November 21st 2024

a.       Village hall hire £24.00

b.       DALC Conference fees £120.00

c.        Clerk’s wages £367.34

d.       Tax on clerk’s wages £94.00

e.       Clerk’s expenses £50.28

f.        ISCA electrical for the new light in the East Leigh phone box £85.00

g.       Parish on-line £285 for first year’s contract

The draft included a figure of £2000 grant to the Village Hall for creating a bus shelter as part of the work to replace the old garage  by the green. As the Village Hall is still awaiting quotes for this work the Council agreed to defer a decision on this until January 2026. This also meant deferring a decision on the precept till then. A query was raised over the cost of a service for the ride-on mower, (£140) and John Smith was asked to obtain  a quote for this from Adam Wane. (If he could not do this the cost would likely be about £280.00) Ivan raised the issue of cleaning and sprucing up the War Memorial prior to VE day celebrations in My 2025. Marion Born will seek a quote from Stevens, a monumental mason, for essential work on the memorial. This cost can then be added to the budget.

The clerk reported back from the annual parish clerks meeting he had attended at MDDC on Nov 20^th. The new leader of DCC, Cllr James McInnes had given a talk including the future of DCC Highways contracts. It is likely that this will go to an outside contractor and not be taken back in house, much to the concern of Coldridge Parish Council. He explained he was keen to listen and at this meeting the Clerk had raised issues of the “sumpbuster”, the drains which are not cleared despite records showing they are and poor quality of repairs to potholes and other defects. Cllr McInnes asked to be told of specific issues.

At this meeting it was agreed that Ivan Krisnik and others would continue to work with Margaret Squires and Stephen Tucker on the issues mention in Ivan’s email of September 19^th.

Following along discussion it was agreed the clerk would contact Cllr McInnes with details of the following specific ongoing long-term  issues.

1.       The road from Thorn Corner to West Leigh, “the sumpbuster”. This has been awaiting repair for several years and the clerk will ascertain the history and the date it was first recorded with DCC Highways

2.       The road from Black Ditch Cross to Pennywell, with left over grit debris and other loose materials clogging the drains.

He will circulate the draft of these two issues prior to forwarding it to Cllr McInnes

Other issues.

The Reduce Speed sign at the approach to Gilscott needs replacing. This can be noted on the DCC Highways website

Sight lines at Frogbury Cross need to be improved by the reduction of vegetation particularly looking eastwards when approaching from the south.

Resilience Planning by Lewis Dyson. Despite an overloaded power point presentation from Lewis Dyson the clerk  proposed he be invited to give a public presentation to the parish on what this could look like in Coldridge. He can explain and discuss the creation of an Emergency Plan and a Community Hub.

The clerk will also investigate the Message in a bottle scheme run by Lions to see if he can promote this throughout the parish.

Arron Beecham, Housing Officer. Despite an overloaded power point presentation from Arron it is clear that MDDC is moving towards the old model of Council Housing whereby house are provided for local people , and with no right to buy allowed. Thes may be MDDC properties, Community Housing Groups  or Housing Association type organisations. Coldridge Parish Council approved of this development to support local residents, and which may  encourage younger people to stay in the area.