Mickle Trafford and District Parish Council

MICKLE TRAFFORD AND DISTRICT PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 14 JANUARY 2008

Present: Mrs W G Faulkner – in the chair Mr T L Bartley, Mr R Brace, Mr J A Gardiner, Mr J N Jackson, Mr I S Jones, Mrs J A Woods, Mr T R Law Mr J G Nicholas, Mrs B A Harrison, Mr D K Rowlands, Mr J H Taylor, Mr B T Ancliff, Mr J Walsh, Mrs E A Mottram Mr R E Parkin, Mrs F Mitchell, Mrs J A Simmonds, Mrs M P Parker Mrs S M Chamberlain – Clerk to the Council

Members of the public – 5

Open Forum 1. At the junction of the roads of Oak Bank Lane and The Street in Hoole Village there is a problem with manure and water running down the road. The Parish Council were asked if any progress had been made to resolve this. A further approach to the farm owner with a request to keep it as clean as possible is to be made, together with a letter to the City Council citing the case of Rylands v Fletcher 1865- re escapement of water onto adjoining land.

2. Gowy Woodland Park – it was asked whether a vote could be taken to ascertain whether people who actually use the Gowy Woodland Park want it changed into an educational theme park or for it to remain as it is, an open area for all to enjoy as a natural park.

Apologies: None

Environment Agency Talk Mr Steve Whittam, the Operations Manager with the Environment Agency(EA) for the North West gave a talk followed by questions and answers on the maintenance issues of the River Gowy flowing through our Parish. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather during the summer of 2007 maintenance was not carried out as had been hoped. Mr Whittam explained that it is the landowners responsibility to maintain the river and banks and he confirmed that the EA own a large chunk of the river bank through our area. There is no legal obligation for them to maintain the river and banks although they do tend to do so by de-weeding and pumping out silt. The maintenance activity is about managing risk to flooding of properties (including farm land) and they do try to respond in a crisis.

The EA are planning a “Roadshow” throughout the North West to further explain their activities and responsibilities and need as much feedback as possible from Parish Councils etc. The Government are pushing an idea to have one authority/agency to deal with all matters connected with flooding etc. At the moment the EA deals with rivers only.

Q1. Is anyone looking at each river to see that drainage is adequate so that excess rainfall/flooding does not flow too quickly into the estuary thus causing back up. An aqueduct on Barrow Brook was damaged and has not been replaced therefore water from the brook flows into the Gowy and can cause flooding near to the bridge by the A56. A1. When the schemes were originally built they were built to get the water from A to B as quickly as possible. The affordability for flood defence schemes is questionable but the EA are looking into ways of changing this. At the moment they are looking at Ince Marshes. Mr Whittam said he would find out what the situation was regarding the aqueduct.

Q2. Presuming that current EA resources will be prioritised against the growing number of high risk/high consequence areas, are there any realistic prospects for addressing our problem? A2. The EA are to receive an increase in funding as per government legislation. This should be in the region of £200million of which between £15 and £27 million is earmarked capital for the North West. The highest risk areas will be dealt with first.

Q3. Could we have a map showing the areas owned by EA A3. Yes, if no map is available then grid references would be supplied.

Q4. If the EA did not see to the cutting of the grass along the river, could the Parish Council see to this. A4. Yes, the EA would not object but Parish Council would be bound by the same Wildlife and Countryside Acts as the EA are. The Parish Council would need to seek advice from EA . Consent would be given and would cost nothing but would it be a worthwhile project for the Parish Council. Q5. There had been problems in Wimbold Trafford with water from the A5117 end and it had been difficult to find anyone who would accept responsibility for sorting it out. A5. There are so many people involved that it does get passed from pillar to post. His email address is available from the Clerk

Mr Whittam concluded by thanking all for his time and advised that he would notify us when the presentation would take place.

Mrs W G Faulkner thanked Mr Whittam for the talk.

Declaration of interest – Personal/Prejudicial Mr D K Rowlands as landowner of part of the River Gowy.

Trafford Mill – Mr DK Rowlands as landowner (prejudicial); Mrs M P Parker, Mrs E A Mottram & Mrs W G Faulkner as directors of the company.

Mr J H Taylor as friend to owner of The Cedars

Co-option of Parish Councillor The co-option of a new Parish Councillor for Mickle Trafford took place. There were originally four applicants but Mr J Bannell advised that he no longer wished to be considered at this time due to family commitments and Mr R Rudd was unavailable due to other personal commitments. The chairman asked if anybody wished to propose Mr Rudd in his absence but nobody did.

Of the other two applicants: Mr A W Merrill was proposed by Mr D K Rowlands and seconded by Mr R E Parkin Mr M Peate was proposed by Mrs W G Faulkner and seconded by Mr J A Gardiner. Ballot papers were given to the existing 19 Parish Councillors for private voting. The voting papers were collected and counted by the Clerk, Mrs S M Chamberlain, and a member of the public, Mrs J Gardiner. The result was that Mr Peate was elected with votes of 10 for and 9 against.

