11. Reports on Meetings:
a) Area East Forum - 27/02/08. The Chairman reported that neither himself nor Mr Newth were able to attend, however the report from the meeting would be received shortly and circulated. However the Chairman was able to attend the Somerset County Council (SCC) South Somerset Area Community Engagement Workshop on 28/02/08, at which he was able to discuss current issues with the Police Beat Manager and some of the SSDC representatives present.
b) SALC South Area - 10/03/08. Cancelled.
c) Strategic Housing Market Assessment – 14/02/08 and Flood Emergency Planning 21/02/08 - Mr Newth read out his notes from both meetings, which are attached at Appendix 1.
12. Future Meetings:
a) Annual SSDC Area East Meeting with Parish and Town Councils – 30/04/08. Meeting rearranged from 19/03/08 to combine it with a workshop on the draft Local Development Framework (LDF). The PC would need to delegate two members to attend.
13. Closure of North Cadbury Post Office: The Chairman advised the PC that following the Public Meeting to discuss the closure of North Cadbury Post Office on the 5th March 08, the PC was asked to arrange a further Public Meeting at which a senior Post Office representative would be present; this had been arranged for Thursday 20th March at 7pm in North Cadbury Village Hall. He advised the PC that David Heath would also be present as the constituency MP; however, the meeting would be non-political. A member of the public was invited to read out his letter to the PC opposing the outreach van and his wish for the PC and parishioners to “fight” to keep the post office open. The Chairman stated that after consultation with Ted and April Moran, and listening to the opinions of the parishioners, the PC believed that it was not appropriate to “fight” the closure and the PC would continue to support the arrangement of an outreach van which would provide full post office services on specified days and times. It was also agreed that in order to ensure that this service continued after the three-year trial period, parishioners would need to have used it fully to show that it was viable and had sufficient “footfall”. The PC noted the general enthusiasm in support of Ted and April’s shop and their intention to boost its business.
14. Cheque Fraud: The Chairman informed the PC that SALC had reported two cases of cheque fraud involving Council payments and, therefore, recommended that PC’s keep photocopies of all cheques. The Clerk agreed to follow this guidance.
15. Validation of Planning Applications: Mr Crossley advised the Chairman that the SCC consultation document would be distributed on the 6th April 2008.
16. Somerset Heritage Event May 08: Mr Newth informed the Chairman that he had sent details of the event to Mr Sam Miller in the event that he would like to display his archive of the Parish at the event.