{"id":2128,"date":"2021-02-13T13:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T13:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/?page_id=2128"},"modified":"2022-05-28T11:21:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T11:21:15","slug":"recent-meetings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/recent-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2128\" class=\"elementor elementor-2128\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-42dc40b1 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"42dc40b1\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1200290d\" data-id=\"1200290d\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5282db37 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5282db37\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Although you can always find <a href=\"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/minutes-of-previous-meetings\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em><strong>MINUTES<\/strong> of previous meetings here<\/em><\/a>, below are less formal summaries of the latest meetings from Andrew Battarbee:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council meeting, 12 May 2022<\/h3>\n<p>We started with the formalities of the PC\u2019s AGM. Sarah as Parish Clerk did her Jackie Weaver act, and invited nominations for chair for the next year. We re-elected Bob Wilson <em>nem con<\/em> and his first act was then to preside over the re-election of Elizabeth Coe as Deputy Chair, also <em>nem con<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The main item we discussed was \u201ctwenty\u2019s plenty\u201d signs. We support the 20s plenty approach in our village. We\u2019d made an approach to the County Council about whether they could supply us with some, and at what price. The response was discouraging: no, they couldn\u2019t, and there were strong hints we should avoid them being displayed on verges or other public land. I wasn\u2019t massively taken by the council officer\u2019s response on this. The signs are clearly advisory, and if a PC wants to support them we are well within are rights to do so. The signs certainly make <em>me<\/em> think when I see them, as for example in Curbar. Anyway, we\u2019ve ordered some, from another source, and they will be available eg for sticking on wheelie bins soon.<\/p>\n<p>Also on county council and signs, our request for \u201ccaution \u2013 deer\u201d signs on approaches to the village has been turned down. Presumably we need a couple of instances of cars slamming into the beasts before this will be allowed. Give it time.<\/p>\n<p>We then signed off on final plans for our Jubilee celebrations: the opening of the old phone box as a book exchange and information point; the new walk, with prizes; and cake at the pavilion. See posters and social media postings.\u00a0 We are promised some live banjo players, and some 80s music.\u00a0 Bring your own picnic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There was good news to report on the standing item re flooding.\u00a0 The Environment Agency had been out, as promised, to take some height levels with their sophisticated GPS gear, to help us work out where the water goes.\u00a0 The EA superimposed this on a map for us so that we could understand the readings better.\u00a0\u00a0 There was also dsccussion of some shocking facts and figures about sewage in our river brought about by storm overflows, and the Council resolved to get in touch with the new river group to see if there was scope for working together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bob started off the monthly cycle of articles about Parish Council business by doing a round-up of the year just gone past.\u00a0\u00a0 Written down, there was a huge amount of activity which makes for an encouraging read.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On a less agreeable note, we discussed a case where it seems there has been failure to comply with a planning direction. I\u2019ve commented before in one of these notes that we try to take a sympathetic view of planning applications, but we do need to take account of third party impacts, and take a view. Ignoring planning directions just isn\u2019t on, and we will always encourage the strongest enforcement action.<\/p>\n<p>The budget for 2022\/23 was discussed and agreed in principle, and there is a heading this year for \u2018village projects\u2019 from which money might be awarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Finally the external audit papers were signed off and will be displayed on the website and village noticeboard throughout July.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council meeting, with Environment Agency and Derbyshire County Council. 10th February 2022<\/h3>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A different kind of GPC meeting for February. Different time; different place \u2013 we were grateful to the church for their hospitality; and a meeting for the whole community to discuss our concerns about flooding with officers from the Environment Agency (EA) and the County Council (DCC)<a name=\"_ftnref1\"><\/a>[1].<\/p>\n<p>To be honest, I doubted beforehand that we\u2019d get very far. Clearly the scale of intervention that would altogether eliminate flood risks in Grindleford isn\u2019t on the table. Previous discussions haven\u2019t been wholly successful in agreeing specific actions that will help, and it has sometimes felt like the community is being left to manage in its own way while the authorities focus on bigger places.