Author: Lindsey Wood

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 29^th March 23021 at 6.00 pm online at Zoom.us

Present:  Cllr. C. Hazzard (Chairman), E. Mitchell (Vice-Chairman), Mrs. D. Beale, A. Colman, P. Coward, R. Coward, R. Hill, G. Ings, G. Jeans, J. Jordan, B. Norris, R. Sims, Mrs. L. Traves

Also: Mr. & Mrs. Hollick, Hayley Mundy, Patrick Sumner & Mrs. Elaine Stallard, Chairman of Mere PPG

Public Session

Hayley Mundy spoke in support of planning applications 21/00640/FUL & 21/01974/ADV stating that she had purchased 5 Wyvern House and planned to turn the downstairs into a hairdressing salon and upstairs into a flat.  She said that the current premises her hairdresser’s business operated from was desperately short of space and also the access was not great with 2 steps into the salon.  She said that she was certain it was rare that someone was taking a residential premises and asking to change its use to a commercial premises in a high street location but felt it was time to move the business forward and hoped that the Town Council would view this as a positive step.  She planned to use the existing signage but to move it across the wall and would like to add 2 lights over the sign.  Lastly, she said that she felt it was vital to keep car parking free in Mere’s car parks and said that she would continue to sponsor the Town Council in order to support this free facility.

Mr. & Mrs. Hollick spoke in support of their planning application 21/01809/FUL.  Mrs. Hollick explained that the application was to provide parking for 2 Edgebridge and pointed out that there had been a dropped kerb there for many years where there was a gated access to a paddock.  This provision of off-road parking would help to keep cars from parking on Clements Lane.  The Chairman said that he could remember that there was an old wooden gate in the hedge.

Roy Sims said that as a volunteer at the local police station, he was extremely upset that he was not invited to attend the commemorative farewell photo opportunity for PCSO Peter Tscherniawsky’s retirement.

John Jordan commented on how nice it was to walk across The Meads now that the footpath had been widened and thanked the Sparkle Team for carrying out this job in co-operation/co-ordination with the Town Council.

Apologies for absence received from Cllr. Mrs. Symonds.

206. To receive declarations of interest from members and to consider 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.

(a) 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.

• Mrs. Beale declared a pecuniary interest in Minute No. 208b)
• Jeans declared a pecuniary & personal interest in planning application refs: 21/00640/FUL & 21/01974ADV & a personal interest in planning application ref: 21/02292/TCA
• Hill declared a personal interest in planning application refs: 21/00640/FUL & 21/01974ADV
• Hazzard declared a pecuniary interest in Minute No. 210b)

(b) To consider any dispensation requests received by the Town Clerk.

207. Minutes – RESOLVED to approve Minutes of Annual Meeting to assess the effectiveness of Internal Controls – meeting held on Thursday, 18^th March 2021. Proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote of those present.

208. Planning
209. a) Applications: (All applications can be viewed on Wiltshire Council’s website http://planning.wiltshire.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/ApplicationSearch.aspx – and type in the relevant application number)

Cllr. Jordan said that he was familiar with the site and felt that the application was of sympathetic design that would not cause an overlooking issue for any neighbours.  Cllr. Mrs. Beale said that she was familiar with the area and thought it would make sense for someone to live on site to support the business that they are proposing.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the application on the understanding that the property will have an agricultural occupancy condition.  Proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a majority vote in favour. In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend the above application for approval on proposal made by Cllr. Colman, seconded by Cllr. R. Coward and carried with a majority vote.  Cllr. Jeans and Cllr. Hill, having declared an interest in this planning application, refrained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend the above application for approval on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. Ings and carried with a majority vote.  Cllr. Jeans and Cllr. Hill, having declared an interest in this planning application, refrained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. R. Hill and carried with a majority vote.  There was one vote against the application and in order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a majority vote.  Cllr. Jeans had declared a personal interest in the above application and therefore abstained from discussion or voting.

Cllr. Jordan confirmed that the width and route of the Right of Way would be unaffected by this application.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. Sims and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

*b) Notification of Enforcement Appeal for Land at the Old Nurseries, Burton, Mere.  BA12 6FH – Cllr. Mrs. Beale, having declared a pecuniary interest in this matter, left the meeting room whilst this matter was discussed.  The Clerk confirmed that Wiltshire Council has provided us with notification of two enforcement appeals that have been lodged with the Planning Inspectorate. The appeals are against two alleged breaches of planning control:

1. Without planning permission, the material change of use of the land for the siting of a caravan for residential purposes. (Appeal Ref:  APP/Y3940/C/20/3262575)
2. Without planning permission, operational development consisting of the construction of an earth bund on the Land in the approximate location identified by a green line on the attached plan as well as shown in the photograph attached to the Notice shown as ‘Notice Photograph’. (Appeal Ref: APP/Y3940/C/20/3262563)

Both the appeals are against Enforcement Notices in respect of the site and are to be decided on the basis of the Written Representations procedure.

The Clerk had prepared a suggested written submission for the planning inspectorate which had been distributed to members with their agenda papers.  Cllr. Jeans said that because the Clerk had drafted the submission, it needed to be approved and proposed by the Town Council.  The Chairman proposed that the Clerk’s suggested submission be adopted as the Town Council’s formal written submission without amendment.  This proposal was seconded by Cllr. Jeans and carried with a unanimous vote.  Cllr. Jeans requested that the Clerk point out to the Planning Inspector that this view was the unanimous view of the Council so that the inspector knows the strength of feeling.

*c) Request from Mere Surgery Patient Participation Group for support to undertake a research project into proposals for a Community Health Centre at Fives Court, Angel Lane – Mrs. Elaine Stallard, Chair of Mere Surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG) said that she had two requests: one is to hold a qualitative research survey of all housesholds served by Mere Surgery to establish whether there is local support for a Mere Community Health Centre to be established in Fives Court, Angel Lane, Mere.  She explained that many of the community health services that used to be offered from Mere have now moved to The Nadder Centre in Tisbury.  It is felt that whilst the Nadder Centre is a good resource, it is not the most accessible location for residents of Mere as the 11 mile journey each way across the A303 and through Hindon is not an easy one and is off-putting for many people, particularly the elderly.  There is no public transport and the cost of a taxi is prohibitive.  We would be able to present a much stronger case if our research was supported by the Town Council. The second request is for support in exploring the availability of Fives Court as a building to provide these community health facilities, should the research prove a demand.  Cllr. Jordan said that he would support any move in this direction.  He said that in the Local Plan Review, Wiltshire Council refer to Mere as a local service centre but they have been rapidly removing all the services so it would be nice to actually provide more services to support the status. Cllr. Jeans said that Tisbury seems to be the epicentre for a lot of facilities.  However, he questioned how it would affect the Tisbury Health Centre if the Mere facilities were moved from the site.  The Chairman proposed that the Town Council should give backing to the PPG to carry out survey research on the residents of Mere to localise services by utilising the Fives Court building in Angel Lane.  Proposal carried with a unanimous vote of approval.

209. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries
210. Reopening of facilities – the Clerk said that the Town Council would be reopening all facilities with risk assessments and in accordance with government guidelines and with individual sporting association guidance over the course of the next few weeks.
211. Request from Mere Literary Festival for banner on clock tower – RESOLVED to approve the use of the Clock Tower for a banner to advertise the Mere Literary Festival in accordance with the Town Council’s banner policy.

210. Finance, Policy & Resource

*a) To adopt recommendations of annual working group meeting held to assess the effectiveness of internal controls (Minutes of meeting attached) –   RESOLVED to adopt recommendations on proposal made by Cllr. Norris, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote.

