1. Apologies for absence.
2. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 17^th May 2021
3. Matters Arising from the Minutes.
4. Chairman’s Report.
5. Annual Accounts: Unaudited Balance Sheet.
6. Reports from Borough & County Councillors.

NB The first part of this agenda is expected to take no more than 20-30 minutes leaving most of the time available for Item 7.

• Parishioners Open Forum

This is the most important part of the meeting and amongst other matters you may wish to discuss, we will be requesting your feedback on the proposed speed limit reduction, future cost pressures and how to manage them.

• Any Other Business

Date of Next Meeting –16^th May 2022

This meeting will be the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council

             Parish Council information can be found online at – hanburyparishcouncil.org.uk

Present:
Councillors Cllr Hendon; Cllr Tyson; Cllr Gregson; Cllr Harrison; Cllr Bailey; Cllr Philp; Cllr Iball; Cllr Hudson
Also present: C Holmes; 10 Parishioners

1. Apologies for absence

Cllr White

• Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 17^th May 2021

All agreed to be a true record of the meeting.
Action; Clerk to convert to upload to website

• Matters arising from those minutes

None

• Chair’s Report

Changes to Council 

The year began with a change of Clerk and Chair. Trevor Iball was thanked profusely for his 26 years of service to Hanbury Parish Council and was succeeded by Jenny Hendon. Charlotte Holmes took up the role of Clerk to HPC in April, since when she has done sterling work. 

During the year, Councillor Steve Skeet stepped down from the Council when he moved from the village and Keith Ward left due to ill health. Both served the village of Hanbury for many years and again they are both thanked for their service. We have been delighted to welcome two new councillors to get our numbers back to a full cohort, namely Dave Bailey and Bonita Philp. 

Whilst not a member of the Parish Council, we are saddened to note the loss of our vicar, Reverend Les Rees during the year, who was a great friend to many parishioners. 

Covid-19 continued to wreak havoc across the population. Thankfully restrictions were lifted on meetings, so with safety precautions in place we were able to meet again face-to face making it easier for members of the public to join meetings. 

On the plus side, so many more villagers continue to enjoy the wonderful countryside we have all around us with many people walking and riding bikes, horse riding around our lanes and generally enjoying the great outdoors.  

This has re-ignited the matter of the speed limit in Hanbury which remains at 60mph when villages all around us have seen their limits reduced. We have started a dialogue with SCC and together with support from East Staffordshire Dove County Councillor, Phil White, SCC are recommending a reduction to 30mph throughout the village. Sadly, SCC won’t fund the cost of this however Phil White has pledged £5000 from his Highways budget. We await final costings to see the level of contribution required from Hanbury Parish Council which could be as high as £10,000. 

Potholes continue to be a source of complaint from Councillors and parishioners alike and these need to be reported to https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Highways/Potholes/Home.aspx  

We were delighted to receive a very generous donation from Joanne and Nigel Storr of New Lodge, Hanbury which kick-started a project to rejuvenate the playing field. This is great timing with the population of children in the village increasing again and new families moving into the village. 

Jack Allsop of Anslow Rd was so inspired by the project that he got straight on his bike and did a sponsored bike ride and, with the village behind him, raised in excess of an astonishing £2000 which was then topped up by further donations. Jack presented HPC with a super-sized cheque for £2650 at a gathering at the playing field where councillors met with villagers to discuss plans for the field. Out of these discussions, Jenny Law of Wood Lane, helped by her son, Jake, and best buddy Jack, drew up the plans which are now taking shape. One of the goal posts was removed (thank you, village strong men!) to make way for the mound which was built from topsoil donated and delivered by Tom Salt and formed into the mound by Dave Stone working his digger magic. Ian Garner has kindly mowed the football pitch in the Summer/Autumn to delineate the new smaller, pitch size. A flower bed has been dug, planted and is just coming into bloom thanks to the Harrison/Barnes gardening enthusiasts and The Duchy have delivered loads of Timber which will form the basis of the many of the features to be installed. So many people that have worked so hard on projects throughout the village and the community spirit is exceptional.

Fund raising efforts continued to boost the fund to be able to pay for a slide and rope-climber to be installed in May.  A Grand Raffle – also spear-headed by the Allsop family – with a great community event at The Cock to draw the prize-winners on August Bank Holiday, raised a further £1500+. £500 from the Townlands Charity (in part for the new notice boards) and a grant of £1000 from ESBC Community Fund supported by Phil Hudson, Crown Ward, Borough Councillor meant the total fund for the playground has increased to a grand total of £8319

The playground is due to be finished in time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in June, which are being organised by a committee of parishioners and have been notified to all residents via a recent newsletter. 

A new website was launched in April 2021 thanks to the hard work of the clerk and especially parishioner Ian Garner who has modernised the site and made it much more up to date, user friendly and accessible. All relevant information, news, minutes, and policies can be found by visiting: www.hanburyparishcouncil.org  

Two new notice boards have been placed in the bus shelter following the need to replace the decayed ones by Hall Drive. Thanks to Townland Charity for funding and to Sam Gregson for installing. 

Thanks to landowners and volunteers for keeping village paths clear and stiles well maintained. Where there are any problems identified these should be reported to the Clerk.  

Thanks also to the Redferns who keep the Welcome to Hanbury Sign so beautifully planted with flowers. 

Volunteers around the village have repaired and cleaned road signs, and recently cleared the pavements in Martins Lane and the stretch of path by the bus shelter. 

