A meeting of Dorstone Parish Council was held in the Old School Hall Dorstone on 
Tuesday March 14th 2023 in the Village Hall Dorstone at 7-30pm

The meeting previously arranged for Wednesday March 8th 2023 was postponed due to weather conditions.

Present; Councillor T Usher, Chairman, Councillor L Aubrey-Cosslett, Councillor T Arnott, Councillor B James, Councillor A Phillips, Councillor L Wright & Mr C Hendy Parish Council Clerk.

Apologies
Councillor D Phillips, work commitment, Golden Valley Police, no availability. Ward Councillor J Hewitt, family illness

No declaration of interest made.

The minutes of February 8th 2023 having been circulated, were approved

Reports:
a) No report received from the Ward Councillor
b) Golden Valley Police, March report circulated, speed check carried out on B4348, no vehicles exceeding the limit. 
c) Golden Valley local community Police Charter with Parish Council, which is updated annually, was reviewed, documents had been circulated. The current concern is for speeding traffic on the B4348. Agreed to renew the charter. 

Planning
Planning Decision 
APPLICATION NO & SITE ADDRESS: Planning Consultation - 223872 - Oak House, Dorstone, Hereford, Herefordshire HR3 6AP 
DESCRIPTION: Proposed installation of 13 ground mounted Solar PV Panels in a single row in the garden at the rear (South) of the house.
Permission granted with conditions

APPLICATION NO & SITE ADDRESS: Planning Consultation - 223429 - Llanafon Cottage, Dorstone, Hereford, Herefordshire HR3 6AT DESCRIPTION: Proposed 3-bay garage with first floor home office to replace an existing barn structure
Permission granted with conditions

Finance
a) Pay Clerks salary February & Clerks salary increase April 2022 to January 2023 £269.38, council expenses £107.50, total £376.88
c) Pay HMRC £130.72
d) Pay Hall Hire Charges April 2022 to March 2023 £280 which included a donation of £10 for heating.
f) To make a donation towards the provision of the Public Conveniences at the rear of the Village Hall. £200
  

Payments authorised

To consider renewing HALC membership 2023-2024 The clerk had contacted HALC,
there is no service level agreement on queries/advice sought. The Chief Executive had been unwell recently, the clerk had raised a query regarding new lengthsman scheme & received a prompt reply from the deputy Chief Executive. after discussion Councillors agreed to renew membership 2023-2024, cost £480.53. Councillors requested HALC to adopting a service level agreement with councils.
, 
Repositioning the Bus Stop signs.
Preliminary agreement was a stop by the village shop association building, Hereford Bound, & by the Village Hall railings, Hay-On-Wye bound

Balfour Beatty/Herefordshire Council, 
Information on grant for Lengthsmen Scheme 2023-2027 had been received, the proposal is for funding for the lengthsmen scheme from 2023-2027. Initially grant was offered to PC employing a lengthsmen, based on C & U roads, (Dorstone 31.8 km), payment (£94.15 per km) to be used by the end of March, agreement would have to be signed, work agreed & completed by end of March, any money not used would return to the pot for 2023-2024. Payment per KM will therefore hopefully increase.
It was a new type of agreement, HALC assistance was requested, Clerk discussed with the chairman.
It was considered impossible to convene a meeting, sign/submit an agreement & arrange for any work to be completed by end of March 2023.
The clerk was awaiting information on the year 2023-2024.

b) The Public Realm event, hosted by Balfour Beatty, information given was circulated

Information from Herefordshire Association Local Councils had been circulated including info corner. 

 Elections 2023 Notices of elections have been posted on the PC noticeboard; the clerk had received 7 nomination forms & these were available. Councillor T Arnott indicated he would not be seeking re-election

Great British Spring Clean 2023
Great British Spring Clean 2023 is back, support for this year's mass action campaign, which takes place from 17 March to 2 April.
Keep Britain Tidy, we believe that every act to protect the environment, no matter how small, makes a difference.
Last year 587 town and parish councils and local authorities took part.
With the small number of councils involved & the timing of the campaign councillors decided not to participate.

Snodhill Castle Preservation Trust, Councillor Arnott had received a request to ask the PC to support an application to the Heritage Lottery fund for their project “Fortifying the future”. Councillor Arnott had circulated information earlier today, the clerk indicated he had not had an opportunity to read this and suggested a decision was deferred until the next meeting.
The information circulated was discussed & councillors considered they had enough information and agreed to send a letter of support when the application was made.

Herefordshire Council; Information circulated
      a) Partnership Information bulletin
      b) Talk Community
      c) Leader’s newsletter
      d) Information on display of Plans for replacement Primary School at Peterchurch
      e) Herefordshire Children’s Services; Children’s Commissioners report
   
Date of next meeting; April 12th 2023


 No further business the chairman thanked those who had attended & closed the meeting at 09.20pm.

Signed……………………………… Councillor T Usher

April 11th 2023