2025 January 07 Draft Meeting Notes

Jan 21, 2025 | Minutes

DRAFT Notes of the Meeting of Blackawton Parish Council
held on Tuesday 7 January 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall

Present: Parish Cllrs Hadow, Luckens, Mardon, Oughton (Vice-Chair), and Thomas were present, as was Devon County Council Cllr Brazil. There were no members of the public present.
Absent: Parish & South Hams District Council Cllr Rake (Chair), Parish Cllr Coe, and Clerk A Thom.

This was not a legally convened meeting of the Parish Council. Therefore no formal decisions were made by the meeting.

a. Open Forum
There were no members of the public present and no public issues were raised for discussion.

b. Councillors Forum

Cllr Thomas provided a summary of a Teams meeting (18/12/24) with Cllr Rake, Cllr Hales (Strete Parish Council), and a representative of Connecting Devon and Somerset. The meeting was to discuss the recent scaling back of the Airband contract to provide high speed broadband in rural areas, the reasons for the scaling back, and the effects it would have on the Parishes of Blackawton and Strete.
Cllr Thomas also highlighted the email link, recently circulated to Councillors, regarding a petition for funds to retain the Slapton Line and suggested that it should be circulated as widely as possible. Cllr Thomas volunteered to ensure that details were provided for the Beacon and the Parish website. Cllrs Mardon and Oughton volunteered to place details on social media sites.

1. Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Rake (Chair) and Coe, and the Clerk.

2. Declarations of Interest\

There were no declarations of Members’ interests in Agenda items.

3. Minutes of Previous Meetings

Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 December 2024 were noted but not approved.

4. Report from South Hams District Council Councillor

In his absence, Cllr Rake provided a written report which focussed on the Government’s English Devolution White Paper and the reasons why he finds the proposals, and the developments that have followed, “extremely alarming”.

5. Report from Devon County Council Councillor

The majority of Cllr Brazil’s report was also about the Government’s English Devolution White Paper and took a similar standpoint to Cllr Rake: highlighting specific issues in Devon, and noting how the creation of unitary authorities in Cornwall and in Somerset have lead to the closure of many discretionary services.
Cllr Brazil also provided an update on the plans to revise car parking charges in South Hams District Council’s car parks.

6. Planning Applications

6.1. SHDC Planning Decisions

The decisions on the following planning applications were noted:

  • 1345/24/HHO Hutcherleigh House Lower Hutcherleigh Blackawton TQ9 7AD. Householder application for extensions & alterations, including two storey & single storey extensions to side & rear of dwelling. Conditional Approval.

  • 3717/24/ARC West Hartley Bungalow, Blackawton, TQ9 7DH. Application for approval of details reserved by conditions 4 (CMP), 7 (Disposal of Foul Water), 8 (Surface Water Design) & 10 (Landscape Plan) to planning consent 2815/23/FUL. Discharge of Condition Approved.
  • 1393/23/OPA Land At Sx 808 511, Blackawton. Application for outline planning application with some matters reserved (access & layout) for demolition of existing dwelling (former Park Home), workshop, greenhouse, three small outbuildings and polytunnel & construction of two semi-detached single storey dwellings & two detached two storey dwellings with associated vehicular access improvements & landscaping. Conditional Approval.

6.2 Application received for possible response between meetings of BPC

The following application was noted:

  • 3845/24/CLE Washwalk Mill Blackawton TQ9 7AE. Certificate of lawfulness for existing separation of Washwalk Mill into main dwelling and attached Annexe in association with main dwelling. Whole property used for residential use.
    Closed for comments 1/1/25. A decision will be made by SHDC based on evidence provided to it.

7. French Furze Development in Blackawton

Cllr Rake emailed the developer on 3/12/24 asking for lighting at the Business Units to be turned off. The lights remain on and are causing some concern to local residents. Cllr Thomas referred to an email (19/12/24) from an SHDC S106 Officer to the developer requesting a January date for a meeting to review the Business Units. Cllr Thomas was not aware of any response.

8. Finance

8.1. Update on Current Financial Position

The reports were not read out due to the Clerk’s absence.

8.2. Payments & Receipts

The following outstanding invoices were noted but not authorised:

  • Cleaning of Blackawton PC’s bus shelters £222.00

  • Clerk Expenses Reimbursement November £34.96 & December £28.23

  • WCAG 2.2 standard website accessibility assessment £80.00

It was suggested that, with the exception of the Clerk’s expenses reimbursement, these could be authorised by the Chair and the Clerk, and that authorisation of the Clerk’s expenses should be carried forward to the next meeting.

The following payments authorised since the last meeting were noted:

  • Tindle Newspapers, Advert for grounds maintenance contract £168.00

  • Cllr Hadow, Reimbursement for yellow rattle seed for Cemetery £50.00

8.3. Budget and Precept 2025/26

Draft budget documentation was only available on Cllr Oughton’s smartphone – which significantly limited the opportunity for meaningful discussion. All Cllrs present indicated that they would not request their Councillor Allowance in the forthcoming year. Grants and projects as listed by the Clerk were read out by Cllr Oughton. No changes were suggested for the Clerk to use in the preparation of the proposed budget.

9. Correspondence

The following correspondence was noted:

  • South Hams Dementia Awareness Forum meeting, 15/1/25 from 1pm to 3pm.

  • SHDC Parking Charges Consultation. Closed 5/1/25.

10. Next Meetings

It was confirmed that the next monthly meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Tuesday 4 February 2025 at 7:30 p.m. and that an additional meeting of the Parish Council to finalise the budget and precept demand will be held on 21 January 2025 at 7:30 p.m.. Both meetings will take place in the Village Hall.

11. Closure of the Meeting

Due to the Council’s inability to make decisions at this meeting, the meeting was not closed at this point.

12. Grounds Maintenance Contract

This item was deferred until the next meeting.

The meeting ended at 8:15p.m..