Author: Lindsey Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 4^th August 2025 at 7.00 pm at Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere, Wiltshire.  BA12 6EW. 

Present:  Present:  Councillors Sandra Catley (Chair), Rachael Hansford (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Aubrey Colman, Sam Dean, Clive Hazzard, George Jeans & John Jordan

Public Participation Session

Robert Hopkins spoke in favour of his planning application PL/2025/05709

David Hytch pointed out that there was potential for various developments to take place at the same time along Pettridge Lane along with the development at Woodlands Road and said that if this were to happen then it could create a significant problem.

David Hytch also spoke about accessibility for people from Woodlands Road to get into the centre of town and said that it was difficult for people in wheelchairs and with other disabilities and felt that with the additional houses coming to Woodlands Road the Town Council might want to have a discussion with the Highways Authority about this.

Nick Gosse spoke about his concerns for traffic along Shaftesbury Road/Pettridge Lane and said that he would like to see a 20mph speed limit.

Reports from local police representatives

• None present

58. Apologies for absence received from Cllrs. Nick Beale, Philip Coward, Rodney Coward, Ray Hill, Glen Ings, Alan Mead and Steven Pester.

59. To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests from Councillors on matters to be considered at the meeting.

• Jeans declared a pecuniary interest in Minute Ref: 62 a) Payments (recipient)

60. Planning
61. a) Applications for consultation response:

Cllr. Hazzard said that although this bungalow might be a better build than the Class Q barn conversion that has approval, it should be remembered that permission was only granted under Class Q because it was for a barn that was built prior to 2015.  If you put an application in to build a house in the open countryside then it would not be permitted.  It was pointed out that this application is proposing to site the bungalow adjacent to the farmyard rather than being out in the open countryside as per the previous application.  It was also pointed out that the approval of the barn conversion was subject to an agricultural tie.

Cllr. Debbie Beale proposed that the application should be refused on the grounds that this is a proposed new build bungalow that will be in the countryside and not within the housing policy boundary of Mere and the planning application makes no mention of an agricultural occupancy.  This proposal was seconded by Cllr. Colman but received no further votes.

Cllr. Rachael Hansford proposed that the application is recommended for approval subject to the following conditions:

1. The occupation of the dwelling shall be limited to a person solely or mainly working or last working at the agricultural enterprise known as The Acorns, Barrow Street, Mere, Wiltshire BA12 6AB or a widow or widower of such a person, and to any resident dependants.
2. This alternative scheme should only be approved if it is a replacement for the Class Q Barn Conversion and should therefore be subject to a condition that the barn is demolished.

Proposal seconded by Cllr. Sam Dean and carried with a vote of 3 for, 2 objections and 2 abstentions.

Cllr. Rachael Hansford’s proposal was then put forward as a substantive motion, seconded by Cllr. Sam Dean and carried with a vote of 3 for, 2 objections and 2 abstentions.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

Cllr. Jordan said that he had looked at the site and confirmed that the extension was on the north side and therefore unlikely to cause a loss of light to neighbours.  Cllr. Colman expressed concern that this would create a 4-bedroom house with only 1 parking space.  Cllr. Jordan proposed that the application be recommended for approval.  Proposal seconded by Cllr. Rachael Hansford and carried with a vote of 4 for, 1 against and 2 abstentions.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

Cllr. Jordan pointed out that accepting infill housing might prevent us from having to accept large developments on greenfield sites but I feel it might be overdevelopment to squeeze two dwellings in plus a new vehicular access off Pettridge Lane.  Cllr. Jeans pointed out that the footprint for the three houses on this site would be larger than the footprint of the three bungalows opposite.  Cllr. Hazzard said that the site is very large and there is enough space to accommodate the extra two houses without them appearing cramped. However, he felt that the new vehicular access was a major issue.  Cllr. Rachael Hansford felt that access would be created at a point where the lane is narrowed by a wall on the opposite side.  Cllr. Debbie Beale pointed out that there had been a lot of conversations about extra traffic coming along Pettridge Lane.

Cllr. Hazzard proposed that the application be recommended for approval subject to the Highways Authority being happy with the access.  Seconded by Chair but not carried with a vote of 2 for, 4 against and 2 abstentions.

Cllr. Colman proposed that the Town Council should object on the grounds that it is overdevelopment and the vehicular access is inappropriate.  Seconded by Cllr. Dean and carried with a vote of 3 for, 2 against and 3 abstentions. [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

Cllr. Debbie Beale said that she was disappointed to note that Redcliffe Homes had not included solar panels within the development despite the Town Council expressing its wish for this.  She also pointed out that houses have a lifespan of around 70 years because of their timber construction and she said that despite the fact that they had mentioned swift bricks, she was disappointed to find no mention of this in the documents submitted.  She felt that the design of the houses was not in keeping.  Cllr. Colman felt that the development was what Mere needed for its future with its mix of housing types, EV chargers, garages, bike sheds and heat pumps.  The Clerk pointed out that this was a Reserved Matters Application and therefore the Town Council could not impose any conditions or requirements upon the application relating to infrastructure as that would have been done during the Outline Planning stage.  Cllr. Hansford said that she was pleased that there was a mix of housing with 41 mixed dwellings to go on the open market and 17 mixed dwellings as affordable homes and felt that this was what Mere needed.  Cllr. Hazzard proposed that the application should be recommended for approval with the recommendation that a Routing & Traffic Management Plan for the construction is produced and that the Town Council is given the opportunity for liaison in this Routing & Traffic Management Plan.  Proposal seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a vote of 5 for, 1 against and 1 abstentions.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

RESOLVED to recommend the above application for approval.

61. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries
62. a) Charitable & Community Lettings – Letters and terms of abatement from the Duchy of Cornwall reducing our rent for Castle Hill and Allotment Lands in Mere to one peppercorn [i.e. £nil] – The Clerk read out a letter written by the Duchy of Cornwall saying that they were reviewing their arrangements in relation to community and charity lettings. Members were very pleased to hear this and authorised the Chair and Vice-Chair to sign the formal agreements.
63. b) To authorise signature of Lease of office suite at Duchy Manor + Landlord’s warning notice and declaration. – RESOLVED to authorise the Chair and Vice-Chair to sign the formal documents.

62. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a)  Payments – RESOLVED to authorise payments as detailed in the schedule of payments (attached)

63. Future meetings and events
64. a) VJ Day – 15^th August – the Clerk confirmed that a small wreath laying event would be taking place at the War Memorial at 12 noon.
65. b) Health & Wellbeing Event Mere – from 12 pm on 25^th September in the Lecture Hall, Mere – The Clerk asked councillors to either confirm with her or with Karen Linaker direct whether or not they would be attending this event.

Meeting closed at 8.00 pm

Approved at Mere Town Council meeting held on 1^st September

2025

Signed:                                                                                                                                                                 Chair of meeting.

Signed by the Chair of the meeting

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council to be held on Monday, 7^th July 2025 at 7.00 pm at the Andy Young Pavilion, Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere, Wiltshire.  BA12 6EW. 

Present:  Present:  Councillors Sandra Catley (Chair), Rachael Hansford (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Nick Beale, Rodney Coward, Sam Dean (until 8.30 pm), Rachael Hansford, Clive Hazzard, George Jeans, John Jordan & Alan Mead  

Report from local police representatives – Sergeant Lyndsey Smith from Warminster Neighbourhood Policing Team will be attending the meeting.

Sgt. Lyndsey Smith said that she had come along because she had heard that there was concern about rising crime in Mere and she wanted to give some reassurance and put minds at rest.  She said that over May and June there were 9 crimes and 26 incidents reported, ranging from public order offences, anti-social behaviour and suspicious circumstances, road traffic collisions and one report of criminal damage to wildlife and theft.  There was a lot of police presence in Mere yesterday (Sunday, 6.7.25) attending to a break-in at the Industrial Estate where they apprehended and arrested individuals that are responsible for other high-powered burglaries in the area and so this was a positive result for the police.  On the less positive side, Sgt. Smith confirmed that there were only two PC’s covering this very large area at the moment but hoping that, as part of the neighbourhood uplift, there will be more funding to get more police officers.

John Jordan asked about Crimestoppers and it was confirmed that reporting via Crimestoppers is anonymous.  Reports and intelligence from Crimestoppers is then fed to the police.

Speeding issues – If you have a speeding concern you have to go to the Town Council who then, if they approve, will take it to the LHFIG who will ask for a Traffic Survey.  The results of the Traffic Survey go to our road safety department and recommendations for a SID, Speedwatch or different speed limits might be considered.  The police road safety department have an input.

Drug related issues had occurred in Zeals but not so much in Mere.  Any issues would need to be reported in order for the police to apply for a drug warrant.

George Jeans raised the issue of response times in Mere now that Emergency Response had moved to Trowbridge.  He also said that he used to have regular meetings with the local PCSO to feed ‘intel’ into the police.  Sgt. Smith said that she was aware that discussions had been held about the length of time for emergency responses for Tisbury & Mere areas and she also said that she was keen to reinstate the meetings with the local PCSO to gather ‘intel’ but resources were making this difficult at the present time.

Presentation from Redcliffe Homes on their proposals for development on land at Beaumont’s Business Park, Woodlands Road, Mere.   

Mr. Andrew Godden gave a presentation on the design proposals for the development of the old Beaumont’s Business Park.

• Keen to be sustainable with wildlife habitats.
• A range of 1, 2, 3 & 4 bed properties with open market, shared ownership and rented for a diverse community.
• Outline consent is for 70 dwellings but we are looking at 58 which is a reduction of 17% and the reason we have done that is because we want to create more space between the houses and create front gardens and we have attenuation ponds.
• The buildings will be a mixture of stone, render and some boarding.
• We use air source heat pumps and the buildings are timber frame and fully insulated to reduce energy.
• We will have EV charging points, bike storage, larger garages.
• There are smart systems for reducing energy and water demand, ponds, bird boxes, hedgehog highways, bug hotels and wildflower planting areas.
• 106 & CIL payments will be close to £1m.
• One in 3 of the houses will be affordable housing.
• Biodiversity Net Gain is at 27% which is a big uplift on government guidelines of 10%.

1. Asbestos removal during demolition process. A – We are employing specialist contractors to deal with the decontamination who have to provide method statements and there is a process they have to follow in order to meet regulations.
2. Any plans to strengthen Woodlands Road? A – No, we will be providing some crossing points but no other infrastructure work was conditioned at the O/L stages.
3. Solar panels would surely be an obvious thing to add? A – We could put solar panels on and not do the insulation but you can’t retrofit insulation afterwards. Full insulation reduces the demand on electricity and if people find that they need solar panels afterwards, they can add them.
4. Timetable for starting demolition? A – We will hopefully get consent this month and won’t start until October, partly because of nesting birds and also because it is better for dust conditions to do demolition in winter.
5. With heat pumps and EV car chargers, who has done the assessment for the electrical load because it is not clear that there is enough capacity in that part of Mere to support the dwellings? A – We are proposing a new sub-station and we are in discussions with the electric authorities.

