Minutes September 19th 2024
Minutes of Coldridge Parish Council Meeting 19.30 on Thursday September 19th 2024
Present: Councillors John Smith, Marion Born, John Quick, Chris Burrows
MDDC Councillor Natalia Letch DCC Margaret Squires
Clerk Keyth Richardson
Apologies: Councillors Andrew Green Malcolm Bedford, Ivan Kriznik MDDC Councillors Alex White
There were no members of public for the Open Forum
| 2024/25-32 | Welcome by Chairman | John Smith welcomed all to the meeting |
| 2024/25-33 | Recording of meetings | no-one was recording the meeting |
| 2024/25-34 | Apologies | Apologies had been received from: Councillors Andrew Green Malcolm Bedford, Ivan Kriznik and MDDC Cllr Alex White |
| 2024/25-35 | Declarations of interest | None reported. |
| 2024/25-36 | To approve of the minutes of the meeting on May 9th 2024 | The minutes of the meeting on July 25th 2024 were approved and signed |
| 2024/25-37 | Matter arising | The Parish Council were very pleased with the new noticeboard in the village and asked to Clerk to write to both Trevor Mackown and Malcolm Bedford for their contributions to this.
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| 2024/25-38 | Noticeboard West Leigh | Malcolm Bedford is looking into this with the aim of having a full-size noticeboard there. Graham Warsop has given permission for this to be attached to the Linhay barn alongside the road by the post box, which will make it easier to access and to read the notices. |
| 2024/25-39 | Coldridge Parish Council domain and emails | The Clerk had produced a spreadsheet comparing the cost over a 5-year period from 5 different Approved Registrars. This was discussed, questions raised and answered and the Council agreed to move to a .gov.uk domain website and emails and delegated the final authority to Ivan Krisnik and The Clerk to set this up. It was noted that Parish on-line is significantly cheaper than any of the other 4. |
| 2024/25-40 | On-line banking update | The current situation is that the Clerk, Andrew Green Chairman and John Smith Vice-Chairman all have cards and readers so can action payments. All payment still have to be approved by the Parish Council and to be minuted. |
| 2024/25-41 | Finance | The following payment were agreed. Proposed by Marion Born, seconded by John Smith
a. Clerk’s wages £389.39 b. Tax on clerk’s wages £97.40 c. Clerk’s expenses £149.63 d. Trevor Mckown noticeboard materials £87.91 |
| 2024/25-42 | Highways | This discussion took a long time.
The Clerk summarised an email he had received that day from Ivan Krisnik which was a record of the meeting held on Aug 1st with himself Malcolm Bedford, Steve Tucker and Margaret Squires. Copy to be sent onto Councillors following this meeting.
Margaret Squires informed the meeting that DCC were considering the action to take when the current contacts with Kenford Tarmac and Milestone end in 2 – 2½ years’ time. Coldridge Councillors expressed the strongly held opinion that this work should all come back in house as it is clear the current system and policy is not working to deliver safe highways.
The definition of a pothole used by DCC is one used widely across the country, although this is not a legally enforced or central government-imposed definition. It is one which County Councils have arrived at over time. The definitions of a pothole used by County Councils range in depth from 20mm to 50mm and many do not specify the 300mm width which DCC does.
Councillors reported that drains and gullies are not being maintained, and this is because they are covered with vegetation form neighbouring land which is obscuring the drains and gullies. Although this is the responsibility of the landowners to remove and ensure the metalled road is unobstructed there is no apparent enforcement of this by DCC. Concerns were also raised that if anyone did clear the highway of this vegetation it is now regarded as contaminated waste and needs to be dealt with accordingly, which is expensive.
If Coldridge Parish Council did join the Road Warden Scheme and cut back or removed vegetation this is regarded as commercial waste, not domestic waste. There was no support from Councillors to join the Road Warden scheme now.
Concerns were raised over the dangerous signage near the Knowle junction on the A377, which blocks the highway and there seems to be little work going on. Clerk asked to email Margaret Squires so she can follow it up.
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| 2024/25-43 | Councillor’s reports | John Quick and others reported that the diversion signs for the recent closure at Gilscott were inadequate with vehicles ending up at East Leigh and West Leigh by mistake.
John Smith reported that the Friday service bus 647 is being forced to drop passengers in Longbrook Street despite the timetable showing they should be dropped at stop 40 in Sidwell Street, see link below. This is outside Gourmet Peri Peri. The Clerk was asked to take this up with DCC via Margaret Squires.
https://www.mdcoaches.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/647timetableoct21.pdf
Margaret Squires reported on a visit to the Materials Lab to see what the structure of a road is, what the depth of the various components are and to see the depth of tarmac. For new developments it is a factor when DCC considers adopting a road from a private developer. Natalia Letch drew the Councils attention to the withdrawal of the winter Fuel Allowance for most pensioners and asked the Council to look out for those who might be eligible for pension credit. This topic has already been well publicised on What’s on in Coldridge (WOIC) Facebook page and via the Coldridge Calendar email list.
Secondly, she mentioned the switch over to VOIP for phones, when all phone lines as such will be removed and transmission will be via the internet instead. Coldridge is fortunate to have several IT professionals amongst its residents and one has already helped a resident whose phone supplier switched her over. Again, this has been well publicised on WOIC and help and advice will be available to ensure those who need it have the battery back-up they are entitled to.
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| 2024/25-44 | Date of next meeting | Nov 21st which is the budget setting meeting |
The meeting closed at 20.50
Signed: