BRIZLINCOTE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Minutes of Brizlincote Parish Council Meeting held at Violet Way Academy and Nursery on Thursday 21st November 2019.
Present Chairman, Councillor Robin Ludford-Brooks, Vice Chairman, Councillor Brian Judd and Councillors Robert Bidgood, Peter Marston, Barry Marsden, Lynne Campion, Sarah Moss (part) and Walid Qneibi
Public
Clerk Barbara Roe
Public Session – No members of the public were present.
104/19 Apologies – apologies were received from Councillors Hyde, Cowan and Page.
105/19 Declarations of Interest – Councillor Marston revealed he had an interest in a planning application so he would reveal his objection in the planning section and then leave the meeting.
106/19 Minutes of previous Council Meeting (17th October 2019) – the minutes of the October Parish Council meeting held 17th October 2019 were proposed for acceptance by Councillor Marston, seconded by Councillor Qneibi and approved by all.
107/19 Report by the County Councillor – As County Councillor Wileman was not present, nothing was reported.
108/19 Report by the Borough Councillors – As the Borough Councillors were not present, nothing was reported.
109/19 Parish Plan – The Clerk reported that, subject to Nicole Lynes’ confirmation of availability, there would be a meeting on 2nd December where a talk would be given on Transforming the Trent Valley from 19.00-20.00 followed by a Parish Plan meeting from 20.00-21.00 the working party would attend and also the attendees from the last meeting.
110/19 Notice Boards – A discussion took place as to whether the Council would allow parties other than the Parish Council to put notices on our boards. It was decided that this would not leave enough space for Parish notices – proposed by Chairman and seconded by Councillor Bidgood and agreed by all.
The new notice boards are now at the supplier, Councillor Judd had met with the supplier on site and he confirmed that the boards would be installed within a week.
Councillor Campion asked about putting the seasonal decals in the new boards. It was agreed she would re-send her original email. Action: Councillor Campion
111/19 December Meeting It was proposed that in place of a December meeting, the Council would meet at the Grove for a Christmas buffet at a cost of £5 a head. There would have to be a short Council meeting, held at Violet Way Academy, to agree the precept. It was agreed that the Council would meet at Violet Way Academy from 19.00 – 20.00 max to
agree the Precept, nothing else would be discussed. This would be followed by a buffet at the Grove. Proposed by the Chair, seconded by Councillor Campion and agreed by all.
112/19 Good Neighbour Award/Outstanding Resident Councillor Qneibi felt that by holding such competitions it would help to bring the community together. The Clerk agreed to forward the details of the last competition to him. The Vice Chair said it would be good if we had our Facebook page up and running. Councillor Marsden proposed we put it in the next Newsletter, this was seconded by the Vice Chair and agreed by all.
113/19 Scrabble/Chess or similar tournament in the Parish Councillor Qneibi felt this was another idea to bring the community together. It was agreed by all that this would be discussed in about six months time, along with a Christmas lights competition
114/19 Update on Facebook Page Councillor Qneibi had looked into the process of sorting this. It was agreed he would continue with this and the page would be launched alongside our new website.
115/19 New Parish Website The Clerk informed the meeting that our present website was not working properly and was difficult to work. She had circulated information prior to the meeting about an offer from Staffordshire Parish Councils Association on a new website supported by them. It was agreed that we would go for their ‘Gold’ offer. This was proposed by Councillor Marston and seconded by Councillor Bidgood and agreed by all. Action: Clerk to contact SPCA.
116/19 Repair of bench outside of Post Office – as we had not heard from Borough Councillor Wileman as to whom the bench belonged, the Chair said he would contact him as we could not do any repair work until we knew who owned it. Action: Chair
117/19 Art Competition Councillor Campion said we now had confirmation that the Mayor and Mayoress would be judging the competition on the 25th January. She said they would be contacting the schools again next week and forms would be sent out to be pre-signed by parents for approval for the children to be photographed. The Chair suggested that rosette
type stickers be placed on the successful pictures. Councillor Moss was working on a certificate for the highly commended section.
118/19 Flooding on Grafton Road This problem was ongoing and was still being looked at by Strata Homes, Seven Trent and ESBC working with our Borough Councillors.
Councillor Marston reported that he first raised this problem in April 2018.
119/19 Planning Councillor Marston reported that he had personally objected to application
P/2019/01273 – 117 Woods Lane, as he felt there would be an invasion of the privacy of their home in Redwood Drive. Councillor Marston then left the meeting. The Council discussed this issue and felt there were no grounds to put forward any further comment.
Councillor Marston was then invited back into the meeting.
There were no further planning issues.
120/19 Finance – Payment of all expenditure for November was proposed by Councillor Judd, seconded by Councillor Marsden and approved by all.
The Clerk informed the Council that she had now received a debit card and the Chair said he had been told by the bank that all signatories were now in place.
The Clerk had received a letter from ESBC regarding the precept, this would be decided in our meeting on 11th December.
121/19 Correspondence
The Clerk had received email correspondence from Thomas Deery of ESBC regarding the creation of a Town Deal Board for the Stronger Towns Fund. The emails were circulated amongst the Councillors and it was agreed that the Council did not agree with the proposed process and the Clerk was asked to write to him stating this. Action: Clerk
The Clerk had received emails and phone calls concerning the flooding in Grafton Road.
She had passed this information on to the Borough Councillors.
The Clerk reported she had written to Jonathan Owen, the Chief Executive of the National Association of Local Councils, copied to Sue Baxter their Chair and Andrew McRae of Staffordshire Parish Councils Association with a complaint about lack of materials to assist
visually impaired Councillors. To date she had received no response but would chase.
Action: Clerk
122/19 Clerk and Members’ Reports – Councillor Moss reported that the new gate at Scalpcliffe Woods didn’t look very disabled friendly.
Councillor Moss had also been asked about the Council’s decision on a memorial bench on Grafton Road, the Chair said the Council had no objection to this but would not fund it.
The meeting closed at 21.00.
The next meeting will be held at 19.00 on Thursday 11th December to agree the Precept
ONLY. The next full meeting will be at 19.00 on 16th January 2020.