Wotton Town Council Meeting

21st October 2024

I attended a meeting of Wotton Town Council meeting on Monday along with SDC Cllr Cohen and SDC Cllr Braun, I took some informal notes but I've had trouble checking detail as we didn't receive backing papers this month. :(

Before the meeting a couple of people gave me a very hard time about a shopkeeper/business who is parking selfishly on the High Street assisted by a Facebook group. Traffic Wardens have been in the town every other day it seems, Sundays too. I'm certain the saga is impacting business for traders. I guess the culprits will be caught eventually.

The meeting began. Normal formalities of apologies, declarations of interest and the approval of the previous minutes.

It's always great to see so many people at the public forum. The agenda was shuffled to permit the relevant items to be dealt with first. Meetings can drag and small children were there to speak too. :)

Bel Whitwam gave a talk about Streamsfield. A beautiful corner of Wotton with big plans for wildlife and nature. But it's muddy and the temporary boardwalk is needing to be replaced with a more permanent, 1m wide, structure made of recycled plastic. GCC's footpath officer had visited and offered advice. I noted that the project was costing £4k and no money was being asked from the TC although assistance will be required to invoice monies to/from GCC etc.

Play Gloucestershire at Synwell Playing Fields were represented by parents and children from the town. They talked about how valuable the community event is. It runs most Mondays after school and caters for a wide age range of children. A safe place with snacks, building trust and friendships. Camp fires and marshmallows. It's expanded over time. Most of the children live close by. Looking to extend the contract from 1st Nov through until 31st March 2025 when additional budget will need to be found. The TC discussed that short term piecemeal funding is difficult to plan around. Anyway, everyone agreed to support.

Lights and Xmas trees in the High Street. The Lions have put them up in the past using staff from the Fire Station so that appropriate insurance was in place. But a rep from the Lions (whose name I didn't catch, sorry) said that was a one off training event and can't be done again. The insurance and training is too costly, I think. The Clerk mentioned that a business had approached TC to help. I think it was mentioned that there was £3,783 in reserves. The trees cost £1,200, lights £700 and batteries at £300. I assume that leaves some money over to pay the business for the installation. Clerk to devise a plan to deliver.

Sue Hunt talked about plans for Christmas Under the Edge. Saturday 7th December, 4-8pm. Last years event has been called the best Xmas street event in the South West with over 3,500 people attending.

This year 35 stalls are planned, funfair, traders, Morris dancers, wind orchestra, parade, choirs from schools and a 5:30pm Xmas light switch on. Shop window competition with a theme of "Light up Wotton". Town councillors to judge the best window. TC also having a stall and councillors volunteered to 'man' it. Team running the event is Caroline Grant, Sue Hunt, Gideon York and Mark Lovell. Full details on their Facebook Page.

Symn Lane Play Area improvement. TC is well aware that the equipment is in need of replacement. Cllr. Paul Jones had played a small role supporting Theresa (didn't catch surname) who has been driving all the activity that's been going on in seeking out suppliers and equipment. The cost will be £60k. I think that TC has budgeted £25k the rest will have to be found as matched funding.

There were some questions on Cllr. Cohen's report. Firstly about the work being done to identify suitable bench locations with Paula from Longfields. Cllrs were concerned that businesses might not want them outside their premises, Cllr. Cohen said that locations being looked at were away from the High Street. Cllr. Cohen also talked of taking a petition re the buses to 10 Downing Street and to find Simon Opher MP while she's there (may have misheard the purpose). Also questioned about No 40 bus route, traffic regulation orders on the high street and the height of the speed humps on Symn Lane.

Cllr. Braun told about gambling advertising on ITV1 late in the evening. This was tied to the SDC Licensing item in the SDC report. That committee had agreed to write to local MP to voice concern about impact of online gambling. Maybe we can get that amended to include this concern?

The Mayor, in his Chairman's Report, talked about attending a Town Hall event for George Carpenter the Town Crier. (I'll update this when I get the backing papers from TC, I don't have the proper detail to do this item justice)

The meeting then moved onto item 10 and finance matters.

Myself, Cllr. Braun & Cohen left for a 'street meet' in the car park to catch up on current Town and SDC issues.