FRP Minutes
Committee Meeting on 19 September 2007 at 6.45pm at Predeaux House
Present: Derek Reed, Trevor Sharland, John Crowther, John Brock, Alan Brownscombe, Jonathan Dean, Tom Rouncefield.
Apologies: Jane Griffin
1. Minutes of Meeting on 8 August 2007
The minutes were read and John Crowther pointed out that in the item about the Design Statement (item 3), the number of extra pages in the recent revision was thirty, not ninety. He also pointed out that the updated news section was now under regular review. The Secretary corrected the minutes accordingly and they were then accepted.
2. Matters arising
It was decided that matters arising from the above minutes would be dealt with in the
course of the present agenda.
3. Matters arising from the AGM
The Committee reviewed the recent AGM. The total attendance was thirty, a number
similar to last year. The main business was transacted in half an hour and was then followed by refreshments and Bob Acton's local history talk on "Mines, Money and Mansions". At the end of the talk those whose interest had been aroused were able to browse and purchase from a sizeable display of Landfall Publications which covered areas of interest to walkers all over Cornwall. It was felt that the meeting had been a successful social occasion.
During the meeting, under Any Other Business, Peter Mansfield spoke of his concerns as regards the end of The Point. The first was his opposition to the provision of a heritage sign at Marble Head mentioned in the Chairman's Report. He suggested that the Committee should poll the membership to see who wanted this sign, as he felt it may not blend in with the atmosphere of the site and could be vandalised, making it an eyesore. He then stated his belief that the Friends' recent involvement with the end of The Point had not been beneficial. Firstly, the Friends had drawn the Parish Council's attention to the overgrown area at the end of The Point and this had resulted in the destruction of the natural wildlife habitat provided by the plants and shrubbery there. Secondly, he believed the Friends' opposition to local fisherman Colin Frost's practice of reversing his vehicle down the public footpath at the end of The Point indicated a hostility to local fishermen in general, as did the Friends' "obsession" with regulating parking in the turning circle at the end of The Point.
Following these comments, there was a general sense of concern that Peter had this unfavourable impression of the Friends' motivations.
John Crowther replied to the criticism of the heritage sign by saying that the project had been discussed with the CCC Communications Unit Manager, someone with a wide experience of making durable high‑quality heritage signs. The cost to construct and to locate the sign would be approximately £1,800 and the content of the sign would be subject to the supervision of the Environment and Heritage Department of the CCC.
Tom Rouncefield replied to Peter's claim that the Friends were hostile to local fishermen. Tom said he knew he spoke for the whole Committee in asserting that no‑one on it was against the fishermen's work. In fact, all took pleasure in seeing the boats' activity each season and recognised that oyster fishing was a means of making a living and part of the area's cultural heritage. With every right, however, there comes responsibility as to how it is exercised, something with which one fisherman seems to have difficulty.
Derek Reed, in bringing the discussion to a conclusion, reminded the meeting that the Friends' Committee was elected to raise issues on behalf of any and all residents. Parking difficulties at the end of The Point were experienced by only three or four households located there, so most residents, living further up The Point, may be quite unaware of this problem. The Committee has revisited the problem because it remains unresolved, not because the Committee is obsessed with it.
During the interval for refreshments that followed, some members approached Peter to try to understand his viewpoint because he is a person respected for his special knowledge of the environment and planning matters. What he had to say revealed a highly critical view of the Committee and residents on The Point.
4. Heritage sign at Marble Head
John Crowther reported that he had written to Martin Woodley to seek his support in raising funds for the heritage sign. He was the local plans officer of Carrick DC Community Planning Department who had, in the early stages of the production of the VDS, suggested erecting a sign about the saw pit. He had also written to the owners of The Pandora, St. Austell Brewery, seeking their sponsorship. In this letter he had suggested two signs, one outside The Pandora and another at Marble Head, each including reference to the pub. The owners, with regret had declined to take up the offer.
The Chairman reminded the Committee that Feock PC, who were the stewards of the common land, should be approached to discover if they approved of the idea of the sign and were willing to give permission for the sign to be placed at Marble Head. At the same time an enquiry about any Parish money for funding the sign could be made.
Tom was asked to write a letter to the Parish Council Secretary to this effect.
5. Stoneybrooke verge
The Secretary reported that a second letter had been sent to Mr Cordall, as had been suggested at the last Committee meeting. It acknowledged that he had been away for several weeks, during which time the first letter to him could have gone astray. A copy of the first letter was included along with a request that he indicates when he would be able to discuss the content. The Secretary subsequently received a reply from Mr Cordall on Thursday 27 September requesting that the Chairman visits him to discuss the matter.
6. Broadwater creek access and Mr Rich's second letter
The Chairman supplied the Committee with copies of a second letter of complaint from Jonathan Rich about the Broadwater creek access. It was decided that Derek need write only a brief reply.
John Crowther had inspected both the creek access plans and the execution of the work at the site and had given his approval. He thought the project to be of a very high design standard. Tom had brought the details of the planning application to the meeting for inspection and invited the Committee to visit the site at any time. The decision by Carrick on the creek access planning application is not due until the third week of October.
