ANNUAL MEETING OF NORTH NIBLEY PARISH COUNCIL WAS HELD ON MONDAY 1 JUNE 2015, IN THE VILLAGE HALL, NORTH NIBLEY AT 7.30PM.

Present: Mr D Purnell (Chairman).

Mrs J Burton; Mr K Brown; Mr S Hale; Mr K Larkin; Mr D Palmer; & Mr L Smitherman.

District Councillors: District Councillors Mrs L Reeves (arrived at item 16); & Mr K Tucker.

The Clerk: Mr R Symons.

Also present: Ms Kathryn White & Reverend Robert Axford (for Item 10).

There were three members of the public present.

The Chairman opened the Parish Council Meeting.

1. The Chairman invited apologies. The Council received and accepted apologies from County Councillor Dr J Cordwell & District Councillor Mrs J Cordwell. Apologies for late arrival, having attended an earlier meeting in Stroud, were received from District Councillor Mrs L Reeves.

2. The Council elected a Chairman of the Parish Council for the year 2015/16. Mr D Purnell was proposed and seconded as Chairman. There being no other nominations the Council elected Mr Purnell to serve as Chairman for the year 2015/16.

3. The Council elected a Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council for the year 2015/16. Mr K Brown was proposed and seconded as Vice-Chairman. There being no other nominations the Council elected Mr Brown to serve as Vice-Chairman for the year 2015/16.

4. The Council elected Councillors onto the following Committees & Groups at which the Parish Council is to be represented during 2015/16:

• Mr D Purnell: Stinchcombe Hill Trust

• Mr K Larkin: North Nibley Recreation Field Trust Committee

• Mr S Hale: Village Hall Management Committee

• Mr D Palmer: Parish Footpaths

• Mr D Purnell: William Purnell Educational Charity

• Mr D Palmer: Tyndale Monument Trust

• Mr L Smitherman: Stroud Joint Cluster Group

• Mr K Brown: Police Key Individual Network

5. Parish Councillors were issued forms to Register Members’ Interests as required under the Localism Act 2011. Councillors were informed that the forms were to be returned to the Clerk who is required to send them to Stroud DC.

6. Declaration of Interests. The Chairman invited members to declare any Interests relating to this Meeting. There were none.

7. The Council approved Meeting Dates for 2015/16 year of the new Parish Council. (See attached).

8. The Council approved and signed the Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 11 May 2015, as a true record. The Minutes of the May Ordinary Meeting of the Council had previously been distributed to all members and displayed on the public notice boards and the website. All members agreed the Minutes should be signed, as a true and accurate record. The Minutes were duly signed by the Chairman.

9. The Council noted matters arising from the Minutes, not covered by agenda items. The Clerk referred to his Update Note, which had been issued prior to the Meeting. He advised that:

• following unsatisfactory further email exchanges with Ms Trickey, he had placed the Council’s complaint about the solar farm planning application at Upper Wick on this Agenda for the Council to determine what further action, if any, should be taken;

• he had reported back to Karen Phimister (GRCC) on Affordable Housing, following her update to last month’s meeting;

• the “Wheeled Respect Operation” which the police planned to carry out on 15 May, was postponed because of other operational priorities. The event will be rescheduled during June;

• on Friday 15 May the police carried out speed checks on Wotton Road in the Village. A number of drivers were “pulled in” and action taken;

• an email offer has been received from Western Power Distribution and the matter is on the Agenda (item 13);

• he had arranged to meet with Andrew Middlecote (County Highways) & Councillor John Cordwell on Friday 5 June to discuss a number of Highways matters;

• he understood that PCSO King has progressed the idea for the School to hold a competition for children to design a speed limit sign for the Village;

• he understood from the police that there had been an attempted break-in in Frog Lane.

• he had received a report of a road accident outside the Black Horse on 21 May;

• he had renegotiated the timescale for the Council’s Annual Report, Accounts and End Year Report to be submitted. Part one is on the agenda for sign-off. The Accounts will go to internal audit later in the week, for sign-off by the Parish Council on 6 July and are due to be with the external auditor by 10 July;

• he had asked Alkington PC to keep the Council informed about news on the proposed solar farm at Actrees Farm.

