Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Great Wolford Parish held on Tuesday 9th May 2017 in the church at 7.30 pm.
Present: Councillor Mrs Lynn Mathias in the chair and Councillors Mrs Jennifer Green, Mr. Steve Duck, Mrs Lynn Bryan and Mr. Paul Riley plus the Clerk Mrs. Janet Piller. Also present was Councillor Mrs Jo Barker. There were thirty members of the public present. Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mr. Stephen Gray.
The Chairman welcomed all those present including Jo Barker, the newly elected County Councillor.
The Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting on 11th May 2016 were approved and signed.
The Chairman’s Report: The Chairman thanked all the Parish Councillors for their valued work over the previous year.
Six Parish Council meetings had been held in 2016/17. Nine planning applications had been considered during the year plus strong, on-going representations on road safety grounds to WCC Highways in respect of use of an unauthorised access track to Wolford House.
Other main issues covered during the year had been:
A considerable number of national, WCC and SDC consultations, policies, local plans, etc were considered including SDC Core Strategy final consultation, Warwickshire Minerals Plan, Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities, Regional Biodiversity Action Plan, Stour/Shipston Community Forum, etc. A successful fundraising campaign (£1,760 raised) had resulted in the provision in the former BT telephone kiosk of a public access defibrillator, and training sessions, to also include basic first aid instruction, were being arranged. Two more dog bins had been provided through a Village Fund grant. The public house had been registered with SDC as an “Asset of Community Value” (see also below under AOB). Careful and extensive consideration had been given to the proposal of a Community Governance Review by SDC on the possible future amalgamation of Great Wolford Parish Council and Little Wolford Parish Meeting, now withdrawn following the election of a new Parish Meeting Chairman in Little Wolford. The Warwickshire Local Councils’ Charter, dated 2016, had been adopted. The regular village newsletter was delivered (principally by email) to every household, the village website remained active and the scheme for bulk buying of domestic oil for residents continued to run successfully. The poor condition of the surface of local roads had been regularly reported to WCC resulting in occasional short term filling-in of potholes and residents were encouraged to report serious potholes direct to County Highways. A £400 churchyard maintenance grant had been approved to the parish church.
Financial Report: The Clerk presented copies of the 2016/17 accounts for circulation. At 31st March 2017 the balance in the Parish Council’s bank account was £3,l44.88p. It was proposed by Councillor Riley, seconded by Councillor Duck and unanimously agreed that the accounts be accepted.
Any other business: (i) Residents were reminded to add their email address to the mailing list for the parish newsletter.
(ii) Attention was drawn to the availability, through a WCC scheme, of compostable caddy liners for recycling food waste in green wheelie bins (see May edition of Shipston Forum).
(ii) Attention was drawn to the accumulation of aluminium kegs being left in the pub car park. It was reported by the pub owners that collection was awaited by the suppliers.
(iii) The future of the village pub was raised. The current position was summarised; the pub had been effectively closed for more than twelve months with the owners being of the opinion that local support for the business had not been forthcoming and local residents being of the opinion that the owners had not provided the basic services expected of a pub. Discussion covered the financial background to the present situation and it was reported that attempts to contact the owners to discuss possible ways forward and an offer for the pub had to date been unsuccessful. When directly asked, the owners stated that they were full-time residents in the building’s upper floor and it was their intention that it remain closed as a pub as they believed it not to be viable, and neither would it be developed as a bed and breakfast business. They further stated their plan to apply, probably before the end of 20l7, for change of use of the building and then, in due course, to offer it for sale. Mr. Geoff Shuttleworth asked the owners if, following the assurance that he had a serious interest in purchasing the property, they would respond to renewed calls to consider an earlier sale, and whether they were available to discuss the issue. The Chairman suggested that as both parties were present a date for discussion should be decided. It was proposed that any such discussions would be facilitated by a third party acting as liaison/mediator and Councillor Jo Barker undertook to do so. It was hoped that following a pause for the owners to confer with advisors, a meeting would be arranged between Mr. Shuttleworth, the pub owners and Councillor Barker and it was further hoped that a positive outcome could be achieved.
