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MAIDEN NEWTON ANNUAL PARISH MEETING MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ONTHURSDAY 5th April 2018 IN THE COMMUNITY ROOM WEBBERS PIECECHAIR: Cllr. Alan Goff PRESENT: Cllr Cherri Dyke, Cllr Sally Falkingham, Cllr Trena Fox, Cllr Dave Marsh, Cllr Paul Valinski and County and District Councillor Jill Haynes.The Chair declared the meeting open at 7.00 p.m. Copies of all written reports were distributed to all attendees. The Chairman asked that each should be read as the item came up on the agenda, with any questions being taken at the end of each report.Apologies for absence received Cllr Anne Clements and Mr David Charman001/2018 The Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 11th May 2017 The Minutes of the Council meeting held on 11th May 2017 were approved and signed as a correct record. 002/2018 Report of the Chairman The Chairman’s report was presented by Cllr Alan Goff - appendix (i) Cllr Goff said that since his report had been written there had been three flood warnings.003/2018 Report of the County CouncillorThe County Councillors report was presented by Cllr Jill Haynes – appendix (ii)04/2018 Report of the District CouncillorThe District Councillors report was presented by Cllr Jill Haynes - appendix (iii)005/2018 Report of the Allotment AssociationIn the absence of Mr Charles LeVay, the report was presented by Cllr. Alan Goff - appendix (iv) The Parish Councillors expressed their thanks to the Allotment Association in helping to maintain the site. Referring to the item concerning the car park at the rear of the village hall Cllr Goff said that, in his opinion, laying plastic grid to allow all weather parking would not be suitable. Vehicles used the car park as a turning circle and would destroy the surface and a hard surface would cause flooding to the village hall. The grass surface of the car park had been investigated in the past and it had been decided to keep the grass and close the car park when necessary. A sign regarding taking vehicles onto the allotment site, in wet weather, had been erected.006/2018 Report of the Parish Council Footpath RepresentativeThe Footpath Representative report was presented by Mr Chris Slade - appendix (v). Cllr Goff expressed grateful thanks to Mr Slade for walking all of the footpaths, reporting problems and compiling a very comprehensive report. Mr Slade said that a number of the problems were the same as last year and that some of the signs were in the wrong places. The clerk would forward the report to the Senior Ranger (West of Dorset and Weymouth and Portland).007/2018 Report of the Parish Council Transport RepresentativeThe Parish Council Transport Representative’s report was presented by Cllr Sally Falkingham – appendix (vi). Cllr Goff expressed grateful thanks to Cllr Falkingham for her diligence and work as the Parish Council Transport Representative. Cllr Haynes spoke about the sad untimely death of Cllr Hannah Richardson, from Stratton, who had helped to ensure a bus service to Dorchester and the success of the Ring and Ride service which was one of two operating in Dorset. She had signed off the grant for the service. Cllr Falkingham thanked Cllr Haynes for the County’s financial support for the Country Cars scheme.008/2018 Report of the Parish Council Allotment Representative The Parish Council Allotment Representative’s report was presented by Cllr. Alan Goff – appendix (vii). 009/2017 Report of the Parish Council MUGA and Playing Field Representative The Parish Council Allotment Representative’s report was presented by Cllr. Trena Fox – appendix (viii). Cllr Goff expressed thanks to Cllr Fox for her work regarding the MUGA.0010/2018 Report of the Parish Council Play Area Representative The Parish Council Play Area Representative’s report was presented by Cllr. Cherri Dyke – appendix (ix). Cllr Goff expressed thanks to Cllr Dyke for her work regarding the Play Area.Attendees expressed appreciation for the restoration of the cow bridge, by Skip’s Field, which was carried out voluntarily, by Lawrie and Russell Goff.The meeting closed at 7.33. Date of next meeting Thursday 4th April 2019Appendix (i) Chairman's ReportChairman's ReportFirstly I would like to thank all of the councillors and clerk for this year’s work.We have had a very heavy expense this year with the resurfacing of the MUGA. The new surface is now fantastic. We hope to build a small building near the MUGA on a small piece of the field to house the electrics for the MUGA so that it will make leasing the MUGA easier if people do not have to enter the Youth Centre to use the flood lights. In doing this, it is hoped that the MUGA will then be able to generate enough income to sustain itself. Thankfully we have not had any problems in regards to the river and flooding. We have received very few flood warnings compared to previous years.In the last year planning permission has been approved for 9 houses to be built on The Quarr. No other controversial planning. We have ended the year with very few allotments left to let which is great news. The pony grazing at the top has had all the rubbish, trees and the old caravan removed. The next step is to look into fencing the paddock. The bridleway to the allotments is very rough and full of pot holes. It is hoped that Rights of Way will now be sorting this out.Anyone who has driven out of the village towards Frampton in the last