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Notes on the Community Council Meeting for 5th October 2004
. During the public participation section at the start of the meeting, that carried on into the council meeting, an aggrieved acquaintance of Councillor Thompson read out a letter on Councillor Thomsons' behalf sent to Ms Thompson by the Police regarding the collection of money from the car park in Manorbier. The police had been sent the letter following a written complaint made by Councillor Davies about the collection of monies on the car park without the appropriate licence. County Councillor Calver felt that although the acquaintance of Ms Thompson had a perfect right to air his grievance he felt it was not a matter for the Manorbier Community Council but a matter for the parties concerned. He was also concerned that the Community Council was not aware of the full facts, as the letter that the meeting was told had been received by the police had not been viewed by all the Council members. It was agreed that the acquaintance would provide the letter to the council by the next meting. Councillor Davies felt that this matter was of no concern for the council and he would not be answering any questions on the subject only to say that a parishioner informed him of his concerns regarding money being collected which he had then followed up.
Newsletter
At the previous meeting of the council there had been a discussion about payments for advertising in the newsletter. There had been problems in the past over bad debts and who was responsible for collecting fees. When the matter was discussed Councillor Calver had asked for a minute to be recorded that in future any adverts that are to be inserted in the newsletter be paid for in advance prior to insertion so that the problem would not happen again. This payment was to be made to either the clerk or whoever edits the newsletter. There was unanimous agreement that this minute be included. Councillor Needs felt that this was not correct and wanted the wording "or whoever edits the newsletter" taken out of the recorded minutes. As all councillors had agreed that the only way to ensure no problems with this issue was to collect money in advance Councillor Calver could not see any problem with the minute. This was due to the fact that as far as he could recollect this was a true record of what occurred namely that the chairperson had asked the councillors if they were in favour and all had agreed.
Jameston Play Area
The clerk read out a letter from residents and children from Jameston over a meeting they had with County Councillor Calver concerning the play area. The letter highlighted the fact that the Community Council had been asked over three years ago to provide new goal posts in the play area but nothing had happened. County Councillor Calver informed the meeting that he had insisted that the children made sure that the installation of goalposts was what the majority felt was required. As a result they had organised the collection of several pages of signatures in support to their request that the community council agree that goal posts be allowed to be placed in the play area. He had several meetings with employees of Pembrokeshire County Council regarding the issue and at this stage, subject to the agreement of the Community Council, matters could progress. Councillor Thompson was concerned that Councillor Calver seemed to be having a change of mind as she recalled that Councillor Calver had been responsible for removing the old goal posts. Councillor Calver congratulated Ms Thompson on her powers of recall. However, he was concerned that she was overplaying the point, as surely it would have been a council decision to remove the old posts based on their state of dilapidation, as it was not his personal decision. He indicated he felt it was important to move on and consider the proposal for new posts. Councillor Calver informed the meeting that he had provisionally secured funding from a donor but that if the funding were not forthcoming he would cover the cost of the posts and install them himself in the play area. Councillor Griffiths was concerned that this would constitute a breach of Pembrokeshire County Council policy on play areas. She inquired if the policy had changed regarding replacement of equipment. Councillor Calver felt that although she had supported the policy of the county council when she was the county councillor, surely no objection could be advanced about the provision of goal posts when there was no cost to the local ratepayers and the equipment would need very little maintenance. Councillor Cooper felt that Councillor Calver should not have inspected the play area without the agreement of the Community Council and quoted a paragraph from the Code of Conduct relating to the issue. Councillor Calver reminded Councillor Cooper that he had attended the meeting in his capacity as a County Councillor, not as a community councillor and all children were asking for was the community council's permission as owners of the land to agree to the installation.
Councillor Calver assured the council that following their agreement that goalposts can be erected, he would follow up the matter and that Councillors' concerns regarding insurance and future maintenance would be resolved before the posts were erected.