PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 16th March 2009 at Derrington Village Hall.

Those present;

Parish Councillors-

Mrs M Rathbone [chair] Mr W Brown [ deputy-chair] Mr J Eld Mr R Eld Mr D Price Mrs J Wetton Mr R Booth Mr J Dunning

Mr D Jones, clerk to the council and approximately 40 members of the public.

1/ Councillor Rathbone welcomed those present and the meeting started at 19.30 hrs. Mrs Rathbone then apologised for her handling of the extraordinary meeting on 13th February which was an extremely difficult one to manage. She asked that those present tonight, both public and councillors, behave with respect for others.

2/ Apologies; were received from Borough Councillors R Sutherland and M Winnington.

3/ Councillors to advise the meeting of any agenda items in which they have an interest;

Councillor Dunning- Derrington Village hall

Councillors R Eld, J Eld and W Brown –Seighford Airfield development

4/ Conduct of meetings;

This had been included on the agenda following a number of complaints about the behaviour of certain councillors at previous meetings. Councillor Price addressed the meeting; he felt that the problems had been caused by Drive-me and Seighford Settled Estate who stand to make a great deal of money from the proposed development at the expense of the residents. He considers that the complaints had been made by vested interests in collusion with the estate; he quoted John Allpress as secretary of the Seighford Village hall as an example. He considered that Councillor R Eld had used the parish magazine as a platform for Drive-me propaganda. He felt that Councillor R Eld only got elected onto the council so that he could influence any decision about Drive-me. Councillor James Eld refuted this and pointed out his brother, Councillor R Eld had no involvement with the running or decisions of the Settled Estate. Councillor Price also alluded that certain individuals, namely Councillor W Brown, had perjured themselves in the background information provided for the Certificate of Lawful Use.

At this point the Chairman told Councillor Price to stop and sit down.

Mr McLeod , Chair of Ranton Parish Council explained at this point that Councillor Price had met with him and others regarding this appeal as an individual and not representing the parish council and no promises had been made.

NB- Councillor Price had promised a summary of his speech for attachment to these minutes. He declined following legal advice. 5/ Matters raised by the general public;

• Juliet Hill- explained a low carbon project that had been created in Derrington. The idea is to publicise ways of saving energy by encouraging various methods of insulation, car sharing schemes etc. They will work with other sustainability charities. Councillor Booth& Dunning had attended the last meeting and spoke in favour of the initiative. Contact details as a possible guest speaker for the Parish meeting.

• Michael Eld- reported that permission had been granted by the environmental agency for work to start on the ditch outside Seighford hall.

• Mervin Castell- complained about a scramble meeting at Ellenhall over the last weekend. It produced excessive noise and signage on the road in Great Bridgeford. Was possibly held on land owned by Grainger PLC near to the Ladfordfields Industrial Estate and run by a group called Acorns. He also complained about the wheelie bins outside the railway cottages in Great Bridgeford not being taken in promptly and thus making the road appear unsightly.

• Jim Arnott- appreciates Parish council’s efforts in supporting the opposition to the Drive- me development and suggest that it is time to end the infighting.

• Reverend Hetherington- expressed his gratitude to the Derrington ward councillors for their support in allocating money for the appeal. He felt it was in both parties interest to have equal representation at the appeal so that the result, however it goes, is a fair one.

• John Allpress; felt he needed an apology from Councillor Price as he has been involved with Seighford Village hall for a number of years and that did not influence his actions towards the proposed development in any way.

6/ Confirm minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 19th January 2009;

The minutes, having been previously circulated, were accepted and signed as a true record. Proposed by Councillor Price and seconded by Councillor Wetton.

7/ Matters arising from these minutes;

I. Civic Amenity Visits [next years timetable is attached to these minutes for information]

II. Community gang- arrived in the parish later than planned but did a very good job.

III. hedge- does not yet appear to have been cut

IV. Illano cottage and other works- promised by Mike Webb from Highways that the work would be completed some time ago. Clerk to chase up.

V. Great Bridgeford Bus shelter- has only been part finished; the steel reinforcing rods do not appear to have been inserted in the concrete base. Councillor Price to follow up with builder; Councillor Brown reported that his wife had cleaned out the shelter of leaves and other debris. The meeting expressed their appreciation for her public spirit. VI. Derrington Sewage works- work on potholes has been completed by Severn Trent.

8/ Confirm minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 13th February 2009;

A brief discussion took place about the feasibility of recording minutes, however this would require expensive equipment and there was always the possibility of tapes/ disc being lost or damaged. Minutes, having been previously circulated, were agreed and signed as a true record. Proposed by Councillor Booth and seconded by Councillor Wetton.

9/ Matters arising;

There were no further matters arising as they had been covered during the lengthy discussion at item 5

10/ Financial matters;

• Authority was given to pay the following invoices -

• Clerks salary & expenses- £548.19

• Wicksteed Leisure[ repairs to play equipment]- £185.38

• Rosehill Maintenance Services[repairs to play equipment]- £300.00

• Community Council[annual membership]- 320.00

• Trent Ground Maintenance[cleaning of road signs]- £340.86

• Stafford Borough Council[civic amenity collections]- £95.80

• C Raftery[ repairs to fence Blackhole Lane]- £60.14

• Derrington Village hall grant request; Councillor Dunning explained the reason for the request, and then left the meeting. A grant of £1500.00 was proposed by Councillor Brown and seconded by Councillor Price. It will be paid at the May AGM.

11/ Correspondence received since the last meeting;

A list of all correspondence received since the January meeting is attached to these minutes. Any councillor wishing to peruse any item please contact the clerk.

A letter had been received by Mr & Mrs Beech from the Ranton& Seighford Action Group. It stated that the Parish Council had given them their names and address to the action group, which concerned them. As the Parish council had not, Councillor Rathbone promised to contact the chairman of the action group to resolve the matter.

12/ Planning matters;

Local Development Framework; papers outlining the Borough Council’s proposals were given out for circulation among the councillors who had not attended the seminar. Councillor Price pointed out that a response from the Parish was required by 3rd April, and he volunteered to prepare this on behalf of the council, run it past the chairman for vetting and send to the clerk for onward despatch. The meeting agreed. The main problem is the infrastructure with planned developments at and Woodseaves [domestic] and Ladfordfields [industrial] and the impact on the current inadequate road network. There is a meeting called by Councillor Winnington on 23rd April at Great Bridgeford, to discuss the roads and improvements that are needed if these developments go ahead..

13 /Issues concerning Highways, Footpath and Playing Fields;

• Mrs Cox presented the meeting with a sample of the footpath leaflets, advertising walks around the parish, which she had designed and prepared. They were well received and the Council thanked her for her efforts.

• Great Bridgeford speed limit- Mrs Smith on behalf of Speedwatch had approached the Parish Council for assistance in requesting a Metrocount on the roads in the village to help with their ongoing campaign. The meeting agreed and the clerk will request.

• A complaint had been received from a resident of The Grove about a storage container still on a piece of land . The land no longer is owned by Persimmon, the original developers so efforts will be made to find out the new owner and ask them to remove it.

14/ Dates of the next Parish Council meetings as follows;

The next meeting is the Annual Parish Meeting to be held on 20th April 2009 at Seighford village hall. Any suggestions for a guest speaker to the clerk by 11th April please.

The AGM is to be held at Great Bridgeford on 18th May 2009.