Minutes from December 2025 meeting

DRAFT

Newton St Cyres Parish Council

Minutes of Newton St Cyres Parish Council Meeting held in the Parish Hall Club Room on Thursday 4 December 2025

 

                   The meeting commenced at 7.00pm

Members present

Cllr L Ouldridge  (Chair)                       Cllr M Herpoldt-Bright

Cllr J Dean                                              Cllr J Rimbon-Whittaker

 

In attendance:  D/Cllr M Binks, 1 member of public,  J Hole Parish Clerk

 

Public Participation

Allotments – access to the allotment was difficult, there was no water supply and there were issues with wildlife eating crops.  Cllr L Ouldridge noted that these issues were well know and unfortunately, there was not much that could be done other than increasing water collecting butts and putting up fencing.

Need for crossing on the A377 at Tytheing Close.  D/Cllr M Binks reported that he had spoken about this need at successive MDDC meetings and in principle a crossing was not impossible using S106 funds.   D/Cllr M Binks suggested that a petition might help to move the matter forward and the member of the public agreed to help with this.

Pavement down School Hill was slippery with moss.  Cllr J Dean noted that the road wardens had been asked to look at this problem

Formal Business 

01/12/25    Apologies

                       Cllr D Harris, C/Cllr S Keable, D/Cllr S Chenore

 

02/12/25    Declaration of Interest

                       None noted

 

03/12/25    Minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 6 November 2025

                       Agreed and signed as a true record

 

04/12/25    Newton St Cyres Parish Council Issues relevant to Mid Devon District Council

4.1                 Planning Applications 

                       25/01555/HOUSE- Erection of a single storey side extension and retention of glazed rear canopy at 4 Kingfisher Close Newton St Cyres Exeter Devon EX5 5DH – no comment

                       25/01552/FULL - Erection of 1 self build dwelling following demolition of existing building utilising Class Q fallback Location: Land at NGR 290632 97978 Bidwell Barton Farm – no comment

4.2                 Planning Decisions

                       25/01027/CLU Certificate of lawfulness for the existing use of building for commercial storage and distribution (Class B8) for a period in excess of 10 years at Daw Refrigeration, Lake Barton – certificate of lawfulness granted   

                       25/01305/TPO - Application to fell 1 Pine (T1), 1 Elm (T5) and 1 tree (T2) protected by Tree Preservation Order 82/0003/TPO  at Court Orchard Copse, Station Road – permission granted

4.3                 Report from District Councillors on issues relevant to the parish                       

D/Cllr M Binks reported that five plans for Local Government reform had been submitted to central government. 

                       A warm homes grants was now available for NSC residents.  A new work hub had been set up in Tiverton staffed by specialists who could support small businesses and people working on their own.

 

05/12/25    Newton St Cyres Parish Council issues relevant to Devon County Council

5.1                 Report from County Councillor on issues relevant to the Parish

                       A report from C/Cllr S Keable had been circulated together with an update on outstanding road issues and was noted.

5.2                 Report from Boniface Trail meeting held on 24 November 2025 – Cllr J Dean

                       Cllr J Dean reported on a meeting held with C/Cllr S Keable, three members of the Boniface Trail Association and two consultants from DCC.  Details of the proposed route were shared at the meeting and this route will go to the DCC Cabinet meeting in January.  The suggestion was that the route would be completed in stages with the Crediton to Newton St Cyres being completed first.   

5.3                 To note minutes from Footpath Group meeting and meeting with DCC. To agree purchase of 10 permissive footpath signs £30.00

                       Minutes of the meetings had been circulated and were noted.  It was resolved:

• That Cllr J Dean would be the contact point for the Footpath Group.
• To request that meetings with landowners/DCC be notified to Cllr J Dean so he could attend if possible
• To purchase 10 permissive path signs

 

06/12/25    Finance

6.1                 To agree Payments and note Receipts:

Expenditure – current account	£	Receipts – current account	£
The Plastic Company – bench and table for Rec*	1,014.00	Nil
SLCC – Clerks membership	110.00	Receipts Car Park Maint acct
J Hole – Salary and expenses	420.13	Nil
HMRC – PAYE and emp’er NI	66.59	Footpath Account
		Nil

*Already paid – ground anchors for both the bench and picnic table were still to be purchased. 