(iv) The Chairman raised the possibility of revising the existing Village Design Statement to bring it up to date. This had been held over until the possible amalgamation with Little Wolford had been resolved. No-one was immediately identified as a project leader and it was agreed to keep the proposal open and discuss further at a later date.
No further matters being raised, the meeting closed.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Great Wolford Parish Council held on Thursday 9th May 2017 in the church at 7.45 pm.
Present: Councillor Mrs Lynn Mathias in the chair and Councillors Mrs Jennifer Green, Mr. Steve Duck, Mrs Lynn Bryan and Mr. Paul Riley plus the Clerk Mrs. Janet Piller. Also present was Councillor Mrs Jo Barker. There were thirty members of the public present. Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mr. Stephen Gray.
MINUTES: The Minutes of the previous Annual Meeting of the Parish Council on 11th May 2016 were approved and signed.
ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN: Nominations were invited for Chairman. The nomination of Councillor Mathias was proposed by Councillor Green and seconded by Councillor Duck. There being no further nominations Councillor Mathias was unanimously elected.
ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN: Nominations were invited for Vice Chairman. The nomination of Councillor Green was proposed by Councillor Bryan and seconded by Councillor Mathias. There being no further nominations Councillor Green was unanimously elected.
ELECTION OF INTERNAL AUDITOR: It was proposed and unanimously agreed to appoint Mr. Marcus Lymbery to act as Internal Auditor for the ensuing year.
There being no further business, the meeting closed.
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE GREAT WOLFORD PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON TUESDAY 9th MAY 2017 IN THE CHURCH
PRESENT: Councillor Mrs. Lynn Mathias in the chair and Councillors Mrs. Jennifer Green, Mr. Steve Duck, Mrs Lynn Bryan and Mr. Paul Riley plus the Clerk Mrs. Janet Piller. Also present was Councillor Mrs. Jo Barker. Apologies were received from Councillor Mr. Stephen Gray. There were nineteen members of the public present.
MINUTES: The Minutes of the meeting held on 14th March 2017 were approved and signed.
Matters arising: (a) It was reported that approval of the sites for the two new dog bins had been confirmed by SDC and the bins would be fixed in place shortly.
(b) It was noted that the footpath opposite Stanford House had been cleared of a build-up of leaf debris but that long-term official sweeping was highly unlikely. Mr. Keith Murphy and others kindly undertook to do this when it next became a problem.
GREAT WOLFORD AND LITTLE WOLFORD COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW: It was reported that at the 2017 Annual Assembly of the Little Wolford Parish Meeting on 25th April, a new Chairman had been elected and the reason for a request to SDC for a Community Governance Review preparatory to possible amalgamation had thus disappeared for the time being. Congratulations were expressed to Mr. Bill Keys on his election.
VILLAGE COMMUNITY DEFIBRILLATOR: It was reported that final connections were in hand for the defibrillator in the former telephone kiosk. A training session would now be arranged and those interested were invited to put forward their names.
VILLAGE PUB: See minutes of Annual Parish Meeting, 9th May 2017.
PLANNING: (a) ref. Wolford House, it was reported that further reminders had been sent to WCC Highways ref action needed in respect of road safety concerns about access routes to the property.
(b) It was reported that approval had been granted by SDC for the following application:
7 Carters Leaze: Erection of a garage and change of use of agricultural land to domestic curtilage.
(c) The following applications were considered and it was agreed to make no representations:
(i) Lucies, The Green: Tree work
(ii) Jasmine Cottage: Tree work
CORRESPONDENCE: (i) The following was reported and noted: (a) Proposed review by SDC of its current Councillor Code of Conduct (b) Other general correspondence and non-essential circulars were noted/tabled and would be circulated to all Councillors for information.
FINANCE: (a) The following payments were unanimously approved, proposed by Councillor Mathias, seconded by Councillor Green: (i) £202.25p to Aon UK Limited (annual insurance) and (ii) £90.26 to WALC (membership subscription 2017/18).
(b) The Parish Council accounts for the year 2016/17 as accepted by the Annual Meeting were formally approved, proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Councillor Riley.
(c) It was reported that Mr. Marcus Lymbery had kindly agreed to act as Internal Auditor.
DATE OF NEXT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING: It was agreed that the date of the next meeting would be Tuesday 11th July 2017 at 8.00 pm in the church.