7. Verges
John Crowther reported that in the absence of action by the Friends' Committee, he had written personally to the architect of the Malojo redevelopment and to the CCC Divisional Surveyor about the changes in the verge outside Malojo. The architect, Robert Burrows, replied that he had not been involved in any of the landscape/external
works design at Malojo and has had only very little contact with the site since the start of the project. He has passed on John's comments to the owner, Mr Sinclair and understands that he has now been in contact with the County Council. John reported that the County Council has made an inspection and is preparing a report.
With the help of neighbours, the owner of Little Pentrelew, the dwelling opposite the Malojo development, has made a protest against the stone curb opposite her gateway. This has resulted in the removal of part of the curb by the Malojo workmen to facilitate
car access to her property.
The Committee acknowledged John's environmental commitment in his personal efforts to counteract creeping suburbia at Malojo. John said that if the Committee wished to be consistent in their policy, it would need to address the Malojo situation.
The general care of verges was next reviewed. CCC has indicated in its past practice that if a resident trims a verge, the CCC is happy to let that continue. If the verge becomes overgrown so that visibility is affected, the CCC will do the work to clear it. Any construction to the verge requires CCC permission. This includes paving of crossovers, stonework and planting. The policy of the Friends is that the boundaries between road and verge and crossover and verge should remain as grassed edges.
8. Footpath and parking at Marble Head
This item appears as a reminder that both of these issues are on hold because the authorities concerned have thus far failed to reply to our communications.
1) Footpath
Minutes of 28.03.07, Item 2
Derek presented a Legal Opinion on the use of public footpaths initially produced for
Jonathan Dean.
Minutes of 23.05.07, Item 13
The Legal Opinion was delivered to Feock PC by John Brock. They are not concerned
to do anything about it. "Make your complaints to the CCC."
Minutes of 08.08.07, Item 2
Legal Opinion and the Feock PC reply was sent to the CCC. They declared jurisdiction is for the land owner and not the CCC and remained silent on the relevant 2006 Act.
Derek wrote again pointing out their omissions. He has received no reply.
2) Parking
Minutes of 06.09.06, Item 5
Jonathan Dean reported a consensus of the three households at the end of The Point, including the request for double yellow lines. This was supported by the Committee on
a majority vote of 5 to 2.
Minutes of 18.10.06, Item 12
This consensus was delivered to Feock PC by John Brock. He subsequently reported
verbally that the Council rejects the request.
Minutes of 29.11.06, Item 10
Jonathan Dean requested that the Friends ask the Council for a letter giving their
reasons for the rejection. The Committee agreed that Derek should make this request.
Minutes of 08.02.07, Item 10
Derek reported that he had sent a letter to Feock PC with a request to give their reasons in writing for rejecting the yellow lines. He has received no reply.
9. Treasurer's Report
Alan reminded us that the balance at 30 June 2007 was £223.37. Since then he has received seventeen subscriptions (£85) and has paid three bills (£71, for hall hire, AGM printing and the speaker's fee) resulting in the present balance of £237.37.
10. Membership Report
Seventeen renewals of membership have been made in the new subscription year.
The Committee considered the topic of introducing membership cards but the majority feeling was that they were not necessary.
11. Programme for the coming year
Trevor Sharland recommended that the cancelled Helford boat trip should not be proposed again for next year. It was not popular with our local residents as only fifteen of them booked in July compared with forty that Trevor had recruited from St Austell. Any new ideas would be welcome.
12. Membership of the Committee
The Chairman remarked that we could do with one or two more ladies on the Committee. After some reflection, it was suggested that perhaps Michael Kemp's wife, Jenny, or Rex Hudson's wife, Bridget, might be willing to join. Derek said he would follow up these suggestions.
13. AOB
1) John wanted to make our local residents more aware of the Design Statement website and how much more new material of interest was to be found there. The St Feock Newsletter should be a useful means of communication for this purpose, but as it is now a bi-monthly publication, it would be important not to miss the next submission deadline. Currently this is 9 November. Tom said he would liaise with John to produce an article.
2) John also sought permission to put copies of the minutes of committee meetings on the website. It was agreed that after checking and adoption, this would be done.
3) A suggestion came from John and Derek those individuals who had been to the fore
in giving notable support to the Friends should be offered Honorary Membership.
This idea was accepted by the Committee.
4) The Secretary reported that he had recently received a £100 cheque from Mrs Jenny Pelmore of Clock House, Porthgwidden to pay for for her subscription with the remainder being a donation to FRP funds. She was sorry she was unable to attend the AGM with its talk on a topic which interested her. The Secretary said he would be writing her a letter of thanks from the Committee and would include a short version of the main features of the talk.
14. Next meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6.45pm on Wednesday 31 October 2007 at Broadwater. This meeting ended at 8.55pm. Derek and Rosemary were thanked for their hospitality.
