DRYBROOK PARISH COUNCIL

 

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 15^th October 2024 at 7.00pm at The School Room, Holy Trinity Church, Drybrook

Present:

Parish Councillors:     Dave Middlemiss (Chairman), Richard Moore, Pam Caton and Pat Weaver

Also present:               County Councillor Terry Hale

District Councillor Trevor Roach

District Councillor Jackie Fraser

April Seabrook (Clerk)

1 member of the public

 

1. Apologies for absence

Cllrs John Print & Cathy Blake, Michael Garland, Roy Bardo and Malcolm Jones & District Councillors Shaun Stammers

 

 

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

None

 

3. County & District Councillor Reports

District Councillor Trevor Roach suggested that perhaps a cycle path/walkway could be erected once the work on the railway tunnel has been completed.

 

District Councillor Jackie Fraser informed Council that the Council Tax Levie for 2d homes and empty unfurnished homes in the Forest of Dean area would be increasing.

 

She also informed Council that there was now a Policy in place for Public Health Funerals where the deceased had no family or assets to pay for a funeral themselves.

 

Cllr Fraser stated that there is going to be a new scheme starting in January 2025 for residents who would like to receive advice on how to keep their homes warm and how to save money on their gas and electric bills.

 

She also stated that the Government has increased the number of homes that the Forest of Dean District Council need to build by 2041 from approximately 6,000 to 11,040.  The District Council are putting a case forward to try and reduce this number.

 

She also stated that a fitter from the District Council had tried to access the toilets but the door was locked, Cllr Moore stated that he had a key and so hopefully by the next meeting there will be some news about the public toilets building that can be reported to Council.

 

County Councillor Terry Hale informed Council that the bridge work being carried out on Drybrook Road has nothing to do with the quarry.

 

4. Declarations of Interests

None

 

5. Requests for Dispensations

None

 

6. Minutes of the Meeting held on 17^th September 2024

It was resolved to accept the minutes of the meeting, which was held on 17^th September, as an accurate record of the meetings, and were signed by the Chairman.

 

7. Planning matters

None

           

8. Donation to Lydcare

Council agreed to no longer give Lydcare an annual donation of £500, however they would consider a donation request if a Grant Application Form was received from the charity.  It was agreed that no further donation would be granted this year as the Council have already sent a donation from this year’s budget of £500 to cover the monies that Lydcare should have received during the 2023/24 financial year.   Action: Clerk

 

 

9. Resignation of Cllr Jacky Johnston

Council noted the resignation of Cllr Jacky Johnston and that the Forest of Dean District Council had been informed.  The Council gave a vote of thanks for all the work Jacky had carried out during her time being a Parish Councillor.

 

 

10. Training and Development Policy

Council agreed to differ this item until the November meeting.  Action: Clerk

           

 

11. Conclusion of External Audit

Council noted the conclusion of the external audit and that the following comments had been made:

‘The AGAR has not been approved with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015:

• The AGAR does not contain the correct minute reference of the approval by the smaller authority for Sections 1 and 2, but we have reviewed the minutes from the meeting where the AGAR was approved which enabled us to verify the correct order of approval occurred.

 

The smaller authority has disclosed that it made proper provision during the year 2023/24 for the exercise of public rights, by answering ‘Yes’ to Section 1, Assertion 4.  However, as was reported last year, we are aware that it failed to do this and therefore should have answered ‘No’ to this Assertion.  It has also disclosed that it took appropriate action on all matters raised in reports from internal and external audit, by answering ‘Yes’ to Section 1, Assertion 7, which, on the basis of the above is not correct.

 

The AGAR was not accurately completed before submission for review:

• The balance brought forward from the previous year of £74,092 (Section 2, Box 1) does not agree to the prior year balance carried forward of £74,270 (Section 2, Box 7) and the reason for this discrepancy was unknown.
• Section 2 Box 7 (£74,270) does not equal to Section 2, Box 8 (£74,092) and the reason for this discrepancy is unknown.
• The figures in Section 2, Boxes 4, 7 and 8 of the prior year comparative column do not agree to the prior year final signed AGAR.

 

The smaller authority has not addressed the ‘except for’ matters by the external auditor when qualifying the prior year annual return.  Section 2, Box 9 for 22/23 has been left blank.

 

• The Annual Internal Audit Report focuses on a series of internal control objectives covering an authority’s key financial and accounting systems and concludes whether, in all respects, the internal control objectives were being achieved throughout the financial year to a standard adequate to meet the needs of the authority. We note that the internal auditor has not provided an adequate explanation where the response given is ‘No’ for internal control objective H.  The Annual Internal Audit Report will inform the authority’s response to Assertions 2 and 6 in the annual governance statement.  As a result, the authority must ensure that assurance has not been provided via these control objectives has been sought elsewhere.’

 

 

12. Response to the District Council’s Amendments to its Council Tax Support Scheme

Council agreed to that a response would be sent to the District Council stating that the Council preferred option 1 as the consequences of option 2 would increase the cost to £47.41 per parishioners which the Parish Council would need to cover by increasing their Precept.  Action: Clerk

 

13. Lithium-Ion Battery Campaign

Council agreed that a letter would be sent to Parliament to support the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill.  Action: Cllr Print

 

14. Response to the District Council’s Review of Polling Districts, Places and Stations

            Council agreed to send a response to the District Council stating that they would be happy for The Band Room to continue to be the Polling Station, however FODDC need to assist in making parking in the car park easier on Polling Day.  Action: Clerk

 

15. Councillor Advocacy Scheme Meeting

Cllr Middlemiss gave the following report:

 

COUNCILLOR ADVOCACY SCHEME

 

Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson created the councillor advocacy scheme to create and sustain closer relationships between neighbourhood policing teams and parish/town councils across Gloucestershire, to improve visibility trust and confidence in policing.