• he had made arrangements (on a one-off basis) for the grass to be cut around the Jubilee Tree at the junction of The Street/Lower House Lane.

• the Meeting to discuss poor broadband service in North Nibley had been arranged for Wednesday 17 June at 7.30 pm at The Chapel. Invitations to Openreach and Fastershire have been declined.

10. The Council invited Ms Kathryn White to put forward her ideas for research into First World War. Ms White explained that she was intending to carry out research into the lives of the 20 local men who were commemorated on the Village War Memorial following their deaths during the First World War. She also intended researching the role of the village in erecting the war memorial. Ms White explained that she would use records, which are readily available on line. She suggested that broader interest could be developed through an article in the Village newsletter. The Clerk agreed to work with Ms White to put an article in the next edition of “On The Edge”. The Chairman expressed the Council’s support for the project and suggested that an idea tried elsewhere (a village in Somerset), which had posted plaques at the homes where the men had lived, could help develop further interest in the project.

The Rev. Axford voiced the full support of the Parochial Church Council for the project.

Further ways of increasing awareness and generating information were discussed, including posters in Village Shop, the Chapel and the Church; information on websites ; and contact with the Village Eye.

The Chairman thanked Ms White for her presentation and looked forward to working with her on this project. Ms White & the Reverend Axford left at this point in the meeting.

11. The Chairman closed the Meeting to enable members of the public to ask any questions.

One member asked if there had been any progress on developing ways of reducing vehicle speed in Barrs Lane. The Clerk replied that he was due to meet with the Highways Officer on 5 June when he would be taking forward this issue. Other ideas for reducing vehicle speeds were also discussed.

There being no further public questions the Chairman re-opened the Meeting.

12. The Clerk reported back on recent exchange of correspondence with Ms Trickey, Monitoring Officer, Stroud DC and asked for the Council to direct what, if any, further action should be taken. The Clerk read out the email responses from Ms Trickey, received since the last Meeting. The Council discussed the situation and agreed that they were very dissatisfied with the way in which their complaint had been handled. The Clerk was instructed to write to Mr Hagg, (copied to Mr Wyatt and Ward District Councillors) expressing their views.

13. The Clerk reported back on his discussions and correspondence with Western Power (WPD) about compensation for installing a cable across the Council’s Breakheart Hill land. The Clerk reminded the Council that the offer of £250 was for the Clerk’s “professional time and the disturbance to do this work.” He also pointed out that should the Council not sign the wayleave agreement WPD could apply to the Secretary of State to proceed without the Council’s agreement.

Following discussion the Council agreed that the Clerk should inform Western Power that an offer of £300 for “your professional time and the disturbance to do this work” would be acceptable providing that WPD agreed to reinstate the ground to its former position after the work is completed.

14. The Clerk reported back on correspondence with Mr White, Daisy Farm regarding a possible contribution towards Village projects. Following discussion by the Council the Clerk was requested to follow up his earlier letter.

15. The Council discussed the following Application for Planning Permission:

• S.15/0994/FUL. The Old Brewery, Pittcourt, North Nibley. Use of the Old Brewery as a separate dwelling.

The applicants were present and the Chairman invited them to speak about their application. They explained that the earlier application for Certificate of Existing Lawful Use/Development for the same property had been withdrawn, to be replaced by a Full Planning Application.

Following a full discussion and consideration of local and national planning policies the Council agreed to Support the application on the following grounds:

1. Having taken into consideration both the current Stroud Local Plan and the NPPF the Council agreed that the application fully meets the three criteria for Stroud Local Plan Policy HN15.

2. In the Council’s opinion Policy HN14 does not apply as this is not an application for a “replacement dwelling”. Neither is the current building being developed.

3. In the Council’s opinion Policy HN10 does not apply as this is not an application for a “residential development”, but a “sub-division” of an existing residential property.

