Minutes of the South Petherwin Annual Parish Meeting held on Wednesday 4th May 2022, at 7pm, in South Petherwin Village Hall.
Present: Cllr P Parsons (Chairman), Cllr A Finnimore (Vice Chairman), Cllr A Barham, Cllr M Screech, and
Cllr A Jasper
In Attendance: Linda Coles, Parish Clerk.
There were seven members of the public present.
Item 1. Apologies. Apologies were received from Cllr Kneebone, Cllr Rogers, Cllr Butler, Cllr Barlow
and Cllr A Parsons, Cornwall Councillor.
Item 2. Chairman’s Welcome. The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting.
Item 3. Minutes of the 2021 Annual Parish Meeting.
It was resolved that the Minutes of that meeting were correct.
Item 4. Reports of Parish Council matters during the year.
The Chairman of South Petherwin Parish Council reported the following:
- Traffic Calming installations at Daws House
- Parish Council has made representation to National Highways and is working with neighbouring Parishes regarding the A30 Plusha Junction.
- The threatened closure of Launceston Leisure Centre. Cllr A Parsons is working on this on behalf of the Parish Council.
- Launceston Forest Project is still progressing, the forest wraps itself around Pennygillam to the west. The Parish Council is hoping to be involved.
- The Parish Council is organising many events for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and is looking forward to the celebrations. Full details of the programme will be publishes in the Parish Magazine.
Item 5. Reports from local organisations.
Reports from the following are attached to these Minutes as Appendices:
- South Petherwin CP School
- St Paternus Church
- South Petherwin Village Hall
- Lunch Club
- South Petherwin Community Benefit Fund
- South Petherwin Bell Ringers
- Parish Magazine and Website
- South Petherwin Methodist Church
- Neighbourhood Watch
- South Petherwin Pre-School
- Speed Awareness Group, Juststopspeeding.
- Inspector Dan Harvey, Devon and Cornwall Police.
Item 6. Public Open Forum.
A member of the public said that the solar light installed by Cllr J Barlow at the junction of the footpath between Trelinnoe Close and Trelinnoe Gardens has been removed. Cllr J Barlow was thanked for putting a light up and the Parish Council will discuss this further at its next meeting.
Item 7. Closure of the meeting. The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.00pm
South Petherwin CP School
St Paternus Church
The Church is now open for worship and the new Priest, Sean Clancy, was been welcomed last June. He and his family live in South Petherwin but he is responsible for five parishes and so is very busy. The Church has been active last year, Covid permitting. There are two Sunday Services per month; the second Sunday is Eucharist at 9.30am and the fourth Sunday is at 10.15am led by a Lay Preacher. On Wednesdays there is Holy Communion at 11.30am.
It is hoped that by allowing people to come to church early it will enable them to enjoy the rest of the day.
There have been two or three wonderful weddings in the last year.
Fund raising events are being planned for later in the year, hopefully a concert and also Jubilee events.
Finally, it is a Parish Church and it is hoped to see more people attending services in the future, all will be very welcome. There is a Coffee Morning this coming Saturday from 10.00am onwards for the Open Book Team that visits the local schools.
South Petherwin Village Hall
Covid-19 had a detrimental effect on bookings; even though some regulars have come back, many have decided not to return. However, we are pleased to see that it is now gaining some new users (Yoga, Acting and Table Tennis and Games Night).
This year we have added anew fridge and cooker in the kitchen, put new blinds in the main part of the hall and had LED lighting installed and updated the fire doors. Next on the list is exterior redecoration.
Heating is always an issue and currently the hall is heated using overhead heaters powered by coin slots. We recently carried out a structural survey and have ascertained that we can’t lag the hall roof and that the best course of action is to create an internal shell that will have lagging between it and the existing building.
The nest stage is to have plans drawn up for this inner shell, that we can then obtain quotes for. There will be insulation between the existing exterior and interior shell and appropriate heating and lighting will be added.
The costs for the structural drawing can be covered by funds held by the Village Hall, but the costs for the building of the inner shell will need to be funded mostly by grants and fund raising.
So far the hall has raised £4640.82 through regular quizzes and a Golf Day. There will be a table top sale in May. The committee has purchased the equipment from the disbanded Skittle Club for future use.
If anyone wishes to join the committee. Please let us know – new people are always welcome.
Lunch Club
The Lunch Club has started up in the Frog and Bucket and is held on every last Thursday of the month. It is for seniors and the cost is £10 for two courses. So far it has been very successful. Transport has been raised by some as an issue and volunteer transport will be looked at for the future.
South Petherwin Community Benefit Fund
The Community Benefit Trustees have met on 4 occasions over the last 12 months’ and have distributed the following grants, within the South Petherwin Parish.
