Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Tuesday 13 January 2026 at 7.30 pm at Woodah Farm

 

 

Present: Cllr A Newton-Humes (Chairman), Cllr J Sawyer, Cllr R Crocker, Cllr C Wood and A Miller (Clerk)

1         Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Cllr Brook and Cllr Salter sent their apologies.

2         Declarations of Interest / Requests for Dispensations

All parish councillors present declared pecuniary interests in agenda item 5.2 and requested dispensations for this meeting.

Resolved The Council unanimously agreed to give the dispensations on the basis that without the dispensations the number of persons unable to participate in the transaction of business would be so great as to impede the transaction of the business.

Open Forum

None.

3         County and District Councillors’ and Police Reports

The Council noted the reports that were sent out to councillors prior to the meeting.

4         Ratification of Minutes of Previous Meeting

Resolved The Minutes of the Ordinary Council meeting of 11 November 2025 was unanimously accepted as a true record.

The Chair signed the Minutes.

5         To Discuss Finance

5.1       To Receive a Finance Report, to note the Budget-Actual Comparison and to Approve the Bank Reconciliation

The total bank balance on 31 December 2025 was £18,229.36. After deducting the amount of earmarked funds and grants, the general reserve was £7,848.69.

The reclaimed VAT of £524.27 and an interest of £96.42 were credited to the bank accounts in December.

The Chairman reported that he had checked the bank reconciliation and it had been in order.

Resolved The Parish Council approved the bank reconciliation for 31 December 2025.

The Parish Council noted the budget – actual comparison for 31 December 2025.

5.2       To Approve the Budget and Precept for the 2026/27 Financial Year

The Parish Council discussed the proposed budget. The Council considered inflation, expected future expenditures, the level of its general reserves and the increasing difficulties and uncertainty of receiving grant funding from outside sources.

Resolved The Council unanimously accepted the budget with the estimated cost of £9,810 and with a net decrease of £170 in the earmarked reserves.

Resolved The Council unanimously agreed to set the precept at £9,340 and decided to increase the council tax by £2.29 for a band D property to cover the expected operational costs.

Resolved The Council unanimously agreed to put the amount of unspent budgeted training costs into an earmarked reserve at the end of the financial year to help with future training expenses.

The approved budget appears at the Appendix to these minutes.

5.3       To Review the Banking Arrangements

Resolved The Parish Council agreed to update the MultiPay Card program administrators’ list by removing former councillor William Hole, adding Cllr Adam Newton-Humes as program administrator and updating the Clerk’s contact details.

5.4       To Receive Information About the Consultation on the Governance and Accountability for Smaller Authorities in England: A Practitioner’s Guide

The Clerk reported that with councillors’ email approval a consultation response had been sent before the consultation period closed. The proposed changes would apply for smaller authorities – authorities whose income or expenditure is under £15m. The main point of the response was to ask for less demanding and expensive solutions for small parishes, where the precept is under £20k.

5.5       To Approve Expenditure

Venue hire 13 January 2026 £10.00

Card monthly fee Nov – Dec 2025 £6.00

Unity Bank account fee Oct – Nov 2025 £12.00

Tarpaulin for the bus shelter £55.20

Office mobile top up for two months £10.00

Office printer £279.99

External hard drive for office £61.85

Lengthsman fee £100.00

Clerk’s salary and expenses £1,259.31

Website annual fee £336.00

Teign Unity subscription for office £7.50

Resolved The Council unanimously approved the expenditures.

6         To Discuss Planning

6.1       25/02082/HOU and 25/02083/LBC Duckspool Cottage

Proposal: Single storey extension, ancillary outbuilding to accommodate music room and new carport with associated landscaping works

Resolved The Parish Council decided to support the application.

6.2       25/02114/FUL Spynishlake

Proposal: Replacement dwelling and reconstruction of former coach house

Resolved The Parish Council decided to support the application. As there is a public footpath running through the property the applicant needs to ensure that the footpath is accessible and safe for the public during the building work.

6.3       To Discuss Other Planning Issues

The Clerk reported that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill came into force on 18th December 2025. Among other measures, a national scheme of delegation for determining planning applications was introduced.