couple of weeks will have seen that there are two new drains being put in on the corner that floods badly. My thanks go to Jill Haynes for getting this completed for us.Pot holes are forever a problem but please remember that you can report these on the Dorset For You website.A big thank you to Sally for persevering with the Bus service. Thanks to you we now have a bus service which will hopefully continue for many years to come.With the ever common problem of Dog fouling in the village can I please remind you that you can report these instances to the Dog Warden. The more these are reported, hopefully the more they will be able to do.I do believe that the coming year could become quite challenging with the introduction of the two councils of Dorset. I believe that a lot will be put on the Parish councils. Please let’s remember that with the exception of our Parish Clerk we are all volunteers and volunteers can only be pushed so far. Let’s hope that this is not the case and that next year will be the same as always.Appendix (ii) Annual Report to the Parish Council 2018Three Valleys Division Dorset County CouncilCounty Councillor Jill HaynesAnnual Report DDC 2018Jill Haynes, Three Valleys DivisionIt has been an extremely busy and I feel productive year at DCC. Much of the work in health issues that I am involved in is not particularly visable to the public but is making a difference. As there is so much happening I am going to keep my report brief in each area but I am happy to discuss any particular area in greater detail as required.There have been considerable pressures in both the children’s and adult’s budgets in the last financial year. In addition to the savings that have to be found due to the cuts in Government Grant for these areas we are finding increasing complex needs are making the cost of caring for people much more expensive. Although the budget for adults will be balanced this year we still need to find further savings of ?9 M next year. (Total budget ?89M) The Children’s budget will be overspent this year but covered by some “one off” money; the directorate will be trying to find a further ?6M next year on a ?60M budget. This amounts to savings of some 10% on each budget and is going to be very had to achieve without cuts to services.Dorset Waste Partnership on the other hand is performing very well. We are currently rated as the best waste service in the country and they look to be about ?900K underspent.I feel that I must say a big thank you to all our staff for their hard work in the two big falls of snow that we had recently. Many were working very long days in terrible conditions to keep people safe and the roads open as best they could. When this kind of weather happens there is a 24 hour incident control room permanently staffed and in contact with all the emergency services. Also a big thank you to the many people with 4X4 vehicles who went out and helped others, took nurses to work, or carers to their clients. It was a massive effort and we often forget the hard work of the council employees. Another bit of good news is that the government has given the Council an additional ?1.4M to help with potholes caused by the bad weather on top of the ?750K we received in November.We are the first county in the country to use modular housing for Adult Social Care needs. Cabinet has agreed to put forward ?1.5M to start the process and we have been working to put together a package with social investors, developers and housing associations to provide a total of 130 units on council owned land in the next two years. We know that over five years we will need some 250 new units of housing to keep those who need our support living in county. Many of these are people with a physical or learning disability, in particular those on the autistic spectrum, where living in shared accommodation will not work for them. Some of the units will be used for key workers to support those who need care.We continue to work hard with other health organisations and the NHS locally to better integrate our services. We have set up the Dorset Care Record which allows health professionals to access and share patient information. Using this system paramedics will soon be able to see the case history and GP notes and patients will have to only tell their story once. It has started to be used in Poole hospital area and will roll out across the county in the coming months. We are now jointly commissioning day care and residential care with the NHS, this gives us much greater purchasing power and has stopped the competition between organisations for a scarce resource. The Council is working closely with the District, blue light services and Health to look how the whole of the public estate could benefit the people of Dorset. Property, if it becomes surplus now, is offered to other public organisations first and in each area we are looking to create a master plan of what facilities are needed over a 10 year period. In particular we are looking to build a number of care villages across the area to provide various solutions to people as they get older.We all know that there are not enough care workers for our older population, particularly in rural areas. We are looking at ways we can help set up micro businesses and let the workers operate in their immediate communities. We will be offering more personal budgets for people to decide what care they want and when they receive it using these