Present

Councillor D Harries in the chair (items 1 to 5)

Councillor P Sheen (Rowlstone) in the chair (item 6 onwards)

Councillor P Jinman

Councillor Mrs J Addis

Councillor R Weaver

Councillor J Middle

Councillor Mrs E Overstall (Dulas)

Councillor Mrs M Bradley

Councillor Mrs M Williams (Rowlstone)

The Clerk

In attendance:

Councillor J B Williams (Herefordshire Council)

3 members of the public

1

Apologies for Absence

Councillor R Mailes

2

Declaration of Interest

None declared

3

Minutes

The minutes of the ordinary meeting of the council held on Tuesday 4th September 2007 were approved without any amendments.

Carried unanimously

4.1

First Responder

There are now 9 volunteers who will be undergoing police checks and interviews before going on to the training course. Councillor Mrs E Overstall reported that 3 grant applications for funding were in place but that obviously there was no guarantee of success.

Resolved 

That this is noted

4.2

Parish Plan Group Meeting

Councillor Mrs E Overstall presented a report from the meeting held on Thursday 27th September 2007 (see appendix 1).

It was noted that recycling facilities, identified as an important requirement in the Parish Plan, were no longer provided in the area, following the closure of the garden centre.

Resolved

That the Clerk should write to the Memorial Committee to request that they consider establishing a recycling site.

ACTION CLERK

Resolved

That an item identifying the need for a site should be placed in the Newsletter

4.3

Flooding Problems in Ewyas Harold

Due to restructuring the site visit has now been referred to Andrew Culley’s department and has now been scheduled for October 11th at 2pm

Resolved

That this is noted

4.4

Code of Conduct/Standing Orders

EHGPC, having adopted the revised Code of Conduct with the addition of paragraph 12(2), were advised by the Standards Board to set out clearly the circumstances whereby members of the public can attend Council meetings for the purpose of making representations, giving evidence or answering questions. The following Standing Order(SO) was therefore agreed at this meeting:

If a member has a personal interest as defined by the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 4th September 2007 then they shall declare such interest as soon as it becomes apparent, disclosing the existence and nature of that interest as required.

          If a member who has declared a personal interest is judged to have a prejudicial interest, he/she may attend the stage of the meeting during consideration of the item to which the interest relates but only for the purpose of making representations, answering questions or giving evidence relating to the business. After all representations have been made the member must withdraw from the room while the final deliberation and decision making takes place. Where such an issue arises, members of the public will, through the Chair, be given the same right of representation.

Resolved

That the Clerk should obtain advice as to whether this SO satisfies the requirement of the Standards Board.

ACTION CLERK

4.5

Rowlstone Notice Board

It was noted that Rowlstone Village Hall Committee had decided that they were happy with the current location of this notice board.

Resolved

That this is noted.

5

Recreation Ground

6

Local Security Matters

7

Correspondence

8

Lengthsman Scheme

8.1

Lengthsman work undertaken in September

Resolved

That this is noted and approved

9

Financial Report

9.1

Payments for approval

9.2

Balances as at  2nd October 2007

9.3

Payments Received

Resolved

That the financial statement is accepted and that payments should be made.

Carried unanimously.

10

Planning

10.1

Application number DCSW2007/2886/F

Site Adjoining Parish

Resolved

That EHGPC has no objections to this application

(Plans viewed before meeting)

10.2

Application number DCSW2007/2944/F

Resolved

That EHGPC has no objections to this application

10.3

Application number DCSW2007/2388/F

Notification of Planning Permission

Resolved

That this is noted

11

Road Maintenance and Related Matters

12

Footpaths

13

Parish Newsletter

Autumn issue was approved with the following inclusions/amendments:

Items for inclusion in Autumn issue:

• Skip article to include details of permissible electrical goods and future dates ( HC bookings allowing)
• Car sharing – advertise for volunteer to help with setting up scheme
• Cycle paths – advertise for volunteers to become involved in this campaign
• Recycling site – Require suggestions for possible suitable location.
• Contact details for hall bookings to be amended

14

Parish Website

• News area to be updated
• Parish Plan will be edited to reflect recent meeting.