 

Each parish/town council has been invited to nominate a councillor to become a councillor advocate, who will then attend meetings on a quarterly basis with their respective Neighbourhood Policing Team inspector. Councillor advocates are also provided with a point of contact at Gloucestershire’s Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) who will be able to support them with liaising with their neighbourhood team as well as in answering queries councillors might have.

 

Cllr Middlemiss on behalf of Drybrook Parish Council attended the Forest of Dean Councillor Advocacy Scheme meeting at Coleford Police Station on the 30^th September.

 

The meeting included the following:

 

Safer Gloucestershire Co-ordinator (based in the OPCC) gave an overview of Community Safety Partnerships and the Safer Gloucestershire Board.

 

Neighbourhood team input

 

Priorities for Forest policing team:

 

Drugs

 

Police have undertaken warrants, implemented closures and partial closures of premises, undertaken stop searches and arrests and have been collecting intelligence on vulnerable people.

 

 

ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour)

 

Linked to drugs and wider issues.  Police have been busy over the summer; this is expected with the school holiday.  Targeted patrols have been undertaken in identified ASB hotspot areas, Police have a member of staff who works on Anti-Social Behaviour injunctions (ASBi).  Also undertaken early intervention work, eg Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), neighbourhood disputes and mediation,

 

Road safety

 

KSIs (Killed and Seriously Injured figures) have been going up on Forest roads, so this is a priority for Forest police.  Drybrook said they had had some serious near misses (they hadn’t been able to get hold of community Speedwatch).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crime Stats for Drybrook

 

The crime stats for Drybrook are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16. Councillor Reports

Cllr John Print was unable to attend the meeting but sent the written report below:

 

Flooding in Hawthorns Road

I attended a house in Hawthorns following a complaint about flooding and the reluctance of Highways to accept responsibility for overflowing drains in the road.

After looking at the offending drains myself and assuming that Highways checked the drainpipes between each drain to ensure that they were not blocked, I concur with them that the drain holes themselves are not blocked and that blocked drains in that part of Hawthorns is not the issue with the drains overflowing.

 

The fact is that the drains are being overrun with the sheer amount of water running down the road from the blocked culvert at the quarry.

It is of my opinion that the brook leading to the culvert is causing the culvert to block due to it being severely overgrown and possibly in need of dredging.

I suspect that that part of the brook also belongs to the quarry. Are you able to pursue this line of thought for us?

 

I have, however, reported blocked drains in Morse Road and Hazel road online through the Gloucestershire County Council online reporting tool and I would encourage Councillors and Parishioners alike to do the same when they notice that drains are blocked.

https://fixmystreet.gloucestershire.gov.uk/

 

Ruardean Woodside Playground

I visited Roebuck Meadows playground with Cllr Pat Weaver and met the two gentlemen, Mr Tony Cooper and Mr Brian Watkins, who have done a huge amount of work removing the overgrowth from the site (another neighbour gave great assistance using a digger as well, but I don’t know his name).

 

It has occurred to me that these people are effectively volunteers working on property owned by the Parish Council and as such need to be protected by our insurances, therefore I suggest that we introduce a volunteer policy as soon as possible.

 

I discussed with them spending the remaining 106 money to replace and update the existing play equipment in the playground and this was very well received.

I am currently working on getting quotes for the replacement equipment and considering applying for grants in order to provide a really good modern play area.

 

We also discussed adding a bench for parents to sit on (possibly funded through sponsorship) and the condition of the gate into the playground,dr which is not currently fit for purpose and needs relocating slightly with a more robust fixing system rather than the small wall that it is currently fixed to.

 

Public Toilets

I have still not received any request for the keys from FDCC to gain access to the public toilets for the purpose of assessing them for refurbishment.

 

 

Salt bag storage bin

I have found I difficult to find anything more substantial than we already have, the only more substantial storage container that I have found is called  a 750L CEMbox and is very expensive at between £700 and £900.

 

 

 

17. Clerk’s Report

The Clerk reported that she had:

 

The £500 donation to Lydcare, which had been agreed at the March 2023 meeting has been paid.

 

Informed FODDC that Cllr John Print will be attending the ‘Thriving Communities’ meeting on Monday 4^th November.

 

Received a several complaints from the residents regarding the traffic that is being diverted due to the roadworks that are taking place on Drybrook Road about the volume of traffic on Trinity Road and Harrow Hill.  I have forwarded these complaints to the Area Highways Manager for his consideration.  He replied stating that diversion signs were in place and if drivers chose to ignore these signs there was little that the County Council could do.

 

 

18. Accounts/Finance

 

1. Council agreed the following payments and receipts:

 

 

Payments made since last meeting.

Payee	Details	Method	Amount	Power	Budget
Lydcare	Donation	BACS (20/09/24)	£500.00	LGA 1972 s137	Grants/Donations
April Seabrook	Salary	BACS (30/09/24)	£660.30	LGA 1972 s112(2)	Staff Costs
Complete Landscapes	Grass cutting	BACS (30/09/24)	£1,026.00	HA 1980 s96	Recreation Areas
Big Box Little Box	Monthly storage rental	SO (30/09/24)	£130.00	LGA 1972 s111	Projects
Print 365	Printing of Parish Newsletter	BACS (01/10/24)	£199.99	LGA 1972 s142 (1A)	General Admin
Community Heartbeat	New pads and rescue kit for defib	BACS (02/10/24)	£88.74	LGA 1972 s111	General Admin
EE	Mobile phone	DD (04/10/24)	£28.48	LG(FP)A 1963 s5	General Admin
Seton	Posts and clips for playing field signs	BACS (09/10/24)	£131.84	LGA 1892 s8 (1)(i)	Recreation Areas
		TOTAL	£2,765.35