local agents.Rural transport has been an issue for many years now. We have all seen the busses with just one or two passengers going through our villages. We know how very important these links are for people but we cannot continue to subsidise busses in this way. We have been doing a big piece of work with the NHS non-emergency transport and also the transport to our day centres to see how we can find a more holistic solution to this problem. This seems to now be working well in most of our communities and we hope that more options will continue to be rolled out in future months.I have given an update in my District Council report about Local Government Reorganisation so I will not repeat here. Appendix (iii)Annual Report to the Parish Council 2017 Maiden Newton Ward.District Councillor Jill HaynesOver a year ago Dorset provided a submission to central Government to change from two tiers to single tier local government. This means that the District and County Councils would be dissolved and replaced by new councils. This was finally agreed in February and there will now be two councils instead of nine. The first area being the urban area, including Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole and the other covering the rest of Dorset.This now gives a very tight timescale to create these two new councils. A shadow authority for each council will be formed in June of this year and a shadow Executive of 10 county councillors and 10 district councillors will oversee the setting up of the new council. In this area the new council will be called the Dorset Council. We are currently advertising for the three principal officers for the new authority. Across the area the number of councillors will reduce from 211 to 84 with each councillor representing just under 4000 people. The new areas for the councillors will be agreed shortly with elections in May next year. The new council will “go live” on the 1st April 2019. All staff from the current councils will be transferred to the new organisation. This includes some 15,000 people from the county council and 900 from the districts. A large amount of work needs to be done to confirm the governance and policy arrangements for the new council. We also need to ensure that the IT systems talk to each other and rationalise the Council Tax across the area. Most importantly we need to ensure that people who are in receipt of council services remain safe and have a seamless move to the new authority.We were expecting this announcement over a year ago and at this late stage it will not be possible to make big changes to staffing or building use. Certainly this will need to be tackled as a matter of urgency when the new councillors are elected.Meanwhile at West Dorset District Council we are still working on increasing the numbers of houses in our Local Plan. The five year total is still too low and this means that developers can challenge development boundaries in our communities. Large developments have been passed in West Dorset, some 1500 in the last six months across the district, but developers are not moving forward and turning these into actual houses. This of course means that housing continues to be very expensive in the district, both to rent and buy, and this has a huge knock on effect in our communities. We cannot keep our young people in Dorset and we cannot recruit people like nurses and social workers simply because of the cost of housing.To help bring forward housing in West Dorset the council is running an accelerated housing scheme and putting in funding to help bring forward development on council owned land. The Executive Committee have recently agreed to set up a Local Authority Trading Company to facilitate development while keeping the housing in council control.Appendix (iv)Maiden Newton Allotments Association Report (March 2018)1.We have 82 memberships and 10 associates, which equates to at least 150 people in the village. About 5 allotment holders are not members of the Association. It is a thriving organization and social group and undoubtedly the biggest in the village. Membership remains at ?5 pa and we fundraise through weekly plant and produce sales in the growing season and at other occasional events when possible. However, as a community association, we are keen to keep our events free so as to include as many local people as possible.2.Achievements in 2017/18:We now have 50 miniplots with a further six marked out for occupancy. All Miniplots are currently taken, with many new faces. We actively promote the vacant plots within the village and in the Herald. We also have 6 raised beds for the disabled and elderly.We are affiliated to the RHS, largely for insurance purposes but we can also benefit from discounted show entries and other benefits if we wish.The original communal polytunnel of 16 plots has been badly affected by flooding and adverse weather and some of the metal work still needs repair. Although it is cleaned every year, we do not expect it to last more than another couple of years.The second tunnel has had its fifth growing season. All our equipment, including the strimmers, have either been engraved or painted to deter theft. We try to keep our strimmers off-site during the winter but one was stolen this year. We made another successful discount Kings Seeds order (approx ?1500).We issue our own membership cards and have arranged a substantial discount at Groves Garden Centres. We