IPPLEPEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held at Ipplepen Millennium Centre
On Tuesday 7th January 2025 at 7.15pm
The following minutes will be considered for approval at the next Parish Council Meeting and may be subject to change until that time
In attendance:
Coun.Carnell (Vice Chair) Coun.Rattlidge
Coun.Farrow Coun.Latter
Coun.Burnham Coun.Ranjit
Coun.Smith Coun.Mrs.Calland
Miss Cat Freston – Parish Clerk
Coun.Dewhirst – County Councillor
Two Members of the public present
Coun.Carnell welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2025.
Sad news was reported that Mary Quick who was a regular Parishioner who attended the Parish Council meetings, has sadly passed away. The Parish Council send their Condolences to Mary’s family.
127) APOLOGIES – Coun.Palethorpe (Chairman), Coun.Jerwood (Apologies approved unanimously)
128) DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – No declarations of Interest.
129) MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 3rd December 2024, were approved and signed by the Chairman.
130) PUBLIC QUESTION TIME – No Comments
131) CORRESPONDENCE AND OUTSIDE BODIES – Parish Clerk
- A Parishioner emailed asking about a vehicle that has been parked on Foredown Road for over a year without moving and has a flat tyre. The vehicle is taxed but has not MOT. It was reported to TDC as an abandon vehicle but as the vehicle is Taxed they are unable to remove it. It was then passed to the Police who confirmed the vehicle was insured and were unable to do anything as this time.
- TDC Green Business Grant – The Parish Council submitted an application for Solar Panels on the Millennium Centre. The Parish Council have been successful in obtaining a £10,000 grant towards the Solar Panels.
132) DISTRICT & COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
No District Council report
David Palethorpe – Cllr for Ipplepen – Teignbridge District Council
County Report – Coun.Dewhirst
There will be more money to provide care for Devon’s vulnerable adults and children in the county council’s target budget for 2025/26.
New figures show a proposed 8.2% increase in the revenue budget for adult services with a 5.5% rise in children’s services and 3.4% for climate change, environment and transport.
Reductions in other departmental spending means an overall rise of 5.9% in the budget for next year with a total spend of over £784.1 million.
Cabinet will discuss the details tomorrow with our full council set to debate the budget in February.
In a new report, Director of Finance, Angie Sinclair, says there has been a renewed drive across the council to cut costs. But she adds: “Inflationary pressures continue to be felt across the economy, local government and our partners, despite the rate of inflation reducing in the past two years from its peak.
“Social care is particularly impacted by increases to the national living wage which is again increased by above inflation and the increases to National Insurance announced in the Chancellor’s Budget.”
“This is reflected in the proposed target budgets with total investment of £31.9 million to cover inflation and national living wage plus £33.8 million to cover demand and other spending pressures and priorities. To enable the authority to set a balanced budget, savings, alternative funding and additional income of £21.7 million have been identified.
She says there are no plans to raid the council’s balances to boost spending.
“This reflects a strategy of ‘living within our means’ and as such to set service budgets that are affordable within anticipated income and funding totals for next year.”
Angie Sinclair will tell the Cabinet that the target budget includes the loss of £10.1 million in Government support to rural areas. The money is being re-directed to areas of deprivation and Devon will not receive any cash at all. It means Devon has the lowest settlement increase of any of the 21 county councils.
Devon has welcomed a record £83.6 million “early Christmas present” from the Government for road repairs.
The funding of £83,640,000 for Devon is the largest share of a record £1.6 billion investment announced by the Government on Friday 20th December to fill potholes and repair roads.
An extensive repair programme using this latest funding will be compiled over the next couple of months to help tackle the highway maintenance backlog on Devon’s 11,000km road network, which is currently in excess of £200 million. The funding will be used to prioritise extensive surfacing, patching and other preventative maintenance, as well as drainage improvements.
We’ve already embarked on a recovery programme of patching and surfacing through our own £12 million investment earlier this year. The benefit from that work is already being felt and since April, more than 55,000 square metres of road have been patched at around 790 sites across the county. These repairs have targeted sections of road which are deteriorating, patching areas before potholes form.
Alistair Dewhirst – alistair.dewhirst@devon.gov.uk
133) BLACKSTONE CROSS
LVA/3 West will be submitting plans to Teignbridge District Council Planning around Easter time.
134) PLANNING – Coun.Farrow
A member of the public spoke about Blackberry Hill as he moved there in November 2024. They are interested in building houses i.e custom builds etc. If you are interested please contact Simon Brown at simon@landstory.co
To consider the following planning applications:
To consider the following planning applications:
24/01850/FUL – Change of use from agriculture/forestry to forest school, forest school activities in the woodland at Dainton Copse, Holman Hill.
Comment: Coun.Farrow proposed that Ipplepen Parish Council have no objection to this application in principle, however are concerned with the following
- what appears to be a lack of a defined parking area within the site.
- Should the Forest School cease trading, then the land is returned back to it’s original use as Agricultural/Forestry use. Seconded by Coun.Mrs.Calland (All unanimous).
24/01964/HOU – Proposed porch and single storey side extension, with dormer windows to both the front and rear elevations at 2, Dornafield Drive West.
Comment: Coun.Farrow proposed that Ipplepen Parish Council have no objection to this application, Seconded by Coun.Mrs.Calland (All unanimous).
