Annual Parish Meeting April 2018 – Minutes
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Monday 23th April 2018 7.00pm
MINUTES OF THE DENSTONE PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING HELD ON Monday 23rd April 2018 VILLAGE HALL (7.00pm).
- Attendees: Cllr P Robotham (in chair), Cllr E Edmonds, Cllr K Stratton, Cllr R Wright and Cllr J Mountney. Apologies; Borough Councilor Smith, Cllr S Ratcliffe and Cllr J Turner
- Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 24th April 2017 these were signed by Cllr Robotham as a true record and agreed by all.
- Chairman’s Report. Was written by Jacquie Payne but read out by Councilor Robotham and a copy is available upon request from the clerk.
- Any Other Matters – The Ryecroft footpath was raisedasit has not been finished properly. Clerk to look at the planning application. Also look to see if there should be crossing on the road.
- Judging of children’s posters. The posters were judged at the end of the Parish Council meeting.
Parish Council Annual Report 2018
Welcome to the Annual Parish meeting and an update of what has happened in the last year. I resigned in February 2018 from Parish Council and as Chairman but agreed to write this report for the new Chairman to read.
There have been a few changes to Parish Council in the last year. Chris Podmore, Barrie Hinton and Stuart Smith all resigned. I would like to thank them all for their hard work and contribution to the Parish Council.
We have been joined by Jess Turner and Jo Mountney. I hope they enjoy their time on the Parish Council.
Sam Bailey our Lengthsman also resigned and I would like to thank Sam for all his hard work in and around the village. Dan James is our new Lengthsman.
We were highly commended again by the Best Kept Village judges. The Parish Council have decided to enter again this year. Pauline and John Jilbert continue to keep Denstone looking lovely all year and local residents and businesses also help. Thank you all.
The children at All Saints have again produced the posters for the Best Kept Village competition and I would like to thank them, and their teachers, for their help.
We have a new noticeboard near the fountain which was made for us by Philip Harding and I hope it will impress the Best Kept Village judges this year. Time will tell but thank you Phil for this.
The sun shone for us last year at Denstone Show and we had more entries than ever. The Show generates money that is used for projects within the village. We renovated the War Memorial last year with money raised from the Show. Mick Delf helped with the groundwork on this. Thank you, Mick, for your hard work.
Parish Council need your help if the Show is to continue as Barrie Hinton, who has organised the Show so successfully, has now stepped down. Please speak to any of the councillors or contact our Parish Clerk, Julie Sadler, if you would be interested in helping.
The Parish Council secured grants from ESBC Neighbourhood Fund, The Big Lottery Fund, Councillor Atkins and Councillor Smith to enhance the play area on Oak Road. This will involve resurfacing the area and incorporating a crocodile hopscotch and two new benches. This work was completed in March.
As many of you will have noticed the walk to Ryecroft School has now been completed. Ruth Bednall and the other parents who lobbied so hard for this should be congratulated on the successful outcome.
The Parish Council has met with Richard Rayson and Trevor Mellor from Staffordshire County Council Highways and a number of traffic issues were discussed including a parish wide 20 mph speed limit and gateways on the extremes of the village to define it as a community. We have also asked SCC to arrange a new speed and volume count on College Road. The Parish Council will continue talks about the various traffic issues with SCC and give updates at the monthly Parish Council meetings.
The first Denstone Diary was circulated to all households in the Parish. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Sue Edmonds has agreed to produce this again and I would like to thank her for her continued hard work on this.
As some of you may know, the small plot of land by the Churnet before the bridge came up for sale. As a result of donations from members of the community, the Parish Council have been able to buy this land for use by Denstone residents. I would like to thank everyone who donated.
To commemorate the end of the fighting in World War 1, Sue Edmonds suggested the planting of red poppies in various locations in the parish. SCC have agreed to our suggested areas and village organisations are going to help with this. We have bought some plug plants and seeds so if you would like some seeds for your own gardens please contact Sue. We are also hoping to have a beacon on the Weaver Hills and are talking to Wootton Parish Council about this.
I must thank my fellow councillors and Julie Sadler, our Parish Clerk, for their support and hard work on your behalf.
Thank you too for attending tonight. There is now an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have.
Jacquie Payne