Hanley Castle Parish Council
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council held on Thursday, 18 th June 2020
– Via Zoom at 19:00
Present: Councillors: Sue Roberts (Chairman), Sue Adeney, Alan Rogers, Alison
Bolton, Alex Walker, Lesley Smith and Pippa Barkley.
Apologies: Peter Goodyear (PPW)
In Attendance: The Clerk, DCllrs Andrea Morgan & Martin Allen, Nick Harper (Pond
Warden) Marjorie Nelson (PPW) Jane Jordan & Steve Gogerty
(Carbon Neutral Project).
12/20 Election of Chairman 2020/21 & signing of Declaration of Acceptance of
Office - Cllr Roberts welcomed everyone present to the Annual Meeting of the Parish
Council. The first matter to be addressed was election of a Chairman. Cllr Walker
nominated Cllr Roberts and Cllr Bolton seconded the proposal. All members voted in
favour and Cllr Roberts was elected to her 27th year in the Chair.
ACTION: The Clerk to email the Declaration of Acceptance of Office to Cllr
Roberts for Signing.
13/20 Welcome & Apologies. The Chairman formally welcomed everyone present to
the Annual Meeting which was being held a month later than normal. She welcomed
Pippa Barkley, the District Councillors and the parishioners present. She said she looked
forward to holding a non-virtual meeting in the near future. The Chairman then
accepted the apologies submitted to the Clerk.
14/20 Co-option of Member to fill Vacancy: Pippa Barkley was proposed by Cllr
Walker to fill the vacancy left by Sarah Darwent, this was seconded by Cllr Roberts and
all councillors voted in favour. Cllr Roberts welcomed Pippa onto the Council and asked
the Clerk to email the required documents for signing and information on the role of a
Parish Council.
It was agreed that the Vacancy arising from the death of Wendy Roberts-Powell would
be advertised as MHDC had been advised.
ACTION: The Clerk to email relevant documents to Cllr Barkley and to
advertise the new vacancy.
15/20 Declarations of Interest & Dispensation Requests from Councillors
a) Register of Interests: Councillors were reminded that they should have updated
their register of interests and sent them to the Monitoring Officer at MHDC.
ACTION: Clerk to email new form to Cllrs Barkley, Adeney, Walker & Bolton.
b) To declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in items on the agenda and their
nature: None declared
c) To declare any Other Disclosable Interests in items on the agenda and their nature:
None declared
d) To consider and agree all requests from Councillors for the Council to Grant a
Dispensation (S33 of the Localism Act 2011)
The meeting was closed to allow members of the public joining via Zoom to
ask questions or make comments.
The problem of sunken drain covers along Roberts End was raised, the Clerk asked if it
was possible to give house names by the drains to help with identify their location on
the Hub’s map and she would then report them. The state of the seats and benches
around the green and pond was also discussed and it was agreed to contact the
Parishioner who had offered to stain them. It was mentioned that the benches were
5/2020
bolted down so they could not be taken away for refurbishment and the work had to be
done onsite.
ACTION: The Clerk to email the parishioner who had offered to stain them to
ask if they were still willing to do so.
Escaping water on the slip road by the Swan Inn was also discussed. Pictures had been
circulated ahead of the meeting. Severn Trent had been contacted but they said they
didn’t have a pipe in the vicinity. It was getting worse and was present even in the dry
spell. It was thought that it was starting to damage the road. It was agreed to report it
to Highways as well as reporting it again to Severn Trent.
ACTION: The Clerk to report it to the various authorities.
The problem of cyclists using Park Lane which is a Footpath was raised and it was asked
if signage could be installed to stop it from happening. The matter was discussed and it
was agreed the best way forward may be to speak to the owner of the lane.
ACTION: The Path Warden to contact WCC to investigate what can be done.
16/20 Election of Vice Chairman 2020/2021 – Cllr Roberts nominated Cllr Adeney
for the role and Cllr Smith seconded the proposal. All voted in favour of the
appointment.
17/20 Election of Representatives – The following appointments were made:
Environmental Working Group Nominations: Cllrs Adeney & Rogers
(To include Hanley Carbon Neutral, sustainable transport, speed awareness.)
Staffing Committee Nominations: Cllrs Bolton & Roberts
Worcestershire CALC Nominations: Chairman & Vice Chairman
Village Hall Committee Nomination: Tony Atkinson
Lead Finance Member Nomination: Cllr Bolton
Lead Planning Member Nomination: Cllr Roberts
Upton Villages Together Nomination: Cllr Roberts
Community Orchard Representative Nomination: Cllr Walker
Three Counties Community Liaison Nomination: Cllr Smith
Cemex Liaison Nomination: Cllr Barkley
Hanley Castle Parochial Charities One new appointee to replace Jenny McGowran.
Nomination: Helen Owens (Our other appointee is Phillip Tufton)
18/20 Chris Price was appointed as the Internal Auditor
19/20 Minutes: The Minutes of the Meeting held on 21st May 2020 had been
previously circulated and the minutes were approved with the following amendment
regarding the grant from Calor, in that it was £5,000 and £30,000 from other sources.
20/20 Finance:
a) Payment of Accounts: Members approved the payments of accounts as in the
presented schedule in Appendix 1.
b) Internet Banking Policy – A draft policy for handling Internet Banking had been
circulated ahead of the meeting and it was agreed to adopt the policy.