24/02067/CAN – Remove Holly tree at 3 Wesley Terrace, East Street.
Comment: Coun.Farrow proposed that Ipplepen Parish Council have no objection to this application, providing there is a more suitable replacement tree planted. Seconded by Coun.Rattlidge (All unanimous).
135) AMENITIES – Coun.Carnell
The Minutes of the Amenities meeting held on 10th December 2024, were approved and taken as read.
- Clampitt Road toilets refurbishment is now complete.
- Cladding on Recreation Ground toilets is still ongoing.
- Play Park Equipment requiring work/replacement will be inspected and quotes will be obtained.
- Solar Panels for the Millennium Centre – The Parish Council have been awarded a grant of £10,000 towards the Solar Panels. Works need to be completed by 28th February 2025.
- Part-time Lengthmans – The Council have put £1,500 in the Precept for any works that need be done.
- IpplePlanet – They have been invited to attend the Parish Council meeting in February.
- Work has started on the trees along the A381, removing dead trees and cutting back the hedge.
- Christmas Tree has been removed.
- The Bus Shelter by Caunters Close does not have any permanent seating. Coun.Carnell proposed to get some timber seating put in. Coun.Smith seconded (All unanimous) for the seating to go ahead.
136) SKATE PARK
Maverick Skate Parks have created a revised set of visuals on a reduced budget of £100k + VAT. It is a multi-use modern wheeled facility tailored to the local community. The Parish Council will apply for match funding. £50k from the Parish Council and £50k from funding. Coun.Rattlidge proposed we accept the proposal, seconded by Coun.Mrs.Calland. (All unanimous). Action – Parish Clerk to contact Maverick to request a formal quote.
137) FINANCE & PERSONNEL – Parish Clerk
Balance No. £ 24,577.46
MCMC – Reimbursement for electricity £ 40.85
Mill Centre – Rent £ 110.00
HMRC – VAT Refund £ 8,049.27
Football Club – Rent £ 150.00
Balance £ 32,927.58
Invoices Received and Approved: £ 19,714.80
Balance: £ 13,212.78
Reserve Account Balance £ 195,767.54
£ 208,980.32
Items to discuss: Nothing to discuss
138) KERSWELLA CARE
It was a little quieter for December as the last transport was on Monday 23rd.
Kerswella volunteer drivers completed 12 individual transport requests for 8 Ipplepen residents.
In total we had 15 requests form Ipplepen residents.
The Ipplepen drivers also completed 3 transport requests for residents of Denbury.
The total transport requests for December were 57 – there were 5 we could not complete due to cancellations or lack of volunteer drivers.
The Grief Café, hosted at the Hub, will continue into the New Year with Celebrant Charles Russell will taking over in February
The Digital Drop-In continues to be of interest. It was quieter than usual for December, we’ll see how it goes this year.
The Trailblazers trip to Endsleigh Garden Centre went well – we have a few more trips planned for later in the year. The first few months will be at the Hub and include talks by representatives from the Devon Air Ambulance and Blood Bikes.
There are also smaller “lunch” trips planned for Ipplepen residents for January -20th and 22nd both to the Royal Hotel in Babbacombe.
There has been no uptake on volunteer drivers for the Ipplepen area.
We are currently down two at the moment and so will struggle to maintain transport levels in Ipplepen for 2025 if this continues. There is no regular commitment required by the volunteers, they can do as much or as little as they want – we just need a few more.
139) APPROVE PRECEPT BUDGET FOR 2025/2026
The Finance Committee met to discuss the 2025/26 Precept Budget and Clerk’s Appraisal.
Rent Reviews
All the rents will remain the same for year 2025/26.
Salary Reviews
Clerk’s Appraisal – The Clerks salary will be increased to £21,200 (SCP 34) as from 1st April 2025. Any additional hours will be paid at the standard hourly rate. Once the National pay agreement has been received, the Clerks salary will be reviewed again.
General Admin
The Office hire has been increased from £1,500 to £1,750.
Amenities
The Grass Cutting has been increased from £5,000 to £5,500. The £9,000 for the Skate Park Project from 24/25 will be transferred into the Reserve Account bringing the total to £101,375.40.
Highways
The Lengthmans has been allocated £1,500.
Millennium Centre
£3,000 has been allocated for 25/26.
Conclusion
The Finance Chairman wishes to inform fellow councillors that the recommended Precept for 2025/26 stands at £74,380.00 All amounts that the Finance Committee have recommended are open to discussion.
RESOLUTION:
The Chairman of Finance, Coun.Smith proposed that the Precept Budget required from Teignbridge District Council for 2025/26 stands at £74,380.00, this was seconded by Coun.Mrs.Calland and agreed unanimously.
140) HIGHWAYS & RIGHTS OF WAY
- VASS has been ordered. Waiting for a quote to install the metal pole.
- Problem with drainage on Footpath 8, rear of Lucombe Close. Possibly a blocked drain. Coun.Smith is going to arrange to meet with DCC Highways.
- Rain coming out the drain gulley in Croft Road, Coun.Smith will report to DCC.
141) PUBLIC QUESTION TIME – No comments
142) To note the date of the next PC meeting: Tuesday 4th February 2025 at 7.15pm
Meeting Closed at 21.03pm
