Minutes of monthly Council meeting held on Thursday 14^th April 2022 in a ZOOM format.

Present                  Councillors: Martin Cox, Gareth Evans, Robert Fisher, Sheila Fisher

Apologies:             Cllr. David Lewis and Cllr. Gareth Jones

In Attendance       Mr. Barry Stubbings – Clerk;

1. Declarations of Interest      Cllr. Robert Fisher in respect of planning applications 2022/0699 and 2022/0779.

•  Minutes                 Proposed by Councillor Martin Cox, and seconded by Councillor Sheila Fisher that the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th February 2022 be accepted and this proposal was agreed by all.

• .Ongoing Matters in Consideration

• Traffic Speed at Scurlage – Clerk confirmed that he had written to City Cllr Lewis expressing the views of PECC on the survey findings and to request an urgent meeting with Officers of City Council to review measures that could be taken to reduce vehicle speed. No response..
• Scurlage Green – Noted that several of the timber posts need replacing. Cllr. Robert Fisher to check on number of posts required.
• Traffic Speed on Port Eynon Hill – Clerk had written to City Cllr. Richard Lewis, requesting assistance. No response.
• Flood lights at Port Eynon – to be raised with Community Police Officer.
• Plastic Free Village – Agreed that approaches should be made to create a plastics free village in Port Eynon. City Cllr. Richard Lewis was making enquiries to identify appropriate City Council Officer. No response.
• Village Green, Port Eynon –Draft submission prepared and approved by Council. Clerk has made the submission..
• Llanddewi Village Hall – Advice has been received that there is a Management Committee. Cllr. Fisher had visited the Hall in company of Mr. Robert James and assessed the present condition which he found to be poor but structurally sound. Agreed that Clerk should write to present Trustees seeking to appoint Council embers as new Trustees following which Council would be in apposition to take positive action. Clerk advised that he had received a request to hold a regular produce market at the hall.
• Police Community Officer – to attend once meetings resume at Knelston School.
• First Response Unit –Clerk advised that he had received no response from either the Senydd Member or, Member of Parliament. Noted that the Council’s contribution to the funding appeal was in the form of a grant conditional on the service being established. No response to date.
• Defibrillators – Three of the original five units have now been serviced and re-established. Fourth unit was yet to be serviced and the fifth unit sited at Knelston garage had apparently been stolen.  Receipt of external cabinets for the newly purchased units was still awaited.

• Finance

Nothing to report.

• Planning  

Clerk confirmed that he had circulated notice of recent applications and decisions.

• APPLICATIONS PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED. (None)

2022/0012 FUL. The Green, Overton Lane – Proposed two storey side extension.

Overall, Council was of the opinion that this application should be refused, and a side extension should only be permitted if it is of substantially smaller proportions.

Application was approved with conditions.

2022/0309 PRE. Milan House, Overton Lane – Single storey side extension and dormer roof additions.

Overall, Council was of the opinion that this application for a side extension as indicated could be approved but the proposal for extensive modification of the roof to the main house incorporating dormers and balconies should not be permitted.

Application was refused.

• NEW APPLICATIONS

2022/0799/PRE – Briarwood Caravan Park, Knelston

Creation of an additional site for a static caravan & provision of a new office static craavn to serve as an office building.

Council considered the application and noted that both parts were part of the existing layout for this caravan park and as such there were no adverse opinions.

2022/0699/PRE – The Old Pharmacy, Monksland Road Scurlage.

First floor extension and conversion to residential accommodation.

Council considered the application and were of the opinion that conversion of the existing commercial premises to residential use was appropriate to the neighbourhood and an improvement to the present usage. Overall there were no adverse opinions.

• Highways, Footpaths and Environment

No considerations.

• Correspondence

No considerations

• Communications, Notice Boards, Etc

Purchase of new board for Port Eynon deferred pending receipt of next Precept payment.

• Village Halls

No new issues were raised for Port Eynon Hall.

Llandewi Hall – see Matters Arising above.