Committee Meeting on 20 December 2007 at Tregarrick
Present: Derek Reed (DR), Trevor Sharland (TS), John Crowther (JC), John Brock (JB), Alan Brownscombe (AB), Jonathan Dean (JD), Tom Rouncefield (TR).
Apologies: Jane Griffin (JG).
1. Minutes of Meeting on 31 October 2007
At the suggestion of AB, Item 10, which reviewed the recruitment to the committee, was slightly modified. The minutes were then adopted.
2. Matters Arising
JB reported on Item 4 part 2, which was about the letter written by the Secretary to ask Feock PC for permission to erect a heritage sign at Marble Head and to enquire if the Council could make a financial contribution towards it. He quoted from the minute 8838 of the Parish Council meeting: "Following some discussion, Councillor Brock proposed that the Council work with the Friends to establish an informative sign on the common land at Restronguet Point, and that a financial contribution be considered when more information was available. This was seconded by Councillor Richards and carried by the meeting." JB was thanked for helping the Council make their cooperative response
towards the Friends' proposal.
JC commented that Restronguet Creek Society was interested to become involved with this scheme and to make a financial contribution with the intention of erecting a similar sign on the Pandora side of the creek.
DK raised Item 11 part 3, which was about the bright light from The Anchorage that had troubled a neighbour at Devoran at night. The light had been angled down to remove the glare as the result of a friendly intervention by the Friends. DK wondered if this action had solved the problem and if our Devoran neighbour knew that the Friends had responded to his complaint. JC said that he would contact the neighbour and let the committee know.
DK said that he would leave Item 4 part 1, which reviewed the correspondence with the CCC about the footpath at Marble Head, to the end of the agenda under AOB.
3. Parking Meeting at the End of the Point with Feock PC and the Area Surveyor
In attendance: Simon Foster (SF) CCC Area Surveyor, Alan Truan (AT) Parish Clerk,
John Brock (JB) Councillor and FRP, Derek Reed (DR), John Crowther (JC),
Jonathan Dean (JD), Tom Rouncefield (TR).
The group met in the turning space at the end of The Point and listened to contributions
from its members about the parking problems there. Specific points raised were:
1) Marble Head Cottage has no parking space within its boundary and no access to develop one. It uses the tarmacked car space on Parish Council land but has no special right to exclude other motorists. AT, the Parish Clerk, confirmed that it was a 'first come, first served' situation.
2) Parking on the turning circle is equivalent to parking on the highway. SF, the CCC
Surveyor, confirmed that such a practice contravenes the CCC Highway Authority regulations. A special parking slot on the turning circle could not be designated for the
regularly visiting fisherman nor for Marble Head Cottage.
3) If yellow lines were painted around the turning area, to avoid the possibility of a fine from a traffic warden or a policeman, a motorist looking for parking would have to seek a place in the six-bay parking area opposite Creek Cottage, about 100 metres away.
Over the last few years, efforts by the end of The Point residents to introduce yellow lines have not led to action being taken by the CCC Highway Authority.
Commonly quoted reasons for this were:
a) The undesirability of the presence of yellow lines on amenity grounds and hence the
lack of support at local and County Council levels.
b) The lack of availability of funding from the CCC budget.
It was decided at the end of the meeting that DK, the FRP Chairman, will write to SF, the County Area Surveyor, requesting the provision of yellow lines. SF will write back to DK in support of this request. He said that private money could not be accepted towards the cost of this work. He would check the possibility of organisations being permitted to contribute.
JD said he would review again the opinion of the end of The Point residents to check their commitment to the request for yellow lines. A final plea from a passing resident (Mrs Judith Hancock) was noted. It was that a sign be placed at the entry to Restronguet Point (i.e. at the Porthgwidden junction) to inform holiday makers that the Pandora Inn is on the other side of the creek at Restronguet Passage. JB was thanked for his organisation of the joint meeting.
4. Verges
a) Stoneybrooke
Now that the County Council are in correspondence with Mr Cordell about the reinstatement of the grass verge, which was result of JC's letter to Mr Fish, Director of Planning and Transportation at County Hall, JC pointed out to the committee that it is no longer directly involved. Mr Cordell has quoted the contractor that he intends to use, but the County Council would appear not to have been informed by Mr Cordall of the extent of the verge he is offering to reinstate.
b) Malojo
JD said that he understands that there is to be a retrospective planning application for the Malojo crossover and associated works. AB observed that it was not Malojo's land to develop. TS proposed that when we learn that Malojo has requested such a retrospective application, the FRP committee should convene a special meeting. This was agreed.
5. Design Statement
JC reported that he had had an extended conversation with the local Feock resident Terry Blackburn who was a young lad when sections of the American Army were assembling around the Fal estuary in readiness for the World War 2 Normandy landings. He was living at Marble Head Cottage at the time and became friendly with the Americans camped on Restronguet Point. He has given JC a lot of fascinating information which has now been written up in the Design Statement. More historical information about this period will be available when a former resident, John C. Harding,
makes public the book he is presently writing about this area.
JC also reported that the Cornwall ANOB Partnership now has a redesigned website.
