MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF CLYRO COMMUNITY COUNCIL
HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON
TUESDAY 13 MAY at 8.00pm

11.a. PRESENT: Cllr B Morgan (Chairman),Cllr V Price, Cllr D Hood, Cllr T Brown, Cllr P Keylock, Cllr G Green, Cllr H Wheeler.

IN ATTENDANCE: County Councillor Mrs M Morris, several Members of the Public.

12b. ADOPTION OF NEW CODE OF CONDUCT: The Chairman signed and requested that the clerk send to the Ombudsman. Cllr Keylock proposed and Cllr Wheeler seconded. All were in agreement.

13c. SIGN ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE: The Chairman passed these around for councillors to sign. This being done, the clerk witnessed them.

14d. SIGN ELECTION EXPENSE FORMS: These were completed and given to the clerk to send to the Electoral Office of Powys County Council.

15h. APOLOGIES: PC Thomas

16j. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING: The minutes of the last meeting were approved by councillors and signed by the Chairman.

17k. DECLARATION OF INTEREST (if any): There were none.

18l. RESPONSIBLE PERSON for the duration of this meeting for fire regulations: Cllr B Morgan (Chairman), who pointed out all fire exits.

19. PLANNING MATTERS: With any updates on applications, including:

P2008 0469 Full: Change of use from hotel to private residential use at Clyro Court, Clyro, Hay on Wye, Powys. All were in favour.

20. MATTERS ARISING: These will include:

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

b. One Voice Wales Membership – All agreed that the membership should be continued for the next 12 months. Clerk to action.

c. Change of Meeting Time – Following a short discussion as to whether the meetings should begin at the earlier time of 7.00pm, Cllr Hood proposed this and seconded by Cllr Green. All were in favour. It was noted that this change must be reflected in the Standing Orders.

d. Signatories for bank – The Chairman asked for another councillor to become a signatory. It was proposed that Cllr Brown and Cllr Wheeler become signatories. All were in favour. Clerk to get paperwork.

e. Co-opting councillors – The Chairman informed members that there were 2 members of the community who had shown an interest to be co-opted onto the community council. These were Eleanor Thorneycroft and Andrew Williams. This was proposed by Cllr Morgan and seconded by Cllr Hood. All were in favour.

21. REPORTS ON DOCUMENTS READ, MEETINGS ATTENDED, ACTIVITIES etc. (including)

22. SCHOOL GOVERNORS REPORT
Cllr Green reported that there had been no meeting. The next one was due to take place on 14 May 2008, so he would report back to the next community council meeting.

23. POLICE REPORT:

There was no report.

24. REPORT FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR Mrs M Morris:

For the benefit of the new councillors, Cllr Morris explained her role. She explained that as a County Councillor she had no right to speak at the meeting unless invited to do so by the Chairman and that she could not express personal opinions. What she did do was take on board any issues that the community council had and then take them to County Hall. When she had heard all sides she would then make a decision.

She advised that following recent elections the council was changing. There were now 9 conservatives on the council, many of which were quite young. There were 73 members on the council, mostly independents, then liberals, then conservatives and 4 labour and 1 who was unaligned. Most decisions were made by the Board.

She stated that county councillors stayed in close touch with community councils and could be contacted at any time, whereby she would give advice in complete confidence.

The Chairman then asked Cllr Hood if he would report on the recent public meeting regarding Pentwyn.

Cllr Hood felt the evening had gone well. Everyone there had questions, but following the questions made by the panel and replies from representatives of Pentwyn, fewer questions were raised. He reported that staff at Pentwyn had been surprised at the amount of interest shown. They were still well liked but the planning application had affected public opinion. He stated that the public meeting had been a very good idea, people needed to know what Pentwyn was about.

Cllr Morris thought the meeting had been very worthwhile doing and had been very well managed. She stated that she had been very pleased with the possible outcome.

The Chairman raised the issue of perhaps having a sub-committee to deal with matters relating to Pentwyn. All were in favour of this. The Chairman, Cllr Hood and Cllr Brown were all to attend and would get names for the next meeting. An invitation was also extended to Mr David Davidson.

25. REPORT FROM Mr David Davidson, Pentwyn/Hillcrest
Mr Davidson introduced himself as Head Teacher and Home Manager. He stated that there were facilities for up to 15 boys, currently there were 8 staying there. He had recently advertised for 3 RCW’s, which would take them above the recommended staffing levels. Recently 3 candidates had received promotion, totalling now 14 managers, 4 were permanent, full time managers. 1 Senior post had been advertised whereby they had received 3 applications, one internal candidate had got the job. There were 16 care staff with another about to start and 3 more posts had been advertised. The teaching complement of staff had always been full.

He informed councillors of an Achievers Day to be held on 17 July 2008. Pamphlets would distributed and all were welcome. The boys would do games and there was to be a bbq lunch. Prizes would also be given out to boys who had achieved. Start time was 12.30.

Following this a letter which had been received from Mr Richard Greenwell, General Manager of Hillcrest, was read out. It stated that the Board Meeting which was to have been held on 27 May had been postposed and would now take place on 3 June 2008. Mr Davidson said he would write to the Chairman with the result of this meeting. He then gave some background on the Directors of Hillcrest.

