Approved SPC Meeting Minutes  – 08.07.25

Prior to commencement the Chair reminded everyone that the meeting would be audio recorded.

34 Register of members in attendance:

Cllrs Simon Fisher (Chair), David Thompson, Christopher Callow, Louise Hawes, Kevin Ward, Lesley Edgley (Shenstone) Gail Nicholls, Mick Cox, Dino D’Ambrosio, Chris Jones (Stonnall), Stuart Harrison, Alan Pugh (Little Aston) PCSO Andrea Horsnall. PCSO Tom Passmore, Pam Salter (Acting Clerk), and 2 members of the public

35 Acceptance of apologies.

Cllr Stuart Harrison. County Cllr Alex Farrell is attending a District meeting and then another Parish meeting. Cllr Phil Whitehouse and Cllr David Salter are attending a District meeting and will arrive late.

36 Public Participation.

PCSO Passmore noted that he was pleased to have returned after his time off. Cllr Fisher welcomed him back.

Crime statistics-the report will be sent through to the Clerk to circulate. There had been 168 calls with 38 crimes in total across the wards.

Shenstone had 4 ASB reports and 5 vehicle thefts.

Stonnall recorded 14 calls including 3 crimes, 3 vehicle related crimes I burglary and 1 road traffic collision. Cllr Nicholls said that there had been 2 further RTAs on the Chester Rd. attended by police. PCSO Horsnall checked and there was no record of these. It was explained that these would have been recorded on the West Midland police logs.

Little Aston recorded 28 calls including 6 crimes, 2 vehicle crimes, 2 ASB. An ongoing smell of drugs is under ongoing investigation.

PCSO Passmore is attending the events at: Little Astonbury, the Lammas Land and Shenstone Playing Fields.

Protests continue at UAV Shenstone. Police are working to balance protester and resident rights.

Questions: Cllr Callow queried the delayed response to the knife incident at Shenstone. Both PCSOs apologised, noting that there were not enough PCSOs to cover the expanded area and prioritisation was not always satisfactory.

Cllr Thompson asked how Government announcements would affect protests at UAV protests. PCSO Passmore- awaiting update and will advise of road closures as soon as possible and will pass on more definitive feedback. PCSO Horsnall understands that the protests will continue as the Palestine Action Group protesters are aligning with other groups. Cllr Thompson asked it to be minuted that the PCSOs would come back to Council with any changes. Confirmed by PCSO Passmore.

Staff changes- Deryn Small, the new PCSO, will be active at the start of September. She is an experienced PCSO. Marie Barratt will also be joining the team, but her role means that she is unlikely to attend PC meetings.

PCSO Horsnall then announced that she is retiring at the end of August. Members were shocked to receive this news. The Chair wished to put on record his thanks on behalf of the Council and the parish for all her work and support. She will be welcomed back anytime. PCSO Horsnall responded that it had been a pleasure.

The Chair asked the two members of the public if they would like to speak.

The first member of the public thanked PCSO Horsnall for being so supportive and helpful with the speeding initiatives. It had been a busy time for the group. Cllr Farrell has taken over Cllr Smith’s role at County and was supporting SAS in his place.

The second member of the public thanked Cllr Jones for his help with the planning application for Church Road in Stonnall. Cllr Jones returned the thanks and mentioned a similar situation with Wakely Lane resulting from LDC no longer consulting neighbours. The Chair explained that the Councillor’s discussion with neighbours had produced a very balanced response to the application. He urged Council to respond to LDCs decision of no longer notifying neighbours of planning applications.

He noted the very well-deserved British Empire Medal awarded to Val Neale in the HM The King’s birthday honours list.

PCSO Horsnall and PCSO Passmore then left the meeting.

37 Declarations of interest None

38 The minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday 10^th June 2025 were duly approved and signed.

Cllr D’Ambrosio noted that an incorrect date had been added to the agenda- the date on minutes is correct. Vote: approved unanimously

39 Update on outstanding issues-

37 Millbrook Drive-overhanging tree branches onto Lammas Land. This has been deferred previously. Two quotes have been received. On 10^th June, the resident indicated he was willing to pay some of the costs as published in the past. LDC have reverted it back to Parish. Members raised questions including ‘How much is the resident prepared to pay,’ ‘would approving this set a precedent for future maintenance’ and ‘is this a safety hazard’. Cllr Edgley felt that the branches are not causing an obstruction and Cllr Hawes had conducted a quick unofficial straw poll which showed that users do not find it dark. She knows another tree surgeon who could provide a third quote if needed.

