Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the Annual Town Meeting held at The Manor House, Dawlish on Wednesday, 13 March 2019.

The meeting considered the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Town held on 13  March 2019.

Resolved that the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Town held on 13 March 2019 be approved and signed as a correct and accurate record.

Serving two consecutive years as Mayor of Dawlish has been a real honour, a challenge, and a whirlwind of exciting plus difficult experiences. 

The first line from Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ comes to mind; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.  With the vaccination roll-out continuing apace, I am optimistic that we are now in “the Spring of Hope”.

I have appreciated what an amazing and empowering community we have in Dawlish – in this time of crisis we have seen the positives of connections and people working together – the knitting together of society in a time of crisis.  Thank you to all key workers, volunteers, and all involved in Helping Dawlish.

I remember in May 2019 when I was selected as Mayor, I felt excitement and a passion to do my best for Dawlish and the people of our parish.  What followed was a whirlwind of exciting events including visiting local community events, groups and meeting people, the fabulous Dawlish Celebrates Carnival week, the Christmas market on The Strand, and hosting a Childrens’ Christmas party.

March 2020, and I returned to Dawlish from a week’s holiday and two days later the whole country went into the first lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Lockdown was totally new to all of us – restrictions on our movements, strict instructions to stay inside, and a public health emergency. 

April 2020 – Dawlish Town Council was commended by government minister Robert Jenrick, and the NALC (National Association of Local Councils) for being one of five councils ‘currently leading the way’ – for the establishment of Helping Dawlish, an “emergency response fund”.

Also that month, following the Town Clerk contacting all town councillors to consider the constitution of the Council for the following year, I was asked by Cllr Mawhood, the Deputy Mayor, to continue as mayor for a further year.  I thought that stability and continuity would be the best option for Dawlish Town Council, and for the Parish of Dawlish, in a time of unprecedented crisis and increased stress.  Hence I volunteered to continue to serve as Mayor (thinking it would only be for six months maximum!).

Virtual town council meetings on Zoom and live on Facebook followed, plus planning for Covid-19 secure measures for helping all in need through Helping Dawlish, and planning for opening up the town and local businesses from the first lockdown. 

Among my positive memories are attending all films shown at the Dawlish Drive-In Cinema, organising the Virtual Easter Bonnet Parade this year, helping with the Dawlish Poppy Wall and the Luke Wavewalker story-telling competition, plus organising the creation of ‘A Dawlish Christmas Carol’.

Finally, it has been a huge honour to be the Mayor of Dawlish, especially during this most difficult term.  I have managed this on top of working in my day job in the NHS at the RD&E Hospital.

Thank you to all the Dawlish Town Council staff – thanks to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

The past two years have been unusual to say the least, and I’d like to thank the office staff for all of their work to keep us up and running through such trying times.

In particular I’d like to thank Yola Mitchell, our Finance officer for the past few years, who is leaving us for pastures new.  Yola has worked hard to rationalise the finance system, implementing new systems and bringing the accounts in-house so that we have a much clearer grip on the financial control of the council.

It has been a busy time:

When the lockdown came into force we had to firstly help the parish, and I have been both delighted and amazed at how quickly Helping Dawlish came into being.  Bringing together so many organisations and ensuring that finances were in place, and donations well managed.  Seeing how so many people sprang into action and how generous everyone has been makes me proud to be part of such a wonderful community.

We were very concerned about the council’s income during the lockdown, as we are dependent on rental and bookings for the manor house, and with the cancellation of all such bookings that element of our budget shrank away.

On the other hand, with the cancellation and postponement of most events in the year, we have managed to control the expenditure.  In addition many of the usual grants that the council would give relate to in-person activities that couldn’t take place.

So at the end of the year, despite the reduced income, we have a better financial position than we had feared, and many challenges ahead with an uncertain economy.  We also have a backlog of many things that need to be done in the town and wider parish.

During the past year or so we have invested in IT and remote working facilities.  These have been well used and I’d like to thank staff and councillors alike for their patience in virtual meetings, and especially to all the chairs who rapidly learnt new skills and the catch phrase of the year  ‘I think you are on mute’…

Looking forward, we have a lot to get done, let alone catching up on things we had to put off from the past year.  We need to follow on from the successful actions of the Mental Health working group, and the Climate Emergency group.  There is significant work to do to reduce the carbon footprint of the council, and the energy running costs.  While we have swapped our energy supply for a greener and cheaper alternative supplier, there is a lot more to do yet with solar power and better insulation as first steps. 

