Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Penrice Community Council held
on Wednesday 21st September 2011

at the Horton Village Hall at 7.30pm


Members Present:                    Councillor G Roberts (Chair)

Councillor B Richards

Councillor M Williams

Councillor A Glass

Councillor T Methuen-Campbell

Councillor M Barnett

 

Two members of the public were also present.                                                                                               Action

50/11                            Apologies for Absence.

 

Cllr J Bowen

 

51/11                            Declarations of Interest

 

Cllr G Roberts declared an interest in an item relating to an e mail received from the RNLI, due to being a member of the lifeboat crew and also a planning application received from Mr L Grove of the Hayes, Horton due to being a direct neighbour.

 

52/11                            To confirm the minutes of the Meeting held 15th June 2011.

 

Cllr M Williams proposed that the minutes were a true and accurate record of events, seconded Cllr M Barnett, carried unanimously.

 

53/11                            Matters Arising from the Minutes.

 

Item 42/11  no 7 

Due to the Chairman having been away it had not been possible to meet with the CCS but would be re-arranged this month to discuss and rectify the problems.                                                                                                          GR

 

Item 42/11  no 9

The Chairman gave a verbal update and advised that the closure of Swansea Coastguard Station would now move to public consultation.

 

54/11                            Community Councils.

 

1                      One Voice Wales                       Notice of AGM  8th October 2011                        Noted

2                      One Voice Wales                       Call for ‘Training Champions’                              Noted

3                      One Voice Wales                       Autumn Training Programme                              Noted

4                      CCS                                         Community Council Forum Meeting 6th October   Noted

 

55/11                            Correspondence.

                       

1                      CCS                 Planning notification  Application no 2011/0028  Rock Cottage, Horton    Approved

2                      South Wales Police  Information relating to the financial challenges that face South Wales Police and also

details relating to the sale of Reynoldston Police Station were included in the documents. 

At a recent PACT Meeting the police officers had advised that the station was not to be for sale.  It was

suggested that a possibility was that the house would be sold and that the office would remain a police

station.

3                      Royal Horticultural Society  Britain in Bloom details.                                                        Noted

4                      The Rural Business Plan  - Cllr T Methuen-Campbell to read and report                             TMC

 

Cllr B Richards joined the meeting 7.40pm

56/11                            Financial.

                                                                                                Amt                                          Chq no

Clerk salary and expenses        Information protected under the Data Protection Act                    476

Gower Website                                                              60.00                                        477

 

 

Cllr A Glass proposed to pay, seconded Cllr B Richards, carried unanimously.

 

Cash @ bank  £5199.91

 

 

57/11                            Planning.

 

Cllr T Methuen-Campbell declared an interest in the item relating to Oxwich Leisure Park.

 

A member of the public notified the Council that planning permission is not required for solar panels and that the planning department had incorrectly advised that a planning application had to be submitted.  Money had been spent on architects and not all of the application cost would be refunded.  Cllr Glass stated that he had been verbally advised by the planners that panels do not require planning permission even in a Conservation Area part of the AONB as long as they project less than 200mm from the roof

 

A                      Application no:  2011/1013  Mr J Mumby, The Grange, Horton and Application no: 2011/1162 Mr L Grove,

The Hayes, Horton had both submitted applications for solar panels.

 

A discussion followed and raised the following points;

a.                                 Misleading information from the planning department.

b.                                 Clarification needed.

c.                                 Public have wasted money due to incorrect information given by the planning department.

d.                                 Planning is not needed if not visible from the road, but it was agreed that this is not the case and that

planning permission is not needed even if the panels are visible from the road.

e.             Depth of the panels was discussed and it was thought that if below a depth of 200mm then no

permission is required.

 

Decided: Letter to CCS to receive clarification on the above points.                                                                    SC

 

 

B                      Application no:  2011/0940          Mr S Moss           High Kiln Bank, Oxwich

Change of use of garage as a separate unit of holiday accommodation to include re-instatement of original

first floor structure in accordance with planning consent no 2010/0542

 

Council were advised that the applicant had demolished the 1st floor and therefore infringed on the original planning permission.  This application was being resubmitted to re-instate the 1st floor.

 

Following a brief discussion, it was decided that there was no comment to make.

 

C                      Application no:  2010/1167  The Penrice Estate, Penrice

Amended Plans for the conversion and refurbishment of former coalhouse building to a restaurant, with alterations to include construction of single storey side extension and delivery yard and addition of outside terraced area for use as dining area, with new boundary walls, seaward facing retaining wall and associated works.

 

Cllr T Methuen-Campbell outlined and explained the amendments and declared an interest and withdrew from the meeting for this and the next item relating to Oxwich Leisure Park to be discussed.

 

Cllrs had not received any complaints from local residents only positive comments regarding this application and felt that it would be an improvement to this area.

 

Council agreed that this amendment was necessary engineering work for this development and decided to support the application.

 

 

57/11                            Planning cont…..

 

 

D                      Application no: 2011/1116      Oxwich Leisure Park,    Oxwich

Demolition of existing clubhouse and construction of 3 No. holiday chalets.

