Monday 3rd April 2023

The meeting of Launcells Parish Council was held on the above date at 7:30pm, in Launcells Parish Hall.

Chairman Cllr Whittle, Vice-Chair Cllr Allin, Cllr Cleave, Cllr Pollard, Cllr Wingard, Cllr Stokes, Cllr Minter, Cllr Elliott.

Also in attendance: Clerk Julie Gray and Cllr Chopak.

2 members of the public were present for the meeting.

Cllr Whittle opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.

04.23/81:

Cllr Tape and Cllr Hargreave could not make the meeting and sent their apologies.

04.23/82:

It was resolved to approve the minutes and ratify all decisions made at the meeting held on Monday 6th March 2023. Proposed Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Allin. 6 in favour. 2 abstained, due to not being present at the previous meeting. The Chair, Cllr Whittle, signed them as a correct record.

04.23/83:

1. There were no declarations.

04.23/84:

1. There were no dispensation requests.

04.23/85:

1. The Clerk contacted the Bus Shelter repair company and has signed an agreement for the works to install the solar lighting on the bus shelter on the north side of the A3072 at the Red Post Crossroads.

04.23/86:

Cllr Chopak is attending a meeting tomorrow to debate the pros and cons of having a mayor for Cornwall. There is also a brief on Friday and it will then go to a full council meeting for debate on 18/4/23. A referendum will cost approximately £1mil. The devolution payment will be £132mil over a 30-year period, which has been calculated to be about 0.8%pa of the annual Cornwall Council budget.

Levelling Up funding is on a first come first served basis.

Cornwall Community Fund may be available for small projects and there is also the option of applying to the East Langdon Solar Farm.

The Bude Police Enquiry Office is now open.

The speed cameras at either end of the approach to Grimscott are in place and Councillors believe they are effective. We are still awaiting formal changes to the speed limits around the same areas.

04.23/87:

Cllr Whittle had a meeting with Cllr Allin and a parishioner at Launcells Cross. The parishioner had offered to give up some of his land so the hedge on the north east corner could be pushed back to enable visibility when turning onto the main road at this junction. Road signs would need to be moved to enable this to happen and ideally the BT telegraph pole could be moved. The parishioner would not be averse to having the pole in his garden.

The parishioner who lives on the opposite side of the road (south west corner) was also happy for his hedge to be pushed back or removed and a fence put in place to increase visibility at the junction. Cllr Chopak noted these highway matters and will look at the viability of these ideas.

Cllr Whittle has also taken photographs of the Red Post junction to show where the white lines are very faded, as when Cllr Whittle reported this the response was that the lines were adequate.

04.23/88:

Ian Mason, of North Kernow Housing gave a presentation with slides concerning their attempts at bringing affordable housing to Bude and the surrounding areas. They would like to work with the Parishes to get a team of volunteers together in each Parish that can find out the need and look at viable options e.g. land for sale of property to lease. Cllr Wingard expressed an interest in this project.

Mr Mason agreed to send further data to the Parish Council for consideration at the next meeting.

04.23/89:

A member of the public asked Cllr Chopak how much a mayor would cost.

It is estimated a mayor in office would cost over £1mil.

04.23/90: – all correspondence circulated via email.

1. Civility and Respect Newsletter.
2. NALC Newsletter.
3. Affordable Housing Newsletter.
4. Gwynt Glas Floating Offshore Wind Newsletter.
5. Chief Executives Bulletin.
6. Carbon Literacy Webinar.
7. NALC Newsletter.
8. NALC Events.
9. Town and Parish Council Newsletter.
10. Chief Executive’s Bulletin.
11. Keeping Cornwall Updated.
12. Community Levelling Up Framework.
13. Chief Executive’s Bulletin.
14. Community Area Partnerships.

04.23/91:

1. Decision Notices/Updates:
   1. PA23/00206 | Proposed car port | Barons Barn Hobbacott Lane Marhamchurch Bude. Cornwall EX23 0EX.
      APPROVED.
2. Planning Applications/Appeals:
   Any late planning applications received will be discussed but not decided under this section.
   1. Pigsdon Quarry Tip Extension Planning Application. Pre-application.
      The Council has been invited to go to the quarry to view the proposed application. Cllr Whittle and Cllr Stokes will take up the invitation. Cllr Chopak also stated that the applicant is happy to attend a Parish Council meeting to discuss the proposition. Cllr Chopak will inform them that we are happy to listen.

04.23/92:

1. Chairman.
   The Chairman had nothing to report.
2. The Clerk.
   The Clerk attended the planning event on 22nd March, the Climate Emergency Development Plan Document policies and planning processes. This appears to only apply to developments of 10+ houses. There must be a green infrastructure, canopy coverage, sustainable transport (to minimise the need for travel). For Renewable energy they are going to allow wind turbines again. There will be an offer of 5% to the community as a share in developments. The slides are on the Planning training site.
   The Clerk has ordered the QR codes, related to mental health codes (noted at the last meeting), which were sent to the printer, but have not yet been received.
   The Clerk requested that Cllrs review their Register of Interest forms and if they need amending to contact the Clerk.
   The VAT claim has been completed and sent to HMRC.
   Invites to the Annual Parish Meeting have been sent out.
   The Clerk noted that no monies had been received for the LPM contract to maintain the Parish paths. Upon investigation it was found the invoices had been sent in October but there had been no response. The Clerk emailed Cornwall Council an enquiry concerning this.

04.23/93:

Cllr Chopak investigated why Cllr Whittle had seemingly not been invited to the Licence Review meeting and was told that the officers had followed the process. It was decided to let things end there.

