Minutes of the Meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council held on

16^th April 2025

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council was held at Broughton Parish Room on 16^th April 2025 at 7.30pm. This meeting was followed by a meeting of the Planning Committee at 8.55pm.

  49/25). Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chairman)                   Councillor G. Dale

Councillor D. Hall                                            Councillor R. Langford

Councillor B. Delanchy                                 Councillor D. Hill

Councillor D. Feneysey                                  Councillor S. Mifflin

Councillor M. Gosling                                     Councillor S. Kean

Councillor P. Jones                                        Councillor C. Wilkins

Councillor A. Reid

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

Borough and County Councillor Pert.

No members of the public

   50/25). Apologies were received from Cllrs. Perren and Ryan-Bloor.

   51/25). 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.

   52/25). Public Participation:

There was no public participation.

   53/25).  To approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 19^th March 2025.

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

   54/25). Report from the Borough Councillor, County Councillor, and police representatives:

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

• Highways:
  • The roundabouts at Norton Bridge are still under the ownership of Network Rail – following site meetings with SCC, temporary works were undertaken to fill the potholes. It was agreed that the entire surface layer needs to be replaced, and the project is currently being scoped. The roundabouts will only be adopted by SCC highways once they are in a suitable condition.
  • £3m has been allocated from the 3-year structural maintenance programme for highway works between Mill Meece and Cotes Heath, to commence April 2027.
  • Langford noted another recent accident at the crossroads by Broughton Parish Room last week and enquired about the status of the speed reduction project EPC has agreed to contribute towards. Cllr. Pert acknowledged that it is a slow process, but he is committed to progressing this, and a site visit prior to survey work is pending.
  • Dale enquired about the SCC forward plans and their availability. Some programmes are published on the main website and the Clerk will forward the link to all members.

Borough Councillor Jones also provided a report:

• The monthly surgery was held last Saturday, with the upcoming development applications the main topic of interest.
• Jones noted that he will be stepping down from the Planning Committee after having served the maximum number of years for concurrent membership.

   55/25). Committee Updates:

    Traffic Management:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 2^nd April 2025 were noted.
• It was resolved to approve the recommendation to purchase an additional Speed Indication Device to rotate between existing locations at Croxton and Slindon at 6 monthly intervals, at a cost of £2,189.99.
• The sweeper has been out to address the gutter debris on the Chester Road by the tennis courts and it is hoped they will return to sweep further along and through Croxton.
• The pothole on Woodwall Green has now been filled.

Footpaths:

• No updates to report

Enhancements:

• The minutes of the meeting held on the 2^nd April 2025 were noted.
• It was resolved to approve the recommendation to appoint G-Tec Grounds Maintenance for the grass and hedge cutting contract at Beech Road Community Park.
• It was resolved to approve the recommendation to appoint Stafford Borough Council for the weekly bin emptying of two bins, to include the provision of an additional bin at Beech Road Community Park.

   Policy and Resources:

• There were no updates to report

    Events:

• Planning for the VE Day evening celebration is in hand and all the tickets are now sold.

   56/25). To consider and approve costs to migrate to new email addresses following the notification of closure to the current parish council email accounts:

Members were advised that the current email system is closing next year, but due to the time needed to transfer our emails to a new account, and in consideration of new signage which needs to include a current email address, it is in our best interest to move to a new provider as soon as possible. The new providers offer a more user-friendly webmail and significantly larger mailbox sizes and will transfer over our existing emails to the new accounts. Parish Councils are required as part of audit requirements to retain a .gov email address. The most cost-effective and streamlined option is to move to Vision ICT, our current domain provider at an annual cost of £20 per mailbox, plus a one of migration fee of £35 per mailbox. It was resolved to approve the appointment of Vision ICT as the new email provider.

   57/25). Annual Bloom Watering Contract:

The Clerk advised that Stafford Borough Council declined to quote this year due to a lack of commercial capacity, and there was a lack of alternative providers for consideration. It was noted that the quotation received by Perry’s of Eccleshall was known to be competitive based on previous years quotes from alternative providers.  It was resolved to suspend Financial Regulations and approve the quotation of £9,011.20 for 16 weeks watering, 4 days a week, with the option to extend the watering by a further 1-2 weeks at an additional weekly cost.

