SUTTON MANDEVILLE PARISH COUNCIL
including Sutton Row and Lower Chicksgrove
DRAFT MINUTES of a meeting of the Parish Council held at The Stalls on 10th February 2025 at 7.30pm - subject to later approval by Councillors.
PRESENT: Cllr. H. Collins (Chair), Cllr. Mrs. K. Clutterbuck (Vice-Chair), Cllr. M.Charlick, Cllr. Mrs. J. Green, Cllr. M. Howe, Mrs. J. Childs (Parish Clerk). One residents was present.
The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting.
1. APOLOGIES: There were no apologies.
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS: No interests declared.
3. PUBLIC QUESTIONS:
Since the last meeting of the Parish Council Councillors had received comments about lighting from buildings within our parish which is included within the designated dark skies area of the AONB, ash dieback on an unadopted road and evidence of a beaver in the R. Nadder.
4. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS HELD ON 25th November 2024:
These were signed as a true record.
5. MATTERS ARISING:
SMAN9 -It remained the intention of Councillors that a working group should meet to consider a solution to improving access to /descent from the footpath on to Glasses Lane/ Rectory Road. The aim was to keep users safe.
6. WILTSHIRE COUNCIL: WILTSHIRE COUNCILLOR'S REPORT:
No report
7. AREA BOARD/LOCAL HIGHWAYS AND FOOTPATHS IMPROVEMENT GROUP (LHFIG): SMAN9 remained on the LHFIG agenda and would be considered again at its next meeting in June when the group will have received some funds. There is no guarantee that any funding would be made available for SMAN9.
8. FINANCE:
Three cheques were signed totalling £299.56.
Finances remained within budget.
Three signatories for the Parish Council bank account had received bank cards and pin numbers as the Council moves to online banking. The Clerk has delegated authority only. It was agreed that the account should be active by mid March.
9. NOMINATED ITEMS:
RIGHTS OF WAY: Cllr. Mrs Clutterbuck had reported that she had been notified that signage from SMAN 27 linking with TIS 27 should indicate a bridleway. This was ongoing.
SMAN23 – tree clearance had taken place and a route provided around a pile of stone from a collapsed wall. Councillors thanked all landowners who work to ensure ROWs are maintained.
SMAN22 – Cllr. Charlick reported that vegetation had been cut back, the path was 2 metres wide but that the emergence of running water and the steepness of the slope meant that the path was slippery at times.
SMAN17 – work had started on the enhancement of this ROW which ran above the allotments, funded by a grant secured by the Walter Allotment Trust.
SMAN20 continued to overspill on to the C24 in bad weather. The matter had been reported on MyWilts on a number of occasions and the Highways Engineer had applied for a drainage survey of the C24 to tackle the accumulation of water across the road.
The Chairman added that in his opinion SMAN20 was no longer safe for horses and their riders.
As reported in the previous minutes Cllr. Mrs. Clutterbuck had consulted with the landowner about SMAN15, opposite Glasses Lane and across the A30, where both access and the route across the field were unclear. This would be tackled when the appropriate machinery could be got onto the land.
There had been no action on the access to SMAN7 which was currently too steep to allow wheelchair access. The matter had been reported, as noted in the previous minutes, but no action had yet been taken.
NOTICE BOARDS: Cllr. Mrs. Clutterbuck confirmed that work would begin on the notice board at Lower Chicksgrove in the spring when the weather had improved.
FLOODING on local roads: Councillors discussed three areas within the parish where flooding occurred in bad weather: overspill from the R. Nadder on to the C276 at Panters, (road to Fovant), overspill from SMAN20 on to the C24 at Lower Chicksgrove and at the bottom of Sutton Row at low points close to the river bridge. It was hoped improvements could be made in all three areas. Concern was also expressed about the pooling of water, right across the road at Ham Cross and the consequent disintegration of the C24 in that area, reported many times on MyWilts.
It was good to note that repairs to road surfaces in Sutton Row had been completed.
Mill Lane – Councillors expressed thanks to a resident who had reported on many occasions the poor state of the road surface here. Cllr. Mrs Clutterbuck who had had previous correspondence with Highways on this subject agreed to follow up these further requests for the filling of potholes and more extensive resurfacing.
THE WALTER ALLOTMENT TRUST (area to the west of the allotments): As noted in minute 9a) work had begun on SMAN7, clearing and widening.
10. RISK ASSESSMENT:
The document had been circulated to Councillors for reading, amending and finalising at the next Parish Council meeting.
11. PARISH WEBSITE:
The Chairman emphasised the importance of our parish website as a means of communicating with the community. Cllr. Charlick reported that the number of users continued to rise.
12. PLANNING:
Planning approval, with conditions, had been granted for The Homestead and for 1 retrospective application at Sheepwell. The Chairman added that there was no provision in WC planning procedures for determining whether a property could used for letting or not.
The Parish Council had had no objection to the planning application at Panter’s Mead.
The recent planning application PL/2025/00362 at Greenlands was considered. Councillors had held a site meeting. No objections had been made and Councillors would forward their comments to WC.
Councillors expressed their full support for the AONB dark skies policy within which area the parish fell.
13. CORRESPONDENCE: The Chairman reminded all that there was currently an AONB consultation on their draft Management Plan open to all. The Chairman hoped that the Parish Council might respond to this 114 page long document.
Concern was expressed about a shift in national planning policy towards renewable energy proposals having precedence over the protection of the landscape.
As mentioned in Agenda item 9c Councillors fully supported the concerns expressed by a resident about the condition of the road and the failure of recent repairs and would follow these up with WC Highways.
14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: No further business considered.
15. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING:
The Annual Parish Meeting would take place on Monday 24th March 2025 at 7.00 pm at The Stalls. A short meeting of the Parish Council would follow if requiired.
The meeting closed at 9.05 pm.
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