BRIZLINCOTE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Minutes of Brizlincote Parish Council Meeting held at Violet Way Academy and Nursery on Thursday 17th October 2019.
Present Chairman, Councillor Robin Ludford-Brooks, Vice Chairman, Councillor Brian Judd and Councillors Adrian Cowan, Robert Bidgood, Peter Marston, Barry Marsden, Lynne Campion, Rita Page, Sarah Moss and Walid Qneibi
Public
WPCSO Ingrid Smith (part), County Councillor Conor Wileman, Representatives of Friends of Scalpcliffe Wood (part), Mr and Mrs Legate and Harry (part) and Clerk Barbara Roe
Public Session – WPCSO Ingrid Smith had forwarded a report to the Clerk which had been circulated to all Councillors prior to the meeting. She reported that drugs were still an issue and also distraction burglaries but nothing specific in Brizlincote. As there was nothing else to report and no questions asked of her she then left the meeting.
Mr Legate, a resident on Grafton Road reported that HGVs going to and from the Strata Homes development are travelling up and down Grafton Road, at times in convoys of two or three and were causing damage to our speed humps. He suggested notices saying, ‘no site traffic’. He reported pools of mud in the road at times and the road sweepers seemed to be working ad hoc. He felt the wheel washing was not happening and if it was, it was to the back of the site, not at the front where it was needed.
County Councillor Conor Wileman said he would sort out the issue of the roads and suggested Borough Councillor Colin Wileman sort out the other issues with ESBC as he had already been dealing with them. Action: County Councillor Conor Wileman/Borough Councillor Colin Wileman
The representatives of Friends of Scalpcliffe Wood attended to respond to the questions the Parish Council had sent to them following their application for Grant Aid. After answering the questions and putting forward their future plans, Councillor Cowan asked who else they
had applied to for a grant and reminded them of his email regarding funding. As they were not aware of the email, it was agreed that it would be forwarded to Mrs Sheila Pirie. They said they had not been seeking funding from anywhere else yet.
Following this discussion, they left the meeting.
89/19 Apologies – apologies were received from Councillor Hyde who is on long term leave and Borough Councillors Wileman and Peters.
90/19 Declarations of Interest – no declarations were received.
91/19 Minutes of previous Council Meeting (19th September 2019) – the minutes of the September Parish Council meeting held 19th September 2019 were proposed for acceptance by Councillor Qneibi, seconded by Councillor Bidgood and approved by all apart from Councillors Moss and Cowan who were absent from the last meeting.
92/19 Report by the County Councillor – County Councillor Conor Wileman apologised for not being able to attend the last few meetings.
He discussed the parking issues at Violet Way and said he was hoping the community would be able to use some of the s106 funding from the Drakelow development. Paulet School were looking into having a car park on their land and the next step was for a meeting with Paulet and Violet Way to see what can be done.
Councillor Cowan said that some of Holy Rosary and Robert Sutton parents operate a lift sharing scheme, cutting down on the number of vehicles.
Councillor Wileman said that Enforcement teams had been out four times this year but, due to them being verbally abused – including by a resident – they now have to walk round in twos.
He said he would try and help with safety measures on speeding if funding was available next year. Councillor Cowan said he had received no response to his email seeking a view as to what sort of action would be likely to be accountable. Councillor Wileman said he would look into this. Action: County Councillor Wileman
The Chair reported that he had received complaints that the recent surfacing work that had been done on Holme Farm Avenue and Cricketers Close was breaking up already.
Councillor Wileman said only patching work had been done. The Chair said he would walk round and have a look. Action: Chair
Councillor Marsden said he had previously reported overhanging trees at the bottom end of Clay Street/Spring Terrace Road, but nothing had been done. He said they were privately owned. Councillor Wileman said the County Council would probably write to the owners.
Action: County Councillor Wileman
The Clerk had received a prior report from County Councillor Wileman regarding the Street Light on the Croft. He said, although the Croft is a private road, according to records the lighting column is a County Asset. He had raised a report and an update should be received
once it had been assessed.
93/19 Report by the Borough Councillors – the Clerk had received apologies from both Borough Councillors but Councillor Wileman had sent a report for her to give to the meeting.
He had now spoken to Seven Trent regarding the flooding issue on Grafton Road.
Following their tankering of 48,000 gallons of water out of the tank to create some space, the water level had dropped sufficiently in the above ground area to enable them to see the grilles clearly. They are not happy with the size of the grilles as they allow all sorts of debris
to enter the tank and block the flow control device which throttles flow down to the channel on Woods Lane. There were reports of a lot of old toys down there.
They had not investigated the hydro-brake yet, due to the present weather and other network issues elsewhere in the county they had considerable pull on their tankering resource. The plan is to return if there are a few days of dry weather and empty the tank again and carry
out entry to the chamber to assess the condition of the flow control devices and repair/unblock as necessary.
