ALBRIGHTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Minutes of the meeting held on

Thursday 20th November at the Red House

 

 

 

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Red House on Thursday 20th November 2008.

 

PRESENT: Cllrs. P Lusk (Chair), D Beechey (Vice Chair), R Balkwill, G Beechey,

R Blincoe, M Holden, P Illes, D Johnson, R Kidson, D Murray, J Nelson, M Pate, S Pate.

 

CLERK: M Ward

 

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: No members of the public were in attendance.

 

APOLOGIES:

 

Cllrs. N Hester, S Pledger, PC Salt.

 

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:  

 

Personal:

 

There were no declarations of personal interests.

 

Prejudicial:

 

Cllr. G Beechey declared a prejudicial interest in item 15.

Cllr. M Pate declared a prejudicial interest in item 15.

Cllr. S Pate declared a prejudicial interest in item 15.

 

 

 

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

 

Parish Council Meeting 16th October 2008:

 

The minutes were proposed as a true record by Cllr. M Pate, seconded by Cllr. D Beechey. The motion was unanimously approved.

 

Planning Meeting 6th November 2008:

 

The minutes were proposed as a true record by Cllr. D Beechey, seconded by Cllr. J Nelson. The motion was unanimously approved.

 

 

MATTERS ARISING:

 

Cllr. Pate informed members that the new Council web site had been approved on albrightonparishcouncil.gov.uk and will go live on 21st November. Cllr. G Beechey recorded a vote of thanks to Cllr. M Pate for all of his hard work in establishing the new site.

 

Cllr. Illes said that his investigations had revealed that there had been a 20-30% increase in landfill costs for skips and it was likely that the compaction service that the Council had been providing would be more expensive in the next financial year.

 

Cllr. G Beechey asked for an update on the Shrewsbury Arms and the Clerk reported that he had asked for a meeting with the Area Representative on site but he had not been contacted after she had returned from holiday and no meeting had taken place. She asked if the graffiti could be removed as it was an eyesore and particularly offensive during the Christmas period for members of the congregation leaving a church service.

 

RESOLVED: The Clerk to write to Punch Taverns asking the company to remove the graffiti from the window panels of the Shrewsbury Arms before the Christmas services begin next month.

 

PLANNING:

 

FUL/08/0787 Erection of two storey building forming four holiday apartments land rear of Albrighton Library, Station Road, Albrighton.

 

Resolved to recommend: Refusal.

Objections on the grounds of the restricted access, the loss of parking to existing properties, the overlooking of properties to the rear and the acceptance of back land development.

 

OUT/08/0798 Outline application for the erection of three detached dwellings after demolition of existing dwelling 54 Station Road, Albrighton.

 

Resolved to recommend:

No objections.

 

Appeal decisions:

 

08/0042 Erection of a side conservatory 6 Holyhead Road, Albrighton.

Appeal dismissed.

 

07/0742 Conversion of existing outbuilding to single two bed unit at 26 Station Road, Albrighton.

Appeal allowed.

 

The appeal decisions were received and noted.

DCAE COSFORD REPORT:

 

Sqn Leader Lee reported that a Globemaster aircraft was due to land at Cosford airfield on 17th December with items for the museum. There was likely to be lots of interest in this event with members of the public visiting the airfield and consequent increases in traffic.

 

The approbation ceremony was also raised by Sqn. Leader Lee and he informed members that he would be liaising with senior staff to try and identify a date in March 2009 for the ceremony to take place.

 

POLICE REPORT:

 

The Bridgnorth district crime figures were circulated to members but PC Salt was not present at the meeting to make a report.

 

FINANCE:

 

Precept 2009:

 

The Chairman reported on the recent meeting of the Finance Committee which had been deliberating the precept demand for 2009. It was important to earmark the large budget reserves to satisfy the auditors and establish the priorities for spending during the coming financial year. A number of suggestions were made:

 

 

The Grants Committee would need to meet to discus section 137 grants to charities and funding for the Fayre Committee.

 

It was agreed that all further suggestions for priority spending during the forthcoming financial year should be made to the Chair, the Vice Chair or the Clerk before the precept meeting in November.

 

National salary increase for local council employees:

 

The October 2008 salary increase of 2.45% backdated to April 2008 for local council employees was noted.

 

List of Cheques for approval:

 

The list of 21 cheques recorded as Appendix A to the minutes was submitted for approval. Cllr. G Beechey queried the cheque to Severn Trent Water of £147.38 for water supplied to the Old School. Members were told that the Council is still the leaseholder for this property and the cheque relates to all water consumed by users since April 2008. Cllr M Pate proposed that the list of payments be approved, seconded by Cllr Blincoe. The motion was unanimously approved.

 

WAR MEMORIAL GRANT:

 

Cllr. Johnson explained to members that the Council could apply for a grant up to £2,500.00 to renovate the War Memorial from the War Memorial Association provided that it matched the funding allocated. It could also obtain funding of £250.00 from Bridgnorth District Council. Cllr. Hickman from Donington Parish Council was supplying him with surveying levels and once these had been made available Cllr. Johnson would produce the necessary drawings with attached costings and send them with the completed application form to the War Memorials Trust.

 

Members thanked Cllr. Johnson for his continued work on this project.  

 

ELECTION OF A REPRESENTATIVE TO THE SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB:

 

Cllr. Johnson proposed Cllr. Blincoe as the Council representative to the Sports and Social Club, seconded by Cllr. M Pate. The motion was unanimously approved by the Council.

 

RESOLVED: The Clerk to write to the Sports and Social Club informing them of the appointment and supplying the contact details.