held regular Sunday morning or mid-week evening working parties during the growing season plus a communal breakfast in the shed. Work has included lawn mowing, strimming of common parts, painting the communal shed, repairing other sheds and general maintenance. The Diggers Inn itself has benefited from extensive repairs to the side walls, which were badly warped, and from the addition of a ‘fitted kitchen’. In future we have decided to hold working parties as required for specific tasks. Following another break-in, our metal equipment shed has been repaired and reinforced.We share skip deliveries in turn with the Parish Council and are happy to do so. There is a danger, however, that rubbish abandoned where the skip is normally delivered attracts more unwanted rubbish.We ordered a large quantity of garden canes for members at a reduced price and we offer members discounted seeds in the Diggers Inn.We have installed further water-troughs. Our fifth Annual Potato Day, held in the village hall in late February again proved highly successful. Over 90 varieties of potatoes plus lots of gardening sundries were for sale. It was widely promoted locally and within West Dorset with an excellent attendance and already have the same date arranged for 2019. A potato, sunflower and pumpkin growing competition will link it to the Village Show later in August. The heaviest pumpkin competition will be judged in September and the winner will be awarded the annual Keith Clothier cup. We invite local arts and crafts participation and appreciate their attendance as it lends interest to the day.We continue to liaise with other allotment sites and a team from Drimpton judged our Best Allotment and Miniplot competition in August, repaying our previous visit to them.We have adopted the flowers around the war memorial as our responsibility and we plant out the boxes and provide the plants.We have made a large amount of cider, for the first year much of it from our own orchard. 16 of us spent a Sunday in September making the cider.We have a page in the Herald every month, which is extremely useful and have successfully avoided using social media.We now produce an annual Programme of Events and members and newcomers alike have said they find this useful.3.Events/Fundraising:The Saturday morning produce and plant sales continued on a weekly basis through the season including the annual Pumpkin Sale in late October. First plant sale this year is due the Saturday after Easter .Our Village Show was held in the village hall in August with good attendance and stalls from some local voluntary groups. It has been re-named The Village Show to make it a more inclusive part of the village and is generously sponsored by Amber Hardware, with further kind sponsorships of individual cups by many of the local businesses and shops. This year we intend to combine with more local groups and voluntary organisations. Several summer hog roasts cum BBQs were held on the communal orchard. We intend to hold a 10 year anniversary event on the allotments during the course of this summer.An Open Allotments day was held in September with cream teas as usual. We held a well-attended soup lunch in the Diggers Inn in October. Mulled wine and mince pies were consumed outside the Diggers Inn in early January.A ninth Quiz Night was held in January this year with attendance from 50 members in the village hall.We held a skittles evening at the Chalk & Cheese in November and aim to hold another this spring. 4.Future aspirations:We have acquired a further large allotment next to Diggers Inn to prevent it going fallow and intend to use it for various purposes including a new tunnel, more miniplots, and perhaps more fruit trees.We will eventually need to replace the original polytunnel when it cannot be repaired any longer.We continue ordering wholesale items for members to buy at discount.5.Concerns:We are happy to work with the PC to make the allotment site a thriving, well organized and pleasant environment and we appreciate the good working relationship we have. At the same time, we continue to make the point that the PC own and manage the allotments, not the association. We were founded originally to press for better upkeep of the allotments. We therefore expect regular inspections by the PC and rigorous follow-up visits to offenders. We are very happy to do our bit, but we depend also on the PC to play its part in this respect.At the PC meeting on 1 February, we expressed concern that so many vehicles being driven onto the allotments in bad weather were causing damage and the PC agreed strongly that a PC notice would be placed on the gate. The PC Chair also said that the gate would be locked if this continued. Despite reminders, neither has been implemented. We have since had the wettest February ever, two snowfalls and continued very wet weather in March. The result is that the tarmac we took so much effort to put down has continued to be badly damaged. We would suggest that in future the gate be locked over winter, say, between October and March inclusive (there is a side gate for easy access). We would also request that the PC now inspect and prioritise repairs to the tarmac as soon as possible this year.We also enquire about the car park behind the village hall. For five years we have never been able to use it for Potato Day. Is there any possibility of funding grass reinforcement mesh? Otherwise, when is it ever used by other