DRYBROOK PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 17^th September 2024 at 7.00pm at The School Room, Holy Trinity Church, Drybrook

Present:

Parish Councillors:     Dave Middlemiss (Acting Chairman), Richard Moore, Michael Garland, and Pat Weaver

Also present:               County Councillor Terry Hale

District Councillor Trevor Roach

April Seabrook (Clerk)

1 member of the public

1. Apologies for absence

Cllrs John Print, Cathy Blake, Jacky Johnston, Roy Bardo, Malcolm Jones and Pam Caton and District Councillors Shaun Stammers and Jackie Fraser

2. Members of the public issues (15 minutes Standing Orders suspended)

None

3. County & District Councillor Reports

County Councillor Terry Hale informed Council that an Environmental Statement had been readmitted to the County Council regarding the quarry, and this is out for public viewing and consultation.

Cllr Middlemiss suggested putting an item in the next Parish Newsletter regarding this matter.

District Councillor Trevor Roach stated that there is a worklist on the car park which includes repainting the white lines and that the wildflower border will soon be planted with the help of local volunteers and hopefully some students from the college.

4. Declarations of Interests

None

5. Requests for Dispensations

None

6. Minutes of the Meeting held on 20^th August 2024

It was resolved to accept the minutes of the meeting, which was held on 20^th August, as an accurate record of the meetings, and were signed by the Chairman.

7. Planning matters
8. a) P0936/24/FUL – Meadowbank, Farm Road, Ruardean Woodside – Erection of a single storey extension and associated works to include removal of existing conservatory.

Decision: No objections

1. b) P0933/24/FUL – Fernleigh, Bents Lane, Ruardean Hill, Drybrook – Erection of balcony on the rear and side elevation. Newly proposed lean-to canopy to the rear.

Decision: No objections

1. c) P0887/24/FUL – The Newlands, Forest Road, Ruardean Woodside – Proposed extensions to front and side elevations and alterations.

Decision: No objections

1. d) Council was informed that the planning decisions of the Forest of Dean District Council would be discussed at the September meeting.

8. Public Toilets

Council agreed that District Councillor Trevor Roach would speak to the District Council to try and move the matter forward and Cllr Richard Moore offered to get a couple of quotes regarding refurbishing the public toilets.  Action: Cllr Moore

9. Emergency Plan

Council agreed to defer this matter until the November meeting when the more Parish Councillors will be present at the meeting.  Action: Clerk

10. Complaints Policy

Council agreed to adopt the Complaints Policy.  Action: Clerk

11. Finance Group

Council agreed that Cllrs John Print, Dave Middlemiss, Pat Weaver and Cathy Blake would be on the Finance Working Group to start work on the 2025/26 budget.

12. Representative for ‘Thriving Communities’ Meeting

Council agreed that Cllr John Print would represent the Parish Council at the ‘Thriving Communities’ meeting on Monday 4^th November.  Action: Clerk

13. Councillor Reports

Cllr Dave Middlemiss gave the following report from the Road Safety Group

Traffic Issues – concerns remain high regarding the speed through the village and the poor parking, the yellow lines at the school still have not been painted.  Several ideas have been floated to try and reduce the speeding of vehicles, but all require a TRO which would cost around £15k.  The group continues to seek ideas and will approach Highways for guidance and are looking for the PC to include the cost of a TRO in its next budget.

ANPR Cameras – The Parish Clerk has spoken with Andrew Middlecote regarding road safety measures. ANPR Cameras for Drybrook were discussed as an option.  DM advised that the Parish Council will discuss once DM has attended the Councilors Advocacy Meeting with the police on the 30^th of Sept with a view to budgeting for them in the year 2025.

Morse Road – A resident of Morse Road has confirmed that Severn Trent Water have agreed to mount road safety signs on the two vents on Morse Road as long as they are not screwed into.

Pavements – The T Roach, District Councillor asked why we don’t include the pavements in our discussions, he raised concerns about the width of some paths that were not suitable for prams or wheelchairs, T Hale, County Councillors advised that Highways were recently legally challenged regarding pavement widths.

Particular concerns were Drybrook Road, Morse Road, Hawthorns Road and some in Ruardean Woodside.  These issue to added to future meetings agendas

Stickers – The group is looking into the possibility of purchasing wheelie bin stickers to raise awareness of key hazards

Cllr John Print was unable to attend the meeting, but sent the following report:

• I have the new information signs for the Playgrounds and the playing field, I just need to order some fixings and a post for Roebuck meadows before putting them up.
• I haven’t yet managed to arrange a meeting yet with Mr Watkins and Mr Cooper, (who have done a huge amount of maintenance work up at the Roebuck Meadows playground), to discuss the spending of the remaining 106 money allocated to it, but it is on my list of things to arrange. I think the Parish Councils gratitude should be noted for the service to the community that Mr Watkins and Mr Cooper have provided on their own initiative.
• The playground and playing field gates at Bracken Road now have new combination padlocks on the vehicle access gates, I emailed the access code out to Councillors who are on email and April has the access codes if anyone still needs them. In addition, the pedestrian gates and the style have been cleared to allow easy access.
• I have been contacted by FODDC about gaining access to the toilets in order to assess their condition and have given my contact details, but still no one has contacted me requesting access so far.
• I have had a zoom meeting with the GAPTC who were keen for us to expand upon our reasons for not paying membership this year, I reiterated the comments that I made to them in my email and they have taken our comments on board with a view to improve in these areas and hope that we will reconsider membership for next year. They did interestingly point out that the majority of our membership fee goes to NALC, who petition on behalf of all Parish and town councils for improvement to conditions and changes in the law regarding the local government act 1972.
• I still haven’t found the time to look into alternative storage for the bags of Road salt due to the storage container in the car park collapsing op under the weight.

14. Clerk’s Report

The Clerk reported that she had:

Emailed the County Council’s Area Highways Manager asking about the three Welcome to Drybrook signs and if it would be possible to erect speed bumps outside the primary school.  He informed me that there were already signs at the entrance to the village and that the Highways Department do not installed speed bumps as the residents who live near them complain about the noise.

The donation of £200 has been paid to SARA.

A letter was received from Lydcare stating that a local councillor had informed them of a decision that the Parish Council had made in March 2023, to give an annual donation to them of £500, and that they had not received any monies from the Council.  They were informed that the £500 from 2023 would be paid to them by 20^th September and that this decision by the Council would be reconsidered at the October meeting, as having a donation that is paid out every year in perpetuity should not have been agreed, however the Council would certainly consider making a donation to them every year if the charity applied using the Grant Application Form.

15. Accounts/Finance

1. Council agreed the following payments and receipts:

Payments made since last meeting.