Minutes of the Meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council held on 18^TH SEPTEMBER 2024

 DRAFT

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council was held at Eccleshall Community Centre on 18^th September 2024 at 7.30pm. This meeting was followed by a meeting of the Planning Committee at 8.44pm.

 119/24). Present were:-

Councillor C. Wilkins (Chairman)                 Councillor G. Dale

Councillor A. Reid                                           Councillor R Langford

Councillor B. Delanchy                                 Councillor D. Hill

Councillor D. Feneysey                                  Councillor P. Jones

Councillor M. Gosling                                     Councillor Ryan-Bloor

Councillor D. Hall                                            Councillor S. Mifflin

Councillor S. Kean

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

Borough and County Councillor J. Pert

No members of the public

  120/24). Apologies were received from Cllrs. Perren and Taylor.

  121/24). 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.

  122/24). Public Participation:

There was no public participation.

  123/24). To approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 15^th July 2024.

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

  124/24). Report from the Borough Councillor, County Councillor, and police representatives:

Cllr. Jones held a surgery in the library on the 7^th September and attended a Battle of Britain event on the 15^th September.

Borough and County Councillor Pert provided a report. Updates included:

• Highways – an extra £8m has been put into the road network from County Council reserves, resulting in 19% more pothole repairs than the same point in 2023. Gulley maintenance has also been a focus, but addressing the causes of long-standing flooding issues causing road damage would also benefit from prioritisation.
• Speed survey at Broughton – the survey was undertaken over two weeks rather than the usual one week to get the best representative sample over the summer holidays. County Cllr. Pert advised that the current years Divisional Highways funding is allocated to a speed reduction programme at Beech, an area where there can be monthly accidents and fatalities have been recorded.

Cllr. Reid noted that there would be some preparation work undertaken on Stafford High Street with regards to the planned demolition works to the Guildhall and the old Co-Op building, but the main body of the works is intended to commence at the start of January 2025.

  125/24). Committee Updates:

    Traffic Management:

• There were no updates to report.

Footpaths:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 16^4th August 2024 were noted.

Enhancements:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 164th August 2024 were noted.
• It was resolved to approve the recommendation to purchase a Hedgehog highways wholesale box (to include 50 surrounds, leaflets and display box) at a cost of £150. The surrounds will be sold at a small cost to residents at the library.

    Policy and Resources:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 4^th September 2024 were noted.

    Events:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 4^th September 2024 were noted.

126/24). Membership of the Climate Change working group

The Climate Change working group has been tasked to produce a proposal to document and expand on the biodiversity actions of the Council, which will include initiatives such as the Bee Friendly Town project. As the group is very small, additional members are required to deliver this. Cllrs. Perren, Gosling and Mifflin expressed an interest and will join the group, which also includes Cllrs. Langford, Hill and Reid.

 127/24). Stafford Borough Council High Street Boost campaign and consider the involvement of the Parish Council.

Members have been provided with information on the High Street Boost campaign. There are two elements to the campaign – one is the delivery of a series of workshops at locations throughout the borough to provide free expert advice to independent businesses, and the second element, for consideration by the council, is the offer to provide up to £6k funding to the council, to support High Street events that will help to drive footfall into the town centre. Key points to note are that:

• The event does not have to be delivered by the council, it can be delivered by local businesses
• The money must be spent by the 31^st March 2025
• The event must fit the criteria of the Borough Council scheme, which includes events located in the town centre only

It was agreed that the best course of action would be to support business events rather than run a council event as businesses will best placed to take advantage of the opportunity. Whilst marketing materials have been produced for the workshops, there is less advertising or materials for the grant funding element, so businesses do need to be made aware of this opportunity as soon as possible. Any recommended proposals will need to meet the Borough Council criteria. Cllrs. Reid and Hill will be distributing workshop flyers to local businesses and will also highlight the funding opportunity and encourage involvement. The Clerk will add this item to the next agenda to allow for discussion of any feedback/proposals received.