<\/p>\n<p>But in fact we made some progress in a session where I really think everyone got a chance to put their point of view, and we were able to make good use of the accumulated expertise of the Grindleford Flood Group. This list isn\u2019t exhaustive, but for me highlights included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The EA will carry out a simple topographical survey of the river area, so we can have a fact based rather than a more speculative assessment of the high and low points, and a better understanding of the way water flows. This is pretty well essential to planning future flood management; it is easy to do things which make things worse overall, or have unfair consequences for particular properties;<\/li>\n<li>Commitment from DCC to prioritising culverts in Grindleford for leaf clearance; they\u2019d now expect to do this every six months<\/li>\n<li>A better understanding of how to report trees at risk of falling into the river upstream of the village<\/li>\n<li>More for the long term, supporting the EA\u2019s intention for management of the Derwent that makes better use of the undeveloped land upstream of us as a flood plain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the future, there was agreement that the Grindleford Flood Group has taken matters as far as it can, and in future GPC will lead on flooding, although the invaluable work of the flood wardens will continue. We\u2019re going to have flooding as a standing item on the agenda for future meetings.<\/p>\n<p>After flooding, we discussed a few bits and bobs. The most significant was to agree how to mark HMQ\u2019s platinum jubilee. A signposted walk around the village, hopefully of interest to visitor and local, old and young, alike. Alan Jacques has kindly offered to organise this, and the really good news is that the walk can showcase new signs showing the traditional names of different lanes, fields etc, which are in danger of becoming lost, and which largely aren\u2019t known to me and I suspect many others. A nod to tradition, but perhaps also a practical step as more and more delivery drivers find themselves baffled by Grindleford\u2019s geography.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"_ftn1\"><\/a>[1] Ok, technically, this wasn\u2019t actually a GPC meeting; it was an event facilitated by GPC, followed by a briefer-than-usual \u201creal\u201d GPC meeting. It\u2019s worth emphasising that while this was a special open forum, all GPC meetings are open to the public, and we encourage Grindleford residents to come along if there is a point they want us to consider.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council meeting, 13 January 2022<\/h3>\n<p>First, my apologies for the dearth of these informal readouts of late. I have missed a couple of meetings for work reasons; gone on holiday the day after one, so not had the opportunity to sit down with the laptop; and, well, Christmas; y\u2019know how it is.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, new year, new determination. A reminder that these are indeed informal readouts; they are not minutes; they reflect my own thoughts; other councillors might see things differently.<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, this was one of our more uneventful meetings, and a short one. The temporary statutory permission for councils to meet remotely lapsed last year, and was not reintroduced with the Government\u2019s \u201cPlan B\u201d as omicron cases surged. So, reluctantly, we were obliged to meet in person. We wanted to keep it brief \u2013 and with the pavilion windows open for ventilation, we were strongly incentivised to do so. On the plus side, GPC is like the US Supreme Court, a baseball team, and the Nazgul in having nine members, and all nine of us were there, which isn\u2019t bad for a cold January.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed a couple of minor highways matters and planning applications, as we usually do. And we were also able to celebrate a few successes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Peter O\u2019Brien in his District Councillor\u2019s report briefed us on the new improved bus service to Bakewell, something for which he has been campaigning for some time. My experience of living here for twenty years is that while, grudgingly, I would admit the train service has got a bit better, buses have generally been a disgrace. So this is definite progress<\/li>\n<li>We noted with satisfaction that the grit bins for which the PC is responsible have been refilled \u2013 huge thanks to Ray Whitely for spearheading this, both on the purchasing and the acquisition front. Partly as a result of the UK\u2019s exciting decision to take the predictability out of supply chain functioning, grit has been harder to get through the usual sources. And sorry to have to say this but please remember that the grit in the yellow bins is publicly funded for use on the public highway. I\u2019m afraid there have been credible reports of people appropriating grit for their own use. Don\u2019t do it. If you see someone do it, please grass on them.<\/li>\n<li>The new PC noticeboard has arrived \u2013 and may well be up and in use by the time you read this!