We continue to monitor the water level of the village pond following concerns that the liner has perished and to work with Burton Conservation Volunteers to ensure wildlife isn’t impacted in drier weather. 

We lost our last remaining telephone box but with no calls made in the previous 12 months it was difficult to argue against with BT 

Following an Arboreal study, tree management work has been completed in areas which are the responsibility of the Parish Council. A Tree Policy now exists to ensure trees are regularly monitored. This is an additional burden on the Parish Council budget. 

Blooming Gardens continue to be the contractor for the ground’s maintenance at the Church Yard, playing field and Village Green. Significant cost pressures are on the horizon that will make the renewal of this contract extremely challenging meaning we will need to review the specification and see what elements we can take on ourselves as a village. 

Reading this back through makes me realise that there has been quite a lot going on this year and just how many people have contributed to that! Thank you all so much. 

• Annual Accounts: Unaudited Balance Sheet

Income:

Precept was decreased for the year 2021/2022 from 2020/2021 of 1.33%.

A great amount of donations received for the Playpark Regeneration totalling £8319.00. £5700 has been earmarked for the Playpark Regeneration project going forward with £1480.58 having been spent so far

A grant from Townlands of £250 was also given for the defib.

Expenditure.

An increase in spending during 2021/2022 from £9341.06 to £10,152.69. Whilst we have seen an increase in funds spent on the Playpark regeneration this is also in part to clerks’ salary for the previous clerk being taken from this year’s budget.

All areas were kept within budget for the year except the clerk’s salary and Playing Field Maintenance which saw a higher cost than expected due to the re-building of a picnic table as some recycled furniture.

Savings were made on training this year due to lack of course being run until the end of the year and on the hire of the hall with the first part of the year allowing zoom meetings to take place.

• Receive Borough and County Councillors reports

Councillor Philip Hudson

Last year saw us once again dealing with COVID and the effects it has had on our communities. Thank you to the Parish Council and residents for all the hard work that they have done to keep our communities safe. We are now in a period of living with Covid where most of our vulnerable residents and families have been inoculated and all restrictions have been removed. I feel we should still be aware of what this virus can do and act in a sensible manner.

ESBC have now eventually adopted the Town Deal and will use the £23million pound levelling up investment in Burton on Trent to make it a better town to live and work and attract more visitors. The library will stay where it is and will be developed by Staffs County Council. The Market Hall has also been removed from the Town Deal. ESBC has made part of its Corporate Plan to investigate what can be done for the future of the Market Hall and to make it a viable asset to the community.

There is to be further levelling up funding and it is hoped that this will be used in Uttoxeter. ESBC has started proceedings to compulsory purchase the Maltings precinct. This process will take about 18 months. There will be further consultation with the public on future developments there.

There is a new Leader of the Council, Cllr George Allen, following the resignation of Cllr Duncan Goodfellow.

The mayor elect is Cllr Philip Hudson, Crown Ward, and the elected Deputy Mayor Cllr Chris Sylvester Heath Ward. The mayor making 13th May 2022 followed by the Civic Service in Uttoxeter on Sunday May 15^th, 2022, at 15.00hrs.

I was glad to secure funding of £1000 towards the regeneration of the play area. This is something that may be able to happen again for the financial year 2022/2023

I supported the objections of the parishioners to the proposed campsite at the within the village. The application has since been withdrawn.

I would like to thank the Chairman and all the Parish Councillors for all the hard work they do for us each year.

I look forward to working with you over the next twelve months.

• Parishioners Open Forum

Parishioner discussed the Closed churchyard and an issue with a tree in the front churchyard which is lifting the tiles and needs cutting at the root to stop any further damage. It was agreed that the Parish council would be supportive of the tree being removed and formal notification will be given from the church council for the work to be completed.

Parishioner raised the issue of cars parking on Hanbury common. It was advised to pass details on to PCSO Leathers and ensure that it is reported to ensure that information is recorded. PCSO Leathers can be reached at Timothy.Leathers@staffordshire.police.uk

The chair raised the speed limit change within the village for discussion. The cost of this will be in the region of £15,000 with a maximum exposure for the council being £10,000. The movement to 30mph was discussed with a look at a potential community speed watch initiative being mentioned once the changes are in place.

The chair explained that £10,000 of the reserves would be used to fund this project and opened the discussion for opinion on this. It was generally agreed that this would be beneficial for the parishioners and the village as a whole.

The chair went on to discuss the need for volunteers within the village to help with maintenance of footpaths, signs etc… The litter pick was mentioned from earlier in the month.

The portion of council tax which goes to Hanbury Parish Council as the precept, is just 0.8% .There was discussion around raising this by a sum of an average equivalent of a £1 per month (depending on Property Band)  to cover foreseeable additional cost pressures on the work of the lengthsman and village maintenance andthe idea of creating a volunteering community to support with this type of work was also raised. Parishioners agreed that events such as the litter pick were great for raising the community spirit and it was mentioned that they would be happy knowing additional funds would be going to the village directly.

Lastly, Cllr Tyson discussed the Derbyshire and Derby Minerals Local Plan which outlines proposed extraction sites within the county. One proposed site is in the Scropton and Foston area and involves the extraction of 3 million tonnes of minerals over a 6-year period commencing in 2030. Concerns for Hanbury are the potential increase in HGV traffic on the A515. The consultation document can be viewed at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/mineralslocalplan

• Any Other Business

None

Meeting closed at 21.04pm

Date of Annual Meeting of the Council: 7.30pm on Monday 16^th May 2022

Parish Council Information can be found on the internet at – https;//www.hanburyparishcouncil.org.uk