CLEEVE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of Cleeve Parish Council held on 9 June 2015, commencing at
7.30pm in the Village Hall, Cleeve.
Minute
Ref:
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Agenda Item
Present:
Cllr Hilary Burn (Chairman)
Cllr Jean Ashman (Vice Chairman)
Action
Cllr Marianne Pitman
Cllr Toby Morton (co-opted during
the meeting)
In attendance: District Cllr Deborah Yamanaka and Gemma Richards
(Clerk to the Council) and two members of the public.
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Apologies:
They were received from Cllr George Stringer, PC Morris and PCSO
Turner.
54/15
Co-Option of New Councillors
The Clerk advised that she has spoken with the Electoral Team at North
Somerset Council and they have confirmed that a vote to co-opt into the
three vacant seats can take place at the meeting even though two of the
new Councillors are absent. It was agreed by all to co-opt Toby Morton,
Alan Doughty and Christian Joyce as Councillors for Cleeve Parish Council.
Cllr Morton joined the meeting and signed a Declaration of Acceptance of
Office.
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Members of the Public
No comments from the member of the public.
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Introduction of Carol Pike, Community Response Officer
Carol Pike introduced herself as a new Community Response Officer
working for North Somerset Council. She covers Cleeve and the
surrounding areas and joined the team at the end of March and there are
three officers in the team. She works 8am until 4pm and between the team
they also cover weekends as well as week days. Carol has received a
broad spectrum of training to cover many issues. The main things they
target are anti-social behaviour, environmental matters, graffiti, litter, dog
fouling and neighbour disputes. The team works with the police and they
are highly visible with bright coats and vans and aim to be the first point of
contact for the public. The team also drive around looking for and reporting
any fly tipping. They are trying to attend local events and meetings to
highlight their roles and it was agreed to put something in All About Cleeve
highlighting Carol’s role. It was confirmed that as soon as the team has
accreditation they will have the power to issue instant fines. The Chair
highlighted that dog faeces are a problem in the village. Carol said that she
currently patrols the playing fields once a month but will be aware of this
issue.
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Introduction of Tina Huckle-Mills, New Village Agent
Tina Huckle-Mills introduced herself as a new Agent for Cleeve. She is
employed by West of England Rural Network (WERN) and they piloted the
Village Agent scheme four years ago in Chew Magna and received very
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positive feedback and the scheme has now been expanded across North
Somerset. Tina confirmed she has been in the post for seven weeks and
that she works 10 hours a week. She works closely with colleagues but the
main areas she covers are Cleeve, Brockley and Chelvey, Wrington,
Churchill and Langford. Her main role is targeting the over 50s who are
vulnerable or isolated and to assist bringing them back into the community.
Tina is trying to visit local events and clubs as getting to know who is likely
to need help is paramount. Tina stressed that she is here to help and
signpost help available and knows that most villages have a great network
but is here to help some individuals who need extra help. Tina confirmed
that her services are free. It was agreed to put a note in All About Cleeve
highlighting her services.
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Declaration of Interests
Declarations of Interest relating to items on the agenda.
There were no new declarations of interest.
Dispensations
There were no applications for dispensations for section 33 (b) to (e).
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Minutes of the meeting held on 12th May 2015
The minutes of the meeting held on 12th May 2015 were agreed as an
accurate record and the master was then signed by the Chair.
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Clerk’s Report
The Clerk advised that:
 An email was sent to North Somerset Council stating that the Parish
Council fully supports the Playing Fields request for the work to the
ditch to be finished. Rich Lawrence and Paul Smart (from NSC) have
eventually been in touch with each other and North Somerset Council
have agreed to complete emptying the ditch however they do not think
any work needs to be carried out to the gambians. Paul has suggested
they meet to look at it together which they will arrange. District Cllr
Yamanaka has offered to help if required.
 Two names have been provided by Cleeve Nursery to provide quotes
for poisoning the weed in Goblin Combe. The Chair and the Clerk met
with one of the gardeners to discuss as he was concerned about who
owned the land and whether the site is protected by a SSSI but upon
reassurances that the land is not within an SSSI site and that it is
common land he will provide a quote. Quotes have not yet been
received.
