SEIGHFORD PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Monday 18th May 2015 at Seighford Village Hall.

Those present;

Parish Councillors-Mr P Eveson; Mr D Price; Mrs G Cox; Mr W Brown; Mr R Eld; Mrs A Vaughan; Mrs J Wetton; Mr M Eld.

Borough Councillor; Mr S Leighton

County Councillor-Mr M Winnington

Mr D Jones, clerk to the council and 2 members of the public.

As this was the first meeting since the parish council election on 7th May certain formalities had to be completed first.

Councillor Cox [the outgoing chairman] opened the meeting. The newly elected councillors completed their Acceptance of Office declarations.

The council then elected Councillor Eveson as the chairman for the coming year. Proposed by Councillor Price, seconded by Councillor Brown and agreed unanimously.

01/Councillor Eveson welcomed those present; the meeting proper started at 19.35 hours.

02/Apologies;

Apologies had been received from Borough Councillor Mr R Sutherland.

03/Election of deputy chairman;

The council elected Councillor Price as Deputy-chairman for the coming year. Proposed by Councillor Brown, seconded by Councillor Wetton, agreed unanimously.

04/ Derrington ward; vacancy;

Mr M Eld had volunteered to fill the vacancy. His co-option was proposed by Councillor Cox, seconded by Councillor Wetton and agreed unanimously. He then complete the Acceptance of Office declaration.

05/The following were appointed to represent the parish council on local bodies;

Great Bridgeford & Seighford Village Halls- Councillor R Eld

Derrington Village Hall- Councillor Mrs A Vaughan

Derrington Millennium Green- Councillor W Brown

Cooper Perry School – Councillor Mrs. J Wetton.

06/Councillor M Eld declared an interest in item 14.

Planning application 15/22230/FUL in respect of Lower Cooksland farm. 07/Report by Councillor Winnington;

Red Lion; as the new owner of the former public house will not allow access to the Greenway via the old car park, the County Council are considering a new route.

Greenway; some work has been completed but the stretch from the M6 bridge to needs further drainage work. The route now extends from to Newport.

Seighford Football club; He and representatives from Highways had met with Mr Fisher to discuss the flooding issue. County Council will provide the pipes and he will give £500 from his local members fund towards the cost of installation.

08/ Report by Borough Councillor;

Councillor Leighton explained that as he had only been elected for a short time he had nothing to report.

NB: these reports were taken out of sequence from the agenda as both councillors had to leave before 20.00 to attend other meetings.

09/Matters raised by the general public;

Mrs Eveson, a resident of Great Bridgeford raised two issues- A waste bin is required at the junction of Jasmine Road and road. She also complained that vehicles were using Jasmine Road as a rat run when the traffic was queuing at the railway bridge. A suggestion was a “No Through Road sign” at either end of Jasmine Rad.

Mr Mike Fisher, [chairman of Seighford FC] addressed the meeting and explained the problems the club had had with flooding. This provoked a lengthy discussion regarding various solutions for him to take forward.

10/The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 18th March 2015

The minutes, having been previously circulated, were accepted as a true record with the following amendment noted. Item 06 relating to the reduction of the Great Bridgeford speed limit-the date of reduction should have read 9th March 2015.

11/ Matters arising from these minutes;

Great Bridgeford; Councillor Price reported the following -

Legacy fund; the grant from Network rail to the Gardens of Great Bridgeford has been agreed in principle but no further progress to date.

Grids on A5013; the surrounds have been patched but the gulleys need emptying as they overflow regularly after heavy rain.

Pavements; no progress yet on the repairs

Commemoration for Mr Cyril Whitehouse; a presentation was held at the village hall attended by some of the council and residents of the village. A tree was planted in the grounds of the village hall and a plaque was mounted on the wall inside the hall. The hardwood base of the plaque was made and mounted by a local resident, Mr Forrester, at no cost. It was agreed that a letter of thanks from the parish council was appropriate.

Seighford; Trees on Clanford road. Clerk reported that he had contacted Highways regarding concerns about the trees on the road. They had been inspected and reported back that there was no immediate problem. Derrington;

Speed Indicator Device; no progress to date

Church Lane flooding issue; repairs have been done to the road, hopefully the problem has been solved.

12/Financial matters;

A/ Payment of the following invoices was agreed unanimously by the councillors. Clerk’s salary £693.09[payable 30th June] Clerks Expenses £78.72 PAYE £172.80 Came & Co £838.47[annual insurance premium] Community Council £32.20[annual membership & photocopying] Great Bridgeford V H £18.10[hall hire April 2015] Autela Payroll Services £69.00[annual fee] C Raftery £225.00[playing field maintenance] Mrs C Heelis £50.00[audit fee] Mr D Price £80.55[ reimbursement of expenses incurred in respect of Mr Whitehouse commemoration]

B/ Annual accounts; had been circulated prior to the meeting and were accepted unanimously

C/ Annual governance statement; was explained by clerk, agreed by the meeting and duly signed.

D/ Annual churchyard grants; it was agreed to give £ 400.00 each to St Chad’s and St Matthews towards the upkeep of the churchyards.

E/ SPCA; annual membership – Council did not pay last year as the membership cost was considered high for what was received in return. It was agreed that the council would not join this year.

13/ Correspondence received;

A list of the correspondence received since the last meeting was circulated. If anyone wants more details to contact the clerk.

SPCA; spring 2015 gazette.

Notification from the County Council about a review of the provision of the mobile library service.

Letter from the Borough Council inviting applications for tickets for the gala performance of Much Ado About Nothing on 30th June-tickets are £23 each.

Came & Co; spring 2015 insurance newsletter.

Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner; advice of funding available for certain community safety and other crime reduction issues.

14/Planning matters;

Application 15/22230/FUL-Lower Cooksland farm-was passed to the Great Bridgeford ward councillors.

Application 15/22245/FUL-land at Ashes Covert, Seighford-was passed to Councillors R Eld and Mrs J Wetton. 15/Roads, Highways & Playing Field matters;

Great Bridgeford; Verges-it was asked at the annual parish assembly how often the verges are cut by the County Council. Enquires have established that it is twice during the season. Salt bin; the bin on the bridge is made of concrete for security reasons. The County Council have been asked to replace it with a modern version and have promised to review matters. Network rail; Councillors Price, Eveson &Brown met with a representative from Network Rail ,Mr Berry, to discuss the problem caused by articulated vehicles parking on the Newport Road to unload. A site visit confirmed that there is adequate space for the vehicles to unload on the site adjacent to the railway. However the problem of access is caused by residents of Railway Cottages parking vehicles on the approach road. Councillor Price undertook to search the Land Registry to establish the ownership of the road and if the residents had rights to park.[full text of Councillor Prices report is attached to the minutes] Open gardens; are organising a scarecrow competition during the coming summer. Hedge on Newport road; is overhanging the pavement and needs cutting.

Derrington/Seighford; request for a further supply of dog waste bags

Hedge by Doxey, the Highways Agency test site, needs cutting

The next meeting is; on Monday 20th July 2015 at Derrington Village Hall;

Meeting ended at 2100. Useful Telephone Numbers;

 Police non emergency- 101[for contact regarding anti social behaviour ]

 Streetscene-619401[contact for fly tipping]

 CLARENCE-0300 111 8000[this is the County Council number for reporting Highways problems such as potholes]. Email;[email protected]

 Stafford Borough Council-01785 61900.