128/24).  Receipt of the results and conclusions of the speed survey by Broughton Parish Rooms and consider next steps.

Staffordshire County Council undertook a speed survey at 2 locations sited either side of the main junctions by Broughton Parish Rooms.  Data was collected over 17 days and measured both the speed and volume of traffic. The survey showed there was good compliance with the 60mph limit and there are no recorded personal injury accidents at either location within the last 3 years (this is because the most recent incident has not yet been added to the database).

Whilst the conclusion of the County Council was that the speed limit is being complied to by a significant margin and that the speed limit is appropriate for the location, members agreed that the speed limit is too high for the area in question. County Cllr. Pert expressed support for the parish council should it wish to push for a change to the speed limit, but this will require a financial contribution of 50% towards the average cost of £7,500 for the implementation of a new speed limit.

It was resolved to approve the allocation of £3,750 in the 2025/2026 budget for a 50% capped contribution to introduce a reduced speed limit zone on the B5026, to encompass Broughton Parish Rooms and the crossroads area. It was noted this is subject to approval of the relevant authorities and that the process is slow and can take years, rather than months, to implement.

 129/24). Eccleshall library Update

The library partnership is up and running as of the 5^th August, and feedback from volunteers at a liaison meeting on Monday 16^th September was very positive. It was the aim of the council to ensure there were as few changes as possible during the handover, as the library is already running well thanks to the Rotary club and the team of volunteers. Volunteers have been asked to submit any suggestions for improvements, which can be considered by the library management team. There has been a recent issue with wasp infestation from nests in adjacent buildings, which is being dealt with by the County Council team, and nests were removed. Some of the baby bounce and rhyme sessions have had to be cancelled, but the problem is slowly improving.

 130/24). Clerk’s report, containing liaison representative updates.

• Young People: The YEP scheme now has a Facebook page. There were delays in running the summer programme due to insurances and policy documentation, but it is hoped the insurances will soon be in place, and there are a number of young people on a list interested in attending the courses. ASDAN membership is in place and lesson planning underway.
• Croxton: The first Well Dressing Committee meeting has been held and a new date of Saturday 14^th June 2025 has been proposed, to avoid a clash with the Eccleshall Festival.
• First Responders: five new responders are starting this week, after undertaking initial training, and there are now six first responders on the team in total.

 131/24). Correspondence

• SPCA request for feedback on the development of an SPCA policy position in relation to rural speed limits: The council agreed to feed back the suggestion that single track lanes should have a reduced speed limit of 40 mph maximum.
• Resident Correspondence in relation to:
  • Works by Virgin Media – it was noted that Virgin Media are a statutory undertaker for provision of telecommunications services and are allowed to place their apparatus in the highway. This is at their own cost, and whilst they often correspond with residents to advise the works and to advertise their services, this is not always mandatory. Other commercial providers will also be allowed to do this.
  • Pedestrian access from the Castle St. development – design documentation indicates that the main pedestrian access will be from the main entrance of the development, via short stretch of pavement that will lead to a dropped tactile crossing point to the other side of the road, near to the bus stop.
  • Concerns about potential increase in sewage discharge as a result of the new development: the concerns were noted and understood by the parish council. It was advised that this was raised by the Flood Action Group to Severn Trent. Severn Trent expressed interest in undertaking work on the combined drainage system but required significant funding via increases to customer water rates, which has not been agreed at government level.

 132/24). Chairman’s Report:-

• There were no further updates to report.

  133/24). Financial Matters

• To accept the financial report and bank reconciliation to 31^st August 2024:

       It was resolved to accept the financial summary, which includes the bank reconciliation up to and  including 31^st August 2024.

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

• To approve accounts for payment September 2024:-

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.

• Receipt of Completed Annual Return for 2023-2024

Members formally received the completed Annual Return for 2023-24 and noted there were  no issues identified by the auditors.

   134/24). Items / Date and Venue for next meeting:-

The next meeting of the Parish Council is scheduled for the 16^th October, Offley Hay Village Hall, 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 8.40pm.