Minutes of The Rountons Parish Council Meeting, East Rounton Village Hall, Monday 4th December 2006
Present were Councillors D Lawton, C Hinton, A Gaudie, A Simpson and C Spencer, District Councillors Tim Swales and Bridget Fortune.

1. Apologies for Absence
The parish clerk sent her apologies.

2. Minutes of the Meeting Held 4 September 2006 The minutes had been previously circulated and were accepted by those present and signed by the Chairman.

3. Matters Arising
a. No response from Crathorne parish council regarding Cllr Lawton's letter about the paintball business
b. A thank you letter had been received following the £50 donation to the Rountons website.
c. Feelings had been made known at the District/Parish Council's liaison meeting in September about the election charges. Most parish councils who attended were unhappy. It was agreed that the initial letter was badly worded, as parish councils will only have to pay the costs they specifically incur.
d. A19 Black Swan road bridge. The Highways Agency is moving forward with its plans.

4. Planning
a. The plans for a farm shop at Home Farm had been supported by the parish council. However, the plans were withdrawn following the highway department's concern over access and the average speed of passing traffic. The site access will be revised and new plans submitted.
b. The planning applications for 19 White House Wynd, Thrush Nest, Oxclose Farm, and village hall had all been approved.
c. Further revised plans had been submitted for Swan House but there was continuing concern about the wall. At a recent site meeting a compromise of a part brick/part wood wall had been agreed instead of a full brick wall. The owners then ignored this compromise and the brick wall now extends too far towards the gateposts.

5. Finance
a. Ron Semain had submitted an account for £50 for recent work on the accounts. Cllr Lawton, seconded by Cllr Hinton, proposed payment.
b. The 2007/2008 parish precept needs setting, Cllr Gaudie proposed that there was no reason why the existing precept of £400 should be amended. Cllr Hinton seconded.
c. A number of sundries need to be bought. It was proposed by Cllr Lawton and seconded by Cllr Hinton that another tin of oil is purchased for maintenance of the seat at West Rounton and a bottle of wine is purchased for Sheila Grange of White Gates Nursery as a thank you for the donations of plants to West Rounton.
d. The parish council audit forms have been completed and sent to Mazars.

6. Correspondence
a. Cllr Lawton wrote to the village hall committee congratulating them on the success of the centenary weekend.
b. Cllr Lawton wrote to Yorkshire Water following up their promise to monitor every year for three years the trees that were disturbed at the north end of West Rounton. Cllr Lawton's letter was acknowledged by Yorkshire Water before being passed onto the contractor, Bentley. d. Cllrs Lawton and Hinton had met with Mike Roberts, Highways Department, North Yorkshire County Council over the poor repair of the Haggitt Hill road. It was agreed that some repair work would be carried out within existing budget. The Highways Agency were approached by Mike Roberts for funding for passing places but the Agency explained that there were no additional funds available. The Agency will liaise with the Council engineer over the deterioration. Due to Mike Robert's ill health the dossier has been taken over by Nigel Smith.
e. Correspondence of note that had been received was a letter from North Yorkshire County Council informing the council that copies of a new publication, North Yorkshire Times will be available from post offices. Further correspondence had been received about the Community Plan that required no action.

7. AOB
a. Cllr Hinton raised the question over dirty and illegible road signs. Nigel Smith is to be contacted, as there is a countywide programme of replacing road signs.
b. Edwin Denman of Thornton le Beans parish council appointed parish council representative on the District Council standards committee.
c. A fault report card has been sent in regarding the damaged signpost for East Rounton on the East Harlsey road.
d. Date of next meeting is 5 March, it will be the AGM. Cllr Hinton gave warning of his intention to stand down at this meeting.

Cllr Anne Simpson
29 December 2006