In attendance, Rev K. Hasler and Dr A. Jarrett.

Minutes of the Last Meeting.

The minutes were agreed by those present and signed by the Chairman. The Clerk tabled seven emails from P.C. Cowburn and his report will be attached to the minutes.

Bridge Inn Llangwm - still up for sale.

Matters Arising under Any Other Correspondence.
Councillors had not reached any conclusions concerning the Tidy Towns initiative and the Secret Millionaire schemes. The Clerk believed the latter might be worth pursuing.

Local red telephone boxes. The Clerk had sought advice from BT, MCC and our insurers, and would summarise as follows:
Adoption cost is £1 per kiosk, sold as seen. Then would be our property, and could be moved, subject to Planning, but weigh 380kg, are likely to crack, and disconnection from the mains would cost us several hundred pounds. Each box would cost an additional £41.70 insurance premium.
If not adopted, they will not be removed at this stage, but BT would monitor use and costs for later decision.
MCC are coordinating responses to BT. In view of the time scale, the Clerk has advised them that we do not wish to adopt, and we objected to the removal of the boxes at Llansoy and The Bridge, Llangwm, but agreed to the one at Beech Tree corner, Gaer Fawr, being removed, since it has not been used in a whole year.

Matters Arising under Any Other Business.
Building work at Coed Ceirw. Enforcement Manager replied 20/10, with apologies for the delay, that the application for a certificate of lawfulness was refused, and the owner advised that an application for an unauthorised extension must now be submitted.
Agricultural tie. The Clerk made various contacts with MCC without initial success, but eventually Mr Thomas, the Planning Applications Manager, was most helpful, referring him to the WAG Technical Advice Note No. 6, the relevant paragraphs of which will be circulated, together with a useful comment from Mr Thomas.

The Clerk wrote to Mr Harris, Head of Highways and Waste Management, 21/09, to object to early summer closure of Civic Amenity sites, without reply or acknowledgment.

Having been so late the previous year, the Clerk proposed that we make the usual donation to the local churches at this meeting. This was agreed. He also queried if Cllr Evans wished to ask for some financial support from Council for improvements to the Hall, but Cllr Evans thought this should be left to the Hall committee.
Cllr. Foster tabled travel expenses of £30.12, which payment was agreed.
The Clerk had received notification of a 1% salary increase as from 1st April 2009. The hourly rate is now £8.747, giving an annual salary of £909.69, or £151.61 per meeting. He asked for agreement for this rate to start at this meeting, which was agreed.
The car allowance for casual users is now 60.1 pence per mile.

Any Other Correspondence.

The following documents were tabled for circulation:-

A) Documents requiring decision:

From MCC:-

The Clerk issued forms for requests to MCC of copies of the Electoral Roll, and was also asked for Councillors' names. He will send these to MCC.

Planning Applications:-
DC/2009/00849, Steel framed farm building, Mr Rees, Wern Farm, Llansoy. Agreed by MCC 4/11.

Previous planning applications:-
Highview, Llansoy, approved with 11 conditions;
The Bungalow, Chepstow Road Llangwm, still current, which seems odd, as it was on the planning agenda for 22/09, recommend approval. Cllr. Bennett suggested the Clerk should look up the Planning Committee minutes for that date. (The Clerk subsequently tried this, but only the agenda is on line, not the minutes.)
Coed Ceirw, removal of agricultural occupancy refused, because applicant has not shown property was occupied by persons in breach of the occupancy conditions;
Pentre Farm Llangwm, current; all the above as at 15/11/09.

Draft Economic Development Strategy, comments by 4/12.
Review of Local Government Authority Areas, meeting 30/11, advise by 26th.
Nomination for Governor of Welsh Medium School, Caldicot.
Local Government Statutory Guidance, comments by 15/01/10.

From Other Bodies:-
Society of Local Council Clerks advise of possible £50 bursary to assist in clerk training costing £100. It was agreed this was not needed.

Requests for financial assistance from Shopmobility Newport; Victim Support; Swansea National Eisteddfod; British Heart Foundation; National Eisteddfod at Ebbw Vale; N..P.C.C.; Macmillan Nurses; Noah's Ark. These were all refused.

