Minutes of the Meeting of Penrice Community Council

 

Held on Tuesday 6th September 2005

 

 

Present:

Mr. A. Glass – Chairman              Mr. G. Evans

Mr. A. Oliver                                Mrs. E. Hatcher – Clerk

Mrs. M. Iles

 

Apologies:

Mr. B. Richards                            Mrs. E. Wakeford

Dr. J.   Hilliard                             Mr. T. Methuen – Campbell

 

05/73    Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of Interest.

 

05/74    Minutes of Meeting held on 7th July 2005

The Clerk pointed out that Financial 05/70 (d) The Annual Return, should read ‘The variance between boxes 6’ and not boxes 7.

The Minutes were then approved as amended by Mr. A. Oliver and seconded by Mr. G. Evans.

 

05/75    Matters Arising from the Minutes of 7th  July 2005

a)  Grant Schemes:   No report.

 

b)  Message in a bottle. Deferred as Dr. Hilliard was not available to report on whether the shop at Horton was prepared to keep the bottles and advertise the scheme in the shop window.                                                                                                  J.H

 

c)  A letter had been received from Mr. and Mrs. Drury who regularly holiday in Oxwich.  They were concerned about the noise and disturbance they had experienced during their stay this summer. Mr. Drury hoped that the Community Council could help with the problem.  A copy of the letter was to be sent to Mr. Ian Williams who is

 the owner of the house where the problems occurred.                                         Clerk 

 

 

05/76    Minutes of the special Meeting held on 17th August 2005

The minutes were approved as read.

Proposed by Mr. A. Oliver and seconded by Mr. G. Evans.

 

05/77    Matters Arising from the Minutes of  the 17th August 2005

Mr. B. Richards had requested that an amendment should be made regarding the decision made by the Community Council concerning Planning Application 2005/1581 Greenways Holiday Park, Oxwich. Mr. Richards wanted the objection to be amended to ‘objection by majority’. The decision was made not to amend the minutes as it was against the protocol of  Penrice Community Council.

Mr. A. Oliver was of the opinion that Mr. Richards should have abstained and not voted against the Community Council.

 

05/78    County Councillor R. Lewis

No report.

 

05/79    Community Councils

No report.

 

05/80    Financial
a)    Accounts for payment as @ 6th September 2005

 

Payable to                   Purpose              cheque          VAT          amount

C.A. Richards         Notice boards             245                                300.00

E.Hatcher-Clerk      Pay & Expenses         246                                185.15

 

a)  Balance as @ 6th September 2005

 

Cash @ Bank       5900.10                        opening balance         2152.80

Less cheques          250.00                        additional receipts     6124.36                                       

Not presented                                                                              8277.16      
                          = 5650.10                       less payments            2627.06                                                     
            
                           £5650.10                        Balances                 £5650.10

 

                                                                                    
c)    Annual Return for 2004/2005

The Annual Return for 2004 /2005 had been checked by the Independent Auditor on 21st July 2005.  Mr. Peter Davies advised that the accounts had been kept well and approved section 1 The Statement of Accounts, Section 2 The Statement of assurance,  

and section 4 The Annual Independent check report.  Copies were distributed to Community Councillors for their approval.  Section 3 of the audit is for the External Audit at Wales Audit office.  The Clerk to send all documents including 8 additiional items as requested.                                                                                                  Clerk

 

Notices concerning the audit had been placed on the notice boards and members of the public can request an inspection of the books.

Following concern from a member of the public that no mention is made to the land owned by the Community Council in the audit,  the Clerk took advice from Wales Audit Office who advised that the land be valued and added to assets in the audit year 2005/2006. Clerk to contact the District Valuer.                                                    Clerk                                                             

 

d)  Precept payment

The Clerk reported that The Community Council had received the second precept payment at the end of August.

 

e)   VAT Return

The Clerk reported that an amount of £114.75 had been repaid .

 

f)  A duplicate invoice had been received from Wales Audit office for year 2003/2004

but a credit note was received as the account had been paid.

 

g)  Clerks pay review – National agreement on Salaries and Pay Scales.

Standing Orders were suspended and this item was deferred to the last item for discussion.  The Clerk would then leave whilst Community Councillors discussed the review. The review to be taken ‘ in camera.’

