Minutes of the meeting of the
Penrice Community Council held on ~
At Oxwich and Penrice Youth Hall
Members Present: Councillor
G Roberts – Chairman
Councillor
J Bowen
Councillor
B Richards
Councillor
A Oliver
Councillor A Glass
Councillor
R Lewis
Councillor
A Lewis
Councillor
M Barnett
Twelve members of the public were also present.
Cllr T Methuen-Campbell
Cllr
B Richards declared a prejudicial interest Planning items relating to Bank
Farm, including the letter from Simmonds Hurford Solicitors letter, due to
being the owner of Bank Farm.
Cllr A Oliver declared a personal
interest in the Agenda item High Kiln Bank, Slade due to farming land adjacent
to this property.
Cllr G Roberts declared a prejudicial interest in an item to
be discussed under Correspondence relating to the complaint made to the Local
Government Ombudsman.
88/08 To
Confirm the minutes 8th October 08
Amendment: Item 78/08
Correspondence
To follow no 7. Viewing this proposal from
most aspects was of concern….
Add - 8. Whether every
Councillor was on the Penrice Community Council for the benefit of the
community or for their own benefit.
Cllr J Bowen proposed that with the amendment, the minutes
were a true and accurate record, seconded Cllr A
Glass. Carried
unanimously.
89/08 Matters
Arising
Item 62/08 CCS – not
received and at meeting
Item 69/08 Meeting with Chris Dale CCS Cllr
G Roberts reported-
Cllrs G Roberts, J Bowen, A Oliver and the owner of
Craig-y-Don, Mr Peter Nicholas met with Chris Dale, CCS to try and rectify the
surface water problems. A drain was considered but following discussion, it was agreed to
try aggregate to allow the water to drain
through which would be a cheaper option.
Chris Dale would report back to the Council following further
investigation.
Item 77/08 Cllr J Bowen
reported that One Voice Wales would be providing a training day in January full
details t.b.a.
Item 80/08 The Gower
Society had provided a spreadsheet that had recorded planning applications,
approved and rejected, of caravan
rallies in the Gower area.
Item 80/08 Shore Cottage –
letter instructing the Solicitor to proceed had been sent.
Item 82/08 no 3
Horton Village Green Fireworks display and Bonfire was
again very successful and was enjoyed by many.
Letter of thanks to Courtney Grove for his
contribution. SC
90/08 County
Councillor R Lewis
Cllr R Lewis reported that he had attended a meeting with
the Fire Service in
90/08
Due to this analytical procedure, a saving of £255,000 had
been made.
A very good service had been provided at the recent flooding
problems experienced at Pontardulais.
An All Wales Fire Service was not what was wanted.
QE 2020 for local schools –
The Leisure Centre was still going very well and the Winter
Wonderland was once again opened in the Centre of Swansea.
Cllr Lewis had raised the problem of three large pot holes
in the Penny Hitch, Oxwich with Cllr Hague and Chris Gibbins.
The road works to accommodate the ‘Bendy bus’ in Swansea had
cost approx 3-4 million pounds, money that had been received from the Welsh
Assembly.
The First Cymru depot had also to be altered to carry out
repairs and when this work was finished the buses would be in operation, in the
new year.
91/08 Community Councils
92/08 Correspondence
The Community Council need to
adopt a new Publication Scheme by January 2009.
Deferred until
the next meeting.
2008/1728 – Approved 2008/1721 – Approved 2008/1682 – Refused
20081884 – Approved 2008/1950 – Refused 2008/0720 – Approved
2008/1886 – Approved 2008/1576 – Refused 2008/1812 – Refused
2008/1548 - Refused
93/08 Financial
Advertising the adoption of the New Code of Conduct in the
Evening Post 361 £52.20
Proposed Cllr A
Glass, seconded Cllr B Richards carried unanimously.
Horton Village Hall - children’s Christmas party. 362 £75.00
Oxwich and Penrice Youth Hall - children’s Christmas party 363 £75.00
Membership of the SLCC 364 £117.00
External Audit to Mazars 365 £141.00
Clerk salary and expenses information
protected under the Data Protection Act
Proposed to pay Cllr A Glass, seconded Cllr J Bowen, carried unanimously.
Cash at bank 31st Oct 08 £ 5805.00
94/08 Planning
1.
Cllr R Lewis reported that even though he was the
Chairman of the Area 2 Planning Committee
at the CCS, he had received advice directly from the Legal Department of
the CCS and was able to remain in the meeting during Planning Applications that
he did not have a prejudicial interest in.
However due to still receiving queries
regarding him remaining during the Planning section of
the meeting,
Cllr Lewis withdrew from the meeting for all of the Planning Item.
The Council had received clear advice from both the Legal Department, CCS and also One Voice Wales
Legal Department and agreed that it still remains up to the individual Member
to decide whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.
Cllrs B Richards and A Lewis both declared a prejudicial
interest in the following item Bank Farm and withdrew from the meeting for this
item. Cllr B Richards and Cllr A Lewis also declared a
prejudicial interest in planning applications relating to Bank Farm and
withdrew from this item.
2.
The letter dated
The advice letter of response, received from One Voice Wales
was also read to the meeting.
A discussion followed.
Comments made by Members included:
·
When the existing building is viewed from Port Eynon,
it can be seen and the replacement building is higher and would be high on the
skyline.
·
If Solicitors letters are being received, how can the
Community Councillors act on behalf of the community?