He then invited questions from the councillors.

Cllr Hood asked if there had been any incidents that they needed to know about. Mr Davidson replied that things had calmed down, however 2 boys had absconded and had headed towards the Wye. They had now been caught. The number of boys absconding had dropped dramatically. Cllr Hood asked that the council be kept informed of any such incidents.

Mr Davidson stated that it was very difficult to stop the boys. Today however, they had been at very serious risk and as such had been able to stop them.

Cllr Hood asked if they had the authority to do this. Mr Davidson replied that they need to hold them safely and that many boys would create havoc in a public place.

Cllr Hood also asked if the type of boy that they accepted at the school had changed and was it the case that they did not have control over who was accepted there. Mr Davidson stated that this was not the case, he was under no pressure to take boys. Unfortunately, sometimes the boys made the wrong choices. The decision to accept boys was his responsibility. They had recently gone through a bad period and they had to make sure that things became more settled. They were trying to modify the behaviour of the boys, but they had come from awful backgrounds, however, they needed to make sure that the community was safe.

Cllr Keylock asked if they ever looked at the finished product and that after so many years were they just ‘keeping a lid on things’. Mr Davidson replied that he wanted to make a difference, not keep the lid on things.

Cllr Hood stated that they would take up the invitation to look around Pentwyn.

The Chairman thanked Mr Davidson and informed him that the minutes would be sent to him.

26. CORRESPONDENCE:

1. PCC – Powys Local Development Plan Community Meetings – June 2008: Invitation to the first community meeting on the Powys LDP. The letter explained the purposes of the meeting which was to introduce the local development plan process, discuss community involvement in the plan making process, alert to forthcoming consultation on the draft delivery agreement for the plan. Clerk advised that the forthcoming dates were:
Monday 2 June at the Council Chamber, County Hall, Llandrindod
Wednesday 4 June at the Council Chamber, Brecon
Monday 9 June at the Council Chamber, Welshpool
Thursday 12 June at the Function Room, Elephant and Castle, Newtown.
There were also forms to complete for anyone wishing to attend. Cllr Hood , Cllr Wheeler and the Chairman to attend, the Chairman was given forms to complete.

2. MID AND WEST WALES FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY DRAFT RISK REDUCTION ACTION PLAN 09/10: The Chairman to read.

3. NATWEST-CHANGES TO BUSINESS ACCOUNTS: including online banking. Council unable to do online banking as 2 signatures were needed.

4. ZURICH: Enhancement of cover in light of the corporate homicide and corporate manslaughter act 07. Clerk read out letter. No action was required.

5. PCC: Remittance advice – Clerk reported that the first £750 had been paid into the account for the precept.

6.PCC: Consultation on designation of core areas for street lighting. The purpose of the letter was to formally consult us in respect of core areas for the provision of street lighting services on county roads across Powys. This was to address global warming. The Chairman informed that the survey which he had been carrying out among residents of Clyro regarding street lighting was almost complete and that he would report back to the next meeting.

7. ONE VOICE WALES: Notice of the 2008 Conference and AGM to be held on Saturday 11 October 2008 in Ceredigion. No councillors would be attending.

8. HAY ON WYE DIAL A RIDE: Requesting a donation. It was decided to leave the decision until the end of the year. All were in agreement.

9. OMBUDSMAN: This was passed to councillors.

27. FINANCIAL:

The clerk had already given a report on the financial situation.

Payments to include:

Clerk’s salary + extra time taking and producing minutes for public meeting. Cllr Hood proposed this and it was seconded by the Chairman. Total salary was £195.73.

Cheques drawn: No cheques drawn.

28. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

The Chairman reminded everyone that the Standing Orders needed to reviewed at the June Meeting, followed by the Financial review in July 2008.

At this point the Chairman asked Sarah Williams to explain the situation regarding the road leading to Court Evan Gwynne. She explained that the road was stoned and was almost half done. Unfortunately, the PCC had received a complaint. They had been asked to go back to everyone concerned to re-assess.

The surface was being done as far as the barn conversion, and the surface would have to be maintained. They didn’t know exactly what the complaint and that they had previously had the go ahead from the council.

There were no objections to this by any community councillors or Cllr Morris. It was decided that the clerk should write to Sarah, on behalf of the community council stating that they had no objections.

There being no other business, THE MEETING WAS FORMALLY CLOSED AT 9.15pm. The minutes were taken by the clerk.

Members of the public are invited to attend council meetings and to contribute at the conclusion of business. The Chairman and Councillors accept no responsibility for comments made by the public. Minutes and agenda available by email on request. Also displayed on website.
(01874711866) www.clyro.org


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

Following the closure of the meeting Mr Tom Fairfield spoke in relation to ecological matters. Apparently 2 more plans had been passed without ecological surveys being completed. He stated that many more plans may become null and void and that PCC may be guilty of malpractice. A severe warning was going out to PCC. Mr Fairfield stated that any plans that came before the community council should do so only after an ecological survey had been completed.



Clyro Community Council

MAY 2008 MINUTES