Withington Group Parish Council
Meeting Held on Wednesday 13th September 2023
At 7.30pm in Withington Village Hall
M I N U T E S
Present: In the Chair: Kevin Hewison (KH); John Bennett (JB); Howard Mansell (HM); Tom Nellist (TN); Bob Rudd (BR); Sue Rudd (SR); Ralph Barber (RB) Julie Williams (JW) arrived 7.35pm;
Also: Sophie Glover (Clerk), Ivan Powell (Ward Cllr); 2 members of public, and Tim Dutton who is a parishioner and is from Bartestree Football Club; PC Stefan Hawes
The Meeting opened at 7.30pm
1. Public open session: 10 minutes was allowed from 7.30pm for members of the public to raise any issues that they would like the Parish Council to consider.
2. To accept Apologies for absence –Ingrid Heatly (IH); Judith Howe (JH); Simon Dent (SD); Barclay Rogers (BR);
Retrospective apologies: Jonathan Beech (JB);
3. To receive Declaration of Interests.
None received
4. Acceptance of minutes of the:-
July 2023 PC meeting minutes
Proposed: JBe Seconded:SR All were in favour.
They were duly accepted as a true record of the meetings.
Action Points from previous meetings.
From previous meetings completed or on agenda apart from : The willow trees on Springfield that needed cutting back has been addressed.
5. Open discussion/public forum
5.1 Report from Ward Councillor – Cllr Ivan Powell had followed up the above tree issues. He found the right people in Herefordshire Council to get these trees cut back.
He has also been chasing up the S106 dispersal both for the roads and the school. He admits that communication from the council is not good, but he is doing his best to act as the interface between them and the PC.
The Ward Cllr then mentioned a land dispute in the Parish. He is still very involved in trying to clarify the position.
Outstanding are his residents surgeries, which he hopes to start soon.
Action: IP to report back to Hereford Council on the outcome of this Parish Council meeting.
5.2 Local police – PC Hawes was able to attend the meeting. He reported that there had been little crime in the parishes. He did mention the car that is parked right outside the turning into the village hall. The police are pursuing getting it moved. In addition to this he listed that:-
In June there was a report of stolen number plates from a vehicle.
In July there were a couple of collisions, nothing noted as serious.
There have been a couple of possible drink driving stops in the last months.
There had been a report of fires being started in the copse – police have been doing patrols but have not seen any thing suspicious as yet.
They were notified by a parishioner of antisocial behaviour by the garages at Withies Rd and agreed to keep an eye on this area.
5.3 Balfour Beatty – Information sheets are sent out and cllrs can comment on them.
6. Planning –
6.1 Applications: To consider comments on applications to be determined by Herefordshire Council as listed below or on the Herefordshire Council Planning website prior to the meeting:-
None for consideration at this meeting.
6.2 Planning decisions made:
None
7. Financial:
a. Balances
Public Sector Deposit Fund (30.08.23) £ 19,646.93
Lloyds Parish Acct (10.08.23) £ 19,840.28
Lloyds Withington Field Acct (30.08.23) £ 8,445.92 £47,933.13
b. Cheques to be paid
Parish Acct:- Already paid
Clerks Salary Aug £722.63
Sept £ 722.63
Clerks Expenses Aug £26.29
Sept £ 50.23 £ 772.86
HALC website hosting £ 342.60
Withington Village Hall July £14.00
£ 1,115.46
Internal Transfer: None
Withington Field Acct:- Already paid
J Smith litter picker expenses Aug £ 105.00
Sept £ 144.00
Countrywide Grass Cutting inv 525024 £198.00
Inv 528418 £ 198.00
Terry Griffiths June inv 2323 £84.00
Inv 2324 £48.00
July inv 2340 £48.00
Significant wk to WF Inv 2335 £1,830.00 £ 2,010.00
Herefordshire Council bins Sept to Dec £ 180.96
Approval sought for payment to Wicksteed for a playground inspection,
when it has been done and the invoice submitted. Expected cost £ 224.40
£ 2,532.96
Total cheques: £ 3,648.42
It was moved that all cheques should be paid.
Proposed: Chair Seconded: TN All cllrs were in favour of making the payments.
RB asked when the remote payment of invoices should be in place, it is hoped that by the next meeting this will have been finalised.
c. Receipts:
Interest on Savings account: £68.62
d. Application for Financial Aid: None.
8 Withington Fields – including update on the football pitches and Withington Football Club.
The chair recapped that cllrs had been concerned that the football pitches were no longer being used. The club were contacted to ask what their intentions were and were subsequently informed that Withington football club were going to disband.
Tim Dutton from Bartestree Football Club gave a short presentation about how they hoped that they could use our pitch. They are looking for a second pitch to use for approximately 18 months whilst they construct further pitches for themselves. His paper is at the end of these minutes.
They hope to improve the condition of the pitches making them more of an asset to the Parish Council
Funds from Withington Football Club (WFC) WFC have some residual funds in their account, they wished to hand these over to the WGPC. It was Proposed through the chair, Seconded by HM and agreed by all present to keep these in the reserves account, to be kept ring fenced for football or for improvements to the football pitches.
The WGPC wished to pass on their thanks to Ray Rice for keeping the pitch so well for many years, and for the whole football club management team for their decision to pass on their assets to the WGPC to oversee.
Proposed By RB to accept their offer.
Seconded JBe All were in favour.
They were very keen to start as soon as possible.
Actions: Clerk to contact WFC to arrange to access the containers to make an inventory of assets.
Clerk to liaise with BFC about their accessing the pitches to commence cutting them.
Clerk to liaise with BFC to draw up an agreement of use for the next 12 months.
