Monday 14th July 2025 7:30 pm in Othery Village Hall

None

Cllrs Tizzard: Jennings: Selway: Atherton: Betty: Graham: Wright: Cllr Matt Martin: Gerard Tucker Chair of Aller Parish Council: Tim Lock on work experience with Ashley Fox learning about local government:

These will always be declared at the agenda item when appropriate.

Agreed as a true recordof the meeting.

Gerard Tucker addressed the Parish Council wearing several hats. Clerk of Aller ParishCouncil: Active Travel Group lead for the LCN: Pilgrim route historical group. Aller Parish Councilare pushing to have a safe cycle route to Bridgwater using Aller Drove, Glastonbury and theStrawberry Way as safe cycle routes are not just for towns. Aller Drove could be a “quiet lane” andhave suitable signs and the speed limit assessed. To this end he is talking to Somerset Council. Hepointed out that Aller Church is involved in the project mapping King Alfred’s journey throughSomerset. The travel plan consultation document which is up for consultation is considering a 30mph limit to Aller and the support from Aller Parish Council for Aller Drove to be a up for quiet lanestatus. He also conceded that the speed on Summerhedge also needs to be included. Cllr Jenningsasked is quiet lanes have to be 20 mph and the answer was No but the signage needs to be in place asthis is very important. It was proposed by Cllr Tizzard and seconded by Cllr Jennings that OtheryParish Council support this initiative and that Aller and Othery need to work together. This waspassed unanimously. Tim Lock spoke briefly about his desire to get involved in politics and that histime with Ashley Fox was very helpful and that he as already learning about the protocol at ParishCouncil meetings. Cllr Matt Martin outlined a few issues from his emailed update being the push forsolar panels on all new houses and an acknowledgement that SEND is a local and national problem.

Bench Seat on private land: No action can be taken by the ParishCouncil as the WI many years ago put the seat on the bank which is owned by the owner of theproperty above. Permission was obtained from the then owner of the property, but it is not knownif the present owner is aware of the situation. Either someone has a conversation with the owner ofthe property, or the name of the owner and address of the property is given to the Parish Clerk whowill write a letter.

Parish Council representative on the Othery Village Hallcommittee: Othery Village Hall is applying to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation(CIO), as part of their registration Othery Village Hall committee have asked the Parish Council if we would like to continue with a Councillor representative on the new committee. It was agreedunanimously that Cllr Wright would be that representative.

Alleged use of farm barn as industrial units: The Parish Councilhas no evidence that this information is correct and cannot without the informant’s name pass thatallegation onto the Somerset enforcement team.

No date has been given to the clerk regarding the inspection so theClerk would renew that request.

Need to review the charges in the Autumn to start in January2026: It was agreed to undertake this task at the September meeting and the Clerk would get datafrom local Cemeteries and Graveyards to give the Parish Council a guide. Access to the new partof the Cemetery from the old needs to be undertaken in the autumn.

Cllr Tizzard believes that the gullies might have been cleared outand he will have a look when he has the time. Cllr Wright informed the meeting the repair of LoadPool is already breaking up and again need attention. Also the white lines have not yet beencompleted after the resurfacing. Cllr Matt Martin would look into this and ask that the ParishCouncil minute be emailed to him. The overgrown hedges are becoming a problem and CllrJennings agreed to put together a list of the properties with the owners details so that the Clerkcould send them a letter reminding them of their responsibilities. The village sign at the top endof the village needs the vegetation around it cut back and Cllr Betty agreed to ask Martin Pring toundertake this when he was next in the village doing other work for the Parish Council.

Cllr Graham would like to get some of the media updates onto theWebSite and the Clerk agreed to send him Ed’s details so that he can make contact and gain access.

Suspended because of the new 20 mph limit in Othery but the timelimit is nearly up so Cllr Atherton has been trying to make contact with Paul Johnson and BruceEnglish to see if another suitable site could be found although he was not that hopeful havingreviewed the criteria.

Planning application number: 38/25/00006/JMS & 38/25/00007/JMS:Proposal: Reinstate & rebuild section of a boundary wall. Location: Pathe Farm Cottage, PatheRoad, Othery, Bridgwater, TA7 0JF: The Parish Council will endorse listed buildings offcer’s comments.

Planning Enforcement: Reference: E 38/00080: Location: Land at, Pathe Farm,Pathe Road, Othery, Bridgwater: It was noted that the list is very long for enforcement and fewofficers.

Cllr Betty proposed that the July charity should be todonate £100 to the trim trail project at the village school and Cllr Wright in agreeing proposed thatthe August charity should be the Heart Foundation.

• Salary £ 268.24
• Salary administration £ 15.00
• McMillans £ 25.00
• Slashdotdash £ 8.00
• SPFA £ 15.00

No new correspondence.

Already circulated by email:

Meeting dates for 2026 should be on theSeptember agenda,

CLOSE

Date and time of the next meeting: Monday 8th September 2025 7:30 Parish Council Meeting.