AT the Annual Meeting of Colebrooke Parish Council on Tuesday, May 16, Cllr G Shepherd was elected as chairman and Cllr N Enderson as vice chairman.

Cllr D Clarke joined the planning committee and Cllr P Niklaus the cemetery committee. Cllrs R Hodder, S Graham and I Butt were appointed the council representatives on the Village Hall committee. The council reaffirmed the General Power of Competence.

A full council meeting followed the annual meeting.

It was resolved that the planning committee will now meet once between each council meeting to be able to respond to planning applications in a more timely manner. These meetings will be advertised and any member of the parish is welcome to attend.

The council heard that the Colebrooke Sign had now been repaired and was ready to be re-sited. The Asset Management committee has a budget of £500 this year to continue the repair and maintenance of the council’s assets.

The council supported the planning applications at Guscott Farm, and for the installation of masts and antenna off Knowle Lane, Coleford. The latter will vastly improve the mobile telephone signal in Coleford.

The council approved the Annual Governance Statement, the Annual Return and the Annual Accounts for 2016/17.

The council has received a satisfactory Internal Audit report. The Budget for 2017/18 was approved.

The council has a small budget to enable it to provide small grants for local voluntary groups who provide a service in the parish. Application forms are available from the clerk.

The council discussed the Slurry Lagoon on the land adjacent to Mardles Gate and noted that a retrospective planning application had now been received.

The council had received an anonymous letter expressing concern about the lagoon which the clerk had circulated.

The applicant was present and explained why he did not want to re-locate the lagoon and he explained the measures he planned to take to prevent odour.

The council resolved to meet with the Head of Planning, Simon Trafford as soon as possible to discuss the rules and regulations related to the siting of Slurry Lagoons.

It was further resolved that an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council would be held to consider the council’s response to the planning application. Members of the parish would be welcome to attend.

Cllr Graham reported that there had been no progress at all with Broadband as this area remained one of two areas in Devon with no Phase Two contract.

He urged parishioners to continue to check the Connecting Devon and Somerset website.

The clerk reported that the pink spray paint was now in use to identify dog fouling in the parish. A resident had also reported that in Penstone, full dog fouling bags were being hung on fences rather than being disposed of. The council requests that people do not do this.

The council had received two complaints about the problems of car parking in Coleford where there seem to be too many cars for the number of parking spaces, the problem being exacerbated by parishioners using garages for storage, two houses having seven cars to park between them and bollards blocking parking spaces.

Councillors noted that the police could become involved as it is illegal to park near the crossroads. The council resolved to refer the matter to Devon Highways.

The council has also received an expression of concern about car parking in the middle of Penstone which, it was said, could prevent emergency vehicles getting through the hamlet.

The clerk was asked to request that the people of Penstone think carefully when parking their car and to make sure they utilise the local Penstone car parking area first before parking in the road.

The council expressed its concern again about the state of the road to North Down Farm and the road to Brocks Farm.

The clerk was asked to remind everyone in the parish to report these problems on the Devon County Council “Report a Problem” website. The link to this is on the front page of the Colebrooke Parish Council website. The more people report the same problem the more likely it is to receive attention.

The Council heard that the new Chairman of Mid Devon District Council was Cllr Peter Heal and he would be attending the next meeting of Colebrooke Parish Council.

The Parish Clerk is Diane Shepherd, Squirrel Lodge, Colebrooke, telephone 01363 85051 or email: [email protected] .

If you have a comment about the parish please contact the clerk, the councillors or use the contact form on the website. The council wants to hear from you!

The clerk is also available on the first Tuesday of the month from 10am – 12 noon on 01363 85051/07565 350457.

The next meeting of the Parish Council is on July 18 at 7.30pm at Colebrooke Parish Hall.

DS