Approved Minutes from virtual meeting of Full Council held on 27^th April 2021 via Zoom at 7:15pm.Meeting held under regulations made in the Coronavirus Act 2020.

147 Register of members in attendance:

Cllrs David Salter; Sheila Beilby; John Branch; Nicola Macdonald; Gail Nicholls; Neil Perry; David Thompson; Stuart Jones; Mick Cox; Lesley Edgley; Nicki Gobran , Nick Smith & Rita Hancocks.

County Cllr David Smith. District Cllr Joseph Powell. Clerk: Shirley O’Mara.

Mr Mark Jones ( Stonnall resident)

148 Acceptance of apologies.

Cllrs Val Neale & Kelly Harrison. District Cllr Elizabeth Little

149 Public Participation.

Mr Mark Jones addressed Council with concerns over footpath 0.432 near Lynn Lane House, Lynn Lane. His concerns were whether the diversion that has been put in place is approved, that road signage indicating the path is missing and that the path has also been blocked off. Cllr Salter confirmed that a consultation for a public footpath diversion order had been in place since mid-February but he did not know the outcome. Cllr Edgley confirmed the diversion is already in place. Cllr Edgley made an official complaint to County Cllr David Smith re the diversion last year.

Cllr Salter will find the consultation paperwork & the Clerk will chase County Cllr Smith.

Mr Jones also mentioned a separate footpath from Footherley Lane under the railway track which is also not signposted correctly and blocked by the landowners rubbish bins. Cllr Salter has requested Mr Jones forward further detail so we can investigate.

150 Declarations of interest.

Members should consider whether they should partake in any discussion or vote on matters on the agenda unless they have a dispensation:

None

151 To accept and confirm minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8th March 2021

Signed and approved.

152 Clerk’s update on outstanding issues from last meeting.

Dates agreed for the start of the work on the waiting lines around Shenstone Station: w/c 4th May for 10 days.

As agreed at the last Full Council, the Clerk has requested quotes for the repair of a section of the boundary wall between St. John’s Church and the neighbouring St. John’s Hill property. The quote specifies

1. Allow to DOFF clean the exposed brickwork on the garden side of the boundary wall only.

2. Carefully dismantle 2m2 of brickwork where displaced in isolated locations along the length of the wall and re-build in lime mortar.

3. Carefully dismantle 15 linear metres of brick header copings and re-build to an appropriate line in lime mortar.

4. Cut out and replace 128 bricks using a reclaimed brick to match, bedded and pointed in a lime mortar.

5. Carefully cut out isolated sections of defective pointing and re-point 30 m2 of brickwork in lime mortar

6. Clean and clear site

For the sum of £7,674.00. This item will be carried forward to next week’s meeting

for Council determination.

Re Neighbourhood plans, the Clerk has received rough costs for our reviews:

• Shenstone – £5,000 – £8,000

• Little Aston – £2,000 – £4,000

• Stonnall – £3,000 – £5,000

These are not quotes as Navigus need to understand the scale of amendments and new work before being able to give a more accurate quote. An hourly rate for this work is £75+VAT. Cllr Salter said that there needs to be some discussion to establish the extent of the advice needed & Council were unanimous in their agreement that this needs to be established whilst approving the hourly rate.

153 To receive reports from District and County Councillors.

Cllr Salter reminded Council that “The Great British Spring Clean” takes place 28th May-13th June.

154 Finance.

Financial transactions for approval were shared with an update of the latest

financial position as at 27th April 2021. Link to financial transactions spreadsheet

Nat West Current Account £905.00 Nat West Business Reserve £53,312.86

Nat West Liquidity Account (ring fenced funds) £162,280.62 Unity Account

£211,256.01. The precept of £182,000 has been received.

Consider recommendation from F,L,H & S meeting March 23rd to provide approx. £300.00 funds to kick start the “Big Poppy Project” across the Parish. RESOLUTION:

Unanimously approved with roll out across Wards if possible.

Consider Councillor Led grant request for £300-400 for Little Aston Bowls Club for remedial work to the bowling green. RESOLUTION: £400 unanimously approved.

155 Planning.

Approve planning applications received in last month and update on any objections/ developments. No updates from Cllr Thompson who remarked that planning is still moving quite slowly. Link to planning applications spreadsheet 

Cllr Thompson then gave an update on the SY&CC Working Group & meetings to date:

The Working Group response to County Cllr David Smith, Mr Doug Morrison & Mr Peter Hales following the meeting on Feb 24th was shared with Council

as were the actions from the 30th March Working Group meeting (attached). These actions were writing to Mr Ian Turner of Staffs County Council (SCC) to establish whether the offer of ownership is only for the SYCC and Shenstone Parish Council and not part of a wider community asset management initiative. Secondly, if it is a specific offer for Shenstone Parish Council, no one in the Parish Council has any letter from the relevant SCC committee or SCC officer formally making the offer. It was also agreed that Cllr Thompson would draft a specification letter for a full RICS survey and the Clerk seek quotes accordingly.

