Draft minutes of the Combe Martin Parish Council meeting,
held on 12th June 2023 at 7pm at Combe Martin Community Centre.
Present: Cllrs. Cass, Everett, Lethaby, Masters, Richards, Seldon, and Worth.
Also in attendance: County Cllr. Davis, Andrew Wyer (Clerk), and 9 members of the public.
029/23 Apologies – Apologies were received and accepted from Cllrs. Corner, Optix, Smallridge, and Watkins.
030/23 Declarations of Interest – Cllr Lethaby declared that as a District Councillor, the views he gives (and how he votes) at this meeting will not necessarily be the same as he does at a District Council meeting.
031/23 Public Participation – A question was asked raising concern about the potential expansion of the Arnolds Plot play area into Blackmore Ham Gardens and potential anti-social behaviour if the play area was aimed at older children. (The Council will keep these concerns in mind when considering how Arnolds Plot play area develops.) The Council were urged to consider the locals when deciding agenda item 15 (minute 045/23). A question was also asked about the length of time being taken to remove the root balls and sort out the ruts in the ground at Hollands Park. A resident had seen unsupervised children climbing on a fence in the park.
As representatives were present and wished to talk, the following two items were brought forward in the order.
032/23 Beach Events – The Council heard from two separate proposals.
The first proposal from Mr Steve Optix was for permission to play a “soundtrack” to the sunset on 4 Saturday evenings through the summer. Music would start at 6pm and then continue until just after sunset (in all cases before 10pm). Mr Optix either had or was in the process of getting the required permissions/certificates. The Council RESOLVED to allow these events, with the first one being a test to ensure everything went as expected and didn’t create a nuisance.
The second proposal, from Mr Andrew King was for permission to set up a stall at the beachfront selling South African style barbequed hot dogs (Boerewors Rolls) with a traditional S.A. tomato & onion gravy. Councillors were not happy about letting this operate on the beach. The Clerk was asked to explore if there was a suitable CMPC owned space for this. The Council suggested that this may be better suited to being operated from one of the seafront pubs or businesses.
033/23 Beach Cleaning – The Council received an update on the work and successes of the CM Clean Beach Group from Mr Ray Ashman. This was followed by a series of written questions which will be addressed as Agenda items at the next Council meeting.
034/23 Minutes – The draft minutes of the meeting held on 22nd May 2023 were approved and signed by Cllr Seldon as an accurate record.
035/23 Clerk’s Report –The report had been shared with the agenda and as there was no update to it, it was then NOTED.
036/23 County & District Cllr reports – County Cllr Davis had distributed her report ahead of the meeting. In addition to this, she reported that she had been made aware of an on-line “campaign” to get the on-road parking restrictions in the village reviewed. She explained that due to cost and manpower issues, the review of parking restrictions that was already in the pipeline (from last year when representatives from the Parish Council had confirmed that there was a need for it) was still at least 48 months away from the top of the pile. She was able to confirm that the Highways Dept had finished risk assessing sites and had approved various sites within the village for a speed activated sign. This was being bought by the Parish Council using a grant that the Clerk had successfully applied for last year.
District Cllr Lethaby reported that he did not have anything to report yet.
037/23 Police Newsletter – This had been circulated ahead of the meeting and reported 4 crimes in Combe Martin, 1 in Berrynarbor, and 58 in Ilfracombe. The newsletter was NOTED.
038/23 Planning (NDC Applications) – The Council RESOLVED to support the following applications:
77105 – Listed building consent for conversion of outbuilding to residential unit at Pack of Cards, High Street, Combe Martin
77135 – Proposed extension, drive landscaping and replacement garage with disabled annex above, at Karino, 5 West Challacombe Lane, Combe Martin, EX34 0HF
The following applications require responses before the next meeting, so it was RESOLVED that the Clerk be delegated to respond to them after Cllrs had had the opportunity to send him their views:
77165 – Erection of double garage on existing driveway at 7 Hillside View, Combe Martin, EX34 0BD
77244 – Erection of dwelling to incorporate rear utility and WC area into main house and other works, at Sidmar, Corner Lane, Combe Martin, EX34 0HU
039/23 Planning (Exmoor NP Applications) – There were no applications to consider.
040/23 Planning (NDC Decisions) – The following decision and appeal were NOTED:
76426 – Approved. Replacement of barn with holiday accommodation at Coulscott Farm, Nutcombe Hill, Combe Martin, EX34 OPQ
75072 – Appeal decision – Approved. Agricultural building at Overdale, Buzzacott Lane, Combe Martin, EX34 0NL
041/23 Planning (Exmoor NP Decisions) – There were no decisions to note.
042/23 Finance – It was RESOLVED to approve the lists of payments to be made, totalling £5999.78.
043/23 Finance – It was RESOLVED to note the list of payments made, receipts received and the May Dashboard report.
044/23 Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2023:
The report from the Internal Auditor was received and NOTED.
The End of Year Bank Reconciliation was APPROVED.
Internal Audit assessment of the AGAR (Page 3) was NOTED.
The Council discussed the Auditors recommendation that the Council should consider how they completed the Annual Governance Statement of the AGAR before deciding that the Council could answer Yes, even if they did not have the paperwork to back up their assertion. The Clerk was asked to prioritise the paperwork required. The Chairman and Clerk signed the document.
The Accounting Statements were APPROVED as they were generated by the accounts package and had been checked by the Auditor.
The Clerk confirmed that the Period of Public Rights would be between 19th June and 28th July. This was NOTED.
045/23 Hollands Park – It was RESOLVED to approve the draft plan for the wall replacement at Hollands Park. The work would begin as soon as possible but the various stages wouldn’t necessarily follow immediately after each other. The hedge planting would probably be done in the autumn. It was suggested that inviting the Primary School to get involved with the planting of the hedge would be a good idea. The budget of £10,000 would be taken from the money allocated to cleaning Kiln car park toilets which would not be needed.
046/23 Kiln Car Park – The Council considered various suggestions, including removing the flowerbed in the main entrance and re-arranging the spaces in the northeast corner of Kiln Car Park to create more spaces. It was agreed to accurately measure the various options to confirm if they were practical and/or beneficial.
047/23 Correspondence – The correspondence was NOTED.
048/23 Exclusion of Press and Public – It was RESOLVED to exclude the Press and Public from the last agenda item as it involved the likely disclosure of confidential information.
049/23 Mill Wier Lane – The Clerk was instructed to reply to the queries about Mill Wier Lane explaining that the Solicitors had specifically advised against making our report from them publicly available.
050/23 Council Leases – The Clerk reported that there had been no significant progress on any of the issues.