Draft Minutes 2026 September 14

Sep 21, 2026 | Minutes

DRAFT Minutes of the Monthly Meeting of Blackawton Parish Council held on
Monday 14 September 2026 at 7:30 p.m. in Blackawton Village Hall

Present: BPC Cllrs Oughton (Vice-Chair and meeting Chair), Coe, Hadow, Luckens, and Thomas were present, as were DCC Cllr Brazil for his report, Clerk A Thom, and one member of the public.

a. Open Forum

There were no questions from Parishioners.

b. Councillors Forum

Cllrs raised: an administrative matter regarding the list of meeting action items, and the maintenance needed to footpaths 18 and 19 which is addressed as an Agenda item in this meeting.

  1. Report from Devon County Council Councillor

This item was moved up the Agenda at the Chair’s discretion, to allow DCC Council Brazil to leave and attend another meeting. Cllr Brazil reported on recent meetings of the DCC full Council and of the Cabinet. The Cabinet is thrilled that the most recent Ofsted monitoring letter is very supportive and encouraging. Work has been done to improve Children’s and Social Services. The Ofsted ranking is moving from good towards outstanding.

Regarding Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), DCC had planned to request a judicial review of the Government’s decision because the criteria the Government set were not followed and the LGR will cost £90 million to deliver. However the Government has now decided to pause and review the process. Eight of the 21 councils going through LGR have submitted judicial review – hence the Government’s pause. DCC has paused submission of its judicial review until 13 October pending getting clarification from the Government. DCC may progress with submitting the judicial review if the Government’s response is not satisfactory. There is only a three month period after a decision in which a judicial review request can be lodged. The deadline is 16 October. DCC has asked to be reimbursed for the cost of LGR because that is extra work. It is crucial to the people of Devon that they get this right. Cllr Brazil agrees that changes would be helpful but would focus on systems and allow local councils in Devon to develop solutions. There is now a much better relationship between County and District Councils, with more collaborative team working eg on homelessness, care, care leavers.

Works to protect village of Torcross have started. DCC is waiting on the Government’s response to its bid for funds for works on the Slapton Line road.

  1. Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from BPC and SHDC Cllr Rake.

  1. Declarations of Interest

Cllrs agreed that they all had an interest in the Agenda item about the Wormcharming Festival’s use of the shed in the Cemetery.

  1. Co-option to fill the current Vacancy for a Parish Councillor

The Clerk’s recommendation that BPC considers the possible two candidates in its 12 October meeting was approved.

  1. Minutes of Previous Meetings

It was resolved to approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 July 2026.

  1. Report from South Hams District Council Councillor

Deferred in the absence of SHDC Cllr Rake.

  1. Planning Applications

    1. South Hams District Council’s Planning Decisions

The decisions below were noted:

  • 1466/26/HHO 2 Greenslade Road Blackawton TQ9 7BP. Demolish & replace existing conservatory with minor alterations. Refusal.

  • 2001/26/TEX Wadstray House Blackawton TQ9 7DE. Tree Works No Objection Raised Tree Works No Objection Raised.

  • 2159/26/COM Church Quillet Blackawton. Notice of intent to install electronic communication apparatus comprising one light wooden pole at 10 metres high (Ref: WH5RHF4T). Do not wish to comment.

  • 2219/26/COM Near Shearstone Barn Blackawton TQ9 7DG. Notice of intent to install electronic communication apparatus comprising two x 10m light wooden poles (Ref: WH5RGH5H). Do not wish to comment.

  • 1703/26/ARC Development At Sx 8052 5109 Town Farm School Lane Blackawton. Application for approval of details reserved by condition 20 (Traffic Management Plan) of planning consent 3878/18/VAR. Discharge of Condition Approved

    1. Review of New Applications

BPC considered commenting to SHDC on the following applications:

  • 2151/26/HHO Pruston House Blackawton TQ9 7AJ. Upgrade conservatory, new form breakfast room, side link & rear porch.
    It was resolved that no response will be made to SHDC.

  • 2258/26/FUL Westdown Blackawton TQ9 7AL. General Purpose Agricultural Building.
    It was resolved that no response will be made to SHDC.