Cllr. Mitchell in The Chair

1. b) Payments -To approve payments as set out in the payment schedule attached – Cllr. Hazzard, having declared a pecuniary interest in this item, left the meeting room and took no part in discussion or voting. Councillors questioned the payment to North Street Nurseries and it was confirmed that this was rental for the workshop compound for the Council’s grounds staff and that the rental figure of £25 per unit, per week, had previously been approved. Mitchell confirmed that the Council staff now have a good set-up which is in a far more secure location with good facilities in this compound area.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the payments as shown in the payment schedule on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote of those present.

211. Forthcoming elections & pre-election period (purdah)

The Clerk said that there is specific guidance for members and officers on the management of council business and publicity in the run-up to the elections on 6^th May.  Although it is permissible to publish factual information which identifies the names, wards and parties of candidates at elections, we must take care not to publish any information relating to individuals involved directly in the elections or any political parties.

The Clerk reminded members that she had offered to submit nomination papers to Wiltshire Council offices in Salisbury and had booked an appointment for Thursday, 1^st April.  Therefore, Wednesday evening was the last opportunity for people to get their nomination papers to her if they wished to take advantage of this offer.

212. Forthcoming meetings/events – the Clerk said that the next meeting of the Town Council would be held on Monday, 12^th April. She also informed members that, following a request from the National Association of Local Councils, the government had declined to extend s.78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 enabling local councils to hold remote meetings beyond 7^th May.  She understood that this decision has now led to a court case.

Meeting closed at 19.05 p.m.

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

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 1^st March 2021 at 6.00 pm online at Zoom.us

Present on Zoom:  Cllrs C. Hazzard (Chairman), Mrs. D. Beale, A. Colman, P. Coward, R. Coward, G. Ings, G. Jeans, J. Jordan, E. Mitchell, B. Norris, & Mrs. K. Symonds

Also present on Zoom:  Mr. Mark Bassett from Freeths, Mr. & Mrs. Brown and Sandra Catley.

Public Session

Mr. Mike Brown explained that he was the owner of 3 The Paddocks and had submitted a planning application to extend the property.  He explained that he and his family had strong local connections and loved living in Mere and the purpose of this planning application was to enable them to stay in Mere for the long term.   Mr. Mark Bassett from Freeths said that he had joined the meeting to answer any questions relating to the planning application for the care home on land adjacent to Quarryfield Industrial Estate.

Apologies for absence –  Cllrs. R. Hill, R. Sims & Mrs. L. Traves tried to join the meeting but were unable to due to technical issues relating to joining Zoom and sent their apologies.  The Chairman also informed members that he had today received a resignation letter from Cllr. Alan Mead and he thanked Cllr. Mead for all the work he had done during his time as a Town Councillor.  The Clerk said that due to the closeness of the elections, it would not be necessary to declare a vacancy and co-opt another councillor.

196. To receive declarations of interest from members and to consider 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.

• 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.
• P. Coward pointed out that he may have a declaration of interest in the planning application 20/11079/Ful as he is Chairman of Hillbrush which is near to the application site.
• To consider any dispensation requests received by the Town Clerk.
• None received

197. Minutes – RESOLVED to approve the Minutes of the meetings held on Monday, 1^st February 2021 on proposal made by Cllr. Colman, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a unanimous vote of those present on 1.2.21

198. Matters Arising
199. a) Report on Wiltshire Council’s cabinet meeting on 2^nd February regarding re-charge of Town & Parish Council election costs – the Clerk informed members that the issue had been withdrawn from the agenda and was not discussed at the meeting. She confirmed that Wiltshire Council were unlikely to impose any re-charges to Town & Parish Councils for elections this year.

199. Planning
200. a) Applications: (All applications can be viewed on Wiltshire Council’s website http://planning.wiltshire.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/ApplicationSearch.aspx – and type in the relevant application number)

The Chairman said that he had been to the site and spoken to the applicant who currently has a shed which is hidden behind a hedgerow.  The applicant would like to replace this with a new shed which will protrude further out at the front of the garden and also wanted to widen his driveway so as to accommodate more vehicles.    As the house would have been a local authority house at one time, the Chairman wondered whether there were restrictive covenants which precluded development on front gardens as there are in other areas of Mere.  Cllr. Jordan pointed out that there had been no objection raised from the Highways Department.  RESOLVED to support the planning application adding an informative with the advice that Title Deeds should be checked for restrictive covenants.  Proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Symonds and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

The Chairman pointed out that the Town Council had received an objection from the owners of Greystones and the Clerk read out the email which was objecting to the windows on the east elevations on the basis that they would overlook Greystones.  The email stated that the addition of an upper floor will mean that the proposed large window and the dormer on the front of the building would overlook the rear of Greystones and impact on their privacy and went on to suggest an alternative scheme/proposal that would cause less impact.  Cllr. Jordan said that he thought the proposal was aesthetically pleasing but agreed that the eastern elevation did seem to overlook neighbours.  He said that he initially had some concerns about the balcony overlooking the cemetery too but had been reassured by comments made by the applicant in the public session.  Cllr. Norris said that he was a bit uncomfortable about this planning application and Cllr. Colman said that he felt it did impinge on neighbours privacy.  Cllr. P. Coward felt that the plans could be tweaked quite easily to make them more acceptable.  He said he could see exactly why the applicants wanted to extend the bungalow but he agreed that the big window would cause a privacy issue.   RESOLVED to approve the planning application ON CONDITION that the proposals for the feature window and dormer on the eastern elevation are altered to reduce the overlooking and infringement of privacy on the neighbouring property.  Proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

The Chairman said that he had visited the site and could see not obvious reasons to give concern about this application.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the application on proposal made by Cllr. Norris, seconded by Cllr. Ings and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

The Chairman said that he had visited the site but found it difficult to assess how it would affect neighbours but it was pointed out that other similar conservatories had been approved in the area and a precedent had been set.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the application on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. R. Coward and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

Members said that they had struggled to see what the amendment related to.  The Clerk pointed out that in the Design & Access Statement it says that the amendment is to cover a change from reusing existing concrete plain tiles to a new natural slate tiled roof.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the application on condition that the amendment relates to the roof materials only on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Symonds and carried with a majority vote. In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

Cllr. Mitchell stated that this planning application would affect the owner of the middle barn who has raised no objection.  However, Cllr. Mitchell pointed out that the existing barn has no window on the western elevation and noted that the proposals were to introduce a window on this elevation and Cllr. Mitchell felt that this window would face into the middle barn and cause an unacceptable level of overlooking and loss of privacy.  Cllr. Jordan said that he agreed.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the application ON CONDITION that the window on the western elevation is removed completely so as to avoid overlooking and loss of privacy to neighbours.  Proposal made by the Chairman and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