6. Our Constitution
The Secretary had provided each member of the committee with a copy of the constitution with the minor modifications highlighted. After a general scrutiny the committee declared their approval of the modifications and the document was adopted.
7. Planning Applications
The only planning alert for Restronguet Point during the last two months was the application for modifications to Harcourt House which is located on the opposite side of the road from Harcourt Old Farm. Drawings from the Carrick on line register showed that the proposed changes were in harmony with the present structure and unobtrusive. Therefore there is no objection to the proposals. There is an ongoing watch for any application involving the Malojo verge.
8. Membership Report
TS, the Membership Secretary, handed out A5 pamphlets which he had produced to give advance notice of the future programme. It included a subscription reminder because the rate of renewal was slow. These were to be distributed to about fifty members of the Friends by himself and three other committee members.
9. 2008 Programme
There are two events. Firstly the Barbecue, which has been arranged to take place at Bellevue on Friday 4 July at 6pm. For this, no more needs to be done at present. Secondly the AGM, for which a date is to be decided and a speaker to be invited.
JC volunteered to give an illustrated lecture on 'The Facades of Truro Main Streets over Forty Years', using his resource of coloured photography. The committee was very pleased to accept this offer and thanked JC for his further generous support. The usual date for the AGM is in the middle of September on a Thursday, so it was decided to select Thursday 18 September at 7.30pm. The Secretary agreed to book this date.
10. AOB
1) Coloured copies of the DS
JC suggested that a coloured copy of the current Design Statement should be presented to our generous donor Mrs Jenny Pelmore of Clock House and to the surgeon Mr Sivaraman Kumaravel who has recently arrived with his family to live on The Point. The committee agreed with this suggestion and asked JC if he would put this in hand and submit the cost to our Treasurer.
2) The Footpath at Marble Head
DR read out to the committee, at their request, his reply to the second letter from Mr Eastwood, the County Council Countryside Manager. It was a masterly analysis of the faults in his letter clearly showing that Mr Eastwood lacked a proper understanding of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Mr Eastwood's next letter, which took over a month to appear, and contained a further error, tried to fob off the challenge of DR's letter implying that the analysis was a personal misinterpretation and that he had no further time to spend on the matter. He enclosed a copy of the County Council's Complaints Procedure Form, which, in the event of DR still being unhappy, he
invited him to complete and return.
The committee was aware that the complaints route was a tactic to impede progress but felt that DR's excellent representation of the case deserved a legal consideration by the CCC, and if DR could tolerate it, he should go through the complaints procedure.
3) Broadwater creek access
TR reported that planning permission for the creek access at Broadwater had now been granted by Carrick Council.
4) Committee Membership
DR reported that he had approached Wendy Gladwyn of Providence and had asked her if she would consider being proposed for membership of the Friends' Committee. She agreed to this and at this meeting the proposal for her cooption was unanimously accepted by the committee.
The next meeting will be held at 6.45pm on Thursday 31 January 2008 at Predeaux House. This meeting ended at 9.00pm. TS and Susan were thanked for their hospitality.
Tom Rouncefield
20 January 2008
Committee Meeting on 31 January 2008 at Predeaux House
Present: Derek Reed (DR), Trevor Shariand (TS), John Crowther (JC), Jonathan Dean (JD), Wendy Gladwyn (WG), Tom Rouncefield (TR).
The Chairman welcomed the new member, Wendy Gladwyn, who was co-opted on to the committee at the last meeting.
Apologies: John Brock (JB), Alan Brownscombe (AB), Jane Griffin (JG).
Jane Griffin has tendered her resignation from the committee as she is leaving Restronguet Point. The Secretary has written to express the committee’s regret and their thanks to her for her valued contributions to their work. JC reported that the guest that he had invited, Charles Hancock of Seaways, was unable to attend because of a prior commitment.
1. Minutes of Meeting on 20 December 2007
The committee made some corrections to Item 10 (AOB) as follows: In 10(3), a typing error; in 10(3), a contraction of the statement about Broadwater planning application as suggested in AB’s email; and in 10(4), the inclusion of WG’s co-option. The minutes were then adopted.
2. Matters Arising
Regarding the heritage sign (Item 2), JC reported that the Parish Clerk has proposed a joint meeting between the Friends, Restronguet Creek Society and Feock PC. Regarding the bright light from The Anchorage, JC had been in touch with Barry Simpson at Devoran who confirmed that the dazzle had been subdued and expressed his thanks.
3. Parking at the End of The Point
DR reported that he had received a letter from the CCC Area Surveyor, Simon Foster, in reply to his request for the provision of yellow lines at the end of The Point. Mr Foster’s letter did not give the support that DR had anticipated. He restated the problem of lack of funds and recommended using Feock Parish Councillors, District Councillors and County Councillors to obtain support. One of the local District Councillors is Elizabeth West and County Councillor, Jim Currie.
DR thought that he should next write to Jim Currie because it was understood that he had some control over the budget for the Highways Department.
