Minutes
Monday 9th June 2025 7:30 pm in Othery Village Hall
1 – Apologies:
Cllr Graham:
2 – Present:
Cllrs Tizzard: Jennings: Selway: Atherton: Betty: Wright: Cllr Matthew Martin: Fourmembers of the public:
3 – Declarations of Interest:
These will always be declared at the agenda item when appropriate.
4 – Certifying the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 12th May 2025:
Agreed as a true record of the meeting.
5 – Public question time and Neighbourhood Watch/Crime report and an update from Cllr Matthew Martin:
The first member of the public spoke first of his concerns that a prefab buildinghas been erected and occupied without any planning permission. Cllr Martin advised the meetingthat this is an enforcement issue but with 800 cases outstanding and only 3.8 officers no-one can besure when any enforcement might take place. A formal request will be sent to Somerset asking themto be involved. There also appear to be other issues in the area including intimidation of anyone whoobjects to what is happening in the area which should be reported directly to the police as any suchreport will not be accepted from any third party. The second member of the public told the meetingthat she picks up litter around the village and disposes of it on a regular basis but that was not in theminutes of the last meeting. Cllr Tizzard acknowledged that she does do a good job for the villageand that it will be in this month’s minutes with the grateful thanks from the Parish Council. She alsoreports that a bench seat installed by the WI some years ago cannot be used because of vegetationgrowing over it. Cllr Tizzard stated that it is on private land and some investigation needs to beundertaken about any terms or conditions that might have been put in place when it was installed.
6 – Matters Arising:
The minutes and Parish Council data are up to date on the Website.Othery Litter Pick 7th June.Ashley Fox sent a letter to Towens last month and still no reply.Frequency of meetings moved to the next meeting.
7 – Playing Field:
The tree surgeon Has inspected the trees and they are OK. Therehas been no information from the inspection team on the date of the playing field inspection, butCllr Selway is aware that the play safe surface needs attention. From 18th June the playing field isclosed for the Street Fayre and will remain closed until the following Tuesday. The front hedge isto be cut before the Street Fayre. Two more benches have been donated but fixing kits need to bepurchased and Martin asked to fix them so that they do not get in his way when cutting the grass.
8 – Cemetery:
All in order.
9 – Highways:
Cllr Wright reports that the gulleys have not been cleared after theresurfacing of the main road. It is reported that vegetation is obstructing the footways and beforeany action is taken Cllr Tizzard and Atherton will inspect the village and report back to the nextmeeting.
10 – Community Speedwatch:
Suspended because of the new 20 mph limit in Othery. If a newsite can be found for the speedwatch it needs to be identified and then the police will inspect andhopefully give the go ahead for the monitoring to start again. The SIDs do show that the speedthrough the centre of the village has been reduced by the 20 mph speed limit being introduced.
12 – Planning notice:
Planning application number: 38/25/00005/JMS: Proposal: Change of use andconversion of agricultural building to 1No. dwelling and erection of store to the (SE) elevation (partiallyretrospective): Location: North Lane Farm, North Lane, Othery, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA7 0QG: There are minor inaccuracies in the documents as the road name is wrong and there is noPost Office in Othery. The Parish Council support this application as it supports andagricultural business and keeps a young family in the village. This was proposed andseconded and passed unanimously. Cllr Betty had declared a prejudicial interest andwithdrew from the meeting.
13 – Financial Matters:
The Parish Council formally adopted the accounts andwere aware that the Clerk had published the statutory notice of the accounts being available forinspection by members of the public.
The charity for this month is McMillan.
Expenditure:
- Salary £ 268.24
- Salary administration £ 15.00
- Alzheimer’s £ 25.00
Income
14 – Correspondence:
Nothing new.
15 – Correspondence for Circulation:
Already circulated by email:
16 – Urgent Matters at the discretion of the Chairman:
The Chair of Aller wants to introduce “quietlanes” and would like to speak to the next Parish Council meeting. This was agreed. Cllr Tizzard isvery concerned about the total lack of police visibility in the village with no contact at all whichshould at least be in the form of useful emailed updates whereas all we get is generic ones with nothingspecific for Othery.
CLOSE
Date and time of the next meeting: Monday 14th July 2025 7:30 Parish Council Meeting.