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We also looked forward to our next meeting on 10 February, which will start at the unusually early time of 4.30pm so that we can include discussions with the Environment Agency about options for flood management.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council \u2013 12th August 2021<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><em>As ever, this is a personal account; may not reflect other councillors\u2019 views; not an official minute<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>We don\u2019t have a stellar gender balance on the council at the best of times. 7M, 2F is not ideal. For our meeting on 12 August, we had apologies from two councillors \u2013 both female. So a far from ideal set up for the meeting, and the gender imbalance is accompanied by a <em>very<\/em> bad skew towards the village\u2019s older demographic. A sobering reflection: we are not a microcosm of the village as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0I think this matters when, for example, we discuss parking concerns. Are we doing enough to think about the concerns of families who are stretched budgets won\u2019t run to property with its own parking, and who are balancing the phase of peak professional challenges and childcare that for some of us has faded into memory? Food for thought, and perhaps an ongoing challenge to all of us on the council as individuals and as a group.<\/p>\n<p>The next GPC elections are due in May 2023, and it would be good to see new faces coming forward. In the meantime, we are back to meetings not just face to face and not just in the pavilion, but around the large table in the pavilion. There\u2019s room both for those who want to come and watch meetings, and for those who want (with notice, please) to raise a point of concern.<\/p>\n<p>On 12 August, we had two external visitors. Alasdair Sutton, our new(ish) county councillor had a prior engagement, but he called by to introduce himself, and promised we\u2019d be seeing more of him at future meetings. It was good of him to take the trouble.<\/p>\n<p>We also had a presentation from Network Rail and their main contractor about the Hope Valley upgrade. The things I took away from this were: (i) that the main body of work on the project is concentrated in a short period in the first half of 2023; (ii) there is a commitment to openness and communication \u2013 let\u2019s see; (iii) in addition to mitigation work, the contractors want to deliver something of value to the community, which they want to discuss with GPC and residents. One promising example would be to do some stuff with the school, getting the kids interested in the project \u2013 and therefore developing an early interest in technical and engineering careers.<\/p>\n<p>On other business, we took note of the analysis of responses to the Traffic Survey, which can be seen on the GPC website. We\u2019ll be having a fuller discussion in due course when the Traffic Group has considered some recommendations. A personal view is that on the parking front there may not actually be much by way of a solution. On speed, it\u2019s disappointing and frustrating that DCC won\u2019t readily agree to use of 20mph limits and tougher limits on the approaches to the village. But we can keep plugging away on this, and the good news is that the kit for the community speedwatch is about to arrive.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we discussed the Peak Park\u2019s recent decision to grant planning permission for the further development of Brunts Barn. We were unanimous in being unhappy about this. There was no sign that our comments as GPC and similar comments by local residents had been taken into account; and residents who had submitted comments were not informed that the planning committee has the application on the agenda for 6 August. In a case where the National Park is both the developer and the planning authority, we\u2019d have expected to see greater emphasis on transparency and the need to take into account community views. In fact, it\u2019s not wholly clear that the application has been conducted in line with statutory requirements. How far we\u2019ll get remains to be seen, but we will be writing with our concerns.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s it. Next meeting is on Thursday 9 September.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council, 15 July 2021<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">A meeting held a week later than planned, on account of our illustrious clerk being required to self-isolate.<\/p>\n<p>We kicked off with our District Councillor\u2019s report. This majored on the dispiriting news about refuse collections, which most people will now be aware of. It does appear that Serco as DDDC\u2019s contractor are declining to take on full responsibility for managing the risks around staff retention. It\u2019s hard to judge whether their contract allows for that because the contract is being kept under wraps. Very unsatisfactory; it means that we can\u2019t make an informed assessment of what the council is doing, which erodes accountability and in the end democracy. We\u2019re grateful to Peter as our District Councillor for the challenge he\u2019s injecting.