Action: determine how much the resident is prepared to contribute and obtain a third quote.

Proposal: defer to next meeting when this information can guide the decision

Vote: approved unanimously

40 Reports from County and District Councillors:

This item was delayed until District Councillors had arrived.

Cllr Whitehouse passed on apologies from County Councillor Farrell who was attending Canwell PC. He reported that although quite a lot was happening in the district there was nothing major affecting SPC. If anything arises it will be brought to Councillors attention.

The Community Asset Transfer Plan is now in place. Important assets will be looked at to possibly transfer to parish, He emphasised that this was very early in the process.

The Chair reminded Councillors of the related upcoming webinar on July 22^nd. Action: Clerk to circulate details.

Cllr. Salter pointed out that we are fortunate in our area that, other than perhaps a few grass verges, the only major asset currently owned by SCC is the Community Library.

41 Finance:

Cllr Fisher presented the current financial position & transactions for approval as of Tues 8^th July 2025:

Link to financial transactions spreadsheet for  June 2025
Link to financial transactions spreadsheet from 1st to 8th July 2025 

Unity account £115,992.50

Nat West current account: £904.30

NatWest Business Reserve: £8717.61

Nat West Liquidity Account ring fenced funds for ear marked projects £114,811.40

Note: the transfer approved last month from Nat West Liquidity to Business Reserve is not yet completed

Next meeting of Finance, Legal, Health & Safety Committee Tuesday July 29^th, 2025, Shenstone Community Library. 5.30pm [Note: not the 27^th July as shown on the agenda]

Questions: Cllr Thompson queried the SPCA Councillor training for playing fields. Cllr Fisher explained that the Clerk had joined SPC into the Playing Fields Association. Subscriptions are reasonably priced, and membership opens benefits such as access to loans.

He reminded Councillors that all policies were up for review. Please inform the Clerk of any updates required.

42 Planning

Link to planning applications spreadsheet 

Cllr Thompson is working on response to the Haddon House fourth attempt application, and he will manage this.

The land allocated for new housing at the side of the railway bridge in Lynn Lane is under new ownership. The new owner has applied to retain and improve the commercial use but it has been refused. Ongoing.

He is working with Cllr Jones whilst he familiarises himself with the role.

Cllr Jones reported that the Parish Council responded to the following applications:

Land on Church Road

Land adjacent to Rose Cottage – very strong objections from neighbour with input from residents a strong well worded objection has been produced. This is still PENDING

Replacement house on 165, Rosemary Hill Road- an objection from the PC was lodged and the application has been decided and REFUSED

Quite a few other applications were deemed acceptable, so no comments were lodged by Parish Council.

Little Ripley Day Nursery: we put together a list of objections and it was refused on the grounds of noise. The nursery put in a further application. SPC did not put in a further objection as this would simply have reiterated our first submission. The application was decided and approved. The view is that residents’ views were not considered and road safety concerns still need to be monitored.

Cllr Edgely is concerned that planning notices are no longer being posted out to neighbours to alert them to applications. With reference to the Shenstone business park application, posting notices on lampposts that hardly anyone passes does not sufficiently inform residents. If she had not received a letter as a resident she would have been unaware of it. Cllr Thompson observed that the changes result from National Government’s desire to accelerate the planning process. It was suggested that Councillors pay close attention to the weekly planning sheets link circulated by the Clerk.

Action suggested:

As LDC no longer issue neighbour notification of planning applications, the relevant applications from the weekly planning list should be posted on our noticeboards and website to raise public awareness.

Cllr Thompson said he would put something in the newsletter referring residents to the existence of that information.

SPC to raise the issue of more neighbour consultation with the LDC Development Manager.

Next meeting of NP&P: TBC.

Agenda items will include update on item 46 of this agenda and Village Gateway Furniture. Wall PC have invited SPC members to a meeting with SCC to view and discuss their pilot gateway scheme.

43 Cllr Thompson reported on his meeting with the new interim senior policy manager, Claydon De Beauville.

He requested that Lichfield adopt within its Local Plan the lessons we have learned from the renewable heating project. Developers should be asked to explore heating the new homes using the aquafer. It is considered prohibitively expensive for most existing homes but ideal for new builds.

There is a public meeting arranged for Wed 16^th July in the Richard Cooper Room.

44 Bleed kits:

Cllr Hawes asked for an update. Councillors confirmed that nothing had happened. Cllr Cox knows the code to the Stonnall Hall bleed kit box should it be needed but has been instructed not to hand it out or advertise it anywhere. Action: Further discussion to be put on hold until there is a clear process and infrastructure established. Vote: approved unanimously.

