Along matters considered and discussed at the December meeting of Amroth Community Council were the following:
Aim Country Sports
Mr. and Mrs. Keens addressed councillors before the meeting started to inform the council about their plans to start a specialist outdoor activity centre.
Matters arising from the minutes
• The road issues by Staggers Hill were to be reviewed by the highway maintenance manager at PCC who would report back.
The crash barriers were originally installed when the road was a trunk road and may be removed rather than replaced as there was now less traffic flow. Agreed:
Councillors felt that the barriers were still effective and should remain rather than be removed.
Concern was expressed about the safety of the road surface as green moss under the trees made it slippery when wet. This information would be communicated to PCC.
• Damaged street bin removed from Amroth was still to be replaced. The plastic bin next to it was now overflowing. PCC had been informed.
• Dangerous stones at the side of the bridge over the river at Wisemans Bridge. It had been established that the bridge was the property of Hean Castle Estates. The clerk had written to them to inform them of the issue.
County
Councillor’s Report
Provisional Local Government Settlement. 2020-2021: The Provisional Local Government Settlement for 2020-2021, which was announced by the Welsh Government on December 16, was substantially better than expected for Pembrokeshire.
On a like-for-like basis, Pembrokeshire’s Aggregate External Finance (AEF) provided by Cardiff has been provisionally set to rise by 4.9 per cent or £8.1 million. This is the third highest increase amongst the 22 Welsh counties, with increases ranging from three per cent to 5.4 per cent and averaging 4.3 per cent across the whole of Wales.
This substantially reduces the financial pressure on PCC.
The projected funding gap, which would have had to be met by Council Tax increases and or cost reductions and efficiencies, was calculated at £16 million on a flatline AEF and £11 million based on the working assumption of a 3.1 per cent increase.
Given a 4.9 per cent AEF increase, the projected funding gap is now £6.3 million taking into account a larger Council Tax base for 2020-21 compared with 2019-20.
The Welsh Government will announce the Final Local Government Settlement on February 25, 2020, and will debate it on March 4, 2020.
Before then, PCC will have to decide on its Council Tax rate. By law, the council must decide upon its Council Tax rate before the fiscal year starts and cannot vary it thereafter.
Decisions will have to be taken without full information and to meet the required deadlines a public consultation on Council Tax Rates will be undertaken from January 6.
Clr. Bob Kilmister, the cabinet member for finance, has agreed to present budget options again to ACC members and local residents as he did for this year’s budget.
The meeting is to take place at 7 pm on Wednesday, January 22, in Llanteg Village Hall.
Council priorities are education and social care. The budget deficit will be made up by a proposed five per cent increase on Council Tax to raise £3 million. The remainder will come via efficiencies.
Greenhill School: Estyn carried out a follow-up visit of Greenhill School on November 4-6. Unlike a full inspection, a follow-up visit is to monitor the progress the school has made against the recommendations since the last core visit.
As a result of their visit, Estyn can either remove the school from Estyn Monitoring or place the school in Special Measures.
The report from the visit, which is available on the Estyn website, confirms that there have been a number of positive changes implemented at the school, but felt that progress in improving outcomes has been too slow and, as a result, the school requires Special Measures.
Consequently, the school will have to prepare and submit a Post Inspection Action Plan for Estyn’s approval along with a Local Authority Support statement. Estyn will continue to carry out follow up visits every four to six months.
Progress against the Post Inspection Action Plan will be monitored via a School Improvement Board, chaired by a member of the Local Authority.
The Governing Body have already met to discuss the report and the implications of the school being placed in Special Measures.
Governors will be working very closely with the headteacher and the Leadership Team to ensure that a robust and fast-paced improvement plan is implemented and acted on.
Governors will actively monitor progress and support implementation of improvement measures.
A governor will be part of the Post Inspection Action Plan oversight and scrutiny work taking place shortly with the support of the school’s Challenge Advisor and the next full governors meeting, in spring, has been brought forward to enable all governors to take ownership and contribute to improving the school’s performance.
As part of the Local Authority’s support for the school, it has provided a £60,000 Maths Improvement Grant, part of which is being used to employ a specialist higher level teaching assistant.
