Uplyme Parish Council

A Personal View

Very and possibly just a bit biased

Of the Meeting Held on 12th June 2002

Absentee parish councilors were the Chairman Beryl Denham and John Duffin.

Barnes Meadow John Steven looked well after his trip to Portugal, oblivious to the anxious interest he caused at the previous meeting. Details on the Barnes Meadow Page. Mini-roundabout. Satisfaction still has not been achieved with the mini-roundabout at Cooksmead. An ultimatum is about to be issued to the County Council, "Improve it or take it away". Lyme's HGV Traffic through Uplyme Assurances came from both the Dorset and Devon County Councils that UPC would be fully informed and their views considered before advice was given on routing HGV through Uplyme. Loss of Two Parish Councillors As Esme Ralphs and David Sole were unlikely to sign the declaration of interests, now required by parish councillors, by the deadline of 30th June 2002, they will cease to be members of the parish council from that date. They will both be greatly missed for the work they have both done over the years. Though David does say that he will still take a keen interest in matters concerning the Parish. This probably also goes for Esme for she was very active in Parish matters long before becoming a councillor. This does have repercussions in that David was the parish representative on the board of Mrs Elthelston's School's governors. This was immediately sorted first by Colin Pratt, if rather reluctantly, offering to fill the position. It was unbeknown to him that this matter had already been wrapped up, for after a little confusion Mrs. Hebden came forward as the rightful heiress to this job. Parish Council Vacancies The other obvious spin-off from these "resignations" is that the parish council is two members down. The long drawn-out process of replacing them will not even begin until the next council meeting. The District Council have first to be informed of the vacancies, candidates will have to be sought, an election held providing that there are at least three applicants and if requested by members of the public or failing that the parish council will have to co-opt two of the applicants. With luck we could see these two seats filled by January! After the co-opting of Mrs Hebden to fill the last vacancy I heard several criticisms that there should have been an election, pointing a finger at the parish council. This is not a valid point for the decision whether or not to have an election is in the hands of the parishoners.An election to determine who should fill the vacancies can be held if notice in writing of such a request to hold an election is given to the Returning Officer, East Devon District Council, by ten electors of the Parish within 14 workng days of the official notice of the vacancy having been posted. In the event of no such request being made the vacancy will be filled by co-option by the Parish Council. Golden Jubilee Success Brian Mason thanked everybody who made the event such a success and Mrs Hebden, the organizer of the proceedings, reported that preliminary calculations showed that over £2,000 was taken during the day and of this £700 would be profit and would go into the coffers of the village hall. EDDC Officers Mrs Little, officer with the EDDC planning department, replied to the parish council's letter, see April meeting. Parts of her letter were read out by Brian Mason which illustrated that she was stating the obvious and not answering their complaints at all. The ball now being in the UPC court again will promptly be return with another letter. This could run and run. The Millennium Copse The early hand over of the Millennium copse brought some words of caution from Colin Pratt. Which went something like this, because any land slippage in this area may not now show up until it is in the hands of UPC they may be sadling themselves with serious and expensive problems. After some discussion the council decided it was worth the gamble in proceeding. Besides the original intention was that it would be handed over at the end of the year. So it is going to be only at the most three or four months early, a negligible period of time when it comes to landslips. Briefly..... A Public Enquiry regarding the gypsy caravan in Happy Valley will take place on 3rd July 2002 at 10 a.m. in the Council Offices at Knowle. Betterment Homes lost their appeal against the EDDC decision to reject the development at the Devon Hotel Next Meeting on 10th July 2002.

Topics on this Page: Mini-roundabout. HGV Traffic. Loss of Two Councillors. New School Governor. Parish Council Vacancies Golden Jubilee Success. EDDC Officers. Briefly. Other UPC Meetings: Meetings in 2003 Pre-2003 Meetings: 13th June 2001 11th July 2001 12th September 2001 10th October 2001 14th November 2001 12th December 2001 9th January 2002 13th February 2002 13th March 2002 10th April 2002 8th May 2002 10th July 2002 14th August 2002 11th September 2002 9th October 2002 13th November 2002 11th December 2002 Other Relevant Pages Barnes Meadow Development Rhode Hill Gardens Home Page Introduction Page