Withington Group Parish Council – Annual meetings
PRESTON WYNNE – ANNUAL MEETING
Thursday 18th May 2023 7.05pm start
Minutes
Councillors Present: Sue Rudd, Bob Rudd.
Apologies: Simon Dent
Opened: at 7.04
1. Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 19th May 2022 – confirmed at July Meeting.
2. Any other business – nothing reported.
Closed at 7.06
WESTHIDE – ANNUAL MEETING
Thursday 18th May 2023 7.10pm start
Minutes
Councillors Present: Judith Howe, Julie Williams.
Apologies: None
Opened: 7.08pm
1. Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 19th May 2022 – confirmed at July meeting.
2. Any other business- Thanks recorded for Anna Green for the work that she did on the solar farm.
Closed: 7.10
WITHINGTON – ANNUAL MEETING
Thursday 18th May 2023 7.00pm start
Minutes
Councillors Present: Kevin Hewison, Jonathan Beech, John Bennetts, Ingrid Healey.
Apologies: Howard Mansell, Barclay Rogers, Tom Nellist.
Opened at : 7.11pm
1. Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 19th May 2022 – confirmed at July Meeting..
2. Introduction of all cllrs from the three parishes. – Deferred until the July meeting.
3. Any other business – nothing.
Signed Chairman: Dated:
Withington Group Parish Council Annual Meeting
(Minutes of last Annual Meeting were approved July 2022)
Thursday 18th May 2023 to follow
MINUTES
Present: Kevin Hewison (KH), Jonathan Beech (JB), Ingrid Heatley (IH), John Bennetts(JBe), Bob Rudd (BR), Sue Rudd (SR), Judith Howe (JH), Ralph Barber (RB), Julie Williams (JW)
Also: Sophie Glover (Clerk) Cllr Ivan Powell – Ward Councillor.
1. Election of officers (Chairman, Vice Chairman)
Chairman: Kevin Hewison Proposed: SR
Seconded:BR
The cllrs voted 8:9 to approve
Vicechair: Judith Howe Proposed: JW
Seconded: IH
All were in favour of her appointment.
Action: relevant papers to be signed and submitted to electoral office.
2. Chairman’s Annual Report
Chairman’s Annual Report 2022 – 23
Copy at end of these minutes, it had been circulated prior to the meeting.
Action: Clerk to scribe a letter of thanks to all departed councillors.
3.Appointment of members to Committees, working groups etc
– Representative on Village Hall committee: Bob Wood has stepped down as a cllr that there is a vacant position for another cllr to step up to the post -. It was proposed that HM might take this role and KH will remain as Councillor links to this committee. All in favour.
– Finance working group: It was resolved that this group would meet at least twice a year, once before the precept setting meeting and once before the audit meeting. It was resolved that the cheque signatories would form this committee, so this is KH and IH nominated from Withington with JH and RB from Westhide. This was agreed by all cllrs present.
– Withington Field: It was resolved for the Clerk to continue in this role, agreed unanimously. One further cllr was sought to be on this working group along with KH, volunteer still needed.
– A4103: It was resolved that KH and JW would remain on this working group.
– school access and village speed control: It was resolved that JBe, IH and HM with Ward Cllr in occasional attendance. Hereford Council have moved S106 monies from Balfour Beatty to in house, there is a meeting on 22.05.23 at 14.00 to discuss this further, JBe, KH, IH and the ward cllr to be in attendance.
4. Review of Footpath Officer, Internal Auditor,
Tree Warden Kevin Powders has been suggested and he would be supported by IH as a back up.
Action: IH to supply clerk with his contact details
Footpath officers
Julie will continue to cover Westhide, Bob Rudd will represent Preston Wynne and John Bennetts will cover Withington.
Internal Auditor: Cole and Co to remain in post.
5. Review of insurance policies
Renewal was in January. It was resolved to remain with Zurich insurance
6. Review of subscriptions – Tree Warden, Hereford and Gloucester Canal Trust, HALC, SLCC.
Hereford and Gloucester Canal: £25 per annum.
HALC: Fees are set by HALC.
Tree Warden: £25 per annum. Waived for the last year.
SLCC: Already signed up for 2023-2024
Agreed to all Proposed:KH Seconded; JH
7. To remind Councillors to update their Notice of Registrable Interests:- This was done, with most Cllrs completing their forms and leaving them with the clerk for submission.
8. Remind Councillors that they have all signed up to the Code of Conduct – Previously circulated.
All were in favour and agreed that they had read the Code.
Ordinary Parish Council Business:
9. To commence with a period of up to 10 minutes to enable the public to address the Parish Council, for no more than 3 minutes per person. No public were present.
10. To accept Apologies for absence.: Howard Mansell, Barclay Rogers, Tom Nellist, Simon Dent.
11. To receive Declaration of Interests. None.
12. Open discussion/public forum including
12.1 Report from Ward Councillor – Cllr Ivan Powell , who acknowledged the excellent work that Paul Andrews had done over the last four years. He gave the meeting a little background on his previous experience, and informed the meeting that he was looking forward to representing the group of parishes.
12.2 Report from local police – They were not present, but cllrs were reminded to sign up to ‘neighbourhood matters’ and receive weekly updates by email.
