and one in seven and to build on that would erm well even said that the building would be imponderous so I mean i it just isn't a suitable site, apart from the link road, for, for housing either because the gradient there would, would be very erm difficult from a landscape point of view a there's nothing they could do to improve the till you know the turn of the century and they are and through all the planning papers from nineteen eighty five it is said that that Hill can't be improved so I mean unless they do something erm dramatic, I can't see what they can do, I mean it just isn't a suitable site for development. Right, right. Move back into Council? I take it Yes er no, I'm not taking the planning minutes. I've got to take item, in a minute, item nine I believe. Yes Erm, is it your wish that we would write expressing our concern and would it be possible for us to erm delegate this to Councillor and the Town Clerk, with the Chairman of Planning obviously innit? Would that be in order? I think we should you know make it clear how we stand. Okay? Are we all agreed? Okay?? a personal statement or a Council statement Absolutely yes yes. This is a Council view. So that's Councillor, Councillor, Town Clerk and the Chairman of Planning. Okay? Anyone against? Okay. Thank you very much. Right, with that I'm gonna take you on if you're all agreed, and I think you've already agreed, some of you, most of you, that we go on to item nine. I have to say to you I'd no idea I was doing this this evening so I'm gonna do everything and backup. Right, we're d discussing District Council area wide plan. Erm, many of you will realize that East Devon have been requested er by the Government to prepare these area wide plans rather than just a town plan so they take in and encompass the whole of the area and there was quite a lengthy and substantial document with the, with all the different policy statements on I believe Councillor? Thank you Chairman. Eh eh well the district Excuse me just one moment. I beg your pardon. I wonder could you agree that I signed appendix two? I didn't do this at I didn't know Yes, of course. I'm sorry about that but I did it while was out. Thank you. Okay. The district wide erm development plan will take the place of the individual town development plans. Here is the first draft, a hundred and forty three pages of it. It's a draft document that will be in fact circulated to Town Councils for their opinion and also will have dis on display to the public in the near future. is in section page one one one. It was discussed in detail in a five hour meeting at District Council and after, as I say, remember, it's only a consultation document this time that will be put to you for your decision. I asked that in section fifteen should include, which it doesn't at the moment, the following matters. I asked that the link road from to Lane, which had been omitted, should be included in the town plan and Councillor has written on that matter to District Council and they agreed that it should be. It has not yet been taken out in the statutory town development plan. [whispering] My goodness [] I note that County are preparing a town centre enhancement scheme which they are doing where there's a conflict clearly between the traffic and the pedestrian. That enhancement scheme is being prepared now and reference should be made to it in this document in respect of. The need for an open space, public open space east of the town. That is not included. Policy statements in respect of are fine, Hill, and the prime shopping centre and Lane should be r repeated in the new plan. They've been omitted. There should be reference to the social housing and the cross subsidy housing and the hospital at in the new plan. The plan will be operative from nineteen ninety four to the year two thousand and one. That's what we're talking about. between now and two thousand and one, so we've gotta get these things in. The need for a pedestrian link between school and the. I asked that these, all these matters should be put in and it was agreed. So when it comes before the Council I will let the Town Clerk have this and then it's important that, if the Council agrees, they should be included. Development of a public amenity area in a vicinity and including the formed when the flood alleviation scheme is constructed. This could be delightful. Development of a route to and to dev develop that site as an important town amenity. Continued development and improvement of picnic site should be included. Implementation of the approved resolution on the Coastal Planning Committee, this is an interesting one that they've totally forgotten, implementation of the approved resolution of a Coastal Planning Committee district on the twenty seventh of January that the highway implications which affect the development of the area marked W in the inset plan in fact is. It shall be reassessed as part of the district wide local plan. Would you believe it? And that was approved on the twenty seventh of January ninety three and nothing has happened about it since. The removal of all. Inclusion of lev eleven acres of land at school in the district wide development plan if we, as we hope, is taken out. All of those matters have been omitted. I asked that all of them should be put in. We'll wait and see when the second draft comes to this Council, when the Council will discuss my points and agree or disagree that they should be included or not. Thank you gentlemen. Well I would think the Council would be delighted to have those details in front of it for us to have a full discussion and to make it known but thank you Councillor for all those details. It just shows, I think, how vigilant Councillors need to be when you get all these documents, and you do get many of them if you're a District County Councillor, and how necessary it is for you to read them and study them and to remember because these things are very very important when they're put in when it goes to higher authority at that time. Right, is there anyone else would like to ask anything on the district wide plan to Councillor at this stage? No. So we just ask that these come forward so that the Council can fully discuss this and make our replies to before they're formally adopted? Right. Well, with that, I thank you for my very short er stay in the Chair and er with your agreement we'll ask the Chairman to return. Okay, thank you very much Both together please Have you got any traffic lights? Did you find the draft? Move on to item five on the agenda of the preceding minutes, the planning committee meetings