   58/25). Appointment of Internal Auditor 2025/26:

It was resolved to approve the re-appointment of Kim Squires as the internal auditor for the period April 1st 2025 -31st March 2026.

   59/25). Flooding updates from Staffordshire County Council and Severn Trent:

Members received the updates in relation to the flooding issues on Castle Street/Stafford Street. Points included:

• A £350k investment in collaborative works to reduce the flooding risk, including but not limited to upgrades to drainage systems, extra stormwater holding tanks at the Stone Road pumping station and detailed flow modelling surveys to investigate the underlying causes.
• A commitment to developing solutions to increase the capacity of the surface water drainage and sewer systems and working to agree how these costs will be shared between stakeholders.

It was resolved to write to Severn Trent to bring to their attention the impending planning applications and highlight the importance of responding to the applications to obtain the required investment from the developers to ensure the infrastructure can cope with the additional demand. The Clerk will work with Cllr. Reid on the correspondence.

   60/25). Clerk’s report, containing liaison representative updates.

• The council received the notes from Cllr. Langford, who attended the recent SPCA Rural Themed seminar and highlighted areas that the council may wish to consider for future activities.
  • Housing Needs Survey – It was resolved to contact Paul Keates, the Rural Homes enabler, to explore the opportunity for the free survey. It was noted that the process usually takes around ten weeks and is usually conducted at a certain point in the Local Plan development. However, due to changes in the area over recent years it was felt worthwhile to undertake now.
  • Community Emergency Plan – some local parishes have one in place, and the Clerk was asked to research the template and toolkit to develop a plan for Eccleshall. The Plan helps to identify risks and how the community can help to support key services. Cllr. Dale advised the Community Centre is listed as a refuge in case of disaster.
  • It was noted that EPC is being used as an example of best practice in relation to its series of published footpath walks, for walkers of a range of abilities.

   61/25). Correspondence

• The council received the thank you letter from Katharine House for the recent grant provision.
• Correspondence from a resident concerned about sewage overflow into the River Sow was received and noted with thanks.
• Staffordshire County Council circulated information on the opportunity to purchase pole mounted solar powered Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) displays for buses. Each unit costs £6,750. Due to the cost and low volume of public transport this was not considered necessary.

  62/25). Chairman’s Report:-

• Further nominations for the Freedom of the Parish awards were requested to be sent to the Clerk.
• Library update:
  • The school visits are going well.
  • A literary festival is being planned for the 12-14 September 2025. Day 1 is for children. Classes from Bishops Lonsdale Academy will attend, with a guest author booked. They will also complete a 500 word story competition over the summer holiday.
• Volunteers were requested to help at the spring grounds event at the Castle on the 10^th
• Taylor raised awareness of correspondence received from Holy Trinity Church in relation to installation of full fibre broadband and a potential contribution to costs for works. The high cost is due to one off works required to a splitter in the highway, which would also allow a number of local businesses and residents to access full fibre. Cllr. Kean will contact the vicar to find out more about the issue, and a full proposal will need to be put to the May meeting for consideration, to include the costs to the council and the numbers who would benefit.

  63/25). Financial Matters

• To accept the financial report and bank reconciliation to 31^st March 2025:

       It was resolved to accept the financial summary, which includes the bank reconciliation up to and  including 31^st March 2025.

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

• To approve accounts for payment April 2025:-

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.

• To consider the request to support Holy Trinity Arts Festival by purchasing and decorating an Eagle silhouette at a cost of £35:

It was resolved to purchase a silhouette at a cost of £35 and allow for the children of Bishops Lonsdale to decorate the Eagle for display in the church.

• Request for Financial contribution for the June Eccleshall Festival from Staffordshire Cultural Events CIC:

Members considered the grant request and anticipated costs for the festival. It was resolved to cover the road closure and medical support costs, totalling £315.

The Clerk will contact the organiser to request what plans are in place for removal of the litter post event, the provision of car parking, and to confirm the event has been through the Borough SAG (Safety Advisory Group).

     64/25). Items / Date and Venue for next meeting:-

The Annual Meeting of the Parish Council is scheduled for the 21^st May, 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 8.50pm.