Cllr. Colman said he thought that the plan would be very suitable for the area but questioned whether there was sufficient parking space for the workers.  Cllr. Norris said that he could not understand why anyone would want to build a care home and place our most vulnerable people outside the settlement area and in so doing we would be using up valuable industrial land.  Cllr. Jordan said that it is a 3-storey building and it would be preferable to have a 3-storey building in this location than it would be in the middle of Mere.  However, he felt that it would tower over its neighbour, Boundary House.  Cllr. P. Coward said that he had written a letter in to the planning authority on behalf of Hillbrush.  Hillbrush do not have any objection to the application but they have concerns relating to the need to change the classification of the land allocation which currently has planning permission for B1 and B8 industrial use which does not cover care homes.  Whilst Hillbrush does not emit much noise in the course of their day-to-day activity, they do have a number of heavy and light goods vehicles entering the site each day and would not want complaints about this due to the proximity of a care home.    Furthermore, they had raised concern about the number of car parking spaces and the likelihood of visitors for the care home attempting to park on Hillbrush site or on the access roads if they could not park in the care home’s designated parking spaces.    The Chairman said that he was quite surprised that the applicants had not been in touch with the local doctor’s surgery.  He confirmed that he had contacted the Doctors at Mere Surgery who had said that they would in principle support further residential capacity for the local residents in light of the recent Fives Court closure.  The Chairman said that on the issue of car parking he noted that the idea was for staff to walk to the site from Mere and he pointed out that it was not safe to encourage pedestrians to walk this route due to the visibility difficulties at the B3092/3095 junction.  He said that he would like to see some improvements made to this junction to improve safety for pedestrians to walk to the site from Mere.  Cllr. Colman said that he could not believe that people would walk to work there because of the shift patterns involved in this type of work.  Cllr. Rodney Coward said that this was the only site he was aware of locally that could accommodate such a building with the associated parking.  Cllr. Jeans reminded members that the land is technically within the parish of Zeals although this employment allocation for B1 & B8 within the Local Plan has been envisaged for Mere employment.  The use of the land has much more impact on Mere than it does for Zeals and that will be a consideration when it comes to CIL funding.  Cllr. Jeans reiterated that the land has been allocated as employment land for the last 30 years and has had very little take-up from businesses although there is an extant planning permission for land adjacent to the care home site but this is for an office-based business.  Cllr. Jeans said that he had received confirmation that the width of the road is 6.3m and the pavements were 2.5m wide and therefore he felt comfortable that visitors could park on the roadside without causing an obstruction.  He also pointed out that there would be restrictions for years to come on visitor numbers to care homes.  The Chairman closed the meeting in order to allow Mr. Mark Bassett to speak and Mr. Bassett confirmed that there were 30 parking spaces shown on the plans.  He pointed out that he thought it would be possible to achieve an additional 4 parking spaces and possibly another four but he doubted whether the last four would be acceptable to the Highways Department.  He said he therefore had authority to submit a revised plan that would include 38 parking spaces.  He also confirmed that the number of jobs created would be 73 staff, working in shifts of 37 over a 24-hour period and that they would recruit as many as possible from the local area.  The Chairman said that he was in favour of this planning application and was happy to ask Cllr. Jeans to take this to committee.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of this planning application with the following CONDITIONS

• A revised application is submitted showing as many parking spaces as possible
• To make adaptations to the B3092/3095 junction to improve pedestrian visibility when crossing the junction from west to east (from the care home towards Mere), in order to improve pedestrian safety.
• The Town Council request that Cllr. Jeans ‘call in’ this planning application on the basis that it is a departure from the Industrial Classifications previously applied to this employment land allocation and giving consideration to the fact that Zeals Parish Council’s consultation submission is, as yet, unknown.

Proposal made by the Chairman, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a vote of 7 for, 1 against and 2 abstentions (Cllr. P. Coward and Cllr. G. Jeans).  Cllr. Norris asked for his vote against this planning application to be recorded in the minutes.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

*b) Wiltshire Local Plan Review and Gypsy and Travellers Plan – to consider consultation response.  (Report prepared by the Clerk attached) – With reference to the report that had been prepared by the Clerk & distributed to councillors, Cllr. Mitchell said that he thought the Clerk had done a lot of work on this submission report and congratulated her on an exceptional job and he asked for this to be Minuted.  Members agreed and thanked the Clerk for preparing this submission report and it was RESOLVED to send this submission to Wiltshire Council as the Town Council’s formal response with the following additions: Cllr. Rodney Coward raised the question as to whether it was fair to impose the same requirement of affordable housing on the development of a brownfield site as was being required for the development of a greenfield site.  He said that some incentive needed to be provided to encourage development of brownfield sites and given the fact that it would generally be necessary to factor in site demolition/clearance costs which would not be necessary on a greenfield site.  Cllr. Jordan said that he would be happy with a reduction in the percentage of affordable housing but he was not happy with the fact that some developers tried to get away without providing any affordable housing by stating that it was not financially viable.  Cllr. P. Coward said that affordable housing is worthless to developers so if there is a requirement for 40% affordable housing then it makes the other 60% much more expensive.  RESOLVED to add the following paragraph on proposal made by Cllr. Mitchell, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote: Mere Town Council would prefer to encourage residential development on redundant brownfield sites than use a greenfield site to provide the housing target figures.  However, there should be a small allowance either in S.106/CIL payments or affordable housing percentages in recognition that it may cost the developer more money to clear a redundant brownfield site than it would to start from scratch on a greenfield site.  It was also agreed that the Clerk should add a paragraph relating to requirement for more employment allocations – Cllr. Jeans said that he had local knowledge of businesses that would like to come to Mere but have been prevented from doing so due to the lack of employment allocations.  It was agreed to ask Wiltshire Council to revisit their calculations on employment allocations as we suspect there is a deficiency.

1. c) Liaison with Gillingham Town Council over Dorset Local Plan vs Wiltshire Local Plan – The Clerk said that she had received contact from Gillingham Town Council ‘Our councillors are currently reviewing the Dorset Local Plan and I presume your councillors are doing the same with Wiltshire.  We are also reviewing our Neighbourhood Plan. We do not have the capacity to comment on the Wiltshire Local Plan just now (except if anyone wishes to do so as an individual) and wondered whether there were any issues in the Wiltshire Local Plan that concern Mere and would benefit from the support from Gillingham Town Council.  Likewise, we may have some issues with the Dorset Local Plan that may benefit from your support. For example: both towns will have designated gypsy sites planned about 2 miles or less either side of the county boundary. The southern extension will provide 2000 homes plus but yet we have developers hot on our heels to the north and west of the town to provide yet another significant number of homes.’  The Clerk said that she had spoken to Gillingham Town Council and the Clerk’s had suggested that, given the consultation deadlines, it would be a good idea to send each other copies of our respective formal consultation responses with permission to extract excerpts, paragraphs and information therein to use as responses to the respective Local Plan reviews.  Members agreed with this suggestion.

200. Reports & Consultations
201. a) To receive and consider report from Wiltshire Councillor – George Jeans confirmed that he had attended a Licensing Committee meeting recently whereby it was confirmed that if food stalls were on the highway or Wiltshire Council land then street trading consent would be required although there are exemptions under the scheme for fetes, carnivals or similar community based and run events e.g. Xmas lights switch-on events and non-commercial, community or charitable events where the profits are not used for private gain or are wholly passed to a charity or political/educational organisation. Also, if the food stall were on private land more than 10m from the highway, then consent would not be required. Cllr. Jeans said that he had asked the South West Wiltshire Area Board for a councillors initiative to have a study done for Mere to benefit from Electric Vehicle Charging Points and to have an electric car sharing club which would be self-funding.