The LA is also funding an additional 0.5 senior school leader, who has already taken up post, to provide additional capacity to support the school’s improvement journey.
Given the progress that has already been made, the commitment of all staff and governors and the additional support being provided by the Local Authority, the Governing Body are confident that examination outcomes and standards will improve quickly, enabling Estyn to remove the school from Special Measures.
Planning
Slate Mill, Kilgetty Lane, Stepaside. Proposal - polytunnels. Comments - no objections. Planning has been conditionally approved.
Correspondence
• In order to carry out general carriageway maintenance works between East Williamston and Old Amroth Road TRA477, it is proposed to provide a temporary 10mph speed limit (for convoy working)/40mph speed limit and prohibition of overtaking to protect the workforce. The work is programmed to be undertaken from January 6.
• Llanteg Village Hall Committee have applied to the Woodland Trust for free tree saplings. As part of the application they needed written permission from the ‘landowners’ for the trees to be planted in the Clay Pits and the Old School Grounds. ACC have given permission.
• Saundersfoot Community Council (SCC) wrote asking whether ACC would consider giving financial assistance towards the cost of running Saundersfoot Library. It costs PCC £17k to run the service annually and they have requested additional financial assistance to keep the service. 48 Amroth residents used the service last year according to a survey taken over the last 12 months. SCC have asked ACC to consider a joint application to the Enhancing Pembrokeshire fund.
A full discussion took place.
The bus service between Amroth and Saundersfoot is being reduced which could have an impact on Amroth residents getting to Saundersfoot. Amroth councillors also felt PCC should be funding this service. Amroth has a mobile library service which visits monthly on a Friday between 2.45 pm and 3.15 pm. Residents also use Narberth Library. Agreed: It was decided that ACC would not support this request.
• BT have issued a consultation document (via PCC) regarding the removal of the payphone at Wisemans Bridge. The phone box is in Saundersfoot CC area. The phone box can remain if it is adopted by the community for £1. Objections (with reasons) or wishes to adopt the payphone must be submitted by January 31 to PCC Planning Support Team. Agreed: ACC to object on safety grounds.
Mobile signal is very poor, and this is the only public telephone box in the vicinity.
• Dafydd Llywelyn, Police and Crime Commissioner, has issued a consultation on the Police precept. This is the amount paid as part of the Council Tax and is used for local policing services. The average Band D property currently pays £248.56 a year towards policing. The precept is an essential part of police funding, without which we could not maintain a police service that effectively and efficiently responds to the needs of the community.
You can complete the survey by clicking on the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DPPPrecept. Alternatively, a paper copy can be requested from the OPCC. The survey opened on December 5 and ends on Wednesday, January 8.
• The financial viability of the bus service 351 Tenby to Pendine over the winter months is under scrutiny and a reduced service over the winter months is proposed due to low passenger numbers. No additional funding is available from PCC to support the service. Clr. Mark Harvey wrote a very considered response which was sent to PCC.
A full discussion took place.
Summer fares should be subsidising the winter service. Councillors felt that a quicker service between Tenby and Amroth, combined with lower fares, would increase its popularity. A connection to Carmarthen with a return service at more convenient times would also increase passenger numbers.
Public transport routes that cross county lines should not be funded by a local authority. A Traws Cymru service would be more sensible as this is financed by Welsh Government. ACC are environmentally minded and actively encouraging use of public transport; however current local authority policies indicate there is no joined up thinking. More bus routes are needed not less. Taking cars off the road is an obvious first step in combating climate change. A local planning application was denied due to lack of access to community transport. Lack of public transport impacts other services. Agreed: The clerk will respond to the consultation. Clr. Baron will invite Dr Stephen Jones of PCC to attend a meeting to discuss public transport policy with councillors.
• Three public engagement sessions have been organised by Pembrokeshire County Council to allow members of the public to have their say on the authority’s budget for 2020 – 2021.
Two of the sessions will be live on Facebook and the third a public forum.
