Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on Thursday 16th November 2017 at 7.00pm in Hope under Dinmore Village Hall
MINUTES
Present:
Parish Councillors: Cllr. N Ramsay; Cllr. Mrs K Clarkson; Cllr John Stone; Cllr J Pritchard; Cllr Leslie Legge (Chair); Cllr A Morgan; Cllr N Giles and Cllr Paul Stephens.
Also in attendance: Parish Clerk: Mrs L Hay; Ward Cllr Pauline Crockett
Member of the public present: 5
The Chairman welcomed those present to the November meeting.
1. To Receive Apologies for Absence: Cllr K Rocke.
2. To Receive Declarations of Interest and Applications for Dispensations
Cllrs Clarkson; Ramsay and Stone signed on behalf of the village hall.
3. Report from local Police Officer – apologies received. Newsletter circulated.
4. Neighbourhood Plan – to agree and approve the proposed NDP and associated
documents for submission to Herefordshire Council.
The Parish Councillors present were asked to agree and approve the proposed NDP and associated documents for submission to Herefordshire Council, in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. A vote was taken and by a unanimous show of hands it was agreed that these documents would be submitted by the Clerk via the email link to the Neighbourhood Planning Team.
5. Report from Ward Councillor Pauline Crockett
Ward Councillor report November 2017
(a) Herefordshire Council can confirm that the county has secured £15million of government funding from the Department for Education for the new university, this is only the tip of the iceberg in financial costs.
(b) The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has revealed that Herefordshire is providing some of the best care for adults in the West Midlands. Herefordshire has 29 nursing homes, providing specialist care for medical conditions such as dementia, we also have 56 residential care homes and of the 55 inspected by the CQC, 51 are rated as ‘Good’ and 2 as ‘Outstanding’ (96%). This puts us joint highest in the West Midlands with Shropshire. We also have 47 providers delivering home care services, which help people live independently in their own home.
(c) I attended an Adult Well Being Scrutiny meeting today as a committee member, and I was flabbergasted at the idea of the closure of ‘Hillside’ reablement facility. This was proposed by Wye Valley Trust who provide the care for the 22-bedded unit. They would prefer a ‘home service’, I strongly challenged this as I believe that it is a necessary viable service and to close it in February in the height of Winter is ridiculous! This will not be swept under the carpet, watch this space.
(d) Due to a National and Local shortage of Social Workers, Herefordshire Council has joined the national return to social work programme, which aims to retrain children’s and adult social workers who have previously left the profession.
(e) The Travellers Sites Development Plan Document sets out where new pitches are planned in Herefordshire,
Consultation on this document was open from Monday 6 November 2017 until Monday 18 December 2017, please see the Council website for further details.
Locally, I am in communication with the planning dept. regarding ongoing applications.
6. The Chairman Opened the Open Time and invited those present to discuss the Outline Planning Application for Tavern Fields.
Mr Peter Draper – agent on behalf of Mr & Mrs R Wynne – was invited to give a short presentation and partake in a question and answer session. This was followed by a general discussion between members of the public and Councillors. The main concerns were the increased flooding risk and the access of the additional vehicles on to the village road and the A49 junction. There were also concerns expressed with regard to this being an outline application in which 50% of the field is set-aside for green open spaces, recreation areas. However, it was acknowledged that this is no guarantee that, once a developer has purchased the land, this land will not be absorbed into additional houses.
The Chairman closed the Open Session. Mr Draper and the members of the public left the room.
After discussion it was unanimously agreed by a show of hands to respond to the outline planning application as follows:
Planning Application 173653
Hope under Dinmore Parish Council is totally opposed to this application, which demonstrably goes against the wishes of the residents, as clearly established by the consultations forming part of the local Neighbourhood Plan. The area designated for development is of special significance to the local community, as both a visual and social amenity.
The proposed site borders on areas of EA flood zone levels 2 and 3. The parish council maintains that development on this site will exacerbate an already critical flood risk situation.
Contrary to the statement of the developers, the Core Strategy requirement for Hope-under-Dinmore has already largely been met, with planning permission granted for 85 percent of the 2031 housing commitment target.
In 2015 Herefordshire Council, as part of their own county wide assessment, considered this site unsuitable for development.
The parish council believes that additional traffic generated will have an adverse effect on the junction with the A49 at the bottom of Dinmore Hill which is a known accident black spot. In addition, there are major concerns with regard to the extra vehicles joining the narrow village lane at its busiest point.
7. The Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 21st September and the Extra Ordinary Meeting held 19th October 2017 were agreed as a true record and it was proposed that they be adopted and were signed by the Chairman.
8. Discuss and update on:
8.1 Cherry Brook – nothing to report
8.2 News from Newton – nothing to report
8.3 Queenswood – nothing to report
9. Finance Matters:
9.1 Payments made since last meeting – Newsletter /Planning printing
9.2 Outstanding Invoices – schedule of payments had been circulated and it was agreed by a unanimous vote that these outstanding invoices be paid and cheques were raised and signed.
9.3 After a short discussion it was agreed by a unanimous show of hands to increase the Precept by £500 to £10,500 for 2018/19 – this increase partly to take into account the discontinued lengthsman grant via Balfour Beatty. Clerk to complete request form and send before 31st December 2017.
9.4 ICO – the annual payment of £35 was explained and accepted.
10. To Receive Reports:
10.1 Village Hall Committee – Councillor J Stone
Bank account shows a balance of £2088.00 with extra enquiries and bookings in the pipe line. The redecoration of the toilets has been completed and there are plans for a new automatic entrance light to be installed. The Car Park is in need of re-stoning and there was discussion with regard to quotes etc.
Clerk to remind lengthsman to liaise with Cllr Stone with regard to cutting back the hedge.
10.2 Village Footpaths – Footpaths Officer Cllr N. Giles reported all in order at the moment. Clerk will liaise with lengthsman with regard to the outstanding broken stile.
11. Highway Matters:
11.1 Update re: Balfour Beatty – Locality Steward raised the issue of HD22 bridleway/footpath which needs way markers. This footpath was not thought to be in Hope Parish – Clerk to follow up with Locality Steward.
11.2 Lengthsman work schedule for Nov/December – nothing outstanding except for the ongoing issues of the village hall hedge and the broken stile. Clerk will liaise with lengthsman.
12. Clerk’s update
12.1 New Website – grant. The Clerk explained that it was now essential due to the Transparency Code requirement for every Parish Council to have their own dedicated website. The Government are offering a grant of £500 towards the setting up of each website and the Clerk has been in touch with Mark Millmore via HALC. Mark has kindly agreed to set up the website – and it was agreed that the domain name would be – hopeunderdinmore.co.uk Cllrs Morgan and Ramsay, together with the Clerk, would like to take advantage of the two-hour training session offered within the £500 setup costs.
Clerk will liaise with Mark Millmore. It was agreed that the existing website should stay active until the Neighbourhood Plan has been adopted.
12.2 Ignite – date for presentation – decision deferred until next meeting.
12.3 Weeping Poppy Installation – discussed no further action.
12.4 Litter questionnaire – completed and returned.
12.5 Safeguarding Issues – deferred until next meeting. Ward Cllr. Crocket will
liaise with colleagues with regard to the Parish Council’s requirement with regard to Safeguarding.
12.6 Traveller Sites Development Plan –briefly discussed – no further action.
13. Items for the Next Agenda (no discussion) – Safeguarding Issues
14. Date of the Next Parish Council Meeting – 18th January 2018 at 7.00p.m.