Minutes of the Winterborne Zelston Village Meeting held on Tuesday 11th May 2021
This meeting was conducted by video conference, commencing 7.00pm
Chair: Cllr Ross Jessopp
Present: Cllrs Ron Sorrell and Bill Newman
8 members of the public were also present.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Rita Burden.
2. Minutes of the last meeting held on the 9th April 2019
It was noted that the minutes from the last meeting in 2019 were not available on the website. The Clerk read the minutes. This will be corrected. It was proposed that the minutes are accepted with a caveat that the reports need to be published. Di Lewis proposed that the minutes are accepted. This was seconded by Ron Sorrell.
3. Matters arising
Road signage – Cllr Newman reported that he had met with Highways and had agreed a sign. Highways were to come back with a detailed picture of the sign – this was 2 years ago. The sign will be positioned at the T junction so traffic coming down from the A31 would see it. To the left it will say A31 and pointing forward it would say local traffic only. Regarding the exit to the west, it is not possible to block this off as it is a joint responsibility of Highways and Highways England.
This will be taken to the Parish Council meeting in order to try to move the matter forward. Bill will pass the Officer’s details and a picture of the proposed sign to the Clerk.
4. Parish Council Chairman’s Report
Cllr Jessopp read out his report, A copy is available on the Parish Council website.
5. Village Updates
Floodwatch – Andy Meadon – Thanks are extended to Andy for organising the team. The river is as clear as it has ever been. The next work party will be Saturday 18th September. Andy will contact Henry Quinnie regarding the on-going silt problem. Ron Sorrell – there was concern about the river being blocked by a lot of weed 2 years ago. This year it is running well so there does not seem to be a problem. Andy wanted to contact the EA to make sure the work being undertaken was correct and some guidance would be appreciated. Di Lewis noted that, although the river has flowed well, there seems to have been an exceptional growth of weed. This could come back to the perennial problem of an excess of nutrients in the water. The EA were going to be looking into this but, to date, nothing has been forthcoming. This could be raised with Henry Quinney as well.
Homewatch – Di Lewis – Neighbourhood Watch emails continue to alert us to crime issues locally and nationally. We are kept informed of initiatives to help reduce criminal incidents locally such as prevention of theft of catalytic converters. Online fraud is another area where the reported incidents seem to increase year on year – smishing (text scams) and phishing (email scams). If you receive a suspect text or email it should be sent directly to Action Fraud, TEXT – 7726, Email – report@phiishing.gov.uk. Alternatively, the online contact can be used or ‘phone 0300 1232040.
Village Hall – Di Lewis – It is hard to believe that the last event we held in the Village Hall was Burns Night on January 25th, 2020. We took the decision to shut the Hall down during the pandemic, reopening our doors on May 6th as the Polling station. The Hall will be fully open from June 21st.
While the Hall has been closed, the new heating system kept the Hall well aired and free from damp. We did not hold an AGM in 2020 but luckily all the trustees continued in their roles for another year. We were fortunate enough to qualify for a £10,000 grant from Dorset Council from the Covid Monies which will allow us to consider some major projects such as the hot water system. Looking forward we are planning a reopening event on June 25th and the AGM is to be held on July 29th.
Footpaths – No report available.
Bridleways – Bonnie Randall – Due to Covid the bridleways have been busier than normal. This has caused issues with dogs, but nothing to report on the bridleways.
6. Community Governance Review – To review the results of the ballot and consider the next step
The results from the ballot were; 137 voting slips were put out – 66 residents responded, giving a turnout of 48%; 34 in favour, 32 against. The next stage is to take the results of the vote back to the Parish Council who will then decide whether they put the request forward to Dorset Council.
Di Lewis – would like to continue to go ahead with the split. It is a once in a lifetime vote.
Bill Newman – for such a fundamental change, we need to reflect on the numbers. The result is in favour of splitting so we must put this to Dorset Council.
A request was made that, once the village hall is open, could a drop-in session be held to allow residents who missed the vote, to have their say. However, Dorset Council will put all requests out for public consultation from August to December. So those who did not respond on this occasion will have the opportunity to do so later.
Caroline proposed this goes forward to the Parish Council in July requesting that it is submitted to Dorset Council that Winterborne Zelston would like to split from the Group Parish Council with a view to setting up their own Parish Meeting. This was seconded by Andy Meaton and agreed unanimously.
7. Roads, grass and the Laurels
Cllr Newman full report is located in Appendix A at the end of the minutes.
