Held at Bishopswood Village Hall
Thursday 27 February 2020 at 7.30pm
Present: Councillors: Monica van Lienden (Chair), Joanne Akers, Karen Chinn, Simeon Cole, Ruth Dolman, Heather Evans, Elizabeth Jordan, Sian Newbert, Bob Puzey
In attendance: Richard Abolins (Parish Clerk), Yolande Watson (Ward Councillor) and 11 members of the public.
1. Apologies: – Councillors Eric Drummond, (leave), Guy Smith (other engagement)
2. Declaration of interests: – Cllr Cole declared interests in planning items 6.3 and 6.5. Cllr Chinn declared an interest in planning item 6.5. It was agreed to consider planning item 6.4 before 6.3 so that Cllr Cole would only leave the room once.
3. Co-option: –
3.1 Three candidates for the two vacancies made short presentations to the meeting.
3.2 In the paper ballot for the first vacancy, Bridget Vine achieved a majority of 5 and was co-opted as councillor. In the paper ballot for the second vacancy, Chris Barron achieved a majority of 5 and was co-opted as councillor.
3.3 Bridget Vine and Chris Barron signed their declaration of acceptance of office before the Clerk. He gave them copies of the Code of Conduct and a declaration of interest form, explaining that this must be submitted within 28 days via the Clerk. Other documents are available on the website or from the Clerk.
4. Adoption of Minutes of previous meetings:
It was resolved to adopt the minutes of the meeting on 15 January 2020 as a true record of the meeting. The Chair signed the minutes.
5. Public participation session:
5.1 The Ward Councillor apologised for the lack of a written report but following her return to the UK a couple of weeks ago, she had been in catch-up mode. A report will follow shortly.
5.2 A member of the public commented that it was import that the NDP Core Strategy Settlement Hierarchy questionnaire was completed. Cllr Barron will attend to this in the NDP agenda.
A member of the public reported that a grit bin was damaged and empty. Cllr Cole will attend to this.
A member of the public reported that a lorry had driven up Church Lane despite the no through road sign causing considerable damage. Would it be possible to place “No HGV” signs at the entrance to the road? Cllr Cole will attend to this.
6. Planning: –
6.1 The summary of planning applications was noted.
6.2 194422 – The Wensleys, Howle Hill, HR9 5SH; the Council had no objection but that adverse visual impact could be reduced by using grey roof tiles in keeping with surrounding buildings and that dark frames to the solar panels would better merge with the roof tiles.
6.4 200237 – Atlas House, Bishopswood, HR9 5RA; the Council had no objection
Cllr Cole left the room
6.3 193284 – Purland Chase, Coughton, HR9 5RR; the council had no objection but raise the concern that it is not a precedent for new dwellings in the area.
Cllr Chinn left the room
6.5 192657 – Coleraine Buildings, Coughton, HR9 5SG; the Council object to the removal of condition 1 and ask that the time limit be extended.
Cllrs Chinn and Cole returned to the room
7. Highways and footpaths: –
7.1 The Lengthsman Co-ordinator had nothing to report – work was ongoing as normal. He was asked about the potholes on the B4234 at the bottom of Leys Hill. They were on the “28-day list” for Balfour Beatty to rectify but this time had been exceeded. He will investigate.
He had received a supply of sandbags.
7.2 The Rights of Way Officer reported that there was not much maintenance work at this time of year.
In response to the complaint that horses were being ridden on footpaths and, in this extremely wet weather, turning them into a quagmire, a Facebook page for horse-riders in the parish had been set up to share information.
The RoW Officer will continue to follow up issues with WA39 and WA50.
Cllr Chinn asked if footpaths were on Forestry Commission land, should they not be clearing them. Cllr Evans will investigate.
Cllr Akers had noticed that where trees were being removed alongside a footpath, the work had left the paths in poor condition and should they not be restored to their original condition. Cllr Chinn will investigate.
8. Finance: –
8.1 The final draft budget from the Finance Committee had been circulated prior to the meeting. The Chair of the Finance Committee, Cllr Chinn, reported that it was a robust budget following input from the working groups and that a 5% increase in precept would cover these increased costs. Without raising the precept further, the Committee wished to include a £4,000 budget for the Smartwater project; reserves were sufficiently healthy to fund this. It was resolved to approve the budget for 2020/21.
8.2 It was resolved to set the precept at £27,825 for 2020/21, an increase of £1,325.
8.3 It was resolved to appoint Jayne Dunstan as internal auditor for the year ended 31 March 2020.
8.4 It was resolved to approve membership of HALC for the year 2020/21
9. Training: – the item was withdrawn pending more information to be presented at the next meeting.
10. Neighbourhood Development Plan steering group:
10.1 There were no questions on the update reports. Cllr Chinn commented that good progress was being made. The next consultation event is on Saturday; the last one was attended by approximately 90 residents.
10.2 It was resolved to approve obtaining a Herefordshire Biological Records Centre report.
10.3 It was resolved to endorse the appointment of Chris Barron as interim financial controller.
10.4 It was resolved to approve use of info@walford-ndp.co.uk
11. WCSS working group: –
11.1 There were no questions on the update report.
11.2 It was resolved to approve the appointment of Cllr Vine to the working group.
12. Safety working group: –
12.1 The update report referred to the replacement of signage at the Canoe Launch site. Cllr Cole had obtained quotes, and these will be presented to the next meeting. The old noticeboard was considered to be dangerous and should be removed immediately.
12.2 Terms of reference.
12.2.1 It was resolved to increase the number on the working group to eight.
12.2.2 It was resolved to change the meeting frequency to “ when required”.
12.3 It was resolved to approve the appointment of Cllr Vine to the working group.
13. Environmental working group: –
13.1 There were no questions on the update report. Cllr Vine volunteered to action the asset transfer request for the Howle Hill War Memorial in place of the Clerk. The offer was accepted.
13.2 The Council asked the working group to obtain more information and progress the Great British Spring Clean
14. Annual Parish Meeting: – the Clerk explained that this was not a Council meeting, though normally arranged by the Council on behalf of the Parish. The content could vary from presentations to discussion on matters that concern parishioners. Ideas included presentations from the working groups, NDP steering group and Walford Village Hall, asking parishioners, Smartwater and Great British Spring Clean.
15. Outstanding action list: – Cllr Chinn submitted some additions to the list following the Finance Committee meeting.
16. Items for next meeting agenda: –
16.1 Noticeboards: – to consider the state of noticeboards around the parish and agree on action
16.2 Newsletter: – to consider terms of reference of editor and newsletter content
16.3 Flooding: – to consider impact of flooding and action to be taken
16.4 Core Strategy Settlement Hierarchy questionnaire
16.5 Great British Spring Clean
16.6 Signage
17. Next meeting: – Wednesday 18 March 2020 at 7.30pm in Walford Village Hall
18. Employment: – the item was withdrawn pending more information to be presented at the next meeting.
The Chair closed the meeting at 21.10.
SIGNED M van Lienden DATE 18 March 2020
Report from the WCSS working group
Report from the Safety Working group
Report from the Environment Working Group