Llangwm Home:Llangwm Community Council

Minutes of Meeting
held on Tuesday 15th September 2009

at St John's Church Hall, Llangwm
  1. Apologies for absence
    Apologies from Cllr. Foster, Cllr. Gough, and County Councillor Greenland.

    Members present:
    Cllr Gwyn Rowlands, Chairman
    Cllr. Lyn Bennett
    Cllr. Colin Evans
    Cllr. Mick Sheath
    Cllr David Williams

    In attendance P.C. Mike Cowburn part time.

  2. Minutes of the Last Meeting.

    The minutes were agreed by those present and signed by the Chairman. The Clerk tabled ten emails from P.C. Cowburn, who then read out his summary report, which will be attached to the minutes.

  3. Matters Arising.

    8a Highways.
    The Clerk emailed 24/7 regarding the hedge obscuring the main road at Llansoy, and raised again the bridge parapet repairs at Pentre Farm Llangwm. Neither job has yet been done.
    Cllr. Williams confirmed that the 'Church Road' road sign at Llansoy has been replaced.
    The Clerk has still not received the road incident report form designed by County Councillor Greenland.
    The Chairman asked for other highway matters, and Cllr. Sheath reported that Llanynant Road towards and after Coed Cwnr had disgraceful potholes, which had been previously reported. Clerk to chase.
    Flooding at Llangwm. The Clerk had no further news, but will make enquiries.

    Bridge Inn Llangwm. The Clerk understands at least two offers to purchase have been made, well under the advertised figure.

    Matters Arising under Any Other Business.
    Building work at Coed Ceirw; no report yet received. But in their previous Planning Application DC/2009/000595 for lifting the agricultural tie, which we had refused and was still current, there is an interesting letter from their neighbours at The Curlews. The Clerk was asked to remind Planning Enforcement, and Cllr. Rowlands asked for clarification of the exact conditions of an agricultural tie.

    Matters Arising under Any Other Correspondence.
    Tidy Towns Initiative. The Clerk wrote requesting further information, and also received information via County Councillor Greenland. Funding up to £2,500 is available to Councils who involve local residents in activities to enhance their area. The Clerk could not establish any specific criteria or get an application form.

    He had however received very specific details for applying for funding from The Secret Millionaire scheme. Funds available from £500 to £5,000 for improvement of a local community and/or peoples' lives, available up to the end of December 2009. These were both circulated for Councillors consideration.

  4. Finance.

    The Clerk tabled the financial statement for the five months April to August showing reserves of £4,474.32; note receipt of the second tranche of the precept.
    He had received the invoice from Cllr. Sheath for the production of the Llangwm Directory, and had paid the £35 agreed at the previous meeting.
    He had received a letter of thanks for our church donation from Mrs Margaret France.
    BKV expenses of £50.50 had been submitted. If this is paid it will exceed the budget figure by £7.25, but Council agreed this was acceptable. The Clerk reported that Llangwm had in fact won something in this competition.
    The Clerk tabled his expenses of £24.12 for the four months June to September, and payment of this and his salary was agreed.
    The Clerk had registered for office supplies through 'Buy4Wales' as previously suggested but found it unsuitable for our small requirements; it was concerned more with tenders and supplier assessments for professional buyers.

  5. Any Other Correspondence.

    The following documents were tabled for circulation:-

    A) Documents requiring decision:

    From MCC:-
    Planning applications:-
    DC/2009/00732, Mr & Mrs Parry, alterations and extensions to Pentre Farm, Llansoy. This was agreed.
    DC/2009/000561, Mr & Mrs Craxford, conversion of barn to dwelling, Bush Farm Barn, Llansoy, revision of previous application. This was also agreed.

    Letter from the MCC Solicitor concerning an All Wales Standards Conference in Cardiff, advise attendees by Monday.
    Comments requested by 19th October on Statement of Licensing Policy.

    From One Voice Wales:-
    Nominations for Welsh Green Heroes, people who have tackled sustainability & climate change.
    Request for motions for debate in the A.G.M., October 10th.
    Opportunity to attend their Councillor training programme, six sessions £45.

    From Welsh Assembly Government:-
    Consultation on proposed Legislative Competence Order, by 18th September, with a summary from OVW of the areas that could be affected.

    From Other Bodies:-
    BT invites us to adopt our three local red telephone boxes for only £1 each. This means they will remove the telephony and we would have ownership of the structure(s), to use 'for the benefit of the community'. Councillors had no immediate thought as to their local use, but after further discussion the Clerk was asked to check - if they were adopted - whether the structure could be moved, and how our insurance premium would be affected.

    Invitation to attend the Local Boundary Commission for Wales Workshop.
    Request (from localworks.org) to write to our MP to support an amendment to the Sustainable Communities Act, intended to devolve powers down to local level.

    Requests for financial assistance from Noah's Ark; Wales Air Ambulance; BOBATH; Macmillan Cancer Support. These were all refused.

    B) For information only:-

    From MCC:-
    Four Planning Committee Agenda.
    Two sets of MCC Council minutes.
    Three sets of MCC Cabinet papers with a Joint Waste Partnership report..
    Rural Development Plan Newsletter - 'BOOST'.
    New number for MCC emergency out of hours contact.
    Two sets of Central Monmouthshire Rural Forum minutes and agenda.
    Mor Hafren Area Committee minutes and agenda, which included a number of submissions to try to reverse the decision to close the Chepstow Forensic Science Lab.

    From One Voice Wales:-
    Job description for a Development Officer.
    July issue of The Voice.

    From the National Assembly:-
    Local Government Partnership Scheme Report 2008/9.
    Appointment of members to the Advisory Council of museums, archives and libraries.
    Consultation on single use carrier bags.

    From Other Bodies:-
    Wales Audit Office report on problems with Community Council's financial arrangements. The Clerk has checked we are compliant.
    NHS Reform Briefing Numbers 5 and 6.
    Monmouthshire Health Strategy Year 1 Report Card.
    Annual report of Adjudication Panel for Wales 2008/9.
    'Timberline' catalogue of outside structures.
    Clerks and Councils Direct for September.

  6. Any Other Business.

    Cllr. Bennett asked the Clerk to complain about the proposal to reduce the summer closure times of the environmental recycling sites.

    Cllr Evans had a report of dog fouling down Lanynant Road, but our line of action was unclear.
    He also reported that the Llangwm Hall Committee had received a grant of £350 for some outside furniture, and had asked to express their gratitude to Council for raising the existence of the funding.

  7. Date of Next Meeting.

    This was agreed for Tuesday 17th November at St. John's Hall. Llangwm.