Uplyme Parish Council

A Personal View

Very and possibly just a bit biased

Of the Meeting Held on 11th.June 2003

All nine current members of the council were present.

With a full evening's programme ahead already at 6:30pm there was a hint that something was afoot by the throng of people beginning to gather. Scheduled for 6:30pm, or at least that's what I thought, was an introductory talk on the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme by the two local policemen. This meeting turned out to be for already established groups, but as I seemed to be the only person present not already within a group it hardly mattered. What I could not understand was what had happened to all the other people milling about in and around the village hall. I was eventually to find out, although only as a gradual dawning, for when the police meeting finished I was pleasantly surprised or was it shocked to find the main hall, for a parish council meeting evening, heaving with people. Well apart from the councillors and three members of the press there were fifty or so parishioners, which represent a five or six fold increase on usual numbers. What was going on? Someone was giving a talk to the assembled crowd. He briefly stopped whilst the newcomers settled in and continued without myself hearing any announcement although I may have missed it under the general hustle and chatter that continued from the audience for most of the evening. Was he someone from Wykeham Homes appeasing the ill-fortuned people now made homeless by the Barnes Meadow land heave damage to their properties, no that was too much to expect, then perhaps someone from EDDC apologizing for ever allowing development of the site in the first place? By the time he had finished I had cottoned on. This man - Adrian Coward - was the badgers friend, for he confessed that animals came higher up in his interests than humans. His job was to build an artificial set for the badgers, soon to be evicted from their chosen and self-made set (what John Steven thought was going to happen to the badgers). He has made 35 metres of tunnel and six chambers. Obviously a man who really enjoys his work, and why not, for he is picking up the pieces of a generally weak system where official bodies refuse to stand their ground in the path of developers. As with the dormice, so with the badger, elaborate, probably expensive and as in the case of the dormice ineffective schemes are conjured up instead of the authorities saying no to development. This is of course always backed up by a learned "expert" opinion. Opinion and expertise that money can always buy somewhere or other, we are about to see a plethora of expert reports on the Strawberry Field Sports Complex issues. Questions followed as to how many badgers had died on the site, but as he is relatively new on the scene he hoped none but really did not know. Imogen Thomas asked a question about the original dormouse population. He put the blame on cats for the sudden appearance of dead dormice in surrounding gardens once clearing operations had began. But these were the first signs of dormice these people had ever seen, just a coincidence? We have a strange attitude to badgers, we take all this trouble to save a single family whilst the government proposes a cull and is currently removing, I mean killing all badgers within certain areas as a study for a much more drastic attack on the species if the studies prove effective.And this is a protected animal. Farmers generally don't think much of old brock, apparently many of those badgers you see dead on the road have been shot by farmers and dumped by the roadside. After the questions the official meeting got underway. Was the badger piece the reason for such a turn-out ? I think not for nobody left the meeting at this juncture. A quick look at the agenda suggested that the main attraction was going to be Strawberry Field sports complex, but I was going to be proved wrong. Planning An appeal is being made against the refusal to give planning permission for a second additional house in the grounds of Lydwell House Barnes Meadow Colin Pratt was correct a couple of months ago when he said that the intention is to use pre-cast concrete blocks with stones set in them, on the facing wall at Barnes Meadow, and were on order. This was not according to the plans and will not be accepted. Devon Hotel The owner of the hotel is in agreement that some of the conversions to apartments can be utilized as starter homes. Strawberry Field Peter Burton and John Duffin spoke on the matter. Their main concern was obviously to appease the opposition after Mr Duffin's questions to Stan Williams at the previous meeting had been exaggeratedly seized upon. The councillors were very concerned that the news of the two Lyme Regis Town and district councillors, Owen Lovell and Ken Meech had been given the posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the Development Control West Committee of the West Dorset District Council. Which is in fact by any other name the planning committee. Viewing their involvement with the purchase of Strawberry Field and the subsequent outline planning application made by the town council last year and their continued support of the football clubs efforts to develop the site, the council rightly feels that the two Lyme councillors views on this matter are seriously prejudiced and that they should not take part in the eventual hearing of the application. In deed there are others who believe that their influence on the planning committee is so great that this planning matter should be taken completely out of the hands of the district council and that it should be called-in for determination by the Secretary of State for the Environment. It was decided that a letter should be written to the West Dorset District Council expressing this view. Latest news on Strawberry Field Hunters Lodge Junction Improvements Improvements it was not, the parish council is not happy with the work carried out in the name of improvements. The parish council's view in line with many others is that a roundabout should be installed at the junction. The argument against this being that you can't have roundabouts where the approach roads are over a certain gradient. It was reported that there have been four accidents at the junction in recent weeks. Why is this site such a black spot? Can I venture a suggestion? The exact site is right on a VHF radio re-tuning zone. How many of these accidents are due to the attention lapse and possible frustration and anger resulting from the need to yet again re-tune the radio? The answer, yet more signs warning drivers not to re-tune until past the junction? Flashing Speed Sign The council are completely won over by this. In a reply from Devon County Council they confirmed that UPC had heard correctly on the number of these signs that are available, and explained why there was a demand for them "We have two signs in the office", roars of laughter. I myself can not understand this love affair. Bearing in mind that recent police reports suggest that the vast majority of speeding motorist are local, why will drivers reactions to these signs not change once the novelty wears off? What evidence is there that they make any serious impact on speeding? Apart from some speeding confessions of parish councillors where is the long term evidence? All the same the person, I believe Mr Williton, whose effort obtained the recent loan of the machine is reported to be launchng a fund raising effort to buy outright one of these machines for the village. Watch out for his stall at the village féte. Cemetery Trees Tenders have now been received from four contractors to cut down the four trees leaving a stumps for "use as seats" because it is too expensive to remove the stumps. They range from a low of £360 from Dave Loveridge to £1600 from Mobey Hill. Mr Loveridge was reported to not wanting these trees to come down at all, is the £360, incidentally a very low amount, being asked to save these trees. Isn't it time for action to save these trees? After Mr Hill being reported for under charging for his grass cutting services to the parish, has he now overreacted in this new venture into tree surgery? There was much laughter from the councillors whilst discussing this matter but I am too much of a gentleman to inform you as to who was the brunt of their mirth. Vehicle Restrictions in Lyme DCC will be informing the parish regarding the proposed restrictions on vehicle width and weight in Lyme. Of course Uplyme is in line to take this heavy traffic. It was suggested that this must be fought against, the duty of the council was to protect the parishioners against this kind of thing rather than to add to the convenience and profits of carriers wanting to run large vehicles to maximise profits. Colin Pratt on the other hand always the practical man, compared the access routes into Lyme Regis with the western approach into Chideock, where a single house has been demolished by runaway lorries on more than one occasion. He can see the same thing happening in Lyme if use of the Charmouth Road and the road from the west are continued by heavy vehicles. He regrettably sees the only alternative being through Uplyme. Uplyme's District Councillor Ken George gave his Report His activities for the past month, many and varied, were colourfully described. He showed signs of disillusionment particularly when he had high hopes of being given seats on various committees. He thought that he had the necessary qualifications to sit on some of these committees but was never chosen. He perhaps is finding out what it is like not being of the ruling political party in the council. Open Forum David Sole sensing a kind of urgency in the air leapt in with a question, well a statement about Strawberry Field. He said that it must not be forgotten that although we are very much concerned with the floodlighting on the site we must not forget that there will be other on-site lighting. The carpark will be lit as will the area surrounding the club house. These lights will be on later than the floodlighting, for as long as the clubhouse is occupied. It must also be born in mind that these lights will be the first organized lighting scheme in this otherwise dark valley. Uplyme PC have for sometime been toiling away in the effort of keeping street lighting to the minimum in the parish and not without considerable success, for example on the Barnes Meadow site and the Gore Lane caravan site, so this would be a serious setback. Liz Rowe was the next to speak and not satisfied with speaking from her seat she proceeded to the front of the hall and used the microphone to address the audience to good effect, please note councillors. She said how she had sat through two and a half hours of talk on badgers, tree felling etc., when the topmost thing on everybody's minds was the plight of the people of Gore Lane who have been made homeless. Insult was rubbed into injury by the item not even appearing on the agenda for the meeting. Now we were beginning to see why there was such a turnout. Mrs. Holmes, a sparring partner of old with John Steven, related as to how she received the news of her damaged property whilst staying with family in Ireland. She told us in great detail how the incident had affected her likening the loss of the house to another bereavement. Marcus Dixon spoke and called for an injunction to stop work on the site. The end result of this meeting within a meeting was that a special meeting will be called at which the local MP will be invited to attend. The open forum usually restricted to its 15 minutes went on for approximately an hour. Beryl Denham must be credited for allowing this although it would have been a crass demonstration of insensitivity to curtail the discussion after originally making the blunder of not including the item on the agenda. My lack of knowing what was going on on this evening highlights the problems of communication in the village. The details of the planned meeting were probably posted on the notice board outside the village shop, but people from the outlying areas seldom visit the shop and lack this information. New member John Clark-Irons at the first meeting he attended in May suggested a notice board be installed in the Raymonds Hill area. This in addition to an official parish website would keep more people in touch with what was going on in the village.

