Author: Lindsey Wood

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

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of the ANNUAL MEETING OF MERE TOWN COUNCIL held on Monday, 12^TH May 2025 at 7.00 pm at Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere, Wiltshire.  BA12 6EW.  The meeting will consider the items set out below.

Present:  Councillors John Jordan (Chair), Glen Ings (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Nick Beale, Sandra Catley, Aubrey Colman, Philip Coward, Rodney Coward, Sam Dean, Rachel Hansford, Clive Hazzard, Raymond Hill, George Jeans, Alan Mead

+ 8 members of public

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

Members of the public are invited to address the Council on any issue over which it has a power. This session will be limited to 15 minutes (3 minutes per speaker). The Chairman will convene the Town Council meeting after the public session (please note that once the meeting has been convened members of the public are no longer permitted to speak unless invited to do so by the Chairman).

Mr. Hopkins spoke in support of his planning application PL/2025/02086

Mr. Lear spoke in support of his planning application PL/2025/02106

REPORTS FROM LOCAL POLICE REPRESENTATIVES

None present

1. TO RECEIVE DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE FORMS FROM ELECTED COUNCILLORS

All Councillors in attendance signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

2. TO ELECT THE CHAIR OF THE TOWN COUNCIL FOR 2025/26 AND TO RECEIVE THE CHAIR’S DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE

Cllr. Alan Mead nominated and Cllr. Rachael Hansford seconded for Cllr. Sandra Catley to be elected as Chair.  Cllr. Rodney Coward nominated and Cllr. Nick Beale seconded for Cllr. John Jordan to be elected as Chair.  A secret ballot was carried out amongst councillors with Sandra Catley receiving 8 votes and John Jordan receiving 6 votes.  Cllr. Sandra Catley duly elected as Chair and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Cllr. Sandra Catley in The Chair

3. VOTE OF THANKS TO OUTGOING CHAIR

The outgoing Chair, Cllr. John Jordan, was given a vote of thanks for his hard work as Chair during the last year.

4. TO ELECT VICE-CHAIR OF THE TOWN COUNCIL FOR 2025/26 AND TO RECEIVE THE VICE-CHAIR’S DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE

Cllr. Sandra Catley nominated Cllr. Rachael Hansford to be elected as Vice-Chair, seconded by Cllr. Ings,  There being no other nominations, this proposal was put to the vote and carried with a unanimous vote.  Cllr. Rachael Hansford duly elected as Vice-Chair and signed her Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

5. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires a record to be kept of the members present and that this record form part of the minutes of the meeting.  Members who cannot attend a meeting should tender apologies to the Town Clerk.

Apologies for absence received from Cllr. Steven Pester.  Members gave authority for Cllr. Steven Pester to sign his Declaration of Acceptance of Office in the presence of the Clerk at a later date

6. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

• To receive Declarations of Interest relating to matters contained in this agenda, in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 in respect of officers and the Localism Act 2011 in respect of members.
• To receive written requests for new DPI dispensations.

Members are invited to declare disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests in items on the agenda as required by the Mere Town Council Code of Conduct for Members and by the Localism Act 2011.  The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.  If you become aware, during the course of a meeting, of an interest that has not been disclosed under this item, you must immediately disclose it.  Whether you can remain in the meeting and the extent to which you can participate depends on the type of interest you have.

• Jeans declared a personal interest in Minute No. 22a)
• Jordan declared a pecuniary interest in Minute No. 27a) (recipient)

7. MINUTES – RESOLVED to approve as a correct record, the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Monday, 7^th April 2025.

8. STANDING ORDERS – To approve and adopt the Standing Orders for Mere Town Council (attached) – the Standing Orders (updated 6.5.25) were approved subject to the statutory procurement threshold amendment.

9. FINANCIAL REGULATIONS – To approve and adopt the Financial Regulations for Mere Town Council (attached) – Agreed to defer consideration of the Financial Regulations until after the Internal Audit as the Clerk said that she had some questions for the internal auditor relating to this matter.

10. INTERNAL AUDITOR – To appoint an Internal Auditor – RESOLVED to re-appoint the services of Kate Houlihan via the Local Council Consultancy service if she is happy to continue.