 

UPDATE ON THE INSTALLATION AND SWITCH ON OF THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:

 

The Council recorded their unanimous thanks for the generous donation from Barhale plc

to fund the Christmas lights in the village. Cllr. Johnson informed members that it had been too late to make many purchases of new lights but two Christmas tree displays and one large overhead light had been purchased for the area in front of the Red House. The lights would be erected during the week beginning 24th November but the proposed switch on had been cancelled because of the difficulties and the related expense of wiring up the display to one switch.

 

Members thanked Cllr. Johnson for his work in organising the lights this year.

 

PARISH COUNCIL QUALITY STATUS SUBMISSION:

 

The Clerk described his meeting with Karen Roper at SALC regarding the submission of an application for continued quality status. There were three problems areas which related to the operation of an approved website, the lack of a training statement of intent and the failure to produce an Annual Report which met the application criteria in April 2008. The website was now proceeding well and it was likely that it would be operational in time for the accreditation and the Clerk could write a statement of intent regarding training. He had already obtained a model that had been judged to be meeting the standard. The issue of the Annual Report was, however, very problematic and the Clerk had been advised that the application would fail because the mandatory criteria relating to this area could not be met.

 

Cllr. S Pate proposed that in the circumstances the application should be deferred to the summer of 2009 after a new Annual Report could be produced next spring. The motion was seconded by Cllr. Illes and agreed by the Council.

 

Cllr. G Beechey regretted the need to postpone the application but stressed that no blame should be attached to the Clerk for the lack of an Annual Report from previous years.

 

RESOLVED: The Clerk to write to Karen Roper informing her of the Council decision to delay submission for Quality Council Status until the summer 2009.

 

THE PARISH FLYER:

 

The Chairman outlined the main outcomes of the Transport Group meeting held on 14th November. The discussion covered payment issues, section 19 and the contract letter and members of the committee felt that there was a need to check to ensure that all of these matters were in order. Cllr Blincoe stressed the need for some kind of ticketing machine on the Flyer and for the scale of charges to be displayed on the vehicle. Emails had been exchanged with Mr Johnson at SCC seeking clarification on a small number of points.

 

Currently Donington Parish Council is reserving its position while further discussions proceed.    

 

RESOLVED: The Clerk to write to the Revenue once any revisions to the contract letter have been completed to seek advice with regard to its suitability from a tax perspective.

 

PARKING AT ALBRIGHTON STATION:

 

Cllr Murray reported that he had contacted Mr. Tony Perkins regarding the possibility of leasing the land adjacent to the station approach for additional parking who had given him the number of his partner, Mr Kendall. The Clerk had telephoned Mr Kendall several times to try and establish his opinion on the possibility but could not obtain a reply.

 

REQUEST FOR INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE RED HOUSE:

 

Cllrs. G Beechey, M Pate and S Pate left the meeting for this item. The Chairman introduced the  letter from Mr. B  Crawcour previously circulated which stated that the bid for a  SITA grant had been unsuccessful and as a result the development proposals had been revised and were now divided into two phases. Mr. Crawcour asked in the letter whether the £5,500.00 funding already provided to meet the third party requirement in relation to the SITA bid could be retained and used as a direct contribution to phase 1 and whether the Council might be prepared to increase their total grant towards £10,000.00 to help the whole of phase 1 proceed in the near future.

 

Cllr. Nelson felt he could support both of Mr. Crawcour’s requests on condition that the trustees now take back the Old School from the Parish Council with no request for dilapidation funding. Cllr. Balkwill felt that more details of the proposals were needed before the Council could make a decision and Cllr. Holden pointed out that the trustees must note the requirements regarding disabled users of the building.

 

An amended version of Cllr. Nelson’s motion, that the Council was minded to support the proposal by way of a grant subject to the clarification of the trust’s scheme and the sale of the Old School and the surrender of the Council’s lease on the Old School with no dilapidation payments, was seconded by Cllr. D Beechey and carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED: The Clerk to write to Mr Crawcour and inform him of the Council position and invite him to the next Planning Meeting on 4th December to make a presentation on the proposals for the development of the Red House and the disposal of the Old School.   

 

REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE ON LOCAL JOINT COMMITTEES:

 

Cllr Murray tabled a report of the meeting held on 19th November which will see the creation of 27 Local Joint Committees which will be executive decision making bodies each with its own budget. Cllr. M Pate informed members that Albrighton Parish Council will be part of a committee that includes Donington with Boscobel, Tong and Boningale. Each committee would be served by a senior officer and a dedicated community officer and the committee can co-opt and integrate other bodies such as PACT. The results from the pilots already operating have been encouraging.

 

Cllr. Pate stressed that the new Local Joint Committees will not replicate or affect the independence of parish councils and it is not compulsory that they attend their Local Joint Committee.. Training for members of the new committees will take place in the early part of 2009.

 

CORRESPONDENCE:

 

The Chairman drew Councillor’s attention to the letter from Ms. S Williams regarding the proposal to purchase the land in front of the Red House from Bridgnorth District Council. Ms. Williams asked that any proposal to purchase should be delayed until the development plans for the Red House were agreed as they were likely to include the need for more land for extending the building. It was further suggested that the trustees should act in concert with the Parish Council regarding any land acquisition.

 

 

 

 

COUNCILLOR’S REPORTS:

 

Cllr. Blincoe reported on a recent Albrighton Traders meeting which was attended by 46 members out of a possible 61. Members were given a presentation by Barhale/STW on the progress of works in the village and the traders have received a grant of £500.00 from Severn Trent Water to assist in the production of a brochure advertising the services provided in the village to be distributed in February/March 2009.

 

Cllr Blincoe also attended a PACT meeting.

 

TIMES AND DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signed………………………………………….Date………………………………………

Chairman