<\/p>\n<p>In other not-so-great District Council news, the council has, foolishly, voted by nine to seven against a ban on the sale of disposable barbeques. Peter mentioned that there is the prospect of this being looked at again because there is now on on-the-record statement from the Fire Brigade expressing concern, although how it could be that councillors have failed to grass the risk is beyond me.<\/p>\n<p>Other news from a light agenda:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We\u2019ve got representatives from Network Rail attending (remotely) the next meeting to talk about the works programme \u2013 do let us know if there are specifics you want us to raise<\/li>\n<li>There was trial run of the community speedwatch programme earlier this month which found three vehicles \u201cspeeding\u201d (defined as ten per cent over the limit plus two, so 35mph or more in a 30 zone). One of them was doing 53. All will get warning letters from the police<\/li>\n<li>We agreed to express support for the new arts hubs project in Hathersage \u2013 doing this should help with fund raising.<\/li>\n<li>We said yes to working with a DDDC project to plant wildflowers on suitable verges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Next meeting is Thursday August 12.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council, 17 June 2021<\/h3>\n<p>Our first in person meeting since March 2020. Not quite back to the old days, as we sat distanced on separate tables, but a welcome waymark on the path to normality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PC Anthony Boswell<\/strong> gave us a helpful update on parking and speeding issues. There are a number of outstanding concerns, including unhelpful parking, and speeding on the southern approaches. All the same, a good deal of progress has been made. Unlawfully parked vehicles are frequently being ticketed near the station and at Padley Gorge; we have seen official police speed checks in the village; and our own volunteers are being trained for community speedwatch. Anthony made the point that the police and the council deploy their scarce enforcement resources in response to well-evidenced complaints<strong>.<\/strong> So keep on shouting where there are problems.<\/p>\n<p>Staying with traffic\/transport:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>we\u2019re still unpacking the results of the recent <strong>traffic survey.<\/strong> There\u2019s a lot of material to get through \u2013 thanks to all who responded. More on this in due course.<\/li>\n<li>As a result of pressure from individuals and local parish councils, the highway authority has made further changes to phasing to the traffic lights at <strong>Calver crossroads. <\/strong>There\u2019s definitely improvement. Whether it\u2019s better than what we had originally is debatable, although I suppose any safety improvements are not immediately visible, and there\u2019s a tendency to overlook them. I suspect what we have now is what we\u2019ll have for the foreseeable future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No County Councillor report.<\/p>\n<p>Our <strong>District Councillor<\/strong> is self-isolating, but sent a report in. He continues to fight DDDC\u2019s refusal to ban the local sale of disposable BBQs. As a PC, we have protested about this already; we agree with Peter that the District\u2019s position is absurd. There literally have been serious fires in the district caused by disposable BBQs. Peter also reported on the unsatisfactory position regarding rubbish collection. Hopefully everyone is now up to date, but it\u2019s hard to be confident going forward that Serco as the District\u2019s contractor will consistently meet standards.<\/p>\n<p>We had a slightly dispiriting discussion about <strong>Network Rail\u2019s<\/strong> operations in the village. Communications have been poor; and assurances given in the past at meetings have subsequently been disowned by NR representatives, which is scarcely a basis for doing business. Sarah Dines MP hadn\u2019t yet responded to correspondence sent since her visit, but we know that after she came to see the site she did raise matters with NR, so that\u2019s positive. NR\u2019s contractor is coming to our next meeting in July, and that\u2019s also positive.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed <strong>Jubilee Gardens<\/strong>. It needs a bit of a tidy up, and we agreed to hire someone in to do that; and to advise on options for its future landscaping. In broad terms we could keep things as they are, with tightly mown grass, or consider more wild flowering \u2013 which is attractive in terms both of biodiversity and (in my view though not necessarily of others) aesthetics, but may be difficult to manage.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d agreed at a previous meeting to ask for more <strong>dog waste<\/strong> bins.\u00a0 DDDC have come back. No, we can\u2019t have more dog waste bins; they don\u2019t do specialised dog waste bins any more. No, we can\u2019t have more public litter bins; or rather we can, but in their view the village is adequately supplied, so we\u2019d have to buy any new bins, and then pay an annual subscription of around \u00a3200 per bin for them to be emptied. We didn\u2019t particularly fancy doing that. If anyone feels strongly that we ought to bite the bullet on this one, let us know\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2026.and as ever the invitation stands: if there is something you want the PC to look at, let us know. grindleparish@gmail.com is the best way; or speak to Sarah as clerk, or any of the members.