 A response has been sent to David Bailey suggesting the location of the
new sign as agreed at the last meeting.
 A letter has been sent to the dental surgery in Cleeve asking them to
encourage clients to park in the car park and to suggest installing a car
park sign. A call has been received from the Dental Surgery and they
have explained that the problems are people parking and catching the
bus. They said that they currently had no clients in the surgery and
there are 4 cars parked around the building. They do monitor the
situation and have encouraged clients to park in the car park in the
past. They will however add a line to their reminder emails highlighting
the car park. They also said that they have installed a sign in the past
but it was broken within a few days.
 The payments approved by the Council have been made and the
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money received paid in.
The Annual Return was sent off via recorded delivery to the External
Auditors and the document has now been returned all signed and
completed. An invoice for £100 plus VAT will be received shortly. A
Notice of Conclusion of Audit has been completed and will be placed on
the notice board.
Julian Bailey was contacted to find out if he has heard anything further
from HMRC regarding his tax for the last financial year. Julian
confirmed that he is still waiting to speak with HMRC but that the Parish
Council should consider the matter closed as he feels no error has been
made.
The funds available to the Parish Council as at 27 May are £21,335.71.
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District Councillor’s Report & Police Report
District Cllr Yamanaka advised that she had spoken with an Executive
Member regarding the Licensing request notification process following the
pop festival licence request in Wrington Warren. District Cllr Yamanaka
explained that District Cllrs are only notified one week before the meeting
which is too late to lodge any objections if there are any. She suggested it
may be something to raise through ALCA/NALC as the current law does not
require North Somerset Council to notify anyone of the request. District Cllr
Yamanaka explained that she has a monthly meeting with the North
Somerset Council’s Area Officer for Cleeve and said she is happy to raise
anything with him if she is made aware of any issues.
The Clerk said that she had received an email from PC Morris stating that
there are no crime issues to raise but there have been two car accidents
that have no doubt caused concern in the last month. The Clerk explained
that she updated him with regards to the new speed sign being installed in
the next few months.
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Planning Applications
For discussion:
(i) 15/P/1025/F 64 Main Road, Cleeve – Change of use from restaurant
to restaurant and 2no A5 units with erection of a first floor level to
provide staff rooms, erection of a single storey extension to north
east elevation, a pitched roof with 3no dormer extensions, 5no
roof lights, external stairs to first floor on south-west elevation
and to provide two additional parking spaces (retrospective) – The
Parish Council wishes to object on the following grounds:
 The extension is an overdevelopment of the site. The site is located
within the Green Belt and the size of the extension will have an
effect on the openness of the Green Belt.
 The proposed new window on the North East Elevation will look
directly into the neighbour’s bedroom and will have a huge effect on
their privacy.
 The kitchen is currently located at the other end of the building and
the new proposal will move the kitchen to the other end meaning the
extractor fan will be directly next to the neighbour’s property which
will have a detrimental effect of their enjoyment of their property.
 The Parish Council is extremely concerned that the additional units
will be requesting licences to sell alcohol which will have a negative
effect on the current local shop on Bishops Road.
 The A370 has a speed limit of 40mph. The previous restaurant was
only open 5pm until approximately 10pm. Two new units of shops
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will have the potential to be open all day and this will create
significant hazards for traffic pulling in and out on the busy A370.
Cleeve has had numerous accidents take place in recent months on
the A370 due to its speed limit.
The protected local species of the Greater Horseshoe bat forage in
the bushes and hedgerows next to this site and the increase in
lighting for the proposed building will be harmful to the bats.
There is an error in the Sustainability Statement. The paragraph
under the heading “Patterns of Development” is factually inaccurate.
The site is not located in a main shopping thoroughfare with most
shops having flats on the upper floors. There are no other shops in
that area of Cleeve.