JD said that he would review the opinion of the residents at the end of The Point to check their commitment to the request for yellow lines, especially as the Hancocks of Seaways are said to have changed their position. DR said that if a consensus is confirmed, it would be sent with his letter to Jim Currie.
4. Verges
The matter of the reinstatement of the Stoneybrooke verge is now between Mr Cordall and the Cornwall County Council. TS reported that Mr Cordall is not renewing his membership of the Friends.
5. Design Statement
JC reported that the Friends website is to be linked with the Feock PC website. The Friends website has received 995 visits from 52 countries or territories. JC has delivered a coloured copy of the Design Statement to the Clock House for Mrs Pelmore and Mrs Richards and another copy to the Duchy Hospital for Mr Kumar. They have expressed their pleasure in receiving them.
The final version of the Parish Plan has been published and is available from Feock PC. The intention is to issue it eventually to each household. For this reason, the draft version of the Parish Plan has been taken out of the Design Statement. JC has included in the Design Statement a congratulatory summary of what the Parish Council has achieved in the Parish Plan in respect of its high quality of design and content.
6. Our Constitution
JC had submitted for inclusion in the agenda three questions related to our constitution to consider:
(1) Should we abandon protection of the environment?
JC’s view was that the Friends oversight did not effect a strong enough control over development on The Point. He suggested that a group of professionals who were committed to a high standard of design should convene from time to time independently under his guidance. They would inform the Friends’ committee of their findings and lobby people who had the influence to prevent the ‘creeping suburbia’ that was continuing to take place. The committee decided that they were not for removing protection of the environment from the FRP constitution, but agreed that JC should form such a design group to take initiatives, which elsewhere were lacking.
(2) Is the subscription realistic?
iC view was that to implement a project such as the heritage sign, which had an estimated cost of £2000, we needed funds well in excess of the approximate £250 total raised each year at the £5 subscription rate. We could expect a few hundred pounds from supportive sources like Feock PC and Restronguet Creek Society which would still leave a large funding gap. DR said that the subscription was only intended to fund our normal running expenses but we could ask for donations for a special project. The committee favoured leaving the subscription at its present level and making a special appeal when the need arose.
(3) Is our Constitution relevant?
JC’s view was that the Friends’ attitude towards planning applications was not robust enough. The particular section of the constitution to which he was referring was taken to be Section 4(d) “The Friends will not support or oppose individual planning applications except changes of use of potential impact on the community”. This JC contrasted with the more assertive approach of the planning sub-committee of Restronguet Creek Society which he had experienced through his membership of RCS main commfttee. DR expressed the view that though the committee avoided taking sides in personal planning applications because it would be divisive, the constitution was relevant in committing the Friends to intercede when the impact of an application was seen to be against the interests of the community as a whole. DR quoted as examples the proposed telecommunications mast and the Denny land development episodes of last year. The committee were in general agreement with this.
7. Planning Applications
There have been no new alerts since the last meeting.
8. Membership Report
TS provided the committee with sheets which summarised the membership over this year and the previous two years JC said that following his contact with the Neilsons of Bodelvan they had joined and he could confirm that the Hancocks of Seaway would be joining. From the sheet it could be seen that at present there were 27 paid-up members.
In The discussion that followed it was agreed that the energies expended by the committee in verbal and written communications on behalf of the community seldom produced immediate results by which residents could appreciate the work of the Friends.
it was also recognised that people bought property on The Point for the obvious advantages of the location. The more general concerns of the community were of lower priority.
DR reminded the committee that we wanted to increase membership not for a greater number of subscriptions but to get a mandate from a wider membership which would then validate our representations to the authorities. Personal contact to encourage membership was commended.
9. 2008 Programme
It was decided to invite all last year’s members (about 50 households) to the barbecue at Bellevue on Friday 4 July at 6pm There would be a charge for the barbecue. Nearer the time (April/May) a subcommittee will be formed. it is well known that WG has organised an annual barbecue for the Flower Arrangement Society for many years and it is suggested that she might offer a check list for the guidance of the volunteers for this occasion.
10. AGM
The Secretary reported that the Church Hall has been booked for the evening of Thursday 18 September. The meeting to start at 7.30pm. JC is already preparing the visual material for his illustrated lecture on “The Facades of Truro Main Streets over the last Forty Years”.
11. AOB
(1) WG asked on behalf of her husband whether the Friends could ask the Highways Department to trim the verges on both sides of the road between Porthgwidden and Harcourt turning. The overgrowth has narrowed the road making it dangerous to pedestrians when traffic is passing. The Chairman then asked the Secretary to contact the Highways Department who said he would make the necessary request.
(2) TS recounted an episode, which involved his wife confronting a local motorist who had driven a sports car at a dangerously high speed down The Point. The police are unwilling to involve themselves unless there is a lot of detailed evidence to support the complaint. If it was the committee’s wish, DR said he was willing to write to the County Councillor associated with Highways, Jim Currie, and would raise the possibility of having some appropriate traffic calming installed at The Point. The committee agreed that there was a need for this but were unsure about a system which could achieve it.
