Approved SPC Minutes 12.11.24

Approved minutes of meeting of Full Council Tuesday November 12^th 2024, at 7.15pm Stonnall Village Hall

105 Register of members in attendance

Cllrs David Salter (Chair), David Thompson, Christopher Callow,, Simon Fisher, Mick Cox, Dino D’Ambrosio, Lesley Edgley, Ruth Graham, Peter Sherratt, Stuart Harrison, Louise Hawes, Gail Nicholls, Alan Pugh, Phil Whitehouse.

Shirley O’Mara (Clerk)

County Cllr David Smith.

106 Acceptance of apologies.

Apologies were approved and accepted from Cllr Kevin Ward. PCSO Thomas Passmore.

107 Public Participation.

Members of the public are invited to address Council for a maximum of 15 minutes.

No members of the public were present.

108 Declarations of interest.

Members should consider whether they should partake in any discussion or vote on matters on the agenda unless they have a dispensation: No declarations.

109 To accept and confirm minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8^th Oct 2024.

Duly approved & signed.

110 Clerk’s update on outstanding issues from last meeting:

• Payments to Chairs of Committee.

There was a resolution at the October Full Council that further discussion and a comparator investigation was needed. Cllr Nicholls has been looking into this but found no comparators with this size Council. The Clerk will contact the SPCA again though reiterated that their initial advice was that payments may be made as long as the standing orders allow this.

111 To receive reports from County and District Councillors and PCSO.

County Cllr David Smith briefed on the following:

• Email received re SIDS which has been sent to the Clerk. There was some confusion as the Clerk has not received an email on this matter so Cllr Smith will check and feedback accordingly.
• Trees have been trimmed back on the Chester Road to improve visibility.
• Cllr Smith requested that where Councillors are contacted by residents regarding Highways issues the resident is advised to contact him directly rather than have the email forwarded to him. Cllr Nicholls had raised a residents query about Church Rd but Cllr Smith said he will not respond to third party emails.
• Church Road, Stonnall remains closed with no timescale on when it will reopen. Design work is being done but more of the wall has collapsed and it remains dangerous.
• Cllr Pugh raised the three stages for addressing dangerous structures, but Cllr Smith said he did not want to go into the issue in detail as there is an ongoing live legal issue but was happy to talk privately. Cllr Sherratt asked for a factual update on the state of the wall as it is a massive safety concern that will only get worse. Again, Cllr Smith said he could not go into the details. Cllr D’Ambrosio also expressed his concerns on this matter but Cllr Smith restated he cannot share more details due to the legal position.
• Cllr D’Ambrosio asked what the position is re the development of Starbucks where work has already started. Cllr Salter confirmed that the site is still subject to a traffic plan which he will chase.

• Cllr Edgley raised the problem of the signage on the Chester Road junction being covered by trees. Cllr Smith said the difficulty with dealing with that is the signage is the responsibility of Walsall Council.

• Cllr Thompson was pleased to receive the email from County confirming that the erection of village gateway signs on the Birmingham Road in Shenstone can go ahead if County are provided with updated designs and permission agreed to use a Contractor of Councils choice. A possible site has also been identified in Stonnall but Cllr Nicholls said that as that is Church Road which is currently closed nothing can be done to progress that for now.
• Cllr Salter expressed his disappointment that Council have received an email from a County Officer praising their work on the Blake Street potholes when the potholes are actually still in a very poor state, in fact “cavernous” in places.
• Cllr Salter stated that he had previously circulated various emails relating to LDC communications relating to our Wards and residents. Cllr. Whitehouse had nothing new to report from District.
• Cllr Thompson added that in future written reports will be shared on occasion by Sarah Edwards, M.P. She is currently involved in the issues around limited opening hours & reduced services at Shenstone Surgery.–

112 Finance.

The Clerk shared details of current financial position & transactions for approval as of Nov 12^th 2024.
Link to October’s financial transactions spreadsheet
Link to the financial transactions spreadsheet from 1st to the 12th November 2024

Nat West Current: £904.65

Nat West Reserve £.34,550.24

Unity bank: £96,199.97

Nat West Liquidity manager £ £102,492.58

There were no questions regarding transactions.

The Clerk had, in advance of the meeting, shared with Council the full half year finance report and the prediction for the rest of the fiscal year. After going over this in detail there were the following points raised & questions asked:

• Cllr Thompson asked how confident the Clerk was with the forecast.

The Clerk responded very confident in some cases as costs are static but others are more fluid such as increased printing and website costs when there is an important communication such as neighbourhood plan consultations, utilities are increasing & most notably N.I & pension costs are going up.

• Cllr Whitehouse asked that the £10,000 Stonnall Groundwork grant be moved, as the Clerk had suggested, from the main Unity account to the Nat West Liquidity Account in order to accrue maximum interest.

RESOLUTION: The Clerk asked for a vote on this which was unanimously agreed.

Re the Precept, Cllr Thompson stated that after several years of no increase in the Precept with the impact of inflation on utilities, services and salaries the time may have come to look at a rise. There followed a discussion as to what a rise may look like with Cllr Harrison asking if some variables could be produced to give better clarification. Cllr Whitehouse agreed that more detail was needed including likely cost increases on services and salaries so they can be taken into account when looking at a Precept rise.

Cllr D’Ambrosio said that it would be good to have some traction on spending from the ring-fenced funds and would send a positive message if residents could start to see things being done. Cllr Thompson responded to say that Neighbourhood Plan projects for Shenstone and Little Aston are currently being crystallised following the public consultation. Cllr Whitehouse stated that these are both valid points and sharing of these plans once clearer would be useful.