 

h)   The Clerk asked Councillors for their suggestions for any items that might need to be put in the budget for year 2006/7.  One suggestion was the possibility of planting trees. 

 

05/81    Members Registration of Interests

The Clerk distributed forms for Community Councillors to update their Declarations of Interest.

 

05/82    Correspondence

Noted correspondence from the following:

 

. Swansea N.H.S. Trust - Revised Draft Welsh Language Scheme.

. Network Abertawe – Life begins @ 50 + leaflets had been placed on notice boards.

. Environment Agency – The Tawe, Loughor and Gower Catchment Abstraction Management Plan.

. Swansea Council for Voluntary Services – News and information bulletin.

. The President of the Adjudication Panel for Wales – Annual Report 2004/2005.

. City and County of Swansea – Regarding any outstanding issues. A letter had been sent to City and County of Swansea in the Clerks absence stating that there were no outstanding issues, however, it was pointed out that there were issues concerning Drainage improvements in Oxwich which had not been completed, and the retaining wall which had been knocked down opposite Box Tree Cottage, Oxwich  and the issue of touring caravans at Greenways Holiday Park were still awaiting a visit from the Enforcement Officer.                                                                                     Clerk 

. City and County of Swansea – Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Mr. A. Oliver was in possession of a hard copy and stated it mostly concerned plants and plant species.                                                                                                                        AO

. City and County of Swansea – Draft Unitary Development plan. Community Councillors decided they would like a presentation, possibly during the meeting in October.  To be arranged.                                                                                        Clerk 

. Welsh Assembly Government – On Proposed Amendments to the Standards Sub-Committee (Wales) Regulation 2001.                                                                   Clerk  

. Forestry Commission – Meetings concerning the future of Parkwood and Millwood.

. Mid and West Wales Fire Service – Draft Integrated Risk Management Plan 2005/6.

. City and County of Swansea – Lord Mayors Civic Service.

. Reynoldston Community Council – Eynons Ford Lane. Mr. A. Oliver advised that they contact the Forestry Commission.                                                             Clerk 

. Planning Inspectorate – Public Enquiry regarding Definitive Map Modification Order No:239  2005 Former Tennis Courts – Horton. Date not decided.

. Society of Local Council Clerks – Meeting scheduled for 17th September to discuss Clerks salaries and conditions has been cancelled.

 

05/83  Planning

There were no new planning applications.

 

The Clerk reported the following:

Application No: 2005/1237
Location:            Oxwich Camping Site, Oxwich, Swansea.

Proposal:            Detached single storey building to provide staff accommodation,

                           Reception, facilities and plant store

Area 2 Development Control Committee – Recommended - Refusal.

 

Application No: 2004/2635
Location:           Land adjacent to Hillside Cottage, Oxwich, Swansea.

Proposal:           Detached dwelling house and re-construction of part of 1.3 metre

                           high front boundary stone wall.

Recommended: Approval following a site visit.

 

Application No: 2004/2900
Location:           Land at Oxwich Bay Hotel, Oxwich, Swansea.

Proposal:           Retention of landscaping improvements with associated

                           Engineering works.

Local Planning Authority approved this application subject to conditions.

 

Application No: 2004/1741
Location :           Land at Oxwich Bay Hotel Oxwich, Swansea.

Proposal:            Siting of temporary marquee April to September inclusive

                            And December, and associated overspill car park.

Decision:            Approved subject to conditions.

 

Application No: 2003/2307
Location :           Bank Farm, Horton, Swansea.
Section 78 appeal: against the decision of the City and County of Swansea Council to refuse planning permission for the reinstatement of permitted development rights for 28 day camping and use as a caravan site in Fields 0005, 5934, 7700 and 8600
Decision:           Field 0005 allowed
                          Fields 5934,7700 and 8600 dismissed.

 

 

Application No:  2005/0435
Location:             Ham Field, Horton, Swansea.

Proposal:             Change of use from agricultural land to caravan park for 12

                             Units with associated infrastructure works.

Application withdrawn by applicant/agent.