Andrew confirmed that longevity of timber frame houses is approximately 70 years which is less than brick and block.

There was a discussion about the Construction Traffic Management Plan and Cllr. Jeans outlined the difficulties faced with the construction of the Fry’s development on the old Hill Brush Company site next door.  The groundworks companies all complied with the plan but sadly the construction vehicles and delivery vehicles were not always so compliant.  Cllr. Jeans expressed the need for a contact number for emergencies and queries during the development process.

It was confirmed that part of the site would be developed using pile drivers.  Councillors expressed their dismay that solar panels were not included within the development but were pleased that the housing numbers had been reduced from 70 to 58 as the previous layout was very dense.

Cllr. Jeans raised a number of other issues i.e. existing trees on the site, electrical capacity, cavities within garages, painting the render, width of roads within the development, on street parking and allocated parking.

Public Participation Session

Three members of the public spoke in objection to the planning application for land at Linden Barn – PL/2025/05199.  Clive Hazzard said he was strongly opposed to the application due to its size, elevated position and overlooking issues.  He pointed out that a first-floor room which has a glazed frontage is a bathroom which will be visible from the road/pavement and other houses and vice versa.  Stephen Fletcher said that he was appointing an architect to advise him on the planning application before he submitted comments to the planning authority but his immediate concerns related to the height of the building, the rendered wall at the rear and it doesn’t appear to be in keeping with the conservation area. Lee Tibbit raised concerns about overlooking, invasion of privacy, highway safety, removal of trees that would have an environmental impact and character of the area.

David Hytch as Vice-Chair of the Carnival Committee, made a plea to encourage people to come along to the Carnival Committee meeting tomorrow evening at the Walnut Tree at 7.30 pm to determine whether or not it will be feasible to continue with the carnival this year.   He pointed out that more committee members were needed in order to proceed with the carnival procession for 2025.

Graham Sheppard asked when the lights in Eric Mitchell way would be switched on and also said that the new path surface was cracking and that the ground works and drainage work carried out beforehand were not done correctly and it was a very poor job.  He also pointed out that a street light opposite the entrance to the old Beaumont’s building was obstructed by greenery.

Another member of the public raised the issue of lights not working in Eric Mitchell Way and also raised an issue about Wiltshire Council’s Street lighting team which Cllr. Jeans said he would take up.

The Clerk informed members that Wiltshire Council would be holding an engagement meeting on 22^nd July at Hillbrush on the pre-planning for Fives Court – time TBA.

45. Apologies for absence received from Cllrs. Philip Coward, Raymond Hill, Glen Ings and Steven Pester and from Sam Dean for her early departure from the meeting.

46. To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests from Councillors on matters to be considered at the meeting.

• Hazzard declared a pecuniary interest in planning application PL/2025/05199
• Jeans declared a pecuniary interest in Minute No. 54a) Payments (recipient).

47. Minutes – RESOLVED that the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Monday, 2^nd June 2025 and Minutes of meeting with Redcliffe Homes held on 3^rd June 2025 be approved as a correct record. (attached).

48. Matters Arising from Public Session

• None

49. Matters Arising from previous Meetings (not covered by other agenda items)
50. a) Minute Reference 40 h) *h) Wiltshire Towns Programme – Action Plan for 24/25 and 25/26 – to consider briefing for proposals for funding for a Halloween Event (briefing attached) [Cllr. Colman has been unable to prepare a briefing for proposals for an Arts & Crafts Event & would like this to be considered for the next round of funding for 26/27 if offered] – Cllr. Jordan felt it was an excellent way to spend the money and he was quite happy to help out and the money should allow us to have a good event but stressed that people should get together now to get things underway for Halloween. RESOLVED to proceed with this event.
51. b) Minute Reference 40 i) SSEN funding (see Clerk’s Report) & PCC Community Action Fund 2025 (see Clerks Report) – Report on SSEN funding application and consideration of application for PCC Community Action Fund 2025 (application deadline 18.7.25 – see last month’s Clerk’s Report) – Cllr. Rachael Hansford reported that David Hytch had helped her to apply for funding for an EV charger in the Salisbury Street Car Park and we should find out in September whether or not this has been successful. The Council recorded their thanks to David Hytch for his help with this.

With regards to the PCC Community Action Fund 2025, it was RESOLVED to apply for funding to help with community education.

15. c) Minute Reference 42a) VJ Day – 15.8.2025 – (see Chair & Clerks Report). It was agreed that the organisation of VJ Day commemoration should be in accordance with the arrangements proposed by Stewart Walker with his links to the British Legion, as detailed in the C&C Report.
16. d) Minute Reference 43a) Safer Together: Strengthening Community Safety Through Partnership & Anonymity (virtual briefing hosted by Crimestoppers) – (see Chair & Clerks Report). The Chair said that she didn’t attend the meeting but had received a recording which gave a good understanding of how Crimestoppers works. She said she would be happy to send this out to councillors/public on request.