Two quotes have been received and will be shared with Full Council at the next meeting once some points have been clarified.

A response was then forthcoming from Mr Turner in the form of an email stating that the offer from SCC was being done as a standalone process with the county council responding to a request from the local councillor, David Smith, for the transfer rather than this being an approach from the county to the parish.

Council have received five responses in relation to the Spring newsletter article and five applications to join the Working Group. These are from County Cllr Smith, Mr & Mrs John Street, Mr Doug Morrison & Mr Nigel Cragg. Next steps will be agreed at the next meeting of the Working Group & presented to Council for approval.

The Clerk then briefed Council that at this time of year all Clerks are instructed to review Council insurance policies. As it is a provision of our policy to notify the insurers of any changes that may affect the policy the Clerk shared with the insurers the building appraisals on both the SY&CC & the Richard Cooper Room.

Re the SY&CC, in our letter of 5th March we asked the SY&CCMC  for a schedule of the Building Appraisal repair works completed by the Management Committee and a schedule of the Building Appraisal repair works budgeted for and the relevant repair specification which matches the recommendations of the building surveyor report.  Nothing was received.

 However, the Clerk requested this info again notifying Mr Morrison of the position with the insurance review. Mr Morrison forwarded the attached letter which was duly passed to the Insurers.

 They have now requested evidence that, with the corrective works undertaken, the property is safe for its service users and to have a timeline of anything outstanding.

The Clerk will share this request with Mr Morrison.

• See addendum below

156 Standing Orders Review.

The Standing Orders review took place with amendments as follows:

2.2 A member who has held the office of Chair for a year may be elected for a further year but ideally should not serve for additional consecutive years unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

12.2 Members are required to declare their interests (in a register), this information to be retained by the Monitoring Officer. Members may apply for blanket dispensation to speak and/or vote at meetings on items in which they have an interest for a specified period of time. This declaration of interest is to last for the full term of office. It is the Member’s responsibility and duty to update their register if their circumstances change.

14.6 The Clerk is authorised to approve payments or expenditure up to the sum of £750.00 with notification to Council as soon as is practicable thereafter, all appropriate receipts submitted & financial records updated. These transactions must not total more than £5,000.00 in any one financial year.

14.7 The Clerk may reclaim sundry expenses for cleaning materials, coffee, tea etc. for office use up to a value of £10.00 each month.

The Standing Orders will be sent to Staffs Parish Council Association for approval.

157 Update from Employment Committee.

The following recommendations were made and unanimously approved.

• To record that Council are very happy with the work and the standards of the Clerk.

• It should be noted by Councillors that emails to the Clerk/office between 3:00pm on Thursday and 9:00am on Monday and also during her published holidays are unlikely to be answered unless it is an emergency.

• That the Lengthsman’s salary should rise to £12.75 for Steve and £9.50 for Gerry from 1.4.21.

• That during the Registrar’s holidays, the Chairman will be the designated contact for interment enquiries but only to the point of advising the enquirer on the basics, they cannot process an interment.

158 Review and adopt:

Complaints procedure, Health & Safety Policy, Equal Opportunities Policy, New Code of Conduct.

All policies were reviewed and unanimously approved by Council.

159 Date of next virtual meeting: Tues 4th May 2021

 

 

4^th May 2021

Addendum to item 155 :

147 Register of members in attendance:

Cllrs David Salter; Sheila Beilby; John Branch; Nicola Macdonald; Gail Nicholls; Neil Perry; David Thompson; Stuart Jones; Mick Cox; Lesley Edgley; Nicki Gobran , Nick Smith & Rita Hancocks.

County Cllr David Smith. District Cllr Joseph Powell. Clerk: Shirley O’Mara.

Mr Mark Jones ( Stonnall resident)

148 Acceptance of apologies.

Cllrs Val Neale & Kelly Harrison. District Cllr Elizabeth Little

149 Public Participation.

Mr Mark Jones addressed Council with concerns over footpath 0.432 near Lynn Lane House, Lynn Lane. His concerns were whether the diversion that has been put in place is approved, that road signage indicating the path is missing and that the path has also been blocked off. Cllr Salter confirmed that a consultation for a public footpath diversion order had been in place since mid-February but he did not know the outcome. Cllr Edgley confirmed the diversion is already in place. Cllr Edgley made an official complaint to County Cllr David Smith re the diversion last year.

Cllr Salter will find the consultation paperwork & the Clerk will chase County Cllr Smith.

Mr Jones also mentioned a separate footpath from Footherley Lane under the railway track which is also not signposted correctly and blocked by the landowners rubbish bins. Cllr Salter has requested Mr Jones forward further detail so we can investigate.

150 Declarations of interest.Members should consider whether they should partake in any discussion or vote on matters on the agenda unless they have a dispensation:

None

151 To accept and confirm minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8th March 2021

Signed and approved.