- Gillett & Johnston for repairs to the clock £417.60
- South Petherwin Parish Lunch £530.00
- South Petherwin Cricket Club for a defibrillator £1,820.00.
- A student in the Parish £300.00
- South Petherwin Parish Council re the Parish Platinum Celebrations £500.00
As at our last meeting on 20th April 2022, I reported that there was a balance in the Trust’s bank account of £11,462.98. The Accounts, for the year ending 30th April 2021 have been professionally audited by Prydis Accountants in Liskeard.
Jonathan Blake, Treasurer
4th May 2022
South Petherwin Bell Ringers
There has been very little bell ringing in 2021 but we did ring for two weddings (including the Chairman’s daughter) and now the church services have been changed we are only ringing on the 2nd Sunday from 9.00am to 9.30am.
The bells themselves are in good shape and we have had two working parties to clean in the belfry, to the disdain of the Jackdaws.
The ringers themselves have funded new carpet in the ringing chamber. A great enhancement.
The tower, clock room and ringing chamber will be open during the Platinum Jubilee weekend celebration but visitors must be accompanied and visit at their own risk.
Parish Magazine (Editor)
The magazine has been running well – we are now at 40 pages in colour and proud of the fact that we still deliver the magazine for free to all the parish. From the beginning of the year we put up our advertising costs for the first time in 5 years, helping to offset the rising print costs – they are increasing by 15% for the next issue. Another solution is to print some of the pages in black and white, which we will look at for the next issue due out mid-May. We would also like to thank Cllr Adrian Parsons for his Community Chest fund grant of £200.
We are given many amazing articles and photos by our regular contributors and general public. These ensure we have a magazine that reflects the issues that are relevant to everyone who lives here, so please contact us if you have an idea for an article – or even just a photo that you would like to share. This year we will be re-running the parish calendar with proceeds going to Air Ambulance again.
We always welcome new committee members – at present, the magazine is run by volunteers. I would personally like to thank everyone who is involved – their commitment is amazing.
Website
Since our relaunch in May 202, we now have over 30,000 views and 11,000 users. We encourage people to sign up to the email distribution list which means they receive notifications of news as it happens. We have a page for all clubs and societies – if you want to add/update yours please let us know. The Partners Page is where our magazine advertisers can advertise for a small annual fee. This all helps to pay for the website administrator.
Thanks to funding received from Cornwall Community Foundation (Papillon) Fund, the website has been updated to meet current legislation targets for accessibility.
SOUTH PETHERWIN METHODIST CHURCH REPORT 4TH MAY 2022
We are more or less back to normal after a busy 12 months. Along with the Covid 19 restrictions we have had major repair and redecorating work taking place. We ventured back to our Sunday school room for our first service which was our Harvest Festival Service on 3rd October 2021. We have been continuing to meet in our Sunday school room with all the Methodist Church guidelines adhered to.
We are pleased to announce that we will finally be worshipping back in our chapel on Sunday next 8th May to celebrate our 150 years Chapel Anniversary. This will be led by our minister Rev Jo Smart, who will be leaving our Circuit in July. Our Friendship group has now recommenced and the Sunday school room is again being used by various groups, together with the weekly Mobile Post Office on a Thursday afternoon, which has continued running it’ s services throughout within a safe environment and which is also well supported.
We have just had our Quinquennial Church inspection and have been given a positive report by the Inspector noting especially all the work taken place since the last one. One area he has picked up on though is that disclaimer notices should be displayed on the entrances to the graveyard and car park, both of which are not public rights of way or public areas and entry onto these sites is at your own risk. We are now in the process of getting these signs made.
We continue with our outreach work into the community and strive to make our premises a friendly and welcoming environment.
Mary Stoneman
NHW REPORT 4th MAY 2022
As a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, all Devon and Cornwall Alert messages are sent to me within the secure Neighbourhood Alert system and are clearly branded as being from Devon and Cornwall Police I then forward them onto my members via email but they can also be shared via other forms of social media.
The system is continuing to work well at a national and local level and alerts are being sent out on a regular basis including details of the latest scams and any rural crime updates. To sign up to this system you are required to complete an online registration form and have the opportunity to select the settings that interest you.
We are encouraged to pass on any relevant information to those who would not otherwise be able to access this information. This includes placing information in the Tregaller Lane notice board and using the Parish magazine to communicate these important issues.
Mary Stoneman
South Petherwin Preschool
We have had a busy last 12 months at preschool. We have welcomed several new families, and time seems to be going by so quickly. We are pleased to be getting back to some normality and are delighted we can welcome families to be more involved in preschool. We had an Easter coffee morning and egg hunt, and the children made some lovely Easter bonnets. It was great being able to allow the children to show their preschool environment, and all the things they enjoy to their families. We are looking forward to being able to hold a sports day event this year, and getting all the families involved. We love having visitors at preschool, if there is anybody that wishes to share a craft activity with us, help us with our garden and planting, or want to tell a story to the children we would love to have you visit in a morning or afternoon. Please get in touch.
