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Present Anne Lowe (Chairman), David House, Eric Hembrow, Robert Hembrow,

Chris Pitman.

Members of the general public.

In attendance Elizabeth Smith (clerk)

Apologies were received from Bernie Withams, Julia Clewes, Jane Wilkinson &

Adrian Flook MP.

The chairman thanked everyone for attending. She reported on the activities of the Parish council during the year and urged people to think seriously about standing for office in the elections next year.

Jean House presented the accounts, which showed a healthy surplus.

John Lowe presented the accounts, which also showed a surplus for the year. He was asked why there had been no expenditure on maintenance, he replied that very little needed to be done apart from small jobs that had been done voluntarily by members of the committee.

JL said that £36,622 had been raised to date, which will amount to £48,712 when tax has been reclaimed. David House said that a further £82,000 was available from the Parish, District & County Councils to draw on when needed, together with a further £5,000 for the purchase of the land. The land should have been purchased in March but the legal documents had only just been completed. He thanked all the fund raisers and the local people who had supported them.

DH presented the accounts. There is a balance of £419.41 in the account. Election of the officers to administer the trust take place every four years just before the Council elections.

The Footpath Officer said that the paths were now passable again, having become overgrown last year. A display of photographs showed the progress that has been made. Paths T25/2 & 3 had been improved; it ties in with "Walking Historic Somerset". Sadly, one of the headland paths had already been ploughed up. DL said that it was necessary to strike a balance between recreational walking and the livelihood of the landowner but he urged walkers not to be deterred by ploughed rights of way. A new route has finally been agreed for footpath T25/36 and should soon be in use. It was hoped that the next section of the path, from the Playing Field to Lane End may be adapted for use by the less able, by converting stiles to kissing gates or step through stiles.

There had been a good take up on the tree planting scheme and he thanked individual landowners for enhancing the appearance of the village. Many dead elm trees have been removed. He urged landowners to remove the remainder, thereby destroying the habitat of Scolytus beetle that carries the fungus from tree to tree.

The Chairman thanked Mr Lake for all his work on behalf of the village.

DH introduced Lynn Crozier, the new Parish Assistant. LAMP is now a cultural landscape trust and the Parrett Trail is now run by LAMP. A permissive path (and a few parking places) is now being negotiated to Athelney Monument. The talk at Burrowbridge had been well attended, showing the public interest in historical matters. Prof. Simon Keyes will be giving a talk at Kings college on 27^th July.

LAMP had been influential in obtaining £2.6m Leader+ funding. This will be used for marketing, tourism and adding value to local products.

The small resevoir by Curload farm has been completed. Work on Stanmoor Bank and Baltmore Wall was proceding ahead of schedule and should finished by 2003.

The government has made more money available for flood defence, some of which will go to the Parrett Catchment project. Alastair Reid was thanked for attending some of these meetings on behalf of the Council.

Savaria Moss of the Community Council gave a short talk:

The Government is keen to help communities decide what is important to them.

An Appraisal is an opportunity to take stock, to chose long and short term goals.

This is then used to draw up an Action Plan – what is going to be done and how.

There are different methods of doing an appraisal:

"Planning for Real" - a map or model of the village is made and people are encouraged to add to it the things they would like to see in the village.

A Questionnaire – is more thorough, generates statistics and goes to every household in the village. It identifies need and gives people information about what already exists. It can cover a variety of topics, eg: transport, education, pollution, etc.

The Parish Council can lead the project or a steering group can be set up to do it. As many people as possible should be encouraged to join in. The Parish Council would have to be responsible for applying for the grant and managing the money.

The costs are: publicity, information days, printing, etc. There is a grant of £200 available from the Community Council; also an Inclusion Grant for expenses such as a crèche.

The Countryside Agency brochure "Vital Villages", gives details of a £5,000 grant available for producing a Parish Plan. A quarter of the sum has to be met by the community but 95% of this can be time in kind.

She was asked where the money comes from to fund things that the village would like to do. Funding (if any) has to be found for each project on an individual basis.

The government has made enough funding available for 1000 villages.

The Chairman thanked her for her informative talk.

The Chairman then opened an informal discussion on the School, the Pre-school Playgroup and the new Village Hall.

Rachel Betts-Williams of the Willow Set Pre-school Playgroup said that the LEA had involved them in drawing up a concept plan. A special case had been made for the Willow Set because of their excellence. The Playgroup require a dedicated room where they do not have to get their equipment out and clear it away every day. Ideally their room would have low windows for the children and places to display the children’s work; there would be toilets with low seats. They are unable to provide the children with computers at present because of the difficulties of moving them every day.

Adrian Stables explained that at the moment they had a vision, rather than concrete plans. The County Council are keen to encourage a process of lifelong learning, "Cradle to Grave", and Willow Set fitted into this. Class One is a temporary structure that is coming to the end of its life and needs to be replaced by a permanent brick built structure. The replacement would provide for wider community use.

He was asked if the site of the Old Village Hall (soon to be available for sale) was being considered for purchase by the school. – No.

The head teacher and R B-W emphasised that their main concern is to provide the best for the children of the village. CP said that the school is the future of the village and a thriving school encourages young families into the village. Rev’d Christopher Rowley said that the School had been criticised by OFSTED for not having a hall. Unfortunately no funds were available, they would therefore continue to use the village hall and would use the New Village Hall when it was built, for PE, etc. He was anxious to correct the impression that the School does not support the new Village Hall. AS said that the proposal to build a new classroom did not compromise the NVH’s bid for lottery funding.

There were questions about the planning process for schools. How is the Village kept informed? Applications are dealt with by Somerset County Council. TDBC & the Parish Council are consulted. The Chairman thanked the Headteacher, AS & RBW for the information and said that the Parish Council would appreciate being kept in touch.

CR said that he supported the idea of a Community Transport Scheme The Chairman asked for a show of hands and the majority of those present in the Hall were also in favour of a Community Appraisal. Christopher Rowley, Graham Joll, Stuart Wilkinson and Hazel Palmer said they would consider joining a Steering Group. R B-W said that the Health Visitor held a mother and baby clinic once a month in the village – could a similar scheme be set up for the older people?

The Chairman again thanked everyone for attending and contributing to a useful discussion.

The meeting ended at 9.20pm.

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