MINUTES – MAY 2025

Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council of Waterhouses.
Meeting held on Thursday, May 15th 2025 at 7.30pm in the sports pavilion, Waterhouses.

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

Also present: Mr C Hinton, (Clerk);

1. Apologies: Cllr Wain;

2. Minutes of the last meeting:
• The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, April 17th 2025 were confirmed as being a true and accurate record and were duly endorsed by the Chairman.
Proposed: Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded: Cllr Simpson

3. Election of officers:
• The council elected Cllr Stone as Chair; Proposed; Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded: Cllr Carr.
• The council elected Cllr McCarthy as Vice; Proposed: Cllr Goldstraw; Seconded: Cllr: Carr.

4. Matters arising:

Clerk’s report:
• The clerk confirmed that the notification seeking a new councillor had been published.
• He advised that he had recently attended a meeting of local clerks at SMDC where the Chief Executive updated everyone in relation to Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation. The summary of the time scales of the process states it is due to be completed by April 2028.
• Following the recent elections, the council asked the clerk to write to our new County Councillor, to invite her to attend a meeting with the council at her earliest convenience.
• He advised that the Flood Risk Team from Staffs County Council will be hosting a Community Workshop, to discuss local flooding issues, at the sports pavilion, on Wednesday, May 21st.

Holcim Update:
• Cllr Simpson shared photographic evidence of a recent emission at the cement works.
• Cllr Turner advised that he had read that the Environment Authority had submitted comments in relation to the recent application ref: SCC/25/0013/VOC-ES which did not reflect the reality of the situation regarding the issue of particles of litter emanating from the conveyor. The clerk was asked to write to the EA, with a copy to be sent to Staffs County Council, stating that it did not feel that their comments reflected the reality of the situation.
• Cllr Goldstraw will attend the next Liaison Meeting at the plant and will invite the new plant manager to attend a meeting with the council at his earliest convenience.
• The departure of the Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Beckie Patefield, was noted and the clerk was asked to write to her, thanking her for the support that she had given to the council during her tenure of the role.

Pavilion:
• The new gates at the entrance to the area have been installed but await final completion.
• The roller shutter door of the garage had recently jammed and has since been repaired under warranty by Lymers.
• Cllr Carr will speak to Chris Knight about the outstanding work needed to the drainage grid at the far end of the car park.
• Gordon Jones had advised that he would no longer be able to mow the grass at the entrance to the pavilion. The council will write to him, to thank him for his hard work and to wish him well for the future.

Sports Fields:
• With the football season almost over, once any remaining games have been played, work will start to renovate the goal mouths and then install the new goal posts, before the new season.

Playing Fields:
• Work on this amenity is nearing completion.
• Broxap Ltd will be asked to install the safety matting at the earliest opportunity.
• It was agreed that a new picnic table and litter bin be installed.
• A date for the opening is to be agreed and announced as soon as possible.
• The council agreed to join the Staffs Playing Fields Association. At a cost of only £20 per annum, it was felt that this should be a worthwhile source of advice for the future.

Allotments;
• The waiting list for plots has now grown to five applicants.
• A date will soon be announced in the near future for the mid-year inspection of the plots. This is to identify those that are being neglected.
• The holders of these will be warned of the potential non-renewal of their tenancy agreements.
• Cllr Goldstraw is to arrange for the excess aggregate to be transferred from the new play area to the entrance of the allotments area.

Lengthsman;
• A revised schedule of tasks for the lengthsman was agreed for the coming months.
This is a flexible plan of the key tasks. The cost of the schedule should be less than last year and will have more focus on fewer but important actions;
• The schedule includes:
o Mowing and strimming of the sports field and both play areas.
o Regular safety checks of the play equipment in each area.
o Collection of litter at various points throughout the parish.
o All other, ‘ad-hoc’ maintenance work will be authorised through the clerk.
o An example of this being tidying work at the fountain in Cauldon which was agreed.

5. Correspondence Received;
The following items were shared:
o The Leaden Boot Challenge 2025
o The Cubs, Scouts and Beaver groups’ search for new members
o SMDC Consultation re Proposed Protection Order against Wildfires
o SMDC Invitation to join Working Group for strengthening Relationships
o SMDC Campaign re Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation

6. Planning Matters;
The council received a report of decisions recently made by the planning authorities and went on to discuss the following, recently notified applications:
• SMD/2025/0176 – Land and Barn at Bromley Edge Lane, Winkhill. – Proposed Agricultural Building and Access Track. Although there were concerns regarding the potential appearance of the site and the possible need to consider screening, no objections were recorded.
• The clerk was asked to seek clarification regarding the nature of the residential homes located at the Cross Inn. The questions being: would such homes be regarded as permanent residences and would they therefore be included in the calculation of the housing allowance of the area. The same questions will be asked in relation to barn conversions.

7. Financial Matters:
• The latest bank balance and a financial overview were discussed, including a cash-flow forecast showing the most significant movements expected over the coming months.
• The clerk advised that the annual accounts were soon to be handed to the auditor so that the Annual Return can be ready for endorsement at the meeting on June 12th.

• The following cheques were then requested:
o Clerk; for his work & expenses in April; £619.09
o Caretaker; for his work & expenses in April; £129.28
o Lengthsman; for his work and expenses in April and May; £581.50
o JW Howson for goods supplied; £22.20
o Hiilsdale Fencing; for new gates to pavilion; £1,200.00
o AF Corbishley for top soil for new play area; £1,132.00
o Waterhouses Garden Club for plants for parish; £100.00
o HMRC; for payment of PAYE for clerk’s salary; £146.90
• Payment of the above en bloc proposed by: Cllr Turner; Seconded: Cllr Simpson

• Cllr Turner will work with the clerk to set up online banking for the council before the Leek branch of the Nat West bank closes in June.

8. Highway Matters:
• Earlier in the week, the clerk had met the Community Highway Engagement Officer and together, they revisited the locations within the parish where defects had been reported, but had yet to be resolved. Many of these had been reported several times, over a long period.
• The feedback provided was shared with the council and the clerk was asked to write to the new Cabinet Minister for Highways, (due to the changes resulting from the recent county council elections), to seek urgent improvements in the efficiency of the Highways Department. This subject will also be raised at the next Parish Assembly Meeting.
The new county councillor will be sent a copy of the letter.
• Cllr Simpson advised of the uneven surface of Cow Lane

9. Any other business:
• Cllr Goldstraw spoke on behalf of the council to thank Cllr Turner for his hard work over the past year as Chairman.
• Cllr Turner raised the question of moving the council’s website and email addresses over to .gov domains. It was agreed that this should be carried out during the year.

10. Date of next meeting: Thursday, June 12th 2025 at 7.30 pm

NB: This is a week earlier than normal.