Approved Minutes 2024 January 03

Jan 9, 2024 | Minutes

The Minutes can be read below or downloaded here: MN_2024 January DPC Approved Minutes

APPROVED Minutes of the Monthly Meeting of Dittisham Parish Council held in
Dittisham Village Hall on Wednesday 3 January 2024 at 7:00p.m.

  1. Public Forum

  2. a. Parish Lengthsman

  3. The Parish Council’s contractor outlined the work they have recently done on keeping road drainage clear and suggested using some of the DCC grant to clear the drainage near the Capton turning. Two problems with the Kingston road were raised by Cllrs, the poor quality of the surface because edges have now eroded and a section of drainage of the road possibly blocked by the landowner, and these will be followed up by DPC with DCC.

  4. Present: Cllrs Nightingale (Chair), Bond (Vice-Chair), Golding, Green, Hodge, Lloyd, Neale,, and Unitt, and DCC Cllr Hawkins were present, as were A Thom (Clerk). One member of the public was present in the room during the open forum and no-one attended over Zoom.

  1. Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Tucker and SHDC Cllr McKay.

  1. Declaration of Interests

Cllr Hodge declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the works to The Ham retaining wall.

  1. Approval of Minutes

It was resolved to approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2024.

  1. Community Reports

    1. South Hams District Council Councillor

Deferred in the absence of Cllr McKay.

    1. Devon County Council Councillor

DCC Cllr Hawkins reported that DCC will receive £6.5 million annually from former HS2 funds. A new DCC trial might assist with the completion of a project to install a railing on Jubilees Steps. Cllr Hawkins has approved the grant to DPC for the trial clean of the slippery path from Lower Street to Dittisham Mill Creek. Cllr Hawkins has attended two meetings with Stagecoach regarding issues with the buses. Please let Cllr Hawkins know if you have problems. Cllr Hawkins has questioned the closing of the Fusion Leisure Centre in Dartmouth on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. The generous donations from Dittisham residents to the Foodbank are much appreciated. An allocation of over £2,000 was made to families who receive free school meals or child tax credits, £10 per primary school age child, which will be repeated later in the year. The Youth Group goes from strength to strength and will be taking children to the pantomime in Plymouth again soon. There is a planning application for a Premier Inn near Venn Lane.

  1. Financial Matters

    1. Financial Reports

The Financial Reports were noted.

    1. Payments

It was resolved authorise the following payments:

  • Landscape Construction & Design, Trial Clean of Slippery Path, £492.00

  • Clerk, November expenses reimbursement, £109.70

  • JHB UK Ltd, Line repainting, £900.00

Cllr Hodge left the meeting.

It was resolved authorise the following payment:

  • Hodge, Repair and underpinning southern Ham retaining wall, £880.00

Cllr Hodge returned to the meeting

    1. Payment since December meeting

The following payment was noted.

  • Information Commissioner’s Office, Compulsory annual fee by direct debit, £35.00

    1. Receipts

The receipt of the grant for the trial clean of the slippery path was noted.

  • DCC, Locality Budget Grant, £500.00

    1. 2024/25 Budget and Precept Demand

It was resolved to approve the 2024/25 Budget as circulated with the following changes: to increase the Precept by £2,000 to £16,000 and not to move sick-leave liability funds out of the relevant reserve. There will be a reduction in the unearmarked general fund. This approach best recognises the financial judgement made by DPC.

  1. SHDC Planning Decisions

The following decisions were noted:

    1. 3554/23/ARC Yew Tree Cottage Manor Street Dittisham TQ6 0EX. Application for approval of details reserved by condition 4 (Facing Materials for Retaining Wall) of planning consent 3296/22/HHO. Discharge of Condition Approved.

    2. 2536/23/FUL Fairholme, Riverside Road, Dittisham, TQ6 0HS . New 3 bed dwelling & detached garden store with associated carparking & landscaping. Withdrawn.

    3. 2209/23/FUL Herongate, Lower Street, Dittisham, TQ6 0HY. Conversion & extension of boathouse for short term holiday let(resubmission of 3628/22/FUL). Withdrawn.

  2. New planning applications

    1. 4019/23/NMM The Old Rectory Rectory Lane Dittisham TQ6 0HD. Non Material Minor Amendment for addition of velux roof light to first floor to match existing.