50. Reports & Consultations
51. a) Wiltshire Councillors Report – Cllr. Jeans reported that he had been elected as Chairman of the Southern Planning Committee. He also mentioned that a technical consultation on the reform of planning committees was underway in which delegation of planning functions was being considered including the removal of the ability for individual councillors to ‘call in’ applications to be considered by committee. In September Wiltshire Council will be introducing ‘Wiltshire Connect’ an on-demand bus service for south-west Wiltshire.
52. b) Project Co-Ordinator’s Report
53. i) Update on public toilet refurbishment (report attached) – members noted.
54. ii) Lease for Duchy Manor – Schedule of Condition, plan and key points relating to lease

(information attached) – Cllr. Jordan raised concerns about the Schedule of Condition and the fact that it didn’t give advice on whether or not to take on the lease even though this wasn’t within the remit to the Quantity Surveyor but the Clerk pointed out that the lease was a full repairing lease and although the rent would be low, the Town Council would be expected to carry out repairs and possibly improvements to the building.  Furthermore, the Town Council would have to pay rates on the space that it would be renting.  The Clerk also pointed out that the Council’s previous concern on the condition relating to the number of school pupils was never really resolved but Cllr. Rachael Hansford said that the population of primary school children was falling and she felt this was less of a concern.  Unanimously RESOLVED to proceed with signing the lease.

51. Planning
52. a) Applications for consultation response:

Cllr. Hazzard, having declared a pecuniary interest in this planning application, left the room whilst the matter was debated and took no part in discussion or voting. [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

Members felt it was a large house for a retirement home and that a smaller retirement bungalow would be more appropriate in this location.  Members also felt that it was not in keeping with the character of the Conservation area and the size and scale would be imposing and dominate the streetscene and landscape.  Creating a new access onto Castle Street where a lot of cars now park will create yet another dangerous junction in an area that already has 4 junctions coming out onto a busy road that is the main entrance/exit into the town.

RESOLVED to object to the above planning application for the following reasons:

In the design and access statement it states that the design for this house has been strongly influenced by the existing barn conversions that surround the plot.  However, none of these existing barn conversions can be seen from the road which is the main entrance/exit road on the western fringe of the town.  Although the barn for Linden House can be seen from the road, especially when travelling in a westerly direction, it is offset at an angle from the road, has a hipped gable roof and minimal glazing, is largely obscured by trees and shrubs and appears to be more of a utilitarian rather than a residential building. Therefore, the design of the proposed house will be out of keeping with the character of the Conservation Area on the approach/exit from the town and will neither preserve or enhance the existing character of the conservation area.  Furthermore, the size and scale of the house, being situated in an elevated position on a bank will be imposing in the street scene.

The stone wall that bounds the site, made from Mere stone which is no longer quarried, forms part of the streetscape and is a significant welcoming aspect as you drive into Mere.  Sadly, another planning application has recently been granted approval that will punch a hole into this wall further along Castle Street.  The proposed vehicular access onto Castle Street for this proposed development will create another opening into the wall that will completely change the character of this area as you drive into or out of Castle Street and create a detrimental impact.

The tall gable end and first floor window on the south elevation of the proposed property will cause overlooking issues to the existing properties on the other side of the road namely 6 Townsend Close and Hinton, especially given that the proposed property will sit in an elevated position and this would therefore result in a detrimental effect on residential amenity.  Extraordinarily, the room on the first floor of this tall gable end which has a large glass fenestration will be a bathroom – this presents privacy challenges, exposing the space to public view.  The Design and Access statement says that the new house will have “vehicle access off Castle Street where it will enjoy extremely good visibility splays due to the width of the pavement”.  It should be noted that this side of the road is often lined with parked cars, especially during the evenings and at weekends.  Drivers will, no doubt, continue to park along the road and right up to the proposed junction, which they habitually do all over Mere, despite advice to the contrary in the Highway Code, and this will therefore obstruct visibility for any proposed new access causing the proposed residents and delivery drivers to have to come out into the middle of the road before they can see what is coming from a westerly or easterly direction.  Furthermore, the creation of a new access along Castle Street in close proximity to four other access roads (Bramley Hill, Towns End, Townsend Close and Castle Hill Lane) is likely to cause a safety hazard for drivers and pedestrians.

RESOLVED to ask the Wiltshire Councillor (Cllr. George Jeans) to ‘call in’ this planning application to committee should the planning officer be inclined to recommend this application for approved.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above amended plans.

The Clerk confirmed that the approved application had a basement construction via Contiguous Piling but following further investigation this had now been reviewed and this application was proposing to construct the basement using “Cast in Situ” methodology.  It was pointed out that the Town Council had objected to the original application

The Town Council feels that there is nothing in this new planning application that would alleviate or cause a revocation of its previous objections to PL/2022/01547 or PL/2024/05361 and it was RESOLVED to reiterate previous objections.

It was pointed out that the application stated “to crown raise a mature London Plane tree to 16ft to avoid collision damage to tractors passing under the canopy”.  It was pointed out that 16ft seemed quite an excessive height for tractor clearance as most tractors were much lower than that and members were concerned, given the fact that there was so much local fondness for this tree, that the future health of this tree should not be put at risk.  It was therefore RESOLVED to bow to the expertise of Wiltshire Council’s Tree Officer, Shane Verrion (the officer dealing with this application), stressing the local fondness and significance of this tree and to ask him to conduct a site visit to evaluate the situation firsthand and consider whether the proposed tree works are appropriate.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above amended plans.