village groups? We have been burgled yet again. The allotment site is a large, open and remote location with easy access. There is little prospect of securing it as most other local sites are, and although these occurrences are not common, they are regular. The police advice is to keep our main gate closed, if it cannot be securely locked, as this is immediately off-putting to prospective thieves. It will also help our reimbursement applications if the insurance company does not discover that the gate is routinely left open. Closing the gate is common sense and it would be appreciated if the PC could encourage all allotment-holders to do so, perhaps in the agreement.We were all saddened by the death of Geoff Percival last December. He was a very popular man on the allotments and we’re glad that Pat remains with us on their plot.We purchased a bench and plaque in the memory of Keith Clothier which is situated outside the Diggers Inn. Appendix (v)MAIDEN NEWTON PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAYPATHLOCATION WALKED 2018?ACTION REQUIREDBY WHOMNEXT ACTIONS (BY WHOM)FP1Behind Church running upstream along river bank.YesThe little used sections at the N and S ends need signing.PCAsk DCC to sign correct routeFP2FP1 by hatches to Cattistock Road YesNonePCFP3Newton Road /Stanstead RoadYesNoneFP4There is no FP4?None??FP5From Drift near allotments SE to join FP24YesNone??FP6Top of Drift to New BarnYes None??FP7New Barn to NarnYesSigned on wrong route. Needs a gate/stile at New BarnPCAsk DCC to sign correct route and arrange gate/stile.BR8Drift via New Barn to A37YesElectric fence across BR at SW end.PCAsk DCC to get fence removed.FP9Fore Hill to Hog Cliff BottomYesCleared alongside MN Copse but overgrown alongside Parson's Copse. Offline and obstructed at jcn with BR10.PCAsk DCC to complete clearance and to clear and sign correct route at SE end.BR10Dorchester Road at Lower MN Farm to Yeovil Road at Hog CliffYesSign at jcn with A37 broken.?PC?Ask DCC to re-erect their sign.BR11Loop from BR10 along Hog Cliff BottomYesNone??BR12Drift Road/New RoadYesDeeply rutted in places. Potentially dangerous to riders.?PC?Ask DCC to maintain it.FP13A356 furlong S of Coombeside via Cruxton to Chammens HillYesStile onto A356 a bit wobbly. Western part of route unclear on ground and needs better signing or a map at the ends.?PC?Ask DCC to repair stile and improve the signing.BR14A356 near The Plot to railway lineYesNone??FP15Through Crockway House grounds.YesNone??FP16A356 near Crockway W to Notton Road by bridge.YesNone??BR17Southover, Throop, Notton, Notton Hill Barn to X ways at top.YesNone??BR18E from S end of 17 to Frampton boundaryYesPartly off line and obstructed.PCAsk DCC to remove the obstruction and restore the path to the correct route.FP19Cruxton SSW to Wynford BdyYesSignage incorrect in several places.PCAsk DCC to correct signage.FP20Notton Hill Barn NW to FP19MostlySmall part obstructed and inaccessible next to Notton Hill Barn. Wrongly signed also.PCAsk DCC to deal with obstructions and correct signage.FP21Cruxton SW to Greenford LaneYesNeeds a sign at junction with FP22?PC?Ask DCC to waymark.FP22Loop to NW of FP21YesNone??BR23Little Watering WayYes, mostly.Unsigned. Illegally obstructed by fences: a criminal act under s.137 of the Highways Act 1980.PCAsk DCC to sign and clear the BR in accord with its duty under s.130(1) and (6) of the Highways Act 1980. Fencing could be replaced with bridleway gates.FP24Pill Box near station E to New RoadYesPath overgrown with brambles and hedge so people are walking in the field at the east end of the path.?PC?Alert DCC.FP25Links BRs 14 and 26 across railway near The Plot, Crockway.YesNetwork Rail should remove their signs saying it isn't a right of way.PCAsk DCC to chivvy Network Rail.BR26FP25 to Frampton Boundary, thence to Hyde CrookYes Needs signingPCAsk DCC to sign.BR27Southover Bottom W to BR17 S of Notton Hill Barn.YesNone.??FP28Greenford Lane 600x S of Thistle Farm to FP22YesNone??FP29A356 opp Coombeside in field next to road to join FP13YesLittle used as most people take a short cut nearer the river.??FP30Pavement in front of the stationYesNone??Appendix (vi)Transport Report for the Annual Parish Meeting 5 April 2018BusesIn April 2017 the combined school and public route from St Osmunds and Thomas Hardye's Schools was operating successfully and officers at County Hall were optimistic that the 212 service would continue but at the end of May Damory deregistered the route. In June I did a survey, helped by volunteers, to find out who actually used the route and presented this to the officers. I should like to thank all our residents who helped with this. Maiden Newton Parish Council invited Chris Hooke,the Travel Operations manager for Dorset Travel, and representitves of the other Parishes on the 212 route to our July meeting. This was very well attended. Damory Coaches had been successful in gaining the contract to run the school services for Thomas Hardye School but linked to Dorchester Middle and not St Osmunds. They had deregistered their existing route from 22 July 2017, the date of the last services under the current timtable. Their new routes came into operation in September – no services for the summer holidays. I met with representatives from Frampton and Stratton to look at the possible alternatives and they joined us at the July Parish Council meetingCllr Jill Haynes spoke about the process concerning the