are on Monday the eighth of November and the twenty ninth of November. I presume we've all got a second now, have you? I would like to present them in the absence of both the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of planning so is it your wish that I sign both sets as a true and correct record? Chairman, there's just one little point that I did speak to the Town Clerk and I think the Council should be aware of it. On er folio ninety er regarding Mr agricultural dwelling at. On the first one, folio ninety? Folio ninety. Erm I did say at the time if the Council agreed it was we would approve the new application it would only be if the original was rescinded and I did speak to the Town Clerk so there's no need, I'm not making a big issue, but I think the Council should be aware and the Town Clerk I believe has notified because again this is one of those things that could happen at a later date and as we all know if we haven't made these things perfectly clear. With that amendment, is everybody happy that the minutes are signed? Yes, I've got some questions after though. Okay, that's ninety, ninety one and ninety two, ninety three. Okay, let's take the er, I'll do my best to answer 'em cos I'm not... right, let's take the meeting on the eighth of November. Any questions on that meeting? Any matters arising from that meeting? Yes Chairman. You might have to leave the room again. No, I'm erm, I'm quite happy Correspondence folio ninety, land at school. Oh. Right. Erm your prerogative. Er, yeah, I'm just gonna be safe. I'm gonna, you can chair it from there but I'm gonna do it just to be safe. That's the only one. The remainder doesn't matter. Okay, thanks Thank you very much. Erm, folio ninety, land at School. Correspondence, if you'd all refer to that at the moment actually. In the last sentence erm my view is that we should not wait for an application to build on this site. If it is not included in the district wide local plan for development there can be no development of this site before the year two thousand and one. And I would recommend in fact that action on that should be we ought to visit the site, there's a splendid map I think you've all had, you had in a letter, you had in a letter from a developer to have a look at this map and, and the sites they're talking about actually. Consider the points made in the letter and if the Council agree in principle it's, it's a suitable site for development, advise District Council now that it should be considered for inclusion in the district wide plan now being drawn up. That was one of my points just now actually. It is level, it's available, the developer may provide a, an amenity area, it says so in the letter anyway, for the town, and a route across the river to. We've gotta plan ahead and give District Council our views and not wait. It will be too late. It's gotta go in there. Yes, thank you, I thank Councillor, thank you for that valid. You will recall, and it is in the the client was asked to obtain clarification on their proposals for an improved. There was an offer in the letter if my memory's correct but it didn't actually specify what their offer was and really I think what the Council want to do is exactly what they are offering because we have to be minded all the time that the that er applicant does not own all the land and, and certainly it is, is, is the wish I think of this Council, I believe unanimously, and, and I think a lot of the residents, that we do somehow acquire a pedestrian link. It would be something that would vastly improve I think the, the link of the new hospital to the medical centre without going around over Bridge. It really is something that I would like to see us achieve in the future and if this can be brought forward by meeting the developer down there, then I would be, certainly be in favour of that and I would certainly like, and this is what we said at this meeting, to find out a little more detail of exactly what they were offering but we have to be minded all the time, as I said again, is how we're going to acquire permission to go over one or two different land owners' lands. That's the, that's the point yes That will be the difficulty That will be the difficulty Has the developer responded to that letter by the way? It went off only a couple of days after the meeting. Well we may need a, a, a further letter now. Whether the Council... I, I personally would be quite keen to go down there and see A, and we'd need permission of the land owners, to do this, to see where the link could go across, you know, the best position, so that we, and I believe this is what Councillor is saying, so that we can actually come forward and maybe this ought to be a meeting with the Amenities Committee, maybe the Ramblers and bear in mind as I say again I hate to do these things and the land owner think we're steamrollering 'em into something without their knowledge. I think if you get their backs up before you've even started, it's not a helpful situation is it? But I would very much, with the land owners, like to go down there and see and, and then try and negotiate a possibility for right of way across Yes, I, I think could be approached at this stage. I mean feelings on the matter. If we help the developer, it's wrong to put a path if the other fella's not gonna cooperate. Absolutely We do want it in there Chairman. Would it be a situation if we asked the Town Clerk and er maybe with the Chairman, it's a little bit difficult, I think the Town Clerk at this stage, to speak to and then if it seems possible we could bring it up at the Planning Committee meeting and arrange a date to go down and have a look, when we've actually approached the land owners. I would hate to do it the other way. Do we have a lot of time? Does it say Ya Do you think it might be an idea to speak to the er to first and get their resp so I've got their response I think you Well it's and So that they really mean they're going to do that and then to Mhm I think it would be nice, and then we could actually discuss it at the next planning meeting which I presume, which is the twentieth Twentieth yes Ah ah ah the twentieth fairly big date. I mean, it would be grand for wouldn't Okay. Alright. So we're definitely agreed that we ask the Town Clerk to make those two contacts and to put it on the agenda for the Planning Committee? Would it prudent for me to consider both sets of minutes rather than us get into difficulty? Can I, yeah, can I go on to the application if I may Chairman? I mean it's obvious that I, I was not present, I was not present but the