At a meeting of Pembroke Town Council held at the Pater Hall, Pembroke Dock, recently, the following matters were discussed:

Matters arising from the minutes

Retrospective planning application for 10 Meyrick Street for house of multiple ocupancy Clr. A. Lee commented that the application had been heard at full committee at the county council and had been refused. Clrs. commented that Clr. Lee and Mrs. Roach of the Civic Society had put together very good arguments against the application.

REPORT OF THE TOWN CLERK

Meeting at Argyle Street surgery - report from Clr. Fortune: The town clerk stated that Clr. Fortune had kindly sent in a report of the meeting she attended on December 3, 2012, and a copy had been included with members' papers. It was commented that there had been no communication regarding the change of number, and that there should be a follow up on the best practice appointment method to question if one had or would be adopted in the near future. It was also felt that a regular meeting should be set up to ensure that they were able to monitor the issues.

Meeting to involve Mr. Alan Hunt - disability officer of Pembrokeshire County Council: The town council said that a fresh meeting was to be arranged with Mr. Hunt to assesses the status of the building with regard to access for people with disabilities. She suggested that she ask Mr. Hunt to re-evaluate the building and the plans for the work due to start at the end of this month and then arrange a meeting based on that report.

The town clerk also suggested that at the meeting there should be two trustees (trustees who were not councillors) and two councillors (who were not trustees). The clerk asked for volunteers to attend this meeting. It was agreed that Clrs. M. Murton and T. Wilcox would be representatives from the council.

New traffic orders, Pembroke Dock: The town clerk stated that she had received a letter from Mr. John Price including details of various traffic orders to be implemented within the town. She had copied these in members' papers and asked for their comments to enable her to respond. Members did have some concerns with the removal of no waiting at any time in Melville Street as it was so close to the mini roundabout. It was questioned if the fire brigade had been liaised with over this. It was stated that the emergency services were liaised with regarding these issues.

Car parking issues at Pembroke Dock Community School: The town clerk stated that she had received a letter from the head teacher of the school with her response to the issues. This had also been included with members' papers. It was commented that this was an ongoing issue and that there was a piece of ground available on the other side of the Pennar Robins football pitch which could be resurfaced to enable the staff to park there, but staff were unwilling to park as it was too far to walk to the school.

Clr. S. Perkins stated that the green area would not be developed as it is one of the only green areas in the Llanion Ward and it was not possible to provide parking facilities any closer to the school. She said that if the school was happy with the section of land next to Pennar Robins, she would take the proposal to the county council for the changes to be made. It was agreed that the head teacher be contacted regarding this.

Dockyard roll of honour board in the Main Hall: The town clerk informed members that Sarah had contacted the Museum Trust as required by the council to determine whether they would be interested in having this board. She said she had received an email from Mr. Martin Caveney saying that the trust would take the board, but that they had no means to move and transport it. As town council staff had no means of moving the board or transporting it either, she asked council for suggestions.

Clr. Gwyther suggested that as the builders would have to move the board, perhaps they would transport it.

Clr McNaughton suggested that Mr. John Bowling may be prepared to move the board.

Clr. Perkins suggested that she may be able to supply a van to move the board.

Clr. Gwyther commented that the builders would sort the removal of the board and that he would liaise with the builders to arrange it.

Pater Hall Community Trust - building work - asbestos: The town clerk said that she understood the building work in the hall was due to start at the end of January. She commented that she was concerned that this work may disturb asbestos and cause a danger to people using the building, which of course included the town council staff who were in the building longer than anyone else.

On the H&SE website, it suggested that any building that was built before 2000 almost certainly contains asbestos.

The risks to life normally only happen when any asbestos is removed or altered or degrades.

The clerk suggested that a risk register should be kept by those who had the responsibility for the maintenance and repairing of the building. This risk register should include assessments of the presence and condition of any asbestos containing materials in the building. The asbestos risk register was a key component of the required plan on how any asbestos found would be managed. This register must be kept updated.

This was not just about drilling into or removing material containing asbestos, but of any degradation that occurred in the normal wear and tear in the day to day life of the building.

The presence of asbestos alone was not a cause for concern, but when it degraded or was moved, particles were released into the air and breathed in which could cause serious illness at a later date.

