Serving Little Aston, Shenstone, Stonnall, Shenstone Wood End, Lynn, Parish Council Office 25C Main Street Shenstone WS14 OLZ
Tel: 01543 481 947
e-mail: <admin@shenstone-staffs.gov.uk >
web: www.shenstone-staffs.gov.uk
You are cordially invited to attend the meeting of Full Council to be held on Tuesday Feb 13^th 2024 at Shenstone Community Library.

159 Register of members in attendance

160 Acceptance of apologies.

Cllr D’Ambrosio. Cllr Leung.

161 Public Participation. Members of the public are invited to address Council for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Mr Adrian Walters, Chair of SCAR in attendance.

162 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:

163 To accept and confirm minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday 12^th Dec 2023

164 To consider resignation of Cllr Val Neale

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

• Green working group.

166 To receive reports from District and County Councillors.

167 Planning.

Review & consider all planning applications received to date.

Receive & consider recommendations from meeting of Neighbourhood Planning & Property Committee Meeting 6^th Feb 2024

• Consideration of terms of reference for Traffic Sub Committee & discussion of Staffs County Council traffic data. A draft of the Terms of Reference was shared.
  RECOMMENDATION: For approval at Full Council.

• With regard to the recent Traffic Data Study, which was compiled by Staffs County, Cllr Thompson requested that the data relating to the additional roads requested & paid for by the Parish Council, be presented in the same format as the rest of the study as this would be extremely useful. As there is a cost involved this request needs to be approved by Council.

RECOMMENDATION: Request & fund representation of the additional traffic data from Staffs County

• Cllr Jones briefed members on the state of the cherry trees on the Lammas Land that were recently damaged. Although all damaged, most have recovered with only three needing to be replaced entirely and then all protected by a wire surround.

Cllr Jones expects the cost of the trees to be circa £700 plus the wire.

RECOMMENDATION: Council to fund cost of the replacement & the wiring. Cllr Jones to provide exact costs.

• Cllr Thompson briefed members on recent meetings with Shenstone Playing Field Committee, on which he sits as the Council representative alongside Cllr Jones. There are two areas of concern which he wished to highlight.

1. The redevelopment of Shenstone Playing Field Playground. Currently, the Playing Field Committee are not intending to re-consult the whole village regarding the options for renewing equipment on the same site. Cllr Thompson identified the reasons why he was of the strong opinion that the original consultation was flawed as it did not adequately explain the two renewal options which are (i) on the existing site or (ii) on a new site. Only offering the new site option and only intending to tell residents of Lincoln Croft, many of whom have voiced strong objections that plans are going ahead. Cllr Thompson stated that this is not an inclusive way to proceed.

2. Cllr Thompson also updated the Committee on the ongoing relationship between Shenstone Playing Field Management Committee & Shenstone Country Club.

RECOMMENDATION: Members were in unanimous agreement with Cllr Thompsons concerns & the recommendation is that Council approve a request to meet with Shenstone Playing Fields Committee at the earliest opportunity to discuss these concerns further.

168 Finance.

Current financial position & transactions for approval as of Feb 13th 2024.

Receive & consider recommendations from meeting of Finance, Legal, Health & Safety Committee Meeting 23rd January 2024

Review of ring-fenced funds.

The Clerk reminded members that the ring-fenced funds are currents £25,000 each for professional fees, traffic calming & neighbourhood planning. The funds for neighbourhood planning will significantly reduce this year with payments to Navigus for the work on Shenstone & Little Aston Plan with the balance carried over to 2024/25 to pay any remaining invoices from those plans & the work on Stonnall plan.

Cllr Thompson also reminded all that the origin of the ring-fenced funds was to accommodate a new cemetery but that due to methods of increasing capacity in the existing cemetery to accommodate the next 10 years, Council then re-allotted the funds to the existing three projects.

RECOMMENDATION: Despite no longer requiring funding to this great extent, it was agreed that a burial authority review should take place to look at capacity, fees, existing rules and to specifically define the un-consecrated area.

RECOMMENDATION: Although the £25,000 ring fenced for professional fees is no longer required for any litigation costs involved with the Lammas Land infringement case, there will still be costs involved with the Malkins Coppice lease and the establishment of management agreements with Council owned buildings/land which has been on the Council to do list for some years. So, the recommendation is to hold funds for now.

RECOMMENDATION: The £25,000 for Neighbourhood Planning will be spent over the course of the next six months.

RECOMMENDATION: The £25,000 ring fenced for traffic calming is closely linked to the Neighbourhood Plan refreshes & will be allocated to projects identified in those.

RECOMMENDATION: The remaining £20,000 in the Nat West Liquidity Account to be held for St Johns Cemetery ongoing safety & restoration.

