The Shelsleys Parish Council
Summary of the meeting of the Shelsleys Parish Council held: March 7th 2007

Present: Mr D Styles (Vice Chairman),  Mrs A .Holloway,   Mrs E .Stewart, Mr B Mills,  Prof.  D. Smith and Mr C. Welsh. Clerk (Mrs J. Speyer).

Apologies:  Mr A Champion, Mr M Phillips, Mr J Stinton, County Councillor Farmer and District Councillor Dunne.

Affordable Housing:The Vice Chairman welcomed Gwenda Cope and Sharon Rivers from Festival Housing and the Rural Housing Enabler Nigel Potter.
Festival Housing has 8,500 affordable properties in Hereford and Worcester.Gwenda Cope explained the criteria for occupation of affordable housing within the parish. Some properties would be purely for rent others would be available to purchase up to 80% of the value. Also explained was the criteria for supplying affordable housing as a percentage of of the total properties built  in a development. Four local sites have already been identified and the planners have commented on them. This information sent to the Rural Housing Enabler last April has not yet been seen by the Parish Council. Mr Potter will forward the comments. The Parish Council was urged to help with identifying the owners of suitable plots of land. A meeting with members of the parish was thought to be the next step and should be publicised in the Teme Triangle. Contact information, leaflets and  DVD were left for the Councillors.

Elections: Councillors Smith, Mills and Holloway will not be standing at the May elections. Nomination papers should shortly be received by the Clerk who will distribute them.

Highways: Highways Report. It appears that the changeover from Highways Partnership to Highways Control has put pressure on the department and some of the maintenance jobs are falling behind. There are signs of subsidence at Homme Castle and the hill above Forge Mill. A letter will be sent to Highways Control. Flooding at Brinkhill has caused problems with the edge of the road. The Safety Audit at Shelsley Kings concluded that a reflective vergemaster sign be placed at either end of the riased to kerb to increase visibility in the dark.

Planning: [Cllr B Mills left the room.] To consider 07/00248/FUL and 07/00249/LBC Bank House Barns to residential conversion. There was no objection to the proposed plan. [Cllr Mills returned] To receive MHDC decisions. 06/00831/FUL Kingsmead retrospective application approved. 06/01551/FUL & 06/01552/LBC Hillside Farm approved. 06/01655/FUL The Old Post Office Stanford approved.

Bus Service: The new bus service will start on April 12th. Mrs Dolman will be thanked by the Parish Council for her hard work in having this service re-instated.

Parish Lengthsman: The role of the Lengthsman was explained. WCC will fund this post to a total of £2,000 per annum. It was decided to formally apply and the post will be advertised.

Correspondence: Litter picking. The suggested initiative from the Abberley Parish Council will be pursued. Letter from Hariett Baldwin prospective candidate at the next General Election. CALC had given Parish Clerks instructions on political parties attending meetings. Blue Sky Thinking. The Parish Council has been invited to collect the certificate for producing a Parish Plan.  West Midlands Regional Conference 30th March 07. No-one to attend.

Parish Map:  An example of the Great Witley Parish Map was displayed. For the Shelsley parish the projected cost would be in the order of £2,000 to £2,500.00. Funding would be sought from sponsors. The Parish Council was reminded that it could not act as a “business” and was not in a position to risk electors contributions to the Precept.

Date of next meeting: May 16th 2007. 7pm, Shelsleys Village Hall.

{Summary by Jan Speyer, Clerk to the Shelsleys Parish Council}

For further information, contact Parish Clerk Jan Speyer

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