Topics on this Page: Neighbourhood Watch Meeting Badgers Rehoused Planning Barnes Meadow Devon Hotel Strawberry Field Hunters Lodge Junction Improvements Flashing Speed Sign Cemetery Trees Lyme Regis Vehicle Restrictions District Councillor's Report Lack of Communication Open Forum: Strawberry Field Homeless by Barnes Meadow Other UPC Meetings: 8th January 2003 12th February 2003 12th March 2003 9th April 2003 14th May 2003 9th July 2003 13th August 2003 10th September 2003 8th October 2003 12th November 2003 10th December 2003 14th January 2004 With Links to Pre-2003 Meetings 2004 Meetings Other Relevant Pages Strawberry Field Sports Complex Barnes Meadow Development Rhode Hill Gardens Home Page Introduction Page

The Next Parish Council meeting will be on 9th July 2003. Starting times are 7:00pm for the police update on their and the criminal's activities. Also the John Steven spot if he is in the country.
7:30 for the parish council meeting.

Disclaimer: This page cannot be guaranteed to be void of mistakes. It is sometimes, in the hall, difficult to hear some of the councillors, for a number are determined not to use the amplification system available. An example of what can happen was at the September meeting when I heard the word "included" as "include" when a letter from John Steven was being read out. This threw an entirely different meaning to the sentence. The interpretation that I came to was so important that I put the news on the website as soon as I could. It was not until I read the Lyme Regis News that I realised how wrong I was. I even more speedily removed the offending story. If you were one of those that read the original then I apologise. If you have any doubts concerning the validity of anything you read please check with the parish clerk. Can I also suggest that you contact the Parish Council and request that the minutes of the meetings are posted on an official Uplyme Parish Council website and that the subject is accordingly added to the agenda of the next meeting.