1. b) Does the Town Council want to ask Wiltshire Councillor to call in OL/2025/04320 – application for Three Oaks Farm, Gillingham Road, Mere (considered last month)? RESOLVED to request that this be called in if necessary and for further enforcement to be investigated.

52. Highways, Rivers, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
53. To identify jobs for the Parish Steward and MyWiltshire reports.

• Jordan- clean signs.
• Mead – cutting brambles back along Eric Mitchell Way (if not recently done)

1. Report on LHFIG meeting held on 25^th June 2025– (see Chair & Clerks Report). Noted.
2. Manor Road – pending works. (see Chair & Clerks Report). Noted.
3. Request for Traffic Survey in order to set up a Community Speedwatch Committee for Shaftesbury Road (attached) – the Clerk pointed out that this Traffic Survey would be free and that the Town Council would not be expected to do anything other than to submit this to the LHFIG for approval. If the residents of the area wanted to form a Speedwatch Group then, as far as the Clerk was aware, they didn’t need the approval of the Town Council to do that.  The Town Council RESOLVED to submit the Request for Traffic Survey to the LHFIG.

53. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries

54. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a) Payments – To review and authorise schedule of payments (attached) – Cllr. Jeans, having declared a pecuniary interest in this item, left the room and took no part in the discussion or voting for this item. The Clerk confirmed that she had enrolled the grounds staff on the Signing, Lighting and Guarding training course for working on the highway so that they could safely carry out road closures and putting out road signs in the case of events or emergencies and that this expense would be coming out of the SSEN funding that was awarded a couple of years ago for community support work.  RESOLVED to authorise payments made in schedule of payments.

*b) To note the reconciliations for May 2025 – the Chair confirmed that she had verified that the bank statements accord with the reconciliation for May 2025 and had signed the reconciliation accordingly.

55. General Items
56. a) Clarification on the situation relating to the provision of fibre-broadband to premises in Mere – Jeans confirmed that the future of Wessex Internet getting fibre broadband into Mere essentially relies on being able to secure funding through BDUK. RESOLVED to send a letter in support of Wessex Internet

Briefing Notes

• Briefing Note No. 25-04 – Wiltshire’s Housing Land Supply Statement (attached) – Noted
• Briefing Note No. 25-05 – Wiltshire Community Air Network (attached) – Noted

56. Future meetings and events

South West Wiltshire Area Board Meeting – Wednesday, 16^th July 2025 at 6.30 pm at East Knoyle Village Hall, Hindon Road, East Knoyle, Salisbury SP3 6AE

57. Future agenda items

• None

Note:  Members are reminded that the Town Council has a general duty to consider the following matters in the exercise of any of its functions: Equal Opportunities (race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status and any disability), Crime and Disorder, Health and Safety and Human Rights.

*Further information on these items enclosed/attached                                    Meeting closed at 9.33 pm

Approved at Mere Town Council meeting held on 1^st September 2025

Signed:                                                                                                                                                                 Chair of meeting.

Signed by the Chair of the meeting

Minutes of a meeting with Redcliffe Homes held on Tuesday, 3^rd  June 2025 at 1.00 pm in the Andy Young Pavilion, Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere, Wiltshire.  BA12 6EW

Present:  Councillors Sandra Catley (Chair), Rachael Hansford (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Nick Beale, Aubrey Colman, Rodney Coward, John Jordan & Alan Mead.

+ David Hagan and Andrew Godden from Redcliffe Homes

The chairman thanked the representatives of Redcliffe homes for coming along to this meeting saying that the Town Council was grateful to have this opportunity to let them know what our concerns are for this site so that we can be proactive rather than reactive but also stressed that any views expressed at this meeting would be provisional as not all of the information would be available to councillors. Furthermore, the meeting would be recorded and minutes will be published and publicly available.

David Hagan said that Redcliffe Homes was a privately owned company and so is not driven by standard house design and they therefore have flexibility in their design approach and take sustainability and ecology very seriously.  He said that the Beaumont’s Business Park site benefits from outline planning permission. Redcliffe homes have purchased the site and are concerned about unauthorised access and so they will be erecting solid fencing around the site and have recently submitted a planning application for demolition.  He explained that whilst the outline permission included demolition of the site, they wouldn’t be in the position to carry out the demolition until reserved matters had been approved and that could be some way down the line and so this extra planning application was viewed as necessary in order to speed up the demolition process.

Andy Godden said that Redcliffe Homes were using Clifton Emery Architects for the design of this scheme. The outline consent did not have a design access statement which usually sets out parameters of the design.  He explained that the concept plan that forms part of the outline consent has two access points and these are designed to stop a left turn onto Woodlands Road.  There will be an attenuation pond in the bottom corner and the ecology plan showed some mitigation for wildlife concentrated around the pond area on the southern boundary.  Redcliffe Homes are not looking to achieve quite the same density as that which is on the adjacent development and they are mindful that parking is an issue. Our architects are carrying out an assessment and it is likely that we will not have quite so much rendering in our fenestrations. We are looking to bring the density down from 70 to probably under 60 with a mixture of detached semis and terracing to give it some character with a mix of 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bed, predominantly 3 bed properties. There is not a lot of open space in the outline planning but we are trying to make green potentials so our attenuation ponds will be permanently wet so they will create a wildlife oasis and we plan to create a wildlife corridor along the boundary allowing wildlife to move through the development freely.  In gardens we include hedgehog highways, bug hotels and bird & bat boxes & swift bricks throughout.  The houses will be timber framed for sustainability and we are looking at predominantly stone material, maybe  with an element of brick, in a traditional style.  Gardens will have low walls and only wooden fencing in back gardens. We try and avoid courtyard parking areas and will try and keep the parking within property boundaries. Our houses will have triple glazing, high insulation and ground source heat pumps.

