Minutes of the Meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council held on

MAY 20^th 2026

 DRAFT

The Annual Meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council was held at Eccleshall Community Centre on May 20th 2026, at 7.30pm. This meeting was followed by a meeting of the Planning Committee at 8.05pm.

64/26).  Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chairman)                  Councillor R. Langford

Councillor P. Jones                                         Councillor S. Kean

Councillor G. Dale                                           Councillor M. Gosling

Councillor D. Hall                                            Councillor B. Delanchy

Councillor S. Mifflin                                        Councillor D. Hill

Councillor A. Reid

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

Three members of the public

65/26).   To elect a Chairman and signature of declaration of office.

Councillor Taylor was nominated for the Office of Chairman and was duly re-elected as Chairman for the ensuing year.

Cllr. Taylor signed the declaration of office form.

66/26).    Apologies:

Apologies were received from Councillors Perren, Wilkins, Feneysey and Ryan-Bloor.

67/26).    To elect a Vice-Chairman and sign the declaration of office.

There was one candidate for the Office of Vice-Chairman. Councillor Langford was duly elected as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

Cllr. Langford signed the declaration of office form.

68/26).   To consider Councillor requests for dispensation and accept Declarations of interest relating to items on the agenda.

There were no requests to receive, and no declarations of interest were made.

69/26).   To approve the minutes of the Council Meeting held on April 15^th 2026

The minutes, which had been previously circulated, were agreed and signed.

70/26).    To appoint Committees and Liaison Representatives.

It was resolved to approve the current membership and liaison responsibilities as listed below:

Committees:

Planning Committee                            All Councillors. Cllr. Delanchy (Ch),  Perren (VC).

Highways &Transport Committee   Councillors Jones (Ch), Langford, Perren (VC), Dale, Wilkins, Hill, Reid, Ryan-Bloor, Taylor, Hall and Gosling.

Enhancements Committee               Councillors Jones, Langford (VC), Taylor, Dale, Wilkins, Perren (Ch), Hill, Hall, Ryan-Bloor and Reid.

Policy and Resources                       Councillors Taylor (Ch), Dale, Perren, Wilkins, Hall (VC), Hill, Feneysey and Reid.

Footpaths                                               Councillors Taylor (Ch), Mifflin, Wilkins, Perren, Hill (VC), and Hall, together with co-opted members – Mr. N. Davenport and Mr. Graham Cole.

Events                                                    Councillors Dale, Taylor, Jones, Hill (VC), Gosling, Perren and Feneysey (Ch).

Staffing Committee                              Councillors Jones, Delanchy and Taylor.

Other responsibilities/Liaison Reps:

Croxton Playing Fields                                     Councillor S. Mifflin and the Clerk

Allotments                                                            Councillor S. Perren

Eccleshall Community Centre                        Councillor D. Hill

Parish Councils Assoc.                                    Clerk

Parish Forum                                                       Clerk

Police Liaison Officer                                        Clerk

Flood Action Group                                           Not currently active

Eccleshall First Responders                          Clerk and Cllr. Gosling

Offley Hay Village Hall                                       Clerk

Press Officer                                                        Councillor P. Jones

Ecclian Society                                                   Councillor G. Dale

Internal Auditor                                                   Councillor S. Mifflin

Independent Internal Auditor                          Mrs. Kim Squire

Slindon Residents                                             Councillor M. Gosling

Children & Young Peoples Champion          Councillor D. Hill

Croxton News                                                      Councillor R. Langford

Newsletter Editorial Team                               Councillors P. Jones, R. Langford and R. Taylor

Current Working Groups:

Sustainability and Climate Change (direct to Council):- Councillors Langford, Reid, Perren, Gosling and Mifflin.

Beech Road Play area:- Councillors Perren, Reid, Hill, Ryan-Bloor, Dale and Feneysey plus local residents: Bishops Lonsdale PTFA representatives – Sam Cliffe, Aimi Lacanivalu, Victoria Goatman; Nursery Proprietor – Hannah Bull; Special needs advisor – Katherine Hodgkinson; Residents local to Beech Road – Stephanie Delicompagni, Lisa Lambert, Emma Griffiths, Rose Westwood; Rotary Club Representative – Sylvia Keris

Town Centre Vision working group:- Councillors Langford, Perren, Hill, Reid, Gosling, Dale and Taylor.

Community Centre working group – Cllrs. Dale, Delanchy, Hall, Hill, Ryan-Bloor, Feneysey and Taylor.

Planning Developments working group – Cllrs. Wilkins, Delanchy, Perren, Hill and Feneysey.

Community Resilience and Emergency Planning working group – Cllrs. Langford, Taylor, Hill, Reid, Gosling and Perren.

Events working Group – Cllrs. Feneysey, Hill, Perren and Taylor.

71/26).    To consider the Council’s Deeds and Insurances

It was resolved to defer this item to the next Policy and Resources committee meeting, to allow for full consideration.