(3) As the Treasurer was absent for today’s committee meeting, the present bank balance statement was sent to the Secretary. The amount is £382.37.
12. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6.45pm on Wednesday 19 March 2008 at Broadwater. This meeting ended at 8.45pm. DR and Rosemary were thanked for their hospitality.
Tom Rouncefield
12 February 2008
Committee Meeting on 19 March 2008 at 6.45pm at Broadwater
Present: Trevor Sharland (TS), John Crowther (JC), Alan Brownscombe (AB), John Brock (JB), Tom Rouncefield (TR).
TS deputised for the Chairman.
JC introduced Charles Hancock (CH) of Seaways, as an invited guest.
Apologies: Jonathan Dean (JD), Wendy Gladwyn (WG).
Derek Reed (DR) but who attended the last part of the meeting.
1. Minutes of Meeting on 31 January 2008
The reference in Item 3 to Elizabeth West as a County Councillor was removed. She is a District Councillor. The local County Councillor in Feock is Jim Currie. The minutes were then adopted.
2. Matters Arising
Item 3 (Parking at the End of The Point)
JD was away for today’s meeting so the result of his review of the opinion of the residents at the end of The Point concerning yellow lines will be reported when he next attends. Charles Hancock who was present today, when asked about Colin Frost parking outside his front hedge, said that he and his wife did not find it a problem.
Item 11.1 (Trimming of overgrowth of verges)
As requested, the Secretary has spoken to the Highway Steward, Chris Lane, at the CCC Highways depot in Scorner. Mr Lane has given his assurance that in future the trimming programme will include the stretch of road from Porthgwidden to the phone box at Harcourt. The machines are out of the area at present but he hopes to have a machine to trim the uncut stretch of road in April.
Other matters arising from items in the previous minutes will be dealt with as these same items arise in the present agenda.
3. Speeding
DR volunteered at the last committee meeting to write to County Councillor Jim Currie to seek help in obtaining traffic calming for Restronguet Point. In DR’s absence, his letter and its reply was read out by the Secretary. Mr Currie was sympathetic towards the request and suggested coming to a meeting with DR to seek a solution. He also let it be known that his budget was spent until June 2009. The committee exchanged ideas about traffic calming. Making humps in the road was not favoured but the construction of “pinch points” was thought to be a possibility.
4. Verges
The Secretary reported that work started on the removal of the northern half of the tarmac lay-by outside Stoneybrooke on Monday 10 March. It involved two men, an angle grinder and a mini digger. A light lorry was used to remove the tarmac and the hardcore. Another half day was spent bringing topsoil, spreading and seeding the area and placing seven large stones along the edge of the verge.
Last October JC had written to Mr Fish, the Director of Planning and Transportation at County Hall, to bring him up to date with the correspondence about the Stoneybrooke verge, including the quote from Mr Cordall that “I am surprised that I have not had an order from them (CCC), to reinstate the grass verge outside Stoneybrooke... .1 would imagine that they would be quite within their rights to do so.”
JC received an acknowledgement from the CCC that the letter had been received and that the matter was being investigated. JC further reported that the County Council were in communication with Mr Cordall regarding the contractor he would use and the extent of the verge he was offering to reinstate.
Now that work of partial restoration of the verge had been done, JC offered to write a letter to Mr Cordall to thank him. The committee accepted this offer. JC said that he intended to write to the CCC again.
5. Feock Plan
The Feock Parish Plan 2007 has now been printed and distributed. JC wished it to be recorded that the Feock Parish Council is to be congratulated on the high standard of production and presentation of the document. JB reminded everyone that the Steering Committee and sub-committees were still on-going. The Steering Committee last met on 26 February. The sub-committees are: (1) Roads and Transport; (2) Village Facilities; and (3) Planning and Housing. DR had been a member of (1) and JC a member of (3).
6. Barbecue Management
TS, who had originally proposed the barbecue, reported that Rotary was organising a circular Fal River Walk on June 1 and that he had agreed to be Treasurer of it so he did not want to be involved with the running of the barbecue on July 4k”. He suggested approaching JD and WG to run it. They were unfortunately absent from this meeting. With regard to the actual operating the barbecue, AB said he was happy to do cooking (as did DR when he arrived later). Since the present number of members is half that of the previous year, it was decided to extend the invitation to residents and friends who were not members. TS suggested £5 a head and people to bring their own drink. JC volunteered to write an article/notice about the barbecue for inclusion in the June/July St Feock Newsletter.
7. Planning Applications
There had been five applications for planning permission at Restronguet Point in the previous six weeks. They were:
1). Treework at Carrick Cottage
2). Treework at Bodennick
3). Modification of plans for Bosanneth
4). Study extension with balcony at first floor; lobby and replacement conservatory at ground floor at Laundry Cottage
5). Two Storey extension at Chy-an-Porth
There were no objections from JC and TR who inspected the applications on the Carrick Website. JB confirmed that Feock PC had passed all applications and that they were now due to go before Carrick Planning Committee.
8. Membership Report
TS provided the committee with an updated list of residents showing the present state of membership. (30 households).
9. Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer reported that the current balance was £372.37.
10. The AGM
As reported last time, the Church Hall has been booked for the evening of Thursday 18th September. The meeting to start at 7.3Opm. JC has prepared 260 pictures for use with a Powerpoint presentation of “The Facades of Truro’s Main Streets over Forty Years”.
11. AOB
1).The Secretary had received a letter from Devoran Action Group with an invitation for a member of the Friends to attend a viewing on 15 March of the Old School to explore the future potential of the building. The letter had been circulated to eighteen other groups and an invitation to the current Flower Show being held there was also included. With only two day’s notice, the committee members that TR contacted were unable to attend. JC sent an email to explain the situation. JB said that he knew of the group.
2). Anticipating her absence from the meeting, WG left a message with the Secretary. She had contacted Alan Jackson of Harbour Lights and has suggested that he takes a look at the Design Statement. He is in the process of making plans to redevelop his old property on the site. He said that his plans were nearly ready for submission.
3). Mr Kumar, our new neighbour and member at Trenhayle, had sent to the meeting several coloured photographs of his architect’s computer model of the new house that he is planning to build on the site of Trenhayle. He wanted to check that the design was one of which the Friends would approve. The house was a modern design and its western aspect, which was the only side that would be seen from the road, gave the committee no cause for objection. JC, our architectural adviser, approved of the design.
4). In the absence of DR, the secretary updated the committee on the latest developments resulting from the correspondence between DR and Mr Mike Eastwood, the CCC Countryside Manager. DR asserts that public footpaths are protected from use by motor vehicles by The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act of 2006. Mr Eastwood declares that the CCC’s Highway Authority has no legal obligation to prevent a designated footpath from being driven over by a motor vehicle.
A month ago, DR submitted a letter of complaint to the CCC. We now await the reply.
5). JC reported that he has paid Creative Edge its annual management account of £268.34 for the website. He was thanked by the committee for his continuing support. The Treasurer will record this payment as a donation.
JC reported that he had revised the article on Mrs Jenny Pelmore and had included new material on the Restronguet Creek Society. The contact number of the local bird enthusiast, Michael May, has been removed from the Birdlife article at his request. There have been 1284 visits to the website from 58 countries during the last six months. JC has made minor corrections to the main text. TS, as Deputy Chairman, spoke for us all when he expressed his great appreciation for JC’s work on the website.
12. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6.45pm on Thursday 15 May 2008 at Bellevue. This meeting ended at 8.3Opm. TR was thanked for his hospitality.
Tom Rouncefield
28 April 2008
Committee Meeting on 15 May 2008 at 6.45pm at Bellevue
Present: Derek Reed (DR), John Crowther (JC), Alan Brownscombe (AB), John Brock (JB), Jonathan Dean (Jd), Wendy Gladwyn (WG),Tom Rouncefield (TR).
Apologies: Trevor Sharland (TS).
Visitors: Charles Hancock (CH), Sivaraman Kumaravel (who wishes to be known simply as ‘Kumar’).
1. Minutes of Meeting on 19 March 2008
The reference in Item 8 to the names of recently-joined members was removed and replaced by the statement that we had three new members. The minutes were then adopted.
2. Matters Arising
Item 3 (Speeding)
DR had invited Jim Currie, County Councillor, to tea to discuss the different types of devices for traffic calming which could possibly be employed to reduce speeding on Restronguet Point. The construction of chicanes, speed bumps, pinch points and raised tables were considered and even the imposition of a 20mph speed limit. DR favoured the ‘raised table’. This involved the whole width of the road being raised for a length of a metre or two with white arrow markings at the beginning and end of the raised section. Jim Currie had emphasised two points:
1) There needed to be total consensus amongst the residents.
2) There was no money available in his budget until June 2009 and even then bids would have to be prioritized.
It was proposed:
(a) That a survey to seek the opinion of the residents with regard to traffic calming should be carried out.
(b) That, should a total consensus be achieved, a ‘raised table’ device should be sited in the roadway in a place deemed suitable by the Highways Department.
The committee were in agreement with these proposals.
Item 11.4 (Failure to Reasonably Protect a Public Footpath)
The Chairman’s letter of complaint had received a reply from the CCC Legal
Department. This reply and his response to it had been copied to all members of the committee prior to the present meeting.
3. Parking at the End of The Point
JO reported that over a month ago he had shared a conversation with the Parish Clerk, Alan Truan and Parish Councillor John Brock. They had suggested that the Council might support the introduction of yellow lines to restrict parking at the end of The Point if Marble Head Cottage relinquished the parking space in the common land outside Kelvin. The intention behind this suggestion was to provide the opportunity for the local fisherman to park. The space would be undesignated.
JD had co-ordinated the consultations between the residents of Marble Head Cottage, Seaways and Kelvin and a proposal, paraphrased below, had been agreed:
1) Mrs Tabb of Marble Head Cottage to keep her car inside the entrance to
Kelvin.
2) A double yellow line to be introduced to extend from the top of the public
footpath along the edge of the road at the base of Seaways’ hedge to where the turning circle commences. This is a distance of approximately eleven metres.