Questions were raised by councillors and the following responses given:

• We do include solar panels but usually only on large detached properties but we do have ground source heat pumps on all properties. There then followed a discussion on ground source heat pumps and whether or not they were noisy. There will be EV charging points on each house as standard.
• Redcliffe Homes will be meeting the section 106 requirement of 30% affordable housing. This will be a mixture of shared ownership and housing association affordable rented with a mix of 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bed properties and the percentages of these are defined in the S.106 agreement but will be proportioned down as we are planning to reduce the density.
• We will meet parking standards of 2 spaces per house but will also provide additional visitor parking as well.
• There was no public open space requirement in the outline planning but the S.106 will require us to pay a contribution (£75k) to spend the money elsewhere.
• It is likely that some of the houses will need to be constructed using pile driven foundations because the ground conditions are too soft.
• There was more discussion about the electricity demand on the development and the sustainability and energy. Redcliffe Homes make more effort to make the houses efficient with insulation & triple glazing and save energy in that way. We have not yet got to a stage where we can incorporate solar panels and battery storage for electricity.
• No plans for live/work units
• We will be required to improve visibility splays and provide two informal crossing points by installing dropped paving
• A transport management plan will be produced and we will make every effort to try and get suppliers & contractors to use the routes identified
• If we get permission to demolish the site we are expecting that we won’t start until after the bird nesting season as we are fairly sure there are birds nesting on the site and demolish it in the autumn when it is not as dry and dusty.
• Councillors stressed the importance of communication during and prior to the construction process.

Meeting closed at 2.00 pm

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 2^nd June 2025 at 7.00 pm at Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere, Wiltshire.  BA12 6EW

Present:  Councillors Sandra Catley (Chair), Rachael Hansford (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Aubrey Colman, Philip Coward, Rodney Coward, Sam Dean, Clive Hazzard, Ray Hill, Glen Ings, John Jordan, Alan Mead & Steven Pester.

Public Participation Session

• None

Reports from local police representatives

• None present

31. Apologies for absence received from Cllrs. Nick Beale & George Jeans.

32. To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests from Councillors on matters to be considered at the meeting.

• Clive Hazzard declared a pecuniary interest in Minute Ref: 40a) [Payments – recipient]

33. Minutes – RESOLVED that the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Monday, 12^th May 2025 be approved & signed as a correct record.

34. Matters Arising from Public Session

• None

35. Matters Arising from previous Meetings (not covered by other agenda items)

*a) Mere Cemetery Ancestry & Heritage Project and potential funding opportunity: The Heritage Revival Fund has been created to help communities across England rescue and repurpose neglected historic buildings.  (Project brief prepared by the Clerk in 2016 attached)

Cllr. Jordan said that he had seen this project brief some time ago and was happy to volunteer to do a bit of work on it with others that he had in mind.  Cllr. Mead said that he would like to get involved in this project.  Cllr. Hill said he had reservations about leaving a debt or large maintenance costs for the Council to pick up in future years.

36. Reports & Consultations
37. a) Wiltshire Councillors Report – None received. The Chairman announced the names of the new Area Board Chair, Cllr. Pauline Church and Vice-Chair, Cllr. Nabil Najjar & LHFIG representative, Cllr. Bridget Wayman.

*b) Project Co-Ordinator’s Report (attached) – Having read the report Cllr. Jordan said that he was interested to see that if we attract the right sporting bodies we may be able to get some capital funding for the MUGA.  Cllr. Hill said he was aware that our MUGA was not big enough for football training and at the moment the football club pays to train in Gillingham and said that if there is plenty of money going then let’s make it bigger.   It was generally felt that the Council should aim to attract as many sports as possible for the refurbishment of the MUGA and that the lighting system should be improved.

37. Planning
38. a) Applications for consultation response:

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application.

The Clerk said that as far as she was aware, the Town Council was being asked to confirm whether or not it believed that the development was immune from enforcement due to the passage of time and that planning permission is not required for the abovementioned developments because they have already been in place for so long.  The Clerk said that as far as she could remember, the owner started living in a caravan on the site approximately 30-35 years ago.  The Planning Authority took enforcement action for the unauthorised use of the site for residential purposes which was eventually taken to inquiry and the Human Rights Act which had only just come into force in 2000, was applied and the owner was allowed to stay living in the caravan on the basis that the owners children were now in school and so they were allowed to stay living on the site until the youngest child had finished school.  As this was 25 years ago, it must be the case that the youngest child has finished school.   The Clerk said that as far as she was aware there had been a great deal of enforcement activity over the last 25 years relating to unauthorised residential use and unauthorised business use.   Members of the Town Council were not aware that there was any residential activity on the site other than the one occupied caravan/unit which was only authorised for a defined period.