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>21 June 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Grindleford Parish Council meeting, 5 May 2021<\/h3>\n<p>The regulations permitting council meetings to be conducted remotely expired on 7 May. To avoid being caught by this, we met by Zoom a week earlier than planned.\u00a0 From next month, we are\u00a0 &#8211; we hope \u2013 back to face to face. The return of in-person PC meetings may not be the most exciting landmark of this summer of recovery; all the same, a landmark it is.<\/p>\n<p>Quite a productive farewell to Zoom, I felt.<\/p>\n<p><u>Network Rail<\/u>\u00a0 Welcome news that Sarah Dines, our MP, has come out to see what was happening at the station. She said she would raise concerns with senior management at Network Rail, and with Ministers. So hopefully we will see less nuisance to residents, and contractors complying with the code of conduct.<\/p>\n<p><u>Traffic<\/u>\u00a0 We joined a number of other parish councils in passing a resolution by eight to nil in support of 20mph speed limits in villages. The \u201cTwenty\u2019s Plenty\u201d campaign is gaining increasing support across the County, and as a Council we strongly support it. We believe that the County Council should be more open to local opinion on this issue, and that its criteria for assessing proposals for 20mph zones are outdated and inflexible. Communities coming together in support have more prospect of success than if they work alone.<\/p>\n<p>We noted that 125 people had completed the Traffic Survey, which is a pretty decent return (and there may be a few last minute entries). We\u2019ll be looking at what it tells us at a future meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Further progress on the village\u2019s own speed watch. We\u2019re about to buy the equipment so that operations can start. It also looks like we might be able to operate in a 40mph zone: there\u2019s a real problem about drivers coming from the south not slowing down at the 40 sign at Stoke.<\/p>\n<p><u>Calver crossroads<\/u>\u00a0 &#8220;What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?\u201d asked the poet, and quite right too. So we resolved to write to the County to congratulate them on the recent alterations to the Calver traffic lights, which have done so much to reduce the frenetic pace of modern life. It\u2019s a stunning achievement not only to add a good five minutes to our journey times to Bakewell, but also to slow down east-west flows. We\u2019re hoping other parish councils will also be writing.<\/p>\n<p><u>Litter pick<\/u>\u00a0 We agreed funding in support of the regular litter pick \u2013 a couple of signs to alert motorists, and more pickers.<\/p>\n<p><u>Electric vehicles<\/u>\u00a0 As part of the church\/community shop project, there\u2019s a proposal to provide a couple of EV charging points; we agreed to a request from the Church for a funding contribution. We were pleased about this. It\u2019s getting on for two years since we first discussed possible placement and financing for EV sites, and it\u2019s an issue a lot of local villages have been struggling with.<\/p>\n<p><u>Funding <\/u>\u00a0 We then took overall stock of the funding position. With the above decisions (traffic watch kit, litter pick kit, EV) and earlier decisions (notably to set aside funding for the playground refurb) we have the ability to meet forecast costs, with a little headroom. People may recall that we looked at the possibility of a significant increase in the precept for this year which would allow us to support rather more projects and activities across the village &#8211; noting that, say, a 50pc increase in precept would cost even high council tax band households less than \u00a310 over the year; but on the other hand 50pc is 50pc. The real question is perhaps what we might do with the greater firepower. We\u2019re intending to come to this debate earlier in the cycle this time, so look out for that, because we\u2019ll want to get views from across the village.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we also held, as required by Schedule 11 to the Local Government Act 1972, our AGM. The AGM has always been very short and formal in my time; I suspect that\u2019s always the case unless you have real divisions among councillors. No <em>coup d\u2019etat\u00a0<\/em>was attempted, and Bob Wilson and Elizabeth Coe were unanimously voted back into their chair and vice-chair roles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #311d3d; color: #311d3d; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Parish Council Meeting, 8 April 2021<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>As ever, these aren\u2019t the official minutes; nor a complete record; and they are my own perspective, not necessarily reflective of all councillors\u2019 views<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This <u>could\u00a0<\/u>have been an historic occasion. The last GPC meeting held over Zoom. It\u2019s all a bit complicated. Councils are able to hold their meetings on line under emergency legislation introduced for the pandemic era. The current legislation expires on 7 May. So our next planned meeting on 13 May wouldn\u2019t be covered; we\u2019d need to convene in meatspace (yuk). But we can\u2019t really do that, at least indoors, even if the roadmap out of Covid is still valid. It\u2019s all a bit of a pickle. Anyway, we went with the obvious solution, and have brought the meeting forward to 6 May. (A reminder that whether meetings are virtual or face-to-face, they are open to the public.)