11. COMMITTEE STRUCTURES – To review Committee Structures and appointment of any committees in accordance with standing order 4 and, if appointing committees, to consider Terms of Reference and membership – It was agreed that the Town Council would continue with the present arrangements of having an Annual Budget Committee + Staffing Panel & Appeals Committee only and an ad-hoc structure of Working Groups as and when considered necessary and required.

12. WORKING GROUPS – To appoint members, including Convenors, to serve on Working Groups as required – as above.

13. STAFFING PANEL – To appoint members, including the Chairman to serve on the Staffing Panel – It was agreed that the Staffing Panel member make-up should be Chair, Cllr. Colman & Cllr. Philip Coward.

14. APPEALS COMMITTEE – To appoint members, including the Vice- Chairman. It was agreed that the Appeals Committee member make-up should be the Vice-Chair, Cllr. Debbie Beale and Cllr. John Jordan.

15. APPOINTMENT TO OUTSIDE BODIES – To appoint representatives on the under mentioned bodies as required:

Review of representation on or work with external bodies and arrangements for reporting back;

The Clerk pointed out that councillors listed above should contact the groups and organisations to inform them that they were the Town Council’s representative for the ensuing year.

16. ASSET REGISTER – To review the Town Council asset register for 2025/26 (attached) & Asset Management Policy (attached) – approved without amendment.

*17. INSURANCE POLICY – To review the Council’s Insurance Policy and discuss/decide on alterations. (see Clerks Report) – Members noted the building reinstatement valuations.  The Clerk pointed out that she was hoping for two insurance quotations to compare today but only one had been received in time.  It was therefore agreed to delegate the decision on the insurance policy to the Chair and Vice-Chair.

18. BANKING AND FINANCIAL POLICIES – the following (a-c) below were considered and approved en bloc.
19. To review the Council’s banking and signatory arrangements including Draft Business Debit Card Policy (attached) – the Clerk confirmed that the Council’s banking was currently paced with Lloyds Bank and that there were two councillors that verified the payments by physically signing each invoice.
20. *To approve the schedule for Standing Orders and Direct Debits (in Clerks Report)
21. *To approve membership and subscriptions for the council year (in Clerks Report)

19. POLICIES

To review and decide on amendments to Council policies:

1. Scheme of Delegation (attached) – RESOLVED to adopt the Scheme of Delegation without amendment.
2. Draft Safeguarding Policy (attached) – RESOLVED to adopt the Safeguarding Policy without amendment. Jordan said that the policy should be made available in all of our facilities.
3. Investment Policy (pending review) – deferred.
4. Reserves Policy (pending review) – deferred.
5. Governance & Management Risk Register – RESOLVED to adopt both documents without amendment.

20. MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL – RESOLVED to continue with current arrangement of holding meetings

on the first Monday of every month unless it is a bank holiday, in which case the Town Council will meet on the following Monday. The Town Council does not have a scheduled monthly meeting in August.  It was agreed that meetings would continue to start at 7.00 pm.

21. Matters Arising from Public Session

• None

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

*a) Request for the use of a part of Salisbury Street Car Park for Charles Coles Family Funfairs to have a small funfair for the Mere Carnival event on 13.9.25 – Mr. Tim Thorn representing Charles Coles Family Funfairs will be attending the meeting to answer questions and provide more details to clarify points raised at the last meeting.

Mr. Thorn confirmed that Coles Family Funfairs would arrive on the Friday night after business hours (6pm – 7pm), set things up (it would be a couple of rides, a couple of children’s rides and some games), open for Carnival Day and pack up on Saturday night and take it all away.  No-one will be staying on site and all the equipment will be confined within the area shown on the plan with rights of access maintained.  There was a discussion about where residents would be able to park if they found themselves displaced by the Funfair but Cllr. Hazzard said that this wasn’t really the responsibility of the Town Council.  Mr. Thorn confirmed that signage would go into the car park beforehand to warn people and that they would deploy someone into the car park during the day to advise people that they would need to move their cars by a certain time.  Members felt that the Carnival needed the funfair in order to survive and it was RESOLVED that the Funfair could use the car park on Carnival Day as indicated.  Having declared a personal interest in the above matter, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting.

