RIVER YEALM & DISTRICT ASSOCIATION.

Registered Charity Number 262929

 

MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE RYDA.

Held at FIRSLEA on Friday 16th November 2007 at 7.30 pm

 

1.                  APOLOGIES.

 

All members of the Committee were present. This was an unusual meeting in that, in addition to the normal business of the committee, Bill and Caroline Taylor had laid on a delicious supper to say farewell to Janet Martin, who had left the committee after the previous meeting on moving to Totnes. After a presentation to Janet Martin of a portrait of herself by Eric Rodmell, the Chairman welcomed Kate Wood back on to the committee, having served previously on the committee some years ago.

 

2.         THE MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING DATED 5th September 2007 were approved.

 

3.         CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:-

     

·                     Village Benches for Noss Green  - The Chairman asked CB to give the meeting an update on progress:

 

Photographs of the five benches, now installed at Noss Green, were circulated and CB briefed the meeting on the installation of Plaques that would state “Presented to Newton & Noss by the RYDA and the Revelstoke Trust – 2007.” These would be in place shortly.

 

The committee discussed a possible way forward for further benches in Newton Ferrers to add to the Bench already transferred from Noss Green to make way for the five new benches there. It was agreed that this subject would be re-visited in 2008. 

 

In addition, there was some discussion about the need for a waste bin of some sort close to the two seats adjacent to the entrance to Noss Green.  This was felt to be necessary since litter tended to be thrown on the ground making what was a real village asset much less attractive. The Chairman undertook to discuss this with the appropriate department at the SHDC and report back.

 

·                     The Village Directory.            There was now a need for a simple “Addendum” to be added to those Directories awaiting sale. This addendum would merely list all the amendments since publication and could be kept up-to-date quite easily with the various monthly changes published in the Parish Magazine. The Chairman had asked the Editor to prepare such an addendum. He would then insert these into those Directories awaiting sale at the village outlets. It was hoped that this could be arranged quite quickly.

 

·                     Affordable Housing.   The Chairman briefed the committee on the present state of play. The action had long since moved to the NNPC and the SHDC and negotiations were currently underway to try and find a way of building at least a small group of houses on one of the recommended sites identified in the earlier Community Housing Working Group Study.

 

There had been a most successful seminar in Noss Village Hall on the 2nd November. The Rural Housing Trust, together with officials from the SHDC, had presented the full range of options for “Affordable Housing” to an audience composed of Parish Councillors from across the South Hams. HRH The Princess  Royal had contributed to the debate and all present agreed that this had been a most useful meeting for all concerned.

 

·                     Brookings Down Wood.         The Chairman had been alerted to the need for the Woodland Trust to be informed of the current members of this committee who were, by definition, trustees. He would now submit to the Woodland Trust a new “Schedule 4” for inclusion in the lease.

 

·                     Possible gift or bequest.         The Chairman was expecting to meet the prospective donor, mentioned at the last meeting, in December and would report back to the committee.

 

·                     The Newton Ferrers Post Office.  The Chairman circulated a short brief on the current state of play as seen by Postwatch.

 

·                     The RYDA Notice Boards.    After many years, Ken Davenport had decided that he could no longer carry out the occasional maintenance of these notice boards. In a brief discussion, it was agreed that the Chairman should approach Mr John Leonard to see whether he would be happy to undertake this work in future.  John would be happy to do so and will conduct a survey as to what needs to be done shortly. The Chairman would write to Ken Davenport on behalf of the committee expressing our gratitude for all his work in the past.

 

4.                  TREASURER & MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’s REPORT.

·                     AL briefed the Committee on the present healthy situation. The RYDA had some £1,400 in the current account and £1,400 on deposit. We had yet to pay for the five benches but the Association was currently adequately funded.

 

·                     Insofar as the Village Directory was concerned, business had slowed after the initial brisk run of sales and AL had recently topped up the holdings of both the Chemist and the Post Office. Marchand Petit and Bettisons also held these directories and were useful outlets for sales.

 

 

5.         PLANNING REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT. 

·                     RC briefed the Committee on all outstanding local Planning Applications.

 

·                     The Chairman then mentioned that he had been approached to see whether there was any way we could assist in controlling the type and size of houses being converted/replaced in the two villages. In a wide-ranging discussion it was felt that since we had already gone through the process of a “Village Design Statement”, had recently had a “Conservation Appraisal” and had access to all planning applications, there were few “Practical” ways in which such an outcome could be managed except on a case-by-case basis.

 

·                     The committee felt that, since the SHDC did not feel bound in any way by Village Design Statements and because Newton and Noss had no “Singular defining type of architecture” such as might be found in a Cotswold Village, it would not be practical to try and insert some special conditions into the LDF.  The dangers of  “The Salcombe Effect”; that of hollowing out parts of the village by converting small cottages into large and often unoccupied houses was recognised but best approached by challenging the individual planning applications.

 

  1.            ANY OTHER BUSINESS.     

 

The Committee.   The Chairman reminded the committee that, whilst he would be happy to retain the role of Secretary of the RYDA for 2008, he would need to be relieved by someone else after the AGM in 2009.

 

Before moving to discuss the timetable in the run up to next year’s AGM, the Chairman, on behalf of the whole committee, thanked Bill and Caroline Taylor for all their hospitality and wished Janet Martin well for the future.

 

  1. DATES OF NEXT MEETINGS. 

 

The Chairman volunteered to host the next meeting at Anchor House. This would be held at 7.30 pm on Friday 11th January. There would be no meeting in December in the run up to Christmas .

 

In further discussion the Chairman mentioned that he has already taken the precaution of booking Noss Village Hall for the AGM at 7.30 on Wednesday April 9th 2008. He had done this in order to avoid a clash of dates with the NNPC and the RYHA. A notice to this effect would go into the Parish Magazine.

 

There would need to be a further meeting to discuss the AGM Newsletter and to coordinate the distribution of the Calling Notice for the AGM. This would take place at 7.30 on Friday 7th March 2008.

 

 

There being no further business the meeting was concluded at 1015 pm

 

 

Robin Hogg. Chairman. 17th November 2007.