Wellow Residents' Group Meeting Minutes and notes

Meeting held on Wednesday 23rd November 2016

1.
Wellow Post Office It was reported that while there is a bit of internal renovation and
moving at Rossiters, the Post Office is opening in accordance with the published times. The WRG
felt strongly that we should try to support the local PO (use it or lose it) and of course Wellow and
Shalfleet PO (at the Village Stores) are the same entity. The meeting brainstormed a few ideas
about how we can give the PO more support:
a)
Banking is free at the PO. It seems that different banks have different paperwork but most if
not all have a reciprocal free banking agreement so paying-in cash and cheques etc. is free and
immediate (i.e. cash paid in is credited to your current a/c the SAME day and available).
b)
One can arrange many deliveries to the PO e.g. Amazon and other online retailers so if you
are not going to be available to sign for something it could be better to send to the PO usually
FREE.
c)
Our community support police officer, Cat, goes to Wellow (Rossiters) on the first Thursday
of each month 1330 1630. A great opportunity to touch base with the police as well as keeping
the PO alive. It's very informal.
2.
Bus Stop Route 7 westbound between Flowerburn and Alpacas - There is an issue with
where the buses are stopping, causing nuisance to some residents. WRG will write to Southern
Vectis and CC Parish Council. We are going to ask if SV would please ensure drivers stop at the
designated stop because the Alpaca farm is a commercial venture that has generated extra traffic
that stops at places causing overlooking, noise, smell and vibration nuisance to the residents on the
north side of that stretch of road. The nuisance is distressing and objectionable to those
residents affected. WRG will copy the PC on correspondence.
3.
Broadband 50% of those present said their broadband is unacceptable even for lowbandwidth work such as banking and emails. One resident said that they often couldn't complete a
simple online banking transaction before being timed-out. WRG have very recently been down this
same path to try to improve things. We are investigating setting up a CIC to buy wholesale Internet.
That would make Wellow completely independent. Sec is going to speak to the CEO of the
Chamber of Commerce for some advice on this. Will report back.
4.
Primary Healthcare and Pharmacies The meeting brainstormed this for a bit and shared
experiences. It was noted that Mrs Shirley Stables is to be our (SPC) rep on the PCG Committee in
place of Cllr Steve Cowley.
a)
We would like to establish a procedure for passing patient views and experience direct to
Mrs Stables and a means of getting information back. Suggestion: Can SPC suggest how this can
best be done with sufficient formal process to make sure views are fed-in while not making it
unattractive for residents to give reports and views? Perhaps Mrs Stables would like to come to
WRG meetings when her diary permits?
b)
The owner of Yarmouth Pharmacy, Mr Tim Gibbs, is concerned about the long-term future
of NHS Yarmouth. 'Rationalisation' of NHS means cost cutting and they would like to cut
Yarmouth. The meeting brainstormed this issue and agreed that NHS Yarmouth is vital to our
community. Route 7 buses to Yarmouth are quite good (albeit one per hour) but taking the bus from
Shalfleet, Ningwood, Wellow or Thorley to Freshwater takes the best part of half a day because of

bus schedules. We agreed that residents are getting older, sick people often can't drive (especially if
on meds) so this is an issue that will become more important year-on-year. The other key factor is
viability of Yarmouth as a retail centre. Without a thriving pharmacy and post office it's hard to see
Yarmouth survive during the winter months other than the food/drink outlets which are on the
pricey side. Use it or lose it. Tim does flu jabs as well as other NHS stuff. Also, you can transfer
prescriptions to go direct to Tim. It seems the computer default at Brookside is for scripts to go to
Boots Freshwater. The meeting agreed this is a very important action for the entire community.
Any help from SPC to encourage this would be greatly appreciated.
5.
Wellow Phone Box adoption Mr and Mrs Gable (whose home the BT box is attached to)
were present and we had a good discussion. It seems that the box will be 'adopted' at a peppercorn
rent of 1 and that electricity will be supplied to the box (presumably very low current, e.g. light,
charging, etc.). This is something that is happening around the country because almost everyone
now has a mobile phone nobody uses payphones. This shouldn't be seen as a 'cut' but simply a
genuine redundancy. The majority of those present were in favour of a defibrillator being installed
and several of those present said that they would volunteer for training. Since an alternative
position for a defibrillator is at Shalfleet Stores, the meeting pointed out that although Thorley is
technically in YTC not SPC, the Parish extends down to Bouldnor so Wellow looks like an ideal
spot for a defibrillator. Parking is good in an emergency, there are established designs for
installation into adopted phone boxes, and the Alpaca farm, being a public tourist attraction, makes
Wellow an obvious and attractive choice.
6.
Planning As usual, the developments at the Alpaca farm was the only issue. There is an
outstanding appeal by the Alpaca farm to the Planning Inspectorate. The Alpaca farm want the
hours restrictions on their caf to be removed entirely and permit them to run their wood-fuelled
pizza oven 24 hours per day 365 days a year. There is also an undecided application for a powerful
mechanical air ventilation system that would vent kitchen fumes within 13 metres (downwind of the
prevailing wind) of New Barn Farm's main bedroom window. Several residents complained that
recently security lighting has been left on overnight. Not only is this disturbing sleep, it is also
damaging to the Island's 'Dark Sky' policy. The technical legality about 'statutory nuisance' and the
involvement of the EHO was discussed. It was agreed that those affected by nuisance should write
to the EHO and keep a log of all dates, times and nature of the nuisance. Without that there is
nothing anyone can do.
7.
Plants 105 trees granted by the Woodland Trust were planted and 600 bulbs, in the last
fortnight. The bulbs were purchased from the Best Kept Village Award, awarded to Wellow.
Sixteen hardy souls spent many hours planting the trees and the bulbs. Cllr Helena Hewston had
bravely camped under a gazebo at the Wellow summer fete to get residents' views on what to buy;
WRG thanked Helena. The lack of a Christmas tree was discussed. Could we erect some lights
this year? Sec said he has a PV solar panel he's willing to loan to power something but we would
need lights, battery and somewhere to hang them. We didn't come to any firm conclusion so at best
it will be 2017.
Next Meeting: Tuesday January 17th 2000 at the Institute. The hope is to allow Institute
Committee members the opportunity to join us after their regular meeting.