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MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY MEETING OF ABERDYFI COMMUNITY COUNCIL HELD IN THE OFFICE IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, LITERARY INSTITUTE, ABERDYFI

ON MONDAY, 18th FEBRUARY 2019

Present were Councillors :-                      

Cllr D Williams          Chairman        

Cllr S Bradbury Willis

Cllr Dewi Owen  

Cllr B Kelly

Cllr David Owens

Cllr G Jones,

Cllr B Lloyd

Cllr M Reynolds

Cllr B Tyrrell

AGENDA ITEM 1- APOLOGIES

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Cllrs James Bradbury-Willis & Mike Richards

Cllr Lloyd requested, through the Chair, a suspension of standing orders to add another item to the agenda, under 6a ‘Bank Closures’  This was agreed accordingly.

AGENDA ITEM 2- CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

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The Chairman extended his and Council’s deepest sympathy to Cllr Megan Reynolds, whose sister Glenys passed away after a short illness. Glenys had been a special member of the community, Cllr Williams commenting in particular the amount of hard work she had put in on behalf of Aberdyfi Big Lottery application for the old Primary School. He asked Council to stand in silent tribute.   

Michael Barnes will be retiring from all Council work from March 1st to look after Margaret his wife, who is in poor health. He has been a stalwart of our community and the Clerk in particular will miss him and would like to thank him for his work over many years on behalf of this council and the community at large.

The school building handover has been completed, Chesworths have the key and demolition contractors will shortly commence their work. There is still concern over the future of the school honours board which is now in safe keeping at the Neuadd Dyfi until its future can be confirmed.

This Wednesday the Reading Room decorating is commencing.

AGENDA ITEM 3 – RECEIVE AND CONFIRM MINUTES OF ORDINARY MEETING 21st JANUARY

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It was agreed that the minutes were a true and accurate record of ordinary meeting of              21ST January.

PROPOSED by Cllr Brian Kelly and SECONDED by Cllr Bryn Lloyd

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AGENDA ITEM 4 – MATTERS ARISING

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M/111 Cyclepath

The cyclepath planning application has been lodged with Snowdonia.

M/55 Speeding in the village

Cllr Lloyd noted that the police radar speed trap had been in operation on the main Tywyn road exiting the village, in the vicinity of the Trefeddian Hotel.

M/117 Leases

The leases for the Neuad Dyfi car park and the Playing Field have both been received and forwarded to Cllr Richards for examination. There are still some boundary and right of way issues which will be addressed by the Clerk and Cllr Richards in consultation with Gwynedd Council legal department.

M/127 Toilets steam cleaning and painting

The Clerk has received full costs for this work, including repainting of the gable cladding, from Scrubadub and Simon Furneaux, to AA&I.

Cllr Tyrrell volunteered to coordinate and manage the process, once permissions have been obtained from Alun Wyn Jones.

The Clerk responded to a question from Cllr Jones regarding the ownership of freeholds and leases on the toilet block by informing the meeting that the ownership details had been requested from Bethan Hughes, Gwynedd Council Community Coordinator.

M/135 Gas mains work

The Clerk checked with Highways concerning Cllr Richards concerns over access by the contractors over the Running Track, without permission from ACC, as leaseholders. He was informed that gas utiliites contractors have automatic access at all times to carry out such renewal work, regardless of a protection order, apparently without need to notify in a manner which we might expect. The work has been delayed by water table problems.

M/135 Seabreeze

The structure which the Seabeeze erects outside the restaurant is a temporary/part time addition which can be dismantled when not in use, and is within the property boundary and did not require planning permission.

M/135 Memorial benches

The Clerk has discussed the replacing of benches on Seaview Terrace with Alun Wyn Jones who is fully supportive of any initiative to replace the old benches on Seaview Terrace. The Clerk will liaise with Cllr Tyrrell and draw up an agreement for prospective memorial bench donations and agree a recommended bench style and memorial plaque style for the village.

AGENDA ITEM 5

ACC WEBSITE

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There was an open discussion regarding the three tenders from independent contractors with regard to the new Community Council website.

It was felt by Council that the document from Dave Bowen was insufficient regarding detail and costings and therefore the choice was between Digital Egg and Saturn only.

Cllr Sara Bradbury-Willis felt that she favoured Digital Egg based on the tender document. She also voiced her views on the correspondence from One Voice Wales and felt the message from them was that decisions on councillors submitting tenders was at the council’s discretion as long as long as the process was transparent. With this in mind, a tender by Cllr James Bradbury-Willis night have been considered’

Cllr Reynolds also favoured the Digital Egg proposal.

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Cllr Lloyd said he was happy with either Saturn or Digital Egg and Cllr Jones was happy to accept whichever choice Council made.

Cllr Tyrrell had minor technical concerns with the Saturn proposal and then sought clarification with regard to copy preparation. The Clerk confirmed that he was happy to prepare the draft copy content with which the contractor will work.

Cllr David Owens also concurred and felt that Digital Egg’s proposal was the better of the two.

Cllr Tyrrell noted that any ongoing costs should be kept under close control.