Support (by unanimous resolution).

  1. New tree applications
    1. 3830/23/TCA Mill Creek Cottage, Lower Street, Dittisham, TQ6 0HY. T1-T6: Leylandii/fir trees – Fell trees due to them being vigorous growers & are taking the light from other recently planted trees that are trying to establish themselves, originally planted to quickly establish privacy from neighbours & are no longer required & particularly so if other indigenous trees & shrubs are allowed to grow, these trees kill the ground underneath them & prevent anything else from getting established, are unattractive & overpowering, surrounding deciduous trees/plants would provide a much better vista, more in keeping with the local countryside.

Support (by unanimous resolution).

  1. Consultations

The following consultations were noted. No DPC comment made. Cllrs may comment individually.

  • Peninsula Transport, Draft Transport Strategy. Closes 5/2/24.

  • South Devon Rural Housing Association, Proposed Merger with Places for People Group. Closes 7/2/24

  1. Monitoring DPC’s Process to Comment on Planning Applications

The process to obtain further information or arrange a site visit was approved as per the Report with the addition that there must be a minimum of two attendees, and ideally three or more attendees.

  1. Reports from Councillors’ Working Groups & External Forums

    1. Parish Emergency Plan

A project to create a new Plan was agreed in principle subject to consultation with Cllr Tucker. Proposed group members are Cllrs Tucker, Unitt, Green, Lloyd, and one member of the public.

    1. Maintenance Working Group

The Report on the trial clean of Slippery Lane was noted. The duration of the outcome will be monitored at least monthly.

    1. Ham Events

It was resolved unanimously to approve the request from South West Gaffers to hire The Ham 16-19 August 2024. DPC will move the picnic tables prior to the event.

  1. DPC Planning Day

The Report on the successful day was received. The proposed deletions from the Projects list were confirmed with the exception of three Council Management tasks relating to cyberinsurance, annual audit, and information management.

  1. Registration of The Red Lion Inn with SHDC as an Asset of Community Value

It was resolved that a public meeting is not required and to make an application for registration of The Red Lion Inn as an asset of community value. It was resolved to perform due diligence regarding DPC’s freehold responsibilities prior to submitting the application. Cllrs Green and Golding will report to the 7 February meeting of DPC.

  1. Maintenance of The Ham Retaining Wall

The discussion to plan further work required was deferred to the closed part of the Meeting.

  1. Memorial Benches Installed on The Ham

It was commented that the new memorial bench installed near toilet block is an exemplary installation. The Clerk will write to the requestor and their installer to thank them.

The inaction by the requestor to make the modifications agreed on 23 November 2023 to the installation of the memorial bench they have installed next to the River Dart was discussed. The Clerk was asked to request the completion of the agreed actions as soon as possible and also to obtain a quote for DPC to rectify the installation of the bench for the 7 February meeting.

  1. Correspondence:

The following correspondence was noted:

  • Email from Resident, 4/12/23, Grateful thanks for cleaning the slippery path

  • South Devon National Landscapes, South Devon AONB renamed South Devon National Landscapes

The Clerk was asked to invite SDNL to the next Annual Parish Meeting, on Wednesday 17 April 2024.

  • DALC, Notice of increase in Annual Fee

  • 19/12/23, Resident, Enquiry about roadworks advertised 2-3 Jan. Investigated approved date 17-19 Jan. Final works date TBC

  • 19/12/23, DCT, Notice of Devon Community Resilience Forum conference 22 March 2024

  • 5/12/23, DPC asked SHDC to investigate groundworks

  1. Next Meeting

It was confirmed that next meeting of Dittisham Parish Council will take place on 7 February 2023 at 7:00 pm.

Cllr Hodge left the meeting.

  1. Closure of the Meeting

It was resolved, in accordance with the 1960 Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act, to exclude the public and press during consideration of the following item because of the commercial-in-confidence nature of the business.

  1. The Ham Retaining Wall

It was resolved unanimously to approve a proposal for work to install a length of concrete ledge, filling in the gap in the ledge which is closest to the car park where the wall is becomingly increasingly undermined, and to make good gaps between new footing and stone work in the wall as required in the same area (estimate £1,100 and a £250 contingency respectively). The aim is to do the work as soon as tides permit.