Cllr Harrison also commented that any potential increase in Precept is likely to be better received if the community can see its money being spent.

RESOLUTION: The clerk was asked to provide more data re potential cost increases for consideration at the December Full Council. Precept decision deferred accordingly.

Next meeting of Finance, Legal, Health & Safety Committee: Tues 19^th Nov 2024

113 Planning.

Link to Planning requests spreadsheet.
Cllr Thompson thanked Cllr Harrison for his work on the objection to application 24/00755 . Objections have been upheld on 24/00050 Haddon House & 24/00618 X0 Lounge. Objections still pending on 23/01263 and 24/00768. All these successes give a boost to the existence of a neighbourhood plan.

Cllr Edgley thanked Cllr Thompson for all his hard work on these applications.

Receive & consider recommendations from the Neighbourhood, Planning & Property Committee Meeting: Tuesday Oct 22^nd.

RECOMMENDATION: That CIL funding is held & utilised by the Neighbourhood Plan area from which it was generated.

Cllr Pugh stated that in his experience siloing a budget is not in the full interest of the community.

Cllr Whitehouse said that the call for sites could affect how much each ward gets significantly. It was agreed that even if this resolution is passed there will always need to be the need for some flexibility.

RESOLUTION: Approved in the majority with one abstention.

St Johns Church: request for funds towards new driveway.

RECOMMENDATION: The Clerk has not yet received the additional information requested so this request is deferred until December.

Next meeting of the Neighbourhood, Planning & Property Committee Meeting:- Tuesday December 17^th at  5.30pm Shenstone Parish Office

114 Consideration of Councillor led grant for Shenstone Neighbourhood Watch. £500.00.

There was some discussion as to alternative grant funding available and the need for funds allocated to be spent wisely. Cllr Callow said that having attended the meetings he felt that the individuals had a clear intent and that in his view the Council exists to assist with requests like this one.

RESOLUTION: Unanimously approved. Cllr Whitehouse requested that the grant funding is utilised for items mentioned in support of the application i.e. a website, rather than just those detailed in the actual application paperwork. Clerk to monitor.

115 Consideration of Councillor led grant for a defibrillator at Trinity Hall. £500.00

Application submitted by Shenstone Seniors Lunch Club

RESOLUTION: Unanimously approved

116 Consideration of additional dog poo bin on Shenstone Playing Fields, near to gym equipment. £450.

As a dog poo bin has already been purchased and not used as yet, costs were approved for the installation and associated signage.

RESOLUTION: Unanimously approved

117 Neighbourhood plan reviews:-

Update on Shenstone & Little Aston (Cllr Thompson) & Stonnall (Cllr Whitehouse)- includes next steps.

Cllr Thompson confirmed that Regulation 14 consultations on the Shenstone & Little Aston Plans are complete. Another bid to Locality will be made for next year to include further consultation expenses.

Cllr Whitehouse said that the Stonnall group are having lots of meetings including subgroups looking at design statements and green spaces. LUC are working on the first draft with 21^st Jan pencilled in for the first public consultation.

118 Lichfield Local Plan Options

With only 5 weeks to go before the 11^th Dec deadline it is imperative that the proposals are made public and distributed to allow as wide a consultation as soon as possible as Shenstone is identified for growth in two out of four options. Cllr Whitehouse stated that a planning session on the way it should be communicated was conducted with District Councillors on Nov 6^th sadly it was not possible for Parish Councillors to join. Parish Council will facilitate with arranging public meetings, perhaps one for Shenstone & one for Stonnall & Little Aston combined as one Ward. This is seen also as an opportunity to give identity and support for our Neighbourhood Plans. Action: Cllrs Salter and Whitehouse to liaise with LDC officers and identify procedure/dates.

In the meantime Clerk to add info to website & Facebook.

119 Stonnall Community Centre.

Consider continued financial support towards rates & insurance. £926.25 last year.

Discussion identified that as rates and insurance are considered ‘running costs’ they cannot be grant funded. Also, as there is no longer any affiliation of the Centre to the PC, to refund such costs would be contrary to established similar situations.

Resolved: to cease financial support for this request however the Centre is fully eligible to submit standard Grant applications to Council.

RESOLUTION: Carried by majority with two abstentions.

120 Stonnall Christmas Tree:

Consideration of funds for a Christmas tree & decorations. £500.00 max.

RESOLUTION: carried unanimously

121 Richard Cooper Room: Update from Nov 14^th AGM.

Deferred to December meeting

122 Heat Network Project. Update.

Cllr Thompson confirmed the appointment of HI Group as consultants and that a meeting with them has been arranged for Nov 21^st.

123 Lammas Land 10-year Plan.

Cllr Thompson highly commended the plan prepared by the Lammas Land Committee. He also highlighted the importance of sharing it with the community so that it can be commented on, the importance of the Committee in looking at other funding options other than Council and the importance of project leadership within the Committee. RESOLUTION: Unanimously approved

124 Local Government Pay Award:

REDACTED

RESOLUTION: Unanimously approved

125 Shenstone Playing Fields Management Committee & Country Club

Cllr Salter read out the following statement:

In accordance with the provision of Schedule 12Aof the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations and Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following item: Update on Shenstone Playing Fields Management Committee & The Country Club.

No public remained. The discussion then followed ‘in camera.’

126 Next meeting of Full Council: Dec 10^th 2024 Shenstone Community Library at 19.15