12.3 Report from Balfour Beatty – come out regularly by email. Hedge at Vine Tree still has not been cut.
13. Acceptance of minutes of the Parish Council meeting (16.3.23)
The minutes were agreed to be an accurate representation of the meeting.
Proposed: KH Seconded: JB
14. Action points from previous meetings: done or on the agenda.
15. Withington Fields: The meeting discussed putting an additional camera to cover the gazebo as there has been a number of times that there has been a lot of broken glass to clean up. It was resolved not to do so at this time, but to see where we were at the one year check up of the cameras.
16. Working Parties:-
i. A4103: Mentioned earlier in the meeting
ii. School access/traffic calming : Mentioned earlier in the meeting. In addition, John Harrington met J Be who said that there was funding available for ‘active travel’, particularly getting people to walk to school. JBe will keep an eye out for any further information on this.
17. Lengthsman and P3 scheme – Report received from lengthsman. Task him to cut the hedge at Vine Tree. Proposed by KH all in favour.
Action: clerk to task the lengthsman to do this.
18. Footpaths officer report
Withington: attended the FO meeting in March. Herefordshire Council have taken the footpaths back under their own control and there is a huge backlog of jobs to be done. There is a lot of money to spend on targeted footbridges that have been closed so that footpaths can be reopened. He found that any Parish Cllr had the right to clear any footpath, they were advised not to recruit volunteers to do this under the PC’s name.
Westhide: no problems.
Preston Wynne: No problems.
19. Tree warden update: IH went to the TW network weekend. There is a lot of training coming up in the next 12 months, she will direct our possible new TW to do this training.
20. TEKSS – update on response to ‘discharge of conditions’- it was agreed that a full discussion would happen at Julys PC meeting. Clerk to recirculate the TEKSS letter prior to the next meeting. It is likely to be over £8,000 per year for use in the parish of Westhide.
The question was raised if the funds were for Westhide alone and it was resolved that the pitch had been clearly written to say that it was just for Westhide.
Action: clerk to circulate letter
21. Matters Financial.
a. Balances: Parish Account as at 21.04.23: £31,485.14; Withington Field Acct as at 28.04.23: £1,891.25; CCLA: £16,398.79;
b. Payments to be agreed :
Parish acct:
Clerks Salary: April – already paid £722.63
May £722.63
Clerks expenses April – already paid £35.69
May £43.79 Total: £766.42
Cole & Co (internal auditors) £100.00
T Griffiths (PROW) Invoice 2349 £150.00
Internal Transfer of £7,000 from the precept to Withington Field Acct £7,000
Withington Field Acct:
Countrywide Grass Cutting (inv 513260) £198.00
Joe Smith Litter Picking April – already paid £105
May £72.97
T Griffiths Fields acct Inv 2350 £52.80
T Griffiths Fields acct Inv 2348 £48.00 Total:£100.80
Proposed that the clerk pays these invoices:
Proposer: KH Seconded: JB
c. Receipts: £16,000 first half of the precept. Interest on savings acct.£55.30
d. Requests for financial aid: None.
e. Approval of Annual Governance Statement
The Annual Governance Statement was approved by all Cllrs present.
f. Approval of annual accounts Statement
The Annual Accounting statement was approved by all Cllrs present.
22. Planning including those below and any additional ones showing of the HC Planning portal:
223151 – The Grey House, Nunnington, Hereford Proposed creation of 2 ensuite bathrooms on the top floor, with connection to soil and water pipes.
PC comment: no comment
23. Receive items for the next agenda (no discussion)
TEKSS, look at ‘depreciation’ for playground equip;
Meeting ended: 8.16pm
Signed by: Chair: Dated:
Dates for future meetings in 2023:
13th July 7.30 pm start
14th September 7.30 pm start
16th November 7.30 pm start
Chairs report for 2022 to 2023
Annual Report of the Chair of WGPC 2022/23
What an interesting year this has been perhaps ought to be known as the ‘year of the Solar Farm in Westhide’ as this has been discussed at every Parish Council meeting and members of the public attended nearly every meeting to let us know without any doubt what their views were. Eventually the Council held their Planning Committee on the 15th March to discuss the application. Especially important was the support of the Ward Councillor, Paul Andrews, to make sure that decisions were made ‘in the open’. Accordingly, a Westhide Councillor, Anna Green, represented WGPC, and Mike Rowlatt gave the views of the Westhide residents against the application. The planning application was passed by the Council however there were several important conditions put on the development.
This year, being the year when councillors must be reappointed, we have lost several members who did not put themselves forward for re-election. All of these have given many years of service as Parish Councillors, and we thank them for all their time, attendance and support. In addition, our Ward Councillor was not re-elected. I would like to record our appreciation for the work that he has done on issues that effect the three parishes, never mind the Solar Farm mentioned before. He has kept us informed about events that affect us and ably represented the views of our residents and those of the WGPC. This includes the problems with school access, traffic calming and speeding on the A4103 and A465 by the Cross Keys. We have a meeting with Herefordshire Council at 2pm on the 23rd May to try and progress on these issues.
Our efficient clerk, Sophie Glover, has ensured that we have followed all the rules and regulations that Parish Councils have to follow and we are very appreciative of all that she does for WGPC. She is also our lead for Withington Fields. Thank You.
Kevin Hewison
Chair WGPC
May 2023