Parish Council Meeting December 2025

Draft Minutes of Denstone Parish Council Meeting 8^th December 2025 at 7.00pm

1. Attendees: Cllr Turner (Chair), Cllr Shermer, Cllr Oldroyd-Clarke, Cllr Mountney, Cllr Ratcliffe, Cllr Wright, Cllr S Owen, Cllr E Edmonds, Cllr M Flower and J Sadler (Clerk)

Apologies –Borough Cllr Steve Sankey and County Councillor Gary Hales.

4 members of the village present.

2. To receive declarations of interest – None
3. To approve the minutes of the 10^th November 2025 – The minutes were approved and agreed by all as a true record of the meeting. These were signed and dated by Cllr Turner (Chair).
4. Public Participation – Nothing was raised.
5. Matters Arising/Clerk’s report
   1. Correspondence Received – Cllr Turner informed the meeting that she had been approached by a member of the village that a branch up College Road had been leaning in the road and subsequently fallen onto their driveway. The tree was in the grounds of the Croft. Therefore it was agreed that Cllr Turner would draft a letter and send it to the clerk to send to the owners of The Croft asking them to remove the debris and make good the hedge. This would be sent by recorded delivery. Action Cllr Turner and the clerk.
   2. Parking in Denstone – The clerk informed the meeting that she had written once again to the PCSO regarding the parking in the village and had still not received any response. Cllr Turner, volunteered to email the PCSO and asked the clerk to forward to her the last email sent to the PCSO. Action Clerk and Cllr Turner.
   3. Railway Line Leak – The clerk informed the meeting that she had received an email from Richard Rayson (SCC) after a further email was sent out by County Councillor Gary Hales. However there was nothing in the email from Richard Rayson that we didn’t know already and that it was being looked into. Cllr Turner volunteered to email Cllr Hales thanking him for getting involved. Clerk to send email issued by Cllr Hales. Action Clerk and Cllr Turner.
   4. Extra Defibrillator – The clerk informed the meeting that there was no further update on this as she was still awaiting pictures as agreed at the last meeting. Action Cllr Ratcliffe, Cllr Turner and Clerk
6. Manhole Cover College Road –The clerk informed the meeting that she had heard further from Severn Trent stating that they are waiting for authorisation from SCC to close the road before the repair to the manhole can be actioned and this can take up to 12 weeks.
7. Planning (Permitted & Refused are decisions by ESBC) – Cllr Turner
   1. P/2025/01221 – The clerk informed the meeting that she had received confirmation from Cllr Sankey that he had now called this application in to go to the planning committee.
   2. NP Review – Cllr Turner informed the meeting that the Neighbourhood Plan review had gone through. She stated that she would like to thank everyone who came out to vote. 21% of the village came out to vote,169 voted Yes and 16 voted No. Thanks also to all the members of the Neighbourhood Plan Monitoring Group and Urban Vision for all their hard work.
8. Highways – Cllr Shermer
   1. Potholes – Nothing to add.
   2. Feasibility Report – Cllr Shermer informed the meeting that she met with 2 officers from highways plus an engineer to discuss the traffic on College road. The engineer suggested that putting in Road Humps would be the best course of action. They would need to be positioned outside the Tavern and along College Road up to Richmond House. The ‘humps’ would be the full width of the road. It was suggested that these would be placed approximately every 40-45 meters which would mean having 5 or 6 humps. These were suggestions only though as no measurements of the road were taken. The next course of action would mean a feasibility study to see if this was necessary. County Councilor Gary Hales was meeting with other members of the SCC on the 9^th December and notes from the visit were sent to him prior to that meeting. If a feasibility study was agreed it was suggested that the Parish Council ask if Oak Road could be included in it as Cllr Mountney stated that traffic is constantly speeding up Oak Road towards Stubwood Hollow. It was agreed that Cllr Shermer would ask if this could be included. Action Cllr Shermer
   3. Data B5031 – The clerk informed the meeting that this had been postponed until next year. Clerk to put back on the agenda in January 2026. Action Clerk
9. Playground – Cllr Flower
   1. Cllr Flower informed the meeting that the part of the turtle ride required on the playground had been ordered and hopefully it should be done shortly. Cllr Flower stated he would chase the order if he had not heard anything later this week. The Annual Inspection of the playground was due to take place sometime in December. Once the report was received the clerk would send this out to the councillors. Action Cllr Flower and the Clerk.
10. Village Hall – Cllr Shermer

