Uplyme Parish Council

A Personal View

Very and possibly just a bit biased

Of the Meeting Held on 13th November 2002

Seven parish councillors were present, only John Duffin was unable to attend. There being two vacant seats due to be filled this evening.

I'm afraid the full use of the public address system last month was not repeated. There were long passages in which you had to strain to hear. The main offenders were Peter Burton and Charles White the Parish Clerk As expected John Steven did not turn up this month, allowing the meeting to get underway soon after 7 p.m. Parish Council Vacancies The most important business of the evening was the election of the two new co-opted members, and although item 3 on the agenda it had to be delayed as one of the candidates was not due to turn up until later. The parish councillors having met the five candidates, one having withdrawn his or her application, were then asked to cast two votes each and Bob Crabbe and Christopher Sellers were elected.. Mr Sellers took up his seat immediately, but we have to wait to see Mr Crabbe until next month as he was on holiday. As the entire parish council will be re-elected next May, for the two new councillors this intervening period can be seen as one of probation. Eyes will be on them before the endorsement of their seats is put to the electorate of the parish. Planning Application for Double Garage at Barnes Meadow. The EDDC refused this application under delegated powers. There seemed to have been many letters objecting to this proposal including one from the owner of one of the adjacent mid-terrace houses. The letter writer, for it was read out, revealed that buyers of Barnes Meadow properties had to sign a covenant that restrict such alterations and developments as this application contained. The parish council were not aware of this covenant. There was some concern amongst the parish councillors that the building of this garage on what they thought was a couple of parking spaces would have cut down the number of spaces available for such occasions as we had just seen, namely the remembrance service the war memorial. But we found out that the site destined for this garage would have been land that the applicant had bought from the developer. What was the developer thinking about selling off land that should have been in common ownership of the estate property owners? We will hear more on this. Radio Mast. Amongst the planning applications dealt with at the meeting was yet another one for a radio mast, this time on the Coach Road above Rhode Hill. This one would be 17.5 metres high and of course as is the nature of the beast would be visible for a considerable distance. It is to improve communication for the emergency services. There are already two masts within the parish and one just over the boundary above Lyme Regis at Dragon's Hill. The government had suggested that in future the different companies should share masts, the parish council will be suggesting that this approach is followed in this case. Hunters' Lodge roundabout! The parish council are not at all pleased about the refusal of the Devon County Council reconsider a roundabout at Hunters Lodge. A new spanner is about to be thrown in the works when the filling station re-opens as we are told it will. This will result in more west bound traffic pulling across oncoming traffic now that the Masters filling station has closed down. Peter Burton teased us by not revealing who has bought the Hunters Lodge filling station. Could it be the parish's bête noire? Meetings Attended Colin Pratt spoke of the Lyme Regis Town Council Extrodinary meeting that he attended on 23rd October at the Woodmead Halls. There were just two items on the agenda. The first dealing with the work to stabilise Langmoor and Lister Gardens. The other and the reason that Colin and I were there, was a presentation of the latest plans for Strawberry Field. I have made a report on the Strawberry Field Update Page so will not repeat it here, other than to add the following that I did not include. Colin was not at all impressed with the way that the meeting was run. Especially so when it came to declaring an interest. A vote was taken for the town council to accept the latest plans from the football club and then to make available £10,000 for the football club to commission a geotechnical survey. Barbara Austin being the President of the football club should apparently have declared an interest. She did in the first instant do so but voted all the same. Of course the chairman should have cleared up this matter but confusion reigned. Briefly..... Amongst other planning applications refused by EDDC was the conversion into a Chinese restaurant of the village butchers shop.This was mainly on traffic related points. I think that things had already moved on before this decision for the rumour goes that the shop is being bought by a local businessman whose plans include pulling down the building. A controversial plan to build a house to replace a double garage and workshop in Venlake was also refused. The felling of three ash trees and the lopping of a hornbeam at Raymonds Hill was refused. This is on the back of a change in the way EDDC's deals with applications to work on trees. Approvals included the converted shed at Hedgehog Corner. The conversion of two barns at Ware Farm into an artist studio with the rider that use must be restricted to use as an artist studio. The dwelling at the back of Blossom Hill nursery was also given the go ahead. The Brooklands' -filling station- appeal hearing against the special condition set when retrospective planning permission was granted for the extension to the house on the site, will be held in the village hall on 23rd April 2003. The condition was that the first floor window overlooking a neighbouring property be blocked up. Two fencing contractors were asked to submit estimates for fencing the children's play area. The estimates differed enormously, after a quick piece of mental arithmetic we were told that the cheaper one worked out at £2 per household. The Village Plan committee have held their initial meeting and formulated a constitution. The next step is to contact those that left contact addresses at the October meeting. The December meeting will be held on the 11th.

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 12th June 2002 10th July 2002 14th August 2002 11th September 2002 9th October 2002 11th December 2002 Other Relevant Pages Barnes Meadow Development Rhode Hill Gardens Home Page Introduction Page

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.