Draft Minutes of a meeting of Shobnall Parish Council

held at Brook House, Shobnall Road

on Monday 16 January 2023 commencing at 7pm

Present

Councillor Dennis (in the Chair)

Councillors Dittmer, Donlon, Pennicott and Shilton

Also present

ESBC Councillors McKiernan and Walker

Dan Poyner

Mary Danby, Clerk

Public Forum

No questions or comments were put for consideration.

Proposed extension to the Shobnall skate park

Mr Poyner explained that he and his colleagues had been in discussions with ESBC regarding the potential to provide an indoor facility within a new leisure centre in the town for which funding had been applied for from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund. A decision on the application had been expected by the end of 2022 but there has been no news to date. These discussions had somewhat put the proposed Shobnall extension on the back burner and no further progress had been made. He had approached two skate park providers for advice/information but only one had expressed an interest – Freestyle (who had provided the original Shobnall skate park).

He said that the next stage is for a feasibility study, potentially with a conceptual design, to be done on the proposed extension, though this could only be provided at a cost.

The council confirmed that it remains interested in the project and agreed to fund the cost of the feasibility study and conceptual design to a maximum of £10,000. Mr Poyner agreed to seek a quotation from Freestyle which he would forward to the Clerk and, provided the quotation does not exceed the agreed figure, the Clerk was authorised to place the order for the work to be done.

Councillor McKiernan agreed to speak with ESBC to confirm whether planning permission would be required for the proposed extension. She also confirmed that the recent Samaritans community engagement event at the Leisure Centre interest had been expressed in providing an enhanced community area close to the current skate park which could include wild flowers, benches, lighting, QR codes, etc – funding could potentially come from the County Council for this area.

105. Apologies

Councillor Asghar

106. Declarations of Interest and receive written applications for dispensations under the Localism Act 2011

None declared.

107. Minutes

Resolved         That the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2022 be approved as an accurate record.

108. Matters arising

Minute Nos. 60 and 96: Traffic Calming: Forest Road area

An invitation had been received for Councillors to meet with Staffordshire Highways officers on a site visit. Councillors Dennis, Pennicott and Shilton had said that they were available to attend the site meeting had been arranged to take place on Friday 27 January 2023 at 10am.

109. County Councillor

Councillor Afsar was not present at the meeting and a report had not been provided.

110. Borough Councillors reports

110.1   Councillor McKiernan confirmed that the Health and Wellbeing Fair would be held on 23 February 2023 from 1-5pm at the BACT Hub, Casey Lane. She said that 28 organisations have signed up to attend the event and 1000 leaflets were being printed to publicise the event.

110.2   Councillor Walker reported that:

• The care home in Outwoods Street continues to cause problems which have yet to be addressed.
• Roadside flooding continues to be an issue in the Ward, Edward Street was cited as being particularly bad.
• The planning application for 1 Grange Street had been returned to the applicant asking for some amendments to be made prior to it being progressed further.

111. Financial matters

111.1   Schedule of payments 

            Resolved         That the above payments be approved.

111.2   Bank reconciliation at 31 December 2022 

             Resolved         That the above was a true record.

111.3   Earmarked Reserves (EMRs) 

Resolved         That the EMRs be agreed.

112. Receipts/payments to 31 December 2022 and draft 2023/24 budget

Agreed             That:

1. The report be noted.
2. It was further noted that the draft budget had been amended as requested at the previous meeting (Minute No. 99(b).

113. 2023/24 Precept declaration

Resolved         That a Precept of £37,180 be declared on ESBC.

114. Planning matters

114.1   Planning applications 

114.2   Planning Decisions

            Resolved         That the report be noted.

115. Emergency bleed control cabinet and kit package (Minute Nos. 69.1 and 83 refer)

Councillors were advised that no response had been received from Lidl. The Shobnall Leisure Centre had agreed to have an emergency bleed control unit installed on the external wall of the Centre. They had agreed to install the cabinet at no cost to the council, would monitor it on a daily basis and would hold a spare kit package. The cabinet and its contents would remain the council’s property and be included on the Asset Register and the insurance policy.

Agreed            That an emergency bleed control cabinet and kit package at a cost of £425.00 plus VAT and one replacement kit at a cost of £85.00 plus VAT be purchased from Turtle Engineering Ltd for installation at Shobnall Leisure Centre.

116. Website

It was noted that there had been 54 visits to the website in the 30 days to 09 January 2023. It was also noted that the website was currently down – the County Council’s digital team were working to restore the website as soon as possible.

Councillor Pennicott asked that the County Council’s digital team be asked if they could improve the website positioning when people search on Google as he thinks that the site is currently not easy to find. Agreed that the request be put to the team.

117. Dallow Lock mural refurbishment

The Clerk had traced the original artist, Matt Reeves. Mr Reeves had checked his records to confirm how the work had been done in 2014. If the council wanted the work done in the same manner as previously he gave a ball park cost of +/- £15,565 but he strongly advised that a proper site inspection be done to fully ascertain what needs to be done and a formal quotation could then be provided.

Mr Reeves said that there was an opportunity for the council to have the Dallow Lock designs digitally printed onto “Dibond” and then the sheets could be applied directly over the old artwork. Councillors considered this option but confirmed that they did not want to go down this route.

Agreed            That Mr Reeves be asked to undertake a site inspection and provide a formal quotation for (a) one side only to be refurbished (the side known to be damaged) and (b) for both sides to be refurbished if necessary.

118. Councillors’ questions

• Councillor Pennicott asked if it would be possible for the council to have a presence on the “Next Door” platform. Agreed that this avenue be deferred further pending the outcome of the request to the County Council’s digital team regarding the positioning of the website when searching on Google.

119. Correspondence and circulars

119.1   SPCA

The SPCA’s weekly Bulletins had been circulated to all councillors.

119.2   Highways England

The A38 Traffic Management Bulletins had been circulated to all councillors.

Date of next meeting

Monday 20 February 2023 commencing at 7pm at Brook House, 18 Shobnall Road, Burton upon Trent DE14 2BA.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm