The next meeting of the North Perrott Parish Council will be on
Tuesday 7th September at 7.30pm in the Hoskyns Memorial Hall.
The agenda can be found by clicking here
Michelle Howley from Elgin Energy will be present to take questions on the proposed solar park that is planned for Pipplepen Farm.
The consultation drawings can be found by clicking here.
Documents relating to the planning application can be found by clicking here
A plan for a large solar park at Pipplepen Farm was proposed by Elgin-Energy a year ago. In feedback, the Parish Council stated that our main interest was in ensuring that the existing ecosystems were maintained and enhanced without any loss to habitat. This involved; not removing any mature trees, keeping all hedges and allowing them to grow outwards and upwards and additional planting where shielding was required.
Elgin-Energy submitted an application before last Christmas but SSDC has only just accepted it and put it on line.
We will be discussing it at the next meeting on Tues 7th September and anyone wishing to view it before the meeting can do so here
Application (21/00701/FUL) cab be viewed here – https://publicaccess.southsomerset.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QPATZUOWFNI00&activeTab=summary.
UPDATED 08:00 26/08/21 – Resurfacing is now complete and the road is now open. Please drive slowly while there is loose grit on the road. Thank you.
UPDATED 08:45 25/08/21 – No sign that work has started yet and the road remains open. The next update will be as soon as we know the direction of work and the level of disturbance to traffic through the village.
UPDATED 15:15 24/08/21 – Cllr Mark Keating has contacted me to say that work is currently scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 25th August.
UPDATED 11.30 23/08/21 – Signs are being placed out at the moment. Workmen say that re-surfacing will not be happening today. The next update will be when the situation changes.
Please be aware that the main road (A3066) is scheduled for re-surfacing (re-sealing) this week and the signs indicate that the road will be closed for one day, while the work is being undertaken.
There is no further information on the Somerset County Council website at this moment and so the first we know more details about this may be when the road sweepers arrive.
Further information will be posted here when it is available. The job will be done relatively quickly and although the road between the villages of North Perrott and Haselbury may be closed for most of the day, residents should be able to leave the village from at least one direction.
The area of the road to be re-sealed is from the yellow road markings at the top of the village green in North Perrott to just our side of the village green at Haselbury.
Up to the minute information can be obtained by calling 01823 38291 except that it is on an answerphone this morning!
A public meeting of the North Perrott Parish Council will take place in the Hoskyns Memorial Hall on Tuesday 6th July at 7.30pm
Please download a copy of the agenda by clicking here
All previous Council Documents can been downloaded from the Village Website by clicking here and using the menu to navigate to the documents you require.
This is the first opportunity for the Council to meet in person for over 15 months. Those wishing to attend will have to follow basic social distancing rules. Please wash your hands before attending and bring a face mask. We may be required to leave the windows open, so please dress accordingly.
Many thanks, Jonathan Hoskyns
Chairman, NPPC
Like a bus that never arrives, two Parish Council projects have come together at once and will be signed off as “complete” at this weeks Bi-monthly meeting.
British Telecommunications (BT) has a longstanding wish to decommission public phone boxes where they have fallen into disuse. North Perrott Parish Council (PC) entered into an agreement to adopt our Phone Box, as it is generally accepted to have become part of the accepted scenery of our Conservation Area. This agreement includes BT continuing to pay for illumination inside the box and the PC maintaining the fabric. The public payphone has now been removed.
The project to refurbish the Phone Box was initiated by Cllr Tom Winder, before he stood down as a Parish Councillor. He took the project as far as purchasing spare windows, rivets, door braces and paint and made a start of the detailed work of paint stripping.
However, the glory of the finished article goes to Harvey (and Councillor Steve) Coate, who have spend many hours rubbing down the old paint and prepping the framework to restore it to a fully functional and weather proof structure. They have included picking out the royal crown in gold and recently completed the replacement of broken and missing window panes. Refurbishment included changing the illuminated signs in the top of the box to now read DEFIBRILLATOR, indicating its change of use from a public payphone.
During the Telephone Box project, the Parish Council also initiated a plan to purchase a defibrillator for village use. Following the initiative of other villages, the redundant telephone box seemed a sensible place to house it. Its central location, opposite the Village Hall and next to the Village Green seemed a sensible location.
The Parish Council owes a sincere debt of thanks to the Friends of Crewkerne Hospital who donated 50% of the purchase cost of the defibrillator, thanks to a local initiative widely publicised by Tony Foot, the Treasurer of the charity.
While the Telephone box was being restored, it was kept by the Holy Cow milk vending machine outside the farm shop. There is now a sign in its place, to indicate the new location.
The purchase of the defibrillator included a training session for up to 12 people, but Covid lock-down 16 months ago, interrupted being able to book this service. Hopefully we will be able to hold a training session in the Village Hall in the near future.
The defibrillator is there to be used in case of emergency, when someone has suffered a cardiac arrest and has stopped breathing. The defibrillator is a fail-safe device to assist in keeping a patient alive until the emergency services arrive. In order to have a good chance of saving the life of a patient in cardiac arrest, the most important skill is a knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). this involves the correct positioning of the patient, chest compressions, opening the airway and giving rescue breaths.
In the case of someone suffering from cardiac arrest (no heart beat), the most important thing is to call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
Then commence CPR and only locate and use the defibrillator when you are sure that simple CPR has not revived the patient. If there is more than one person present, then several of these steps can be taken at once, but it is most important that CPR commences as soon as possible and continues until the ambulance arrives.
If the patient has not responded to CPR then the use of the defibrillator might be critical to restarting the patients heartbeat and this will be important in keeping them alive until the emergency services arrive.
The defibrillator is a self contained unit with simple and clear instructions. It includes all the consumables required, including wipes, electrical pads, scissors and gloves. When in use, the unit will talk the operator through each stage of use and most importantly, it monitors the patients heartbeat. This is crucial in the safe operating of the machine and it will NOT administer an electrical shock if the patient does not need it. Throughout the procedure, it will advise if CPR should be continued or if you should stand clear, ready for a shock to be administered.
We sincerely hope that the defibrillator will never need to be used, but North Perrott is quite a distance from the two nearest Ambulance stations at Yeovil and Illminster and so it is felt that in a cardiac arrest emergency, it could be a life saving tool.
In addition to the defibrillator, the bright red box will also contain a village information pack, that will include print-outs of some of the information that can be found on the village website http://www.northperrott.org including the Heritage Trail and quiz that was commissioned by the PCC for their own website http://www.northperrottchurch.co.uk
A big thank you to those who turned out for the Village Tidy-up on Sunday. Despite short notice, a baking sun, and our ongoing lockdown status we still managed to smarten up the village and enjoy a pint afterwards
The fact of the matter is that the village has a secret group of very energetic litter pickers who regularly whisk away the cigarette butts and discarded plastic bottles on their daily walks….Thanks to them Sunday’s haul was a mere two bags. But the Tidy-up team set about with bucket and broom to cut back the foliage and scrub down the algae infested road signs and report any damage that needs fixing, which will keep our roads safer. Motorist beware, no excuses now for ignoring the speed limits the signs in the village are all legible.
Thanks also to the Manor Arms whose doors opened just as we were packing up our equipment, and the Chair of the Parish Council who stood us all a pint, so we could enjoy the beer in the sunshine. (Entirely within Covid regulations).
So having listened to everyone’s views I had the impression we should schedule Village Tidy Ups somewhere around May and October (but they might be the worse time for you) in the future….It would be ideal to do it just after verges have been cut but as that is unpredictable and everyone complained particularly loudly about not enough warning I am not sure there is a way of working around that.
Best wishes, Helen Sturridge.
PS. If anyone took some “Team” photos, and is willing to post them here, please use the Contact page to let us know.
The report of a drone flying North/South above the village this morning prompted a inquiry from a concerned resident. What is the legal position concerning drones flying above private property?
The answer required a little research. Click on the photo to find out more.
There are two aspects of Law that seem to apply. Aviation Law states that drones must keep at least 50m away from a member of the public. That means that while it isn’t illegal to fly over private property, it must be at above a height of 50m or preferably more.
But Privacy Laws also apply. If the drone is filming someone who is in an area that would normally be considered to private from public scrutiny, then Privacy Laws are likely to override Aviation Law. The problem here is that at 50m, cameras are quite capable of hi-resolution pictures and how does one know if the camera is pointing at you or the skyline. The answer is that you can’t, so operators should follow some simple rules.
Remember, however innocent your intentions are, you are the intruder. Make sure you ask permission before overflying private property and never film at a resolution that might infringe on anyone’s right to privacy. There are many routes to publicising your activity, if you are likely to be overflying a village or larger conurbation, by announcing your intentions on a website or social media. Ultimately, if your drone is capable of flying at an altitude of 100m, why not make sure your activities are almost invisible to those below? They are much less likely to be worried if they know they can’t be seen on camera at that range.
Finally, there is always resort to training and qualification. Most, if not all professional operators hold a licence and will be aware of how to operate their drone safely and within the law. If you are an amateur operator that has grown bored of filming on your own property, why not invest in some training to get more out of your hobby and not raise concerns from neighbours?
If you were concerned by the drone or have information you wish to add, please post it here or on the North Perrott facebook page.
The sad passing of HRH Prince Philip has made those planning to mark a major step in the relaxation of lock-down rules on 12th April, to re-evaluate and perhaps make the celebration more fitting to a country in mourning?
(Anyone wishing to display a small Union flag from their property is welcome to collect one from the Farm Shop on Sunday or Monday.)
Monday is still the first day this year that the public can meet outside a hospitality business to drink and socialise. It therefore seems sensible to use this opportunity to celebrate the life of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
If anyone is interested, The North Perrott Farm Shop will be open at 6pm on Monday 12th April, when we are assured the “sun will be over the yardarm”. Drinks will be served to those seated outside only and benches and chairs will be arranged in groups of 6 at the required distance. To help with planning, please let the Farm Shop know if you wish to attend. Click here to see more details
MONDAY APRIL 12th 2021
It has been suggested that the reopening of non-essential retail and outdoor hospitality might be worth hanging out the Village Bunting?
The Village Green and farm shop will be decorated with bunting in time for Monday 12th April and everyone is welcome to join in by decorating their properties in anyway they see fit to mark this small but significant return to normality.
Please remember that the Prime Minister has urged everyone to act with caution as the government relaxes COVID regulations and that there will remain a limit of meeting a maximum of 6 people outdoors.
However, outdoor hospitality will be allowed for the first time this year and if there is sufficient interest, it is hoped that an arrangement for COVID compliant drinks and snacks might be possible in the afternoon and evening. Watch this space……..
From 6th April, the A356 will be closed at Misterton for repairs to the culvert at the Globe Inn. The works are expected to take up to 6 weeks. This will disrupt the 96/96A bus service through North Perrott.
Tony Reese from Friends of Yeovil Bus Station has negotiated for the 96/96A bus route to still service North Perrott but instead of travelling through the village, it will approach from Haselbury and stop at Townsend, in front of the Farm Shop. The bus will turn around at Townsend and return to Haselbury on both legs of the Crewkerne to Yeovil route.
There will be no collection from the village green.
Please pass this information on to anyone you know who uses this service and if you see anyone waiting for the bus on the Village Green, please advise them to move to the Farm Shop.
This post will be updated when the road re-opens.