RESOLVED to reply that the Town Council is unable to confirm that the development is lawful due to the amount of time it has been there as the Town Council was only aware of one unit of residential occupation which was authorised for a limited period of time.  The Town Council is cognizant of the fact that there had been a great deal of planning enforcement activity for the site over the last 25 years although we have not been privy to the detail, investigations or findings of this enforcement activity.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application.

38. Highways, Rivers, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
39. a) To identify jobs for the Parish Steward and MyWiltshire reports.

• Clean dirty road direction signs including the ones that say Mere Museum and other local facilities -Cllr. Jordan

1. b) Manor Road & Angel Lane priorities for Highway Maintenance for Mere? – RESOLVED to send a letter to Wiltshire Council to support Cllr. Jeans in asking for Manor Road and Angel Lane to be treated as priorities and also to ask the Chair to speak to Cllr. Jeans regarding the highway surface issues along White Road and Hazzards Hill and how best to request that these are attended to.

39. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries
40. a) Re-location of Town Council’s Honours Boards – RESOLVED to relocate the two Town Council’s Chair’s Honours Board from the Lecture Hall to the Duchy Manor site in order to make it easier for them to be updated and also so that people can view them when they are attending meetings here etc.
41. b) Castle Hill & Long Hill

• Environmental Stewardship Scheme & scrub management
• Replacement/repair fencing
• Grazing

The Clerk said this item had been raised because she wanted Councillors to be aware that the Town Council has entered a legal agreement a Higher Level Stewardship Scheme with Rural England for scrub management in order to restore Chalk grassland.  The Clerk advised members that the Town Council has to supplement the goat grazing with manpower but has not supplied the manpower over the last 3 or 4 years because our grounds staff keep being asked to do other jobs. The Chair has been to Seeds4Success who have said that they may be able to do some manual scrub management and fencing repair work.  Cllr. R. Coward corroborated the Clerk’s assessment of the situation and said that something needed to be done soon to manage the scrub regrowth and also there was a lot of dead ash trees on the hill.  Cllr. R. Coward proposed that the Council should engage contractors as the work would be too much for Seeds4Seccess to get on top of.  With regards to fencing, a number of stakes have rotted off and need replacing but the wire looks pretty good and he said that fencing repairs should also be contracted out if Seeds4Success cannot do the work.  Cllr. Coward said he would be happy to walk round and survey the stakes and liaise with a contractor and also to walk around with Jaki.

1. d) Car Park Sponsorship update (see Minutes December meeting) – The Chair said that she and Cllr. Jeans had agreed that they would get together and visit the businesses to see if more sponsorship could be generated.

*e) Proposed works on adult football pitch to be carried out by Mere Town Football Club (see Clerks Report) – RESOLVED that the Football Club be authorised to carry out the works, as detailed in the Clerks Report on condition that all vehicular access is made from the Duchy Manor site.

40. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a)  Payments – RESOLVED to authorise the payments as shown on the schedule of payments (attached) and including two extra invoices (Jeans Electricals and Wendy Hill Cleaning).  Cllr. Hazzard, having declared a pecuniary interest in this item, left the room whilst the matter was discussed and took no part in discussion or voting.

1. b) To note the reconciliations for April 2025 – the Chairman confirmed that she had verified that the bank statements accord with the reconciliation for April 2025 and had signed the reconciliation accordingly.
2. c) To report on delegated decision on insurance quotation assessment – Woolley & Wallis provided us with new property reinstatement valuations which has increased the value of our assets and it also included a valuation of our walls which came to £752k. The Clerk gave a detailed report of the insurance quotation comparisons. The delegated decision was in favour of Gallagher insurance but without insuring the walls.

*d) To note and approve the End of Year Budget/Expenditure report and associated financial summary documents (attached) – RESOLVED to approve the End of Year Budget/Expenditure report.

*e) To approve the Town Council’s Reserves Policy 2025/26 (attached) – Cllr. Colman raised an error in the Policy report.  Cllr. Jordan said he was worried about increasing the general reserves and explained why he thought the general reserves were also built into some of the earmarked reserves.  He said that increasing the general reserves in this way would have too much of an impact on the precept.  RESOLVED not to adopt the policy at this moment but to consider it again when carrying out the budget/precept meeting in October/November this year.

*f) To approve the Town Council’s Investment Strategy 2025/26 (attached) – RESOLVED to adopt without amendment.

1. To approve the transfer of £75,000 from our National Savings Account into our Lloyds Bank general account
2. To approve the transfer of £50,000 from the Lloyds Bank general account into our CCLA Public Sector Deposit Fund Account

RESOLVED to approve the above transfers.

*g) To approve DRAFT Vexatious Complaints Policy (attached) – Cllr. Colman said that it didn’t conform to other Acts and suggested that he would go through it with the Clerk for consideration again at a future meeting.

*h) Wiltshire Towns Programme – Action Plan for 24/25 and 25/26 (attached) – now had funding for both years and this is the action plan we put forward to get the funding and so we need to make sure we carry out these actions although there is one that we cannot do because it is no longer taking place i.e. the art installation on Castle Hill.  Cllr. Rachael Hansford proposed that the Town Council should organise a Halloween Event for Mere for teenagers.  She said that people already come to Mere for Halloween because it is such a good atmosphere in Mere and a lot of people go to a lot of effort.  Cllr. Colman suggested a craft market in the town and said that there was a lot going on for younger people and not a lot for older people in the town. Cllr. Ings said that he was not aware of any events that the Town Council had put on for young people and yet we put on an activities weekend for older people last year. It was agreed that both Cllr. Colman & Cllr. Hansford submit a report for their proposed activities for the Council to consider at the next meeting and decide which should be put forward to Wiltshire Council for funding.