6.2                 To approve on-line authorisation for this month’s payments

                       Cllr J Dean, Cllr M Herpoldt-Bright

6.3                 Balances (after above transactions)

6.3.1            Parish Council Current Account balance: £10,361.25

6.3.2            Footpath Account: £651.58 (separate account)

6.3.3            Parish Hall Car Park maintenance fund balance: £6,819.00 (separate account)

6.4                 Financial Statement and Budget Monitor

                       Noted

6.5                 To agree Budget for 2026/27 and set precept – draft budget circulated to include review of allotment rent and bid for work to permissive path between Bakers/Ashford

                       A draft budget and precept had been circulated.  After discussion it was resolved:

• To re-instate a contribution to the Car Park Maintenance account of £500.00 to be paid by both the Parish Hall and the Parish Council
• To include an estimated sum of £1,000.00 to install school signs (requires agreement from DCC)
• Not to accept the bid for work to the permissive path as this was not supported by the landowner.
• To add a budget for minor works on permissive paths of £200.00
• To set an overall budget of £18,286.00
• To set the precept at £17,371.00 (95% of proposed expenditure) – a 5.1% increase on the current year.

Budget 2026/27

 

07/12/25    Other Parish Council Matters

7.1                 Quarterly report Partnership and Volunteering – Cllr J Rimbon-Whittaker

                       Cllr J Rimbon-Whittaker reported on her meeting with the school.   Pupil road safety training with DCC had been arranged for January.  Discussions had taken place on a possible school exchange with Rots school.  

7.2                 Wildflower survey Village Green – to consider results and decide course of action

                       A total of 65 responses had been received with 78.1% (50 respondents) in favour of keeping the wild flowers on the village green and 23.4% against (15 respondents).  However, 62.7% (43 respondents) would like some changes made while 34% (22 respondents) were satisfied with the wildflower area.  It was noted that 6 households who overlook the green were in favour of keeping the wildflowers.

                       It was resolved

• that the wildflowers on the Village Green would stay
• Cllr L Ouldridge would group the comments into similar areas and send the results to NEW with a request for NEW to make a proposal of how to address the concerns raised.
• A summary report would also be sent to the Newton Wonder

7.3                 Update on amendment to arboretum licence

                       An amendment to the licence agreement had been signed by the  landowner.  This states that the insurance is provided by the Friends of the arboretum and not the Parish Council      

7.4                 Station Garden – to consider if the Parish Council should hold station garden money

                       Following the retirement of Chris Southcott who had run the Station Garden for many years, Cllr L Ouldridge had established that there were enough volunteers to keep the garden going . It was resolved that:

• The Parish Council would hold funds for the station garden
• That Cllr L Ouldridge would apply for a grant from GWR to purchase plants etc

7.5                 Review of updated assets register

                       An updated asset register had been circulated and, as requested by the internal auditor, the Clerk had updated the register to show the location of assets and the original purchase price

7.6                 Risk Assessment of assets – Cllr M Herpoldt-Bright

                       Cllr M Herpoldt-Bright had circulated an updated risk assessment for assets and this was noted.  Various items had been incorporated into the budget

7.7                 To agree Christmas Cards for volunteers

                       It was resolved to send Christmas Cards to volunteers and a draft card was agreed

7.8                 To consider email from North Devon Line – Community Vision, Resilience and Station Priorities

                       It was resolved to add this to the next agenda

7.9                 To agree delegated authority to the Clerk to respond to planning applications received in December and January that cannot be granted an extension following consultation with Cllrs

                       This was resolved

 

08/12/25    Forward Agenda Planner/Minor Matters and Items for Future Agenda

8.1                 Review of agenda planner for future meetings.  Copy circulated

                       Add to agree attendance at council surgeries

8.2                 To note Minutes from meeting of Crediton Area Association of Local Councils held on 20 October

                       Minutes had been circulated and were noted

                      

09/12/25    Date of next Parish Council meeting:  Thursday 5 February 2026 at 7pm in the Club Room

Budget 2026/27

 

End of Formal Business

Public Participation

There was none

 

The meeting closed at 9.35pm