They would keep Councillor Wileman updated. Action: Borough Councillor Wileman
Councillor Wileman was still waiting for a response from ESBC on the ownership of the bench outside the Post Office. Action: Borough Councillor Wileman
94/19 Parish Plan – The Council was very disappointed at the lack of attendance and felt perhaps the invitation wasn’t positive enough and we would need to do another meeting. It was suggested the Clerk ask the volunteers if they would be happy to deliver invitations to the next meeting.
It was also decided that the Parish Plan working party invite Mr Gary Lock and Mr Andy Mason to join them in a meeting and sort out what was thought could be done to pull a Parish Plan together. Action: Parish Plan Working Party
95/19 Notice Boards – A motion was requested by the Clerk that the Parish Council make the payment (already agreed) of £2270 by BACS in respect of the two new notice boards.
This was proposed by Councillor Marston, seconded by Councillor Judd and approved by all. Action: Councillors Ludford-Brooks and Judd to go to the bank and sort out BACS payment and then Clerk to give the go ahead on the order
96/19 Traffic Calming – The Clerk had circulated information on behalf of Councillor Cowan to all Councillors prior to the meeting. Councillor Cowan said he was waiting further confirmation from Highways on what could be done. County Councillor Wileman said he would see if the ideas were possible and report back to Councillor Cowan. Action: County
Councillor Wileman
As the Clerk had received phone calls from the Burton Mail about this topic, it had been agreed with their reporter that a statement would be given to them following our meeting. A prepared statement was read out and proposed by Councillor Judd, seconded by Councillor
Bidgood and approved by all. It was agreed that the Clerk would send this to the paper the next day. Action: Clerk
Councillors were reminded by Councillor Cowan that no reports should be given to the press other than by the Chair or the Clerk with the Chair’s permission and he stressed the importance of this.
97/19 Financial Regulations – the new regulations were circulated to all Councillors by the Clerk prior to the meeting for them to be adopted by the Council. Proposed by Councillor Judd, seconded by Councillor Qneibi and approved by all.
98/19 Repair of Bench outside of the Post Office – As reported in Councillor Wileman’s report above, ownership had not yet been established. Action: Borough Councillor
Wileman
99/19 Art Competition – Councillor Moss had circulated a draft poster to all Councillors prior to the meeting. Everyone was happy with this and it was agreed that this could be sent to the schools.
Councillors Campion and Moss presented the competition details and proposed the letter would go out to the schools on week commencing 21st October and the closing date would be 9th December, collecting the entries prior to the end of term. The preferred date for judging and exhibition at the Brewhouse, would be completed by the end of January, if possible, and closed off no later than week two in February.
Whilst all schools within the East side are invited to enter, we understand at this stage that potential entries would be from Abbott Beyne, Robert Sutton, PRU, Tower View, Paulet, Holy Rosary and Violet way. The topics and prize allocation were agreed, including a new photography category – proposed Councillor Cowan, seconded by Councillor Judd and approved by all.
It was agreed that the Council would consider offering related art materials as prizes next year but this year cinema vouchers would be continued due to lack of time before the end of the competition.
Councillor Campion said she and the Clerk had a meeting at the Brewhouse on Monday 21st October to discuss dates for the display of the entries and a judging date. The use of the letter head was also approved
100/19 Flooding on Grafton Road – see report above from Borough Councillor Wileman.
101/19 Planning – it was agreed that the Clerk write to ESBC stating their over-development concerns about the application P/2019/01167 for 24 Brizlincote Lane. Action: Clerk
102/19 Finance – Payment of all expenditure for October was proposed by Councillor Cowan, seconded by Councillor Judd and approved by all.
Councillor Cowan proposed out of pocket expenses for the Clerk due to three visits to the bank to sort out new signatories. A payment of £20 was proposed by Councillor Cowan, seconded by Councillor Judd and approved by all.
Following a Grant Aid application from the Friends of Scalpcliffe Wood, Councillor Cowan proposed an initial grant of £475, stating that they could apply for more once they could show the Council what other grants have been applied for. This was seconded by Councillor Bidgood and approved by all. Action: Clerk to write to Friends of Scalpcliffe Wood
103/19 Correspondence
• The Clerk was asked to write to Nicola Lynes requesting availability dates for a talk on Transforming the Trent Valley.
• The Clerk had received an email complaint from a parishioner who had received their newsletter after the Parish Plan meeting. She said she had explained that they were delivered by the volunteers, including the Councillors, who were all unpaid.
• The Clerk had received an email from the President of the Brizlincote WI concerning her discontent on the comments made in the Newsletter regarding the feedback on the questionnaire and the use of the Glebe for community events and the lack of a community centre.
• There had also been a couple of emails with traffic concerns which had been passed on to our County Councillor.
104/19 Clerk and Members’ Reports – Councillor Moss reported that the Scout Hut had been broken into and thousands of pounds worth of damage done, which had meant theyhad to cancel planned events.
The meeting closed at 21.05.
The next meeting will be held at 19.00 on Thursday 21st November