45 Neighbourhood Plans review

Shenstone- There will be no public enquiry. A month to 6 weeks then back to LDC

Little Aston- there is no proposal that demands a public enquiry.

However, a notice of changes had not been put on the LDC website which must be done, then it will be submitted to LDC by the end of summer.

The Chair asked about the implications regarding the announcement that Government was pulling funding for Neighbourhood plans as mentioned in the Parish Network.

Cllr Thompson confirmed that all 3 of our wards had submitted their applications in time.

Cllr Whitehouse joined the meeting at this point and was pleased to announce that the Stonnall NP has been submitted to LDC for regulation 16 sign-off. It is firmly believed that the changes made will not demand the need for a referendum.

The Chair praised the hard work of all those leading this process to get to this decision.

46 Local Government reorganisation in Staffordshire engagement strategy

Cllr Thompson proposed:

1. SCC formally asks all the authority collectives that are assembling proposals to consult with Shenstone Parish Council and all Parish councils that are affected by their emerging plans before the November date.

2. That SPC compiles an inventory of all SCC and LDC assets within its boundary for early consideration of community ownership if invited.

3. That SPC invites bordering Parish Councils collectively and individually to discuss options of mergers.

Cllr Pugh and Cllr Thompson led the discussion on these 3 strategies after which the following motions were put to Council.

1. Parish Clerk writes to all relevant authorities to request their plans. To be viewed and considered out of recess.

2. Assets to be thought out carefully

3. To meet with neighbouring parishes to share and study documents

An operating model was needed to fully understand what was happening. There would be no financial implications at this stage.

These 3 motions were proposed by Cllr Thompson and seconded by Cllr Salter

Vote: approved unanimously.

The 22^nd July SPCA on-line webinar on Asset Transfer was again promoted by the Chair.

47 LDC clashes of meetings with Parish Council meetings.

Cllr Whitehouse considers that meetings should be arranged to accommodate every Councillor at every meeting. Standing Orders allows for this. He asked members to consider this and vote on a proposal to rearrange Parish Council meetings to avoid District meeting clashes.

Valid points were raised for and against the changes with members indicating seeing both sides of the debate.

The main obstacles to changing dates of Parish Council meetings are venue availability and Member’s availability on alternative dates.

There are two future conflicting dates left on this year’s calendar, the 14^{th of} October and the 9^th December.

Following much discussion the following proposal was put forward:

Proposal: For the Clerk to explore venue availability for dates other than 14^th October and 9^th December given the proviso that; there would be no point in changing dates because two members are unavailable if by doing so two or more other Members were unable to attend the new date.

Vote: approved unanimously.

48 Stonnall & Lynn Playing Fields Association

A way forward is being sought by seeking new committee members, addressing issues regarding flooding on the playing fields and St Peters Close and forward planning.

There is a meeting tomorrow evening to try to resurrect the Playing Fields Association committee. It was asked if the Clerk could source quotes for work and links to grants be sought from Cllr Farrell. Also, as Shenstone Parish Council is a custodian Trustee, they might offer some administrative and possibly financial support to help the playing field through the tricky period until the new committee was functioning. Cllr Pugh said that the admin content would need to be quantified, and an unfair load placed on the Clerk was unacceptable.

At this point Cllr Nicholls drew attention to Cllr Whitehouse’s comment at the Annual Parish Meeting where he stated that “the committee resigned through fear and confusion.” She wished the following statement to be minuted:

“There was no ‘fear’ or ‘confusion’ as stated at the Annual Parish Meeting and this was not the reason that she or the other members resigned.”

Resolution: The Clerk to seek flood specific quotes from contractors. Cllr Whitehouse to write the specification.

49 Possible changes to the bench sited at the junction of Richard Cooper Road, Footherley Road and Holly Hill.

Following discussion, this query was resolved successfully. No action needed.

50 Shenstone Playing Fields Management Committee

The AGM is set for 8^th September 2025

51  Summer newsletter:

production is well under way. Copy to be forwarded by Fri 11^th July.

52 The Chair read out the following statement:

In accordance with the provision of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information (England) Regulations and Paragraphs 2,3 and 7 of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following item: Councillor vacant positions. RECOMMENDATION: Receive recommendations from the interview committee of June 24^th re two co-opted vacancies.

The public duly left the room.

Resolution: Prospective candidates: Mr D Smith and Mr M McQueen were successfully coopted as members of the Parish Council.

53 Next meeting of Full Council Sept 9^th at Little Aston Village Hall 7.15pm