Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

·         Gillian Keniston-Goble, Health Watch 

·         Pete Joint, Wellington Town Council  

·         Catherine Govier, Wellington Town Council 

·         Malcolm Vest, Nynehead Parish Council 

·         Jermey Toy, Nynehead Parish Council 

·         Richard McRory, Wellington Bus Users  

·         Rob Burton, Milverton Parish Council 

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

There were no declarations of interest received.

To approve the notes from the previous meeting.

Resolved that the notes of the previous meeting held on 6^th February 2024 are approved as a correct record.

To discuss matters arising from the notes not covered in later agenda items.

The Chair advised that both the Highways and Transport working groups had now had their first meetings, and this would be covered later in the agenda. 

AnLCN member asked about road closure signage which had been raised at theprevious meeting. Jeff Brown, Stronger Communities advised that this is a known issue and would be picked up by the Highways working group.  

The Chair to advise of any questions, statements or petitions received that are not covered by items on the agenda for the meeting on which members of the public have requested to speak.

There were no public questions. 

The Chair advised that the Highways working group met on Thursday 23^rdMarch. The Chair of the working group was unable to attend to give an update, but the notes of themeeting would be shared by email with the rest of the LCN members after the meeting. Another member whohad attended offered to provide some of their own feedback which was welcomed.    

General 

·         5 Somerset Council highways reps attended, covering service management, maintenance and programmes, and 7 town and parish reps from the LCN.  

·         Felt it was an interesting and worthwhile meeting overall.  

·         Residents' councillors and clerks are encouraged to use Highways online reporting system to report issues.  

·         Meetings will be quarterly, and the working group is looking for free of charge meeting venues 

Highways maintenance repairs  

·         Common issues as expected – blocked drains and ditches, poor signage of roadworks, unclear scope of statutoryelements. 

·         For non-statutory matters town and parishes will have the option to buy additional service from Somerset Council. 

·         35,000 potholes reported this winter, those deemed dangerous are fixed as soon as possible (7-day target) 

Information to be shared with the working group  

·         Work programme for highways improvements 

·         Standard manual for highways online 

·         Online Access to gully emptying and grass cutting schedules price lists 

·         Chapter 8 training 

Other issues  

·         Wellington Town Council felt that the Highways Steward scheme more suitable to rural areas, rather than their more urban setting 

·         Felt there was little mention of drainage improvements, for example recurring flood outside Kingsmead school. 

The next meeting of the working group will be in June.  

The Chair invited Cllr Dave Mansell of Somerset Council to give an update on the first meeting of the Transport Working group which had taken place that same afternoon.  

Cllr Mansell advised of the following -  

·         The group had discussed what they hope to achieve, a term of reference and a work programme. 

·         Aiming to investigate public and community transport serving the LCN area 

·         Aware that there may be shared interests with parishes to the north of Wiveliscombe so will look to contact Exmoor LCN in the future. 

·         Look at potential services improvements and funding for public and community buses. Particularly the 25 service.  

·         The working group is planning to meet monthly. 

·         Want to look at connection between Wellington and Wiveliscombe  

·         Better provision in villages around Wellington and Wiveliscombe  

·         Review the slinky service and find out more information about Wivilink.  

·         Review recent surveys and may conduct own survey to better understand issues in the LCN area. 

·         The aim is to bring a final report back to the LCN in October.   

The Chair invited Jack Johnstone, Project Manager in the Economy, Employment and Planning team at Somerset Council, to give a presentation (slides 6 –18) on the Tonedale Mill and Toneworks Development project, a project funded by a provisional £19.8m grant from the Levelling Up fund. 

The Project Manager talked through the slides andinvited comments and questions from the LCN.The following points were discussed -  

§  Regarding Toneworks, some people don’t even recognise that the Toneworks is Langford Budville- how has Somerset Council engaged with Langford Budville Parish Council?The Project Manager confirmed that the team had engaged with Langford Budville Parish Council, and there have been some discussions about a cycle link linking the site with the Langford Budville community.  

§  There was a question about car parking and the Project Manager advised that there are no plans to have car parking on site. An LCN member advised that the 22a Bus Service stops at Toneworks. 

§  The rich ecology of the site, bats, d ormice, foxes, otters, frogs and possibly perch in the ponds, which is being protected,gives us an opportunity to unlock some funds for the project by generating biodiversity net gain credits. 

Jeff Brown, Service Manager Stronger Communities gave the following updates - 

·         The next meeting will be the Annual General meeting on the 11th July 2024.   

·         There will be an LCN annual report for the next meeting.  

·         The LCN team is still interim, but we should have some more permanent positions in place by July 2024.  

·         The LCN team welcome suggestions on topics/priority issuesand local projects of interest for future meetings. 

There was a suggestion that the LCN could look at the Grand Western Greenway project, (a rural active travel path from wellington to taunton) and a representative from the Exmoor LCN suggested that this LCN may wish to organise a visitto see Exmoor Highways Pilot scheme. 

The LCN team have worked hard to avoid diary clashes but please contact them on LCN@somerset.gov.uk if there are any issues. The team would also like information on alternative suitable venues within the Wellington and Wiveliscombe area. For any other queries regarding the LCN Wellington and Wiveliscombe, please email wellingtonandwiveliscombeLCN@somerset.gov.uk.