Minutes of the Meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council held on 17^th JULY 2024

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council was held at Broughton Parish Rooms on 17^th July 2024 at 7.45pm. This meeting was followed by a meeting of the Planning Committee at 9.05pm.

 101/24). Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chairman)                   Councillor G. Dale

Councillor S. Perren                                       Councillor R Langford

Councillor B. Delanchy                                 Councillor D. Hill

Councillor D. Feneysey                                  Councillor P. Jones

Councillor C. Wilkins                                      Councillor Ryan-Bloor

Councillor D. Hall                                            Councillor S. Mifflin

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

One member of the public

102/24). Apologies were received from Gosling, Reid, Wilkins, and Borough and County Councillor Pert.

103/24). To consider Declarations of Interest and Councillor requests for dispensation relating to items on the agenda.

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

104/24). Public Participation:

A member of the public spoke in relation to an increasing number of vehicles parking in the High Street with a significant part of the vehicle on the pavement cobbles. Whilst it is noted drivers are trying to avoid damage from passing vehicles, this means that doors can be opened onto pedestrians. There has also been an incident of a car mounting the kerb to park whilst a child was standing in that area of the pavement. It was agreed for the Clerk to produce a note politely requesting drivers to not park on the cobbles, which can be put under the wipers of the offending vehicles.

The issue with problem parking by the primary school and speeding around key drop off and pick up points was raised. Speedwatch has undertaken a session on Gaol Butts but due to contractors working in the area did not get an accurate representation of the activity. Suggestions that could be discussed with the school headteacher included –  the instigation of a walking bus starting in an area where it is easy to park;  the implementation of double yellow lines (as seen in Loggerheads) to deter parking in key areas and potential for a 20mph zone.

  105/24). To approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 15^th June 2024.

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

  106/24). Report from the Borough Councillor, County Councillor, and police representatives:

Cllr. P. Jones has been undertaking various duties in his capacity as Deputy Mayor and has also held a surgery in the library. Cllr. Jones also apologised to Cllr. Hall for recent errors in the Stone and Eccleshall Gazette article in relation to his name and the fact that he was an elected councillor as opposed to co-opted.

  107/24). Parking problems at Bishops Lonsdale Academy

This item was for the discussion of parking issues with the headteacher, who had to extend her apologies for the meeting. This will be rescheduled for the autumn, subject to her availability.

  108/24). Committee Updates:

    Traffic Management:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 3^rd July 2024 were noted.
• Members received the report from County Cllr. Pert in relation to the speeding concerns along the stretch of Broughton near to the crossroads and the parish rooms. Members were pleased to note the commissioning of a two-way speed count, to be undertaken over 7 days, 24hrs a day, and over two date ranges (to account for differences in traffic over the school holidays). The implementation cost for a speed reduction scheme is £7,500 and Cllr. Pert advised a 50% contribution by the Parish Council would be beneficial in enabling this to take place. The council resolved in favour to support this, subject to receipt and recommendations from the surveys.
• Concerns were raised again about the lack of progression by Highways to complete the road repair by the church. Cllr. Jones will look to raise the profile of the long-standing issue by approaching the media to commission an article on the lack of action. It was noted that it is now dangerous as drivers are used to the lights and some ignore them. Cllr. Jones has brought this to the attention of the Borough Council Chief Executive.

 Footpaths:

• Taylor provided an overview of the proposal to produce a Heritage Walk booklet of the town centre (High Street and Stafford Street) as it would have been in 1871, noting the function of the buildings and details of its inhabitants. To ensure printing of the brochure in a timely manner, the council resolved to approve printing costs of £252 for 250 copies, and up to £100 for use of the historical images, subject to the final document being reviewed and approved at the Footpaths Committee meeting on the 14^th August.

Enhancements:

• Members received an update on the Beech Road play area project. The lease is still being prepared, but the tendering for the play area refurbishment is progressing. Three companies have undertaken site visits in the presence of the Clerk and Cllr. Perren, and tenders will be received late August for review in early September. Members were provided with copies of the procurement specification documents. There will be four people scoring the tenders received and further public consultation is planned before the final proposal comes to the council for approval. It is hoped that this will be in time for the October council meeting, but there will be a considerable amount of work to be undertaken in scoring, shortlisting, obtaining feedback and adjusting the preferred design before it will be ready. It was noted that the funding application will need to run in conjunction with this process to achieve the target completion dates. The lease is not yet available for signing but is being progressed.

