LINTON PARISH COUNCIL

Bromsash Gorsley and Linton

Minutes Of The Meeting Held On January 12^th 2004

In Linton Village Hall At 7:30 p.m.

Present:

Cllr Richard Smith , Chairman

Cllr Jean Foley, Vice Chairman

Cllr Rob Crawford

Cllr Ken Downham

Cllr Audrey Duke

Cllr John Foley

Cllr Margaret Pearce

Cllr John Wheble

Brian Atherton (Clerk)

6 Parishioners attended.

Minute Item			Action
1		Apologies
	1.1	Cllrs Gary Woodman and Keith Summers.

2		Declarations of Interest
	2.1	Cllr Richard Smith in Item 8. (This being a standing interest, it was not recorded in the Declarations Book). Cllr Rob Crawford (See Item 10.1.1 below).

3		Minutes of the Meeting Held on 8^th December 2003
	3.1	Proposed by Cllr John Foley, seconded by Cllr Ken Downham and approved unanimously, IT WAS AGREED that these be accepted without change and they were duly signed by the Chairman.

4		Minutes of the Meeting Held on January 6^th 2004
	4.1	Proposed by Cllr Audrey Duke, seconded by Cllr John Foley and approved unanimously, IT WAS AGREED that these be accepted without change and they were duly signed by the Chairman.

5		Matters arising therefrom not covered in the Agenda – Minutes of December 8^th
	5.1	Item 4.1: Gates and Wall near Revell’s Barn. There has been nothing new from CHDC. Cllr Jean Foley said that the gate and wall did not need planning permission; the concern is whether there may be development on the land behind, prior to planning permission.	The Clerk
	5.2	Item 4.2: Change of Use of Jasmine Cottage. The owner’s name has not been established so CHDC’s Enforcement Section is proceeding with a letter to “The Occupier”.	The Clerk
	5.3	Item 4.4: Anti Dog Fouling Notices: Nothing new from CHDC.	The Clerk
	5.4	Item 4.5: Broadband: Gorsley exchange will be enabled for Broadband on April 21^st and those wanting the service can place their orders with their ISP of choice at any time from now.
	5.5	Item 4.7: Mud on Road at Burton Mill. Nothing has been heard from CHDC but it has been noticed that there has been an attempt to scrape the surface and the surplus is piled by the side of the road.	The Clerk
	5.6	Item 18.1 Letter from Graham Dunhill re John Colyer (D1126). The Chairman read this out and said that he will check whether all of our complaints have now been addressed and report back to Council with a draft letter if appropriate.	Cllr Richard Smith

6		Lengthsman Project
	6.1	The Chairman asked that a tree leaning out from the verge at Linton Quarry onto Quarry Lane be checked for safety.	The Clerk
	6.2	Cllr Jean Foley asked for the main signboards at Bromsash Cross Roads to be cleaned. The Clerk explained that this had been done but the material used in the signs does discolour with age. Newer signage cleans up “as new”.
	6.3	Parishioner Gwynne Rowley drew attention to flooding on the B4221 outside of the school playing fields. The Clerk will look into it.	The Clerk