04.23/94:

There have been many complaints concerning not being able to get through to the GP surgery; discouragement of appointments and failure of the administration. Cllr Chopak is meeting with the new integrated health board and will raise concerns. Three doctors resigned last month, which has made things worse. The 111 service does not appear to be fit for purpose – the Bude postcode keeps getting dropped from their system and people are being sent to Redruth as the closest MIU overnight service as opposed to Stratton. The overnight service is still having problems with Friday coverage but they have guaranteed there will be coverage over the Easter holidays.

04.23/95:

The asset register was circulated with a proposed policy. Some amendments were made and locations given. The Cllrs had no chance to go through the policy fully and well and therefore the formal review will be deferred until the next meeting.

04.23/96:

Cornwall Training & Consultancy are offering free CPR and how to use a Defibrillator. They are looking for venues that may be willing to let them use their venues to host these sessions for free. Each booking will be no more than 2 hours. These events will be open to anyone living in the area who would like to attend this training. Dates available are Saturdays – 13/5 20/5 or 27/5 10-12 or 1 -3. Or Thursdays 18/5 or 25/5 6-8.

The Clerk will send the dates to the Councillors, who will reply with the dates that they can attend.

04.23/97:

Councillors are requested to make biscuits for the Show. Full details will be in the Horticultural Show schedule.

04.23/98:

Cllr Whittle attended an online meeting with South West Water (SWW). The current water shortage is due to the 2022 drought and the fact there has been a population increase in Cornwall since covid. SWW have bought an old quarry that is currently full of water and they are considering desalination plants. No planning application has been made yet for the plants. They will also consider bringing tankers of water from up North. There is a 10% loss to leaks that have not been dealt with. SWW have now merged with Bristol Water and their engineers are attending the SW to deal with leaks down here. The Company is offering free water butts to members of the public.

04.23/99:

*This Agenda Item 18 was brought forward at the discretion of the Chairman and discussed at Agenda Item 7*

04.23/100:

The Parish Council are not concerned if another Internal Auditor is used, as the previous one was seen as expensive. The Clerk will email a new Internal Auditor but if they cannot take on Launcells the Clerk will contact the previous auditor.

Proposed Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Pollard. Unanimous

04.23/101:

Concerning only the Clerk authorising payments online – this scenario is already in the Regs as long as there is a security check. It was discussed undertaking quarterly checks and this too is already in the regulations. The Regulations were circulated to the Councillors for review.

The Clerk will supply the bank statements and invoices each quarter for review by a Councillor that is not the Chair as per regulations.

It was proposed the Financial Regulations be accepted by Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Pollard. Unanimous

04.23/102:

The clerk provided Annual Accounts for the year ending 31.3.2023. An Account Statement and a detailed Account Statement was circulated to the Cllrs. These were noted by the Cllrs

04.23/103:

The Bude Community Network Partnership has been merged with much of the Camelford area to form the new Community Area Partnership (CAP) by Cornwall Council. Cllr Whittle and Cllr Chopak attended a meeting to try to work out how to manage the increase in area to include 24 Parishes but no consensus has yet been reached.

The CAP is to make final decisions on the applicants for the levelling up funding. The first tranche is £200k.There is talk of training and workshops.

Chris Sims is leaving as Community Link Officer and a new person is to be appointed.

04.23/104:

It was proposed that Launcells Parish Council put in an Expression of Interest for £15k for works to the Parish common ground from the community aspect of the Levelling Up funds. That the place is cleared, a bridge over the waterlogged part is created, paths are tidied and extra paths through the middle made, picnic benches be placed and annual maintenance be considered.

Proposed Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Wingard. Unanimous.

There is also funding available with Active Travel England for funding to make improvements to enable people to choose active travel. Schemes could include creating more paths in rural areas and developing safer routes for children to walk to school, improved safety at junctions for people walking and cycling.

Funding will also be used to support people in wheelchairs and mobility scooters by making street designs more inclusive.

04.23/105:

The Parish Hall is having a dinner on Monday May 8th and will be giving mugs out to children of the Parish.

The Parish Council do not usually do anything for Armed Forces Day.

04.23/106:

Parish Councillor Contributor. Cllr Elliott cannot contribute at this time therefore Cllr Cleave volunteered.

Cllr Pollard stated that the next contributor should be informed now as at the meeting left little time to write a piece. Cllr Stokes is next month’s contributor.

04.23/107:

It has not been possible to undertake cleaning due to the bad weather.

04.23/108:

1. Ratification of payments totalling £877.25 as per March schedule. It was resolved to ratify the payments. Proposed Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Elliott. Unanimous.
2. To note Bank reconciliations.
3. To note Income & Bank Balances as per the schedule and reconciliations.

04.23/109:

CALC membership is up for renewal.

It was proposed to subscribe again by Cllr Whittle. Seconded Cllr Allin. Unanimous.

The fee is included in the March schedule.

The memorial to a road traffic accident on the Bude Road now has lights on it and this is causing concern re distracting drivers at night. This will be reported to Highways.

04.23/110:

Thursday 4th May 2023.

The APM will be at 7pm and the PC meeting at 7.30pm.

Meeting closed at 9.25pm

During the meeting it may arise that publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential or special nature of the business to be transacted and the press and public will be instructed to withdraw.

When this arises, the Chair will recommend to consider passing the following resolution: “to resolve that in view of the confidential or special nature of the business to be discussed, the public are excluded and instructed to withdraw.”