201. Highways, River, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
202. a) Response from Highways England regarding cyclists diversion signs – the Clerk confirmed that she had written to Highways England asking if it would be possible to reduce the number of cyclists diversion signs but they had responded: ‘we have to follow Chapter 8 guidance of the Traffic Signs Manual. This is to ensure that we’re diverting people in the safest possible manner. If we don’t and someone were to be injured as a result of taking the wrong route, we would be criticised for not following the correct guidance. We’ve tried to reduce the number of signs by not putting arrow signs for ‘straight on’ at every junction. But we do need the ones that are currently in situ to remain. We’ll monitor the need for them and if it’s deemed that the requirement is not there we can look to reduce them.’
203. b) To identify jobs for the Parish Steward, Sparkle Team or MyWiltshire reports

• Jeans reported – in Water Street, opposite the entrance to Dark Lane there is an issue with a gully & drain where surface water is not draining away. The gulley is raised and needs attention.
• R. Coward reported – potholes at top of Warminster Hollow along to Roman Road.
• Mrs. Beale reported – Burton Footpath where it goes to Burton Field.  If there is any tarmac could it be used to fill the cracks in the footpath.
• Mitchell reported – road to Hinks Mill needs a lorry load of tarmac
• Mrs. Beale reported – at either end of Southbrook there are signs saying ‘No traffic for Woodlands Road’ designed to keep the Fry’s Development traffic off the lanes. However, the sign on the A303 end keeps being knocked down and Cllr. Beale wondered if the Parish Steward would be able to fix this in some way.

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

*a) To approve plans for proposed new building for Seeds4Success – With reference to the plans that had been provided by Mr. Ross Coad, the Clerk informed members that the kitchen and office areas would be transposed – the kitchen would be on the north-west elevation and the office on the south-east elevation.  The Clerk also suggested that the cars shown at the front of the building should be removed as there is adequate car parking provision in the existing car parking area.  Members felt that they were insufficient information within the plans provided on which to base an opinion and asked the Clerk to write back requesting further information: Members would like to see a site location plan so that they can assess the footprint of the new building in comparison with the footprint of the existing building with details of how far it is proposed to locate the new building away from the hedge line.  Members would also like details of the proposed materials for roofing, elevations, window frames, doors etc.  Cllr. Coward suggested that it might be a good idea to move the proposed new building in a north-easterly direction.

*b) To consider plans for expansion of school and car parking and effects this will have on sport & leisure facilities – illustrative plans had been distributed to members with their agenda papers although the Chairman stressed that these would need to be amended as the Council had pointed out that there were access issues that had not been addressed and that there were other ongoing issues relating to suggested proposals for the foyer/town council office areas.  Cllr. Jordan said that  he could not see how a coach could possibly turn around on the site with the parking layout shown on these plans and that it was fairly obvious that these drawings had been prepared from a desk and the designer had not actually been on site.  Members had the following observations and comments to make:

Cllr. Jeans – the Town Council has a long lease on the site.  The Town Council should keep control of that lease and, if necessary, should sub-sub lease this land back to the LEA.

• Will the parking area contain any electric vehicle charging points?
• Members stressed that designated town council parking should be a requirement.
• Who will be responsible for maintain all this car parking area?
• Mrs. Beale – concerned about maintaining access to the MUGA, particularly for maintenance vehicles etc.
• P. Coward – any agreement should be conditional on the Town Council not being out of pocket on the costs incurred to fill the swimming pool site.

RESOLVED to add these comments and reiterate to the comments made 16 months ago.

203. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a) Payments – RESOLVED to approve and authorise payments as shown in payment schedule attached on proposal made by Cllr. Colman, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Symonds and carried with a unanimous vote.

1. b) To set date, time and membership for Annual Risk Assessment meeting – it was agreed that Cllrs. Colman, Mrs. Traves & Mrs. Symonds would form the working group and would meet with the Clerk in order to make recommendations to the Town Council before the next Town Council meeting.
2. c) To consider quotation for Tree Condition Survey Report (re-survey) – Before reading the quotation, the Clerk pointed out to members that she had not asked for three quotations in this instance but had gone to the tree specialist that provided the Town Council’s last Tree Condition Survey because she was aware that he had all the trees marked, mapped and reported previously and therefore calculated that any other specialists would be more expensive as the foundation work would need to be done again. RESOLVED to accept the quotation provided by the Council’s previous specialist and not to request further quotations on proposal made by Cllr. Jeans, seconded by Cllr. R. Coward and carried with a unanimous vote.
3. d) Report on Community Infrastructure Money received 12.1.21 – £274.97 – deferred to next meeting.

204. General Items, Consultations & Briefing Notes

The Chairman said that there had been a lot of talk on social media about dog fouling and that he had included this within his Chairman’s report for Mere Matters.  He said that he had asked Rachel Hansford & Debbie Beale to get together to make a report for next month’s meeting.  Cllr. R. Coward said that over the last few days he had seen scores of people with dozens of dogs & letting dogs run loose on the farmland.  He said that dogs were allowed to foul the open fields where farmers have livestock and that dog owners should pick it up.

Cllr. Jeans stated that election packs are now available to download from the Electoral Commission website.  However, once completed the nomination forms have to be physically taken into Wiltshire Council offices.  Cllr. Jeans felt that time was of the essence if people wanted to print off nomination packs, fill them out and get them submitted in time for the deadline.

205. Forthcoming meetings/events

Meeting schedules for April & May owing to elections and does the Town Council wish to convene an Annual Town Meeting via Zoom?

Extra Town Council meeting – The Clerk informed members that it would be necessary to have an extra Town Council meeting between now and the next meeting on 12^th April in order to consider a number of planning applications that had been received and that this meeting would be held on 29^th March.

Annual Town Meeting – The Annual Parish or Town meeting is not a Council meeting.  It is a meeting of the parish or town electors taking place between 1^st March and 1^st June.  Electors can contribute to the agenda and in practice these meetings often celebrate local activities and discuss local issues.  The Chairman of the Council, any two councillors or any six electors can call the Annual Parish or Town meeting.  The 2020 Regulations enabled local councils to hold remote meetings (including by video and telephone conferencing) for a specified period until May

next year. They also remove the requirement to hold an annual meeting.  It is Mere Town Council’s practice to convene the Annual Town Meeting in April.  In view of this, the Chairman asked members whether or not they wished to hold the Annual Town Meeting remotely in April this year in view of the fact that it would need to be held virtually and also the fact that there have been few local activities to report on.  RESOLVED that the Town Council should not convene the Annual Town Meeting in 2021 on proposal made by Cllr. Norris, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote.

Annual Town Council meeting – the Clerk informed members that in the year of ordinary elections of Town Councillors, the annual meeting of the town council shall be held within 14 days after the day on which councillors take office.  Therefore, the Annual Town Council meeting would be held on Monday, 17^th May 2021.

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

MERE PEACE MEMORIAL SPORTS AND RECREATION GROUND

Registered Charity No. 1093497

Members of Mere Town Council are sole trustees of Mere Peace Memorial Sports & Recreation Ground Charity (Mere Recreation Ground Charity). 

For Trustees to consider:

Plans for proposed new building for Seeds4Success – Trustees reiterated the comments they had made as members of the Town Council i.e. There was insufficient information within the plans provided on which to base an opinion and asked the Clerk to write back requesting further information

Minutes of a Working Group meeting held on Thursday, 18^th March 2021 at 3.00 pm at Duchy Manor, Springfield Road, Mere.  BA12 6EW

Present:  Councillors A. Colman, Mrs. S. Symonds & Mrs. L. Traves + Town Clerk

Why are we holding this meeting:

The Audit & Account Regulations 2015 require smaller authorities, each financial year, to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the system of internal control and prepare an annual governance statement in accordance with proper practices in relation to accounts.

The proper practices in relation to the accounts are prescribed in the document called A Practitioners’ Guide prepared by the Joint Panel on Accountability & Governance (JPAG) – the current guidance was updated in March 2019.

Once the accounting figure have been prepared and the Annual Return is completed, the Town Council will be asked to confirm 9 assertions in the Annual Return:

A number of the statements within these assertions are addressed at other stages i.e. during the Internal Audit processes and during our day-to-day financial management processes.

