Town and Larger Parishes Committee
17th April 2015
Town and Larger Parishes Committee Secretary: Paula Harding
St Catherines Farm
Old Sherborne Road
Cerne Abbas
Dorset
DT2 7SJ
Tel: 07765 241914
E-mail: sec.townsandlarger@dorset-aptc.gov.uk
Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils
(Affiliated to the National Association of Local Councils)
WEBSITE: www.dorset-aptc.gov.uk
Minutes of the Towns and Larger Parishes Committee held on Friday 17th April 2015
at The Corn Exchange, Dorchester.
Present:
Cllr Page
Cllr White
Cllr Dean
Cllr Johnson
Cllr Warren
Cllr Potter
Cllr Beckley
Cllr Dedden
Cllr Russell
Cllr Bartlett
Beaminster Town Council
Blandford Forum Town Council
Chickerell Town Council
Colehill Parish Council
Colehill Parish Council
Dorchester Town Council
Gillingham Town Council
Verwood Town Council
Verwood Town Council
Wimborne Town Council
Also Present: Cllr Turner
Mrs Paula Harding
Ms Cynthia Starkey
Mr Pete West
Chairman – Town and Larger Parishes Committee
Secretary – Town and Larger Parishes Committee
Chief Executive DAPTC
Community Energy Office – Dorset County Council
11/15 - Apologies
Apologies for their inability to attend the meeting were received from:
Cllr Stayt
Cllr Holland
Cllr Richards
Dr Ayres (Clerk)
Cllr Pratt
Mrs Bright (Clerk)
Cllr Turner
Cllr Cook
Blandford Forum Town Council
Corfe Mullen Parish Council
Lytchett Minster and Upton Town Council
Swanage Town Council
Swanage Town Council
Verwood Town Council
Wareham Town Council
Wimborne Minster Town Council
12/15 - Minutes of the meeting held on 30th January 2015.
a) It was noted that Mrs Val Bright is listed as a Councillor in Minute 1/15 (Apologies),
she is in fact the Clerk to the Council. This was amended and noted for future
meetings.
b) Clarification was sought regarding the minutes of Cllr Matthews point in 9/15
Members items. The Secretary agreed to make it clearer that the recommendation
from the review was to increase the Town Council proportion of the precept to £25
per household and not £25 overall.
With these amendments made the minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the
meeting and signed by the Chairman.
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White
President: David Jenkins DL
Page 1 of 5
Chief Executive: Cynthia Starkey
Town and Larger Parishes Committee
17th April 2015
13/15 Matters arising from the Minutes of the 24th October 2014.
 Item 9/15 – Cllr White updated the group on the item regarding abolition of Section
106 contributions from developers building less than 10 houses. He stated that
Blandford Town Council were now getting developers who have previously had
planning permission for 10 or more houses asking not to pay, and if a refusal is given
they are resubmitting the application with a reduced number of properties to avoid
the charge.
14/15 – Speaker, Mr Pete West – Community Energy Officer Dorset County Council
Mr West began by asking Cllr Russell from Verwood Town Council to talk to the meeting
about their experiences with two solar farm developments in their area.
Cllr Russell explained that they have two solar farms in their area, 1 of which they are
already seeing the financial benefit from the other is yet to contribute.
‘Homelands’ was the first farm and it was decided that a community group would be set up
to administer any financial benefits which were received rather than adding an extra burden
to the Town Council and to assist with community engagement.
Verwood Town Council are partners to the community group (in that they administer the
payments from the fund) but the financial benefits from the Solar Farm are ring-fenced and
cannot be used for Town Council purposes, unless granted for a Town Council project by the
Community group.
The community group produced a grant aid policy and a constitution for their group, the
Solar Farm agreed to a Community Policy Agreement and a Unilateral undertaking with the
Town Council. A financial benefit of £13,200 was received last summer, since then the farm
has been sold and the next payment is due this month
‘Manor Farm’ is the second project and a public consultation was held in July. No benefits
were offered at the consultation, however subsequent questions have been asked about a
benefit and the group has been told it will received a financial benefit if it asks for one.