The Chairman thanked Mr Merrrill for his interest and invited Mr Peate to join the rest of the Parish Councillors at the table.

Approval of Minutes The circulated Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2007 were proposed by Mr J H Taylor and seconded by Mr R E Parkin. There were no objections

Finance & general Purposes Committee The circulated Minutes of the meetings held on 3 December 2007 and 7 January 2008 were proposed by Mr D K Rowlands and seconded by Mrs E A Mottram.

Authorise Accounts Acceptance of the accounts for the period ended 31 December 2007 was proposed by Mr D K Rowlands and seconded by Mr J H Taylor. There were no objections. The Chairman advised that the Street Orderly pay has increased to £6.00 per hour but as this is reimbursed in full by Chester City Council it does not effect Parish Council budget. The Increase was proposed by Mr D K Rowlands and seconded by Mr J H Taylor.

Planning The circulated Minutes of the meetings held on 3 December 2007 and 7 January were taken as read and approved by Council. Acceptance of the Minutes was proposed by Mr D K Rowlands and seconded by Mrs E A Mottram.

An email had been received by the Clerk from Adrian Tofts, Forward Planning at Chester City Council concerning a request made to them by British Telecom to remove the telephone kiosk at the corner of Station Lane and Warrington Road Mickle Trafford. The request had been made by British Telecom because the payphone has been damaged, is little used and is beyond economic repair.

The Parish Council were reminded that when the Parish Plan was being drawn up it had been suggested that the telephone kiosk was possibly no longer necessary. At that time, British Telecom said it should stay.

A discussion took place regarding the possible re-siting of the kiosk to the opposite corner where it would be more visible. This had been suggested in the past but was not cost efficient (Approximately £8000 to re-site). Mrs M P Parker advised that as a Chester City Councillor she had also received the email and had replied requesting that a telephone kiosk remain in the village.

It was agreed that the Clerk ascertain the amount of usage and that an article be put in the next Newsletter asking residents to let us know whether they felt it was necessary. A response to Mr Tofts would be made after the next Parish Council meeting.

Gowy Liaison Meeting The circulated Minutes of the meeting held on 20 December 2007 were taken as read and approved by Council, subject to an amendment regarding the next meeting which is on 21 February 2008 not 21 December 2008 as stated. Acceptance of the Minutes was proposed by Mr R Brace and seconded by Mr I S Jones

Precept 2008/2009 The Chairman advised that although we anticipate expenditure for the year to be in the region of £24,500 a precept of £20,000 was recommended as there would be adequate funds in the bank from the current year to make up the difference. She proposed that the Parish Council request a Precept of £20.000. This was proposed by Mr J Walsh and seconded by Mr J A Gardiner. All were in favour.

Village Hall Mr J H Taylor updated the Parish Council on the information prepared for the Parochial Church Council to begin negotiations for a new lease. The current lease expires in 2010. He has prepared a presentation package, has received copies of the Village Hall accounts from Mr C Jackson and a letter from Mrs S Mumford in connection with the proposed Community Centre. The latter confirms that the new Community Centre do not envisage taking away from the Village Hall any of the groups which currently use it.

Mr J H Taylor is to attend a meeting with the Parochial Church Council on Thursday, 17 January 2008.

We are basically looking for a long rent free lease or as a possibility the transfer of the Village Hall in its entirety to the Parish Council. It is expected that the latter is not likely to happen.

There is a possibility that the roof contains asbestos and Mr J H Taylor advised that he would point out to the Parochial Church Council that should this be the case and should the whole of the roof need replacing the Parish Council would expect a contribution from them. He would want some sort of wording to this effect in any new tenancy agreement.

The Parish Council were advised that there are already some problems with the roof and these are currently being looked at. In 1982, when the previous agreement was drawn up, asbestos was not seen to be the problem it is today.

Community Pride Awards The Clerk advised the Parish Councillors of the telephone conversation she had with Mrs S Batty, of the Community Council. Mrs Batty advised that “non applicable “ items had always been taken into account in the past and Mickle Trafford had faired better with the new system. She could not accept the argument that if we had all of the items in our village they would be looked after with the same degree of care as the items we do have. Thus our mark would be higher. She suggested that Hoole Village should probably not enter as they had too many “not applicables”.

It was agreed that Mickle Trafford would enter again this year but Hoole Village would not. We would also stand by our original comments.

Parish Surgeries 26 January 2008 - Mr J H Taylor and Mr T R Law 23 February 2008 - Mrs E A Mottram and Mr T L Bartley 29 March 2008 - Mr D K Rowlands and Mrs J A Simmonds

The meeting finished at 8.55pm Date and time of next meeting – 10 March 2008 at 7.30pm at the Village School

Signed...... Prepared by Sue Chamberlain –15 January 2008

Dated...... No: 2008/03