23. Reports & Consultations
24. a) Wiltshire Councillors Report – Cllr. Jeans reported on the lack of progress being made on fibre broadband to premises for Mere. It was agreed to raise this as a future agenda item.

24. Planning
25. a) Applications for consultation response:

Cllr. Jeans explained that this kind of ‘exchange’ has happened in the past whereby a Class Q permission is exchanged for a new build.  Cllr. Debbie Beale said that this planning application has not changed since it was considered last month.  Cllr. Nick Beale said that he thought the application should be refused as it seemed like it was a way round getting a new build on agricultural land.  Mr. Marshall was invited to speak and said that the bungalow would be 25m away from the barn.  Cllr. Ings said that providing the bungalow was tied to the farm he felt that it was preferable considering that the barn was on a flood plain.  Cllr. Nick Beale proposed that, since the application has not been amended, the Town Council should object to the proposal for exactly the same reasons as last month.  Seconded by Debbie Beale.  Vote 3 for and 7 against & 4 abstentions.  Substantive motion was put forward by Cllr. Ings to support the application subject to the bungalow being occupied by a person solely or mainly working or last working at the agricultural enterprise known as The Acorns, Barrow Street, Mere.  Seconded by Cllr. Alan Mead and carried with a vote of 7 for, 3 against and 3 abstentions.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

Cllr. John Jordan said that this property is not visible from the road and he couldn’t see an issue here.  RESOLVED to recommend that this application is recommended for approval.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

RESOLVED to recommend that this application is recommended for approval.  Following a suggestion from the Clerk, members agreed to invite Redcliffe Homes to a future Town Council meeting for a pre-application discussion prior to them submitting a Reserved Matters application.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application.  [In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

25. 25. Highways, Rivers, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
26. To identify jobs for the Parish Steward, Sparkle Team and MyWiltshire reports.

• Property on North Road with a hedge causing an obstruction to the pavement and visibility obstruction on Denes Avenue/North Road junction.

26. Wiltshire Council – Highways Capital Programme 2025/26 – the Cabinet Member for Highways, Street Scheme and Flooding has approved the funding allocations and scheme lists for 2025/26. For further information please see page on Wiltshire Council’s website: https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?id=2135&LLL=0

Cllr. Jordan said that the document was disappointing with the programme included some repairs to Whitehill Lane, Limpers Hill would have some repair work for the little bit by The Pax in 2027/28, Burton Lane has some repair work identified but with no date and then they have said that there are access issues for Manor Road.  After having raised the last issue with our Wiltshire Councillor, their response was that they had to consider the safety of operatives, buildings and members of the public when assessing sites for access.  There was some work identified for Park Corner Farm.

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

27. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a)  Payments – Having declared a pecuniary interest in this item, Cllr. Jordan left the meeting room whilst this matter was discussed.  RESOLVED to authorise schedule of payments (attached).

1. b) Bank Reconciliation – Cllr. Jordan confirmed that he had signed and verified the bank reconciliation for March 2025 against the bank statements whilst he was still Chairman.
2. c) The Heritage Revival Fund has been created to help communities across England rescue and repurpose neglected historic buildings – Cllr. Jordan said that some time ago the Clerk had shared a document outlining a vision that she had for restoring and using the two chapels and he was keen to see if this fund might be suitable for this funding. It was agreed to raise this as a future agenda item.

28. General Items

29. Future meetings and events

The Clerk reported that there was an Extraordinary SWW Area Board meeting on 20^th May at 11 am at County Hall, Trowbridge where they would be electing Chair, Vice-Chair and appointments to the LHFIG.

30. Future agenda items

The Clerk gave a list of some of the agenda items that were pending and would be raised for discussion over the next few months.

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 8.30 pm

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

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

Present:  Councillors John Jordan (Chair), Glen Ings (Vice-Chair), Debbie Beale, Nick Beale, Aubrey Colman, Rodney Coward, Clive Hazzard, George Jeans, Linden Stone, Kate Symonds & Lesley Traves.