 

Cllr B Richards also declared an interest for this item and did not speak or vote.

 

Following detailed consideration and discussion Council decided to object to this application due to the buildings being too high on an elevated part of the site making an adverse visual impact in an AONB.

It was also a concern that these buildings would be used as seasonal occupancy as is the rest of the site.

 

 

E                      CCS -   The new Local Development Plan.

The Clerk advised that it had been discovered that the full details concerning the new LDP had been sent incorrectly to another address and therefore the Council had not had sight of the original details.

However this information for a ‘Submission of Candidate Site’ had been received which outlined an application from

Mr. McCarry for land at ‘Ham Field’, Horton approx 3 acres to be used for tourism purposes.  Ref: GW003.  Full details are available on www.swansea.gov.uk/ldpcandidatesites

 

Cllr B Richards declared an interest and did not speak or vote.

 

Following consideration of the map and a discussion, Council decided to comment that there was enough tourist development in this area already and to object to this submission.

 

F                      Application no:2011/1193  Mr C Agombar, Castle Hill, Horton

Two storey rear extension and two storey front extension with refurbishment of the existing dwelling with pv panels on the roof and air source heat pump located at ground level.

 

Cllr B Richards declared an interest and did not speak or vote.

 

Following a discussion and a review of the plans, Council decided to object to the application due to the fact that it was too large a development for the plot and was not in keeping with the surrounding area.

 

 

58/11                            Land Adjacent to Shore Cottage Update.

 

The Clerk explained that Ms J Ellis had expressed to the solicitor that she was not happy to use the Land Registry Ordinance Survey map that had been sent to complete the sale.  Therefore the Clerk had written to the Land Registry enclosing a copy of the Surveyor’s Report to explain that the Ordinance Survey map was inaccurate. 

 

Ms Ellis said that she was not unhappy to use the map, but the map was a copy and therefore did not have clear lines.

 

Decided : to await the response from the Land Registry.

 

59/11                            Communal Shopping

 

Cllr A Glass proposed to purchase and set up a newspaper kiosk due to the local shop being seasonal and closed in the winter.

 

The details were discussed and it was decided that Cllr A Glass to canvas local opinion and workable solutions for this idea.                                                                                                                                                            AG

 

60/11                            Pot Holes

 

Reported: Pot holes outside the Sanctuary getting very dangerous again.  Pitt Farm and Penrice some very bad areas.  Underhill ( main hill into Oxwich)  Clerk to report to the CCS                                                                     SC

Clerk to add a link onto the website  ‘ Fill that hole’                                                                                             SC

 

61/11                            Salt Grit Bins

 

The Salt Grit Bin on the hill to Oxwich Green is full of litter, can this be emptied.

Cllr M Williams offered to empty this.                                                                                                     MW

 

 

62/11                            Update Regarding Problem Areas and Sycamore Trees within Penrice Ward.

 

Cllr M Barnett had met with the CCS, Steve Lacoq regarding the removal of the sycamore trees at the Eastern edge of Horton Green.  CCS were not very helpful and expressed the view that the sycamore trees provided ground cover for wildlife and shade for tourists.

 

Decided: Cllr B Richards to see if Cllr R Lewis could take up this matter.                                                             BR

 

Reported:  Craig-y-Don -  The problem with the gate has now been rectified.

 

Cllr M Barnett to contact Steve Parry to rectify the steps down to Horton Beach.                                                  MB

 

63/11                            Matters Outstanding.

 

The Council had previously received an expression of interest from the RNLI to acquire land owned by the PCC in order to extend the Lifeboat House.

 

Another e mail had been received from Mr L Grove to advise that the RNLI wish to proceed with this proposal.

 

Cllr G Roberts gave a brief overview of the proposal and why it was required.  Cllr G Roberts declared an interest and withdrew from the meeting due to being a member of the lifeboat crew.

 

Cllr M Williams took the Chair for this part of the meeting.

 

This had already been agreed in principle at a previous meeting.  The details were discussed and it was decided to advise Mr L Grove (RNLI) of the following;

 

1              Council agreed to sell the land for a nominal amount to be decided.

2              Council would need to see final plans and these would need to be approved.

3              The RNLI to submit plans to the CCS for planning permission prior to the sale.

4              A restrictive covenant to be placed on the sale to ensure that the extension would only be used for lifeboat purposes and also that any development following the original development would only be allowed with the permission of the Community Council.  This would ensure that any possible future alterations would not adversely impact on the community.

5              All legal and any other costs to be covered by the RNLI.

 

64/11                            Public Questions relating to the agenda.  (limited to 10 minutes)

 

S Mumby advised that the PCC benches were all overgrown and possibly the benches were being damaged when the brush cutters were removing the vegetation.  Reynoldston Green had very good benches arranged in a semi circle.

 

J Ellis  There is a website for Horton Village Hall – could link with the Gower Website.                                          SC

 

65/11                            Date and venue of next meeting.

 

19th October 2011,   Oxwich and Penrice Community Hall.

 

 

Date__________________  Chairman______________________