Minutes 30th August 2017

Minutes for the meeting of the Parish Council held at Bishopswood Village Hall on Wednesday 30th August at 7.30pm

  1. Apologies: Shane Carlson, Angus McIntosh, Sophie Hurley, Murray Alston, Martyn Jenkins.
  1. Declarations: Cllr Freeman: Items 8.1.3, 10.1 and 15.3. Cllr Cole: Item 8.1.4 and 9.2. Cllr Myers said that he is the Chair of the Herefordshire Community Foundation.

Dispensations: Cllr Freeman requested and was given a dispensation by the Council to share useful information with the council relating to obtaining alternative legal advice on the proposed Management Agreement for the Canoe Launch site.

  1. Minutes: It was RESOLVED to accept minutes of the previous meetings held on 28/06/17 and 09/08/17. (There were two abstentions due to absence at the previous meeting.)
  1. Community Support Scheme: An update was given by Sarah Hayes; There has been an increase in numbers of volunteers and service users, Ward Cllr Newman is networking amongst users and arranging outings; also thanks to Cllrs Chinn and Hurley. The website is ready to launch and banners have been made for the village halls.  Coffee mornings are still being held on 2nd Tuesday of each month.  Cllr Chinn has applied for grant funding from four sources. The Chairman suggested a press release to the Ross Gazette about the website launch. Cllr Chinn suggested inviting the Ross Gazette to come to one of the coffee mornings. Thanks were extended to Sarah Hayes.
  1. Reports: Police Representative : Localities Steward : Ward Councillor. None were present.
  1. Public Participation Session: None
  1. Finance: (See Finance Statement – Appendix A and bank statements for June and July)
    • The Finance Chair gave an update: A draft budget will be put together in time for the November meeting, so Councillors are asked to submit anything to be included in the budget as soon as possible.

The Chairman gave thanks to Cllr Chinn and the clerk for their work on the spreadsheets.

  • Finance spreadsheets: These had been circulated to Cllrs and were noted.
  1. Planning: Applicants and the public were invited to comment before applications were considered.
    • Applications: Planning Appendix B was noted and comments put forward on:
      • Site: Land Adjacent Howle Hill Crossroads, Howle Hill.  Application No:  172215

Comments:  The Parish Council had no objection to the application, by a small majority. 4 in favour, 3 against and one abstention.

  • Site: Plum Tree Cottage, Walford, HR9 5RF.  Application No: 172410

Comments:  The Parish Council supported the application, there were no objections, the decision was unanimous.

  • Site: Bishopswood Grange, Bishopswood, HR9 5QX.  Application No: 172728

Cllr Freeman left the room during discussions.

The Parish Council supported the application, there were no objections, the decision was unanimous.

  • Site: Purland Chase, Coughton, HR9 5RR.  Application No: 162331

Cllr Cole left the room during discussions.

The Parish Council supported the application, there were no objections, the decision was unanimous.

  • Neighbourhood Planning: Will Warburg was not present, so the Chairman read out an e mail from him, to give an update: ‘The ‘call for sites’ was issued in July, and publicised on the council website, on notice boards and in the Ross Gazette.  There has been a good response, and we know of at least three more people who have been in contact but not yet returned their forms.  The deadline is the end of this week (1st Sept), but we will not be imposing a ‘cut off’ if forms arrive a day or two late.

We have been approved for a technical support package from DCLG through Locality, and I have been in touch with our allocated consultant.  Once we have the forms, he will be undertaking the assessment of sites against a standard set of criteria.  The process will therefore be seen to be independent of any interests of members of the Parish Council or Working Group.’

  1. Highways / Rights of Way / AONB  –  (Appendix D contains Councillors Highways & RsOW reports)
  • Reports:

Lengthsman Co-ordinator: The Lengthsman is about to start on winter maintenance and the overgrowth on the path past the church to the school is going to be done.

Rights of Way Co-ordinator:  No further issues to report, other than work is ongoing.

  • WA50: The Chairman read out an e mail from Simon Withers regarding the continued closure of footpath WA50, explaining that action is being taken to resolve the continued closure and the Rights of Way department has engaged with the landowner, suggesting that an alternative route be put in place as soon as possible, until the site is developed.
  1. Parish Projects:
  • Kerne Bridge Canoe Launch Site: The site is now fully operational, a lot of the intended investment and the infrastructure is now in, all is going as hoped.
  • Bishopswood War Memorial: The war memorial has been listed after research and a proposal from Historic England.
  1. Information and correspondence:  Appendix C, Appendix D and HALC Information corner were noted.
  • HALC Executive: It was unanimously RESOLVED to approve the nomination of Councillor Cole and to sign the relevant form.
  • Consultations:
    • Herefordshire Council Budget Consultation. (Deadline 30/09/17)
    • Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) consultation. (Deadline 10/11/16)
    • Minerals and Waste Local Plan (MWLP) consultation. (Deadline 06/10/17)

Councillors and members of the public were invited to respond to these consultations as individuals.

  • Councillors reports on local matters:

Cllr Chinn encouraged engagement with the local community and asked Cllrs if they would write a short precis for the next newsletter, perhaps a short write up on who you are and why you are a councillor. (Cllr Drummond suggested 50 words?)

Cllr Evans reported that there have been sightings of hedgehogs in the Parish, which is good news for wildlife.

  • Responses required to correspondence received since last meeting: The Clerk had responded to correspondence and there was none that required input from the council.
  • Next Parish Newsletter: Publication date will probably be in late October, the clerk appealed to Cllrs to submit copy in good time before the deadline.
  1. Brief public response session: None
  2. Items for next meeting agenda: None other than those raised above.
  3. Next meeting: 11th October 7.30pm Full Council at Walford Village Hall.
  4. Confidential Session: The public were asked to leave the room. (Recorded in confidential minutes)
    • Kerne Bridge Canoe Launch Site:
      • Management Agreement
      • Land Title
      • Land Adjacent to site

Clerk:  Staff appraisal / hours / salary.

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