Llangwm Home:Llangwm Community Council
MINUTES OF LLANGWM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
TUESDAY 16th JUNE 2015 AT THE PARISH HALL, LLANGWM
COUNCILLORS PRESENT: Cllr Michael Foster (Chair) Cllr. Bob Trigg, Cllr Peter Gough, Cllr David Williams
IN ATTENDANCE: County Councillor Bob Greenland and Shirley Hughes, Clerk,
1. OPEN SESSION
There were no members of the public present.
2. APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. Lyn Bennett, Cllr. Colin Evans, Cllr Gwyn Rowlands
3. DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Declarations of interest will be made as and when required.
4. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING – 19th May 2015
Minutes of the meeting of 19th May were agreed and signed as a true and correct record by the Chairman.
5. MATTERS ARISING
5 a) Community Speedwatch
Cllr Bennett had reported that a date had not as yet been arranged for the Open Meeting, but would so in the near future.
The Clerk noted that residents of Raglan are thinking about having a Community Speedwatch scheme in the village, and if any members of the community are interested, would it be in order to invite them to the next Llangwm Meeting? The Clerk has run it past Cllr Bennett and he didn’t have any issue with it, and the meeting agreed.
8 b) Patches of land – The Clerk reported that she had still not had not received a response from the
Estates Department.
8 c) Signage to St Jerome’s Church –The Clerk had received a reply from the ‘Friends of Friendless
Churches’ regarding the signage to the Church. They feel that the sign is ‘rather splendid and rare’ and they would be very willing to pay for it to be conserved. They asked about age of the sign and they would like Llangwm CC to give them a programme and costs of repairs. The Clerk will make enquires and respond.
Cllr Trigg did suggest that perhaps a new Brown Sign would be easier to maintain, but it was agreed to make enquiries about the conservation of the present sign and the Clerk will take photographs to send to the Director of the Friends of Friendless Churches, so he can see it as it is at present.
9.1 Enforcement Case E14/096 Mill Meadow Stables – no progress on this Case to date.
9.1.2. Enforcement Case E15/29 Bridge Inn, Llangwm - The MCC Officer stated she had written to the landowner of the Bridge Inn but had not had any response to date. She stated ‘that once a letter had been sent, they were normally given 28 days to respond to clear the site, and failing that MCC can then consider whether its expedient to issue a Section 215 Notice’.
The Clerk was asked to write to the Enforcement Officer stating that Ragwort is growing in the Car Park (which is notifiable) and that the property is having an adverse effect on the neighbourhood of Llangwm.
6. HIGHWAYS
a) No new updates received from Highways
63.3/60.1 Request from riders of Pentwyn Farm riding centre that ‘beware of horses’ signs be placed at either end of the village to warn traffic (1 near jct 63-3 & 1 near jct 60-10. 0). The request for Horse warning signs has been added to our Traffic Section current forward programme GK 13/02/15 Horse signs have now been put up
b) New Highways issues raised by Councillors
1. 63.1/63.6 Chapel Lane - conifer hedge at Junction encroaching onto Highway – Clerk to
write to residents of Nant-y-Gath. Clerk has written but no reply to date
2. Junction of R80 & 66.3 Cllr Foster reported that Signs at the bottom of Georges Delight are
loose and swing around in the wind
3. Junction of 60.6 & R75 - Cllr Williams reported that an Unsuitable for Heavy Goods sign is
required at the bottom of the lane from the Gliding Club to Llansoy as another vehicle had
got stuck going up the lane, and a tree had to be cut down to release the vehicle.
c) New Issues raised by others - There were no additional Highways Issues
7. FINANCE
The Clerk reported that there were still slight issues with both Barclays Bank and Monmouthshire Building Society in trying to amend contact details for statements & correspondence.
Barclays – The Clerk has made contact with Manchester Head Office, several days ago and her address was put on the system so that all correspondence should be sent to her. Have asked for back issued statements from the 1st January and should be with us soon.
When Cllr Williams & The Clerk visited the bank on 21st May, we did note our Balance was £2,455.98
Monmouthshire Building Society
Action still required is for Cllr Colin Evans to drop into MBS in Usk and sign the Pass Book.
INVOICES FOR PAYMENT
These would be dealt with in the July Meeting
Annual Audit – The Clerk stated that she was very concerned that the Accounts would not be ready in times to send to Mazers. Cllrs stated that this situation was out of our hands so if they are late, it was unavoidable.
