Minutes of WHFC meeting via Zoom 7th October 2020
Present Julia Scarth-Chair, Sarah Mardle-Secretary, Roger Hancock-Treasurer, Doug Robinson, Sarah Chambers, Charlie Chambers, Chloe Parish, Ed Danson, Paul Cannon
1: Apologies for absence. Sue Lee (Sandy Witter who is thinking of joining the Cttee)
Parish Councillors Ed Danson & Paul Cannon attended the meeting. Julia thanked the councillors for all the work they do for the village & thanked the Parish Council clerk for her Weekly Info Harvests, which were extremely useful.
2. Minutes of last meeting 19th August 2020 were agreed and signed & will be posted on Wookey Hole Website
3: Treasurers Report - Roger
Roger reported that the current bank balance is £1685 (£520 being held for Parish council grant)
Sarah M reported that the closing balance after the LWTST was £1720.
Julia Scarth was reimbursed £35 for flowers sent to a resident on behalf of the residents forum.
It was unanimously resolved that Sarah Chambers would replace Roger Hancock as Treasurer.
4: Neighbourhood Plan - Julia
Julia has left a message for Tony Hathaway, the Parish Councillor dealing with the Neighbourhood Plan. Julia will ask him if he needs any information about Wookey Hole.
Ed Danson reported that the Government white paper is being written for future plans (there are 3 of them) & the Neighbourhood Plan is on the back burner. The bare bones of the N.P. needs to be done & Tony Hathaway, Ian Humphreys & Marcel Hayden will be working on it. Ed Danson is responding to White Papers.
5: Road working group.
Sarah C, Julia & Roger met with Mike Pullen & walked through the village highlighting the traffic problems. It was a busy Saturday morning so the issues were obvious.
Mike Pullen said that a 20mph speed limit through the village would not be feasible because we didn't have a school in the village, he also said SIP (Solar Indicator Panel) speed signs would be our best option. Also virtual pavements, with different coloured tarmac for pedestrian areas might be an idea. We may be able to create a footpath running along the edge of the allotments, from the pink cottage to Glencot Lane, the allotment committee would need to be approached. Sarah C to get cost of SIP's from Mike Pullen. Maybe the caves or the Parish Council could fund these.
Paul Cannon reported that a considerable amount of traffic going to the caves is directed (by satnavs) down Tynings Lane & then Milton Lane. He felt it would be good to put a single track sign at the top of Tynings Lane & another sign directing traffic via Ash Lane to the caves. Roger suggested a no entry sign at the village end of Glencot lane & also a single track sign.
It was suggested that Active Speed Watch should be re started.
Ed Danson said he would find examples of other villages that have no school but have a 20mph speed limit. Ed also said he had been waiting for over 2.5 years for a traffic inspector from Somerset County Council to come to the village, he said we need to compile a list of safety issues & then we may get a response.
All safety issues to be reported to Julia & she will pass them on to Ed Danson.
6: Lockdown experiences publication
Chloe to compile an email to send out asking for residents experiences.
7: Trout Bend Footpath
Discussions took place regarding the fenced off rubbish dump that blocks the footpath leading to Trouts Bend. It was felt that to protect this well used path, we should make an application for it to be recognised as a footpath. We need a volunteer to take this on. It would involve requesting residents to provide witness statements to declare that they had regularly used it & for how long. If enough people have used it for the last 20 year we have ground to make it a recognised footpath.
Sarah C said she would compile a mailing to be sent out to the WHRF mailing list to try & get a working party created. The law is changing in 2026 & if a path is not on a definitive map, it will not be recognised as a footpath.
Julia to speak to Les Cloutman to see if he is interested in leading the working party.
8: Renewal of website domain name & hosting
John Grange has been doing the domain name & hosting. Julia to ask him if he still is.
Sarah M to see if she can get stats on how the web site is used.
9: New Committee Members
Julia reported that we have 2 or 3 spaces available.
11: Future Events
Bring & Share supper is usually held in Jan. This is unlikely to be held in the ususal way. Julia suggested that we organise dinner parties for 6 in several houses. More discussion at next meeting.
12: Next meeting via Zoom 9th December 7.30pm, No AGM will be planned, we will discuss further at next meeting.
13: AOB
The Arm Chair field is under threat again, an appeal has been registered with Mendip Council about the rejection of the planning application. Ivor Tetley is trying to get as many residents involved as possible to try & ensure that the appeal gets rejected. He has requested that we email out a flyer asking for people to be involved in an Objectors Group. It was agreed that we should email this out to residents.
The Church recently had a Harvest Festival, a collection was done & they received lots of donations.
It was suggested that the Forum contact the food bank each month & ask what they are short of & email the info to residents. All donations could be left in the church porch. This could be done until the end of the year.
Items currently most needed are; tins of meat, nappies, tampons etc. They do not need anymore pasta as have too much. Julia to speak to Sandy Witter to arrange this.