THE LEIGH PARISH COUNCIL
: leighpc@hotmail.co.uk : theleighpc.org.uk
MINUTES OF THE FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11th AUGUST 2021 AT THE LEIGH PARISH CHURCH AT 7.30PM
Present: Cllr J. Arkell (Chair), Cllr L. Glazebrook, Cllr K. Morton and Cllr R. Theyer.
In attendance: K. Tilling (Parish Clerk), 2 members of the public.
1.Welcome and Apologies:
The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. All members of the meeting were asked to leave their contact details with the Clerk for Track and Trace purposes. Apologies were received from Cllr Chandler and Cllr McLain. Councillor McLain had emailed some useful updates about the Golden Valley Project, latest news on the Borough Plan changes and the current review of the Planning and Enforcement Teams. This was circulated prior to the meeting.
2. Declarations of Interest:
There were no declarations of interest.
3.To formally approve the Minutes of the last meetings (June and July 2021):
The minutes from the previous meetings from June and July 2021 were approved. Proposed by Cllr Morton and seconded by Cllr Glazebrook. All unanimous. Minutes will be available to read on the Parish Council website.
4.To discuss planning updates on current planning applications including:
Cllr Arkell reported that the group meeting with the Sandra Ford, Head of Planning at TBC had been cancelled at short notice. It has been rescheduled for the end of September. Many of the local Parish Councils are experiencing the same issues with too many applications going to appeal for non-determination, no responses to emails and the reporting of enforcement cases rising with very little feedback. The TBC draft plan revisions have been published. The current plan still shows Coombe Hill with a suggested number of 50 houses despite the two approved building sites totalling 120 houses.
a) New road name for the Vineyards Development – the recent request for a public consultation for the suggested name for the new development next to the pub has proved to be a tick box exercise. None of the suggested names were liked by the local residents. Despite putting forward more meaningful suggestions they were all ignored. This kind of consultation was a first for the Parish Council and lesson have been learnt.
b) TBC’s Local Heritage List – Parish Councillors suggested that this was something to think about for the future. Maybe a future newsletter item.
5. To receive the current Financial Statement.
There has been no expenditure since the last meeting other than the monthly salary for the clerk.
a) Allotment Tenancy Agreements – new contracts have been drafted. Both current tenants will be given the chance to renew their contracts but as there is a waiting list for new tenants, failure to return the paperwork will see the allotments being signed over to new tenants.
b) Funding for Wild Flower meadows – the clerk has been actively seeking funding for a wildflower meadow. A request has gone out to the two people in the newsletter article to make contact with the Parish Clerk before any further financial enquiries can be made.
c) Funding for Leigh Flood Defence pump – work is still on going to fund a new pump for the Leigh Flood defence by the village pond. A virtual meeting has now been arranged in September to work out the finer details for the EA funding paperwork. If the funding for a new pump has to come through the Parish Council, the RFO has requested that she needs to be involved.
d) Application for a Covid-19 grant – it was agreed that the Clerk would submit a grant for £1000 to supply and install a bench for local people to use when sitting by the pond. Proposed by Cllr Arkell and seconded by Cllr Glazebrook.
6. To receive updates on Highways Issues including:
a) Highways winter update information – County Highways are asking the Parish Council to check and amend the winter contact information that they hold. They also wish to know if the Parish Council require winter supplies for the winter grit bins. The bins are located at the top of Pancake Lane, top of Blacksmith Lane close to the A38 junction, a little blue one by John Hewetts house and one at the top of Wharf Lane. If you feel that any of these bins require topping up with salt/grit please contact Cllr Arkell. The bagged salt is stored at Staplins Farm in the dry.
The Parish Council does not have a working Winter Action Plan. The Parish Council responded to the same question last year about support for writing one but no support from Highways has been forthcoming. The clerk will try again this year.
b) Updates on the M5 junction 10 improvement scheme.
This scheme is broken into 3 main parts. The opening of the junction in all directions, a new dual carriageway road/link road through to the new cyber park at GCHQ and the upgrade of the traffic lights at Coombe Hill. The upgrade at Coombe Hill has been separated out from the rest of the scheme and the aim is to complete this work prior to the changes to the motorway junction. Despite various plans being drawn up there have been little alterations. Concerns were raised about the possible removal of land that would affect the petrol station and car lot. The Parish Council are watching the work under way by the Developers. The pipe being installed seems woefully inadequate. The agencies working on the drawings are hoping to arrange a public event to share their suggested scheme. This is to be arranged in early October. The Parish Council will circulate the information as soon as it has it.
7.To receive an update on the Neighbourhood Development Plan.
The latest version of the NDP has been submitted to TBC. It is now down to them to look at and prepare for the Reg 16 consultation. The LNDP has been modified to ensure that the plan fits with the TBC draft plan, including the most recently proposed modification changes.
CIL – it was suggested that this information is circulated to all Councillors once again as money will shortly be arriving in relation to the houses currently under construction at Coombe Hill. The CIL money must be used for the benefit of the community at Coombe Hill as this is where the building work is happening.
8.To receive District and County Councillor Reports.
Councillor McLain had kindly emailed some useful updates about the Golden Valley Project, the latest news on the Borough Plan with its suggested changes and the current review of the Planning and Enforcement Teams. This was circulated to Parish Councillors prior to the meeting.
9.Parish Council profiles for the website.
Parish Clerk requires a recent photo of each Parish Councillor to place on the website together with a short written bio.
10.Any other business.
Severn Trent water leak – there is a leak at the top of Blacksmith lane and Severn Trent have been out and tried to mend it several times.
PROWS – A reminder to all land owners within the Parish that have a footpath running through or on shared boundary, to ensure that paths are kept vegetation free and safe for the public to use. Block paths will be reported to the PROW officer for further action.
Floods/General water levels – Mr Gilder raised his concerns about the general water levels and the fact that they do not drop. It is thought that water courses further downstream have become blocked so that water remains trapped. Cllr Arkell agreed to check out the Parish Drain and see if the problem is before or after this water out let.
Road signs – There are a number of road signs overgrown within the Parish e.g. The 50 mph and the Give Way sign on Blacksmith Lane. Land owners must not allow vegetation to obscure road signs. Concern was also expressed about the ‘Guinea Fowl’ sign on the road. The Parish Council were unsure about the legalities of allowing life stock to wander onto a public highway and the consequences should it result in a RTA. The Clerk agreed to check this out with Highways.
Meeting closed 21:15