A Meeting of Dorstone Parish Council was held in the OLD SCHOOL Hall Dorstone on Wednesday September 13th 2023 at 7-30pm

Present; Councillor A Phillips, Chairman, Councillor D Edmison, Councillor S Goodwin, Councillor B James, Councillor J Morgan, Councillor D Phillips, & Mr C Hendy Clerk.

Also present: One parishioner, Ward Councillor P Price

Apologies were received from; Golden Valley Police.

No declaration of Interest from members in any item to be discussed

The minutes of August 11th 2023 & August 18th 2023, which had been circulated, were agreed

Resignation/Casual Vacancy, following resignation of Councillor Lisa Aubrey/Cosslett the procedure to fill the vacancy for parish councillor 
Guidelines is:
 The notice of resignation was handed to the chairman of the parish council at the meeting August 18th 2023, on receipt the resignation takes effect and the person is no longer a parish councillor. Subsequently Herefordshire Council election office has been informed, casual vacancy has occurred, notice will be displayed shortly

Reports:
Ward Councillor, August report circulated, Councillor Price updated councillors on information from Herefordshire Council.

Planning  
Planning consultation & listed building consent
APPLICATION NO & SITE ADDRESS:  232390 -232389- School House, Dorstone, Hereford, Herefordshire HR3 6AN 
DESCRIPTION: Proposed single storey ground floor extension to rear of property. Raising of roof above garage to form new gable and increase existing floor area of bedroom. Proposed balcony and external stairs.
Note; not allocated to planning officer initially, therefore no yellow notice displayed, planning officer now allocated.

Consultation passed to Councillor A Phillips who had visited neighbours.
No letters of support or objection received, representation on Herefordshire Council website noted, councillors resolved to support the application.
Councillors observed the site plan, A&A/02 shows two sets of access gates, the ones adjacent to the village hall have been removed, access sealed.

Finance
a) Clerk salary July & August 2023 £282.56
b) HMRC £105.90
c) Stream survey £202.80
d) Internal auditor invoice £48

All payments authorised 

Councillors discussed adding signatures to the bank mandate, it was agreed Councillor Edmiston & Councillor Goodwin would be added. 

Parish councillors’ information
Declaration of interest 
Herefordshire Council has informed parish councils that all parish councillor declaration of interest forms, received by them, have been scanned and will be sent out to respective parishes for uploading to parish website.
Whilst the 2011 Localism Act (Section 29) stipulates a copy of the register is available for inspection and requires that a parish council must, if it has a web-site, ensure that its register of interests is published.

Code of Conduct 
Power point training package had been circulated to all councillors on the code of conduct

Ponty-Weston Stream Survey
Ecological Report had been circulated to councillors and forwarded to Herefordshire Council.
Herefordshire Council officer reply received;
“I have now had opportunity to discuss with others and Herefordshire Council remains of the opinion that Ordinary Watercourse consent isn’t required as the works proposed are intended to return the flow of water within the channel back to the norm.
 As the parish council is carrying out these works, it is its responsibility to ensure that they are in compliance with the Environment Permitting Legislative requirements and other environmental legislation. We would therefore suggest that the parish council continues to work with the Ecological Clerk of Works and follows the advice contained within the Ecological Assessment that you shared with me”

The clerk had been informed the grant application for lengthsmen work,2023-2024, had been successful, he had tried contacting the contractor, for a quote/his availability to carry out the work, so far unsuccessfully. Councillor James would try & contact him.
Agreed if the quote was less than £900 the clerk was authorised to arrange for the work to be carried out.

Herefordshire Association Local Councils
Information from Herefordshire Association Local Councils (HALC) circulated. HALC has expressed its concern regarding the changes to display of declaration of interest forms, also Casual Vacancy. relevant dates and calculations, should be done by election office not clerk

Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue community risk plan 2025-2030 
Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue are currently preparing their strategic plan for 2025-30, known as the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), which will set out what they intend to do to manage and mitigate fire and rescue risks over the years to 2030.
They are aware of the more obvious risks in terms of fire and rescue, but we also want to make sure not missing any other important issues that may affect the communities they serve as well as those that may have an impact on the Service itself.
They have requested a short questionnaire is completed.
Councillors to forward to the clerk comments on the questions raised by the questionnaire by 1 October 2023

Information from Herefordshire Council circulated
 a) Talk Community
 b) Partnership Information Bulletin

Date of next meeting; October 11th 2023

The chairman thanked those who had attended & closed the meeting at 09-15pm

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Signed……………………. Councillor A Phillips
October 11th 2023