Minutes June 2014

Parish Clerk: Janet Chester

Mapleside, Ashperton, Ledbury, HR8 2RZ

Tel: 01531 670036

e-mail: bosburyclerk@btinternet.com

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

1/6/14 Apologies Received – Cllr M Twigg (holiday)

2/6/14 Declarations of Interest & Requests for Dispensation – none

3/6/14 To approve minutes of the Annual meeting held on 1^st May 2014 (previously circulated)

The minutes were approved as a true and accurate record and duly signed by the chairman.

4/6/14 To receive a brief report from the Ward Councillor(s):

Cllr Johnson started by advising that urban grass cutting has been reduced from 7 times per year to 3 to save money, this does not apply to visibility splays at road junctions due to safety. Herefordshire Council have put out for consultation their budget for 2015/16. In November 2014 alternate week refuse collection will commence with green bins for recycling and new black bins for other refuse. Larger black bins are available. Cllr Johnson has recently written a statement “What do we get for our council tax?” which he hoped everyone had had chance to read.

Cllr Attwood advised that a new cabinet member had been appointed, Paul Roan whose main remit is to oversee the Balfour Beatty contract. Balfour Beatty are currently reorganizing staff and a new Locality Steward should shortly be announced. Cllr Attwood now has some responsibility being chairman of health and social care overview and scrutiny committee.

The ward cllrs were asked of a joint venture with Worcestershire was being looked at to share services such as police, fire brigade, Hoople and waste management. There are a number of joint ventures being looked at to save money and cut costs.

They were also asked why roads in Powys are in a much better state of repair. Welsh roads are funded by the Welsh Assembly. In Herefordshire and nationwide the government grant has been cut drastically, there will be a £67m difference between costs and income by 2017. In Herefordshire 25000 tonnes of tarmac has been put down and between 40000 and 50000 potholes filled, extra funding has been received from the Belwin fund and extra funding has just been received, £20m will be spent on highway maintenance before winter 2014/15..

The ward councillors were questioned over the pending planning application for 46 houses in Bosbury and assured both the parish councillors and local residents that they will support our views and represent those views if the application goes to committee to decide.

Balfour Beatty have been out a number of times to blocked drains by the church and Pax Cottage but flooding is still an issue. Flooding throughout the village is a long term problem and although meetings have been held with representatives have taken place there is a lack of response and no progress made. The ward councillors will chase Steve Hodges and pursue the problems on the parish councils behalf.

Cllrs Johnson and Attwood left the meeting at this point.

5/6/14 Open Forum for Local Residents to raise matters relevant to the Parish Council

The white marker posts on the traffic calming stretch of road were thought to be a danger to pedestrians, cyclists or horseriders due to the pointed tops. The design has been approved by Herefordshire Council but an alternative of rounded tops would be looked at. The threshold gates were well accepted and the parish council congratulated on the scheme at the Ledbury end of the village, however the positioning of the gates at the Cradley end of the village was proving to be more problematic because of the narrow verges.

6/6/14 Councillor Vacancies

Matt Hosking and Patrick Whitehead were both proposed by Cllr B Taylor, both were unanimously supported by other councilors and duly co-opted onto the council and signed the necessary forms.

7/6/14 Planning

a)  Planning Applications to be considered:- none

b) To confirm response to Considered Applications – none

c) To note decisions from Herefordshire Council –  NOTED as per planning record       

d)    Update on Proposed Development on land West of Upper Court Road, Bosbury

A local newspaper had contacted a councillor but he had been advised that there was nothing to comment on as the application had not been submitted to Herefordshire Council. It was agreed that in the absence of any formal consultation from Carter Jonas a letter is to be sent to The Church Commissioners seeking dialogue and communication and asking them to consider alternative sites RESOLVED. To enable the residents to have a say on where any future development takes place in the village, it was proposed to start a Neighbourhood Plan straight away. Representatives from the council voted onto the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group were Cllrs Boyle, Hosking, Paganuzzi and Whitehead. The advised timescale of 12 to 18 months to do a Neighbourhood Plan could be very much reduced by having weekly or fortnightly meetings. A local planning expert has offered his help. The first thing to be decided is the area for the plan to cover. It was agreed to proceed immediately with a view of completing the plan as soon as possible, being mindful of the budget and correct procedures at all times. The steering group is to report back to the parish council weekly of its progress.  RESOLVED