 

05/84  Matters Outstanding

 

a)  Trafalgar Weekend

The Chairman reported that events had been arranged for the children in the afternoon of Friday 21st October 2005 in Oxwich Youth Hall, and followed by a bonfire, fireworks display and a barbeque on the beach at Oxwich, weather permitting. Mr. Courtney Grove is organising the firework display and has been professionally trained. The Clerk to check with the Community Council’s Insurers.                                       Clerk 

This will be followed by a Dinner at the Oxwich Bay Hotel for the adults, tickets are £17.50 per head.  Any profits will go to charity (mainly seafaring).

Mr. A. Oliver reported that an African Band would be present and that he had donated potatoes for the barbeque.

 

b)  Signposts

Mr. Chris Dale was to be approached about the Bridleway sign at Oxwich.            AO

Mr. A. Oliver asked the Clerk to check if correspondence had been sent to The City and County of Swansea regarding a sign at Horton Cross stating that it was unsuitable for large vehicles.                                                                                                   Clerk                   

 

c)  Gower Website   (deferred from July)  

The Clerk reported that the launch date had been put back to October 1st due to the holiday season.

The new draft home page had been approved and also the Specification of the website.

Suggestions for Penrice Community Council’s introductory page were, to use extracts from the annual report and add information about Trafalgar Day.                      Clerk  

 

d) Insurance  (deferred from July)

The Clerk reported that a letter had been received from the Committee of Horton Village Hall, stating that they did not wish to form an Official Sub-Committee which would have enabled them to be covered by the Community Council insurance to arrange events on Horton Green.

 

e)  Benches

The Clerk to contact Mr. E. Humphries about the commencement of the construction of the benches at Oxwich and Horton.                                                                  Clerk 

 

05/85 Annual Review of Clerk’s salary and conditions.

The Clerk explained that over the past eighteen months The Society of Local Council Clerks in conjunction with The National Association of Local Councils had been negotiating over a new agreement on salaries and conditions of service for Local Council Clerks.

Under the current structure there are four salary scales LC1 to LC4 with various grades within the scales. The LC is based solely on size of population.

Under the new proposed structure the LC will be based on 6 elements – population size, number of meetings attended during the year, number of staff, budget, statutory and delegated functions.  Both structures also take into account experience, qualifications and responsibility.

Under the new scheme Penrice Community Council falls into a mixture of LC1,2 and 3,but predominantly LC1.

The Clerk ‘s proposals were as follows:

 

a) The  hours of work be upgraded from 5 hours per week to 6 hours per week following a recording of the hours worked from May 2005 to September 2005.

b) That the grade which is currently LC 15 £7.62 per hr. the very lowest be upgraded to LC20 £8.76 per hr. from September, the Clerk stated that this would be entirely at The Community Council’s discretion. Copies of the pay scales were distributed.

c) A Gratuity of £160.20p per annum (as The National Agreement recommends) be paid. The Clerk suggested that this could be written in to the budget for 2006/2007.

d) The National Agreement stated that car allowance had increased from 50.5p per mile to 52.7 per mile from 1st April 2005. The clerk explained that she had driven 156 miles on Council business since 1st April. The recommendation was that the increase in car allowance be back dated to April at an extra cost of £3.43.

The Clerk then left the meeting.

 

05/86 Minutes of the Clerks pay review taken by The Chairman

Concern was expressed at the proposed increase in the Clerk’s pay, as a council overhead, firstly by extending the hours by 20%(from 5 to 6 hours per week), and secondly increasing the pay scale by 15%.  The car mileage scale payments greatly exceed others, such as the NHS, and the need to contribute towards a gratuity was queried, as pension arrangements now tend to be left to individuals.  It was noted that the Clerk had suggested a deferral of this until 2006/2007.  After much debate, it was  agreed that the Clerk’s pay and mileage should increase as per the guidelines set out, but no gratuity would be paid, if this is discretionary.  It is hoped that NALC will not implement any further major shifts, and that in future more warning will be given, to enable fuller debate.  It was regretted that so few Councillors had been able to attend the meeting to discuss this important issue.

 

The meeting was extended, to finalise debate on the Clerk’s pay during September as set out in Standing Orders.

 

The meeting finished at 10.20pm.

 

 

Date of next meeting:     Wednesday 5th October 2005