Hilderstone Parish Council

Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 22nd July 2020 at 7:30pm
The meeting was held using the Virtual Platform Zoom

Present: Cllr. Shelley (Chairman), Cllr. Stringer (Vice Chairman), Cllr. Crump, Cllr. Clark, Cllr. J Davies, Cllr. Woodward, Stafford Borough Cllr. Harp and Mrs Amanda Kingston (Clerk).

There were no members of the public present.

1. Chairman’s Welcome.
Cllr. Shelley welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Apologies.
Cllr. P Davies

3. Minutes of the last meeting.
These were read, approved and signed by the Clerk. Copies to be signed by the Chairman at the first physical meeting of the Council once public meetings are reinstated.

4. Matters Arising.
None

5. Public Participation
None

6. Stafford Borough Councillor’s Report.
The Borough Council remain in a sound financial position and are managing well with the majority of the workforce working from home.

7. Staffordshire County Councillor’s Report.
None

8. Planning.
None.

Status of Earlier Applications:

20/32160/FUL at Field Off Cresswell Road, Hilderstone, Stone Staffordshire – New track to serve stables and grazing land Application withdrawn at request of the applicant.

20/32240/HOU at 6 The Meadows, Hilderstone, Stone, ST15 8XT – Single storey side extension and new boundary wall. Allowed.

9. Traffic and Highways
The Speed Indicator Device has been installed at Eastholme and is working well. The tree has been cut back to enable a clear line of sight for approaching traffic. The first set of statistics will be downloaded at the beginning of September and results brought to the September Parish Council meeting. Statistics will then be downloaded on a monthly basis.

Concerns were raised regarding gully cleaning. Clerk to obtain scheduled dates for gully cleaning in Hilderstone.

10. Footpaths, Village Maintenance and Best Kept Village.
The Roebuck pub plans to open at the end of August.
The railing on footpath 14 is damaged. Cllr. Crump to send the clerk pictures for reporting.

Footpath 12 is blocked and cannot be accessed. Clerk to report to rights of way.

Incidents of dog fouling appear to have decreased in recent weeks.

Options and quotations to replace the bench at the play area in Dingle Lane were considered. Resolved to replace with a wooden bench similar to the model purchased earlier in the year for the village green. Approximate costing £180 + VAT.

11. Village Events.
The church is now open and the village market is held every Thursday from 9am to 12pm.

12. Correspondence.
Email response from SBC Planning to the correspondence from the Stone Area Parish Liaison Group.

13. Finance.
The monthly accounts were presented and noted. The current account is £17,724.17 in credit and the deposit account £3132.97 in credit. Although most of these funds are allocated as indicated by the monthly accounts which are circulated to all Councillors prior to each meeting. The following payments were approved:

1. Parish Clerk expenses – £72.75
2. Westfield Fastener SID Fixings – £23.21
3. Padlock – £6.99
4. ICO Registration – £35
5. Zoom Virtual Meeting subscription (shared with Weston with Gayton PC) – £7.20
6. SID (Speed Indicator Device) Elan City – £2221.46
7. SLCC Annual Subscription – £50.31

14. Any Other Business
The Clerk will be taking some Annual Leave during August.

15. Date of next meeting.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 23rd September 2020 at 7:30pm over the virtual platform Zoom. Joining instructions will be published on the Agenda. The meeting closed at 8.30pm

………………………………………………… Clerk 23.09.20

………………………………………… Cllr Michael Shelley …………………………………..Date