YEALMPTON
PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON
WEDNESDAY APRIL 12TH AT 7.30 PM AT YEALMPTON
WI HALL
Present: Cllr Baldry
(Chairman), Cllr Ebbutt, Cllr Durman, Cllr Tucker, Cllr Bastard,
Cllr Robbins, Cllr
Apologies: Cllr
Stone, Cllr Barton, Cllr Mumford
Absent: Cllr
Yonge
There were 7 members of the public attending plus PC
David Richards, the Councillors and the Clerk.
1.
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting April 18th 2005
It was proposed by Cllr Ebbutt and seconded by Cllr Bastard that the minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held on April 18th 2005 were signed as a true record. The motion was carried unanimously. There were no matters arising.
2. "Youth and Leisure in
Yealmpton"
A) Cllr Baldry invited Mrs Donna Smith, the project Leader of the Parish Plan, to give us the Parish Plan views on tonight's topic.
Donna reported that the Remit of
Parish Plan (for both the Countryside Agency & YPC) was to identify the
social, economic and environmental needs and threats affecting the Parish of
Yealmpton and to prepare an action plan for adoption by the community,
identifying how the aspirations of the community might be met.
At the
Open meeting on 06/03/04, each person present had opportunity to submit ideas
and then each idea was voted upon by placing stickers on their favourites.
Categories which included Youth & Leisure
aspects were :Sports/Social/Entertainment
Health & Social Services
'Off the wall' ideas
Retail
Education & Training Housing
Transport & Highways
- in fact
all of the headings used except environment had some element relating to the
subject matter of this meeting.
Ideas ranged from skateboard facility, graffiti
wall and snooker room to active youth football club, indoor swimming pool and
tennis court But the most popular, a Youth Meeting place attracted 21 votes on
the day.
School & Youth Input
Both of these groups input were specifically
sought since it was felt they were under-represented at the Open Day and
"wish-lists" were produced. The Parish Plan steering group was split
into sub-groups to concentrate on more specific issues. The outcomes of the
Parish Appraisal 1998 were taken' into account and the most popular areas were
still:- Youth Club (place to meet), Swimming pool, Tennis court and strong
support for basketball and youth football
Questionnaire
It was felt important not to recreate the Parish
Appraisal and not to produce a statistical chart. To garner responses, it was
hoped that the posing of "open" questions would encourage involvement
of the Parishioners and therefore providing a wide opinion to the most popular
suggestions. By the time the questionnaire was produced the provision of a
Youth-based meeting place was being put in place and questions were based upon
what else would/could be investigated. As for Leisure, since there had already
been a lot of support for a tennis court, etc. there needed to be a question
relating to where this might be sited.
Results: Youth Activities. Volunteers were forthcoming and the
Parishioners who had replied had voted in favour (83.5%) for a Youth Worker
being funded by the Parish Council. Again the "central meeting place"
was the most popular choice by far with the most often suggested facilities
being adventure equipment (climbing wall, etc.) and tennis closely followed by
basketball.
Sports Facilities. There was resounding
support for the Athletics Field and surrounding grounds to be the site for all
of the suggested facilities ranging from 68 respondents for the netball and
basketball courts to 91 respondents for the tennis courts. Incidentally, 84.2%
of respondents wanted the grounds to be dog-free. The swimming pool still came
out the highest as the alternative facility for the Parish.
Initial draft : Once the steering group
were happy with a rough draft - this was sent out to all of the
groups/committees in the Parish and comment sought for inclusion in the final
draft. In addition, the Steering Group held Open Days in the newly commissioned
Parish (Ford) room in October 2005 and invited the Parish to come and have a
look and again another opportunity for people to have their say.
Final draft and
distribution: It
was felt that the wording of the final draft should give the parties who have
an interest the necessary data to make a difference. Source materials are
available on request and once the final print is to hand the Parish Plan will
be distributed to specific parties with the wishes of the residents of the
Parish drawn to attention. An administrator/project manager has been put in
place to carry out follow-up duties and a report to the Parish is envisaged to
be available later in the year.
In response to
a question, Donna advised that the youth data had been collected by Emily Bird.
B) Cllr Baldry invited Ivor Griffiths to tell us about the village
recreation facilities.
Ivor Grifiths told us about the Athletic Club
facilities. There are 4.5
acres of land leased from the Kitley Estate.
There are 2 football teams, 1 cricket team, a
strong Bowls Club and Rifle Club with many competitions held by both.
Rounders and Basketball are available but need
supervision. The area to the northwest of the ground has been cleared but is
too small for an All-weather Pitch facility or
As far as youth
facility is concerned, there is no problem in allowing a Youth football team to
use the pitch as long as
there is
consistent supervision. 5-a-side goals are also available.
Cllr Bastard
raised concern that no fund raising was apparent. The lease had been awarded by
Kitley so that the Club
could independently chase the available sports grant
funds. Cllr Baldry stated that the Bowls Club had been able to get a loan and
grant as a result of the lease existing.
"Crime
Beat" funds may be available from the Police and Simon will supply the
information to Ivor.
Cllr Bastard
stated that an all-weather facility was really needed to stop the inevitable
wear in the goal areas.
C) Cllr Baldry invited Cllr Durman to update the meeting on Youth activities.
Cllr Durman advised that in the
2004 census, there were 114 youths in the 10-14 age group and 103 in the 15-19
group. These
are the target audience for the Youth Club. The Parish Plan appraisal found
that 28% of the respondents
wanted to see a
youth room in the village. The good news for the village is that we finally
have that facility in the Parish
Room building.
The Parish Council have invested about £40000 in the rebuilding of the Parish
Room. The Parish precept
for 2006/7 has
allocated £1300 to the funding of a part time administrator. Current
legislation means that records need to be maintained and policies/procedures
put in place. YPC have also voted £1000 for 50% of an additional youth worker.
We need to
recruit volunteer workers and Simon Love (DCC Youth worker) has advertised. We
want to hold a 2nd weekly
session for,
say, the 11-13 year olds and need 2 volunteers.
The room is
being "furnished" to make it 'youth friendly' and the need for a
telephone line both for safety and internet is
required.
Brixton Youth club has closed and we hope to draw in youth from other villages
with transport easier than going
to Ivybridge.
Simon Love told
us that there is a "curriculum" for Devon Youth to be used as an
informal learning opportunity.
Visits to Music
Zone and the Mega bowl in
Stood for the
UK Youth parliament and 4 who had assisted with the planning of YOYO.
The normal
structure for each evening is tohave 1 hour 'structured' and 1 hour free.
There is a plan
for fund raising for activities such as photography, arts& crafts and
sport.
Question time. The Chairman invited questions.
Q. Cllr Ebbutt
asked about attendance numbers.
A. An average
of 11 in the 12-14 age group with a maximum of 18. A further 7 from Brixton
have expressed interest.
Q. Cllr Tucker
asked how long do volunteers tend to stay after training.
A. Simon
advised that 2/3 years is typical in
The Chairman
thanked the speakers for their contribution.
The meeting was declared
closed at 8.28 pm.