ALTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of Council Meeting
Monday January 4th, 2010
Alton Village Hall commencing at 7.00pm
Present: Councillor I Cope
Councillor F Eyre
Councillor S Hollins
Councillor A Moult
Councillor E Bailey
Councillor E Brindley
Councillor A Forrester
In Attendance: 3 parishioners
Ms L Court, Clerk
1 member of the press
Apologies: Councillor P Ballard
Councillor A Snow
9.111 Minutes of the meeting held 7th December 2009
These were signed with one amendment to the name of the Councillor who seconded the proposal to pay the invoices. This should have read Councillor Bailey not Brindley.
9.112 Matters Arising
• Barrie Mycock confirmed attendance for next meeting
• Mike Maryon email reply regarding invitation to attend was read to the meeting. After much discussion about the email, it was decided to see what Councillor Mycock has to report at the next meeting and then move forward from there.
• Councillor Brindley asked for clarification regarding the precept figure as he had been absent from the last meeting. Councillor Forrester made the point that all the money raised through the precept is spent locally and does not go into the district and county funds and all agreed that this is very significant.
9.113 Alton Towers
• Email response from Liz Greenwood to query about advertising the ‘surgeries’was read to the meeting. It was agreed that the dates for these meetings should be advertised in local press.
• Councillor Eyre reported that he had spoken to Mark Kerrigan regarding the monitoring of the £50,000 spend on traffic monitoring. Marianne Rafferty of SCC will be reporting back on the spending of this sum. The money that has been allocated over the next 10 years has been allocated to be spent on road improvements, heritage and woodland management.
• The new Alton Towers Planning Guidance document will be available for consultation shortly.
• Councillor Eyre also reported that he had been contacted by Mark Kerrigan regarding the license application for the Pink concert. The application has been deferred for a decision until the end of January, but SMDC have already confirmed that they will not be providing an independent noise monitor.
9.114 Footpaths
Councillor Bailey reported that a parishioner had informed him of an overhanging branch on Saltersford Lane. He will contact Paul Rochfort of SCC.
Councillor Cope reported that several stiles need work but suggested that it would be best to await better weather.
9.115 Village Hall
No report was given
9.116 Lengthsman
Councillor Forrester reported that the poor weather meant that only 8 hours work had been undertaken in December and therefore no bill had been raised for this month.
9.117 Highways and Road Safety
Councillor Brindley reported that he had met with Rob Steele of SCC and made alist of priorities for the work gang, but that unfortunately, they had only been able to clear Doctos Alley before being reallocated to gritting work due to the weather conditions. Doctor’s Alley is much better, but the piles of leaves are still due to be cleared.
The work gang will not be back until April but when they return, aim to cover Nook Alley and the Post Office Alley as well as possibly taking out the overhanging tree below The Lord Shrewsbury. A report from the tree surgeons on the Horse Chestnut trees at the end of The Hurstons is awaited. They may be removed if found to be diseased.
The water problem across Hurstons Lane should have been resolved after attention from Severn Trent.
Councillor Brindley had also managed to get through to the Clarence phone number regarding gritting. The message given was that all personnel are fully deployed to keep main roads as clear as possible. There is no man power available to attend to side roads or to refill grit bins at the moment. This led to a discussion regarding grit bins in the village and Dimble Lane access in particular. The Clerk was asked to contact SCC about this through route. Clerk to action
Councillor Brindley asked for clarification regarding the ‘pedestrians crossing’ warning sign on Uttoxeter Road.
There was much discussion regarding grid clearing and road sweepers. It was agreed that Councillor Forrester would try to request road sweeping from SMDC and also ask the lengthsman to do some work on this. The matter of the grids will be referred to Councillor Mycock at the next meeting.
9.118 Parish Cemetery and St Peter’s Churchyard
No report necessary
9.119 Planning and Licensing Applications
LG/09/01199/CONSER/09/01194/FUL, Replacement side conservatory, The Old Vicarage, Dimble Lane – no objections
LG/09/01183/FUL, Construction of holiday accommodation unit, Land at Horse Road, Alton – objections were raised on the grounds that the site is unsuitable, access and egress would be dangerous and that the area is prone to flooding.
SLW/09/01206/FUL, proposed side conservatory, 2 Newton Lane, Alton Road, Threapwood - no objections Clerk to action
9.120 Planning Decisions
Refused 09/00524/FUL, Side conservatory, Ashley House, Saltersford Lane
Granted 09/00976/FUL, Raising Roof line and two storey rear extension, The Bungalow, Cedar Hill Noted by the Council
Councillor Eyre declared an open forum to allow parishioners present to ask questions/raise issues:
• A parishioner gave information regarding a vehicle parked on Malthouse Road
• A parishioner gave information regarding grit supplies for Dimble Lane
• A request was made for a grit bin around the Town Head area and on Limekiln Lane. The Clerk was asked to request these. Clerk to action
• There was some discussion on Christmas decorations especially in contrast to Denstone. It was agreed that the Parish council should take a lead in organising something for next year. The Clerk was asked to chase the request regarding the siting of a Christmas tree and to add the item to the agenda for July 2010.
Clerk to action
• After some discussion, the Clerk was asked to send a formal letter of thanks from the Parish Council to the organisers of the Christmas Roundhouse event in December. Clerk to action
• Councillor Forrester reported that refuse collections had been abandoned on Sunday and Monday and it was expected that there may not be collections on Tuesday either.
9.121 Correspondence
1. Requiring response
1. Correspondence regarding S52/S106 Agreements – Chair has responded and informed the Council of his actions
2. For information only
1. SPCA newsletters were distributed
2. Staffordshire Moorlands Parish Assembly – minutes from 3rd December
9.122 Finance
2 Councillors to sign precept requirement
Invoices for payment
Supplier Details Gross £ VAT £ Net £
Liz Court Clerks wages 274.12 0.00 274.12
Councillor Moult proposed payment, Councillor Brindley seconded and all were in favour. Clerk to action
There being no other business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed.
Signed…………………………………………………..Chairman,4th January 2010
Signed…………………………………………………...Clerk