1 member of public

Public Participation Session

Mr. Fineman spoke in favour of his planning application at Breaches Barn.

Clive Hazzard congratulated the Clerk on her April Fools email.  He also asked whether any potential Town Councillor candidates had thoughts on putting together an election leaflet and suggested that a candidate may like to gather a few lines from each candidate and put them all together on a leaflet that could be published on social media etc.

John Jordan thanked the volunteers who came out to do the Spring Clean litter pick with him yesterday.  He said that there was good turnout and the litter pick was carried out with great enthusiasm.

John Jordan also suggested that perhaps an experienced ex-Chair might want to take on the role of Vice-Chair to add support to a new Chair for the new Council after the elections in May and stressed that it is an honour to take on the role of Chair to the Town Council and encouraged someone new to take on the role.

Reports from local police representatives

• None present

548. Apologies for absence received from Cllrs. Sandra Catley & Raymond Hill.

549. 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 Minute No. 557a) Finance (recipient).
• Jeans declared a personal interest in Minute No. 556 in respect of Coles Funfair’s request to use Salisbury Street Car Park.

550. Minutes – RESOLVED that the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on 3^rd March 2025 be approved and signed as a correct record. RESOLVED that the Minutes of the working group meeting held to review & assess the effectiveness of Internal Control Measures held on Tuesday, 25^th March 2025 be approved and signed as a correct record.

551. Matters Arising from Public Session

Cllr. Jeans said that he thought it would be a good idea for candidates to get together and produce a leaflet.  He did, however, suggest that if these are to be published on social media then it would be advisable to turn off comments because he said that people can be very rude on social media.  The Chairman said that this was not a Town Council responsibility but could be done outside the Council by a group or by individual councillors.

The Clerk said that the Notice of Poll would be printed off and placed on the noticeboards, post office window and put on social media sites as a reminder for people to go and vote (with comments turned off).

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

*a) Annual Town Meeting – draft Agenda attached.  The agenda was approved without amendment.  The Chairman encouraged members to attend the meeting.

553. Reports & Consultations
554. a) Wiltshire Councillors Report – Cllr. Jeans reported that he had made 6 trips to Salisbury with 45 sets of nomination papers for Town & Parish Council candidates in the last couple of weeks. He said that he had received a lot of reports of dog fouling in public places. Double yellow lines in Salisbury Street have been painted in the wrong place and are covering three on-street parking spaces.  Horse riding has now been included in the LTP4 document.

554. Planning
555. a) Applications for consultation response:

As the extension has an exterior door and could, potentially, become self-contained it was RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application with the following condition:

That the extension remains ancillary to the occupation of The Pax and cannot be occupied separately, rented out as self-contained accommodation or sold off separately.

[In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from voting on this matter.]

It was pointed out that this proposal was an alternative development scheme for the barn at The Acorns which was approved under Class Q on application number PL/2024/07389 and that if this proposed development were to receive planning permission then the barn, subject to the Class Q conversion would be demolished.  The Clerk also pointed out that the Class Q permission on the barn was subject to an agricultural tie.  The Chair pointed out that the location of the proposed bungalow was closer to footpaths.  RESOLVED to raise an objection to the above planning application as the proposal would place development in agricultural land in the open countryside and would place a detrimental visual impact on the landscape when viewed from Bridleway MERE45/10 and Footpaths MERE 27/10 & MERE 44/10.  The fall-back option is preferable as the residential conversion of the barn approved under PL/2024/07389 is closer to the concentration of existing farm buildings and will have less of a visual impact on the rural landscape.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application.

RESOLVED to recommend the above application for approval.

RESOLVED to recommend the above application for approval.

RESOLVED to recommend the above applications for approval subject to the following condition:

The Town Council could find no mention for the materials of the replacement doors, windows, and dormer windows and assume that, as this is a Listed Building, that these will be made of timber.  Can this please be conditioned.

555. 555. Highways, Rivers, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
556. a) To identify jobs for the Parish Steward, Sparkle Team and MyWiltshire reports.