Obviously the trades' people were most at risk should they be removing materials containing asbestos, but there could be danger to people in the building during the building work. Also where asbestos material was degrading, this posed a danger. For example some of the ceiling tiles in the main hall may contain asbestos and due to water leaks in the past some of these tiles are degrading. They may not contain asbestos so that is not a problem, but they may.

The town clerk stated that it may be that an asbestos risk register was in place and regularly updated and any issue addressed, but she was not aware of any documentation with regard to this issue.

In order to protect town council staff, visitors to the offices and councillors, she asked to seek assurances from the Trust that either through degradation of materials containing asbestos or during the building work they would be no danger to people using the building. As town clerk representing the town council, she stated that she would need to see any documentation that the Trust had with regard to any risk assessments relating to asbestos and an asbestos risk register.

She said that it may have been proved there was no asbestos in the building, but her research suggested that it might be, and she was very concerned that the staff of the council were being put at risk.

It was commented that there were two types of surveys which could be done for asbestos, one being a visual inspection and the other a full inspection.

After discussion, it was agreed that a visual inspection was not sufficient and as Pembroke Design had completed a lot of work throughout the building and should have some idea if and where asbestos would be, they should be contacted and asked for a written report and risk management plan.

Assistant town clerk: The town clerk thanked the assistant town clerk for stepping into her role for a period of time and for all her hard work during the Christmas period.

REPORTS FROM

REPRESENTATIVES SERVING ON

OUTSIDE BODIES

Police Forum: Clr. M. Murton commented that she and Clr. A. Lee recently attended the first meeting of the year, where the new PCSO for the Llanion area was introduced, and the issues surrounding HMOs in the area were discussed. Priorities for the month included anti-social behaviour in and around the town. There were issues highlighted with egress from Argyle Street car park as the emerging traffic's view was blocked due to parked cars and traffic travelling at speed caused further issues.

RWE grant: Clr. T. Wilcox informed members that St. Patricks Community Hall, Pembroke Dock Festival Group and Pater Hall Community Trust had now received their share of a £2,500 grant. Each organisation would have received £833.33. Clr. D. Earl thanked the council for splitting the grant three ways.

AGENDA/REPORT ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING

Beagle project: Clr. P. E. George informed members that she had recently attended a meeting with David Lort-Phillips who works with the Beagle Trust. She stated that the meeting was very informative and they were hoping to build a replica Beagle in Pembroke Dock.

Clr. George said that the Trust were very interested in the work of Charles Darwin who had done a lot of work around Chile, in Porta Monte, and the Mayor of Porta Monte would like to have links with the Mayor of Pembroke Dock. The Trust were hoping in the future to use the innovation centre in Pembroke Dock to involve schools and use the facilities to link to satellites to enable the children to have a visual link to scientists or astronauts who were working on specific projects.

The work of the Trust is fully supported by Milford Haven Port Authority, Swansea University and the County Council.

Clr. P. George said that Mr. David Lort-Phillips would like to attend a meeting of the council to inform members of this opportunity. Members agreed that Mr. Lort-Phillips be asked to attend a meeting in the near future.

COMMUNITY ISSUES

Footpaths on Barrack Hill: It was questioned why the footpaths on the Barrack Hill had been left to get overgrown. People were struggling to walk along the designated footpaths due to the hedges not being cut back. It was commented that the county council do not cut the perimeter hedges and this was normally done by the golf club. Members asked the town clerk to look into this matter to see who was responsible.

Website: It was questioned whether there was any progress on the development of the town council website, The clerk said that a website specification needed to be written and tendered for and this would be done in the near future.

Pavements St. Mary's Road: It was commented that with the heavy lorries involved in the build of the new bungalows in St. Mary's Road, a lot of the pavements in the area were cracked. It was questioned if these could be replaced, and it was agreed that the contractors would be contacted to arrange this.

Christmas refuse collection: Members had received a number of complaints from residents regarding the dates of the refuse collection. It was stated that the dates on the fliers sent out were wrong and the collection came on January 2, when residents were informed that it was not due until January 9. It was commented that the county council had made an error on the fliers and apologised for any inconvenience caused.