Parish Council Meeting Minutes
|
PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES - CAUTION
Approved and signed minutes form the definitive legal record of council business.
In the interest of early publication for residents, this webpage carries the text of draft minutes awaiting approval. Draft minutes may sometimes be amended at the next council meeting before being signed. If amendments are made, this will be noted in the draft minutes of the next meeting.
|
Meeting at Aston on Clun Village Hall on Tuesday 24th January 2012, 7.30pm
Present: Cllrs. D Clarke (Chairman), D Evans (Treasurer), C James, J James, J Moulder.
In attendance: Liam Cowden, Senior Policy Officer, Shropshire Council.
1. Apologies for absence: Cllrs C Perkins, Shropshire Cllr D Evans. Shropshire Cllr J Gibson unable to attend.
2. Public Discussion: No public present.
3. Declarations of Interest: None received.
4. Minutes of the Meetings 6th December 2011: The minutes were approved and the Chairman signed them as accurate.
5. Matters Arising: Item 10 - a footway light is still on in Hopesay. Apparently WPD has completed its part of the job, but the E-on team that should switch the light off has yet to finish. Meanwhile, Shropshire Council has adjusted the inventory. E-on has also omitted to provide a quote for the removal of 4 lights and columns. Clerk to contact E-on. Item 5 - the Police have completed their speed checks in Aston on Clun. Initial results are that an average speed of 28 - 29mph was recorded by the Kangaroo, an average speed of 31 - 33 mph was recorded by the Malthouse, and an average speed of 36 - 37mph was recorded coming into/exiting Aston at the Craven Arms end. Although detailed statistics will follow, this is where efforts to curtail speed should be concentrated. The Chairman is arranging a further meeting with Traffic Engineer Glyn Shaw. Item 5 - No response has been received from the National Trust with regards to staging a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Beacon on Hopesay Hill. Council agreed to drop the idea as time was now too short and resources too few to safely organise this.
6. Matters raised by parishioners: Some parishioners have expressed an interest in some sort of Jubilee event. Council will be delighted to support parishioners plans for an event and hopes that enough volunteers to organise an event will come forward.
7. Planning:
New applications 12/00158/OHL, land adjacent to Crowsmoor Farm, erection of 11,000v overhead wooden pole. Council had no objection.
Granted: 11/05002/FUL 10 Redwood Drive Aston on Clun, erection of a conservatory.
Refused: 11/03920/FUL Gwynfa, Clun Road, Craven Arms, erection of 2 storey dwelling and garage on site of existing dwelling.
Liam Cowden, Senior Policy Officer, Shropshire Council, then spoke on changes in planning in the local area for the future. He discussed affordable housing, starter homes for local people, and how landowners could make a social contribution and assist such development by not asking the maximum market price for their land, and explained the advantages in 'clustering' with other parishes. The purpose of a cluster is to identify settlements and locations where chosen forms of development are desirable. The absence of clustering means that 'countryside' designation is applied, which is more limiting. Council discussed what clustering could mean for Hopesay. Mr Cowden produced a marked up plan showing sites in Aston on Clun that were under assessment by Shropshire Council, these had been offered to Shropshire Council as possible development sites. The Chairman pointed out that the parish plan and the Parish Council's responses to SAMDev and Place Plan consultations did not support such large scale developments but identified the parish wishes for small scale developments and that future needs would be covered in the current Parish Plan review. It was also pointed out that one of the proposed locations was a site of archaeological interest. Mr Cowden agreed to take these points in to consideration.
8. Correspondence:
A letter asking for permission to use Aston Green for overspill parking during the National Theatre performances had been received from the Chairman of Aston on Clun Village Hall Committee. Clerk to reply giving permission to park on the designated area only, and asking that the Village Hall liaise with Cllr John James over this.
Notice of an Information and Advice event (about job opportunites for young people) being held in Bishops Castle on 7th February had been received by email.
The Annual Town and Parish Emergency Planning Briefing is to be held on 28th March at Shirehall, however no councillor was able to attend.
Some information about post 16 education transport assistance from Shropshire Council and a couple of planning guides will be inserted into the next circulation file.
9. Finance:
The Treasurer presented the Finance Report for January which included budget estimates for 2011/12 revised to 31st December, and the 2012/13 budget estimates. He reported that Council's precept requirement has been sent to Shropshire Council. There is an overall reduction of 13.58% in the parish precept from April.
Books and bank reconciliation were laid before Council and after inspection were signed by the Chairman.
The following invoices were approved for payment:
|
Amount |
Description |
To whom payable |
Invoice date |
|
£77.00p |
Society of Local Council Clerks, |
SLCC |
16/01/2012 |
|
|
Joining fee + annual subscription |
|
|
|
£40.00p |
Donation to CAB |
CA Shropshire |
none |
The Treasurer reported that the E-on invoice of 5th October for the second half of their maintenance contract of £160.08 had now been paid.
Council unanimously approved the Finance Report.
10. Review of Risks: The Treasurer had produced a Review of Risks, Controls, Reserves, Audit, and Banking 2012 report. However it was decided to postpone discussion of this until the March meeting partly because it was getting late, and to give councillors further time to study it.
11. Aston Green: After a short discussion Council agreed to bring in a suitably qualified person to deal with the rabbits damaging Aston Green.
12. Review of Parish Plan: The Chairman reported that consultation would be primarily via local organisations such as the W.I. and P.C.C and that the draft review would be published on the parish website. The next Annual Parish Meeting should be a forum for discussion of the parish plan review and consultation. Meanwhile Council approved that the Chairman will submit the application for the Parish Plan Review grant and the Consultation Plan.
13.Feedback on meetings attended: Cllr D Clarke attended the Energy Saving Advice Day at the Craven Arms Community Centre, reporting that several options were publicised including the Shropshire Oil Consortium.
14. Co-option of councillors: Vacancies advertised on parish website. Discussion postponed until the next meeting.
15. Date of Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on 6th March, followed by 17th April (Annual Parish Meeting), and 22nd May (Annual Parish Council meeting).