committee itself, and regrettably the Chairman's not here either, of the Planning Committee erm itself got into some difficulty by accepting and voting on a proposal to approve the application subject to the provision of a suitable link road. You cannot, and I, I, I know Councillor and Alderman erm have said this many times, you cannot vote on something not before you. No You can, you can only vote on the application before you. In this case, you can vote on the application without a link road. The Chairman in fact should have a point of procedural rule not to accept the resolution er before you. Erm eventually you've got refusing it but you I imagine you've got yourself in some difficulty f... one further point on this I note you had a section on these minutes. I note you've got a site inspection on the hockey club room but not for the eighty seven houses that may affect for generations, I E. I am a little surprised that the Planning Committee decided to go to look at the hockey club but not eighty seven houses in. Thank you. Yes well I think to answer bo both of yo your concerns, first of all we have to accept that the Planning Committee has, actually has power to make its decisions not to come back to this Council so I'm afraid it is a decision of the Planning Committee. The Chairman at that time decided t to take the motion and proposition and it was against my advice. I actually advised him at the meeting that he should not and couldn't take that motion, and I was by Alderman in that situation, but he still deemed to go ahead and that's p his prerogative. He is, after all, the Chairman of that committee but certainly I advised him against that and I thought it was totally wrong er to do it in the way he did and I, I think it was a shame for this Council that he, that he did go ahead, but there you are. That's to answer that situation. I believe that er we didn't er consider going to look at the development because it was quite clearly in the minds of a large percentage of us that it was contrary to the town plan and so we did not think it was necessary to do that. We did, however, feel it was necessary to go and look at the because we are very aware of, of, of the lighting that affects those properties who've been very patient with the amount of development that's gone on there. I thought that it was very polite that we should go there in the evening and assess for ourselves exactly the harm th the possible harm that it could do to their gardens at the back and and that's why we did that. Thank you Chairman. And indeed Chairman in taking account of those concerns, we did add er a couple of conditions Yes we did. we, we recommended approval subject to conditions and one of those was extra to alleviate the problem of the lighting to nearby properties I think Right. Erm, are there any other matters? And I think we we should do all the planning, don't you? On, then we're gonna need to accept that folios ninety two and ninety three are a correct record? Is that all agreed? Yes Anyone against? No? Are there any matters arising from the minutes of November the twenty ninth? No? And with that I think that covers the planning meetings. Thank you very much This is a funny meeting, isn't it? Thank you very much I didn't realize it would be quite as tricky as this If it had have been, if we'd have known we'd have pulled the tables further, pulled the tables further across that way. Right. You'll have to tell me if I cover anything that you've already done. I think that's very wise. Item six County Council and County Council's reports. I'd like to thank and, I'd like it minuted that I'd like to thank, our Councillors and County Council Councillors because they are getting the reports in now. We are able to circulate these reports and I think that's working extremely well. Has anybody got any questions of the reports from our Councillors? I think Councillor, County Councillor, should refer to the jet out the culvert, there's not a culvert, that's two pipes that takes the water, overflow water across the. The road gets flooded when there's heavy rain and I er I clean it out. I don't want to give the impression that's a road that'll never be flooded again. Quiet people, thank you. Did everybody hear what said? No, afraid not. Right, let's try and talk one at a time now. Can you just say it again please? I just, Councillor says about cleaning out the culvert. It's not a culvert it's two pipes that takes the water in ordinary times, ordinary river level, across the road but if there is heavy rain the ford, you'll find that the ford will be always flooded so er it won't be alleviating th the flooding of the, of that part of the road. I'm sure Councillor will take that on board. Yes okay. I've got one comment. I'm extremely sad to see that the price for glass has gone down by five pounds a ton which results in the er the income from the recycling of glass being halved. It shows what we've been saying for a long time, how fragile the markets in this recycling are, and I still stick to what I've thought all along, that marketing comes first and making the product comes second. Clearly that hasn't been the case. I hope that this gets back on the road because clearly people are starting to put things in the proper places for recycling. Can we just mention there that we did have a problem at the weekend with the paper banks again. I meant to say that to you. There was paper all over the car park again. Okay, anybody got anything of any other reports? Chairman, I, I've got one here actually. I wonder if you would take up this idea of the family tree for generations It is an item a bit further down Oh, is it? Yeah I can tell you I've seen the video. It really is appalling to see and thank goodness it's in black and white, it's not in colour but I'll share that view yes.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] I'm actually, I am actually, I've been party, they've been circulating me with the correspondence of the residents' association and I am very worried about this but don't feel, until invited by the residents' association, that we should do any more. Oh no, no, it's District Clearly, clearly, the survey couldn't be carried on in very many parts of the sewer because the pipes are in such bad condition. So, we await developments on that. Well I've now, er I've now arranged a further meeting with Environment Health District Council and the residents' association. Thank you for that. Thank you. Right, any other questions on the Councillors' reports? I think it's proof that they're and well written. Thank you for that.