b. APOLOGIES: Apologies had been received from Cllr Hood, Cllr Herdman, PC Thomas

c. Responsible Person for duration of meeting: Cllr B Morgan (Chairman).

d. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEEING:

Minutes of the last meeting were approved by councillors and signed by the Chairman.

e. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: There were none.

a. PR663500 Full: Erection of new pitched roof to garage and installation of new septic tank – Two Hoots, Rhydspence, Whitney on Wye – Permission granted. There were no objections.

b. PR664700 – Full: Erection of extensions S0 24 SW, Court Evan Gwynne, Clyro. There were no objections.

73. MATTERS ARISING these will include:

Highway Matters including

a. Community Council Assets – Cllr Morgan confirmed that the assets had been inspected and there were no problems to report.

c. Replacement of basket ball nets in the playing fields near Castle Estate - Cllr G Green informed the meeting that this had now been done. He also stated that he had had a request for a speed bump to be put at the top road to the estate. He was advised to ask Mr Patrick Keylock to write to us making a request for this.

d. Part Night Lighting – The Chairman had met with Mr Brian Davies of PCC.

Meeting with Brian Davies re part night lighting

Part night lighting is lights off at approximately 12.30 am and back on at around 5-5.30 am.
These are converted on a light-by-light basis, and can easily be converted back if required.
Older yellow lights will be changed to more efficient white down lighters as and when they fail.

I met with Brian Davies at 4.30 pm on Thursday 6 ^th December.

We took a tour of the village, which included all the housing estates, and also went to Bronydd

Suggestions from this meeting are:

During our tour lighting on the remaining islands was discussed, as some of them had lights that weren’t working. It may be worthwhile writing to Tony Kane and suggesting that the lights on the islands were changed for the high visibility signs that we had as a temporary measure a while ago. The reasons for this being, safety, environmental grounds, and financial savings.

Some discussion followed and it was decided to discuss this at the next meeting.

74. REPORTS ON DOCUMENTS READ; MEETINGS ATTENDED; ACTIVITIES ETC, including:

a. Planning Liaison Meeting – This had been attended by the Chairman and Cllr Smith.

Planning liaison meeting November 21-2007

Restructuring of the planning dept, with a new head of development control Allan Southerby.

Steve packer is now Specialist Services Manager in the specialist planning division, which deals with wind farms etc.

Matthew Griffiths is a new planning officer to the department

Powys are investing in a new computer system called Northgate

The national planning portal soon to be signed up to.

All planning applications to be online by end of 2008, which means that everyone should be able to follow the stages of progress. (This possibly means that we will have to invest in some display technology in the future)

Weekly list to disappear in January, this is going electronic.

Spring planning liaison meeting will be devoted to the planning portal system and will have a representative at the meeting.

Planning protocol review by 27 November 2007.

Brecon Beacons national park review by June 2008 both hoping to work together.

Wind farms presentation by Steve Packer
New wind turbines are being designed by designers and architects and are supposedly better looking.

New rules under TAN 8 (technical advice note 8) allow wind turbines to be up to 130 mts tall.

25 megawatts or over are considered to be a large wind farm.

Presumption is in favour of wind farms in planning applications.

There are around 18 applications for wind farms in Powys at present.

Most applications will be decided at WAG (Welsh assembly government) level.

There is the possibility of a lot of future construction, which will be the biggest construction project since the dams were built.

If the local authority object to a planning application this will then go to review.

If all the proposed wind farms in Powys are built this would produce over 800 megawatts of power and this would meet the 2010 energy target.

Community wind farm projects can be up to 3 turbines and must be less than 70 mts tall.

Domestic wind turbines can be up to 15 mts in height.

It has been decided at government level that wind farms do have an impact on communities, and there should be planning gain or a contribution for the benefit of the community.

There is a DTI toolkit for guidance, and affected communities could get up to £5000 per megewatt per year.

Small home wind turbines may become exempt from planning.