8. CORRESPONDENCE
From MCC
a) Impact of Crime and ASB in Rural Wales Survey – open until 24th June (emailed to Cllrs)
b) Event Safety Advisory Group – Aims of the Group (Blue Box)
c) Special Meeting of C& YP Select Committee on 23rd June
d) Additional Learning Needs Consultation dates (Blue Box)
e) Enforcement Lists – Nothing for Llangwm or Llansoy
One Voice Wales
a) Wales Audit News – June 2015 (emailed to Cllrs)
b) Agenda for Larger Councils Conference on 8th July (Smaller Councils are invited to go attend – Blue Box)
c) June Training Programme (Blue Box)
d) Health & Safety Training – 22nd June (Blue Box)
d) Community Engagement Training – 29th June (Blue Box)
Business
a) Resource Efficient Wales (Blue Box)
b) Wales Green Energy Awards (Blue Box)
General
a) GAVO Volunteering - Pets for Therapy (Blue Box)
9. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
NEW APPLICATION
9.1 There were no new Applications
Update on other applications
9.2 Tyr Berllan - Removal of Agricultural Tie - not decided as yet.
Cllr David Williams reported that he thought this had been now approved. The Clerk will make enquires with MCC Planning Dept.
It was also mentioned that a Hard Cover Book should be purchased to keep a record of all Planning
Applications. The Clerk stated she would organise this and backdate to the 1st April 2015.
10. COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
County Councillor Bob Greenland gave the following report:
Usk Library would be moving across the road in a week’s time into the Old School and would be opening in early July. The building will host Adult Education, Youth Service, One Stop Shop information and the Library. The Library opening hours would remain the same with it being closed on a Tuesday. There will be a new automated system to check books in and out, cutting down on staff.
Cllr Greenland went on to say that the following day Welsh Government will announce the County Boundaries proposals and they will state that Monmouthshire should join with Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly (the old Gwent area) and will be expected to deliver all the services to the 600,000 residents, which is going to be the largest amount of people for one authority in Wales. Monmouthshire at present receives the lowest ratio of public service staff to population at a cost of £1,000 per person, whereas Blaenau Gwent receives £1,600 per person due to deprivation of the area. It was thought that nothing would happen to at least 2020. It was stated by Councillors that running Highways/Transport on a regional basis would make sense.
With regard to Monmouthshire and the proposed boundary changes to Wards, it seems that this is not going to happen but MCC have £30m savings to make, with £3m in the next financial year. There is a £1.2m increase gone into the Social Services budget and this is due to the constant changes of circumstances of residents. Cabinet approved this as a £600k had been saved by holding posts open for several months – such as Head of Planning.
Cllr Greenland stated that the Velothon had been organised by a company employed by Welsh Government, and there had been quite a lot of negative comments about the way it was organised. The cycle races that MCC run are well organised and shows that Hotels/B&B’s are full and brings a great deal of business into the County. The Emergency Planning Team was based in the Police Headquarters to deal with all the issues which emerged on the day. MCC Officers had to organise shuttle buses for Wedding Guests, hand out leaflets to residents and businesses which were affected by the Race, all at the last minute, but it is hoped that all of these costs would be recovered when they meet with the Welsh Government and the organisers of the Velothon.
Cllr Bob Trigg asked about the Recycling Programme. He felt that having 3 Wagons picking up on the same day in the village was increasing costs, not saving money? He also thought that the Yellow Bag collection should be weekly, not fortnightly.
Cllr Greenland stated that £300k had been saved as 2 crews had been made redundant, and it would take the new collection rotas a while to settle down.
11. WARD REPORTS
No reports
County Councillor Greenland left the meeting at this point.
12. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
12.1 Standing Orders for Llangwm CC
The Clerk had prepared a draft set of Standing Orders to present to the Cllrs, but it was agreed that as there were several Community Councillors absent, this item would be rolled over to the next meeting in July.
PLEASE NOTE - The bold text is for mandatory rules.
12.2 Best Kept Village
Cllr Trigg reminded Cllrs. that the Best Kept Village Competition will be judged during the month of June, but noted that on inspection, the Bus Shelter would need re-roofing and not just painting weatherboards. AGREED that this item to be on the Agenda for the July Meeting.
Date of Next Meeting,
Tuesday, 14th July 2015
Meeting closed: 8.30pm