1. Knelston Burial Ground.

Clerk advised that following notice from Mr. Rhodri Lloyd that he would not be continuing his services there was a need to find a new gardener. He had the name of a jobbing gardener and would contact him.

1. Port Eynon Sea-Front Improvements

No further communications had been received.

1. Any Other Business

Stouthall, Knelston it was noted that a new gate had been placed in the fence along the A4118. Clerk noted that this was beyond the parish boundary and should be considered by Reynoldston ComCo.

Clerk advised that he had received a complaint via the web site link as to the condition of the lane to the youth hostel. Clerk to once again write to C & CS

Similar complaint had been received concerning the state of the car parking area at the rear of Morfa House and the use of it by persons calling at the Ship Inn, which resulted in the lane to Horton becoming inaccessible.

Next meeting –  Monday 30^th May 2022, 7 pm, at Knelston School, Clerk to confirm arrangements.

There being no further business to discuss the Chair thanked all in attendance and the meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.

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Barry Stubbings (Clerk)                                                                                                       Robert Fisher (Chair)

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on

 Monday 24^th May 2021 in a Virtual Format.

The meeting commenced at 7:00 pm.

Present:                                 Cllr. M. Cox; Cllr. G. Evans; Cllr. R. Fisher, Cllr. S. Fisher; Cllr. D. Lewis

In attendance:                     Mr. B. Stubbings (Clerk)

Apologies for Absence:,  Cllr. G. Jones

Chair person:                      Cllr. R. Fisher took the Chair.

 1.            Minutes of Last Annual General Meeting:

It was noted that there was no Annual General Meeting held in 2020 due to restrictions arising from the Covid pandemic. The minutes of the AGM held on 21^st May 2019 had been circulated prior to the meeting and no comments had been received. Cllr. M. Cox proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true record, the proposal was seconded by Cllr. S. Fisher and agreed by all. The minutes were signed by the chairman.

2.             Election of Chairperson.

Cllr. M. Cox proposed that Cllr. Robert Fisher be re-elected as Chairperson for the forthcoming year. The proposal was seconded by Cllr. D. Lewis. There being no other proposals and the meeting duly elected Cllr. R. Fisher by unanimity.

3.             Election of Vice Chairperson.

Cllr. D. Lewis proposed that Cllr. G. Evans be re-elected as Vice-Chairperson for the forthcoming year. The proposal was seconded by Cllr. S. Fisher. There being no other proposals the meeting duly elected Cllr. Evans by unanimity.

5.             Chairman’s Report

Cllr. R. Fisher presented a report of activities during the past year:

Following what has been an extremely different year than normal I am able to report that although most of the country was on furlough, we as a community council we were all able to continue on with our responsibilities as community councillors. As with most other community councils we had our meetings via zoom, although some struggled to get to grips with the technology we did manage to continue to function as a community council.

Unfortunately, during the year, the Council lost the services of Mr. Steve Young and we continue to look for persons to join the Council particularly from the communities of Knelston and Port Eynon.

Acting on behalf of the community we managed to organise some new benches for Scurlage Green, which we are now waiting for the contractor to arrange for them to fixed into place.

Each year we organise in conjunction with Swansea City Council, to have some flower beds seeded with natural wild-flowers, and the City Council have recently treated the areas and seeded the ground.

The Knelston Church Burial ground continues to be assisted with donations from the community council and is always well maintained.

We arranged for the rough grass and brambled covered area in front of the chip shop on Port Eynon frontage to get a yearly tidy up to make it more presentable, and safe.

The community council has previously assisted Knelston School each year with donations to help in purchasing items that will assist the children’s development, unfortunately the school was closed for most of last year, so we were unable to help, but this coming year we intend to help the school financially once again with support towards equipment for the outdoor learning environment.

We continue to ask the City council to look into many matters on a regular basis and the following are some examples:

Vehicle speeding through Scurlage. The City Council have responded and carried out a traffic speed survey and agreed that vehicles were on occasions exceeding the prescribed speed limit. It is intended to have further dialogue with the City Council to see what they can implement to help reduce the traffic speed through Scurlage.