Assertion 2 says ‘We maintained an adequate system of internal control including measures designed to prevent and detect fraud and corruption and reviewed its effectiveness.’  The AGAR suggests that if you agree ‘yes’ to this statement then you are confirming that you have made proper arrangements and accepted responsibility for safeguarding the public money and resources in its charge. 

Assertion 5 says that ‘We carried out an assessment of the risks facing this authority and took appropriate steps to manage those risks, including the introduction of internal controls and/or external insurance cover where required.’       

The AGAR suggests that if you agree ‘yes’ to this statement then you are confirming that you have considered and documented the financial and other risks the Council faces and dealt with them properly.  

A risk is a situation that can either have huge benefits or cause serious disruption to the Council’s services and financial health.  A risk assessment is a strategy that measures the potential outcomes of a risk.

Internal vs. external risks: usually a risk is either internal or external.  Internal risks occur inside of your operations, while external risks occur outside and are usually out of your control.

Internal risks like financial risks, operational risks and workforce risks are often easier to control with the use of policies and procedures.  In order to manage external risks, you might need to take a reactive approach.

After understanding potential risks, introduce policies and procedures to control them – internal controls.

It is also possible that policies and procedures could cause a barrier and stop the Town Council from being able to provide the level of service that it wants to or that the lack of policy or content within a policy could lead to a level of complaints or misunderstanding from the public.  It is therefore important that they are reviewed periodically.

Hence the requirement to call this meeting.

The Clerk reported:

We did not actually hold an Internal Control review meeting last year – the last one we held was in April 2019, although in actual fact that was still within the last financial year and this one is within this financial year.   The reason why we did not hold the review meeting was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures.  However, that did not stop us from working on Risk Assessments and Internal Control Measures – far from it – it seemed to be that this was all we were doing for a good few months last year.

I thought it would be helpful if I outlined the work we had done on Risk Assessments and Internal Control Measures since the last meeting:

COVID-19

• Working Safely during COVID-19 – Guidance for employers, employees and self-employed & associated risk assessments
• Guidance for providers for outdoor facilities & associated risk assessments
• Guidance for COVID-19 volunteers
• Risk Assessment for provision of public toilets
• Risk Assessment for the use of the Andy Young Pavilion
• Risk Assessment for use of Mere Town Council offices and foyer & other shared spaces
• Risk Assessment for Football, Cricket, Bowls, Tennis, Skate Park, MUGA and Children’s Play Areas

Andy Young Pavilion – had fire alarm maintained and set up maintenance contract with Wessex Fire

Youth Club – had Fixed Wire Test carried out and completed all actions identified

Policy for memorial seats & benches – Adopted

Policy for the use of sports facilities for financial gain – Adopted

Procurement Policy – adopted

Tree Management – tree management work has been ongoing in accordance with the last survey report and a new condition survey report has been commissioned

Legionella Risk Assessment has been completed (more work required on this)

Equality and Diversity Policy

Obviously, it is not going to be possible to review all of our policies and internal control measures in one meeting or, indeed in one year.  I think it would be helpful if we could perhaps set out a spreadsheet listing all our policies and internal control measures, stating when they were adopted and reviewed and giving a schedule for the next review so that we have about 4 or 5 policies that we review each year on a rolling basis.

Also, I thought it might be helpful if we could identify areas that we think may need more work/input/support over the next year.

So…. I have started the ball rolling on this:

Please find attached draft review schedule for approval or comment

I am going to comment on the policies and plans that I have identified for review this year:

Standing Orders and Financial Regulations – The Clerk explained that these two documents are the main governing documents of the Town Council and, as such, should be reviewed each year at the Annual Town Council meeting.  She said that this was particularly important this year as it was election year.  The two documents are largely based on the NALC models and are designed to synchronise with each other.  It will be necessary to make some amendments this year in order to take into account new banking procedures and contract limits etc.  The Clerk would be working on this as a priority to put in draft amendments for adoption at the Annual Town Council meeting (17^th May)

Audit Plan & Terms of Reference

This year our income will exceed £200,000.  This puts us in the next bracket for External Audit and requires us to comply with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 which involves the publication of further information on the Council’s website.

As Councillors are aware, at the beginning of the pandemic last year, we stopped the practice of settling invoices via cheque because it was too difficult and too risky (for staff and councillors) to get two councillors to sign all the cheques and we went over to paying all invoices online.  At the present time we have not got in place all the protocols that we would like to safeguard the Clerk and safeguard Councillors.

Our present practice is to have the Clerk list the payments, the Council authorise the payments at a meeting and then the Chairman oversees the Clerk making the payments online.  However, there are sometimes interim payments that need to be made outside meeting dates for emergency items and these payments are authorised by the Chairman outside the meeting environment and then listed in the next payment schedule.

The online banking system does provide for improved mechanisms whereby the Clerk can set up the payments online and then the payment requests will be sent (via mobile device) to one or two councillors for authorisation.   The Chairman and Clerk have been trying to set this up but it is a fairly complicated process and requires the councillors that are going to authorise the payments to set up things with the banking team.  We now have a telephone number to contact at Lloyds and we were going to start the process quite recently but it has occurred to us that it would be more sensible to wait until after the elections now in case our authorised signatories are not re-elected.

In view of the fact that the Town Council had now broken into the new audit bracket (income over £200k) and that this was likely to be a future scenario considering the S.106 funding that would be coming in over the next year or two, the Clerk expressed concern about the internal audit requirements and the fact that these may now exceed what can be reasonable expected from volunteer support.  The Clerk said that whilst the Town Council’s current internal auditor, Mrs. Mary White, was extremely competent and responsible, the task was becoming more onerous and may become an unacceptable burden.  The Clerk suggested that it may be prudent to carry out some research into costs and resources for a sector specific internal auditor.

Code of Conduct

The Clerk adopted a new Code of Conduct in July 2012 in accordance with The Localism Act 2011.  The Code of Conduct adopted was based on a model published by Wiltshire Council with an approved modification.  I am aware that this is currently being reviewed and that NALC has been working with the Local Government Association to take forward the recommendation to develop an updated national model code of conduct for all tiers of local government.  There has been a consultation on a proposed national model member code of conduct.  I am not aware that a review timetable has been published but would imagine that we may be reviewing the code of conduct in the next year or two.

Burial & Cemetery Regulations

In view of some of the problems we have encountered this year, I would like to suggest some additional wording

• recommend that the words ‘edging stones’ are added in brackets after the words ‘kerbing’, ‘kerb’ and ‘kerbstones’ for the benefit of those that might not be aware of this terminology.
• recommend that ‘old cemetery’ is followed the words (east of lane) and that ‘new cemetery’ is followed by the words (west of lane) so that there is some geographical context to this distinction

Members of the working party agreed with the additional wording suggested by the Clerk.

Information for dealing with Gypsies & Travellers

The Town Council’s policy is long overdue for review having been adopted in 2010 following an incident.  There is government guidance available online that was produced in 2015 but the Clerk advised members that new legislation was being introduced that will make it easier to prosecute travellers who set up illegal camps.  The Clerk suggested, therefore, that the Town Council should revise this policy when details of the new legislation was available.

Legionella

The Town Council staff has undergone training, Risk Assessments have been carried out on all properties and the Clerk was given monitoring sheets last year with a water management logbook.  However, the Clerk had not yet had time to has been given all the monitoring sheets just before Xmas.  However, the Clerk reported that she still needed to do a lot of work on this in order to get the Council’s day-to-day management practices organised and yearly tasks prepared.

