MINUTES – MAY 2026

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council of Waterhouses.

Held on Thursday, May 21st 2026 at 7.30pm in the sports pavilion in Waterhouses.

Present:
Cllr Stone, (Chair); Cllr Carr; Cllr Goldstraw; Cllr Harvey; Cllr Powley; Cllr Simpson; Cllr Turner;

Also present: Mr C Hinton, (Clerk); One member of the public.

Apologies: Cllr McCarthy; Cllr Wain;

The meeting was suspended to allow the attendant member of the public to speak. He asked about the status of the various issues raised by himself and another parishioner at the meeting in February. He was informed that all of these were awaiting decisions and action by the various authorities and that the council would continue to pursue these matters.
The resident asked that a letter of thanks be sent by the council, to a lady resident who had carried out the cleaning of the interior of the bus shelter opposite Parnhams. The clerk was duly asked to write to the lady, thanking her for her work. However, the council expressed concern that such volunteer work should be carried out by a member of the public, due to health and safety concerns.
The resident then left the meeting.

Election of Chairman & Vice Chairman;
Cllr McCarthy was elected as Chairman, (proposed by Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded by Cllr Carr).
Cllr Carr was elected as Vice Chairman, (proposed by Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded by Cllr Turner).
The new officers will be asked to complete Declarations of Acceptance of Office.
The clerk was asked to check the status of Declarations of Interests of all of the councillors.
Cllr Stone was thanked for his successful year as Chairman as he passed the meeting over.

Minutes of the last meeting:
The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, April 16th 2026 were confirmed as being a true and accurate record of that meeting and were duly endorsed by the Chairman.
Proposed: Cllr Simpson; Seconded: Cllr Stone.

Matters arising:

Clerk’s report:
• Following the recent meeting with Cllr Lyn Swindlehurst from SMDC, all councillors have been invited to attend a Workshop for Local Engagement on June 11th. The clerk will request SMDC to send each councillor the link needed to join the meeting.

Holcim Update:
• The next liaison meeting of the Cauldon Community Liaison Committee will be held at Cement Works on June 4th at 10am. Cllr Goldstraw will attend.
• The clerk was asked to write to the Environment Agency, before the CLCC meeting, to share images of a sample of the plastic debris which had been recently retrieved from a field adjacent to the A523 leading into Waterhouses. The shreds of plastic that were gathered are of a size and shape which are exactly the same of those found next to the fuel transfer plant previously. The most serious concern is that if such pieces are caught up in the baling of crops in the fields in which they were found, the plastic would easily enter the food chain as animals are fed the crops contained in the bales. The fact that the materials are made of plastic would mean that these pieces would remain in their digestive systems of the animals for a long time, leading to long term conditions. The monitoring of noise levels will also be mentioned in the letter.
The letter is to be sent to Environment Agency, the planning department at Staffs County Council, copied to the company. Cllr Goldstraw will take the sample to the meeting on June 4th.

Pavilion:
• A further problem relating to a leaking cistern has led to a monthly charge for water that is far in excess of the norm. The cistern has now been replaced and a claim may be made to compensate for the excess charged in the month. The meter is being checked frequently.
• Waterfall Junior football club has requested the hire of the pavilion on the evening of June 5th The clerk has contacted the bowls club, to ensure there is no clash with their fixture that day.
Sports Fields;
• Dog-fouling – the notices are in the process of being produced to be installed at each entrance to the area. Signage is also being prepared to control unauthorised parking on the car park.
• Cllrs Carr and Stone had arranged for the tractor to be serviced and this had now been done.

Playing Fields:
• The picnic table has been installed in the new area, extra matting will be installed asap.
• Volunteers may be available to assist in the repainting of the original play area.

Grazing Fields; None

Allotments; Two plots remain available.

Flood Risk Team: The meeting proposed for May 28th is to be rearranged.

Lengthsman: The schedules of work for the lengthsman were discussed.

Correspondence Recently Received;
• The council agreed to apply for grant funding under the Staffs Moorlands District Council Rural Regeneration Fund.
• A letter recently received regarding the switching off of the UK’s landline network was raised and will be shared with the councillors for their further attention.
• There having no further contact from Staffs County Council regarding the proposed improvements to mobile signals within the parish, the clerk will contact them seeking an update
• Connect Fibre will also be contacted regarding the provision of internet services the pavilion

Planning Matters;
• The council received a status report of decisions recently made by the planning authorities.

Financial Matters:
• The latest bank balance and a cash-flow forecast were shared.
• The year-end accounts are with the auditor and will be discussed at the meeting in June, ahead of the submission of the Annual return.
• The annual insurance renewals were discussed and the council agreed that the quotations from our existing insurers, having barely changed, offered the best value and would be accepted.
• The following cheques were then requested:
• Clerk; for his work & expenses in April; £547.39
• Caretaker; for his work & expenses in April; £120.00
• Lengthsman; for his work and expenses in April/May; £832.00
• D.Rhodes; for line-marking paint; 180.00
• T. Gould; for the servicing of the tractor; £293.00
• PPPF; for our annual membership, £12.00
• HMRC; for payment of PAYE for clerk’s salary; £131.60
Payment of the above was approved en bloc; Proposed: Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded: Cllr Turner

Highway Matters:
• The clerk is to seek a progress report from the Cabinet Support Member for Highways following his tour of the areas of concern in February.

Any other business:
• Cllr Turner requested an update of the schedules by which the relevant authorities should provide services to the parish such as strimming verges; sweeping pavements; clearing gulleys etc. The clerk will request the latest details.

Date of the next meeting of the parish council: Thursday, June 18th at 7.30 pm in the pavilion.