Minutes of the kingstone &thruxton group parish council meeting held on XXXXXX 2007 at the village hall

MINUTES OF THE KINGSTONE ANNUAL OPEN PARISH MEETING HELD ON 27 MAY 2015 AT THE VILLAGE HALL

PRESENT

Parish Councillors:

Mr Rowan, Mr P Wright, Mrs A Wright, Mrs S Walker, Mr R Piotrowski, Denise Lloyd and Mr J Watkins.

IN ATTENDANCE

Mrs R Craine (Clerk), Mr D Barton, Mr S Madison and Locality Steward Dave Atkinson.

The Annual Parish Meeting of Kingstone was formally opened. There were no issues raised by residents and no matters for discussion were notified to the clerk.

1. 
   TO APPROVE AND SIGN AS CORRECT THE MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING ON 28 MAY
   

Agreed and signed after one amendment.

2. 
   CHAIRMANS REPORT
   

Report for Kingstone .See attached.

Overall report for Kingstone & Thruxton. See attached.

The meeting was closed.

Kingstone & Thruxton Group Parish Council

This is my report for Kingstone Parish for 2014-2015

I was reluctantly elected as Chairman at the annual meeting in May 2014 with Mr. Paul Wright being elected as Vice – Chairman, Lengthsman and P3 Footpaths Officer.

I would like to express our thanks to him for all the excellent work he does in connection with the roads and footpaths network in our area.

Kirkwells Consultants were engaged and an inception meeting held May 2014 with Parish Councillors and an agreement made to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan with Mr. Clive Rowan as Chairman, I am sure you will agree he has done an excellent job.

Grant monies received from Localities of £6,950.00.

Steve Madison, Denise Lloyd, Richard Sly, Harry Cleveland and Malcolm Walker joined the Steering Group with some Parish Councillors.

Open day drop-in session at the Village Hall held on Saturday 18^th April 2015 was very well attended with in excess of 50 visitors.

Many meetings and a great deal of time and effort given by all Steering Group members, making significant contributions, now see a document which is almost ready for consultation and submission. The Neighbourhood Plan will be of great assistance in the future in planning issues as a reference document.

Annual donations were made towards Kingstone churchyard maintenance, Kingstone Village Hall and Dore Community Transport.

Parish Councillors attended an In-house Training session with Mrs. Lynda Wilcox from HALC in July 2014.

Locality Steward Linzy Outtrim for the Golden Valley area was engaged by Balfour Beatty/Herefordshire Council in July 2014 and I think there has been greater co-operation and communication than before.

Planning applications approved include Land lying to the South West of the Bank,

Kingstone & Thruxton Primary School, Gooses Foot Industrial Estate, Barn at Arkstone Court, Flavex International Ltd, Brocks Mead, 49 Green Lane, Arkstone Court Two new poultry units, Hanley Court, Archihaus development approved with conditions still yet to materialise, Land adjacent to Brantwood and Land rear of White House Drive. Reserved matters still to be agreed,

Dean Pool Two storey side and rear extension was withdrawn

Visibility and Speed at Gooses Foot Junction is still an on-going concern for everyone.

Denise Lloyd was co-opted as new Parish Councillor July 2014

A Finance Working Group was formed to oversee financial issues comprising of Derek Barton, Clive Rowan, Alison Wright and Rachel our Clerk.

A Planning Working Group was set up with Roman Piotrowski, Derek Barton and Anthony Price contacting neighbours of planning applications for comments.

A Car barrier was fitted at the Village Hall car park after damage had been caused by a vehicle, jointly funded by the Parish Council, Village Hall and a local resident.

Mrs. Carol Rowan continues to submit updates for the Hereford Times.

Mrs Lesley Fleming resigned.

Mr Jim Greenly, after many many years of dedicated attendance at meetings, comprehensive sports association reports, and a wealth of local knowledge decided not to stand for re-election and will be greatly missed at Parish Council meetings. I am sure all Parish Councillors and myself wish him well for the future.

This concludes my report for Kingstone for 2014-2015

Kingstone & Thruxton Group Parish Council

Kingstone & Thruxton Group Parish Council

This is my report for Kingstone and Thruxton Parishes for 2014-2015

It is less than 3 weeks after the General Election and we welcome our new Ward Councillor Mr. Jon Johnson who we wish well in this vital role.

Our thanks go to Mr. Jim Knipe our outgoing Ward Councillor for all his hard work and support in serving the parish over a number of years.

Police presence at meetings are few and far between but depend I suppose on shift patterns and availability. Updates and reports are always available on the Police Website.

Budget cuts continue at Herefordshire Council and we must be very mindful to add value and delete in-efficiency wherever we can.

Our main focus has been on roads, planning, efficient services and the Neighbourhood Plan.

The new service agreement with Balfour Beatty seems to be showing some improvement on the previous contractor but time will tell.

Lengthsman duties, Locality Steward and co-operation by all hopefully will improve as time goes on and bring long term benefits to our community.

Our Website hosts a wealth of information and is accessible to the more modern parishioner.

The system of Parish Councils only works effectively when all are engaged.

My thanks to all my fellow Parish Councillors for their support and attendance at meetings, the Planning Group for contacting neighbours of planning applications and the Finance Group for overseeing the accounts, without them this Council would not function efficiently.

My thanks must also go to Rachel our hard working Clerk, every year more and more legislation is imposed on Parish Councils by Government which in turn makes a greater workload for Parish Council Clerks. Rachel has already undertaken three full days training with HALC and is now registered for the Certificate in Local Council Administration (CILCA) exam.

This concludes my report for 2014-2015