    Policy and Resources:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 3^rd July 2024 were noted.
• It was resolved to approve the recommendation to allocate a grant of £500 towards the installation of an additional defibrillator at Overton Manor. Members requested for the Clerk to find out where the defibrillator originally sited on The Eagle pub is to be relocated to.
• Members reviewed the grant application for the What’s On Eccleshall community events website in line with the current Grants Policy. It was agreed that the application did not meet the requirements of the policy. It was resolved to decline the application for those reasons, as the policy is there to ensure a robust and consistent approach to grant allocations.

    Events:

• There were no updates to report.

 109/24). Update in relation to phone mast enquiries

There has been no response from EE to letters requesting support in improving the mobile phone signal in Eccleshall Town Centre by the installation of an additional mast. However, enquiries to the BT Managing Director for the Mobile Network have proven more positive. The Council has been advised  ‘We are modernising our whole network which includes adding more frequencies to improve coverage and user experience including 5G, the local site is in the program and will be upgraded in the next 1-2 years which will improve coverage.’ The Clerk will continue to press for updates.

 110/24). Feedback from the Community Showcase

Feedback was incredibly positive from the event. Some attendees noted they felt the room capacity was reached and a larger venue/the use of more rooms would be beneficial. The date of 16th June 2025 is confirmed with the Community Centre. Consideration would be needed to decide who would be best suited to locate in additional rooms and ensure there were no disadvantages to those groups. Groups without banners would sit best in the centre of the rooms, for example. Consideration was given to advertising improvements. It was agreed for Cllr. Langford to arrange a library window display in the run up to the event. Other suggestions included posters in local business windows, flyers distributed in other community group events and advertising in the winter newsletter and other local magazines.

 111/24). Convening of the Annual Civic Service

It was agreed to hold the Annual Civic Service as in previous years. The venue for this year is due to be St. Pauls in Croxton, subject to availability on Sunday 13^th October.

 112/24). Feedback from the Eccleshall Festival held on 29^th June 2024

The festival was very successful and as a result, LR Partnership intend to run it again on the 28^th June 2025. There were some comments about the positioning of the stage and the litter bins that has all been fed back to the organiser. The church has also provided feedback to the organiser which included concerns that their activities felt isolated from the other events in the town. Cllr. Langford noted her disappointment that the event was the week prior to the planned well dressing festival, which will cause problems for those who support both events, as they will not have availability to participate in both. Consideration is being given to whether the date could move to earlier in the year.

 113/24). Clerk’s report, containing liaison representative updates.

• Members were updated on the activities of the Community Centre Association, who have been working with the Borough Council to explore the opportunity to access funding for internal improvements to Eccleshall Community Centre. There is around £36k available from S.106 funding, ringfenced for sport related improvements. This is ongoing but it is hopeful this will be achieved with the support of Borough Council officers and Borough Councillor Jones.

 114/24). Correspondence

• No correspondence has been received.

 115/24). Chairman’s Report:-

• Taylor attended the Eccleshall Scout meeting on a Friday evening to provide Hob Nobs and marshmallows for S’mores, as a thank you to the team who helped provide refreshments at the Community Showcase. The scouts have confirmed they are happy to help next year.

  116/24). Financial Matters

• To accept the financial report and bank reconciliation to 30^th June 2024:

       It was resolved to accept the financial summary, which includes the bank reconciliation up to and  including 30^th June 2024.

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

• To approve accounts for payment July 2024:-

Authorisation was sought for payment of the following accounts:

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

• Unity Bank Administration:
  • It was resolved to sign an instruction letter to update the signatory email addresses.
  • It was resolved to sign the form to allow for cash withdrawal at NatWest for use in the Eccleshall Library petty cash system.

   117/24). To approve delegation to the Clerk for dealing with items of emergency and payment of    accounts until the next Parish Council meeting in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman, in line with the temporary delegations policy.

It was resolved to approve this course of action.

   118/24). Items / Date and Venue for next meeting:-

The next meeting of the Parish Council is scheduled for the 18^th September, Eccleshall Community Centre, at 7.30pm. Agenda items can be forwarded to the Clerk for consideration.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.00pm.