JRW/403

TODWICK PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the first meeting held in Todwick Village Hall
at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday 9th May 2015

Present

• Councillor Carter
• Councillor Ferris
• Councillor Greer-Waring
• Councillor White
• J R Walker – Clerk & Financial Officer

15/01 SIGNING OF DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE

Those elected present signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office and took their seats. John Jeffrey and David Gregory had been elected but were not present. The Clerk would make arrangements for them to sign their declarations in the next few days.

Neither the outgoing Chairman Stephen Hill, nor the Vice Chairman David Gregory were present. Brian White was elected to chair the meeting in their absence.

15/02 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

Although not present Councillor Gregory had written to formally express his desire to be appointed as Chairman for the coming year.

There were no other nominations.

Resolved that Councillor Gregory be elected as chairman for the coming year.

15/03 ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN

Resolved to defer the election of a Vice Chairman until the ordinary May meeting when it was anticipated more members would be present.

15/04 CO-OPTION OF FURTHER MEMBERS

Formal applications to become members of the Council had been received from Ian Newbold and John Richardson. Dr Richardson did not reside in the village but was eligible to become a member. Informal enquires had been received from several Todwick residents.

Resolved to encourage those residents who had shown interest to formally submit their names and to defer further discussion until the ordinary May meeting.

15/05 LOCAL PLAN

Carter read out the draft of a letter which Borough Councillor Beck intended sending to the Head of the Planning Service at the Borough Council. This concurred with the Parish Council’s view that a newly identified site at the northern extremity of the village and immediately adjacent to the A57 be the site preferred for any future housing development and objecting to the development of Site LDF0730 at the southern extremity of the village, with access off Kiveton Lane. The new site has numerous advantages, including:

• More appropriate scale of development
• Less impact on the village, including less increase in traffic
• More defined boundaries and a natural extension
• Removal of any possibility of the physical joining of the two villages of Todwick and Kiveton Park
• No difficulties with land title issues

Attention was drawn to the lack of facilities in Todwick, including:

• The wholly inadequate public transport system
• Lack of available places at the primary school

Concern was also expressed that the Borough Council was disregarding Government policy which promised to involve parishes much more in the decision making process and was in fact ignoring the wishes of the Parish.

Resolved to formally support the letter to be sent by Borough Councillor Beck and suggesting he include some of the additional points made above.

15/06 URGENT ITEMS

1. Ferris enquired as to the use of the village logo on any material related to the Good Neighbour initiative.

   White advised that it had previously been agreed that the logo could be used on anything that was seen to be of benefit to the community.

2. Clerk objected strongly to the manner in which the allocation of a further set of village hall keys to the Parish Council was being dealt with by the Village Hall Management Committee. He was no longer prepared to hold a set of the keys and enquired as to whom he should hand them to.

   Resolved that the keys be handed to Councillor White as he was chairing the meeting.

   Clerk Handed the keys to Councillor White.

   White had placed a formal request to the TVH Management Committee for a key to the building so that he could fulfill his TPC duties and requested that no further discussion on this matter take place until the outcome of that request was known.

3. Clerk had received a telephone call from parishioner Tony Rusling asking whether any statement of accounts from the Recreation Ground Charity had been received by the Parish Council. They had not.

   Resolved that the Recreation Ground Charity be asked to provide the Parish Council with a statement of last financial year’s accounts.

The Meeting Closed at 10.30 a.m.

The next Council Meeting will be in Church Hall at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday 27th May 2015.