Uplyme Parish Council

A Personal View

Very and possibly just a bit biased

Of the Meeting Held on 8th May 2002

With the exception of Mrs Hebden all parish councillors were in attendance.

Barnes Meadow John Steven being in Portugal, I expected his 30 minute Barnes Meadow slot to be cancelled. But a very lively meeting was held. Perhaps it was fortuitous that Mr Steven was not available. See Barnes Meadow Page for more details. If only the Parish Council had a website these meetings would not be missed! AGM We were reminded by the Chairmen Beryl Denham that this meeting was the Annual General Meeting and that she hoped that the public would remain for the meeting. She was not disappointed for not a soul of the considerable gathering left. This business was soon wrapped up and they got down to the nitty gritty. Building Without Planning Permission Brian Mason introduced this by saying that there is no law against building without Planning Permission as long as you are prepared to demolish your work if requested to do so! What was being referred to here was the extension being built at Brooklands besides the village filling station. This is a two storey extension said to overlook neighbouring property and seriously effecting their privacy. Mr Mason said that to his knowledge this was the first occurrence of building without PP in the parish. The enforcement officer was due to pay a visit to the site the following day, and it seemed that there was not much to be done pending his visit. Although it was suggested that if this work is allowed to proceed then other planning permissions already approved for the site should be withdrawn. I should not think this is an option. One of several planning permissions that have been approved includes one to demolish the filling station and replace it with houses. With all the options available to the owner from the PPs perhaps he is within his rights and has selected various details from individual PPs and re-assembled them! For I do believe that the approved plans to replace the filling station with houses involved a fair amount of overlooking of neighbouring properties! It will be interesting to see how the district council will wriggle out of this one, for they seem to fight shy of issuing demolition orders and even less of implementing them, of which the owner in this case is well aware . It was noticed that work was still progressing apace two days later! A retrospective application will probably have to be made. "Retrospective Planning Applications". The fashionable way to build? There does seem to be a movement towards build first and apply later - if found out! Another case was brought to the attention of the council. The enforcement officer was caused to visit the grounds of Rhode Hill where he found that a broad track and a shed had been installed in a wooded area. You may remember that when Rhode Hill House was split into units some five or so years ago the intention of clearing part of the wooded area to build garages was strongly opposed and eventually ruled against. Is this the resurrection of that ghost? Lime Kiln Lane Bungalow A Planning Application, was considered, to demolish a bungalow in Lime Kiln Lane and replace it with a two storey house. The main problem here is that the original height of the bungalow is 15 feet and that of the replacement house would be 35 feet. This proposal was not recommended mainly because of the height, being visible from the surrounding area, and that it was not in keeping with the surroundings. The exaggerated height is mainly because of the steep roof that the plans depict. It was suggested that with the steep roof giving a lot of loft space it would be just a matter of time before an application was received to install accommodation in the roof. Several councillor had visited the property and talked to the owner. The subject of the steep roof was broached and the reason given was that he wanted to use nature slates on the roof and slates had to be installed at a steep angle to stop the ingress of rain! A quick look in the Building Regulations will show that this is indeed the case, but the permissible angle that they can be used at is 17.5 degrees from the horizontal! Advertising in the Cemetery The parish council are giving Mobey Hill the go-ahead to advertise, in the cemetery, his services regarding the maintenance of graves. Mr Pratt jokingly thought that it should take the rather discreet form similar to those outside solicitors' offices. Sustrans This is the scheme to install the admirable idea of a national network of cycle tracks. A year or so ago the parish council were informed and their views sought on bringing a leg of the network down to Lyme Regis via Harcombe. This did not go down at all well with the council, the chief opposition coming from Peter Burton who's view was that cyclist would be a danger on the narrow lane through Harcombe. Probably because of this lack of enthusiasm it has been decided to take the link into Seaton At the May meeting Mr Burton again spoke out on the dangers of bicycles. Saying that not being insured or taxed there is no way of claiming from them or tracing them after an accident. Can he be serious? What other than superficial damage do cyclist ever inflict on, I assume he has in mind, cars. In the local papers we are given the details of the appalling death rate on our local roads, and driving around you continually come across another roadside collection of flowers depicting the scene of more carnage. This is not the result of reckless cyclists although they may feature highly in the statistics as victims. A young boy recently killed in Honiton was reported in the local paper as being "in collision with a car" as if he was the main cause of the resulting damage to someone's precious vehicle. He also refers to the nuisance they cause in the narrow lanes, not stopping to let cars pass. The great danger in the narrow lanes is the speed of cars, a danger to pedestrians and cyclists alike. Indeed I consider cyclists extremely brave cycling these lanes. Perhaps every car needs a cyclist in front of him to restrict their speed, as they are not inclined to do so voluntarily. I think that a lifetime in the car industry has left Mr Burton with a one track view regarding personal transport. Strawberry Fields Sports Centre A letter had been received from Mr G Hughes of West Dorset District Council officially informing them that the planning Application for Strawberry Fields had been withdrawn. He added that he could not promise to inform them when the new application was made, but he thought that they would hear of it "somehow". David Sole reported on a Lyme Regis Town Council meeting he attended when one of the subjects to be included on the agenda was the Plans for Strawberry Fields. He said that there was not much to report as the plans were not made available to the public. Apparently the most exciting thing to come out of the visit was when he was leaving. Another parishioner of Uplyme went along with David and he had arranged to meet his daughter there after her evening with the junior town band. The daughter proceeded down the stairs first whilst her dad held open the council chamber door for David. Just as David was passing through the door the other person noted some agitation on the council benches, but he thought no more of it. No sooner had the door been closed than it was violently flung open again revealing a very anxious looking Councillor Meech. He rushed down the stairs in pursuit of the girl and referring to her cornet case asked if she had a "tape recorder" in it. David's punch line to the parish council was "As if there had been anything worth recording!" The Sports Complex Website Next Meeting on 12th June 2002

Topics on this Page: Barnes Meadow Update Annual General Meeting Building Without Planning Permission Retrospective Planning Applications Lime Kiln Lane Rebuild Advertising in the Cemetery Sustrans Strawberry Fields 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 12th June 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