Fire Risk Assessment

The Clerk said that although the Town Council has fire extinguishers checked annually and a fire alarm maintenance contract, she was concerned because Wessex Fire had raised some points that may be prudent to address for the Andy Young Pavilion and the Clerk had concerns about the Changing Rooms.  Members recommended that a professional company should be appointed to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment on the Andy Young Pavilion and Changing Rooms.

Tree Management Plan

The Clerk explained that the Town Council has a professional tree inspection carried out every 3 – 5 years and that a survey was due to be carried out within the next couple of months.  No doubt this would raise an action plan which the Town Council would need to address in accordance with the risk identified.

CCTV Policy

The Clerk reminded members that the Council had discussed applying mobile CCTV cameras to trouble spots as they arise but she was aware that this would require a CCTV policy as there were certain rules and regulations relating to signage and GDPR.  The Clerk was aware that other Town Councils had implemented policies and these were available online and suggested that this might be something to explore over the next year.  Cllr. Mrs. Symonds said that she would be happy to do some research work on this.

Scheme of Delegation

The Clerk advised that it would be prudent to adopt a formal scheme of delegation which will set out the Council’s authority to delegate tasks to the Clerk and/or Chairman when there is an emergency (such as last year, when the Council couldn’t meet).

Data Retention Policy

The Clerk said that there were two reasons why she thought that a Data Retention Policy would be helpful.  Firstly, she feared that too much paperwork is being kept because of possible historic interest and that ALL councillors should be aware that this is no longer considered to be acceptable in terms of GDPR.  Secondly, the Council had agreed to employ a temporary worker to carry out a digital scanning system of the council’s documents and it would therefore be helpful to have a written policy to identify which records/documents needed to be kept and for how long.

Review Schedule for Internal Control Measures

With reference to the draft review schedule that the Clerk had distributed, members requested that the Clerk had produced, members pointed out that it would be very helpful if the publication or last review date was shown on the spreadsheet.  Cllr. Colman felt that the Health & Safety Policy and Risk Management Strategy should be reviewed every 3 years.

Cllr. Colman also requested that various Employment Policies should be reviewed during 2021/22 and offered to work with the Clerk on reviewing these policies over the next year.

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 1^st February 2021 at 6.00 pm online at Zoom.us.

Present on Zoom:  Cllrs. C. Hazzard (Chairman), Mrs. D. Beale, A. Colman, P. Coward, R. Coward, R. Hill, G. Ings, G. Jeans, J. Jordan, E. Mitchell, R. Sims, Mrs. K. Symonds & Mrs. L. Traves

Public Session

There were no members of the public present & the Clerk confirmed that no members of the public had requested to join the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs. Debbie Beale to the Town Council and said that he hoped she would enjoy her time as a councillor.  (Mrs. Beale was co-opted at the January meeting)

Cllr. Sims said that he wanted to congratulate the Chairman for his article in Mere Matters about parking and observing the Highway Code.

Apologies for absence received from Cllrs. A. Mead and B. Norris.

185. To receive declarations of interest from members and to consider 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.

• 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.
• Jeans declared a pecuniary interest in Minute No. 192a)
• To consider any dispensation requests received by the Town Clerk.
• None received

186. Minutes – RESOLVED to approve the Minutes of the meetings held on Monday, 11^th January 2021 on proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote of those present on 11.1.21

187. Matters Arising

• None

188. Planning
189. a) Applications: (All applications can be viewed on Wiltshire Council’s website http://planning.wiltshire.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/ApplicationSearch.aspx – and type in the relevant application number)

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Traves and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

The Chairman reported that a number of planning applications had been submitted for this property.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Sims, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Ings and carried with a unanimous vote of approval.

Cllr. Mitchell confirmed that he had viewed the site and discussed the application with a neighbour.  He considered that the planning application would be an improvement.  RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Mitchell, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a majority vote.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Hill, seconded by Cllr. Sims and carried with a unanimous vote.

1. b) Wiltshire Local Plan Review and Gypsy and Travellers Plan – the Clerk reminded members that the last available online event date being run by Wiltshire Council would be tomorrow evening between 7 pm & 8 pm. She hoped members had signed up. The Clerk stressed the importance of playing a proactive role in the consultation of the Local Plan Review.  The Chairman agreed that the Town Council should make a collective submission to Wiltshire Council on the Local Plan Review Consultation and Gypsy & Traveller Plan Consultation and said that the matter would be raised on the agenda for the next meeting.

189. Reports & Consultations
190. a) To receive and consider report from Wiltshire Councillor – None

190. Highways, River, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport
191. a) Highways England notification of revised works dates for A303 Deverill’s underpass repairs – The Clerk reported on the revised dates and potential overnight road closures. Members noted this information and asked the Clerk to write to Highways England to find out if it was necessary to have as many cyclists diversion signs within the town throughout the works.
192. b) To identify jobs for the Parish Steward, Sparkle Team or MyWiltshire reports

• Potholes in Angel Lane
• Potholes in Manor Road which are causing problems for cyclists and motorcyclists.
• Puddling caused by uneven surface along Burton Footpath.

191. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries
192. a) Will we need to re-open ladies and gents public toilet blocks and if not, to consider expenditure on Autolock system for disabled public toilet? – The Chairman explained that the current situation with the one accessible public toilet being opened was proving to be more cost-effective and more manageable in terms of staff & time resources. Furthermore, there had been no negative feedback received about queues of people or waiting times for the one toilet, other than queues being noticed during peak summer holiday Friday/Saturday travel days.  The Chairman proposed that after lockdown ends and before the Town Council is able to pursue plans to refurbish the toilet blocks, that the Town Council continue with opening the one accessible toilet and keeping the ladies and gents public toilet blocks closed and to this effect he also wanted to propose that the Town Council install an autolock system for the door to the accessible toilet so that it automatically locks at a certain time in the evening and automatically opens at a certain time in the morning.  The cost of this system would be in the region of £800 which would be an initial outlay but could save on having to pay staff to lock and unlock the door which does occasionally occur.  Mitchell said that these remote locking doors were now quite common for public toilets and Cllr. Hill said he thought it was a very good idea.  RESOLVED to continue with the opening of the one accessible public toilet (keeping the ladies and gents toilet blocks locked) and to install a remote locking mechanism for the door on proposal made by Cllr. Hill, seconded by Cllr. Mitchell and carried with a majority vote in favour.  Cllr. Colman abstained from voting.
193. b) Request to site clothing bank for Wiltshire Air Ambulance in car park – It was pointed out that there was a charity clothing bank at the Fire Station but Cllr. Mrs Symonds said that she though it would be a very good idea to have another clothing bank, particularly whilst people cannot get access to the charity shops. Jeans felt that care would need to be given when considering a location as he was aware there were various private access points from the car park which should not be blocked. Cllr. Mrs Traves said that she was in favour of a clothing bank but had very bad memories of the bottle bank and the amount of rubbish that was left around it, including cardboard boxes and carrier bags.  She pointed out that this would need to be monitored and if it became a nuisance, the clothing bank may need to be removed.  Cllr. Mrs. Beale said she thought it would be brilliant to have a clothing bank but wondered if the Castle Street Car Park might be a better location than the Salisbury Street Car Park.  The Chairman said that he was not prepared to lose any parking bays and it was RESOLVED that the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Clerk should find a suitable location for the clothing bank and that it should be painted dark green, particularly if it is going to be located within the Conservation Area.  Proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a unanimous vote.

192. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a)  Payments – RESOLVED to approve and authorise payments as shown in payment schedule attached, on proposal made by Cllr. Colman, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a majority vote.  (Cllr. Jeans, having declared a pecuniary interest, left the meeting whilst this matter was discussed and took no part in discussion or voting.)

