Berwick Bassett and Winterbourne Monkton Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 6
th November 2024, at 7.30pm. at
Winterbourne Monkton Community Hall.
Present: Cllr Woodward (Chair), Cllr J Petchey Cllr Swinyard, Cllr S Petchey (Note
Taker),Cllr Scott, Cllr Pattinson.
1. Apologies for absence: None
2. Declarations of interest: Cllr Scott as a trustee of the Community Hall declared that he is sponsoring the grant of two benches for outside the hall.
3. Questions from the Public: None present.
4. Minutes of meetings of 3rd September 2024 and 30th September 2024
Signed by Chair, and Cllr Jill Petchey respectively..
5. Matters arising from meeting of 30th September 2024
Cllr Scott confirmed that the Millenium Bench will arrive this week.
6. Councillor Jane Davies
Sent apologies
7. Chair’s update
– Clerk recruitment :The only applicant so far will be interviewed next week. In addition
the position will be advertised more widely , particularly in the Swindon area and by
WALC.
Resolved: up to £200 authorised for advertising in Swindon Link.
– National Trust car park. Contacts suggested to the Chair by other Councillors.
– Winterbourne Lea flooding: Despite work undertaken by Wiltshire Council on the
drain itself,, there are issues with the adjacent field drain to the bourne. The owner
has talked of digging this out, but the Chair will independently seek an opinion from
an expert in the village, with a view to taking remedial action.
– Electoral roll request: this is not the same as the application for precept moneys
which is becoming due. Cllr Scott will deal with this, and Cllr Jill Petchey will request
the Roll.
8. Councillors’ written reports
– Cllr Scott:
Resolved: £650 grant to be made to Community Hall for the provision and
installation of two wooden benches.
Agreed: to open an interest bearing savings account with Lloyds Bank, earning
interest currently at 1.55%.
Draft budget was agreed for 2025/26.
2
– Cllr Simon Petchey
The Council determined that copies of correspondence with Rivar Ltd concerning
Old Dairy Lane matters should not be made available to a resident who
requested this. It was felt that this would prejudice the independence of the
Council in dealing with any further planning applications for the site, and would be
discourteous to Rivar to distribute their correspondence to third parties. The
Council would effectively lose control of its correspondence.
Action: Cllr Simon Petchey will provide a written update to the resident on the
content relating to the current drainage problem.
9. Planning Applications
Cllr Pattinson (Planning) reported that there had been no objections to
PL/2024/09460 . He had not visited the property, but Cllr S.Petchey had, and offered
to update the applicants.
Cllr J. Petchey updated the Council about two other Planning matters in the village
which were otherwise overlooked, namely The Birches and the trees in school lane.
10. Website and Mail System
Given the Council’s dissatisfaction with the current system.
Actions: the Chair will contact WALC for advice, and Cllr Simon Petchey will follow
up an alternative relatively local supplier who had contacted the Clerk’s mail
address.
11. Charitable donations
After consideration of the impact of inflation it was agreed that donations would be
increased to £75 for each of Air Ambulance, Upper Kennett News and Link.
12. Open Spaces Contribution
The Chair advised the Council that an application had been made and a response
was expected in two weeks from Wiltshire Council. The sum anticipated is
£30119.36 .
13. Next Meeting
This was confirmed for Wednesday 4th December 2024 at 7.30 pm in the
Community Hall. Cllr Scott offered his apologies for absence in advance.
The meeting closed at 8.55 pm..