Meeting 1st November 2021

DRAFT MINUTES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

 Meeting of the Parish Council

held on Monday 1st November 2021

at 7.30 pm, at Edingale Village Hall

The meeting followed a training update given by Cllrs Mason and Purkess.

Members present:

Cllr Startin (Chair)

Cllr Cliffe                                                                                                      Cllr Dhillon                                                                                                  Cllr Lacey                                                                                                     Cllr Mason                                                                                                    Cllr Meikle                                                                                                    Cllr Purkess

Present: Mrs M Jones, Clerk, 3 members of the public.

89.To receive and approve apologies

None received.

90.To receive any Declarations of Interest

None received.

91. To approve the draft Minutes of the meeting of 4^th October 2021 The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chair.

92. To hold the public session

The meeting was adjourned to hold the public session.

A resident present offered to cut back the vegetation to the right of the Blakeways Close land. Cllr Dhillon recommended that the Clerk first check that volunteers working on behalf of the Parish Council were covered by the insurance.

Cllr Startin would also arrange for the section along Croxall Road to be trimmed.

The Church Warden informed the Parish Council of the recent church upgrading work, an excellent job had been made of the installation of a disabled access toilet and kitchen.

Concern was expressed about parked cars at the bottom of the hill, which meant that vehicles had to pass them on the wrong side of the road, and there was a risk of an accident.

The meeting was then reconvened.

 93.To receive the Clerk’s report

The Tuesday taxi service to Tamworth for the older residents would restart from 2^nd November. The passengers had been asked to donate £5 per return trip towards the costs.                                                                                                      A Remembrance Service would take place at Holy Trinity on 11^th November and Cllr Meikle had offered to represent the Parish Council.                                         Highways had been unable to confirm when the drains would be cleared or give any information on other works around the village.                                                     A resident had kindly offered to plant spring bulbs on the island and on the Church Lane verge.                                                                                            Hedges around the village would be trimmed by the contractor during November. The Tree surgeon would be asked when he would be able to inspect the trees.     An Honours Nomination had been submitted, but more information was requested.

94.To consider any planning matters

95. To consider progress on village name signs and speed signs

Cllrs discussed various options for positioning a sign near the school to slow the traffic, however it was agreed to consider instead at the next meeting the ‘20 is plenty for Staffordshire’ scheme recently received in correspondence which could be more effective in slowing traffic through the whole village.

Work was continuing on obtaining quotes and a logo design for village name signs.

96. To consider options for improving biodiversity in the parish

Cllr Startin would obtain costs of wild flower seeds for planting on areas of Parish Council land which would be left unmown.

97. To consider contribution to HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations

It was RESOLVED to contribute to a village celebration event next June, as was traditional for the Parish Council to do, and it was agreed to support the Village Hall Committee in planning this. An appropriate amount would be identified in the budget for the next financial year.

98. To review maintenance contract for 2022

It was RESOLVED to add to the contract various tasks such as hedge trimming which were done regularly and to increase the payment for next year to reflect inflation. The contract would be amended and then signed at the next meeting.

99. To receive Councillors’ Reports

Cllr Mason reported that he had been in touch with regular participants in the Open Gardens event and the majority view had been that it should run at the same time as the Scarecrow Festival, on the weekend of 18^th/19^th June 2022.

Cllr Mason had also been informed by the owner of the Black Horse that he had not been able to find a tenant for the pub and would therefore ask the District Council to reconsider the Asset of Community Value.

He reminded Cllr Startin that the hedges at the Village Hall field needed trimming and asked if he was able to assist with this.

Cllr Meikle pointed out that there was currently a survey into remote meetings to gather evidence of the need to change the law in this respect. The Clerk had previously responded to this.

100. To receive correspondence

Staffordshire Parish Councils Association bulletins

Lichfield District Council, news items, consultation on CCTV in taxis, garden waste collections, Cllr grants, tool thefts

Community Foundation, mental health survey

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner survey on policing, fire and rescue in Staffordshire

20 is plenty in Staffordshire team

Lord Lieutenants Office – HM Queen’s Jubilee information

101. To receive a Financial Report

A bank reconciliation was given. The current account stood at £15,657; capital totalled £69,084.

The Buckinghamshire Bond was due for renewal, no information had yet been received.

The half year Internal Audit would be done later in November, it was RESOLVED to appoint Toplis Associates as Auditors for the following year.

RESOLVED to approve the financial report.

102.To approve the payments on the payment schedule

Mrs M Jones, salary and expenses, £357;  HMRC, PAYE, £17.60

Village Gardeners, October mowing, £490.46;

Eon, lighting maintenance, School Lane, £33.73

Aviva, pension, £9.68

It was RESOLVED to approve the payments, Cllr Purkess would authorise these.

103.Date of next meeting

Monday 6^th December, 7.30 at Edingale Village Hall

The meeting closed at 8.25 p.m.