9. Working parties:-
a- A4103/A465: Still waiting for the H’fd Council to come back to us with further information.
b- traffic calming in Withington and school access. Still waiting for H’fd Council to come back to us with further information.
10. Lengthsman Scheme – identification of jobs for the lengthsman.
Action: See below. Also to repair the edging to the path in the play area that vandals have pulled up.
11. Foot paths officers reports
PW: New bridle way post is needed, PW1a, and PW9 – Clerk to ask Lengthsman to confer with Bob
Kissing gate to the Preston Wynne Church. Quote for a metal self closing gate with the lengthsman to fit. Peter Maund is the land owner.
WH: Through the woods are overgrown.
W’ton:Fields have been cleared around Veldo Lane and Duke St and paths are now accessible. Many thanks to the landowner.
WT21 is very overgrown with nettles. Needs strimming JBe to put this to the 3 Choirs Way officer.
12. Tree Warden report – Kevin Powell was in attendance. He has attended a lime tree training session in the last couple of weeks. He asked if there were any clusters of lime trees in our parishes but it wasn’t thought that we had any.
13. Any comments on correspondence received: Westhide Cllrs are putting together a letter for the clerk to send in response.
14. Feedback on any training or meetings attended: free training spaces are available for cllrs should they want to attend any training.
15. Items for Facebook Site and / or social media for WGPC: Cllr advertisement has been placed.
16. Receive items for the next agenda (no discussion)
17. Agreed time and date of next meeting: 8th November 2023 starting at 7.30pm
The meeting closed at 8.40pm
Signed: _________________________ Date: _________________
Dates for 2023/24 meetings:
2023 8th November 7.30 pm start
2024 dates 10th January 7.30 pm start
13th March 7.30 pm start
Annual Meeting 8th May 7.00 pm start
10th July 7.30 pm start
11th September 7.30 pm start
13th November 7.30 pm start
Appendix
Letter from :
BARTESTREE FOOTBALL CLUB
From: Mr T R Dutton
Proposal for potential use of Withington Football Pitches
Dear Sir/Madam
I am the Treasurer at Bartestree Football Club where I also assist with the Coaching and have 2 boys who play in their teams. I reside in Withington and have done for over 20 years.
At Bartestree we have a thriving Junior section where we run a Saturday Morning Club for 4 -7 year olds and 13 Junior teams from U8s through to U16s who play matches on Saturday mornings and Sundays between 10am and 2pm Kick offs. There is also a Senior Team
As we have more teams this year than ever before we are concerned about how our pitches will stand up given that on a Sunday the main 11 aside pitch could be used up to 3 times. We have been aware of the need to find more pitch space for some time and there is a parcel of land that has been donated to Bartestree Parish Council for use as a Sports Ground. Up until recently the Club appeared to have the backing of the PC to develop 3 pitches on this land, however their stance has changed somewhat with the mat ter going to Public consultation as they want other sports involved. Whilst this may still happen it will be delayed and hence for the current season we have looked at other options.
Living in the village I have noticed that the Pitches within the Playing Fields have not been getting any use of late. I also note that the pitches have not been maintained and there has been quite some deterioration in the quality of the ground.
I did make contact with Ray Rice some months ago and enquired whether Bartestree could reach an agreement with Withington FC to use their pitches for the coming season. He declined the request stating that the Club had its own plans.
As I understand it the position may now have changed within Withington Football Club having folded. I am therefore requesting on behalf of Bartestree Football Club that the Parish Council consider a proposal that would allow Bartestree FC use of the Main and 7 aside pitches within the Playing Fields for an initial period until 30th September 2024.
Page 2
Bartestree FC would be prepared to undertake the following:-
1) Pay the sum of £500 in lieu of rent for the pitches and use of the equipment.
2) Our Groundsmen would be willing to maintain the 2 pitches ie cut the grass twice a month and
improve the condition of the pitch with the use of feed and weed fertilisers etc.
3) Given the current condition of the pitch we consider that to get back to a good standard we will have to invest time effort and money over the period
4) We will pay for any electricity used in the container and petrol for the mower.
5) We will pay to have the pitches marked out for our use.
6) We would require access to the pitch area for our Grounds Contractor if required.
7) We may wish to bring our own portable goals which we would need to store near the containers.
8) We would be using the pitch as an overflow basis so there will be some weekend when the pitches would not be used. It will be the full-size pitch that will be more likely to be used and this will be on a Sunday. Usual kick off times are 10.30am, 12noon and 2pm – all games therefore completed by 4pm.
We foresee only 2 games per weekend being played here.
9) If used on a Saturday kick off times are between 9.30am and latest at 12noon so again all games completed by 2pm
10) There may be some requirement for training/matches between 5.30pm and 8pm when light allows.
11) We usually get fixtures in the last week of the month for the following month – we can give you an indication of likely usage therefore for the month ahead.
12) If you consider the proposal acceptable we would be willing to sign a written agreement but would ask that we also have first refusal to extend the agreement for a further period at the end of the initial agreement.
13) We would like to view what is in the container as we have assumed the use of equipment in the container as part of our offer. Our costs would go up if we cannot use the mowing equipment on site.
14) There will have to be a discussion about use of toilet facilities but I assume this will need to be with the Village Hall committee.
As a resident of the village I think it would be of benefit for the village to see the pitches back in use. Hopefully it will generate some interest for the children of the village and we can offer them the opportunity to play football. We can guarantee that in 12 months time the pitches will be in a much better condition than they are now. Who knows in the not too distant future Withington Football Club could be back in business.
I will attend the Parish Council Meeting next week so if anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer
them.
Regards
T R Dutton
07730652209
bfctreasurer@btinternet.com