  • Full Variation application to the premises licence SHPL0295 from Punch Taverns Limited for The Seale Arms, 10 Victoria Road, Dartmouth, TQ6 9SA.
    It was resolved that no response will be made to SHDC.

The following premises licence applications were noted. They have closed to comments. No extraordinary meeting was considered necessary to comment:

  • Full Variation application to the premises licence SHPL0536 from Mad Hatters Tea Room & Restaurant, on the ground floor at 10 Fairfax Place, Dartmouth, TQ6 9AD.

  • New premises licence from the Henderson Seafood Limited for The Counter, Unit 5, Old Market Square, Dartmouth, TQ6 9SE

The following application is provided for BPC’s information:

  • 2125/26/SCO Town Farm School Lane Blackawton TQ9 7BE. Request for EIA screening opinion for a Solar Farm. Under Consideration.

  1. Consultations

  • SHDC Joint Local Plan: Scoping consultation to gather views. Closes 24/9/26.
    BPC is not submitting a Council response. Cllrs may choose to comment individually.

  1. French Furze Development

Cllr Thomas reported that Vistry did a site visit of the Business Units on 10 August. Vistry has produced a snagging list of 13 items to be dealt with by Vistry, including the addition of useful under-counter sockets for appliances which aren’t on the specifications. The Heras fencing around the last three units will be replaced with closed board fencing on the front and side, and over part of back to stop people getting back there. There is no delivery time-frame.

There will a public residents’ meeting in the Village Hall on 12 October.

  1. Wind Turbine Feasibility Study

There are interested landowners. The project is somewhat behind schedule which has been raised with Community Power Solutions. CPS and BPC are discussing a data processor contract.

  1. Use of the Blackawton Cemetery Shed

The proposal to use available free space in the shed to store some Wormcharming Festival equipment was approved subject to the response from BPC‘s insurer.

  1. Maintenance of Footpaths 18 and 19 in Blackawton

South Hams Ramblers’ offer to carry out the works with free labour and reimbursement of materials cost was supported subject to Devon County Council’s support. It was agreed that BPC will make use of earmarked DCC footpath maintenance grant funds for the materials expenses subject to the provision of adequate documentation and evidence (most likely based on support for payment from the DCC Public Right of Way Warden).

  1. Stonemason Work completed on Churchyard Walls

The Clerk reported on the completed project.

The Clerk said that BPC requested traffic management for sequential sites and arranged Devon County Council permits with extra time if the work took longer than estimated. However there was lack of clarity and the Give and Take signage was delivered early to coincide with the permit. As a good will gesture the invoice for the extra sign hire time has been discounted, and the Clerk recommends that the remaining extra sign hire charge of £120 be paid to closes the matter without legal dispute and being mindful that because BPC was unfamiliar with this type of project they used much more administration time than would normally be expected. The invoice to arrange for the permit for Main Street works has now been received and is correct. The meeting resolved to pay the traffic management invoices as recommended by the Clerk.

The stonemason work on Park Lane took about twice as long as was anticipated. On Park Lane the stonemasons added a layer of mortar to funnel water into the drainage pipe. The stonemason has told BPC that they have retrospectively obtained approval from the consultant engineer for that change, some of the supporting documentation for the request and its approval is pending. The stonemasons removed the wall to ground level (rather than about half way down as in the specifications) in two of the three Park Lane sites in order to achieve a more robust result. Their late finishing resulted in an extra traffic management sign collection charge. It was resolved to accept the change to the specifications based on the documentation already available, to thank the stonemason for the high quality of their work, and that in recognition of the extra work done the extra traffic management fee (£80) will not be passed on to the stonemason.

The Clerk recommended that in a future similar project traffic management be arranged by the stonemason rather than the Parish Council as in this project.

  1. Repointing of Lychgate Piers and Wall on Park Lane near Cousins Cross

It was confirmed that BPC will submit the necessary List B application to the Church of England, Exeter Diocese.

  1. Conservation and Maintenance of Churchyard Gates

It was resolved to approve the proposals in the Report including approval of a procurement exercise and a project to request a grant from National Heritage Lottery Fund but not from Heritage England. BPC’s responsibility to maintain the northern churchyard wall, which adjoins the School and a property, and its gate will be accepted as is current practice. The meeting noted that churchyard gate maintenance is being separated into two projects: Grade II listed gates first, and then the School playground gate possibly along with repainting the Cemetery gates as a future separate project.

