Clerk’s Report July 2024

Parish Clerk Report for 8^th July 2024

Completed Actions

Copies of all letters and emails will be available to view at the meeting.

• I have been notified that the interest rate on our new savings account will be reduced from 1.3% to 1% from 27^th July.
• I have notified Josh Scillitoe, Highways Officer, of the Council’s choice of sign, and it is now on order.
• The broken sign in Skaigh Lane is now attached to the bottom of the pole, but is secure and visible. Josh was not responsible!
• I corresponded with the owners of Oldway at Tongue End, who are happy for us to clear around the bus stop, but requested that they were notified in advance so that they could move their cars. They are not in fact the owners of the hedge, which is the responsibility of Highways. When I mentioned it to Josh, he went straight down to clear it.
• The lighting department at Devon Highways apologised for not responding to our previous letter regarding the lamp, and the questions have now been passed to a manager, but there is still no reply.
• The Car Park chippings have been moved off the road by a working party of councillors, which produced a favourable response from residents.
• Chris Walpole has confirmed that he would like to be Internal Auditor for next year, and thanked us for the honorariums.
• I have submitted the AGAR.
• Cllr Pike now has admin permissions on the email system so he can add or remove emails as necessary, and view permissions to the whole of the council data drive. Should anything happen to me he will be able to transfer the ownership of the council data drive to himself. Since we only have one data licence, only one person at a time can have read/write access.
• I attended a free webinar about getting a .gov.uk domain. This would mean that our emails and possibly (if we wanted) website, instead of having pc.belstonevillage.net on the end could have belstone.gov.uk on the end. The official advice on this is that “Community, Suppliers and partners will now reasonably expect a local council to have a .gov.uk domain”. It would mean an enhanced level of security, and an indication of good practice. This month the cost of having a gov.uk domain is being reduced by over 90%, it was not worth considering before as it was ten times the cost of any other domain name. The government are also offering a grant of £100 for this financial year only, taken off the bill from the registrar who sets up and transfers the domain for you. We would not need to change the website, which I personally believe is much more attractive as part of the main village website, but could migrate the existing emails. I am not convinced that it would actually make much difference, and I think the main cost would be in the time taken to investigate the costs from the different suppliers. Councillors could consider adding this to a future agenda if they feel that it is important. I have a copy of the slides, and links for more information if anybody is interested.
• I attended a free webinar about Biodiversity for councils. There is a duty on councils to consider biodiversity in their actions, although no formal report is required. This has applied since 2006, but was updated in 2021. Most councils have a Biodiversity Policy. In addition, a new planning policy, applicable nationwide, has been introduced which requires planning applications to prove that they will increase the biodiversity by 10%. It does not apply to housing extensions, only new dwellings, or commercial development over 1 hectare in size. Councils should review the calculation of biodiversity value done by the developer, and the accuracy of the habitat plan. It is possible to provide the net gain off-site or in the form of biodiversity credits! Councils could challenge this to ensure that their local environment gets the benefits. The gains should be measurable, and enforceable. This has only been in force since April. I can supply the recording, slides and other information if required. There is also a second webinar on 9^th July.

Website

I have added the following posts and pages:

• Minutes and Documents from May Meeting
• AGAR Documents and notices
• I have mended the link on the Skaigh Wood page.

Agenda Items

045 Rights of Way

An interactive map of the rights of way in the parish is available on the Dartmoor National Park website https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/enjoy-dartmoor/outdoor-activities/where-you-can-go  There is also a link there for reporting problems with rights of way.

DNPA maintain the designated footpaths and bridleways in the parish, but there are also a lot of paths which are assumed to be footpaths but are just well used pathways. Under the Highways Act 1980, s.43, s.50 the Council has Power to repair and maintain public footpaths and bridle-ways. It is the DNPA’s duty to do so, and some responsible authorities defray the expenses of councils if they wish to take over that responsibility, but I haven’t heard of DNPA doing so.

A Walks Leaflet was suggested at the last Skaigh Wood meeting. The sort of leaflet produced by Sticklepath Parish Council cost about £550 in 2022 for 5,000 leaflets. This cost was partly defrayed by selling advertising to local businesses. If this was to be considered it would need to be part of the 2025-26 budget to be agreed in November.

Sally Fullwood
Belstone Parish Clerk