B) For information only:-

From MCC:-
Two sets of Cabinet Agenda; two sets of Council papers.
Note the Clerk has been informed that in future these papers will be distributed electronically. In view of the large increase in our administrative costs that this will cause, he asked for guidance from Council as to whether he should always print all these papers for circulation or whether he can use his judgement to circulate only those he thinks will be of interest to us.
Both Cllr. Foster and Cllr. Bennett felt that this was an unacceptable transfer of cost and work load from the County Council to us. They felt that the Clerk was not empowered to make such selective decisions, and MCC were legally obliged not to disenfranchise voters without access to a computer. The Clerk was instructed to write to the new Chief Executive to raise our objection to this decision, despite our previous attempts with his predecessor.

Traffic arrangements for the Ryder Cup.
Advice on the management of asbestos in buildings.
Emergency Contacts Directory - the Clerk once again advised no change.
List of individual Cabinet Member decisions, and areas of responsibility.
Countryside Volunteer Newsletter, Autumn.
Four sets of Planning Committee Agenda.
Rural Forum meeting, Central Monmouthshire Area.
Agenda and minutes, Mor Hafren Area.
Older Peoples's Strategy - Phase 2.
Monmouthshire LDP update, newsletter 6.

From One Voice Wales:-
Agenda and minutes of Newport Area Committee
Summary of recommendations from the Council Commission Expert Panel for Wales.
The Clerk completed an on line survey requested by the Plunkett Foundation, which offers help to local communities to create cooperatives to keep local facilities open - too late for Llangwm. A very interesting website detailing their work.
Submissions by OVW on the proposed Local Government Order.

From the Welsh Assembly:-
Community update on Swine Flu.
Proposed guidance for improvement of the Fire and Rescue Authorities in Wales.

From G.A.V.O.:-
The Monmouthshire Network documents.

From Other Bodies:-
Severn Estuary Group: management Plan review public consultation, and letter on the Tidal Power feasibility study.
Local Health Board Annual Report for 2008/9.
Clerks & Councils Direct for November 2009. Includes some legal discussion and other letters about
unauthorised gypsy encampments.

Rev Hasler further advised that, following a volunteer action grouped led by Dr Jarrett, the P.C.C. had now decided to try to keep both Llangwm churches open, though St Jeromes would be the one used for regular worship. Dr Jarrett stressed that though the group had recently worked at St Johns, they wished to support both churches, and queried if the Community Council would give financial support. The Chairman pointed out that the Council also represented Llansoy, and queried the legality of this expenditure. The Clerk confirmed that legally Council could spend up to £6.15 per elector - just over £2,000 - "for any purpose which in its opinion is in the interests of or will directly benefit the area or its inhabitants, or of part of it, or of some of them."
Replying to Cllr. Sheath, Rev Hasler said he was prepared to put St John's to any non-religious use that was appropriate. Council's general feeling was supportive of local churches, but their interest should include Llansoy and the Llangwm Baptist church. The Clerk was asked to invite all the churches for their expenditure proposals which Council could consider. Rev Hasler's summary of the Llangwm situation will be circulated with the minutes.

The Clerk tabled a very impressive summer newsletter produced by Llanbadoc C.C. at their expense, picked up at Usk Garden Centre.

Llanbadoc C.C. had also advised him that they were very concerned at the increased traffic that would result from the move of MCC HQ to the Usk Coleg. He believed Usk Civic Society were also concerned. Llanbadoc would advise him when they would be holding an open meeting, when all the plans would be available.

The Clerk commented on the state of Llansoy's noticeboard, and reminded Cllr Evans he was going to fix up the previous Llangwm noticeboard for Llansoy.

Cllr. Foster reported on the Rural Forum meeting attended by the new Chief Executive, who said all the right things about communicating with other organisations. The other area meeting was addressed by Richard Cope, concerning passenger transport.

Cllr. Williams pointed out that the black box waste collection was being discontinued, replaced by two different sacks, which in his case would be collected on two different days.