RECOMMENDATION: To avoid incurring bank charges & to maximise interest, it was agreed to leave the £1500 spent on legal fees to date re the Lammas Land in the ring-fenced funds rather than move the monies to the Unity Account to cover bills already paid.

Budget/ Forecast analysis: review layout of document

Cllr Thompson requested some changes to the layout of the Budget/Forecast document. After some discussion, members agreed that the Clerk should make some modifications which can be considered by Council.

Community Grant applications- review and recommendations

All applications were reviewed & discussed with the following recommendations.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Friends of Shenstone Station- noticeboard headers- £474.00 for headers with up to £1,000 in total paid to include vinyls on receipt of quotes.

Stonnall Painting Group- hire costs of £480.00. Application refused as Council cannot pay for hire fees.

Little Aston Community Association- replacement sign £90.00. Approved in full.

Stonnall Community Centre- grant to offset increase in hire costs, insurance & council tax-£1906.00. Approved in full.

Shenstone Playing Fields Management Committee- safety fencing £3,500.00 of a £7,000 project.

The committee agreed to grant fund up to 50% of the total cost to a total of £3, 500.00 subject to planning permission being obtained & three quotes being provided.

1^st Stonnall Scouts- first aid kits, safety whistles, torches, high vis vests- £1,000.

The committee agreed in principle but would like to see quotes & number of beneficiaries.

St. Peters School- trim trail & path refurbishment-£2722.00. Approved £1700 maximum for path only on receipt of quote.

Little Aston Tennis Club-Storage shed-£1000. Approved 66% of grant funding requested up to £1,000 on proof of cost.

Friends of Shenstone Tower-information boards-£1000.00. Approved grant funding in full as 1/8^th of total cost.

St Johns Church Hall- general building repairs- £1500.00. Cannot assist as the application is retrospective. Applicant encouraged to apply for funds to support an alternative project.

Little Aston Bowls Club-storage protection for electrics-£650.00. Approved in full.

Shenstone Seniors Brunch Club- kitchen equipment-£450.00. Approved in full.

Friday Friends-Transport Costs-£1,000. Approved in full.

Little Aston Village Hall- Building extension-£10,000. Approved in full on proof of receipt of other grant funding.

Shenstone Tennis Club- 2 x windbreaks, scoreboard, first aid kit & training costs-£1,033.00. Approved £358.00 for all except training costs as Council cannot cover wages. Number of beneficiaries required. Applicant encouraged to apply for funds to support an alternative project.

Stonnall Village Hall- replacement doors- £1,500.00. Approved 75% of costs up to £1,500.00.

Shenstone Community Library Association- website- £950. Approved in full.

Stonnallbury- gazebos, hire of marquees, fencing, publicity & printing- £2,000. Application approved in full on proviso that profits are retained to be used to fund later events.

1^st Shenstone Scouts- tents & ground pegs- £1,083.00. Application approved in full.

Stonnall Playing Fields- repair goal area 7 goals- £1,000. Approved in full.

Shenstone Lodge School- redevelopment of overgrown land & dredge pond- £2,000. Application refused as School is an Academy & falls under Sandwell Council. Does not benefit the Parish.

1^st Shenstone Guides- books, gas cooker, utensils- £300. Approved in full.

2^nd Shenstone Brownies- books, aprons, bags, tablecloths-£334.00. Approved in full.

Stonnall Singers- electric piano- £1500 requested. The Committee approved the purchase of a new piano but would like to see three quotes.

Shenstone Baby & Toddler Group- toys, craft supplies, shelving- £500.00. Approved in full.

Trinity Hall- replacement storage room for use by community groups-£1,500. Approved up to £1,500 on proof of quote.

The Committee is mindful of and wishes to be consistent with per capita grant funding with future grant applications.

Next meeting of Finance, Legal, Health & Safety Committee Tues March 11^th, 2024, at 5.30 pm Shenstone Community Library.

169 Neighbourhood Plan refreshes; update & next steps Shenstone & Little Aston (Cllr Thompson)

& Stonnall (Cllr Whitehouse).

170 Update on Heat Networks Development Unit bid for government funding by LDC/South Staffs Water Ltd.

171 Lammas Land Boundary incursion: update & next steps

172 Review & adopt Terms of Reference for Traffic Working Group 

173 Update from Shenstone Library Environmental Group.

174 Membership of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board People’s Panel

175 Newsletter: consider & agree content for next issue deadline 22nd Feb for delivery 4^th March.

176 in accordance with the provision of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations and Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following item:

Discussion of additional information relating to item 167.

177 Next meeting of Full Council

12^th March 2024 at Shenstone Community Library 7.15pm.