• Potholes in Manor Road and Denes Avenue

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

*a) Request for the use of a part of Salisbury Street Car Park for Charles Coles Family Funfairs to have a small funfair for the Mere Carnival event on 13.9.25 (information in Clerks Report + attachment)

Cllr. Jeans declared a personal interest in this matter and left the meeting whilst it was discussed.  The Clerk confirmed that she had made an approach to Wiltshire Council who had agreed, in principle, to depart from the terms of the lease for this one occasion and use part of the car park as detailed.

Members noted that it was not clear whether the area identified was just for rides or whether it would also include trailers and vehicles for the funfair operators.  There were no proposals as to how the area would be made clear beforehand.  Members felt that, generally, the area that was marked on the plan was too big an area and would take up too many car parking spaces but felt that they should go back to Charles Coles Family Funfairs and ask if it might be possible for them to use a smaller area for just toddler rides etc. and provide a bit more detail about how they plan to maintain access, consult with residents that need access, consult with the doctors surgery and how they proposed to stop people from parking on the area that they want to use.  There was a brief discussion about whether or not the Town Council could offer alternative parking spaces for those that might be displaced.

557. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a)  Payments – RESOLVED to authorise schedule of payments (attached)

1. b) To note the reconciliations for February 2025 – the Chairman confirmed that he had verified the bank reconciliation against the bank statements and signed accordingly.

*c) Effectiveness of Internal Control Measures – RESOLVED to adopt recommendations of working group as outlined in Minutes of Working group meeting held to review & assess the effectiveness of Internal Control Measures held on Tuesday, 25^th March 2025 (Minutes attached) and RESOLVED to approve and sign the Statement of Internal Control 2024/25 (draft attached).

*d) To report on allotment rent audit (see Clerks Report) – Noted without comment.

1. e) 2023/24 Annual Governance & Accountability Return external auditor instructions – the Clerk reported that instructions had now been received from the External Auditor and that the Town Council would be subject to an intermediate review – the additional requirements for this year related to the Annual Review of Risk Management arrangements was discussed.

558. General Items

Briefing Notes

• Briefing Note no. 25-02 Management of Council business and publicity, during the pre-election period.
• Briefing Note 25 -03 – Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) update

The Clerk pointed out that she had viewed the map and it would appear that Castle Hill & Long Hill had been identified as wooded areas in this strategy.  Cllr. Rodney Coward felt that this strategy was possibly contradicted by the governments new ruling to stop all new applications for Sustainable Farming Initiative grant.  It was agreed that members would spend more time looking at this.

559. Future meetings and events

Annual Town Meeting – Wednesday, 23^rd April 2025

560. Future agenda items

NB – Please note that the next Town Council meeting will be the Annual Town Council meeting and will be held on Monday, 12^th May 2025

Cllr. Jeans asked for the resurfacing of the uneven paved surface by the bus stop outside Balcony Cottages in The Square to be discussed at a future meeting.

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 8.09 pm

Approved at Mere Town Council meeting held on 12^th May 2025

Signed:                                                                                                                                                                 Chair of meeting.

Signed by the Chair of the meeting

MERE PEACE MEMORIAL SPORTS AND RECREATION GROUND

Registered Charity No. 1093497

Meeting convened at 8.09 pm

For the Trustee to consider the following:

1. Lease between Mere Peace Charity and Seeds4Success – please see attached documents:

• Project Co-Ordinator’s Report (attached)
• Draft Lease prepared by Wellers Hedley (attached)
• Rental Valuation report for Youth Centre Building (attached)
• Schedule of Condition for Youth Centre Building (attached)

RESOLVED to send the Draft Lease and the two commercial documents to Seeds4Success for comment and review.

1. RESOLVED to authorise the following payment:

Water2Business – Standing Charge for water supply to old cricket shed                 £ 30.99

Wiltshire Council – Business Rates for Recreation Ground                                        £  0.00

Meeting closed at 8.12 pm

Approved at Mere Town Council meeting held on 12^th May 2025

Signed:                                                                                                                                                                 Chair of meeting.

Signed by the Chair of the meeting