  1. Traffic Collision Log

The log form is now available on the community website. BPC is seeking to collect information about locations in the Blackawton Parish where traffic collisions (or near collisions) happen – to identify possible road safety issues and have evidence to use when discussing concerns with Devon County Council. The official statistics available to Devon County Council use injury related collisions reported to or recorded by the Police, so they aren’t a complete record. It was agreed to provide paper copies of the log form in the Community Shop (subject to the Community Shop’s agreement), and confirmed that the log will not ask for vehicle details or contact details. Completion of the log form online is preferred and BPC will provide a QR code to access the log form on the community website.

  1. Review of Data Protection Compliance

The Clerk has had a very useful session with Breakthrough Communications, who are used by Devon Association of Local Councils to answer more detailed data protection enquiries. There is a list of action items. The Clerk flagged some action items: The data minimisation principle: you should only collect the minimum personal information needed for the purpose and only share it where necessary to achieve the purpose. Surveys can use ‘just in time’ consent – with consent achieved by the person taking part in the survey. BPC needs data processor contracts with the provider of the wind turbine feasibility study and with its website host. BPC may need to change website host. Some legitimate interest legal basis assessments need to be done – including for the Beacon and for the community website.

  1. Finance

    1. Update on Current Financial Position

The Reports and Bank Reconciliations at 31 July and 31 August were received. The bank balance at 31 August was £70,728.34, with an unearmarked general reserve of £20,166.85.

    1. Payments

It was resolved to authorise the following payments

  • Clerk July & August Expenses Reimbursement £53.97

  • Grounds Maintenance Frequent cuts 4 and 18 August 2026:

Churchyard £210.00

Cemetery £228.00

The following Payments authorised since the last monthly meeting were noted individually:

  • Tree ties (12) for Rowan trees (Cllr Luckens reimbursed) £23.97

  • Replacement tap for Water Butt in the Cemetery (Cllr Luckens reimbursed) £9.19

  • Replacement of safety glass in Woodlands bus shelter (incl. VAT, in two equal payments) £509.52

  • Churchyard Stonemason Traffic Management – Invoice #1 (under BPC Fin. Regs: 7.8 iv) £3,360.00

  • Creation of the website traffic log requested by BPC £55.00

To following payments made since the last monthly meeting and authorised by BPC annually were noted:

  • Grounds Maintenance Frequent cuts 7 and 21 July 2026:
    Churchyard £210.00

Cemetery £228.00

  1. Insurance Claim for Cost to Replace Glass in the Bus Shelter at Woodlands

The meeting decided that BPC will make not make a claim. The potential payment would be £174.60. There is a risk that the claim would increase the annual premium.

  1. Direct Debits

It was resolved to approve setting up direct debits for regular payments for: the SIM only service for Clerk’s mobile phone and for the Parish Council’s Cloud storage.

  1. Website Domains

It was resolved to move BPC’s blackawtoncommunity.com domain to a new registrar. The new registrar’s data centres run on 100% renewable energy and they are a certified B Corp. The ongoing annual costs will be reduced from £72.23 to £11.99.

  1. Cemetery Fees

It was noted that the annual CPI increase was implemented from 14 August and that it was overdue (due on 1 April).

  1. Contracts

    1. Clerk’s Pay Award 26/27

It was noted that the 26/27 NJC Award has been agreed, and that it will be implemented in September 2026 and backpay payments made to 1 April 2026.

    1. Bus Shelter Cleans

It was noted that the contract with Dartmouth Town Council has not yet been renewed and DTC will advise its availability after 14 September.

  1. Correspondence

The following correspondence was considered:

  • Invitation from Co-editor of the Voice for councillors to attend or send short written message from the Parish Council to be read to attendees: People’s Emergency Briefing Stoke Fleming Village Hall Fri. 18/9/26 6:30 p.m.

The Clerk was asked to reply asking Stoke Fleming to please advertise that the Briefing will also be screened in Blackawton on 1 November.

  1. Next Meeting

It was confirmed that the next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday 12 October at 7:30 p.m.

The meeting closed 20:50.