MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING



MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD AT THE GUILD HALL, ASTON CANTLOW

ON WEDNESDAY 17TH JULY 2013 – NO.59

Present: Cllr. Harvey, Chairman, Cllr. Poole, Cllr.Findlay

Part Meeting: County Cllr. Horner.

Councillors are reminded of their duty to consider all aspects of equal opportunities, crime prevention, unlawful discrimination, and other best practice when making decisions at the meeting.

Councillors are minded that they must act solely in the public interest and should

never improperly confer an advantage or disadvantage on any person or act to

gain financial or other material benefits for yourself, your family, a friend or close

associate.

1. Apologies: District Cllr. Sir William Lawrence. Clerk to the Council Mrs. L. Butterworth due to an unavoidable clash of dates with the Wilmcote Parish Council meeting.

To Receive Any Written Request for Disclosable Pecuniary Interests Dispensations

2. Public Participation:

There were no members of the public present.

3. Declaration of Personal and Prejudicial Interests:

No interests were declared.

4. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9th May were

approved and signed.

5. Reports from and referrals to District & County Cllrs:

County Cllr. Horner attended the meeting for a short while in order to introduce himself and meet our Cllrs. He also gave a brief update:

County will not be losing money in cash terms from the government, what has happened is that they have capped the amounts being given in order to force controls at local level.

The budget process is due to be starting at the end of the month (July).

6. Planning Matters

Grace’s Farm: The application recently submitted was not approved even though as a PC we had recommended approval as there appeared to be no good reason not to given, that this was already a residential unit within a wider residential development and the application was to change the use from temporary to permanent.

The Clerk had earlier advised, as a reminder, that it was important for Cllrs to provide reasons for approval as well as recommendations for refusal when responding to planning applications. The Cllrs asked for clarification as to why this was the case as it appeared clear that if there is no reason to object the application would be approved.

20-21 Bearley Road:

After discussion and a thorough review of the proposed plans it was agreed that the recommendation for the application is approval subject to the following:

o Traditional Materials are used throughout

o Traditional Features are to be retained wherever possible

o Windows must be in keeping with those in the buildings adjacent

o Reclaimed bricks used in all external work

o All work to be done sympathetically to the village given that this is sited in a conservation area

Reasons for approval: this building currently is in a poor state of repair, renovating it will not only provide additional housing which is needed in the village, but will also enhance the street scene. The work will also extend the longevity of the property which if not undertaken will continue to dilapidate.

7. Communications relating to previous Minutes:

Bridge at Little Alne: The Clerk had been advised that there had been additional work required on the bridge which had necessitated an extension to the road closure in order for the work to be completed. It is anticipated this will take no longer than an additional 5 working days.

8. Other communications:

CSW Broadband Update : the update (attached) was read and understood by all. There were no comments or questions related to the update as it is self explanatory

Letter from Mr. Evans : Mr. Bill Evans submitted a letter to the Council bringing to their attention the following matters:

E5341 – Mr. Evans stated that previous councils had decided not to progress further the exercise between ACPC and WCC to reclassify from an E road status to a bridleway the E5341. Mr. Evans asked the PC to consider re-visiting the reclassification exercise and taking it up again or to consider taking an alternate course of action to prevent the current disturbances caused by the inappropriate use of the roadway. The Council decided that a notice should be drafted to seek the views of the Parish. This to be posted on all notice boards within the Parish. The Clerk to draft a notice for approval.

Mr. Evans also brought to the attention of the council the road signs adjacent to Manor Farm (30 mph and playground ) both of which are completely illegible, and the Give Way sign at the junction of Salters Lane are also illegible. All require attention or replacement.

The Cllrs noted that this had already been reported by the Clerk to the appropriate body for their urgent attention.

.

Mr. Evans also reported that he had obtained a photograph and a video of the vehicle which caused the damage to the bridge at Little Alne. He advised the registration number of the vehicle is W744 RCJ. Mr. Evans asked that this information be passed to WCC.

Cllrs. were in fact already aware of this and via the clerk WCC had been duly notified.

Electoral Review: Cllrs. felt that there was limited impact on AC Parish and no feedback or comments had been received from parishioners in this regard, therefore there is no response to this consultation.

E mail from Sarah Brooke-Taylor regarding Aston Cantlow Parish Plan: an email had been received from the above offering to come to meet with the PC to provide support in developing the Parish Plan/Neighbourhood Plan. It was proposed by Cllr. Harvey that this offer be accepted and seconded by Cllr. Findlay. The Clerk was asked to contact Ms. Brooke-Taylor to find a convenient time for her to come and to ask her to bring samples of completed plans for reference purposes.

Extension of Permitted Development Rights – information from Robert Weeks, Head of Planning, SDC as been received and was read and understood by all Cllrs. This information will be used in future planning matters.

Millennium Plaque: The Clerk advised that the necessary approvals had been received to the PC’s request to move the current positioning of the plaque to a more appropriate position which will not only make it more visible but also prevent further damage from the pigeon droppings currently damaging it’s surface.

It was agreed that the plaque would be moved to the small piece of grass to the left of the Kings Head public House as had previously been discussed.