72/26).    To review and re-adopt the following policies: –

The following policies were reviewed and adopted with no changes required (apart from minor updates to contact email details): –

• Standing Orders
• Financial Regulations
• Complaints procedure
• Publication Scheme
• Policies, procedures and practices in respect of its obligations under freedom of information and data protection legislation.
• Code of Conduct
• Committee Terms of Reference and schemes of delegation

73/26).    Public Participation

There was no public participation.

74/26).    To receive any reports from Borough and County Councillors and police representatives.

Borough Councillor Jones noted that the Government has recently updated the national threat level to severe. The Parish Council has provided this update and further information to Eccleshall Library volunteers.

75/26).    Committee Updates:

Highways & Transport:    

• There were no updates to report.

Footpaths:

• The minutes of the meeting held on 6^th May 2026 were noted.

Enhancements:

• There were no updates to report

Policy and Resources:

• There were no updates to report.

Events:

• The minutes of the Committee meeting on the 6^th May 2026 were noted.
• The committee are planning to arrange a Country and Western evening in September and are currently looking into options for live entertainment. A working group has been convened to progress the plans.

76/26).    Summer newsletter

The Clerk requested any outstanding articles by the end of the month. Any councillors with suitable cover photos were asked to email them in.

77/26).    Biodiversity Update:

• Eccleshall Parish Council received a certificate of merit for its application to the Bee Friendly Town National Awards, which will be framed and displayed in the library.
• Unfortunately, the bluebells planted on the public space next to the Stone Road roundabout were mowed early by Stafford Borough Council, contrary to the agreement to leave the area until flowering had completed. Some have regrown, and the Borough Council has offered to undertake additional planting in the autumn to compensate.
• Reid has arranged for evening bat walks on the 11^th and 12^th August, in the Sancerre Grange-Fletchers Garden Centre area. Each walk can accommodate 25-30 attendees and will be around 8.30pm. Details will be advertised at the Showcase and in the parish council newsletter.
• The next working group meeting will be held on the 1^st

78/26).   To receive the Clerks Report, containing liaison representative updates.

  The Council received the Clerk’s report. The minutes of the last Allotments Association meeting were circulated separately.

Members had also received a copy of the consultation by Atlas, regarding the installation of a mobile phone mast in Croxton. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and Atlas are looking into locations for consideration.

79/26).   Correspondence: –

• There was no correspondence for consideration.

80/26).   Chairman’s Report: –

• Taylor recently met with the Governor of HMP Drake Hall, to explore opportunities for joint working, integrating some of the ladies into the community by undertaking voluntary works. The activities will need to be local due to limited transport. Eccleshall Library book group are planning to hold a session on site. Hilton Hospitality will be running a course for inmates, and they will be looking for people to attend catering events. Cllr. Hall expressed an interest in volunteers helping at Katherine House Hospice Shop. Holy Trinity Church is planning to hold a pageant to celebrate the centenary of the 1927 pageant and are looking to liaise for help with areas such as scenery painting.
• A joint event between the Library and Crown Surgery is being held on the 4^th June between 4-7pm, to showcase a range of services available to the community, with around thirteen services in attendance
• Members were reminded that the Eccleshall Showcase is on the 9^th June and is fully booked with thirty-one groups in attendance. The Scouts have kindly agreed to help again with serving refreshments and leaflets have been distributed door to door, within the town area. Cllrs. Hill, Langford, Gosling, Dale, Reid and Taylor are available to support the event.

81/26).    Accounts: –

A1 – To receive the Internal Audit report. Copies of the report were circulated to members in advance of the meeting. The report advised that there were no matters to be brought to the attention of the council. The Parish Council resolved to accept the report.

A2 – To Approve the Annual Governance Statement (Section 1 of the Annual Return). The Annual Governance Statement was considered by the Council in detail, and it was resolved that all matters had been adequately complied with. The Chairman and Clerk signed the form accordingly.

A3 – To consider and approve the Accounting Statements (Section 2 of the Annual Return). Copies of the statement had been circulated to members in advance of the meeting. It was resolved to approve the statement of accounts, and this was signed by the Chairman.

A4 – To note the date of announcement and the commencement and ending dates for the accounts public inspection period. This was noted by the Parish Council. The period is from the  3^rd June to the 14^th July 2026 inclusive.

A5 – To accept the financial report to end April 2026. It was resolved to accept the financial summary.

A6 – To approve accounts for payment May 2026:-

Payments made since the last full Council meeting were received and noted as follows:

Authorisation was sought for payment of the following accounts:-

All were in favour and the accounts will be paid accordingly. Cllrs. Taylor and Reid will process the approvals.

82/26).    Items / Date and Venue for next meeting: –

The next meeting of the Parish Council is scheduled for June 17^th, 2026, Offley Hay Village Hall, commencing at 7.30pm.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.00pm.