<\/p>\n<p>In another sense, it <u>was<\/u>\u00a0a historic occasion. Judith Twigg, our local county councillor, was reporting to us for the last time, as she has decided not to seek re-election.\u00a0 Whatever our individual politics, we all agree she has been a good ally for us: diligently relaying our concerns to council officers; genuinely trying to make progress on parking and speeding issues; and helping us access the county council funds she has been able to influence.<\/p>\n<p>History was also made after the meeting. We were a little frustrated that our MP, Sarah Dines, had not yet responded to correspondence about Network Rail\u2019s operations in the village. Leaving political preferences aside, her predecessor Patrick McLoughlin was always speedy and helpful when GPC raised matters with him. The current incumbent is still working her way up to those standards. But, fair play: Ms Dines did commit to coming out to Grindleford weekend of 17 April to be briefed on the issues and hopefully to see what she can do to help.<\/p>\n<p>Then a couple of bits of things-going-the-right-way news. Various formalities have been cleared, and work will begin on tarting up the village phone box, now in GPC\u2019s possession. One thing it will be used for is as a book exchange, but that doesn\u2019t preclude other uses (alas, not my sadly-overlooked proposal to convert it to an aquarium), and we are very much open to ideas.<\/p>\n<p>We were then briefed by Ray Whiteley on the excellent work of his speeding group. Seven people have now completed online training which allows them to operate as a community action group, using a speed gun to measure vehicle speeds. This isn\u2019t the same as official police action. Identified speedsters don\u2019t get a fine; but they <u>do<\/u>get a letter, and possible follow up visits; and of course the real point is to raise awareness of appropriate vehicle use in a middle of a residential community. There are a few hoops still to be jumped through, but we agreed in principle to fund the purchase of relevant equipment (the speed gun itself, labelled hi-vis jackets, warning signs).<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, we agreed to fund the purchase of new plans for Jubilee Gardens. Or less prosaically: we decided what we wanted was\u2026 A SHRUBBERY. Ni. Ni. Ni.<\/p>\n<p>On planning matters, we took note that, unfortunately, there seems to have been non-compliance with a recent Planning Authority decision that work undertaken without proper planning permission should be unpicked. We agreed to come back to this properly next time: we\u2019d expect to encourage vigorous action.<\/p>\n<p>We also discussed the National Park\u2019s plans to extend the use of Brunts Barn. In principle, this could be a good way of extending access to the National Park especially for people who wouldn\u2019t normally do so. But we do want solid assurances both about traffic generation for a private road which was built only to serve local residents, not for wider access; and about how the plans won\u2019t lead to greater pressure on parking in the station area. We\u2019re opposed to the development unless we can get these assurances (which personally I reckon won\u2019t be easy to provide).<\/p>\n<p>Finally, look out for GPC\u2019s exciting offer in the Auction of Promises to raise funds for the playground refurb in June!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} --><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Parish Council Meeting, 11 March 2021<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:heading --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><b>Nb this is\u00a0<u>not<\/u> the official minutes and it is a personal reflection, not necessarily one with which all councillors would agree.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>This was a shorter meeting than recent ones, perhaps partly in consideration for our parish clerk who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. One consequence of this was that our zoom link was to the room with the comfy chairs, with a ban on dogs, so that Ivor\u2019s plans to disrupt proceeding were thwarted.<\/p>\n<p>More than anything, this was a stocktake on progress.<\/p>\n<p>On floods, the EA had sent out an official to meet on site with a few parish councillors and others. He left with a better understanding of the issues, and undertook to come back to us with\u00a0 &#8211; well, I was going to say \u201cproposals\u201d, and we hope it <em>will\u00a0<\/em>be as firm as that. But let\u2019s see. We don\u2019t have a timescale for this, and we may be waiting for a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Then on transport, we remain dissatisfied as a council with the county council\u2019s refusal to engage with us about the use of 20mph speed limits in the village. This frustration is shared by other parish councils in the area, and we are talking to each other about a concerted approach. Meanwhile, look out for a transport and traffic survey which will be distributed in hard copy with the next <em>Grindleford News<\/em>; there\u2019ll be information also, here and on the village FB page, about how to complete online.