Present: Cllrs L Bennett, P Clark, T Hunt, I Houston and S Longdon
In Attendance: P Chapman (Clerk), County Cllr R Legg and 1 member of the public
1. Welcome from the Chairperson of the Council
Cllr L Bennett welcomed the Cllrs and member of the public to the meeting.
2. To accept apologies for absence
The Clerk reported she received apologies from Cllrs J Thomas and D Coffin.
3. To confirm minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held 6th July 2021
The Councillor's agreed and accepted the minutes from 2021. Cllr L Bennett signed the minutes as a true record of the meeting.
4. To receive the Annual report from the Chairperson
My name is Lynne Bennett and I am currently the chair of the Parish Council. I am joined by all but two of the Councillor's who between them look after the needs of the parish in all its complexities.
They are
Iain Houston who is vice chair, looks after our website and whose interests lie in environmental matters.
Terry Hunt who is very much involved in the setting up of the Neighbourhood Plan, something that involves detailed work and is likely to do so for about 3 years and is the Parish Council rep on the CLT.
Peter Clark advises us on planning matters and is on the Playing Field subcommittee.
Steve Longdon is our footpaths officer as well as helping Jenny with the projects around the pub as well as doing those little jobs that need doing.
Di Coffin is our tree officer and often with her husband Andy, also does a lot of those unsung hero jobs around the parish. She is unable to be with us this evening.
Jenny Thomas who is instrumental in the continuing success of the telephone library, along with her team of volunteers maintains the area round the pub car park and is representing the Parish Council on the steering group who are developing the Neighbourhood Plan. Jenny is also unable to join us this evening.
Also with us is our Parish Clerk, Tricia Chapman without whom we could not function as we do!!
We are also joined by our Dorset Councillor, Robin Legg who comes to most of our meetings and is an invaluable source of knowledge and advice.
We are fortunate in having a group of people who are willing voluntarily to give their time and energy to deal with the various issues that occur within our village and we are able to draw on their expertise to achieve as good a result to the various problems that present themselves as we can.
The period of this report covers from 6 July 2021 until today 12 April 2022
Gollop’s Ground: As many of you will be aware, we have been unable to get a satisfactory restoration of the access to the river that has been denied to the village population since the erection of the fence that defines the definitive map path in Gollops Ground. The landowner has declined to rent or sell the field to the community but instead offered access to the river for observation by means of the a small area of the land near to the Smith’s Bridge end of the field, an area that is subject to being boggy in the winter months.
A small working party of interested villagers considered this on behalf of the Parish Council but decided to reject this offer as it didn’t give us the amenity value that we desired. We are now considering applying for a right of way order through the field, a process that unfortunately can take a considerable amount of time to resolve.
Neighbourhood Plan: Since the last meeting, we have been pursuing the possibility of setting up a Neighbourhood Plan and agreed to go ahead with this at our meeting in January following a village meeting in November at which we heard presentations for the chair and Parish Clerk of Hazelbury Bryan PC who have already been through the process. The overwhelming reaction from residents after hearing what they had to say was for Bradford Abbas to push ahead with setting one up.
Since then there have been sessions with interested villagers and the process of formulating a group to oversee the project has begun. We are indebted to Terry for his work on this. The work on the plan will also be done alongside that of the Community Land Trust.
Playing Field: As you will have seen, we have had to dismantle the climbing frame in the play area as it was becoming unsafe. Fortunately, we are well on our way to achieving the required funds to purchase a new frame and we hope to have this installed later this year together with some new goalposts. We have been fortunate in receiving a grant from the Lottery and other funds have been raised by the Opens Gardens day last June and the recent cake stall so thanks to everyone involved with in this effort. The skateboard ramp was repaired and painted last September since when some graffiti has appeared on it.
Highways: Concern by villagers about the speed of vehicles and the state of the road between the village and Sherborne have been expressed. It is unlikely that any speed restrictions will be placed on that section of road but we understand that the state of the road and in particular the edges is under consideration by Dorset Council. The resurfacing work of some of the roads in the village originally scheduled for 2020 has been done and a larger waste bin has been installed at the top of North Street.
Village Shop: The steering group that had been set up to look into establishing a community shop do not seem to have come to a conclusion on the matter and in fact have not met since the summer of 2021. We are therefore wondering if the community wants to have a shop facility within the village.
Planning: The council has reviewed six applications for planning consent during this period. We are still waiting for a resolution to the reinstatement of the path at East Farm and are cautiously hopeful that we are moving up the list for consideration.
Assets of Community Value: We have been considering if we should register various sites around the village as assets of community value. This would mean that if accepted for registration by Dorset Council and the owner wished to sell the asset, they must inform the council of their intention to sell the property and the Parish Council would have six months in which to raise the funds to buy the site. The registration lasts for 5 years. We have identified two sites for consideration and are consulting with the owners before we proceed with an application. One reason for pursuing this subject is because it gives us some influence over sites within the village that we may wish to remain as village assets in a quicker timescale than the Neighbourhood Plan which might supersede this action once it is in place, something which could take up to three years.
Meetings: Since January 2022, we have adopted a different regime of Parish Council meetings. We will be holding Ordinary Parish Council meetings bi- monthly, with the option of calling an extraordinary meeting in between if necessary. At the beginning of each meeting is a 15 minute slot for villagers to give us their views on any item on the agenda. We will review how this change works out at the end of the year.
I would like to thank Allan Martin, St Mary’s School, Tom Sugrue and any other people who help to keep our village environment as litter free as possible.
And finally, I must on a personal level express my sincere thanks to all the Councillor's and our clerk for their backing and support over the past eight months, I could not function as chair without that.
5. To receive information concerning a Neighbourhood Plan for Bradford Abbas
Cllr T Hunt reported the Parish Council has discussed a Neighourhood Plan on and off for the past 10 years. On 16 November 2020 the Parish Council organised an open meeting to introduce a NP to the residents of Bradford Abbas. On 1 February 2021 the volunteers to met to establish a working group to plan a way forward on behalf of the Parish Council. Prior to this annual meeting members of the Parish Council met with Mr & Mrs Mellish to discuss a joint venture with Clifton Maybank and they seemed happy to hear about it and are considering joining the plan. The 21 April is the next meeting when the working group will pursue a grant for funding (potential of £18K) that will be needed for consultants. The working group has a good cross section of expertise and age. The next stage is to define the boundary, apply for funding and begin one of many public consultations.
6. OPEN MEETING Under this heading any member of the Parish electorate may raise for discussion any matter of local concern or interest
The member of the public did not have anything to raise.
Cllr I Houston noted The Pennant is on the website and will go back to 2020.
County Cllr R Legg circulated an email prior to the meeting noting the primary school has won the first round of judicial review concerning their applications for a multi-unit games area on school grounds that is opposed by a resident.
He noted the Definitive Map Modification Order meeting will be held on the 21st April in Thornford has approximately a dozen people that wish to attend, including V Penny of Dorset Council Definitive Map Team.
He informed the Councillor's the Saxon Maybank application for 3 new holiday lodges is ongoing with several issues, one concerning possible phosphorus leakage. The Yeovil Golf Club’s application to import soil in order to level out holes will be extended and Kit Hill is progressing slowly. Cllr Legg suggested Simon Digby Charitable Trust is accepting funding grant applications and Bradford Abbas may wish to consider applying.
The Councillor's stated their thanks and appreciation to Cllr Lynne Bennett for taking on the role of Chairperson for the last few years.
Meeting closed 8:25pm