Clerks Report from the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 11^th November 2015.

Public Forum Session: The following issues were raised:

• Concern about the removal of trees at The Old Farmhouse. Cllr Pope advised that the erection of a fence on top of a wall had been refused.
• A request for the Parish Council (PC) to ask Cllr H Greenman to call-in the application for the dry stone wall at 66 High Street (15/09153/FUL). Cllr E Pope stated that following advice from Cllr Greenman the PC were not prepared to do this and that the application had in fact now been approved, subject to conditions, by Wilts Council.
• Whether the PC would continue to address the matter of the grass verge fronting 62-68 High Street. Cllr E Pope advised that the PC had previously taken the decision not to pursue this matter any further.

Vacancies for Parish Councillors: Cllr Pope informed the meeting that Cllr G Woodville had resigned and that there are now 4 vacancies on the Council.  The Clerk has produced a leaflet that will be distributed, with the December Parish News, to every household in Sutton Benger and Draycot Cerne to raise awareness of the Parish Council and the vacancies.

Finance: The Cllrs were asked to prepare potential projects to be considered for next year’s budget.

Planning Applications:

Neighbourhood Development Plan: Cllr K Smedley gave an update and advised that the next Consultative Meeting was on Monday 23^rd November 2015 in the Sutton Benger Village Hall.  It was agreed to provide seed funding from the Parish Council budget for 2015-16.

Highways & Wiltshire Council Matters: It was noted that the Parish Steward scheme would be resumed in April 2016 by Wilts Council.  It was agreed to support an application for a Speed Indicator Device to be shared with Christian Malford, East Tytherton and one other Parish Council.

Website: Cllr E Pope thanked Cllr K Pound, along with Cllr K Smedley and L Bragg, for the improvements to the Parish Council website.  It was agreed that Cllr Pound would liaise with the Village Hall Management Committee to provide a link to their website.

The next Ordinary meeting of the Parish Council is on Wednesday 13^th January 2016 at 7.45pm in the Sutton Benger Village Hall.

We hope you like the changes to the Parish Council website. There is some tweaking to be done, but we’re about there. Please let us know if you think there’s anything missing by contacting the Parish Clerk.

Parish Councillor Vacancies – the PC has 3 vacancies for Parish Councillors and are looking for applicants from anyone aged 18+ who has lived within the parish for more than 1 year.  Areas of responsibility for the new Councillors will include one of the following: Village Hall Liaison, Transport,  Youth Community liaison.

If you are interested or would like more information contact Linda Bragg, Parish Clerk.

Sutton Benger Parish Council is looking for a resident who is happy to take on the role of SNOW & FLOOD WARDEN.  This role is a really important one for the village in times of adverse weather conditions.  Wiltshire Council will supply relevant equipment, but primarily this is a point of contact role between the Weather Team at Wiltshire Council and the local Parish Council.  Most importantly, the role is for someone who would like to be first point of contact with fellow residents in case of severe inclement weather.  Support is given by both councils.  Please come and do your bit for this community!  For more information on the role and what it entails, please make yourself known to Emma Pope or the Parish Clerk.  We need to hear from you now before the weather changes, so if you are at all interested please get in touch this month.