<\/p>\n<p>Sticking broadly with cars, a county council survey has suggested there are too few kids crossing the main road to justify funding of a school crossing patrol. This doesn\u2019t seem all that plausible: it certainly doesn\u2019t seem to be the case that there are now fewer kids than when we did have patrols in the past. It looks like we have got a recount, and parish councillors who are school governors are going to explore how best to manage this.<\/p>\n<p>We talked last time about charging points for electric vehicles. The exciting project to provide new facilities at the church, including some upgrading for the shop, will include provision of non-commercial charging points; so it does look like we have facilities on the way.<\/p>\n<p>We welcomed a survey of street signs being conducted by Alan Jacques. This should lead to specific proposals for which need replacing, or simply where new ones are needed.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed our response to proposals for a redrawing of district council boundaries, which would bring Stoney Middleton into our ward, but which would have split off Abney. We decided to support the former, but oppose the latter on the basis that Abney is more naturally linked to this area than it is to Bradwell and other places to the west.<\/p>\n<p>And that was pretty well it, really. We touched briefly on the future of these meetings. As the law currently stands, the April meeting is the last one that we are allowed to hold remotely. But that means the law is out of step with the Government\u2019s approach to re-normalising, and it seems clear we have a little bit of zoom to go. What happens come the summer is less clear, but whether we are online or in person, PC meetings will always be public events, which all are welcome to watch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew Battarbee<br \/><\/strong><strong>March 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ad10971 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"ad10971\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-45b2295\" data-id=\"45b2295\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0e13be6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0e13be6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} --><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Parish Council Meeting, 11 February 2021<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- \/wp:heading --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><b>Nb this is\u00a0<u>not<\/u> the official minutes and it is a personal reflection, not necessarily one with which all councillors would agree.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Our eleventh meeting over Zoom. If you\u2019d told me a year ago we\u2019d be able to operate as a Parish Council by video, I\u2019d have thought you were mad. That we\u2019ve been able to do so is no small achievement. On the other hand, the endless days of Zoom and Teams meetings are supplemented by\u2026.a monthly Zoom. And the usual problems are there: the staccato conversations; the random tech glitches; the inability to pursue points in detail; the lack of body language to signal unease, or that we really can move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, no one was excluded, no one yelled at the clerk, and no one transmogrified into a talking kitten. And as in all crises, there are winners. Our dog Ivor has learned that if he barks and grumbles during PC meetings, he will be paid off with treats.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>As to substance, we found ourselves treading familiar and frustrating paths. As a PC we have few powers of action, and our main role is to represent what we judge to be the community\u2019s needs to higher authorities. Last night, those authorities were largely in computer-says-no mode:<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:list --><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We learned that the County Council has rejected a petition asking for speed limits of 20mph within the core of the village and 40mph at Stoke. The arguments seemed to be that there was no evidence of need, and that the current speed limits are \u201cappropriate\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0None of us were terribly impressed by this. Nor, to her credit, was our county councillor Judith Twigg, who has unsuccessfully asked her majority group colleagues to rethink. We\u2019ll keep plugging away<\/li>\n<li>No response yet to a letter to Network Rail about the management of the works on the railway line, where contractors have repeatedly stepped out of line with promises given about how the works\u2019 impact on residents will be softened<\/li>\n<li>To my mind, outrageous news that the District Council has refused to impose a ban on the sale of portable barbecues, on the basis that there is no evidence that they cause problems. We agreed to send a strongly worded protest, as our peers in\u00a0<s>Shelbyville<\/s>Hathersage have done. Our local district councillor Peter O\u2019Brian is very much in fighting mode on this. Individuals might like to write to the DC leader expressing their concerns (or indeed support for the council\u2019s courage in prioritising the needs of good honest silent majority barbecue sellers over woke obsessions with fire and environmental protection)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!