Parish Council Minutes: May 2026
DRAFT MINUTES
These minutes will be agreed at the meeting due to be held on 8th June 2026 and might be subject to slight amendment.
The Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Oakford Parish Council held in the Main Hall at Oakford Village Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 11th May 2026.
Present:
Cllr’s J Levick, G Baylis, J Cridland, T Davies, L Gould, J Mayer and V Stevens.
In attendance: District Cllr’s C Adcock and M Stratton and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.
01/05/26. Election of:
a) Chair. Cllr J Levick was proposed by Cllr J Mayer and seconded by Cllr J Cridland. There were no other nominations and Cllr Levick was elected.
b) Vice-chair. Cllr Cridland was proposed by Cllr Levick and seconded by Cllr Baylis. There were no other nominations and Cllr Cridland was elected.
02/05/26. To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies were accepted from Cllr Cross.
Apologies were received from County Cllr S Lodge.
03/05/26. Declarations of Interest.
Cllr Cridland and Cllr Levick declared a personal and pecuniary interest in item 10/05/26 a) as they had submitted expense claims.Cllr Mayer declared a personal and prejudicial interest regarding Spurway Barton (Item 07/05/26d) as she does some work for the owners.
04/05/26. Public Forum.
No members of the public present.
05/06/26. To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 13th April 2026 as an accurate
record of the meeting.
With a small amendment the minutes were agreed as an
accurate record of the meeting and they were duly signed by the Chair.
06/06/26. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
None.
07/06/26. Planning
a) To comment on any planning applications received before the meeting.
No applications received.
b) Application to note: For information only.
26/00564/PNAG Prior Approval for the erection of an agricultural storage building.Location: Land at NGR 289762 123318 East Tapps Farm, Oakford.
c) To note any planning decisions made by MDDC.
26/0384/House Erection of single storey extension. Location: 2 Staples Cottages, Oakford. Decision: conditional approval.
d) Update on action being taken regarding the dumping of soil and associated works at Oakfordbridge.
Councillors were given an update now the Temporary Stop Notice has ceased to have an effect. This information given to them was confidential. There was concern that the Environment Agency, Mid Devon District Council and Devon County Council are all involved but seem uncertain as to who is taking the lead. Cllr Adcock will contact Rachel Gilmour MP to ask her to try and get one of these organisations to take the lead and the responsibility for dealing with this. It is time sensitive as the soil needs to be removed before there are storms and heavy rain. The enforcement reference for this case is 26/00036/OPDEV.
e) Update on alleged planning breaches.
The following three cases have been allocated to Mary Hutter, MDDC’s new Senior Enforcement Officer, who will be able to update the Parish Council further once she has investigated these cases.
- 25/00066/RURAL - Rookery Hill - New field opening, tent and yurts on site
- 25/00155/RURAL - Wild Berry Wood - Siting of large cabin and caravan
- 25/00156/RURAL – (Hares Down Wood) - Use of storage shed being used for overnight stays and formation of parking area on land in addition to approval 18/00592/FULL
- 25/00074/RURAL - Rainbow Wood - Erection of buildings for use as holiday lets remains allocated to Heather Nesbitt and is still under investigation. The Clerk was asked to find out from the enforcement team what was happening with outstanding matters at Spurway Barton and other enforcement matters in
Action: the Clerk to ask the enforcement team for an update on Spurway Barton and any other enforcement cases in Oakford
f) Any other planning matters.
No other planning matters.
08/05/26. Highways:
a) Any matters to note or report.
Cllr Baylis has met with the contractor to look at the cobbles by the phone box that were not replaced properly when they were dug up by Openreach contractors. It is hoped that they will have been relaid properly by the next meeting. Cllr Baylis is receiving weekly updates.
b) Update on flooding issues/blocked drains.
Cllr Levick has sent Cllr Lodge a What3Words reference for the drain opposite the entrance to the Village Hall car park that needs unblocking.
c) Update on improvements to the fingerpost signs.
Mr Cridland was thanked for the work he has done.
d) Any other highways matters.
No other highways matters.
09/05/26. Community Area:
a) Any points to note from the regular inspections of community area.
Cllr Levick has given a copy of his monthly report to the Clerk. A working party met on 9th May to tidy the community area and pavilion Cllr Cridland has removed the broken bench and Cllr Davies removed the rubble. Mr Hampton will be reminded to give a quote to line the inside of the pavilion with tongue and groove boarding. Cllr Mayer has obtained some new chairs for the pavilion.
b) To agree who will carry out the regular inspection of the play area.