However since then ‘Manor Farm’ has been sold and there has been no further
communication.
As with ‘Homelands’ a community group has been set up and as the site originally crossed
the boundaries of two wards the benefit was to be split. Since the Community Governance
review the site is wholly in Verwood, although it has been agreed that the benefit will remain
split.
Both projects are similar and being handled in the same way by the Town Council but the
outcomes and issues raised so far are very different.
The proposed financial benefit from these types of project should be around £1000 per
megawatt of generating capacity produced each year in addition to any ‘specific’ local benefit
such as payments towards a local park/nature area etc which should be negotiated locally
before the agreement is signed.
Mr West distributed 3 documents:
a) Summary of renewable energy projects so far and financial benefits negotiated
b) A list of legal documents which DCC would suggest are required
c) A Briefing Paper on how to approach a renewable energy developer in your area
These documents and other details including who to contact for advice can be found at:
https://www.dorsetforyou.com/renewableenergy/community-benefit
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White
President: David Jenkins DL
Page 2 of 5
Chief Executive: Cynthia Starkey
Town and Larger Parishes Committee
17th April 2015
He added that a Unilateral Undertaking is the best agreement to have with a developer as
this is a charge on the land and is lodged with the land registry so transfers to any new
owners through the life of the development. All members were reminded that agreements
cannot be done retrospectively so if permission is granted for a development before a
financial benefit is agreed then that community will receive nothing.
It was proposed that an information session be arranged with the Legal team at DCC and
any Parish or Town Councils who are currently speaking with Renewable Energy developers
or who have identified areas of land which may be subjected to future applications. This
session would help councils pull together a checklist and action plan for negotiating with
companies and also advise on how to put together a group to manage any financial benefits
which arise. (Note: a meeting has since been arranged for the 29th June and notice sent to
all members, if you have not received these details of this please contact the secretary.)
Action: Mr West/ DAPTC Head office .
Mr West is hoping to write an article for the next DAPTC newsletter on the subject of
renewable energy in Parish and Town Council areas, as well as on Parish and Town Council
properties. If a Town Council buys solar panels for the roof of their building they would be
entitled to keep any savings – rebate from the installation and can use this for whatever
purpose they choose. Schools and Village Halls are also benefiting from grants towards
solar roof panels. DAPTC are to work on putting together a pack of templates on the issue of
Renewable Energy for their members.
Action: Mr West/ DAPTC Head office
Cllr Dean stated that Chickerell Town Council had received a one-off payment as this suited
the Council better as they had a large project to fund. Mr West felt that this also a
reasonable solution if the requirements of the Council suited this better. A further option may
be to put the lump sum in an investment account and distribute the funds over time as
suitable projects in the Community arose.
The Chairman thanked Mr West for his time and added that all members should take time to
read the information on the website, even if they are not actively engaged in such a project
at present, so they are prepared for any future approaches from energy generation
developers.
15/15 DAPTC Chief Executives Report
The Chief Executive presented her report (which can be viewed in full as Appendix A) to the
meeting. The highlights of the report are as follows;
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Strengthening Parish and Town Council accountability - a proposal to extend the
remit of the Local Council ombudsman to Larger Parish and Town Councils. The
Consultation can be found here: Consultation Document Link . Closing date is the
30th June
New Transparency Fund - £4.7m has been released by the government to help small
parish councils become web-enabled and compliant with the new transparency code.
Sector Led Body to procure External Audit – NALC has been given permission to set
up a sector led body to procure External Audit services following the abolition of the
Audit Commission.
NALC and SLCC working together – A protocol has been signed between these two
groups and there has been agreement to work on an ‘employment work stream’.
NALC calls for new devolution deal for communities – NALC has backed a two tier
local government, calling for the creation of unitary principal authorities coupled with
the establishment of new parish councils with devolved functions and services.