We have 12 Children moving up to South Petherwin primary school in September, and a few new families waiting to start. We will be holding an open day in July for families wishing to view the preschool.
Speed Awareness Group – Juststopspeeding.
In essence the works at Daws House have made some difference. We have noticed a slowdown of traffic. However those persistent offenders seem to have only become more irrational and dangerous past the new installation.
Ultimately, they are going even faster to get past the street furniture quicker. This puts even more risk on the table for other road users. However, all of this we have already communicated to the County Council. As ever they see fit to behaviours akin to bulls in a china shop, putting something in place, but not the actual thing to fix the problem!
Let’s wait until there are some accidents, hopefully without deaths. It seems only then do the Council have the data to lead them to the conclusions everyone else has already reached, without the endless waste of public funds……speed cameras!!
Thank you to the Parish Council for getting us to this stage.
Launceston Sector Police Report – Inspector Dan Harvey
Devon and Cornwall continue to have the third lowest crime rate out of the 42 police forces in the country and have a lower than national average crime rates per 1000 population. While the latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) crime figures for January 2021- December 2021 report a 5.9% increase in recorded crime, this is likely due to crime returning to pre covid levels and follows national trends.
The latest crime statistics reflect how our region is adjusting to life post lockdown and the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. The increase in overall crime is likely due to a return to pre covid levels of crime being reported in many offence types. This change is reflected nationally across all forces.
Some aspects of crime have not returned to their pre covid levels. Historically we have had relatively low levels of acquisitive crimes including burglary and fraud. Unlike many other Force areas, we haven’t seen these return to pre covid levels. As such we have the lowest levels of crime for a number of acquisitive crime types. Given the current financial climate this is an area we will continue to monitor closely as we know that austerity can be a driver for rises in acquisitive crimes.
Some aspects of crime have risen both in Devon and Cornwall and nationally including sexual offences which have risen by 20.5%. Nationally, policing saw increases in rape and sexual offences starting in March 2021. This coincided with the ending of lockdown and an increased focus on Violence Against Women and Girls – factors that have driven an increased confidence to report sexual offending among victims in Devon and Cornwall. We continue to make Violence Against Women and Girls, and sexual offences a priority across the force.
All burglary offences have seen a decrease of 15%, falling during the lockdowns and not rising back to their former levels. The decrease in acquisitive crime in Devon and Cornwall again reflects national trends.
Public order offences have risen 15.5% and the Force is third place nationally. The increase in public order offending in Devon and Cornwall also reflects national trends. There are a number of issues that have increased protests nationally over the last two years including Brexit, Covid and Covid restrictions, fuel availability and price, environmental issues and politics. Locally we also saw increased protest during the G7 summit last year.
There has also been a decrease of drug offences by 7.4%. Drugs offences include drugs possession and trafficking offences. The decrease is these offences is also likely due to the impact of our police officers pro-actively tackling drugs-related crime.
Launceston Urban and Rural Crime Figures
Launceston crime figures reflect the wider geographic area than just the parish pertaining to South Petherwin.
The increase in drug possession offences is due to a proactive operation where a number of individuals were targeted resulting in the seizure of small quantities of drugs.
In the summer of 2021, an individual from Liverpool lodged with an old friend in Launceston Town and was responsible for 24 shoplifting offences, hence the significant increase. He is now serving a prison sentence in the north of England having been prosecuted by Launceston neighbourhood Team.
The recorded increase in Arsons included moorland which has been targeted in the early part of this year.
A 400% increase in robberies is largely down to school age kids bullying and being reported to the police. The figures are low, hence the alarming rise in percentage.
The local police have been under pressure to manage the increased demand in incidents being reported, particularly road related matters, now traffic has resumed to pre-Covid levels.
Launceston Policing resources will be increasing over the coming year due to the Governments 20,000 Police Officer Uplift. Whilst the benefits of this recruitment won’t be seen for a couple of years whilst the new officers acclimatise and gain experience, they will be a welcomed addition when they arrive.