*b) To consider draft policy for memorial seats & benches – RESOLVED to adopt the draft policy for memorial seats and benches with no amendment.

14. c) To approve expenditure for bunded fuel tank and associated works at workshop compound (see Minutes of Annual Budget meeting held 14.12.20) – the Chairman reminded members that this matter had been approved at the annual budget meeting and was in fact for a fuel storage tank for the tractor. RESOLVED to approve expenditure on proposal made by Cllr. P. Coward, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Beale and carried with a unanimous vote.

*d) Objection to proposal being considered at Wiltshire Council’s cabinet meeting on 2^nd February to re-charge Town & parish Councils for election costs – The Chairman said that he hoped members had taken the chance to read the letter that had been prepared by the Clerk and sent to various members of Wiltshire Council regarding their proposals to re-charge Parish & Town Councils for election costs which are going to be discussed at a Cabinet Meeting tomorrow (2^nd February).  The Chairman said that the Clerk had found all this information and was concerned that no consultation was being offered on these proposals which would have a significant effect on Parish & Town Councils financially, especially the smaller ones and could also have a detrimental effect on democracy.  Cllr. Jeans said that he had taken up the matter with various members who would not give him permission to reveal their responses.  He said that he thought there was a real chance that this matter could be withdrawn from the meeting tomorrow.

1. e) To consider request to purchase grit bin for the houses in Angel Lane up the steep slope (adjacent to Mere Cemetery) – Members were concerned that in agreeing to purchase a grit bin for this location, they would then set a precedent and open up the floodgates for other similar requests for other locations. There was also concern as to who would be responsible for filling the grit bins and whether they would then be locked or left available for everyone to use. RESOLVED that regrettably, the Town Council is unable to fulfil this request on proposal made by Cllr. Hill, seconded by Cllr. Ings and carried with a vote of 5 for, 2 against and 3 abstentions.

Emergency Item – Possible S.106 funding

The Chairman reported that an officer from Wiltshire Council had called the office this morning asking the Town Council to identify a project for S.106 funding in the event that the outline planning application for the development of Beaumont’s Business Park in Woodlands Road is approved.  The officer stressed that he was aware that the Town Council had not supported the planning application and confirmed that there had been no decision on the application as yet, but confirmed that it was necessary for him to write up a S.106 statement, part of which would include a proportion for the Town Council to spend on youth recreation and that he needed the Town Council to identify a project by next week.  The Chairman said that after he and the Clerk had discussed the matter, they thought that the refurbishment of the Multi Use Games Area might be a suitable project and could include the following

Renewal of chain-link fencing and replacement with rebound mesh fencing

Removal of four high-voltage sodium floodlights and replacement with lower-voltage LED floodlights

Installation of auto-locking system on gates and CCTV cameras

Renew surfacing – whether with tarmac or 2-G or 3-G would be decided following public consultation.

193. General Items, Consultations & Briefing Notes

194. Forthcoming meetings/events
195. a) Community Area Transport Group meeting on 17^th February 2021 between 14.00 and 16.00 on Microsoft Teams – Cllr. Sims said that he would be attending this meeting and asked if there had had been any feedback on the traffic over The Lynch since the new signage had been erected. Hill said that he had not seen any HGVs attempting to go over there and Cllr. Jeans confirmed that he had not received any complaints recently.

195. Future Town Council meetings and to receive requests for agenda items

Members all agreed that they were happy to continue with Zoom meetings starting at 6.00 p.m. for the timebeing.

Meeting closed at 7.23 pm

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

Mere Town Council

Town Clerk – Mrs. L. C. Wood

Minutes of a meeting of Mere Town Council held on Monday, 11^th January 2021 at 6.00 pm online at Zoom.us.

Present on Zoom:  Cllrs. C. Hazzard (Chairman), A. Colman, P. Coward, R. Hill, G. Ings, G. Jeans, J. Jordan, A. Mead, E. Mitchell, B. Norris, R. Sims, Mrs. K. Symonds & Mrs. L. Traves

Public Session

There were no members of the public present & the Clerk confirmed that no members of the public had requested to join the meeting.

Roy Sims said that he had recently attended a CATG meeting where the main topic of conversation seemed to be concerns about speeding.  He confirmed that Mere was off the priority list as it had issues pending.

Apologies for absence received from Cllr. Rodney Coward.

174. To receive declarations of interest from members and to consider 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.

• 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.
• Mrs. Traves declared a personal interest in planning application 20/10112/FUL

(b) To consider any dispensation requests received by the Town Clerk.

175. Minutes – RESOLVED to approve the Minutes of the meetings held on Monday, 7^th December 2020 on proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Colman and carried with a unanimous vote of those present on 7.12.20. RESOLVED to approve the Minutes of the Annual Budget meeting held on Monday, 14^th December 2020 on proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a unanimous vote of those present on 14.12.20

*176.  Co-Option to fill Casual Vacancy (applications/personal statements attached) & for new councillor (if present) to sign Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

The Clerk confirmed the names of the three candidates and stated that all three candidates had confirmed that they met the eligibility requirements and that their personal statements had been distributed to councillors with their agenda papers.  No other nominations were received.  Cllr. Jeans said that he would prefer to vote by secret ballot and the Clerk confirmed that she had set up a polling feature in zoom.  However, the Clerk was unable to launch this feature due to a technical problem and it was agreed that voting could take place by either email to the Clerk or show of hands.  The Clerk explained that the successful candidate must receive an overall majority of votes and as there were 13 members present this would be at least 7 votes.  An overall majority was not received in the first round of votes but was received in the second round of votes and Debbie Beale was duly co-opted to fill the vacancy.  The Chairman asked the Clerk to write to all candidates thanking them for putting themselves forward and saying that it was hoped that they would all stand again in the forthcoming elections that were due to be held in May.

177. Planning
178. a) Applications: (All applications can be viewed on Wiltshire Council’s website http://planning.wiltshire.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/ApplicationSearch.aspx – and type in the relevant application number)

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. Sims and carried with a majority vote.  Having declared a personal interest in the above application, Cllr. Mrs. Traves refrained from discussion or voting and in order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

RESOLVED to recommend approval of the above application on proposal made by Cllr. Philip Coward, seconded by Cllr. Jordan and carried with a vote of 11 for and 1 against.  In order not to compromise his position as Wiltshire Councillor, Cllr. Jeans abstained from discussion or voting.

*b) Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation & Wiltshire Gypsy & Traveller Local Plan Consultation – Online events – the Clerk had distributed information about the online events taking place and confirmed that the ones most relevant for Mere would be the last ones on the list – Planning for rural areas – Monday 1^st February and Tuesday 2^nd February between 7 pm & 8pm.  The Clerk said that it was necessary for members to sign up for the event beforehand and confirmed that she had signed up for one of the events and had requested that the following topics be considered:

1)  Spatial Strategy for Mere Community Area

2) Which affordable housing zone will the Mere Community Area be in – 30%?

3) What can be done about allocated employment land that has not been developed?

4) What is the future for CIL and infrastructure strategy?

5) What is spatial strategy for those villages without a settlement boundary?

The Clerk stressed the importance of attending this event if we wanted to play a proactive role in shaping the future of Mere.  Members asked the Clerk to forward her list of questions to them via email.