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White
President: David Jenkins DL
Page 3 of 5
Chief Executive: Cynthia Starkey
Town and Larger Parishes Committee
17th April 2015
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Dorset Local Action Groups – Local Action groups will be calling for grant
applications from June onwards for Projects in the rural economy, further information
can be found at www.dorsetlocalactiongroups.org.uk
Training – A total of 40 people attended the prospective Parish and Town Councillor
drop in sessions over 5 locations in March. A set of training for new Clerks,
Councillors and Chairman has been arranged over June and July.
16/15 – Superfast Broadband Update
The Superfast broadband team have sent the latest update report to the Committee (which
is attached as Appendix B to these minutes). The report was read to the meeting. The
Chairman reminded the meeting that both he and Cllr Gibb are the DAPTC representatives
on the Superfast Broadband group and that the information on the Dorset for you website is
a good place to find out when your area will be brought into the programme.
17/15 – NALC Report
Cllr Dedden reported that all NALC committee members have completed a skills audit so
that the group can begin to take advantage of what their members are good at. They are
also in the process of updating their 3 year strategic plan.
A lobby day has been planned for NALC members at the House of Parliament on the 30th
June. (A copy of the lobby brief has been attached to these minutes as Appendix C) Cllr
Dedden will have the opportunity to speak with the 6 MPs for Dorset for half an hour. Those
present were asked if they have any issues that they would like Cllr Dedden to raise at this
meeting (she will only be able to address around 3 issues in the time given) and to contact
her directly with any ideas.
18/15 – Members items
 Cllr Bartlett reported a number of developers are now trying to renege on their,
previously agreed, duty to provide 50% affordable housing following changes to the
core-strategy. He also reported that the Allendale Centre will now be sold off
following the merger with Christchurch and relocation of staff.
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Cllr White reported that there were to be no elections in Blandford as there were not
enough candidates standing for Council. He stated that the Council would not co-opt
to fill the vacant seats. He also reported that the local plan inspection has been
completed but that further work is required before it will be accepted.
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Cllr Johnson stated that he felt that the new electoral legislation which prevented
candidates submitting nomination papers for multiple seats has caused vacancies
and will force councils to co-opt in order to fill their seats.
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Cllr Johnson informed the meeting that their community development youth project
had run into financial difficulties following and overspend by the project manager.
Colehill Council has agreed to use the power of competence to give between
£20,000-£35,000 to assist.
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Cllr Beckley reported that the community hub is working well with good
communication with the County and District Councils. There is a need for more social
housing and the local housing association is planning on demolishing a set of
garages and building 16-18 houses in their place. It was also reported that the
redevelopment of the play area will have a shortfall of funds and that Gillingham
Town Council is looking to try and get a grant.
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White
President: David Jenkins DL
Page 4 of 5
Chief Executive: Cynthia Starkey
Town and Larger Parishes Committee
17th April 2015
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Cllr Russell reported that intelligence was received that a group of travellers were
intending to stay at a site in three legged cross. The council put in place obstacles
across the entrance to the land to prevent this; however it seems that the group did
not attempt to access the site. There is an issue with no transit sites being available
in this area, so the council are unable to move travellers on if they do pitch without
permission.
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Cllr Dedden reported that a number of public spaces near new developments are
being taken for personal use by incoming residents. Problems have arisen with
enforcement as the District Councils are often not aware of historical ownership and
in many cases if an owner is identified they are dormant development companies so
are not in a position to fight this land-grabbing. Many parcels of land are left over
from the development boom of the 1980’s and should have been handed over to the
local authorities, but never were.
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Cllr Page reported that Beaminster Council will have 5 vacant seats to which they
need to co-opt after the election. This will mean that they lose their quality council
status and the ability to use the ‘general power of competence’.
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Cllr Dean reported that a large housing development in Chickerell is about to start.
19/15 – Next Meeting
The meeting closed at 12.10pm with notice that the next meeting would be held on Friday
31st July 2015 at Chickerell Town Council.
Signed_______________________________ Date_____________________
Cllr Chris Turner
Chairman
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White
President: David Jenkins DL
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Chief Executive: Cynthia Starkey