Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the
Albrighton & District
Civic Society
held
at APC Office, 82B
on
Monday 7th February 2011 at 2pm
Present
:
Peter Woodman - Chairman
Rod Smith – Secretary
David Hughes - Treasurer
Ron Kidson
Peter Leigh
Mike Pitchford (MP)
David Beechey – ex-officio, representing
Donington-with-Boscobel PC
Michael Ward – ex-officio, representing
Albrighton PC
1.
Apologies received from Hugh Hughes, David Murray, Malcolm G Pate (MGP)
2.
Minutes of Meeting of 6th December 2010 were approved.
It
was agreed that a post-meeting note agreed by RS/DB would be added regarding
item 4 of the Minutes of 5th November 2010. [Post Meeting Note: DB had looked again at the Parish Plan and
advised that he had found that 78% of the recommendations had been
fully or partially met and for those not met it was almost entirely
attributable
to factors beyond our local control. DB disagreed that “councillors
were now apparently disassociating themselves from the plan" and his comments at the meeting merely referred to the unsatisfactory performance
of Robert Money, the individual who had initially been employed to
provide professional support.]
3.
Main Current Issues
a. Eyesores Glen
McGrindle will meet PL, PW, JB at PL’s house on 10 February and main
item is to learn who does what at SC concerning the street scene so
that we may chase up the correct person.
DB/MW reported no progress on the
passing of responsibility for some maintenance tasks from SC to APC but
they would pursue it further.
Weeding: MW will ask Bob Davis (Brian
Bennett’s deputy at SC) about suitable courses for R Giles (APC workman)
and also about the transfer of SC funds to APC for weeding etc so that APC
could undertake the task.
MW
was thanked for organising the clearing the paths near the Chinese Take-Away
which now looked much better. ACTION: DB/MW
It was felt that, while the benches
outside The Old Bush may need some maintenance in the future, we would concentrate
on getting the more serious items, owned by the Councils, dealt with first.
b) Entrance
Scheme. E-on had been helpful in meeting ADCS at the Kingswood/A41 site to advise on
excavations for planting new trees which is planned for 7 March (meet
on site at 9am). E-on will visit the site 1 week beforehand to advise
further. MW said that Bridgnorth has un-used trees and JB will follow
up to obtain. A Weeping Willow had been donated by HH and a
It was agreed that as we have plenty
of work to do at our Entrance Scheme we would not participate in the National
Tree Planting Scheme, although we support the initiative.
MP
suggested that we find sponsors to carry out maintenance on the many
sites – could be a company located nearby. MP had spoken to Stuart Moore
who was willing to mow one of the sites on a regular basis. DH would
ask Michael Marriot at D Austin Roses if they would maintain a site
near their premises. MP would lead a task group to design and obtain
small plaques which would be installed on the sites showing the names
of sponsors ( providers of plants, labour and maintenance). RS can help
with plaque design. ACTION: DH and MP
It
was noted that SC Planners had refused permission for D Austin Roses
(DAR) to extend their water reservoir used for watering and this may
mean they could relocate in order to grow their business. ADCS felt
that losing a major employer would be bad for the local economy and
DH will contact DAR to find out more and to see how we could support
their plans. Councillor members said that APC recommended the extension
but SC continued to ignore local views. ACTION: DH to speak to DAR
JB not
aware that Brian Bennett had done anything in respect of the weeds at
the base of the wall adjoining Nos 5 & 6 Cross Road PW to pursue and to include the hedge at No 1 The Orchard
MW to
write to Network Rail asking them to remove litter on the embankment adjoining
the station.
The meeting agreed that we seem to
spend a lot of time and effort in trying to get SC to do the right and sensible
thing and that local views seem to be ignored.
PW
will chase up SC about progress on our application for LJC Grant for
the Scheme. ACTION: PW
4. Other
items
Pedestrian
crossing - not to be pursued.
Civic
Day – refer to March meeting.
Albrighton
Station
Discussions are on-going with Peter
Isles to arrange a further meeting with Network Rail. We will continue to
support APC who is leading on this issue.
PW has made a pre-application to Heritage
Lottery fund to test if there appears to be any chance of obtaining funds
to buy the Station Building and use it as a possible Local Museum/Arts & Crafts Exhibition/Craft Studio and similar.
Village
Green
Work has commenced on some remedial
work to the service road.
DB reported that he was still unable
to trace ownership of this road, stating that the problem needs to be sorted
out and that SC should accept responsibility/ownership.
MW to
speak with Bob Davis re. the surface water between Nos 30 & 33 High Street.
PW to
speak to the Land Registry to seek advice on the principle of ownership & to clarify who is responsible for Common Land.
The
Old Smithy
DB reported that David Thompson had
given a presentation to the PC.
No further planning application had
been received for the proposed 9 houses on the Smithy site.
Planning
applications
Stroudley’s
yard – 1 x 4 bed detached house
ADCS has already written an objection
to the above planning application and continues to support the Parish Council
in its objection to this application
PL drew
members’ attention to the WestMASA meeting at Coleshill on 26th February 2011 he said he would be attending and invited others to join him.
DB reported
on a ‘Toolkit’ of grant money to be made available for approved regeneration
schemes in small market towns.
JB raised
the subject once more of an ‘unsung heroes award’ it was agreed to refer to next meeting.
JB suggested
having a meal for members & wives this was agreed to be a good idea and would be further discussed at the next
meeting.
The Treasurer reported a balance of
£1337 with no outstanding debtors or creditors.
Flower
Show – ADCS had been approached to see if it would be willing to sponsor an award to be presented at the annual flower show on 2nd July – this was agreed.
MP said
the Albrighton Walking for Health Group had agreed to do a leaflet drop
for the Flower Show and that this might be an opportunity for ADCS to
also include a promotional leaflet – this was agreed.
Next
meeting
2
p.m. Monday 7th March 2011 at Alb PC Offices, 82B
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