We also have the Play Park and Trail to move forward and more to help the local economy get back up and running, and I am determined to see the new Bandstand a reality.  Other opportunities are opening up to us as well.  Along with recovery grants and short term funding options, we have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chairman of the Civic Amenities Committee advised the following ongoing projects were:

·         Up-dating/addition of finger post signage.

·         Swan Information Board for Tuck’s Plot.

·         Community Information Boards.

·         Replacement fencing in Brunswick Place, together with up-grading of waterfowl enclosure.

·         Enquiries re. another bird island in the Brook.

·         Investigation re. future dredging of The Brook.

·         Installation of bench at Penfield Gardens.

·         Signage on The Lawn.

Regular management, revisions and renewals included:

·         Decorative and Festive lighting, including potential additions at Tuck’s Plot and in Brunswick Place.

·         Hanging baskets and other decorative planting

·         Care of the Waterfowl.

·         Management of Little Week Play-Park.

·         Management of Sandy Lane Skate Park.

·         Management of Brownsbrook Allotments.

·         Regular Green Reports and liaison with the appropriate TDC officers. Problem areas noted during a walk around local green spaces with the TDC officer and including matters brought to our attention by residents and those identified by Councillors themselves.

·         Regular Parish Audits and liaison with local Authorities as necessary, concerning road safety matters and Including requests regarding blocked drains, litter bins and dog waste bins etc., Again, problems include those identified by residents and also Councillors.

The list was not exhaustive, but highlighted some of the many matters councillors were lobbying organisations on the behalf of residents of the Parish.

Councillor Mayne reported on the difficulties faced by the Council during the Covid-19 pandemic and the drastically reduced hire income.  This had been balanced by a reduction in cleaning and caretaking costs.

On-going projects included:

·         Renovation of the female toilets

·         Potential installation of solar pv panels

·         Investigations into ground source and air source heat pumps as boiler replacements

·         Refurbishment of the conservatory

She hoped it would not be too much longer before the community could begin using such a key asset again.

Councillor Goodman-Bradbury detailed the many varied applications that had gone before the Town Council’s planning committee, with each application being given serious consideration prior to making recommendations to the local planning authority, Teignbridge District Council.

In addition, the Town Council had responded to several consultations, including the Local Plan Part Two which would set out the planning authority’s priorities for planning across the district in the short to medium term future.

There’s not a great deal to report.  The Events Committee Is all about Getting people together and of course that’s not been Possible for the last year

however, that doesn’t mean that Angie Weatherhead, who does all the actual work for the events committee, had Nothing to do.

To start with, there was the wreckage from the lockdown train crash to sort out.  unbooking things like the lawn, marquees and so on and unbooking people like the entertainers and stallholders.  I know Angie seemed to spend the spring negotiating cancellation fees, organising repayments and generally reassuring people that It wasn’t the end of the world and, being Angie, she of course got Involved in the fire fighting.

The Town Council had realised right from the start that people may need help to get through the lockdown and funds to do so were set aside …….and Angie was at the centre of the “Helping Dawlish” programme.

Apart from broad statistics which mean very little, of course, I don’t know details of the help which was given.  all I know Is…. It was a lot, judging from the many messages of thanks that came In.  and who will forget the free fish and chips delivered to the sheltered members of our community who were unable to go out?

Angie, and all the people who helped by collecting, shopping, delivering, keeping in touch, and many other ways deserve enormous thanks. 

There wasn’t much left of the events programme, but Angie managed to arrange a few Items.  I asked her to list things which stuck in her mind and, If I may, I’ll just read to you her response:

“Covid secure events:

·         1st ever drive in cinema for Dawlish at Warren Farm, including the first ever Dawlish drive in Church Service.  Two vivid recollections the heavens opening after toy story 4 and we were all soaked as those in cars departed and being enormously proud when we did the evening films that we had managed it! Volunteers helped us throughout.

·         Christmas Tree on the bandstand from the Events budget. Had no idea of size and the kicking of TDC to achieve it must be experienced to believe it. Everyone loved the tree. Every time the wind blew over the period my heart went it might go over but we only had one morning of a slight tilt.

·         The Poppy Wall along the wall of the bowling green – an idea from Dallas, loved and will be returning this year.

·         Virtual Santa by zoom and then visits to doorsteps by elves. Another first – lots of happy kids – biggest hiccup was the booking system sort of fell over due to demand at the start. Some of the elves were amazing in entertaining the kids on zoom before they got through to the real Santa….

·         The Nativity Float- thanks to volunteers, craftsman, and Carnival lending it. I learnt to spell the word correctly in the end.

Vaccination marshalling

We started in December 2020 and my  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Electors are reminded that written representation should have been presented to the Town Clerk at the Town Council Office, The Manor House, Old Town Street, by 12 noon on 24 May 2021

There was none.