Cllr. Jordan explained how the funding would be spent for the walking events.

*i) SSEN funding (see Clerk’s Report) & PCC Community Action Fund 2025 (see Clerks Report)

It was agreed that Cllr. Rachael Hansford would talk to David Hytch regarding the possibility of applying for the SSEN funding for EV chargers and possibly solar panels for the public toilets.

With regards to the PCC Community Action Fund – The Chair informed members that there is a lot of crime issues going on in Mere that people don’t hear about.  She said ‘we have got knife crime, drug abuse, violence, County Liners and people that have been cuckooed and young people are getting pushed into selling drugs and we have drug dealers in Mere that are increasing their network.’  It was suggested that the Town Council might use the money to get educational speakers to come and talk to the schools/youth clubs and parents to raise awareness and/or pay someone to open a drop-in centre for people to access help and advice.  Members asked why the police weren’t doing anything about these problems.  RESOLVED to invite the police to the next Town Council meeting in order to discuss these problems and ask them how we could bid for this money in a way that would be really helpful.  In the meantime, it was agreed that the Chair, Cllr. Dean and Cllr. Pester would get together and produce a report that could be distributed to councillors for the next meeting.

41. Audit and Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2024/25

*a) Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2024/25

1. To receive and note the Annual Internal Audit Report – the Final Report following the end of year Internal Audit Review carried out by the Internal Auditor Katherine Houlihan on 27^th May 2025, had been distributed to members. A copy of Page 3 of the AGAR, completed and signed by the Internal Auditor was also distributed to members prior to the meeting.  The Clerk explained that due to an oversight the Noice of Conclusion of Audit for 2023/24 had been published on the website but for some reason the External Auditor’s Report and Certificate was not on the website which meant that the Town Council had not complied with the publication requirements for 2023/24 AGAR.  The Clerk also pointed out that the Internal Auditor had not been able to answer ‘Yes’ to assertion C as although the Town Council had reviewed their Internal Controls in April 2024, which covered many of the financial risks that the council faces, it had not approved the full risk assessment and risk register until May 2025 which was outside the period of this review.  The Clerk also pointed out that the other issues raised by the Internal Auditor i.e. Incorporating the Debit Card Policy into the Financial Regulations and adopting a Reserves Policy were underway and would be addressed over the course of the next few months.
2. To approve the Annual Governance Statement (Section 1) – Points 1 – 9 of the Annual Governance statement 2024/25 (Section 1 of the AGAR) were read out to members and members answered ‘yes’ to each of the statements except statement 5 as the full risk assessment and risk register had not been approved until after the period of review (as explained in 41a)i)   The Annual Governance Statement was signed by the Clerk and by the Chair in the presence of the Town Council.

• To approve the Accounting Statements (Section 2) [attached] –The Accounting Statements 1 – 11a & 11b (Section 2 of the AGAR) were approved by the Town Council. Confirmation of approval of the Accounting Statements was signed by the Clerk/RFO on 20^th May 2025 and by the Chair in the presence of the Town Council at the meeting on 2^nd

1. To set the commencement date for the exercise of public rights – the Clerk confirmed that, as required by the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2015, the Town Council must now publish Sections 1 & 2 of the AGAR and the Notice for the Commencement of the Period for the Exercise of Public Rights and a sufficiently detailed explanation of the reasons why we have answered No to assertion 5 in Section 1. Publication is on the Town Council’s website: www.merewilts.org .  The Clerk anticipated that the commencement date would be 27^th June 2025.
2. To note other information to be sent to the External Auditor and required by External Auditor as part of Intermediate Review 2024/25 – the Clerk pointed out to members that because the Town Council had income exceeding £200k we were required to have an Intermediate Audit Review which required providing extra information to the external auditors. The extra information to be submitted for the 2024/25 intermediate review applicable to Mere Town Council is:

• A copy of the relevant minutes and agenda papers from the meeting at which the annual review of risk management arrangements during 2024/25 was discussed
• If the 2023/24 external auditor report included any ‘except for’ matters, copies of minutes and any agreed plan showing the corrective action taken to address these matters

42. General Items
43. a) VJ Day in 2025 will be observed on Friday, August 15th.This marks the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the Allies, effectively ending World War II – the Chair explained that she would be meeting with Stuart Walker who is the Royal British Legion representative and would report back to the next Town Council meeting.

43. Future meetings and events

*a) Invitation to attend Safer Together: Strengthening Community Safety Through Partnership & Anonymity (virtual briefing hosted by Crimestoppers) – 12^th June 2025 at 17.30 Online  (see Clerks Report) – the Chair said that she would register to attend this briefing.

44. Future agenda items

Note:  Members are reminded that the Town Council has a general duty to consider the following matters in the exercise of any of its functions: Equal Opportunities (race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status and any disability), Crime and Disorder, Health and Safety and Human Rights.

• None requested

*Further information on these items enclosed/attached

Meeting closed at 8.49 pm

MERE PEACE MEMORIAL SPORTS AND RECREATION GROUND

Registered Charity No. 1093497

For Trustees to consider the following:

RESOLVED to approve payment to Mere Town Council for maintenance charges               £16752.34

as per Recreation Ground Summary in End of Year Budget/Exp report