Agenda and minutes

The Assembly was advised that the Strengthening Relationships with Town/Parish Councils Working Group had met again and the Clerks had also met the previous week. The first newsletter had been published which had been positively received and would be issued on a quarterly basis, the next one being a spring edition in March 2025. The next pieces of work would be around the development of a co-created Parish Charter and a refresh of the terms of reference for the Parish Assembly.

Apologies were received from Councillors; Barker, Barlow, Durose, Garratt, Harper, Plant, Z. Routledge, Stone, R. Steele and Turner.

Further apologies were received from Clerks; Sarah Haydon, Chris Hinton, Louise Green and Jocelyn Granger.

(Parish and town representatives in attendance provided at Annex A)

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 September 2024, were approved.

The Assembly received a presentation which was introduced by Councillor Keith Flunder - Cabinet Support Member for Highways (Operations North) and Mary Anne Raftery – Head of Community Highways and Road Safety. Topics included:-

·       Issues

·       Solutions

·       Results

·       Further progress (structural maintenance)

·       Surface Dressing

·       An update on Newcastle for comparison purposes with works undertaken in the Moorlands

·       Flood Risk Management

·       Roles and Responsibilities in Flood Risk Management

·       Staffordshire County Council – Lead Local Flood Authority

·       FAIR Project (Project Objectives)

·       Generic and targeted approach

·       School Streets

·       Highway contact information

Members found the presentation to be informative and commented on noticeable improvements in their wards.

They were advised that Highways Inspectors were now employed by the County Council. However, there were still challenges in recruitment to the Highways Team.

Problems/issues should be reported directly to the appropriate County Councillor for them to take forward. The importance of two-way feedback was highlighted.

Discussion took place in relations to culverts, the involvement of various agencies and improvement in safety around schools in rural areas.

Advice was sought on speed reduction measures in rural areas and reference was made to the requirement for evidence of speeding over a period of time, consultation, finance and national guidance.

In response to questions submitted in advance of the meeting, it was suggested that some of the You Tube videos contained within the presentation may be helpful to watch. In terms of quality of highway repairs, key performance indicators had been reviewed both internally and externally and areas that required attention had been identified. Overall, improvements had been made to the quality of repairs and the materials used.

An explanation was provided on the repair of roads, emergency works, priorities, impact of the weather, affordability and reliance on other utility companies.

Actions:

1)    Victor Kelly – SPCA to provide details of Flooding Assessment Group for the whole of Staffordshire;

2)    For the links contained within the presentation to be shared on the Clerks’ Teams channel.

Consideration was given to a presentation on the Draft Changes to the Planning System and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

Main Implications for Parishes. The slides gave information on the following subject areas;-

·       What is the NPPF –

-        The Planning Hierarchy (Current)

-        The Planning Hierarchy (Proposed)

·       Proposed changes to the Planning system

·       Local Plan Timelines (Current)

·       Local Plan – Shortened timelines (Proposed)

·       Why does NPPF matter

·       Proposed NPPF Changes

-        Policy

-        Broad Aims

-        The Standard Method

·       Green Belt Purposes

·       Grey Belt

·       Local Plan timetable

The Assembly was informed that the response to the consultation was expected to be received by the end of the year.

Conversation took place around traveller sites, co-operation with Stoke City Council in terms of the delivery of new housing and identifying vacant or underused land in the Moorlands, digitisation and adequate staffing resource to facilitate the review of the Local Plan.

Actions:

1)    To circulate the revised version of the presentation to members of the Assembly.

In response to a request at the previous meeting of the Assembly, Councillor  Gledhill – Leader,  provided an update on devolution and offered to attend future meetings to ensure parish and town councillors were kept informed.

The first edition of the newsletter was complimented and members/clerks were encouraged to send articles for inclusion in the Spring edition due to published in March 2025.

Haregate had recently received a Community Foundation award for ‘Best Large Village’. Details would be contained in the next newsletter.

Ipstones had also been awarded ‘Best Kept Village’ in the small section, highly commended for ‘Best Community’ and the Brownies had also been acknowledged for poems and artwork.

The Christmas Market in Ipstones was due to take place on 23 November 2024.

It was reported that due to poor mobile phone signal, there had been an issue contacting 999 from the Bagnall area to gain the access code for a defibrillator. Suggestions included; for mobile phone companies, AEDdonate and the County Council being contacted.

Actions:

1)    The Chair to make contact with AEDdonate for advice;

2)    For Councillor Flunder to contact the appropriate team at the County Council.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 6 March 2025.