7		Accounts, Treasurer’s Report and Authorisation of Payment of Accounts
	7.1	New Lloyds TSB Mandate: Cllr Jean Foley still to call at the bank.	Cllr Jean Foley
	7.2	The Public Works Loan Board have issued a notice confirming that the scheduled payment on January 31^st 2004 will be the last as it reduces the balance to zero.
	7.3	The Internal Auditor reported that he had examined the accounts and had only one comment, drawing Council’s attention to the fact that the Budget for 2004/2005 does not allow for a possible loss of Lengthsman grant. (Clerk’s Note: Item 6.2.7 of Minutes of Meeting on December 8^th 2003 refers)
	7.4	Proposed by Cllr Ken Downham, seconded by Cllr Jean Foley and approved unanimously, IT WAS AGREED to adopt the accounts to date as tabled. The Clerk’s attention was drawn to the need for a change to the predicted year-end outcome of the Contingency figure.	The Clerk
	7.5	Item 9 was then taken, the Clerk reporting that, as RESOLVED in Item 11.1 of the Minutes of December 8^th 2003, there had been an 11:00 a.m. inspection of the trees in Linton Quarry and the Council’s Tree Warden had pronounced several to be a danger, especially to the adjoining property. There was a weather forecast predicting high winds. The Lengthsman was contacted and he quoted £400, well inside the resolution’s limit, to fell the trees. A close neighbouring property owner was consulted and he concurred with the work but asked that due care be taken of several saplings that obstructed machinery access to the area. By 3 p.m. the trees had been felled, the saplings were unharmed and the toppings and branches were cleared soon after. (Clerk’s note: There are pictures of the work done on the Council’s website: www.lintonpc-herefordshire.gov.uk.)	The Clerk
	7.5.1	The Chairman then read out a letter from Mr & Mrs Hewitt (D1145), owners of the threatened property, thanking the Council and the Lengthsman for the prompt action.
	7.5.2	Cllr John Wheble queried whether English Nature should be responsible for the cost. The Clerk will locate a copy of the management agreement.	The Clerk
	7.5.3	Proposed by Cllr Richard Smith, seconded by Cllr Jean Foley and approved unanimously, IT WAS AGREED to pay the following invoices, except for AP163; the cheques were duly signed.

AP157	Lengthsman for November	284.00
AP158	Lengthsman for Quarry tree clearance	400.00
AP159	Clerk's Salary for December 2003 plus increase from 01/10/03	201.60
AP160	Clerk's Expenses for December 2003	10.53
AP161	Lengthsman Administrator's Fee for December 2003	28.40
AP162	Web Master's Time in December 2003	17.55
AP163	Clerk's AQA Registration	55.00

7.5.4	AP 163 relates to a qualifying requirement for a Quality Council. The Clerk has to be AQA qualified. The Registration cost is £55 plus, possibly, some tutorial modules over a one year qualifying period of about £10 each. The Clerk will ask the Countryside Agency for an explanation of the benefit to Council of achieving Quality Status. On receipt of that, Council will decide whether to enter into the commitment.	The Clerk
7.6	The Clerk then explained that, in order to fulfil his duties, he had been obliged to make an unexpected and immediate replacement of his computer system at a cost of nearly £1,000. He proposed to Council that, in future, he should make a monthly expenses charge to fairly reflect Council’s use of that investment, especially since he has been making no such charge for his existing equipment. Council acknowledged that both it and the Clerk had become entirely reliant on computer support and was broadly supportive, but asked for the subject to be put on the next agenda and, in the meantime, the Clerk to circulate a note explaining the purchase, detailing the investment costs and his suggestion for an appropriate expense charge.	The Clerk

8		Gorsley Village Hall VAT Recovery Scheme
	8.1	Nothing further has been heard re confirmation of the legality. The Clerk will chase HALC’s Lynda Wilcox on her return from holiday on January 20^th.	The Clerk

9		Trees in Linton Quarry
	9.1	See Item 7.5 above.

10		Working Party Reports
	10.1	PLANNING P98. DCSE2003/3074/F. Removal of agricultural occupancy condition (Condition 3 Application No. SH940797PO 18-Nov-94). Hartleton Farm, Bromsash HR9 7SB. Application refused on 05/12/03. The Clerk to copy the refusal to Cllr Jean Foley.	The Clerk
	10.1.1	P97. DCSE2003/3055/F. Single storey extension. Alterations to roof. Replace porch with conservatory and new porch. Bramble Cottage, Linton, HR9 7RZ. Cllr Rob Crawford, having declared an interest, informed Council that, whilst the application had been approved, there had been several revisions of the plans before that happened. Cllr Jean Foley said that no such revisions had been sent to Council. The Clerk was asked to investigate.	The Clerk
	10.1.2	P101. DCSE2003/3839/F. Conversion of garage to living room. Whitegates, Quarry Lane, Gorsley, HR9 7SH. Presented at Council on 12/01/04. Council supports.
	10.2	FOOTPATHS Cllr John Foley said that volunteers have been recruited. There will be a planning session on February 27th and an initial walk-over on March 6th.	Cllr John Foley

