Meeting 3rd March 2025

DRAFT MINUTES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Meeting of the Parish Council
held on Monday 3rd March 2025
7.30 pm, at Edingale Village Hall

Members present: Cllrs Startin (Chair), Baughen, Cliffe, Mason, Meikle and Sivieri.
Present: 2 members of the public, Lichfield District Cllr Bennion, Mrs Jones (Clerk)
29/25 To receive and approve Apologies
Cllr Maskery apologised as she was on holiday, her apology was accepted.

30/25 To receive any Declarations of Interests
Cllr Startin declared an interest in item 34 (b), his land was affected by the application.

31/25 To approve the draft Minutes of the Meeting of 3rd February 2025 The draft Minutes were approved and signed.
32/25 To adjourn, to hold the public session, to reconvene the meeting Cllr Bennion stated that a meeting about the next Local Plan would take place during the week and he would forward relevant information to the Parish Council. He also reported a recent increase in petty crime in the area. Cllr Meikle asked him about progress on devolution plans; various options for a Staffordshire Unitary Authority were discussed.
33/25 To receive the Clerk’s Report Lease of land off School Lane – no further progress. Village Hall doors – now installed and paid for. CPR and AED training – a very successful event, with 20 attendees. School transport – no response from Cllr White so far.
34/25 To consider any Planning matters
(a) 25/00133/COU New Buildings Farm, conversion of agricultural building to residential annexe. RESOLVED no objection.
(b) SCC/25/0002/FULL-MAJ, New bypass bridge and conversion of existing Chetwynd Bridge from a road bridge to a pedestrian and cycle bridge. RESOLVED Clerk to submit response strongly supporting the application.
35/25 To consider Parochial Church Council’s response on churchyard maintenance and request for funding in 2025 Proposed by Cllr Sivieri and seconded by Cllr Baughen; RESOLVED to contribute to churchyard maintenance. The requested donation of £900 would be paid in April.
36/25 To consider a donation to Have a Heart Tamworth following training session RESOLVED to donate £75 to the charity following the excellent training.
37/25 To consider entry to the Best Kept Village Community Competition RESOLVED to enter the 2025 competition. Cllr Meikle would send in the entry.
38/25 To consider purchase of new noticeboards for village information The sum of £750 had previously been earmarked. Cllr Meikle would look at options and report back to the next meeting.
39/25 To receive Councillors’ Reports and questions Cllr Meikle reported back on issues discussed at the recent Parish Network meeting, he felt it was useful to attend these meetings of Lichfield District and Parish Cllrs to share information on matters concerning the area.. Cllr Startin said that the tree surgeon had sent a report to the Arboricultural Officer who had confirmed that 6 diseased trees near to Harlaston Road could be felled by the landowner. Cllr Startin would ask him to forward the information to Cllr Mason. Cllr Sivieri appealed for contributions of non-perishable items via the Mease churches to local food banks as stocks were currently very low. Cllr Sivieri then announced that he would be resigning as a Cllr as he was leaving Edingale. He was thanked by the Chair for his contribution to the Parish Council, he would be missed.
40/25 To receive Correspondence Ofwat message regarding the pipeline circulated by Cllr Meikle. Sarah Edwards MP on flooding depth gauges, Clerk to contact Environment Agency Newsletters – NALC, SPCA, SLCC, Staffordshire Highways, CPRE and membership details Staffordshire Police – Key Individual Network information. PCSO contact details Lichfield District Council invitation to Cllrs to Civic Service, 23rd March, apologies to send Invitation to rural themed seminar, Gayton 5th March, no Cllr was available to attend Village Gardeners documentation.
41/25 To receive a Financial Report See appendix 1 below. RESOLVED to approve the report.
42/25 To approve payments on the Payment Schedule
Staff costs: salary, expenses, pension and PAYE, £431.72;
RESOLVED to approve the payments. Cllr Startin to authorise.

43/25 Date of next meeting
Monday 7th April 2025, 7.30 pm. Meeting closed at 8.40 pm.
Future meetings Tuesday May 13th (Annual Parish Meeting 7pm, Annual Meeting 7.30), June 2nd, July 7th.

Appendix 1 Financial Report March 2025

(a) Bank Reconciliation
Current
Balance bf 9,904.94 Cooperative
less payments 24,488.28 Community Acc.
Plus receipts 17,879.16
Total 3,295.82 11,295.82

(b) Comparison against budget

Budget Actual
Staff costs 5,522.00 4,944
Admin 2,114.00 1,454
Room hire, subs etc
Maint. 9,170.00 8,181
Grass cutting, trees etc
S137 2,620.00 1,600
Donations, church, party

(c) Capital Funds

Cooperative Buckinghamshire TOTAL
instant access acc. Bond CAPITAL
1.43% 3%
2,853.43 53,383.14 56,236.57

Received interest
5.4.24 86.53
4.10.24 87.24
30.11.24 2,461.64

(d) Interest rate on the Coop account reducing to 1.34%, agreed to leave this as an instant access account.
(e) Cllr Sivieri to be removed as a bank signatory as he was leaving the Council.