GRINDLEFORD PARISH COUNCIL – MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 14 MARCH AT 7 PM IN THE PAVILION
Present: Hilary Hart (Chair), Peter O’Brien, Esther Stewart, Alex Erskine, Ray Whiteley, Simon Hutchinson, Dave Kirkup. Sarah Battarbee Clerk
Apologies: Alasdair Sutton, PC Boswell, Andrew Battarbee, Elizabeth Coe, Simon Ripton.
- COUNTY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT – there was none as Cllr Sutton had sent apologies.
- DISTRICT COUNCILLOR’S REPORT. Council tax has risen by 2.99% not 5.94% as stated in the last minutes. DDDC has made an extra hour free on their carparks, from 3 pm rather than 4 pm. The DDDC corporate plan is largely focused on more investment in affordable housing, particularly in villages. =ffwere meeting to discuss raising fees for services. Green bins will go up to £56 and Council Tax by 5.94%. There has been discussing about taxing environmental issues, including rivers, and there has been a commitment to ban disposal BBQs on the moorlands, to go through later this year.
- POLICE REPORT – there was none as PC Boswell could not attend. He sent a report as follows: since date of last meeting there has been 1assault and 1x harassment reported. There have been reported incidents relating to parking issues involving cars parking on opposite white lines, concern for safety and a lorry being stuck. Following consultation in January this year with the community and reviews of your concerns, passed to us at Community Engagement events and through surveys. You have indicated that you would wish for Road Safety to continue as our priority along with the new one of burglary after recent burglaries that have been reported. We will therefore continue with our efforts to improve Road Safety and provide crime prevention / target hardening advice to reduce burglaries from taking place in the local area over the coming months and will be posting updates regarding our work on our social media channels – Facebook, X (Twitter) and Derbyshire Alert.
It was agreed that PC Boswell would be asked to send us such a report each month on issues specific to Grindleford, and invited to the Council meeting perhaps four times a year, to save on his resources as it is quite a journey from Matlock to attend each month.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING. These were agreed as a true record, with the amendment recorded above that council tax rose by 2.99%. Pro RW sec AE.
- UPDATES ON MATTERS ARISING
- It was agreed, all in favour that future agendas would be arranged so that Matters Arising covered only issues for discussion or reporting back, and issues requiring a decision would be taken as separate agenda items. Clerk requested that Councillors submit any agenda items they wished to have included by the Thursday before the meeting date.
Village meeting. Does not have to be on the same day as the AGM but must be held before 1 June. It was agreed that it should be separate from the AGM and should be a proper village get together with refreshments, ideally at the Sir William. That leaves 16, 23, 30 May. Clerk to check venue availability and circulate a proposed date.
Village gates. HH has had no reply from Chris Henning at DCC. It was agreed to invite Cllr Cupitt to visit Grindleford if she would come, so she could see for herself there is an issue. Traffic Group to action.
Litterpick equipment. All in favour that Council should sign the equipment over to Andrew Hilton, Clerk to check with Zurich insurers first. The Council noted that it was grateful to the litterpickers for their efforts.
ANPR pilot. It was agreed all in favour except Cllr O’Brien who abstained, that we did not want to join the pilot.
Signal Box. Clerk had had a request from DCC to comment further on the signal box planning application. It was agreed that she would reply saying that the Council position had not changed, with further supporting reasons that planning permission to demolish the box should be refused, as set out in a draft submitted to Council separately.
Ukraine group room hire. It was agreed all in favour to ask GPFA if they would split the costs with the Parish Council.
Flooding. The 20 industrial sized flood barriers from ForgeMasters were an exception offer, a series of demonstrations in the village suggesting that 6 – 8 might be a manageable number and a big boost to the flood group’s project to protect the western riverbank from rising water levels. There were issues to do with liability, EA permits and insurance to deal with. Clerk in her capacity as a member of the flood group had written to residents and interested parties setting out the situation. Clerk to circulate the flood group project plan to Councillors. Dave Kirkup was thanked for an enormous amount of effort with the barriers and general flood work.
Bridge inspection. Despite promises Andrew Yeates at DCC has not yet provided this report. It has now been requested five times. He has opined that we are unlikely to get a change to the weight limit as ‘nothing has changed’. Cllrs confirmed that in their opinion traffic conditions have changed a great deal since 1996 when the last seen report was issued.
Community resilience fund. Traffic group will put together a bid for this current round deadline 17 May, to cover village gates and potentially a scheme for public EV charging points for residents without off road parking, as outlined by the Clerk.
CLIMATE ACTION UPDATE
Biodiversity accreditation. Clerk reported on an initiative from DALC and the DCC jointly to provide an accreditation for Councils working to meet the new legislation on biodiversity.
EVCPs. Clerk reported on a new scheme, under the auspices of the traffic group, to provide EV charging points for residents without off road parking.
HIGHWAY MATTERS.
Reporting highway matters. Clerk reports any faults she knows about but asked Councillors if they would be able to report matters to DCC direct as well. Home – Derbyshire County Council and choose ‘report a road fault.’ It was agreed that a log of reports and their outcome would be useful, please forward information to Clerk who will log it. Water running down Scott Close. Clerk to inform Cllr Sutton. Leam Lane. The drains below Hazelford Hall have been reported. Drains on Sir William. All in favour to wait until the work at Leam Hall is finished and then contact DCC to repair. Grit bins. Some of the grit bins are full up and the grit has hardened. RW is going to sort them out. Flood by bus stop. AE to report to DCC. Parking in bus stops was reported. Thought to be a one off but if it continues, DCC to be approached about marked bus bays at Mount Pleasant and the Maynard. Parking in general – residents can report bad parking themselves. parking@derbyshire.gov.uk. Photos are welcomed. Clerk to advertise on the usual channels. Severn Trent works – initially proposed road closures now likely to be controlled single lane. Clerk to circulate email from Christina Massey at ST. GPFA to be approached about allowing residents to park in the Pavilion carpark while work is ongoing, to relieve pressure at the kerbside. Next public meeting with ST is in June. Big issues are Sir William Hill congestion and bus route diversions, the Derwent Close junction.
- PLANNING MATTERS
NP/DDD/0224/0208 15 Eyam Woodlands Grindleford Proposed erection of a single garage and store. The motion, Grindleford Parish Council is in support of this planning application.
In support: DK, PO’B, HH. Against: SH, RW, ES. AE abstain. HH in the Chair casting vote; in support. The motion was carried.
NP/DIS/0224/0199 Discharge of Condition 6 on NP/DDD/1120/1122 Meadow Hey Adlington Lane Grindleford. Energy efficiency of materials. In support.
ACCOUNTS
|
Date |
Cheque no |
Payee |
Amount |
Description |
|
14.3.24 |
1135 |
DALC |
£349.85 |
Subs |
|
14.3.24 |
1136 |
DALC |
£292.10 |
Training |
|
14.3.24 |
1137 |
GPFA |
£15 |
Room hire for training |
It was pro RW sec SH that these accounts be paid.
There being no further business the Chair closed the meeting at 8.45 pm.
Date of next meeting: 11 April 2024.
Sarah Battarbee
Clerk to Grindleford Parish Council
- PLANNING DECISIONS
For planning decisions please refer to https://portal.peakdistrict.gov.uk
- ACCOUNTS
- There were none.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING – 14 March 2024
As there was no further business the Chair closed the meeting at 8.00 pm.
Sarah Battarbee
Clerk to the Council