Hay Council Meeting

I've already taken a couple of points of discussion out of the notes I made at the last Council meeting - about Hay's toilets and the wind turbine - but plenty more was discussed as well.
And at the beginning of the meeting, two new councillors were welcomed.
As there were two vacant places, and only two people came forward to fill those places, Dawn Lewis (of the LDP Plan Action group) and a lady called Helen (Davies? Sorry - I didn't catch her full name) there will be no election and the council is now up to strength again.
Also at the beginning of the meeting, Rob Golesworthy invited all the councillors to the Conservative Club after the meeting for Christmas drinks - if they finished in time for last orders!

The Woodland Group have been doing some clearing along the railway line path - I met Anna from Drover Holidays last night, who was one of the volunteers, and has been working her way up from saplings to cutting down really quite big trees as she gets more practice. They are waiting until they have enough waste there to get a chipper in from Powys, and it was suggested that they wait until January, and then they can get people to come down with their old Christmas trees to dispose of them.
Although the Council put a request in for fruit trees from Powys, they haven't managed to get hold of any. The County Council say they were inundated with requests. Councillors wanted more information about why their request failed, so they can put a better application in next time the offer is made.

PC Fion Thomas was there to give his police report. The police are doing an anti-shoplifting patrol in the run up to Christmas, and have been testing local licensed premises on whether they sell to under age drinkers along with the Trading Standards people. It's also been magic mushroom season up on Hay Bluff recently, and 8 people were dealt with for drugs offences ("They tend to bring other things with them as well," he said). The brass plaque from the British Legion Club has been stolen - and of course, it's not the British Legion any more; it's now a social club.

Red biodegradable dog poo bags are now available free from the Library (cue all the dog walkers in the room waving one which happened to be in their pocket!). Dog waste can be put in any of the bins around town, and the wicker baskets that were woven over the summer are filling up.

Mr Gittens has offered to shot blast and paint the old Hay sign to make it ready to put up on one of the approach roads to Hay again, possibly by the bridge, and Alan Powell has framed the Timbuktu sign ready to be put up by the Tourist Information office.

The old Hay fire appliance has been offered to someone else to restore, but at present is buried in a barn under a load of stuff. When it's cleared out, the owner will inform Alan Powell so he can go down and take photos. A similar Shand-Mason Horse Drawn Fire Appliance is at a museum in Worcester.

The bungalow by the school is still not ready for the Youth Group to move into it - there seems to be some problem about change of use.

Claiming ownership of the Gliss for the Council with the Land Registry is not as straight forward as it first seemed. There is some dispute about the land just in front of Chantic, one of the houses that faces the area, and fishing rights do not seem to be included. The situation is also complicated by the railway that used to pass through the land (and in fact through Chantic's front room!) and by the responsibility for maintenance being split between the council and the National Park. Hay Council should have the fishing rights, which they bought along with the railway line, and the River Authority will be contacted for clarification.