Minutes of the meeting of 18th August 2020

Present   Jon Allen (Chair), Veronica Mellings, Jack Chapman, Gill Allen, Neville Rollason, Jane and Duncan Price, Peter Marquis, Ted Laidlar

  1. Apologies were received from Chris Laidlar, , Jenny Marquis,  Steve Williams, Jan Jones and Gareth Jones, Jonathan and Elaine Dean
  2. Minutes of meeting of 7 January were agreed
  3. Matters arising and action sheet:
    1. Stream Wall Repairs Following the meeting with Shropshire County Council reported in October 2019, Jon Allen confirmed that he has chased the Highway Department on a number of occasions, and is now promised a reply from the technical officer dealing with the issue in the next week.  Action: Jon Allen to follow up and report back
    2. Stream maintenance working party It was agreed that the work on the stream should take place on 10th October, starting at 10.00am.  John Allen was asked to check with John Williams to see if the work could be coordinated with his hedge cutting schedule.  Action: Jon Allen to contact John Williams
    3. Village social   It was agreed that the social had been a great success and Neville and Katie Rollason were sincerely thanked for hosting the event. 
  4. Annual Meeting: Jon Allen explained that annual Parish Meeting Annual Meetings were only allowed to take place between March and May.  Because of the Covid-19 pandemic no meeting could be convened in 2020.  Current officers therefore are in place until 2021. This was noted.
  5. Appointment of Clerk : No volunteers were forthcoming, therefore Gill Allen will continue in post for the time being.
  6. Annual Accounts and Governance and Accountability Return 2019/20
    1. Annual Accounts  The meeting approved the accounts, noting that the  Parish Meeting had raised a precept  from Shropshire County Council of £700.  Balances carried forward on 31/3/2020 were £994.02.
    2. Annual Governance and Accountability returns 2019/20  The meeting agreed the completed paperwork and Annual Governance Statement, and Gill Allen confirmed that she would submit the Certificate of Exemption and that all papers would be posted on the website for public scrutiny.
  7. August Finance Report: The meeting approved the report and noted balances carried forward at 31/3/2020 of £1433.26. Taking commitments to support the Defibrillator into account, unallocated balance for the year is £1279.76.
  8. Defibrillator weekly check rota:  All members present agreed to take part in the regular checking of the defibrillator.  It was agreed that Jon Allen would undertake a briefing session to show how it was done.  Action Jon Allen to arrange dates for briefing.  It was agreed that Jon Allen would contact Community Heartbeat Trust to arrange future community awareness sessions and liaise accordingly with the Bedstone Village Hall Committee.
  9. Quality of road maintenance work: it was agreed that Jon Allen would photograph the areas of local highway that require attention and ask Shropshire Council’s Highways Department to address them.
  10. Sarn update Noted
  11. Tree risk to broadband cable.  It was agreed that Jon Allen would speak to John Williams regarding potential risk from a tree adjacent to the notice board and that he would speak to Geoff Mellings regarding another tree risk in the village.
  12. Castle matters: a number of issues raised by Ted Laidlar were noted.  It was agreed that a working party  from the Parish meeting, consisting of Ted, Peter, Duncan, Jane and Gill would invite and work alongside trustees of the Hopton Castle Trust on environmental improvements to the land surrounding the castle, and specifically the re-instatement of the pond as a local amenity – the working party to report back to the January meeting of the parish, with proposals and outline costings.  Action: Peter to arrange meeting and liaise with Castle Trust trustees.
  13. Shropshire council draft housing strategy: it was agreed that the draft response to the consultation document be submitted to Shropshire Council, with the addition of the need to integrate any housing strategy with the development of other services such as health, education and transport.  Action Jon Allen to submit
  14. Date of next meeting  12 January 2021
  15. A.O.B.   Village bonfire night social and xmas decorations   Suggestions from Alaistair Carmichael about arranging a bonfire night social in the castle grounds and erecting a xmas tree and decorations were well received.  It was agreed that Alastair be invited to work with other residents in the village to develop these ideas further and it was noted that any activity within the council grounds would require the approval of the Castle Trust trustees.

Chair

13th January 2021

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