178. Reports & Consultations
179. a) To receive and consider report from Wiltshire Councillor – Cllr. Jeans said that there is a review currently taking place to reassess the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Technical Rescue Unit which operates from Trowbridge, Chippenham & Swindon and the review is talking about downgrading the equipment at Trowbridge & Chippenham. Jeans said that he did not know whether this would have an impact on services at Mere. Cllr. Jeans confirmed that the elections that are due to take place on May 6^th will encompass the Police & Crime Commissioner, Wiltshire Councillor, Local Town & Parish Councillors & Neighbourhood Plan referendums all at the same time.  Wiltshire Council is reviewing its policy on whether it will continue to fund the election costs incurred by town-parish councils or whether to introduce a scheme for recharging a proportion of the combined costs to town and parish councils.  It has been confirmed, however, that due to the Police & Crime Commissioner elections, we will not have to pay for polling cards this year.  The Clerk said that she thought the whole issue of whether or not the elections would take place in May was under review by the government in any case.

179. Highways, River, Footpaths, Traffic & Transport

*a) Motion for proposal to Wiltshire Council for amendment to Minimum Parking Standards within Local Transport Plan – A written copy of the Motion along with a background and reason had been distributed to members prior to the meeting.  Cllr. Jordan commended the proposal but suggested one amendment – that the parking spaces should be allocated against the total number of rooms (less bathrooms) rather than the square metreage of all floor space.  Therefore, the final motion would be:

– that Mere Town Council request Wiltshire Council to make an amendment to the minimum residential parking standards within the revised Local Transport Plan to propose that the minimum number of spaces is allocated against the size of the dwelling in terms of the total number of rooms (less bathrooms) within the dwelling rather than the number of bedrooms.

Cllr. Jeans said that he was happy with this amendment.  The proposal received a unanimous vote of approval and the Clerk was asked to submit this to the Head of Spatial Planning, Georgina Clampitt-Dix and Cllr. Toby Sturgis.

1. b) To identify jobs for the Parish Steward, Sparkle Team or Wiltshire reports – The Clerk reported that she had requested that the ‘Sparkle Team’ tidy up around the Square including cleaning of the signs and fingerpost signs and also to cut back the footpath leading from Angel Lane to Mere Church via The Vicarage. Jordan said that the footpath job had been carried out nicely and wondered if the Sparkle Team could be asked to do the same along the footpath that runs through The Meads – the Clerk said that the difficulty with this job would be access to the farmers’ fields and removing the spoil but suggested that the Town Council might make enquiries to see if this could be done as a joint venture with Mere Town Council grounds staff removing the spoil for them. Members agreed with this suggestion.
2. c) The Wiltshire Council Mere Path No. 78 Definitive Map and Statement Modification Order 2019 – Notification that the above-mentioned order has been submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation – The Clerk said that she had received a letter from the Planning Inspectorate to say that the Modification Order is to be determined following a written exchange of statements of case and comments on statements of case as well as a site visit by the Inspector. The Clerk was concerned because the letter arrived on 21^st December and it said that any comments should be submitted within two weeks of the date of the letter which was 15^th Although the Town Council was not submitting statements, she was concerned that the timing of this was not appropriate for those that were involved.  Cllr. Jeans confirmed that the local group who is involved have been given an extension until 9^th February to submit any new or further statements.
3. d) To request that Mere Town Council submits application for grant from the SWW Area Board for Fingerpost sign for Barrow Street – Cllr. G. Jeans said that he was aware that the Town Council had already applied for one fingerpost grant to replace a fingerpost on the Gillingham Road this year but he would like to request that another grant is requested to replace a fingerpost sign in Barrow Street that now had no arms. The Clerk said that the grounds staff would be happy to do two fingerpost signs and it would be more cost effective to do two at the same time but she understood that the Area Board would only give one grant to each parish/town council per year.  Jeans said that this was not an issue and members agreed that the Town Council should apply for the second fingerpost grant and carry out the work on the two signs simultaneously.

180. Buildings, Open Spaces, Play Areas, Sports Grounds, Car Parks, Allotments & Cemeteries
181. a) Xmas Lights – the Chairman said that the Xmas Lights throughout the town were particularly impressive this year and it was noted that many more households had participated in lighting up their houses or gardens. He wanted to thank all those who participated in the Xmas illuminations which helped to make the town look festive and merry which, during this particular year, went a long way to cheering us all up and taking our mind off the COVID-19 restrictions and the fact that many of us could not be with our friends and family.  He thanked George Jeans for organising and sponsoring the Xmas Light competition and said that this year must have been particularly difficult for the judges.  Jeans asked for the winners to be minuted and these are:

1^st Halfways, North Road

2^nd 38 Lynch Close

3^rd 8 Denes Avenue

4^th Oaktree House, Southbrook

5^th 47 Downside Close

The Chairman also thanked the Town Council staff for coming in over their Xmas holidays to empty the bins and do some essential gritting around the car park, library and doctors surgery areas and for resolving some issues around the public toilets.

181. Finance, Policy & Resources

*a) Payments – RESOLVED to approve and authorise payments as shown in payment schedule attached on proposal made by Cllr. Colman, seconded by Cllr. Hill and carried with a unanimous vote.

*b) To adopt recommendations made by Budget Meeting, as shown in Minutes of Budget Meeting held on Monday, 14^th December 2020  (Minutes attached) – RESOLVED to adopt the recommendations made by the budget committee as recorded in the minutes of the budget meeting held on 14^th December on proposal made by Cllr. Jordan, seconded by Cllr. P. Coward and carried with a unanimous vote.

984. c) To approve Precept on Wiltshire Council for 2021/22 – RESOLVED to approve a Precept of £164,984.48 for 2021/22 on proposal made by Cllr. Mrs. Traves, seconded by Cllr. Mitchell and carried with a unanimous vote. The Chairman was authorised to sign the Precept form for submission to Wiltshire Council.

*d) To receive report from Mere Foodbank on how Mere Town Council’s donation was used – a report from Mere Foodbank on how the Town Council’s donation was used was distributed to members with their agenda papers (report attached).  Members noted the information and extended their thanks to the team of people that operate the Foodbank in Mere.

182. General Items, Consultations & Briefing Notes
183. a) Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government – Open Consultation

Supporting Housing Delivery and public service infrastructure – Consultation closes 28^th January 2021

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/supporting-housing-delivery-and-public-service-infrastructure

Members will need to respond individually.  JJ says it is one with an online questionnaire so not too difficult to do.

*Briefing Note 20-37 – Housing Land Supply Update

*Briefing Note 20-39 – Management of Council business and publicity during the pre-election period

183. Forthcoming meetings/events

*South West Wiltshire’s Local Economy & Employment Online Event – 3.30 pm to 5 pm, 26^th January 2021

184. Future Town Council meetings and to receive requests for agenda items

Cllr. Jordan said that it would be a good idea to discuss what’s to be done about the drainage etc for the new cemetery and the related issues that were discussed at the Annual Budget Meeting.  It was agreed that this would be pencilled in for the next meeting and if possible, some members would try and meet, socially distanced, on site beforehand.

The Clerk said that someone had pointed out to her that the square sign which says ‘Old Ship Inn’ and hangs over the road on the wrought iron bracket has fallen off the bracket and fell into the road just before Xmas.  One of the residents of the flats inside The Ship has taken the sign in for safe keeping and the Clerk wondered if the Town Council felt strongly enough to request that the sign be re-erected.  Members agreed that they did want the sign to be re-erected and Cllr. Jeans said that he would approach Peter Harding about this.

Cllr. Hill also said that whilst he is not a great fan of technology, he wanted to say that he had found that this meeting had run smoothly and been well managed.  The Chairman said that he had certainly found it easier to manage than the hybrid meetings.

Meeting closed at 7.04 p.m.

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