Action

1.

Welcome

Chair Cllr James welcomed those present and thanked them for coming.   Apologies were received from Cllr Simcock.

2.

Declarations of Interest

None reported.

3.

Minutes

A copy of the minutes for the last meeting on 6^th September 2007 were submitted, approved and duly signed by Cllr James. 

4.

Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting

Repair to teenage play area fence – it was reported that Cllr Simcock had kindly repaired the vandalised fence wire in the teenage play area.

Dog bins – the Clerk confirmed that she had been in contact with Salisbury District Council to ascertain the cost of emptying the dog bin located on the path to the play area on a twice weekly basis.  A note was also made of the cost of an alternative larger capacity bin.  After a discussion with knowledge of this information it was decided not to proceed with any action but instead to monitor if the bin once again overfills as it had done in August.

Salisbury District Council – Parish Liaison with Parish Councils – confirmation of date of attendance at meeting by Cllr Paul Sample – the Clerk confirmed that Cllr Sample would attend the Parish Council meeting to be held on 1^st November.

5.

Finance

The Clerk distributed the Parish Council’s spreadsheet to the Council members with details of the Council’s financial accounts and transactions for September 2007.   The current balance in hand is

£8,153.80. 

Cheques for £158.62 for Mazars (annual audit fee) were authorised for payment.

6.

Parish Plan Steering Group

It was noted that the Steering Group now consisted of only four members.

7.

Highways and Footpaths

Following a report that Cllr James had attended a meeting, as an observer, with Robert Key MP in attendance at the Roman Road site, a discussion took place as to the problems encountered on the site with vehicle traffic.  Cllr Moss suggested that the Clerk write to, on behalf of the Parish Council, Richard Broadhead, Rights of Way and Land Charges Manager to clarify the legal status of the Roman Road.

8.

Planning

The Clerk distributed the quarterly planning spreadsheet to the Council members.  It was decided to add an extra column to the spreadsheet with “applicant” and to reduce the distributed spreadsheet to include 2006 and 2007 applications only – 2005 to be archived.

S/2007/1507 – Cert. Lawful D’ment – use of land and buildings for the storage of building materials and equipment, Cottles Stud, Firsdown – note was made that this application has now been withdrawn.

9.

Correspondence

Letter from resident read aloud concerning Footpath 4 and to which Cllr James has duly replied.

10.

Any other business

Technical problems with Firsdown Clerk email account – the Clerk reported that there had been problems with receiving mail on this account and that the problems now seem to have been rectified. The Clerk was asked to ascertain the yearly running costs of hosting the email account.

Cllr Tier gave an update on the research she has recently undertaken for funding with regard to the play area and asked for assistance from fellow Councillors to put together a lottery funding grant application.

Note was made that there were still two vacancies for Parish Councillor on the current Parish Council.

Cllr James noted that the dog fouling sign located on the footpath from Firs Road to the play area had deteriorated and become detached – Cllr James commented that he would ask Cllr Simcock to re-position.

The Clerk was asked to send an email of thanks to Cllr Moss for attending the meeting and to invite Cllr Devine to the December meeting as it did not clash with the Southern Area Committee meeting date.

Clerk

Clerk

11.

Questions or points from the floor

None reported.