The Sustainability Statement also mentions that water butts will be
installed to reduce run off from the roof. Water butts are not
sufficient to manage the additional run off that will be created with
an extension of this size.
North Somerset Council is insisting that the development next to this
site (planning application 14/P/0190/F) is to have a 1.5m high
acoustic wall surrounding the site. This will cause difficulties when
pulling out of this proposed site in the future onto the A370.
(ii) 14/P/2240/O 62 Main Road, Cleeve – agree report for Planning
Committee – prior to the meeting it was agreed that no one would
attend the Committee Meeting as upon reading the paper for the
meeting all the Parish Council’s comments have been included. District
Cllr Yamanaka advised in the future it would be worthwhile a Councillor
attending in a personal capacity to emphasise any points that need
further clarification. District Cllr Yamanaka said that she would be
attending and can speak at the meeting but will not be able to vote.
She has spoken to the case officer and it is not possible to have a
speed restriction as a condition of the application as this is a highway
matter. She also advised that certain things can be dealt with at the
reserved matters stage i.e. requesting the acoustic wall to be faced to
look like a limestone wall. It was agreed by all that the application is
now the opposite of what they supported in the beginning in that there
are now only six large houses proposed on the site with no two
bedroomed houses and the acoustic wall which has been insisted on by
North Somerset Council is completely out of keeping with the village.
District Cllr Yamanaka said she would try her best and would also
speak with the planning team to see if the site could be considered an
exception site if the landowner would consider affordable housing.
For information:
(i) 15/P/0190/F – The Old Inn, Main Road, Cleeve – GRANTED
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Finance
Payments received – the Clerk advised that she had received payment
from Groundwork for their contribution towards the dog bin emptying at
Goblin Combe of £156.00.
Payments for authority – The Council approved the following items for
payment:
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Item
Cost (£)
North Somerset Council – dog bin emptying
115.20 (v)
Parish Council Airport Association subscription
50.00
Clerk’s Salary 11 May to 7 June 2015 – 4 weeks
415.80
Litter Picker’s Salary
51.20
Inland Revenue
12.80
Clerk – administration
21.53
Clerk – travel – 8 miles @ £0.45
3.60
Clerk – use of home as office – 4 weeks
16.00
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Consultations: Draft Education Provision in North Somerset – A
Commissioning Strategy 2015-18
It was agreed by all that no comment was required.
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Bristol Airport Community Fund - Update
Following an email being received from Jeremy Gall advising that the next
Local Community Fund meeting being deferred until 17 July in order to
ensure that the new Council appointments to the committee have been
ratified it was agreed to postpone this item until the next meeting.
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Agree final external bodies representation
It was agreed by all that Cllr Morton would be the representative for the
Playing Fields Committee. It was also agreed to defer agreeing the
representatives for Equal Opportunities and the Mid Rural Network until the
next meeting when all Councillors may be present.
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Risk Assessments
The Chair raised that there is a large pothole outside Cleeve Nursery on the
A370. Also the stile between Cleeve Court field and the footpath to Goblin
Combe is unstable.
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Report on meetings attended
None.
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Invitations to External Meetings
Playing Fields Committee Meeting – 16 June – TM
Trustees of Yatton Charities – 18 June – MP
Parish Council Airport Association – June – HB
Parish Workshop – 17 June – no take up
WERN AGM – 25 June – no take up
VANS join the dots event – 24 June – no take up
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Correspondence
The Clerk highlighted a letter received from Groundwork asking for support
to raise donations to buy the Old School building. It was agreed by all to
put a copy of the letter onto the notice board in order to advertise the
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request for help. It was agreed that the Parish Council cannot give a grant
in this case if Groundwork are unsuccessful in raising the money the grant
may not be used for a particular project onsite in Cleeve. The Clerk was
asked to write a letter to Groundwork explaining its support and will
advertise however cannot give any money in this instance.
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Meetings
The Council confirmed the date of the next meeting:
 Council Meeting – 14 July 2015 at 7.30pm
The meeting closed at 9.08pm
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