Community regeneration team responsible for discussion with developers.

Not much chance of county ecologist.

Powys cc may have to monitor all private water supplies.

New European legislation, lots of very concerned Community Councillors from north Powys and some from the south.

Clyro are lucky not to have had any applications, yet!

No limit on wind farms outside designated areas.

Planning enforcement presentation by Andrew Paddison

Use of land for over 10 years immune from planning.
Structure up for more than 4 years immune.

Barn conversion to residential if in use for more than 4 years immune.

There are around 150 enforcement cases ongoing at any one time.

Planning 106 strategy for Powys draft document by 13 December.

UDP some modifications recommended by inspector, Powys disagrees with some recommendations.
Plan may be adopted by April 2008.

LDP reviewed every 4 years year on year.

UDP now used for planning policy although not formally adopted will be superseded in 2112 by LDP.

75. SCHOOL GOVENORS REPORT:

Cllr Green stated that there had not been a meeting this month, although they had now got a new church representative, Mr Robert Tapp. There will be a meeting after Christmas.

76. POLICE REPORT:

PC Thomas had given his apologies via a telephone message to the clerk. He also wished council members a Very Merry Christmas.

Cllr Morris stated that she had been to Cardiff with other Councillors to object to the awful settlement given by WAG. 1% increase from last year. They had lobbied the am’s, stating that this would have serious implications on the work of Social Services.

She also mentioned that she had a complaint about the state of the verges and roadways by Cwrt Evan Gwynne. Cllr Morris informed the complainant, who had already contacted County Hall, that the correct procedure would have been to inform Clyro Community Council and that this would then have been forwarded by them to County Hall.

1. PCC WEEKLY PLANNING REGISER – The Clerk read out a letter which had been received. Due to modernisation, the weekly planning register would be available online only and not in paper format. This facility could be accessed by emailing PCC and giving our email address and details of area. Alternatively, we could access archive copies of planning registers.

2. PLANNING LIAISON MEETING – Following the meeting an email had been received giving information which had been requested at the meeting, of a list of people in Development Control in
the South Region.

3. ONE VOICE WALES - New National Salary Scales for Clerks – Chairman to read.

4. PCC POWYS UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN PLUS ENCLOSED CD – Chairman to read.

5. PCC – PRECEPT – A request for the council to request the precept for 08/09 financial year. PCC would meet at the end of February 2008 to fix the council tax for the year commencing 1 April, it is essential therefore that the request for the precept is made in advance of this in order that the appropriate additions can be made. It also recommended that the council meeting in January would be the appropriate time to discuss this. Also received was a form for funding to be paid by councils to village halls for the year 08-09. Clerk to send back a Nil Return as this had been previously discussed with the Hall Committee and no funding was required.

At this point the Chairman informed members that he had received a letter from Wales Rural Observatory stating that he had not completed the questionnaire which had been sent to the council. He contacted them and informed them that he had completed the questionnaire on line. This had apparently been lost. As the Chairman had kept a copy he was able to re-send the information.

79. FINANCIAL:

BDO – Audit for 2007. This had now been completed and signed by the External Auditor. Two points were raised, these being.

Bank Balances: Current account balance as at 27 November 2007 - £2206.59. Reserve Account as at 1 October 2007 - £2752.38.
Payments to include:

Clerk’s salary £130.42. This was proposed by Cllr Morgan and seconded by Cllr Smith
Cheques drawn - £130.42

Cllr Morgan asked if something could be done to the Hall Committee Notice Board, it has swollen and very difficult to open. Chairman informed her that she should contact Doreen.

THE MEETING WAS FORMALLY CLOSED AT 9.02. Minutes were taken by the Clerk.

The Chairman wished Councillors a Merry Christmas and asked them to join him in a glass of wine and some mince pies etc, which had been provided by the clerk, vice chairman and himself

SIGNED: ……………………………………………… DATE: ……………………
CHAIRMAN