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MINUTES OF THE WEST DOWN ANNUAL PARISH MEETING

HELD AT WEST DOWN PARISH HALL ON 5th MAY 2010

Present: Cllr A Hewitt (Chairman), CCllr A Davis, DCllr M Wilkinson, Cllrs S Squire, J Volley and E Wright.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.00pm by welcoming the members of the public present and with apologies being received from DCllr P Barker, PC M Kirk, PCSO V Gordo and Cllr D Spear. He then invited questions from the public.

1.     Mr David Ayre spoke on three subjects:

     a.   He welcomed the completion of the car park in the village.

      b.   He was concerned for the finances of both the Parish Hall and the PCC with North Devon Council withdrawing their Parish Grant next year.

      c.   He thanked the Parish Council for what they have done over the last year.

The Chairman responded :-

a. He thanked Mr Ayre for the recognition and appreciation of what the Parish Council achieves. He was however very worried that with the potential retirement of present Cllrs. and if no more people come forward to become Parish Councillors for the Election next year, then the resultant Parish Council may not be quorate, with the future potential for its annexation by an adjacent Parish such as Ilfracombe.

He suggested that it was most important, well before next May, to publicise the implications of the potential situation to Parishioners, hopefully to ensure that enough members will result in order that the Council will continue to serve the public.

b. Funding from Central Government is not as good in North Devon as it is in Urban areas and the future loss of the Parish Grant from North Devon Council is just one of a number of pending fiscal cutbacks. The loss of the grant will probably have to be offset by a raise in Precept to be able to continue to support the Parish Hall and the PCC.
The Chair recognised, and appreciated that a great deal of voluntary work already takes place within these organisations and encouraged even more self help if present standards are to be maintained.

c.   At last the car park has been completed but already there has been a complaint that children are using the area for skateboarding.

                             

There being no further business, the Chairman thanked all those present for their regular attendance at Parish Council meetings throughout the year, and closed the meeting at 7.25pm.