HARLASTON PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman of the Parish Council: Cllr P Whitehouse Old School House Main Road Harlaston Tamworth B79 9JS Tel: 01827 383590

Clerk to the Parish Council: Mr I Van Arkadie 17 Rowley Close Tamworth B79 9LN Tel: 077199 265760 e-mail: ianvanarkadie@yahoo.co.uk

HARLASTON PARISH COUNCIL

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HARLASTON PARISH COUNCIL

Meeting on Monday 15 July 2019 at 7.30 pm in Harlaston Village Hall.

AGENDA

Public Open Forum 7.30 pm onwards

Apologies for absence

Declarations of Interest

To approve Minutes of the Meeting held on

24 June 2019

Matters Arising on the Minutes

Correspondence:

Finance: Current account; cheques;

Planning: update on current applications

Playground Funding Update

Parish Council Website

District and County Council Matters

Any Other Business

Date of next meeting and future meetings

The public and the press are invite-

.MINUTES OF A MEETING OF HARLASTON PARISH COUNCIL HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON Monday 26 November 2018 AT 7.30pm

Present:                   Cllrs P Whitehouse (Chairman),

S Forest, L Collins, E Hollis, T Armstrong

In attendance:        Mr I Van Arkadie (Clerk), District Councillor Ashley Yeates, 1 member of the public

Apologies:               Cllr C Foster, Cllr S Smith

Declarations of Interest

There were none

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of meetings 0n 24 September were approved. This was proposed by Cllr Forest, seconded by Cllr Hollis and duly carried.

Public Open Forum

District Councillor Ashley Yeates was welcomed to the meeting. He expressed his regret that it had taken so long for him to make it along to a meeting in Harlaston. There followed a lengthy discussion that covered a range of issues including local government and public sector funding, planning, communication between the district and parish councils and the planned redevelopment of the Harlaston playground. Councillor Yeates described the work being done to enable the district council to generate more income and adopt a more commercial stance in order to more effectively manage the financial stringencies imposed by central government. He stated that it was likely that more local working would be likely in the future with parish councils having to assume certain functions that had previously been the responsibility of either the district or particularly the county council. He agreed to circulate details of any potential funding opportunities he identified that could be used for the village playground. He also encouraged Harlaston to participate in the new forum meetings  between parish councils and the leader and deputy leader of Lichfield District Council.

Matters Arising and Correspondence

The community speedwatch was continuing and details of a significant number of speeding vehicles had been passed to Staffordshire Police. It was agreed that the clerk would contact Wigginton Parish Council to determine where the speed advisory signs there – which everyone liked – had been sourced from. Councillor Collins reported that a foodbank collection box had been set up outside her house. Details were circulated of a councillor training course to be run in January in Stafford by the Staffordshire Parish Councils Association. The cost was £20.00 per person. Anyone who was interested was asked to contact the clerk.

Corporate Governance

Councillor Collins circulated draft standing orders and draft financial regulations. These were based on templates obtained from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC). The Chair thanked Councillor Collins for her work on these. It was agreed to revisit them at the next meeting and – assuming everyone was in agreement – adopt them for the parish council.

Finance

The Clerk reported that the balance stood at £21, 580.75. This included £8,093.90 ring-fenced for the playground redevelopment. The clerk forecast expenditure up until the end of financial year as follows, though these were estimated figures:

Clerk (Salary and Expenses)                                      £755.00

Grass Cutting                                                             £100.00

Royal British Legion                                                  £25.00

HMRC                                                                        £196.00

Village Hall                                                                 £80.00

Playground Inspection                                               £75.00

Staffordshire Parish Councils Association                 £136.00

Miscellaneous Maintenance                                      £300.00

                                                                        Total:  £1,667.00

Forecast Income (est):

VAT Refund                                                               £100.00

The following cheques were proposed and approved:

Church floodlights (ongoing illumination): £70.00

Village Hall Hire: £140.00

Clerk’s Salary:       £129.00

Clerk’s Expenses: £18.00

These were proposed by Councillor Armstrong, seconded by Councillor Forest and duly carried.

The Clerk was asked to write to two local people who had supported the council either through donations or various other works.

Planning

It was known that an application had been made for changes to the development at Fish Pits Farm. As far as was known these were fairly minor changes to the floor plan of the planned properties. It was unclear when work would begin, though Councillor Hollis reported that some activity had been taking place.

The Planning Team had visited the new garage constructed off Haselour Lane. A return visit was planned to make a fuller assessment and decide if planning permission was required.

Buses

There was considerable discussion about the buses. The overwhelming impression was that very few Harlaston residents were using the service. Between £30.00 and £40.00 had been collected since the service commenced in late October; it was noted that the original calculations supplied by Edingale and Elford had estimated that Harlaston use of the service would generate around £30.00 per week. Given the implications of this for the subsidy paid by the parish council and consequently for the precept it was agreed that Harlaston would advise the other participants that it would be withdrawing from the project at the end of the year. The clerk would notify them of this. Councillor Yeates mentioned a new taxi company that had set up in Haunton which could be booked by local people for journeys to Tamworth and Lichfield.

District and County Council Matters

It was felt that this had been covered in the open forum and through Councillor Yeates’ contribution throughout the meeting.

Playground

It was announced that £1,000 had been received from Tesco which was welcome news. Councillor Foster had been sent details of various potential funding sources and Councillor Collings offered to help work with him on exploring these.

Any Other Business

The Clerk agreed to contact the Village Hall committee regarding the grass cutting which the Parish Council had traditionally paid for. They would be asked if they were prepared to assume the cost of this or to offer the council a reduction in the cost of room hire as a result.

Dates of Future Meetings

Monday 14/1/19

Monday 25/3/19

Monday 20/5/9

Monday 22/7/19

Monday 20/9/19

Monday 25/11/19

The Clerk would ensure that these were publicized in the parish magazine.