Cllr Levick will continue.
c) Update on ordering of picnic tables.
Two new picnic tables are needed. The Clerk will circulate some online options.
d) To continue to discuss installing fitness equipment in the community area using S106 funding.
Cllr Cross had given her apologies for the meeting but had provided some details of options for outdoor fitness equipment for the community area. Councillors felt it would be best to get equipment without too many moving parts. A budget of £3,000 to £4,000 was agreed. A decision on which equipment would be suitable will be made when Cllr Cross is available.
e) Any matters to note.
Permission was given for the community area to be used for a community event on 4th July. Arrangements will be made for the grass to be cut in the week before.
Action: the Clerk to arrange for the grass to be cut in the week commencing 29th June.
Cllr Baylis has replaced the cork backing on the notice board and Cllr Mayer has given it a clean.
Cllr Stevens will obtain a quote for a tarpaulin cover for the pétanque court and arrange for the purchase of sand to top the level up. Weeds will need to be removed. The Clerk will find out what type of sand was used on another local court.
Actions: Cllr Stevens to obtain a quote for a cover for the pétanque court. The Clerk to advise him on the type of sand to be ordered.
10/05/26. Finance
a) To approve any invoices or expense claims presented for payment.
Cllr Cridland and Cllr Levick declared a personal and pecuniary interest in their expense claims and left the room when they were agreed. It was resolved to make the following payments.
|
Hampton Maintenance |
£189.00 |
Grass cutting |
2627/06 |
|
Mrs J Larcombe |
£159.22 |
Salary for April |
2627/07 |
|
Community First Trading Ltd |
£380.62 |
Annual Insurance Year 2 of 3 |
2627/08 |
|
Cllr J Cridland |
£60.96 |
Materials for signpost repair |
2627/09 |
|
Cllr J Levick |
£167.75 |
Wood preservative, brushes etc for pavilion |
262710 |
No payments have been made since the last meeting. A service charge of £7.00 was taken from the current account at the end of April. A service charge of £7.00 will be taken from the account at the end of May.Internal transfers will be made to return the Current Account balance to £500.00.
b) To agree the renewal of the annual insurance.
See payment reference 2627/08 above.
c) To note any receipts since the last meeting and the bank balance.
The 2026 – 2027 precept was be paid into the Council’s account on 15th April.
The Current Account cleared balance is £7161.67 and the Instant Access Account balance is £11,712.44.
d) To confirm the signatories for the bank accounts. The bank signatories will continue to be Cllr Baylis, Cllr Levick and Cllr Mayer.
e) To agree who will check the bank reconciliations. It was agreed that Cllr Stevens will continue to check the bank reconciliations.
f) Bank reconciliation 30.04.26.
Cllr Stevens checked and signed the bank reconciliation.
g) To agree the appointment of an internal auditor.
The Clerk is still finding someone to carry this out and put forward a couple of suggestions.
11/05/26. Update on new email address for Clerk.
The domain name oakfordparishcouncil.org.uk will be purchased.
Action: The Clerk to arrange the purchase of the domain name.
12/05/26. Correspondence: The following correspondence was noted:
DALC Newsletters
MDDC press releases
MDDC Transfer of Assets
13/05/26. District Cllr Report.
A written report was circulated by email prior to the meeting.
Cllr Adcock gave a short update. Active Mid Devon has confirmed that its discounts for unpaid carers are now permanent. MDDC is working with the Church Housing Action Team (CHAT) and Navigate to administer the distribution of funds for the Crisis and Resilience Fund and Oil Support Scheme. These are government funded schemes to help people in crisis. A Motion on Rights of Rivers was brought to a MDDC Council meeting on 25th April to recognise the Rights of Rivers and it was carried. MDDC Councillors feel that giving rights to rivers would allow legal representation that could improve their protection in the future. There was also a Motion on Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) as a response to the concern that many ases of ASB go unreported. The Council was recommended to actively use all of communication to encourage residents of Mid Devon to report all crimes, ensuring the Police are aware of the true scale of crime and public concern, and thereby supporting the deployment of sufficient resources to maintain public safety. Town and Parish Councils are also encouraged to communicate the need to report all instances of ASB, notwithstanding that the Police are not able to attend to all cases.
14/05/26. To confirm the date of the next meeting.
Monday 8th June 2026.
The meeting closed at 8.35pm.