·
The legal advice that the Council has received
confirms that it has acted properly, so the Council should stand by the
observations that it has made.
Council decided to send a letter to the Solicitor explaining
their decision. SC
3.
The Local Government Ombudsman
Cllr G Roberts declared a prejudicial interest and withdrew
from the meeting for this item. Cllr J
Bowen took the Chair.
Cllr G Roberts had reported Cllr B Richards to the Local
Government Ombudsman for a breach of the New Code of Conduct regarding the
letter sent to the Community Council.
A brief discussion followed, points raised;
·
Surprise that the Ombudsman had responded so quickly.
·
Cllr M Barnett asked why couldn’t Cllr B Richards apologise , then the Council could forget all about the
situation?
·
Ridiculous that this should be discussed without Cllr
G Roberts present.
Council decided to fully support the Chairman.
·
Mrs Shirly Osborn, a member of the public felt that
this was extraordinary that Cllr B Richards had sent this letter, and that the
Council should see this through to the end.
·
It was wrong for Councillors to receive Solicitors
letters threatening legal action and is not acceptable, especially when there
are no grounds for this as the Council have acted properly.
Cllr A Oliver proposed that Cllr G Roberts to write back to the
Ombudsman as the Chair of the Council,
fully
representing the PCC. Seconded Cllr M
Barnett, carried unanimously.
A No 2008/1477 Caravan Rally
Council decided that to send a similar response as
previous. Council felt that the CCS are not effectively monitoring this for Gower as a
whole. Again the CCS has not replied to
correspondence.
95/08 Planning cont….
B No
2008/ The
Brackens, Horton
Permission has been requested for demolition of existing
building. Council queried why this was when previous planning permission for
the replacement building had already been passed.
C No
2008/1968 The Conifers, A mobile home
Council decided to object as would create an undesirable
precedent and query whether it is appropriate.
D No 2008/2185 The Oxwich Bay Hotel
Council decided that there was no objection.
E No 2008/1803
Council decided to refer to previous letter.
96/08 Horton Village Hall
Sycamore Trees on the Green
Council discussed whether it would be possible to cut the
trees down, what permission if any would be required.
Decided: To arrange a
site meeting with Martin Appleby, CCS the Tree Preservation Officer. Cllrs to attend Cllr M
Barnett, G Roberts. SC
Jan Ellis from the floor requested that better trees be
planted as a replacement.
Cllr G Roberts to check with the neighbours in the area to
find out local viewpoint. GR
97/08 High Kiln Bank Slade
Cllr A
Oliver declared a personal interest in this item, due to his land
adjoining this property and did not speak or vote.
A letter had been forwarded to the Council written to the
Owner Mr Moss from Mr I Davies, the Enforcement Officer, Planning Department,
CCS advising that there was no permission needed for the garden clearing work
that had been undertaken. Council
accepted this response.
98/08 Police in Gower
Cllr R Lewis was asked if there was only one police officer
in Gower. Cllr R Lewis advised that this
was not the case.
The CCS had previously completed work at
Cllr R Lewis advised that the letter should be sent to the
CCS for the work to be completed.
Clerk to send letter and copy to the Chief Executive, Paul
Smith. SC
100/08 Recycling
Deferred to the next meeting.
101/08 Meeting with Cllr John Hague and
Carl Humphries
Cllr J Bowen reported:
Water problems had caused erosion of the footpath at the
bottom of the hill. This water needed to
be sorted. The CCS will work with Cllr A Oliver towards finding a solution.
Cllr A Oliver advised that most of
this problem was caused by a nearby farm changing the water course.
Cllr Oliver could not understand why this problem had been
sorted out in other villages and not in Slade.
Cllr J Hague had
confirmed in writing to Cllr J Bowen, that the hill in Slade will be
reconstructed in the next financial year and that the illegal parking in Slade
will be looked into by the traffic section and a consultation group.
102/08 Matters Outstanding
Members of the public were offered the opportunity to ask
questions from the floor.
Mr Phillip Davies of Oxwich Green had contacted the Wales
Audit Office as he stated “there had not been a notice advising the public when
the Councils accounts for 2007/2008 could be inspected”. The Clerk advised the meeting that Mr Davies
had been advised in July that the accounts could be inspected in August between
a specific three week period. Mr Davies then proceeded to accuse the Clerk
of not publicising this information. The
Clerk advised that the official notice had been placed both at Oxwich Green and
also at the Horton notice board.
Witnesses at the meeting confirmed that the notice at Horton had been
seen. Mr Davies continued to personally, verbally attack the Clerks integrity
and made comments that the Clerk was paid too much and was not doing the work
properly, due to having mistakenly placed Tuesday instead of Thursday on the
notice of the meeting.
The Council was extremely unhappy with this personal attack
in a public forum and defended the Clerk against Mr Davies.
Shirly Osborn from the floor supported the comments made
regarding
Qn: Why are the minutes not read out at the start of the
meeting?
Ans: Due to the
length of time allowed to conduct business. It is difficult as the minutes are not
confirmed until the night of the meeting.
Council decided to have copies of the minutes available for the public
at meetings.
Qn: Can the public get involved during the Planning Item on
the agenda?
Ans: Yes if the Council decide public involvement is
necessary.
Q Did Cllr R Lewis have any comment regarding the recent
article in the Evening Post on the planning approval for Mr Martin Morgan of
Morgan’s Hotel in Swansea house in Penmaen.
A Cllr R Lewis had no comment.