3) The public footpath sign to be moved from its present position by Seaways’ hedge to the other side of the path.
4) The former sign opposite Whitesails reading “Access only beyond this point” to be reinstated.
5) The signage at Porthgwidden to be modified to include “No access to the
Pandora Inn”.
Though the implications of these proposals were not debated, the committee agreed that JD should produce a letter to the Parish Council which expressed the wishes of the residents. This would then be passed to JB, who would seek to have it included in a future Parish Council agenda.
4. Correspondance about Stoneybrooke Verge
DR reported that he had written to Mr Cordall on behalf of the Friends to thank him for restoring half of the grass verge outside Stoneybrooke. JC also reported that he had written to thank Mr Cordall for the partial restoration of the verge and to Mr Fish, the Director of Planning and Transportation at County Hall, to thank him for the involvement of the Highways Department in approving the private contractor’s work. JC looked forward to further restoration of the verge outside Stoneybrooke and elsewhere where illegal encroachment ha taken place. He reminded the meeting that the recently published Feock Parish Plan (page 20) declared that the Parish Council intended to work closely with Carrick DC to ensure, amongst other matters, the retention of spaces, hedgerows and verges and the retention of the existing landscape character and distinctiveness of the area.
5. Feock Parish Plan
JB reported that in the immediate future the Parish Council will be organising the ‘Beating of the Bounds’. The last time this was done was thirty years ago. Following this, the sub-committees will be meeting next month to concern themselves with the implementation of the Parish Plan.
The ‘Beating of the Bounds’ will take place on Saturday 7 June. The first section will take place by boat which will depart at 9am from the quay at Point to travel to the quay at Roundwood. From there the route will be to The Punchbowl and Ladle Inn, then to Come to Good, Killaganoon and then to the inn at Carnon Downs where refreshments provided by the Parish Council will be available. The final stretch will be along Bissoe Road to the Tramway Trail to Devoran. The cost will be £2.00 per person. The maximum number of passengers permitted on the boat is one hundred.
6. Barbecue Arrangements
Three members of the committee volunteered to help to organise the barbecue:
WG, JD and JC with JC in charge. Volunteers for cooking and helping on the day were:
WG, JD, AB, DR, Kumar and the Neilsons of Bodelvan. Both WG and JD offered the use of barbecue cooking kit and it was a possibility that a third set may be available from John Hastings of White Sails. It was thought that the advertised price of £5.00 might not cover the expenses so it was proposed that the Friends should underwrite the barbecue costs to the extent of £50.00. This was agreed. WG suggested a raffle to raise some money for FRP funds. The committee agreed and volunteered to bring prizes to raffle.
It was decided to have a barbecue sub-committee meeting on Friday 13 June at 7pm at Providence (WG’s house).
7. Planning Applications
There had been one application for planning permission at Restronguet Point since the last meeting, for the demolition of the five-bedroom house Harbour Light which is to be replaced by another larger five-bedroom house. JC and TR had inspected the drawings on the Carrick Website. JC preferred not to comment on the design as if would appear not to have been designed by an architect. JB reported that there had been an objection by one member of the Parish Council due to the visual intrusion the large flat- roofed building would present as seen from the waterside. The house would not be visible from the road. DR said that it would be left to individuals to support or oppose this application.
8. Membership Report
TS, the Membership Secretary, was absent but had informed TR that the number of members remained at thirty. DR reported that he had received another subscription by simply raising membership as a topic in conversation with a neighbour. JD asked if we should introduce bank standing orders which would maintain membership without tile chore of having to remind people. AB was of the opinion that the amount of money involved would not justify the amount of trouble to set it up.
9. Treasurer’s Report
AB reported that the balance in the bank remained at £372.37. To this would be added the recent subscription (£5.OO) and from this would be taken the cost of the barbecue advertisement in the St Feock Newsletter (
10. The AGM
There were no changes proposed to the arrangements recorded in the previous minutes.
11. Communication with Members
DR said that it was about time to produce the annual Friends’ Newsletter and that it should be published before the barbecue, probably in the third week of June. He said he would produce a draft and circulate copies to the committee for comment.
12. Website Report
JC reported that he had been working on a review of the interesting buildings in the parish of Feock. The document has recently been completed and consists of thirty-four pages of photographs with a descriptive commentary. TR said that he had read it and that it would make a very interesting appendix to the Design Statement. It was agreed that it should be added to the Friends’ website. JC also reported that the Feock PC website was up and running and that there were now reciprocal links between the two websites. The Chairman expressed the thanks of the committee to JC for all this work.
13.AOB
It was decided that Charles Hancock and Kumar would be asked if they would be happy to be nominated for co-option onto the committee of the Friends of Restronguet Point. They both agreed to the nomination and were forthwith co-opted.
14. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6.45pm on Thursday 26 June 2008 at Providence. This meeting ended at 8.5Opm. JC and Gunni were thanked for their hospitality.
Tom Rouncefield
29 May 2008
