Honeybourne Parish Council Clerk: Ruth Waller, Honeybourne Village Hall, Harvest Close. Honeybourne. WR11 7RH [email protected] Tel: 07951429652 DRAFT Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held via Zoom Tuesday 13th April 2021 commencing at 7.15pm Members Present: Cllrs: Trevor Askew – Chairman Matt Henson, Andy Attridge, Colin Clear, Graham Clelland, Graham Taylor, Chris Gear and Heath Jobes In Attendance: Ruth Waller (Clerk) and 7 members of the public Cllr Askew opened the meeting at 7.15pm and welcomed those present. In remembrance of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh a minutes silence was then observed. 210413/1 Apologies – None. All Councillors present. 210413/2 Declarations of Interest: (a) Cllrs are reminded of the need to keep their Register of Interests up to date (b) To declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in items on the agenda and their nature: None (c) To declare any Other Disclosable Interests in items on the agenda and their nature: Cllr Henson declared and Interest in Item 20a in relation to the Sports Pavilion (d) To receive and consider and requests for Dispensations on matters on the agenda: None 210413/3 The MINUTES of the meeting held on held on of the Draft Minutes from the meeting held on 9th March 2021 and the Draft Minutes of the Extraordinary Council Meetings held on the 15th and 23rd March 2021, all held via Zoom video conference were unanimously approved. These will be signed at the next physical meeting of the Parish Council. 210413/4 To receive Clerks Report (Matters arising from the Minutes): The Clerk’s report had been circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting, and its contents noted. 210413/5 To receive report from County Councillor: Cllr Adams was not present, but a report had been received. The main points included the following: County Council Elections May 6th I confirm I am standing for another 4 years so if you are happy on what I have achieved for Honeybourne in the last 4 years, then please support me at the elections on Thursday 6th May. Our New Zebra Crossing is now operational. Worcestershire County Council finished building the zebra crossing in April, and it is now all up and working. Not only will this provide a safe crossing of this busy main road, but hopefully it will also help traffic calming. Update on the vaccines rolled out in Worcestershire. See https://herefordshireandworcestershireccg.nhs.uk/covid-19-vaccine for more up to date information showing where you can be vaccinated and what to expect when you arrive. The good news is Worcestershire is one of the best performing counties in the roll-out for vaccinations. Besides the vaccine roll-out, the other big news since my last report is good progress is being made with the Government’s roadmap out of Lockdown. For full details see - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid- 19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021-summary 12th April has arrived so all shops are open, gyms are open and you can meet friends in pub gardens. People can go on holiday in self-contained accommodation. Life is starting to get back to normal. Page 1 of 9 210413 Support given to Worcestershire employees & employers • 39,700 employees were furloughed as at end of January = 14.7% of workforce • 17,000 grants given totalling £140m • 753 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Schemes (CBILS) totalling nearly £200m • 12,228 bounce back loans valued at £353m Highways: It is that time of the year when surface dressing of the roads occurs following repairs and patching to the roads. Surface dressing considerably extends the life of our roads and improves grip. Please visit https://one.network/ to see all the details of roadworks ion the area. Surface Dressing is quick and most roads will only be closed for a few hours whilst this operation occurs. But can I remind all drivers to drive SLOWLY once a road is re-opened. The recommended speed limit on roads that have just been surfaced dressed is 20mph, and please do not accelerate hard on these roads as loose stones are likely to be flicked up and damage the windscreen of the car following you. As always, if you have any issues on any Highways matters, please report it on the WCC website http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/homepage/98/report_it County Council Divisional Fund (The fund is now closed until June 2021) • “Young at Heart” Senior Club, Bretforton – grant requested. • Badsey - 2 x benches for their new community garden • Honeybourne Village News – grant to re-launch the service • Pebworth WI – grant requested for Zoom annual charges so the members can continue to meet over the internet in these COVID times - Paid • Evesham Vale Rail Trails for Cyclists – grant requested for a software programme that shows the cycle routes. – grant paid • Offenham Village Hall – grant requested for the terrace project • Evesham Sea Cadets (South Littleton) – boat shed conversion – grant paid • Pebworth Village Hall – a grant request to renovate the wooden hall floor. Paid • Bretforton Allotments – grant requested for a strimmer- Paid • Honeybourne Harriers – grant for portable flood lights so the youngsters can continue Your County Councillor, Alastair Adams can be contacted on [email protected] or mobile 07725 979 277 or www.alastairadams.org Cllr Adams full report can be found on the Council’s website and Facebook page. 210413/6 To receive report from District Councillor Thomas Havamann-Mart: The following report was received: • Wychavon have developed a ‘Let’s get back to what we love safely’ campaign to support the lockdown easing process including the reopening of non-essential retail on 12 April. This will encourage people, vaccinated or not, to only do as much as they are allowed at each stage of lockdown easing to make sure we keep this virus under control. • Vaccine rollout data is now being published by Worcestershire County Council at a local level. This shows in Wychavon 61,054 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Data is also available at ward level but be wary of comparing data between wards. If one ward has a lower percentage of vaccine completions than another it may not necessarily mean there is an issue in that ward with demand or supply but could be due to other factors such as a particular ward having more older people in it than another. • The message from our NHS locally is that vaccine supply issues mean the rollout will slow down in Herefordshire and Worcestershire during April. It means the next stage of the rollout – to the over 40s – will not begin until May. Our local NHS though remains on track to meet the deadline of offering a first dose to everyone 50 and over by 15 April and to all adults by July. They want to Page 2 of 9 210413 reassure people that there is enough supply to make sure they give second doses to all staff and patients due them. • People aged 50 and over can now book their vaccine without needing to wait for an invite but the NHS will send you one anyway. The NHS will be contacting this group by text (some may get letters as well or instead of). The text will come from NHS Vaccine. A genuine text will not ask you for your bank details or payment as the vaccine is free. • Business Support Since the November lockdown we have paid out: £14.1m (85% of allocation) of grants to businesses who have been forced to close £3.1m (84% of allocation) of grants to businesses who may have been allowed to stay open but have seen a significant impact on their revenue. • We have now received guidance for the next tranche of funding “restart” grants, and we will start paying this out to businesses in early April as directed by the Government. Most of the existing business support schemes end on 31 March for new applications, except for the February extension payment which closes for new applicants in May. • High Street reopening fund: The Government has announced a new round of funding to help councils encourage people back into town centres as restrictions are eased. Wychavon has received £115,000 and the money can be used for: • Street planting, parks, green spaces and seating areas to make high streets beautiful and welcoming • Publicity campaigns and events such as street markets and festivals • Floor signage and floor markings to encourage social distancing • Planting flowers in town centres or removing graffiti. • Support for our leisure centres: We have received £288,537 from the Government’s National Leisure Recovery Fund. This money supports the recovery of publicly owned leisure centres and gyms and allows them to prepare for reopening from 12 April. Support for those self-isolating£132,000 in payments of £500 have been made to residents who have lost money through having to self-isolate. The Government has announced the scheme is being extended so parents and carers of children who have been advised to self-isolate by their school or NHS Test and Trace can now apply for a support payment if they meet the eligibility criteria. • In other news… Decarbonisation funding announced The Government announced this week that Wychavon is one of 10 West Midlands councils – and 200 in the country – to receive money to retrofit homes to improve their energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions and save householders money. We have been given £5.8million which will be used to install energy efficient solar and solar thermal panels, external wall insulation and loft insulation. Work will be targeted at low income households.