21/20 Planning: a) To Consider the following application referred by MHDC for
consultation:
20/00632/LB Ivy House Roberts End To B4209 Proposed general internal and external repairs. 5no.
Hanley Castle Hanley Swan WR8 rooflights, 2no new windows/doors, 2no. altered
6/2020
0DR windows.
20/00661/H Ivy House Hanley Swan Worcester Proposed general internal and external repairs. 5no.
P WR8 0DR rooflights, 2no new windows/doors, 2no. altered
windows.
No Objection raised
b) Planning Decisions:
20/00336/H Stable Farm Blackmore Park Hanley Erection of side extension. REFUSED
P Swan
c) Cemex Application had been received that afternoon and would be circulated for
comment.
ACTION: The Clerk to circulate the emails and application.
d) The email received from a Parishioner regarding the development site at the junction
of Picken End and Welland Road was discussed and clerk would respond.
ACTION: The Clerk to contact the Parishioner concerned.
22/20 Highways Matters
a) Church End junction verges and yellow lines were discussed. The builder at
Vicarage Fields would provide topsoil for the verges and they would be reinstated. It
was hoped that Highways would repaint the yellow lines correctly.
b) Footway in the Holloway – It was asked if money for the pop-up cycle route could
be used for such repairs but Cllr Allen said that controversially WCC would not be
spending the allocated funds. The state of the Three Counties Footpath was raised
again and the Clerk was asked to contact WCC and ask again if it could be cleared.
c) Work for Lengthsman – none reported.
23/20 District and County Councillors’ Reports: DCllr Allen updated the Council on
MHDC’s activities which included paying £17.1 million in grants to small businesses.
MHDC was spending money but had very little coming in and if the situation continued
services may have to be cut in the future. He reported that up to 18th June there had
been 45 deaths from Covid-19 in the District.
24/20 Report of the:
a) Parish Paths Warden – The paths had all been walked, one was in need of a
kissing gate and 2 new stiles and this had been reported to WCC. The paths had been
vital during lockdown and the annual strimming work would be undertaken shortly.
b) Pond Wardens – It was reported that the bins were an issue as they were often
overflowing and somebody had taken to dumping bin bags of rubbish beside the bins
rather than in them. A working party had been attending to the pond.
ACTION: The Clerk to speak to the Street Scene Team about the Littering.
c) Playing Field Warden – No Report
d) Local Police – The Report was circulated ahead of the meeting. It was noted that
some speed monitoring had taken place in Hanley Swan.
25/20 Environmental Working Group
Steve Gogerty, the Chairman of the Steering Committee addressed the Parish Council.
He updated the Council on the activity of the teams: Trees, HEAT & Transport and
Hanley Habitats. The next step was to use the grant money obtained to engage a
consultant to do a feasibility study to assess a baseline for carbon use and investigate
possible renewable energy schemes in the Parish. A CALC Conference had been
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attended with over 25 different Councils present; it was felt to be very useful. One of
the learning points so far had been that communication was key and one of the notable
achievements was the Hanley Habitats website www.hanleycarbon.org. Cllr Adeney
asked Councillors to fly the flag for it and promote it. The re-organisation of the Parish
Litter pick was raised and the Clerk was asked to contact MHDC to ask if their
equipment was available for use.
ACTION: The Clerk to contact Claire Vaughan at MHDC
26/20 Correspondence
a) Register of Interest form – Forms were missing for a couple of Councillors and the
Clerk would email the form to Councillors that were required to complete it and return it
to Val Hinds.
b) Email from Parishioner regarding speeding within the parish – the Clerk had
replied explaining the ongoing measures to combat this.
c) WCC Mineral Site Allocations Call for sites – email circulated.
27/20 Topics raised by Councillors, Committees, Clerk & Parishioners
a) The Clerk advised that the Parish had been given a VAS by Cllr Tom Wells and the
Clerk was going to arrange to collect it from Hannah Davies.
b) Cllr Adeney said that a fantastic number of volunteers had stepped up over the
previous 12 weeks helping with shopping and collecting and delivering prescriptions to
parishioners who were shielding or isolating. The prescription service had stopped but if
people were still unable to collect their prescriptions they should contact Cllr Adeney
who would help. She advised that food parcels had stopped but the Community Fridge
at Upton was open. Churches were now open for private prayer.
c) Cllr Bolton asked if it would be possible to have some more Village Directories as
she was running low.
d) Cllr Smith thanked the Clerk for all her help in enabling her to join the meeting via
zoom.
ACTION: Cllr Roberts to give Cllr Bolton Directories.
28/20 Councillors reports and items for future agenda:
a) Quarterly Report from Carbon Neutral Project.
29/20 Date of next meeting
To confirm the date of the next scheduled meeting as 16 th July 2020
Signed ……………………………… Date: 16th July 2020
Chairman
Appendix 1: Schedule of Payments & Receipts 18th June 2020
8/2020
Payment of Accounts: The under mentioned payments were approved:
June Payments for Approval
Hanley Swan Memorial Hall 2019-2020 Hall Hire 151.20
Rebecca Abunassar Zoom Video Monthly Charge 14.39
New Farm Grounds Maintenance May Grass Cuts 723.60
Nick Harper PROW Bridleway Repairs 54.08
Rebecca Abunassar June Clerk Duties 442.00
JUNE TOTAL 1385.27
Signed ……………………………………… Date: 16th July 2020
Chairman
9/2020
