Archive

ONLINE MEETING NOTES

31st OCTOBER 2020

Attendees:

G. Stewart, S. Olivant, K. Robson, S. Gladman, D. Gilmour, S. Montgomery, F. Moon, A. Simpson, C. Raynor, P. Dyas.

AGENDA

1. Website changes
2. Village Pond Project
3. Village Orchard Planting

Item 1.

As ELDC are closing the current site the village has to decide what information it would like transferring to the new format. F Moon had kindly agreed to populate the new site.

Fay Moon provided an overview of the new website and some of the many new features. FM requested details of what exactly needs to be transferred to the new site, plus any new information councillors/ residents would like included.

New site has a CMS (content management system). Requested additional items as follows:

Village Newsletter

Church section

Village images

Parish Council items – meetings, agendas etc, current and last 12 months details on the site, with historic files being located in an archive section.

To control workload, only essential information will be transferred over to new system.    

K Robson requested who the administrator would be, to control what information is posted on the site; FM will upload information and then hand over to the PC. Future PC meeting to decide who acts as the site administrator.

It was agreed not to put information on local thefts onto the site as it is a public site.

Fay was thanked by all for doing this work which is time consuming.

Item 2.

Resurrecting the village pond: Chris Raynor had contacted ELDC who advise that we need a licence to tidy the area adjacent to the village crossroads, which used to be the village pond. Graham Walker who lives next to the site is happy for this work to be done but must be kept updated on plans. The first task will be to clear the area and then plant some British shrubs. Professionals will need to be employed to remove/prune the larger trees. The priority is to obtain the licence. CR to check with Forestry Commission to see if we need permission to take down trees.

The pond dates back to 1860’s and several people in the village remember its existence. It is spring fed.

All agreed that a licence should be applied for and in the first instance tidy the area before a plan is drawn up on how to improve the area. PD to contact LCC re: licence.

Item 3.

ELDC Conservation Department have offered to provide 5 fruit trees for the village green as part of their Orchard Project, on the understanding that we provide volunteers to look after their upkeep. They would be planted in January 2021. S Montgomery who lives adjacent to the area advised that the current trees are not maintained and have caused problems for houses next to the green. There is no room to put the fruit trees on the perimeter of the green and if they were planted in the middle it would stop the children from having a play area.

Two people from the village had offered to help maintain the trees.

It was suggested that some of the current trees be replaced by the fruit trees. Concern was expressed that they must be small fruit stock trees that will not grow into large, unruly trees. After much discussion a vote was taken on the proposal that we do not accept the trees, 3 voted for this proposal and 1 against. PD to contact ELDC to advise that we will not be taking up the offer of the fruit trees.