7         To Discuss the Possibility of Organizing a Village Skip

The Parish Council considered the three quotes that were obtained for roll-on roll-off containers for a possible village skip. It was discussed that the cost would be significant for the Parish, and it would require further increase in council tax. The District Council had stopped the annual skip service years ago and since then there was no request from the public to reinstate it.

Resolved The Parish Council decided not to organize a village skip because of the cost involved.

8         To Receive an Update About Installing a Second Defibrillator in the Parish and to Discuss Defibrillator Checks

Quotes have been asked for installing the second defibrillator in the village, but the Council have not received any yet.

The Parish Council received an email from the Teign Valley First Responders offering free defibrillator checks.

Resolved The Parish Council agreed to ask the Teign Valley First Responders to carry out free defibrillator checks in the village.

9         To Receive an Update About a Bus Shelter Incident in September 2025

The Clerk sent the agreed response to the insurance company after the November meeting.

The tarpaulin to cover the crack on the bus shelter has been bought and delivered.

In January the insurance company asked for an updated quote. Clerk has asked the builder to send an update. Waiting for response.

10     To Discuss Highways Issues

10.1   Lengthsman’s Report

The lengthsman sent and invoice for four hours in November – December. He is planning to do more hours in January-February.

10.2   To Receive an Update about the 20 Is Plenty Campaign

The Council received reports regarding questions raised at the last meeting.

Regarding speed measuring signs – the Council cannot install them as there is no reduced speed limit in place.

Christow received funding from the Christow Community Land Trust for buying official 20 Is Plenty signs, but there was less interest in displaying official campaign signs. They were planning to organize signs with the school. Bridford displayed some official campaign signs.

The report regarding school children’s drawings was postponed to the February meeting, as neither of the councillors involved in the project could attend this meeting.

10.3   To Discuss Road Sweeping

The Clerk reported to Teignbridge District Council the leaves on the road and asked for road sweeping. FS-Case-774906518. No action yet.

10.4   To Receive a Parish Path Partnership and Footpath Update

The Clerk asked Devon County Council about the deadline for sending the annual forms. No response yet.

10.5   To Discuss Other Highways Issues

Empty grit bins had been reported to Devon Highways. Cllr Wood to follow it up.

11     To Discuss the Proposed Closure of Torquay Police Station Custody Centre

The Parish Council received an email regarding this topic, asking to object the proposal. Cllr Sawyer reported that a decision was made by the Police this week and the custody centre remains open.

12     Clerk’s Correspondence

The Clerk reported that the Parish Council received correspondence regarding the electoral register. Following a query from Dunchideock, the District Council moved two electors from Doddiscombsleigh’s electoral register to Dunchideock’s. The change may affect the council tax base as well.

13     Date of Next Meeting

10 February 2026

14     Chairman’s Remarks

The Chairman thanked everybody for their participation and closed the meeting at 8.51 pm.

 

 

Signed…………………………………………………………

Chairman

 

Date

 

 

APPENDIX

Doddiscombsleigh Parish Council
Budget for 2026/27
COSTS	Budget
	2026/27
Clerk`s salary with HMRC payment	£4,600
Clerk`s milage	£30
Clerk`s home working allowance	£120
HMRC agent (T P Jones)	£80
DALC and SLCC contribution	£250
Information Commissioner fee	£60
Insurance	£450
Admin, stationery & postage	£40
Hire of venue for meetings	£240
Training	£300
Chairman’s Allowance	£100
Bank account fee	£130
Website	£280
Softwares and laptop check	£120
Defibrillator pads / battery / repair	£100
Mobile phone and top ups	£60
Other	£50
Operational costs	£7,010
Projects:
Contingency for projects	£1,000
Lengthsman/Drain clearing	£1,000
Lengthsman/Other	£300
Bus shelter painting	£500
Projects total:	£2,800
Total costs	£9,810
FUNDING
Payments from grants/donations
Grant payments total:	£0
Interest on savings account	£300
Using up reserves / earmarking reserves:
Defibrillator pads and battery	-£30
Bus shelter	-£500
Website	£0
Office equipment / Laptop	£60
Raised footpath maintenance	£50
Uncontested elections	£100
Notice board, maintenance	£50
Training (at the end of March)	£0
Bench maintenance	£0
Telephone box maintenance	£50
Mobile phone replacement	£50
Additional reserves total	-£170
Precept	£9,340
Total expected costs + earmarking reserves – grants
Council tax:	£61.01