Cllr Kelly outlined to Council how the hosting process worked, which essentially was disc space provided by a ‘provider’. The content would comprise either static or dynamic content management systems, whereby access would be allowed to enable the user to amend and control time and content sensitive material. Cllr Kelly felt that Saturn’s content management system was restrictive.

He then outlined the problems with regard to bi-lingual content. Automatic translation creates problems because of the different amount of space different languages take up on a website, with resultant issues of confusion. The matter of addressing the language question is a technical matter which would be addressed during the process of website construction.

Cllr Owen observed that both tenders were suitable but favoured Digital Egg as the business proprietor had a home in Aberdyfi.

A show of hands indicated overwhelming support for choosing Digital Egg, subject to, on the advice of Cllr Kelly, seeking clarification on some issues of content management.

Proposed   Cllr Bob Tyrrell     Seconded Cllr Brian Kelly

AGENDA ITEM 6 – GWYNEDD COUNCIL REPORT

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Cllr Owen had very little to report, pending the final outcome of the Gwynedd financial budget proposals.

Cllr Lloyd asked about the anomaly regarding the closed road signage on Gwelfor Road, closed one way but not the other.

AGENDA ITEM 6A – BANK CLOSURES

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Cllr Lloyd expressed concern over the closure of the last bank in the Dyfi Valley, Barclays of Tywyn in June. The rate of closures in the last three years has resulted in significant problems for local retailers requiring a facility to bank cash. Although post offices can provide a service, Cllr Lloyd felt that this was not a long-term solution. Barclays for example did not have an arrangement to provide cash for businesses. Also, in Aberdyfi, local shops are under ongoing pressure from members of the public to provide coinage for parking. Cllr Lloyd suggested that this Council discuss the problem with Tywyn Council Clerk and ascertain whether the two communities may perhaps work together to highlight the problem with a view to identifying a solution. The Clerk will liaise with Tywyn Clerk.

It was noted that NatWest operated a mobile bank service. Cllr Sara Bradbury-Willis pointed out that there was a cashless ticket machine in the main car park.

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AGENDA ITEM 7 – PLANNING

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NP5/50/725A                     Gwynfa, Aberdyfi

Aterations including side and rear extensions

APPLICATION

AGENDA ITEM 8 – TREASURER’S  REPORT

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The Clerk wishes to draft a reserve policy, in line with Wales Audit Office recommendations, for ratification at the May AGM and ordinary council meeting.

The Clerk had met with NatWest Bank in Aberystwyth and the bank confirmed that electronic banking can be utilised by this Council.

PROPOSED by Cllr Bryn Lloyd  SECONDED by Cllr Brian Kelly

AGENDA ITEM 9 – COMMITTEE  REPORTS

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Wharf Gardens Committee          Cllr Lloyd has managed to persuade Clare Askew from Outward Bound, a gardening professional, to assistwith the planting project on the Wharf and also Penhelig Gardens where Clare has already carried out extensive work. Cllr Lloyd has requested volunteers from the village to carry out weeding and preparation on the Wharf for the forthcoming weekend of Saturday 23rd February starting at 0900. This initiative will be publicised in Rushlight.

                                                            Clare had liaised with David Richardson resulting in a planting plan. Derwen Gardens in Welshpool have been recommended and Clare has permission from Al Crisp from Outward Bound to use one of their vans to collect the plants.

                                                The project will be funded through AA&I but conducted by ACC.

                                                Cllr Williams recommended a risk assessment.

AGENDA ITEM 10 – CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED

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North Wales Health Council        Confirmation of an online survey of GP out-of-hours service.

Llangollen 2019 Eisteddfod        Request for support funding

Wales Audit Office                         Internal audit report for Wales

Advisian                                            Request for an update on Aberdyfi Gasworks Conservation Project for a conference case study presentation on community brownfield sites in Europe. June 13/14 in Lyon “Sustainable Land management”

Network Rail                                   Advice of sleeper changing work March 25th to April 1st

One Voice Wales                             Confirmation membership renewal request £290.00

Literary Institute                           Confirmation of office and storage rental for 2019/20.

Snowdonia National Trust           Eryri Local Development Plan – adopted

Carers Trust                                     Request for financial contribution.

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AGENDA ITEM 11 – PUBLICATIONS

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None 

AGENDA ITEM 12 – ANY OTHER BUSINESS

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Clerk                                        Gareth Thomas has vacated his allotment in the villager and the Clerk has installed a new tenant from the village, Emma Garfield. Emma works for Outward Bound and has also volunteered for the village planting project.

Cllr Tyrrell                                Cllr Tyrrell brought up the matter of Michael Barnes retirement and whether a replacement had been found. The Clerk said that he was in conversation with Paul Reeves.

Cllr Jones                                 Cllr Jones asked whether anyone could throw light on the rumour regarding the potential closure of the wooden jetty on the wharf. Clr Owen would check out the situation

AGENDA ITEM 15 ITEMS FOR RUSHLIGHT   

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ITEMS FOR PRESS RELEASE

GP out of hours survey

Thank you to Michael Barnes

Names ideas for the affordable housing

23rd February wharf gardens volunteers

Aortic aneurism

Aberdyfi Players congratulations

Meeting closed at 21.30

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