Unauthorised and random road-side signage.

Drainage issues in Scurlage.

The state of the roads and the number of pot holes.

Ash tree die back which is going to affect many areas in our community council.

The dire state of port Eynon Beach, and the sea frontage.

As a community council we have a seat on the Port Eynon Village Hall Management Committee. And for the past years it is I who has been representing the Community Council at the committee. However, the hall has been little used due to the covid pandemic but will start to reopen soon and re-commence indoor activities. The Port Eynon Village Hall is self -funded and run by the committee for the benefit of the residents of Port Eynon and Scurlage, The community Council has regularly supported the Village Hall on various matters, and will continue to do so in the future where we can.

As a Community Council we have the opportunity to comment on planning matters however, we sometimes wonder if our views are taken into account when planning decisions are reached.

We have had the usual ongoing planning matters covering both domestic and commercial developments and will raise any comments that the public have on planning applications if brought to our attention.

However the biggest issue at present that the community council are dealing with under  planning, is the proposed redevelopment of Port Eynon Car park and associated public areas.

There has been much discussion and many letters protesting against the proposed development in any of its forms, however it must be said that there have been a few in support of some form development.

The proposed development, if taken in its entirety, will fundamentally change the small sea side village of Port Eynon forever.

We as a Community Council feel that there is much to do with regard to making good what we have in Port Eynon before venturing off to carry out some new re-development that many feel is out of character and will over dominate the village.

We have yet to receive a response from the Architects working on behalf of the City Council to the recent meeting and to the letters of opposition that have sent to the architects and to others on the steering group.

We hope however, that in the end the City Council will listen to the wishes of the local residents, and if they have to have a scheme, then it is something that is sympathetic in nature and style to the village.

As we all start to venture into the ‘new normal’ we all hope that as a Community Council we can help the community in as many ways as we are able.

Thank you.

                Cllr. G. Evans proposed that the Chairman’s report be accepted with thanks to Cllr. R. Fisher for all the time and hard work he has devoted to the Community Council in the past year. This proposition was seconded by Cllr. S. Fisher and accepted by all.

6.             Financial Report:              

Clerk advised that the year-end bank balances were as follows:

Current Account                                 £7,553.15                             

Savings Account                                 £5,268.61

                                Knelston Burial Ground Account     £435.00

The Clerk provided a brief review of expenditure throughout the year and presented a budget for the forthcoming year. After discussion it was agreed that donations towards maintenance of the three churchyards should be set at £300 each for the coming year, and that the Clerk’s remuneration should be £2,000 per annum.

Cllr. Evans proposed that the budget of £6,990 for 2021-2022 be accepted and that the precept application be £6,000. This proposal was seconded by Cllr. S. Fisher and approved unanimously.

Council agreed that Mr Stephen Heard should again be requested to act as Internal Auditor.

6.             Code of Conduct

The Clerk advised that there were no changes to the Council Code of Conduct and all members re-affirmed their acceptance thereof.

7              Standing Orders

• The clerk advised that there were no proposed changes to the current Standing Orders, and they were adopted accordingly.
• It was confirmed that the regular monthly meetings of the Council continue to be held on the third Monday of each month at Knelston Primary school, commencing at 7:00 p.m..

8              Register of Members Interests

All Councillors confirmed that they had no real or material interests in the business of the Community Council.

9              Committees

• It was unanimously agreed, in the absence of any counter proposals, that Cllr. R. Fisher should continue to represent the Council at the Port Eynon Village Hall Management Committee.
• It was unanimously agreed, in the absence of any counter proposals, that Cllr. S. Fisher should continue to liaise with Knelston School.
• It was unanimously agreed that Cllr. R. Fisher should represent the Council on the Management Trust for Knelston Chapel Burial Ground, noting that the Clerk also was in attendance to this Trust.

10           Date of Next Meeting – was provisionally set as Monday 16^th May 2022 at Knelston Primary School.

The meeting closed at 7:30 pm.

B. J. Stubbings, (Clerk)                                                                                       R. Fisher Chairperson