It was reported that, recently, there have been cars parked on the grass on the other side of the road. Were we to put boulders on the green, it will move parking problems to elsewhere in the village. Residents have said they would like ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs. Bill suggested putting the stones down and, if they do not work or there are continuing complaints, he would be happy to remove them and cover the cost.
If stones are put down the tractors may well drive over the other stretch of grass in order to navigate the corner. Parking in the village is a problem. The stones may solve the problem in one location but create a problem elsewhere. Perhaps an alternative would be to widen the road. However, were Highways to agree to this, it is likely that the Parish Council would have to bear the cost which would be exorbitant.
Alan – two issues; driving on the grass and parking in the village. The latter is going to be compounded shortly by the closing of the village car park. That car park is used regularly by walkers so they will need somewhere else to park. It was noted that the car park is private land, it is not owned by the village hall. The village hall rents the car park for a peppercorn rent on the understanding that it is only used for village hall events. This is currently being flouted regularly so it will be gated or restricted in some way.
Of all the villagers contacted, the majority were in favour of the stones being installed.
8. Internet access – an update
Wessex Internet are currently 20 short of the number of households they need to make the initiative viable.
9. Open Forum
Di Lewis – possible suggestions for consideration:
– River Stour notice board is in a terrible state, and you can no longer read the information that is on the notice board. We need to consider what we are gong to do with the notice board – a suggestion has been made to put a footpath and bridleway path map there.
– At the last Best Kept Village in 2019, Burton Bradstock Parish Council had a working group from the village that tackled jobs that needed doing on behalf of the church, village hall, and parish. Anything could be done in house was carried out by this group of volunteers. Di will contact Burton Bradstock to find out how the group works.
– Ron and Bill have put in a great deal of work this year but there are a lot of people who would help them and share some of the load if only they were asked. There is support there for them.
– We need to address communication – there are those who do not have emails or are not the WhatsApp group.
Meeting closed 20:37pm
Appendix A
Lower Winterborne Parish Council Report – May 2021
The laurels
The inner part of the copse was thinned out 2 years ago and it is not proposed to tackle the exterior until the growth in the interior is more established. It needs a small amount of tidying up, which can be carried out during the village clean up in the autumn. However, should the undergrowth cause a problem in the meantime, this can be addressed if required.
Roads
We recently contacted Highways regarding the parlous state of the Street requesting that they should re-surface the road in the same way as they did with the road down from the Botany bay. They have not responded except for filling in the largest potholes. We will continue to push for a resurface.
We have requested that the Highways Agency attend a meeting with the Parish Council to discuss the work on the A31 and its ongoing overnight closures, which now seem to be a regular occurrence. To date they have not responded.
Verges and Grass cutting
I would firstly like to thank Bill Northey for his continuing efforts in the grass cutting in the village, to make the common parts look as good as it does. I think the grass looks as good as it has ever been.
However it is not without its challenges –
Over the past year, the number of delivery vans driving through the village has increased enormously. The upside has been it has become a lifeline for many of us during the lockdowns and restrictions. The downside has been the considerable damage caused to the grass and verges by these vans ploughing through the grass and creating deep furrows.
I was approached by Bill Northey, who cuts the grass in the village, as he wanted to put stones along the verge at the church end of the village, in order to stop cars parking on the grass, and to protect the verges. He has been spending a considerable amount of time repairing the verges and filling the deep furrows caused. He was quite happy to put the stones down and strim around them when cutting the grass. The area would run from the Village Cross to the bridge at the Church end.
I thought his proposal had its merits but considered this to be a Parish Council matter and should be funded by the Council through the grass cutting budget, rather than individually funded. The residents who live in the immediate area proposed were then consulted – All thought this would be good idea. The cost would be in the region of £300.00., but we need to ensure there is no public lisability issues- clarification is currently being sought.
Subsequently I have consulted with a total of 28 residences, within the village, through the village WhatsAp Group and those residents who I have seen during my daily walks through the village. Due to Covid restrictions it has not been possible to reach everyone. To date only one reservation has been received, although I am aware of 2 others who object to this idea. However the vast majority have no objection to the idea.
From my discussions with residents It is clear something has to be done, and whilst notices to stay of the grass will help prevent cars from parking they are unlikely to deter the vans from driving on the grass to avoid oncoming vehicles. Bill Northey’s proposals will save him a considerable amount of work and inconvenience.
The stones proposed will be large Rockery Boulders, similar to the one situated by the bridge opposite Bridge Cottage. They will be sourced from one of the quarries in Swanage and therefore be of local stone.