-- \/wp:list --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>We also discussed floods, where the village had another near miss last month. We\u2019re seeking a meeting with the Environment Agency to discuss possible local works to manage down risks. The reality is that funding for flood protection has not kept pace with need, and we would be well down the list for an EA funding. It\u2019s possible we may need to consider significant funding from PC budgets if we want anything done.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>We had a presentation from Tom Ricketts from the Hope Valley Climate Action Group about charging points for electric vehicles. We\u2019re only a couple of years away from the tipping point where petrol-only vehicles begin to vanish from manufacturers\u2019 new fleets. In time, the holy grail of light, affordable self-charing batteries will be achieved, but short-run, starting yesterday, charging points are important. We\u2019re going to look at a couple of options for publicly-accessible charging points in the village. Potentially, there are public funds available to support this, if we can crystallise a proposal. Any thoughts from Grindlefordians on this would be welcome.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>We discussed the current crop of planning applications: we are not a planning authority, but we are able to make representations over and above those which individuals submit. I won\u2019t comment on specifics, but it might be worth saying a little about our approach. I would say that in general we like to be supportive of proposals that our fellow residents bring forward. We\u2019ll raise issues if there are adverse implications for neighbours or other third parties; or if proposals seem to be out of keeping with the immediate neighbourhood or the village as a whole. This obviously involves some subjectivity, but such judgments do need to be made.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Happily, there were no such cases last night, but what really winds us up as a council is work done without planning permission, or even in defiance of conditions. In those cases, we will argue very hard for requirements that work be undone.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>We also discussed this website. In the manner of such websites, we had a fit of enthusiasm about it last year, and subsequently have failed to follow up. Not good enough. We\u2019ll try to do better.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>And also, on the subject of communicating with the village, the current PC noticeboard is on its last legs. We agreed on the purchase of an new one: we eschewed wooden versions with higher purchase and maintenance costs, but we think the one we went for looks nice, and will fit in well.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Our next meeting is on 11 March. Our meetings are, of course, open to the public, at the moment by Zoom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>And get in touch if you would like to babysit Ivor for the duration.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>You can get in touch with us about any of this at\u00a0<a>grindleparish@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew Battarbee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>12 February 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5bea85c elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-boxed 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Either fill in the form or email us.<br \/>Your communication will go directly to the Clerk to the Parish Council, who will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d1ff17f elementor-widget-divider--view-line_text elementor-widget-divider--element-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"d1ff17f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider__text elementor-divider__element\">\n\t\t\t\tOr\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-64a73c5 elementor-tablet-align-center elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"64a73c5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"mailto:grindleparish@gmail.com,%20john@johnmottershaw.com%20\" class=\"elementor-button-link elementor-button elementor-size-sm\" role=\"button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon elementor-align-icon-right\">\n\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-long-arrow-alt-right\"><\/i>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">E-Mail<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although you can always find MINUTES of previous meetings here, below are less formal summaries of the latest meetings from Andrew Battarbee: \u00a0 Grindleford Parish Council meeting, 12 May 2022 We started with the formalities of the PC\u2019s AGM. Sarah as Parish Clerk did her Jackie Weaver act, and invited nominations for chair for the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/recent-meetings\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Recent meetings<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2128"}],"version-history":[{"count":74,"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3243,"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2128\/revisions\/3243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grindlefordparishcouncil.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}