16. The Council noted the following decisions of The Stroud District Planning Authority:

Planning Permissions has been granted for:

• S.15/0795/HHOLD. Westridge, Smarts Green, North Nibley. Side and rear extensions to replace existing conservatory and lean-to.

• S.15/0305/FUL. Twin Stable Block, Smarts Green, North Nibley. Retrospective application for erection of a stable block (2 stables) to replace existing field shelter and equestrian use of land.

District Councillor Mrs Reeves arrived at this point in the Meeting.

17. The Council received and discussed District Councillor Tucker’s Report. Councillor Mr Tucker added Stroud DC Committees would be meeting soon and there would be more to report at the next meeting. There were no questions for Councillor Tucker. The Chairman thanked Councillor Tucker for his report.

The Chairman, conveyed the best wishes of the Council to Cllr. Mrs Cordwell who had recently had an operation and was recovering at home.

17. County Councillor Mr John Cordwell was not present, having previously presented his apologies. It was noted that Cllr. Cordwell had nothing further to report from his May Report other than to bring to the Council’s attention the exchange of emails following the road accident outside The Black Horse on 21 May.

17. The Parish Council were invited to consider what proposals it would want to put forward for funding from County Councillor John Cordwell’s Highways budget; and the Active Together and the Children’s Activity Fund Grants 2015. Following discussion the following ideas were suggested:

1. two “gateways” to the Village could be constructed to create a mechanism to slow down traffic entering the Village on the B4060 road.

2. further examination of the possibility of extending the current 30 mph speed limit into the lanes towards Waterley Bottom and down Frog Lane.

The Clerk was asked to discuss these suggestions with the Highways Officer at his meeting on 5 June.

The Clerk also brought to the Council’s attention an invitation for Community groups to apply for “Active Together and the Children’s Activity Fund Grants 2015”. The Clerk explained that details had been forwarded to representatives of the Recreation Field Trust and the Chapel.

17. The Chairman invited Parish Councillors to report back on Committees and Meetings they had attended.

• Councillor Larkin reported that the Recreation Field Trust at their AGM had identified the benefit of the Village having a defibrillator located in the Village. It was ascertained that the School Governors and the Recreation Trust had already discussed the idea. It was agreed that accessibility somewhere central in the village was the best location for a defibrillator. The Clerk was asked to liaise with representatives from these and other groups to move the idea forward and try and identify funding sources for the project. The item to be included on the July agenda.

• Councillor Brown reported a meeting between the Trustees of the Knoll Trust and representatives of the Parish Council where access to and use of the Knoll was discussed. As a result the Knoll Trust would be drawing up a policy for agreement with the Parish Council and promulgation through notices and signs.

• Councillor Brown reported that he and Mrs. Brown had thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party in May.

• Councillor Smitherman brought to the Council’s attention that there was to be a memorial football match at the Recreation Field on 6 June.

17. The Council received and made decisions on the Finance Report.

1. The Council approved Part One of Parish Council Annual Return 2014/15. The Chairman signed Part One of the Annual Return. The Clerk explained that the Annual Return was due to go for internal audit later in the week and Part Two would come back to Council for sign-off in July.

2. The Council received a Statement of Finances for the first two months of 2015/16 Financial Year. It was noted that, with the exception of expenditure on St Martin’s churchyard, which was accepted as being outside the Council’s control, the budget was in line with expectations.

3. The Council approved the Invoices and drew up and signed cheques for items on the enclosed Payments Schedule.

22. The Council received a verbal report on the Cemetery & Churchyard. The Clerk reported that he had spoken to Hawkins & Sons about a recent grass cut which had caused damage to a memorial bench placed in the Cemetery. Also complaints had been received about loose grass being deposited on graves in the Cemetery.

The Clerk reported that the recent grass cut in St. Martin’s Churchyard had received several positive comments from parishioners associated with St Martin’s.

22. The Council received for information details of Correspondence & Messages received by the Clerk. See aside.

There being no further business the Meeting closed at 9.10 pm.

The next Meeting of the Parish Council will be held in the Village Hall on Monday 6 July 2015 at 7.30 pm.