MINUTES OF MEETING OF STERT PARISH COUNCIL
held in St. James’ Church on 7th March 2022
Clive Boyes (CB) Chairman
Alick Edwards (AE) Vice Chairman
Chris Lawrence (CL) Councillor
Ann Harris (AH) Councillor
Lewis Cowen (LC) Councillor
Lucy Barker (LB) Councillor/Treasurer
William Howkins (WH) Councillor/Clerk
- 1. Apologies for absence
Wiltshire Cllr Philip Whitehead sent his apologies.
- 2. Declaration of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
- 3. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the PC meeting of 13th December 2021 were agreed (proposed by CL and seconded by LC), and signed by the Chairman.
- 4. Treasurer’s report
LB reported that there had been one item of expenditure since the last meeting, £40 paid to Stert PCC for use of the church for our last PC meeting. She requested authority to pay Stert PCC £20 per hour or part thereof for the present meeting. This was agreed.
The account balance now stood at £4002.23. LB reminded the PC that this balance included £500 allocated to WC as Stert’s contribution to the cost of implementation of the A342 speed limit.
- 5. 5tatus of A342 speed limit
WH reported that he had received an email from WC advising that a notice of a public consultation for the proposed implementation of the speed limit on A342 would be gazetted on 17th March. The consultation period ends on 11th April. Comments on the proposal can be made to WC on email@example.com.
- 6. Repair of potholes on A342 near Grist Recycling Centre
CB reported that WC had carried out preliminary repairs of the potholed section of the road by Grist’s Recycling Centre. Further more permanent works are planned in the coming months.
- 7. Parish Steward
CB had met the Parish Steward when he made a routine visit to the village recently. They inspected the broken drain at the junction to Fullaway Lane and the PS agreed that WC would order the repair work. WH was asked to forward the schedule of visits of the Parish Steward to other PC members so that they could raise any issues with him when he came to Stert.
- 8. Future use of church facilities
CB opened a discussion on the proposal to rearrange the seating in the church to make it more suitable for use as a village hall as well as serving the religious needs of the parish by removing some of the pews and replacing them with chairs which could be rearranged to suit the different functions. He felt that the village needed to be consulted either by a questionnaire or by holding an open meeting of residents. LC said that we would get more feedback from a questionnaire than from a meeting which might be attended by only the regular churchgoers and therefore resulting in a biased opinion being given. CL said that the PC should not get involved in discussions of what should be done to the church seating as it was up to the PCC to come up with definite proposals. The PC would then be able to offer its support to the church as decided at the previous PC meeting.
- 9. Devizes Gateway Station
WH reported that he had spoken to Catherine Symington who informed him that she expected to hear the DfT’s comments on the Strategic Business Case report prepared by WS Atkins at a meeting to be held on 14th March. She would then report these back to stakeholders including Stert PC.
- 10. Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
CB reported that he had received an email from Mervyn Woods, Etchilhampton PC, relaying notes from their meeting about their planning for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations on 2nd June and asking if Stert would build a beacon. They also asked whether Stert would be interested in joining their village party. AE said he would be happy to build the beacon to which Etchilhampton residents would have course be welcome. This offer was much appreciated by the PC. However, it was also agreed that Stert should hold its own village party rather than join in Etchilhampton’s celebration as we had not held a village party during the past year due to covid. WH would pass this decision on to Mervyn.
CB asked LC if he would take on responsibility for planning the Stert celebrations to which he agreed.
- 11. Purchase of folding chairs for village events
CB asked for the PC’s approval to purchase some folding chairs for village events’ use to replace those that had been broken. It was agreed that LB be authorised to purchase 15 white wooden chairs from Ikea at a cost of £15 each. She said £200 had been allocated for such expenses in the budget for 2021.
Charges for the hire of the village’s marquees were also discussed as the present charges had not been raised for a number of years. To avoid the damage caused by hiring them to people outside the village, it was agreed to limit their hire to village residents. It was also agreed to raise the hire rates to £40 for a marquee and £20 for the tables and chairs.
- 12. Village stream
A village resident had recently reported the discolouration of the village stream to the Environmental Agency. CB had informed village residents of this occurrence, advising them to keep an eye on the condition of the water.
- 13. AOB
13.1 AH reported that she had been in touch with WC to complain about the state of the footpath between Clock Inn Park and Stert village entrance as well as the blocked culvert pipe draining the main road in the dip near the entrance to the Park that had recently caused flooding of the road. She was advised to contact Richard Dobson, Highway Engineer, in charge of the Parish Steward.
13.2 Steve Lanson-Dale, who lives in the Old SchoolHouse, has been trying to prevent his sheep from escaping from his field in front of his house. He should be contacted if they escape in future.
- 14. Date of next meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for Monday 23rd May 2022.