Resolved

That this is noted

ACTION LO

15

Items for Future Discussion

The Meeting closed at 9.40pm

Chairman

Date

NEXT MEETING                              November 6th  2007

Future Meetings Dec 4th, Jan 8th

Appendix 1

Revised Report from the Parish Plan Group

03/10/2007

A Parish Plan meeting was held at Dulas Court Barn  on Thursday 27th September.

All councillors were invited. Apologies were received from Paul Sheen, Mary Williams, Bill Preece, Pam Hayward and Derek Harries.  Present were Liz Overstall, Isabelle Devereaux, Graham Sprackling, Madeleine Bradley, Anne Bradley, Helen Waites.

The presentation “Is your Parish Plan Dead?” was shown and the questionnaire from Chris Gooding of Parish Plan Officer of the Herefordshire Partnership.was discussed.

We concluded that some action had been taken on all the points raised by local people in the Parish Plan.   Actions that could be taken immediately by the Group Parish Council had been satisfactorily completed, although there is always an ongoing need for more road repairs and footway improvement.  

The Newsletter and the Website www.ewyasharoldgpc.org were both initiated by the Parish Plan and have been a great success.   They are useful tools, successfully promoting the ideas of the Parish Plan and the activities of the Group Parish Council. The Website has enabled us to publish the Parish Plan to the world, and enables us to make adjustments in line with changing needs.  The free Newsletter is particularly popular in the village.

The Parish Plan has succeeded in alerting the Memorial Hall committee to the need for modernisation.  A public meeting had been held and the Memorial Hall committee intends to seek grant aid for this project. We suggest that the GPC should support the Memorial Hall committee with this work.

The demand for improved facilities for Youth activities has not been met.  Two grant applications supported by the GPC for equipment for the Recreation Ground have been made, but both were turned down.  Clearly the GPC should continue to try to improve play facilities for older children. but more is required.  The GPC  needs improved liaison with existing youth groups in the village and with youth workers at county level to find out how to improve matters.  Contact should be made with the Herefordshire Youth Council.  It is clear the GPC cannot improve Youth facilities unaided.  Keen parents are needed to organise activities. We cannot succeed without them.

Footways.  The original Parish Plan  called for improvements to footways to ensure that the elderly and disabled could use them safely.  The School now has a Walking Bus from the Memorial Hall and it is particularly important that the footways should be safe for the children going to school this way. The PP group will check the footways and report back to the GPC.

Education and adult classes  A great deal of effort has been made to improve adult classes but we have been frustrated by  low numbers of people wishing to attend.  Although people wanted a wide variety of classes, it was difficult to get enough people to sign up for any one of them.  We had enough recruits for Pilates, but then found that the teacher had moved away.  A Yoga class has started this autumn at the school.  Hereford Council Lifelong Learning has been unable to support Adult Education in Ewyas Harold as it is not a “priority” area. 

Long distance cycling track.  We suggest that  GPC should seek information from SUSTRANS and HC about the possibility of a track to run through Ewyas Harold.

Car sharing:  Hereford has it's own lift-sharing scheme, http://www.twoshare.co.uk/

Launched in June 2004, the scheme matches drivers and passengers who wish to share journeys.  It  saves money on fuel and parking and reduces congestion and pollution.  We suggest that this information is included in the Newsletter and Website.

Leisure activities (Swimming pool)  Some demands were clearly impossible for a small community to finance.  We sympathise with people who want improved facilities and in particular, a swimming pool.  The only way forward is to join forces with other villages in South Herefordshire (who may have completed Parish Plans) to lobby for a leisure centre in the area.  Some residents asked for tennis courts, but they have declined to form a tennis club to run it.   Specific leisure activities must have local support to be viable.  This applies to youth groups as well as sports.  We need keen organisers as well as facilities. 

There is now a good doorstep Recycling service in Ewyas Harold village, but the parishes have no provision at all.  Almost every respondent to the Parish Plan asked for a proper recycling facilities.  Most of them named the Memorial Hall as the most appropriate site.  We suggest that the Memorial Hall committee be approached again regarding this issue, as it is obviously important to residents who are almost unanimous on this issue.