Cllr. Harvey’s husband has kindly agreed to undertake the renovation and repair of the stand before the plaque is re-sited.

Cllr. Findlay agreed to notify the Landlord of the Kings Head.

Donations: It was discussed and agreed that the following amounts would be made further to the associations applications to the PC for support:

Village Hall Buildings Fund: £1000

Tennis Club: £300

PCC: £200

Playground: £500

9. Draft Revised Standing Orders: 

The revised standing orders were duly approved and will be put into force with immediate effect.

10. HSBC Payments:

It was proposed by the Clerk that the council approve the clerk to use Internet Banking to transfer money from one account to another (as per WALC guidelines). This was discussed and it was agreed that this would be approved for transfers from one account to another ONLY and NOT FOR BILL PAYMENTS.

All necessary forms to be completed by the clerk and submitted for signature as appropriate.

11. Cllr. Harvey’s report from the briefing event on 18th May on how to undertake a Neighbourhood Development Plan.

Cllr Harvey gave a brief update on the Neighbourhood Planning event, explaining that whilst it was interesting it didn’t really give sufficient information in details as to the steps to take and in fact focused more on communication rather than the plan itself.

It was agreed that the Presentation in Power point which was provided would be circulated for all Cllrs. to look through .

It was felt that the meeting with Sarah Brooke Taylor could prove to be more useful in our case.

munity Forums - notification has been received that votes for items to be considered can now be registered online. This information was duly noted by all Cllrs.

13. Progress on Outstanding matters:

Cllr. Findlay asked whether any update had been received from Matt Jeffs with regards to the hedge at the bottom of Bearley Road which had been cut down when the ditch had been cleared to help our flood efforts. Although we had previously asked for an update in terms of who is responsible for the upkeep of the hedge it would appear nothing has been received. The Clerk to chase this matter on our behalf please.

Cllr. Findlay asked if any further information with regards the Broadband rollout locally had been received from Balvinder at SDC. The Cllrs. recalled that subsequent to a meeting held between Cllr. Harvey, the Clerk Mrs. Butterworth and Balvinder earlier in the year, Balvinder had promised to keep the council updated with her actions. She anticipated at that time that WCC would not necessarily have sufficient funds to cover all areas but that SDC had funds which would be utilised to cover the areas not undertaken by WCC. No further information has been received but it would appear work is now agreed and Cllrs assumed a schedule of work would now be in hand and therefore Balvinder may be in a position to give us an update. The Clerk to be asked to follow this up and report back as appropriate.

Grass Cutting with the Parish: Cllrs. Poole and Cllr. Findlay noted that Simon Tullet had recommenced grass cutting within Aston Cantlow village as notified by the Clerk. However both felt that his focus is just the Village not the Parish as a whole and in fact he is not covering the entire Village just some parts. It was suggested that the Clerk clarify what his intentions are.

Cllrs. Poole and Findlay also noted that they had been asked to ‘keep a watch and report on’ whether we need more cuts throughout the year within the Parish. They felt that at the moment they have insufficient information to report back and will continue to monitor and report back as soon as matters become clear.

14. Items for consideration at the next meeting:

None noted. Items to be sent to the Clerk ASAP should anything arise.

15. Date of Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be at the Guild Hall at 7.30p.m. on

Thursday 12th September 2013.

No further business – Chairman closed the meeting at 9.00 p.m.

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Bringing faster broadband to our rural areas

Project Update May 2013

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Topics in this edition:

Contract update

10,000th Survey response

How was it for you? Case studies required – download location to be added

Top questions this month

Don’t forget to complete the surveys on our website: .uk

Contract update

We are still working on this and now expect to make a contract announcement in June. It has been a long haul so far and we need to make sure that we get the best possible outcome. Until the announcement is made there is nothing more that we can add.

10,000thSurvey response

We now have over 10,000 responses to our surveys – a fantastic number. Thank you to everyone who has completed the forms. The 10,000th response was sent in by Brian Young of Bearley near Stratford. Amazon vouchers to the value of £20 are on their way to him. We still need surveys to be completed, especially as we approach the time when we start to roll out the network.

How was it for you? Case studies required

We are seeking residents and business who would be prepared to become case studies to show the impact that moving to superfast broadband has had on their family, work or business. We have prepared simple templates that will gather information and on receipt of the information we will prepare a case study that would be approved by the subjects before publication. The idea is to show real-life, LOCAL, examples of how superfast is being used. If you would be prepared to help out, the templates can be downloaded from:

Top questions this month

When will you be announcing the contract winner?

We should be able to announce the contract winner in June. The actual tendering and contracting timescales are determined by BDUK, but we have already advised them that we are likely to be behind the BDUK timetable in signing a contract as we have had a number of clarifications and issues to work through. Unfortunately we are tied down by commercial confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements so cannot expand on the delays except to assure you that we are doing everything we can to make sure that we get the best possible outcome for our project. The slight delay should not affect the rollout programme.

When will we start to see something happening on the ground?

Survey work is likely to start quite soon after contract signing, and installation of the new network should commence towards the turn of the year. We will be making announcements on a quarterly basis as the project progresses about activity to be undertaken for the coming period.

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