All will feature Bob Kilmister, the council’s cabinet member for finance, and Jon Haswell, the authority’s director of resources. The Facebook live sessions will be on Wednesday, January 8, and Wednesday, January 20, both starting at 7 pm.
The public forum will be held in Committee Rooms 1 and 2 at County Hall, Haverfordwest, on Wednesday, January 22, commencing at 2 pm.
• New Year So Volunteer Campaign. Within the first two weeks of January, in partnership with Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations (PACTO), PAVS are running a volunteer drivers recruitment campaign called ‘New Year So Volunteer’ to attract new volunteers for all of the community transport schemes in Pembrokeshire.
Report by Amroth and
District
Community
Association
• Problems with the security light seem to have been resolved. The hall was shut over the holiday period.
Report by
Llanteg Village Hall Committee
• Looking at suitable lights for entrance to the car park as the entrance is difficult to see in the dark. A street light would be ideal.
• Improving the lights in the main hall - work on the project is progressing
• Activities in hall are all well supported with increased local support across the board
• A new screen and hearing facilities are to be installed in the New Year
• The coffee morning in aid of Wales Air Ambulance was well supported
• The hall’s AGM will take place on Monday, January 20, at 7.30 pm.
Monthly Police meeting
• NHS now has own non-emergency medical helpline. The number is 111.
• There will be flexibility of meeting dates next year as officers can only attend when on duty.
• Drink driving was a priority over Christmas
• County line criminality is extending activity into rural areas
• Bullying app YOLO is still being closely monitored
• Scams continue with increasing frequency -Thomas Cook repayments/ HMRC for example.
• Beware of oil thefts and property over the Christmas and New Year period
Update on projects
• Project proposal: A water refill point was suggested for Summerhill. Dwr Cymru is supporting the project Refill Wales which provides water refill points. They are hoping for 850 points across Wales - including on the Coast Path. Points can also be placed in businesses. The Smugglers in Amroth is a registered Refill Wales point.
• Update on Amroth free Wi-Fi: West Wales Systems visited in November and did a detailed survey of the proposed sites including the exact locations of the antennas.
Since three sites gives more resilience in the event of a problem at any one location, it was decided that we should proceed with the original three sites proposed, rather than reduce to two.
Family Friendly Internet Filtering: In order to guarantee that adult content can never be accessed via this service, it is proposed spending an additional £95 + VAT for a security gateway at each site.
This brings the standard cost for each site to £317.80 + VAT for the installation.
Total cost = £1,048 + VAT (VAT can be recouped)
Agreed: Councillors agreed unanimously to support this initiative including the recommended additional security gateway.
Exercise Jantzen: All approved. Invoices can be submitted to PCC for payment prior to paying bills. Clr. Harvey reported that the financial quotes from History point and the sign manufacturer have been held in spite of the time taken for the approval of grant funding.
Beach Art
An application to the Enhancing Pembrokeshire Fund is being submitted for January 27. The proposal is five days on the beach with four artists, plus two workshops. The workshops are to be funded by the Lottery fund, with match-funding from ACC.
Any other or urgent business
• Pamela Anthony, as part of her role in the Relationship Transformation Programme for PCC, will be attending the meeting in January to observe the meeting and understand more about the relationship that exists between T&CCs and PCC.
• The clerk has written to the enforcement officer at PCNPA regarding the tree felling which has taken place at Meadow House Caravan Park. It has exposed the site to the road and impacted on the privacy of two neighbouring dwellings.
• Abandoned cars, one on the A477 and one in the entrance to the Clay Pits in Llanteg, have been reported to the appropriate authorities. Vehicle by the Clay Pits has been there since December 11 blocking the access to the Clay Pits. It has been reported to the police, reference number 1217217 on 17-12-19. The Police will contact the owner and ask them to move it. Agreed: The clerk to contact OVW for legal advice on removing abandoned cars.
• Summerhill was treacherous on the last icy morning. Black ice saw lots of cars sliding. The road had not been gritted, and it is a bus route. Agreed: The clerk was to contact PCC to check on gritting policy and report the issue.
Date of next meeting: Thursday, January 23, at Amroth Parish Hall, starting at 7 pm.