tendering of bus services and the cuts to council funding from central government. Due to the budget reductions subsidies to some routes, of which the 212 was one, were removed. The national system of Senior Citizen bus passes had caused some routes to be commercially non-viable, as the bus companies received now only received a considerable reduction of the normal fare when accepting. In Dorset it had been agreed that some of the subsidy would be made available to support communities to set up their own bespoke service.Chris Hooke spoke of the links to school transport which may come into operation in September. For the summer holidays alternatives had to be found. Cllr Haynes introduced one possibility which she had found, a taxi company whuch could supply a 9 seater minibus for up to four Journeys each day serving all the villages along the route to Dorchester from Maiden Newton, or Cattistock if required. There could be no concessionary discounts on this service. Community volunteers will be needed to run the service by answering calls from a directed free phone and to arrange timings – no one offered. Cllr Haynes said that the existing Country Cars schemes struggled to find volunteers and could not be expected to take on the provision of general bus services. She suggested that each community should work out their own solutions to but it was agreed that the communities along the 212 bus route need to work together. Veronica from Frampton, Hannah from Stratton and Sally offered meet during the next week to consider the various possibilities available and to report back at a 18.00 meeting at Stratton on 17 July to which Parish representatives were invited.Cllr. Haynes reminded those present that Maiden Newton was the only village along the 212 bus route where residents have access to rail services and she asked that residents should use the train whenever possible. She was aware that the lack of disabled access at both Maiden Newton and Dorchester West meant the train was not a good alternative for the bus for some people.By the time we met Hannah had explored the possibilities of the taxi service (more expensive than Cllr. Haynes had suggested), Sally had talked to Dorset Community Transport and Cllr Haynes had passed on an offer from Dorset County Council's Travel Fleet Operations Manager. They could provide a Monday to Friday service, pre booked by telephone the day before travel, and using a dedicated number, leaving Maiden Newton at 10.00 and returning from Trinity Street at 13.00. A second service leaving Maiden Newton between 07.45 and 08.00 and returning from Dorchester at about 17.30 was offered for the summer holiday period (vehicles needed for school transport in term time) at ?15 per journey Costs to users ?2.50 single ?5.00 return. We felt this offer was the most promising and proposed, at the Stratton meeting, that it be accepted. Cllr. Haynes offered a grant to underwrite any shortfall for the first weeks and to produce a poster advertising the service.. The service started on Monday 25 July.The early morning Dorchester service attracted very low numbers (no one from Maiden Newton) and was discontinued after the first two weeks. In September Damory refused to extend their school services from Frampton to Maiden Newton or to carry adults and the Summer holiday arrangement became permanent. By the end of September Cllr. Haynes looked at the take up each week, cut the Monday service and told us we must reduce the service to 2 days a week if we were to cover the costs. I spoke to Dorset Community Transport and they were happy to accept bookings on their Wednesday service to Dorchester. Joan Dean was willing to open the Friday Dorchester Disabled bus to Frampton residents. Veronica and I spoke to bus users and we settled on the Tuesday and Thursday service for which we need an average of 12 or more people using the service each week. There is only one regular user from Stratton and only occasional use from Bradford Peverell.In September I had enquiries about the need for a bus service to Yeovil and followed this up with Dorset Community Transport. At the beginning of October they started a Thursday only service leaving Bradford Peverell at 09.15. Initially a pilot service until Christmas 2017, it proved sufficiently popular to become permanent.Details of the bus services are available in the Post Offices at Maiden Newton and Cattistock and in the Transport News provided in the Herald.First National were awarded the Beaminster School contracts last August. No public services have resulted from these. The routes offered and the type of vehicle used is now a matter to be decided between the operator and the school. There were initial problems with the services provided, some of which have not been resolved. Cllr. Goff visited Beaminster School to discuss the matter with the Headteacher in November on behalf of Maiden Newton parents and children.I brought the matter up at the County Transport Conference In February when “oopos” was on the agenda and was told there will be a review at the end of this school year. One of the issues for us is routes on offer, the distances travelled and of the time the children are now on the bus. Legally, no child should be on the bus for more than 75 minutes each way and a maximum of 2 hours 30 minutes each day. In most cases the one operator per school policy is proving popular with operators, pupils and parents. Trains The