8/6/14  Highways and Footpaths

a)   Traffic Speed Management –

It was noted that the threshold gates need cleaning. The barrels are to be put in place and planted up. New speed of 40mph going into the 30mph are due to be installed at the end of July. A road surface treatment has been suggested by Herefordshire Council. Data is currently being collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the traffic calming measures. Once this data has been received further progress can be made on the Cradley end of the village.

b)   Road conditions / Winter self-help / Flooding

There have been reports of vehicles parking near the Brook Lane junction and blocking visibility. The clerk is to advise the local police. The clerk is to chase the cost of a new sign for Brook Lane. A replacement Coddington sign is required by Church Farm. A number of new verge markers are also required.

c)   Update from Footpath Warden

A number of emails have been sent but there has been a distinct lack of answers to our problems.  Until the new steward is in place we are not going to get answers. RESOLVED The clerk is to forward details to the ward councillors to pursue on our behalf.   A draft map of the footpaths through Bosbury and Coddington is being put together by James Boyce, he will present a copy at the July meeting .A copy was asked to be emailed to the clerk prior to the meeting RESOLVED

d)   Progress on revising the status of Catley byway

Objections have been sent by local residents to Herefordshire Council and a letter of support has been sent by the clerk. No response has been received to date.

e)   Lengthsman Contract

A training date was arranged but unfortunately Ed was unable to attend. The clerk is awaiting a further training date.

9/6/14 Finance

a)   To agree Finance Report and Annual Return Statement RESOLVED

The clerk read out the Annual Return statements which were all agreed and the chairman and clerk signed the Annual Return to send to Grant Thornton External Auditors

b)   Payments RESOLVED

611: Stoneyard Green – Annual website hosting fee – £49.00

612: J Chester – Clerk salary and expenses May – as agreed

613: Broker Network Ltd – Annual Insurance – £26.00

614: GR Day & Son Ltd – lengthsman – £1536.00

c)   New Bank Mandate 

Deferred to July meeting RESOLVED

d)   To review new Financial Regulations

The clerk will draft the new regulations for adoption at the July meeting.

RESOLVED

10/6/14 Correspondence / Consultation / Discussion / Communications

a)   Defibrulator for Bosbury Village

Deferred to July meeting RESOLVED

b)   e)  Items for the website – All councillors were reminded to send photos to the clerk to be uploaded onto the website. RESOLVED

11/6/14 Training / Meetings –

a)   To note dates of forthcoming meetings:-

Code of Conduct meeting 10^th June has been cancelled

Herefordshire Council Core Strategy 4^th and 18^th June at Courtyard

b)   Reports from meetings attended:- none

12/6/14 To note Information Sheet and Outstanding Actions  

 (circulated) – RESOLVED

13/6/14 To note Planning Record (circulated) – RESOLVED

14/6/14 Items for next meeting

Bank Mandate

Defibrulator

Finance Regulations

Neighbourhood Plan Update

15/6/14 Date of Next Scheduled Meeting – Thurs 3^rd July 2014

It was noted that Bosbury Hall is not availbale for 4^th December meeting so it was AGREED to hold the 4^th December meeting at Coddington Church.

Meeting closed at 9.50pm

Signed…………………………….    Dated……………………………….

Chairman

 Ward Cllrs

 Clerk / Cllr Joyce-Townsend

 Clerk

Clerk

 NP Group

 Cllr Joyce-Townsend

 Clerk

 Clerk

 Clerk

 Clerk

Clerk

Clerk

Clerk

All Cllrs