A Meeting of Dorstone Parish Council was held in the OLD SCHOOL Hall Dorstone on Wednesday 10th January 2024 at 7-30pm
Present; Councillor A Phillips, Chairman, Councillor D Edmiston, Councillor S Goodwin, Councillor B James, Councillor D Lonsdale, Councillor J Morgan, Councillor D Phillips & Mr C Hendy Clerk.
Also present; Ward Councillor P Price
Apologies; Golden Valley Police
No declaration of Interest.
The minutes of December 13th 2023, which had been circulated, were agreed
Reports
a) Golden Valley Police, January 2024 report circulated
b) Ward Councillor Philip Price, updated the council on issues at Herefordshire Council and the proposed increase in precept for 2024-2025. His January 2024 report had been circulated.
c) Office Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) Road Safety Fund, the General Criteria had been circulated & was discussed, considered no areas that funding could be applied for.
d) d) Newsletter from the OPCC had been circulated
Finance
Pay Clerks salary £141.28 December 2023
Payment authorised
Councillors considered moving money from current account to savings account, clerk to request details from NatWest
Openreach Full Fibre roll out
Update bringing Full Fibre to Peterchurch exchange, cut off date for the scheme is flexible, target nearly met. There was still confusion if parishioners signed up to the voucher scheme, then subsequently cancelled, and the £4500 grant. The clerk to seek further information
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Highway Issues
a) Update on autumn drain cleaning, Councillor A Phillips had spoken with the lengthsmen, hoped to complete village section shortly, working on the grips/drains, then start parish section.
b) Balfour Beatty Living Places Annual Plan Delivery Session
BBLP together with Herefordshire Council will be delivering sessions in the New Year to provide information to Stakeholders on the services they deliver on contract along with the 24/25 Annual Plan. Three meetings are being held information & registration details circulated.
c) Lengthsmen Scheme 2024-2025, Parish Council had been invited to express an interest. After discussion councillors agreed to express an interest
d) Lengthsmen scheme 2024-2025,
For the 24-25 Lengthsman Scheme, a sum of £60 per KM of C and U road network will be awarded to Parish Councils.
Dorstone KM 6.4C road, KM 25.4 U Road, 31.8 Total KM Rural £1908 base figure
There is a potential to increase funds up to a further £60km, council will match pound for pound amount parish utilises from precept.
After discussion councillors agreed with match funding.
e) Recent flooding in the parish, two areas affected, by Oaklands & Bridge Cottage. There are now no sandbags funded by Herefordshire Council, a small supply had been kept at Church House, these had been collected & used to assist with the prevention flooding at the areas affected. Bridge Cottage, it appeared the bridge could not cope with the quantity of water, this resulted in the water spilling onto the road and into the drive of Bridge Cottage. Councillors agreed this should be raised with Herefordshire Council with a request to inspect the bridge for blockage and indicate responsibility for cleaning under the bridge. Councillor D Phillips would forward pictures of the flooding, Councillor Price suggested raising with Mark Averill
Defibrillator
a) Councillors considered a request by the Village Hall committee for the parish council to be responsible for the defibrillator.
From Village Hall
“Since the demise of the Dorstone front Room (DFR) the maintenance has been taken over by Gill Burd and now by Allan Frazer- Rush, on an informal interim basis, pending finding an alternative arrangement. Maintenance requires periodic replacement of pads and batteries. the cost being around £400 over two years. The Village Hall Committee are therefore seeking a long-term arrangement for the maintenance of the defibrillator including organising training for volunteers who would be prepared to help if there was an emergency.
As this is a community facility for the benefit of all parishioners it seems to us that the Parish Council is the best village body to take over responsibility for its maintenance. We appreciate that this would need to feature in your future budgets and therefore we can help cover any costs for the first year and help facilitate any training needs for volunteers”.
Following the closure of DFR in October 2022 the Parish Council had enquired about the future of the defibrillator. Gill Burd had assumed responsibility, with funds left, after the closure of DFR, to cover the costs for the next 5-10 years. The Dorstone Village Shop Association had been asked to cover insurance.
Councillors considered the request, agreed it was essential this valuable equipment was available in the parish & agreed in principle to take on responsibility for the defibrillator. They requested Gill Burd was invited to the next meeting to explain the maintenance requirements.
Councillors understood a defibrillator should be available within 3 minutes of a person requiring assistance, considered The Bage was probably outside the limit.
Website
Consider hosting arrangements for website.
Herefordshire Association Local Councils indicated
“The cost for your website to be migrated to one of HALC’s pro-forma site would be a one-off cost of £650. Annual support is then £100 Annual hosting fee is £50
And the bi-annual cost of a .gov address is approx. £150
If Council kept the current website host this would be £75 per year, Mr Usher would be willing to continue administering the site. Not many update requests from other parish organisations.
The council could register for a.gov.uk address, with councillors having an individual.gov.uk address, this can only be provided by approved sites
Councillor James had researched different host providers with costing from initially £2.49-£6.54 per month.
Agreed clerk to make further enquiries.
Herefordshire Council
Herefordshire Council; Information circulated
a) Partnership Information bulletin
b) Talk Community
c) Leaders new letter
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Next Meeting
Date of next meeting; February 14th 2024
Chairman thanked those who had attended & closed the meeting at 09.25
Signed …………………..Councillor A Phillips
February 21st 2024