11		Planning Procedure - proposed ‘agenda questions’
	11.1	Cllr Ken Downham said that he and the other members of the working group were, fortuitously, to holiday together the following week and would prepare a submission to Council to be presented at the next meeting.	Cllr Ken Downham

12		Chairman’s Announcements
	12.1	There is to be a course on Common Land Facts, organised by HALC which he and Cllr Margaret Pearce will attend. Date to be announced.	Cllr Richard Smith
	12.2	Advantage West Midlands are holding a seminar on Planning Aid on Feb 24th in Worcester at the UC’s Conference Centre, 9:30 to 3:30. He and Cllrs John Wheble, Margaret Pearce and Jean Foley plan to attend. The Chairman will make the arrangements.	Cllr Richard Smith
	12.3	He tabled notes on an announcement from the West Midlands Public Transport Users’ Forum (D1111). Council decided that the chairman should be nominated to attend the Forum and that the Clerk should write to WMPTUF as per the notes.	The Clerk

13		Correspondence
	13.1	The following correspondence was tabled.

D1116	08/12/2003	Questionnaire Printing Estimate	Gloster Litho
D1117	10/12/2003	Quarterly Economic Report	CHDC
D1118	10/12/2003	Schedule of Meetings	CHDC
D1119	10/12/2003	Herefordshire Industrial Consortium Newsletter - Issue 6 - December 2003	CHDC
D1120	10/12/2003	Herefordshire Cultural Strategy Revision Consultative Document	CHDC
D1121	10/12/2003	Rethink Rubbish - Recycling Posters	CHDC
D1122	10/12/2003	RSPB Information Sheet	CHDC
D1123	10/12/2003	Way Ahead in Herefordshire	CHDC
D1124	10/12/2003	Equine Issues	DEFRA
D1125	12/12/2003	Appeal for Support	CAB
D1126	15/12/2003	Reply from Graham Dunhill	CHDC
D1127	15/12/2003	Site Lines Newsletter Winter 2003/4	English Nature
D1128	15/12/2003	G&K Comments on the B4221 Road Safety Study	G&KPC
D1129	17/12/2003	Appeal for Local News Input	BBC Hereford & Worcester
D1130	19/12/2003	Request for a Parish Plan progress report	Countryside Agency
D1131	30/12/2003	Cancellation of January Toolkits Course	HALC
D1132	30/12/2003	AQA Certificate for Clerks	HALC
D1133	30/12/2003	Employment of Clerks	HALC
D1134	30/12/2003	Books available from HALC	HALC
D1135	30/12/2003	Posters available from HALC	HALC
D1136	30/12/2003	Minutes of Meetings HALC Executive on 02/10/03	HALC
D1137	30/12/2003	Revised Plan 3 (September 2003)	Herefordshire Partnership
D1138	30/12/2003	Acknowledgement of my revised schedule draft for the Parish Plan	Countryside Agency
D1139	31/12/2003	AQA Registration Documents	HALC
D1140	08/01/2004	Relocation of the Parish Council Liaison and the Local Development Team	CHDC
D1141	08/01/2004	Clerks & Councils Direct - General Newsletter plus Suppliers' Guide
D1142	08/01/2004	Copy of letter to Diana Organ re B4221 Safety Study and Strategic Issues	RAG
D1143	12/01/2004	Copy of application for support	Gorsley Village Hall
D1144	12/01/2004	Making the CAP fit for Herefordshire	Herefordshire Partnership
D1145	12/01/2004	Letter of thanks re the emergency tree felling in Linton Quarry	Mr & Mrs D Hewett

Councillors requested the following:

Cllr Richard Smith: D1120, D1123, D1126, D1130, D1133, D1141

Cllr John Wheble: D1119, D1123, D1128

Cllr Margaret Pearce: D1121, D1123, D1128

Cllr Richard Smith will draft a letter for the Clerk re D1120, complaining at lack of consult