Notice Boards on College Road – Cllr Shermer stated that she was not present at the last meeting but she had read the minutes. In the minutes it was suggested that the Parish Council take on the responsibility of the 3 notice boards in front of the village hall. The clerk confirmed that as far as she knew they were not on the list for assets owned by the Parish Council. However it was agreed that the clerk would look back in the minutes going back to 2000 and also contact the clerk at that time who still lives in the village to try and ascertain who actually owns these noticeboards. This will then be put on the next agenda for further discussion. Action Clerk

11. Finance
    1. Precept – A copy of the budget for 25/26 had been sent out to all councillors prior to the meeting confirming what had already been spent and what would be spent in the last 3 months of the financial year. Instead of going through the budget during this meeting it was agreed by the councillors that the clerk and Cllrs Owen, Mountney and Oldroyd – Clarke would meet via Zoom on 15^th December at 6:30pm to discuss this further and bring suggestions back to the next meeting on 12^th January 2026 so the full council could make the final decision. Clerk to send out a zoom meeting link. Action Clerk
12. Miscellaneous
    1. War memorial – Cllr Edmonds raised the issue of the retaining wall at the back of the war memorial. Cllr Edmonds stated that he had already got a sponsor who had offered to pay for the work to be done. The Parish Council would just need to purchase the stone required. Cllr Turner volunteered to contact a local stone mason to ask him what stone was required to match the war memorial and how much this would cost. Action Cllr Turner
    2. Strimmer for Lengthsman – It was unanimously agreed that the parish council would purchase a new strimmer for the lengthsman. The cost of this would be £750 including VAT. Cllr Edmonds volunteered to contact TaylorMade on behalf the Parish Council and make the order. Action Cllr Edmonds.
    3. Councillor Accountabilities – it was unanimously agreed that this would be moved to the next meeting as this would give the councillors chance to think if they wished to change any of their allotted areas. Action All Councillors and Clerk
    4. PC Remembrance Wreath – Cllr Turner raised the issue that at the last remembrance service the Parish Councils wreath was the only one without a centre stating who it was from. It was agreed that the Parish Council needed a logo, Cllr Flower volunteered to ask someone he knew if they would create a logo for the Parish Council. Action Cllr Flower
13. Payments – To approve the following payments:

Cllr Turner went through the payments individually. The payments were proposed by Cllr Oldroyd-Clarke and seconded by Cllr Owen. All payments apart from the payment for Susan Edmonds would be processed online. A cheque was written at the meeting by the clerk and signed by Cllr Shermer and Cllr Flower. The online payments would be set up by Cllr Shermer and authorised by Cllr Flower. All invoices would be signed and would be returned to the clerk once actioned.

25. Carolyn Hinton – Website – pay for November 2025 = £25.00 [LGA 1972 s142 & 144]
26. Clerk’s pay for November 2025 (Made by Standing Order) = Net Pay £577.71 [LGA 1972 s112]
27. HMRC – Clerk – Tax – November 2025 – £144.40
28. Clerk Employee National Insurance – November 2025 – £45.77
29. N Power – 1^st October -31^st October 2025 – £55.28
30. Stuart Smith – Lengths man – November 2025 – £59.42
31. Village Hall – 9 weeks Cleaning of outside toilet and 2 weeks hire of hall – Total £100
32. Susan Edmonds – Compost and plants for the village £79.89

1. items for Future Agenda
   1. Sign for the outside toilet
   2. Precept
   3. Notice boards on College Road

Cllr Turner ended the meeting by thanking everyone for all their hard work for another year. And she wished all members of the council and all members of the village a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Date of next meeting – Monday 12^th January 2026 at 7.00pm Village Hall Denstone