existing time table has continued unchanged from 1 January 2018 to 19 May 2018. In January the electrification of the Thames Valley services finally came into operation, releasing diesel rolling stock, some of which is now in use on our line. Reliability and punctuality have increased dramatically. Since 8 January the only cancellations have been snow related, except for one on the 13.21 from Weymouth following an incident on the down train.GWR have had their present franchise extended until 2021. The Department for Transport has carried out a consultation about the future of the service from 2021 to which Maiden Newton has responded asking for an hourly service on this line and for disabled access to platform 2 at Dorchester West Station. At the Station we have improvement to the access steps and the installation of a covered shelter for six cycle racks. Giles or I have attend the Heart of Wessex Community Rail Working Party Meetings and Giles carries out the weekly checks of the station and the reporting of problems to the area station manager at Westbury. Our reports of the pothole problems on Station Approach (part of the GWR franchise area) and the need for lighting appear to have fallen on deaf ears.I should like to thank Gaynor Ball, Giles Droop and Barbara Droop for all their work on the Station Garden. Maiden Newton can be proud of the appearance of our station. I am also attending the quarterly meetings of WATAG (Western Area Transport Action Group) at Bridport, on behalf of Maiden Newton, Frome Vauchurch and Frome Valley. These help me keep up to date with the local developments in public transport provision.Country CarsThe County Council is still supporting the Maiden Newton and Beaminster branches of the Country Car Service. The Country pays the 'dead' miles (the miles covered between the driver's home and that of the client) and the public liability insurance and also arranges the DBS checks for new drivers.Between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2017 our drivers made more than five hundred journeys helping people, unable to drive themselves, to attend their surgery, make hospital visits (Bridport, Dorchester, Poole, Sherborne, Weymouth and Yeovil), visit dentists and opticians.I have to thank Rachel Clark who has taken over the bookings. Thank you to all our drivers without whom the service could not operate. In December we welcomed Alison Blazebt to the team.Dorchester Disabled Bus Shopping Service This service, operated on the third Friday of each month, has replaced that formerly provided by Age UK and continues to be extremely popular. Joan Dean, 320778, is the local contactSally Falkingham20 March 2018Appendix (vii) Allotment Representative ReportThere are no projects planned in coming year. Good take up in the early months of this year for allotments and currently have one and a half plots vacant. The rent was increased this year to ?25 per annum for a full plot, with no complaints received from tenants.A few difficult plots have been left fallow, but these may be brought back in for rent if the demand increases.The access road to the allotments has caused concern over the deterioration of the surface. I have contacted the Rights of Way Dept, who are currently looking into it.Grateful thanks to Charles Le Vay and the Maiden Newton Allotment Association for their hard work and support over the past years.Cllr Alan Goff Appendix (viii) MUGA and the Hedley Haward Memorial playing field report MUGA Report Annual Parish Meeting April 2018The MUGA has been re-surfaced and is being used by the school, who give a donation to the Parish Council. It is also regularly used by both the Football and the Youth Clubs, who have flexible contracts. The MUGA is also available for public hire for tennis, football, netball, basket ball and other games. It is kept locked and this has worked well although there were initial objections. The electricity meters for the floodlights (housed inside the Youth and Community Centre) have been adapted for the new pound coin. We now have a maintenance programme starting in April to keep everything up together. We hope in the future to put up a new building to contain the meters and equipment.Cllr Trena FoxAppendix (ix)PLAY AREA REPORTAs usual we are always trying to improve the Play Area, but I have to say it always looks good and is very well used by the children and families of the Village. This year we have two new brightly coloured benches purchased with a donation from the Elsworth Family and donation from the Friends of the Play Area - a big 'Thank You' goes to them. We have had various surfaces repaired and hopefully we are going to have the surface under the bars done and the bars replaced. The Friends of the Play Area have agreed to purchase new bars when the surface is repaired. Unfortunately it is so expensive to have these repairs carried out we can only do them as and when money is available. The trees and bushes on the cemetery side of the Play Area have been lopped and our thanks go to Alan and Laurie for carrying out this work.The Friends of the Play Area are still in existence and are thinking of doing more fundraising to purchase new equipment plus goal posts, so please support them when they have an event.My thanks go to Alan, our Chairman, and Anne, our Clerk, for their help in keeping the Play Area in a good condition.Cherri ................
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