Your local neighbourhood Team consists of:-
Team Lead – A/PS Jon Stutley
Launceston Beat Manager – Della Moloney
Sector Beat Manager – Caroline franklin
PCSO – Sarah Ross
REPORTS THAT WERE RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR THE MEETING:
Councillor Adrian Parsons, Cornwall Council
It’s hard to believe that I am writing this annual report looking back over the last 12 months and that we are already a quarter of the way through this council term. As I said at the time it was an absolute honour to be elected as the first Divisional member to serve the newly formed Altarnun and Stoke Climsland Division, but with it would come the responsibility of having to cover the largest Division by land area in Cornwall. I was one of the Councillors who objected to cutting the number of acting councillors from 123 to 87 and I still maintain this position. We all go about our work in different ways and I try to help all those who require assistance on Cornwall Council matters but there is no doubt in my mind that there was far better representation for constituents under the old format. The position was always deemed to be a part time job but from my own experience with the extra parish council meetings and duties and an ever increasing casework load there is a danger it is being pushed towards the realms of a full time position. I actually think this is fine if that’s how they want to package it, but unless they offer a competitive wage which I don’t envisage them doing I’m not sure how they will ever get a diverse mix of future candidates to come forward, which cannot be a good thing for democracy or giving the electorate a choice of candidates.
The change in Division boundaries was always going to throw up some interesting results, where in some instances putting acting members to stand against each other. Following the election it became apparent there had been a massive swing in how the people had voted, with many experienced Cornwall Councillors losing their seats which they had held for a number of years, with the Conservative Party sweeping into power and taking full control of the Council. Interestingly ours was the only Division the Conservatives didn’t field a candidate!
So within this at full council and committee level it’s been a big shift from the previous four years in the role. I relinquished my position on the strategic planning committee remaining on the East Cornwall planning committee whilst going from being within the administration making decisions to being in opposition without really knowing what would be coming down the track. The first six months felt quite quiet without much change but then things moved up a gear, as I have detailed before, with cuts being made to many of our essential services which I fear will affect the most vulnerable in society combined with a council tax rise against the backdrop of escalating rises to the cost of living right across the board.
Locally we’ve had storm Franklin and Eunice batter us in quick succession leading to losses of power and internet connections which for some of our rural folk took far too long before being reconnected. Also here within South Petherwin it became apparent to me very early on that there were a group of residents who were very vocal about speeding issues through South Petherwin and Daws House demanding action, after years of frustration in trying to achieve the desired results. Off the back of this we managed to get a plan drawn up and put out to public consultation for improvements at Daws House, which were implemented recently. To most of us I don’t think we are surprised that it has received a mixed reaction from members of the public. I would hope it has slowed the traffic down for the residents who live there but with any traffic island that pushes traffic to the other side of the road facing oncoming vehicles it is bound to increase the potential for an accident when road users are either travelling too fast or not adhering to the traffic management rules/highway code! I would hope with time people will get used to the new layout, but if not we will have to revisit the plan for further discussions if we need to iron out any problems!
With the first year now coming to a close I would like to say we can look forward to the next one in a positive manner. However at this moment in time I’m afraid I don’t see things improving too much but I hope if we work hard there will still be opportunities within the system where we can deliver benefits for the residents that we represent.
Another Report for St Paturnus Church – Rebecca Screech
Since the COVID restrictions have been lifted South Petherwin Church has returned to some normality. The Parochial Church Council have been busy cleaning and sorting ahead of reopening and we are delighted that the Church is once again open to visitors during the day.
Coffee mornings, on the first Saturday of each month between 10 and 12, have recommenced. The coffee morning in April was busy and happy and brought together parishioners old and new, it was great to see everyone again.
In June 2021 we were fortunate to welcome Reverand Sean Clancy and his family to the village and to the Church. There is now a weekly Wednesday morning service at 11am, Eucharist with Reverend Clancy, and Sunday services, the second Sunday of each month and at 9.30am, Eucharist with Reverend Clancy, and the fourth Sunday of each month at 10.15am, Morning Prayer with Dr Brian Davis. In the last year the Church has celebrated 3 wonderful weddings; Ellie Parsons to Dom Cullura, Cat Mason to Richard Screech and a couple who are now based in Plymouth as the groom was in the Navy and a well attended Remembrance Service in November.
The recent strong winds had blown down the lightening conductor from the church tower and brought a large branch down from a churchyard tree. A representative from the company who carried out the repairs had to abseil down the church tower (which is quite a height) to replace the conductor and many thanks to helpers from the village who cleared the fallen branch. The Cake and Rakers group continue to do great work and the Churchyard is looking alive and healthy, thank you.
The Church has some exciting plans for the future; for the Jubilee weekend the Church will open on Friday 3rd June between 12 and 4 for church tower and clock tours, church tours, a treasure hunt and possibly a teddy bear zip wire! On Saturday 4th June, the Church will open between 10-12 for bacon sandwiches and teas/coffee.
On 9th July the Church will be hosting ‘South Petherwin’s’ Got Talent’ to raise funds for a much needed new boiler. Registration will open in June for budding singers, musicians, actors, poetry readers, dancers with special guest judge Tony Butler. Please contact Abigail Caine via for more details.
Finally the Church Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place at 6.15pm on 19th May in the Church. Everyone is welcome, in particular anyone who is interested in joining the Church Council or fulfilling a role within the Church so it can continue to be there for the whole community.