STAUNTON PARISH COUNCIL
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 5th May 2021
Venue: Zoom (Due to Covid-19 pandemic)
Time: 7:00pm
Present: Councillors; J. Millar, D. Williams, B. Allen, M. Fuller, D. Peach, B. Buck (Corse Parish Council Representative), B. Lewis (District Councillor), Will Windsor-Clive (County Councillor), G. Millar (Clerk) and 2 Parishioners.
1. Chairman’s Welcome
Cllr Millar welcomed all present.
2. Receive Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Fardon and District Councillor Philip Burford.
3. County Councillor Report
Report provided by County Councillor, Will Windsor-Clive:
The County Council has set its budget and is the lowest rise of any in the south west and the third lowest in the Country.
There is a massive investment into infrastructure improvements that is agreed and will be delivered over a number of years over and above the Council doing the ‘day job’ and there is a Nuclear Fusion project that is going to somewhere in the UK and Gloucestershire is hoping to capture this at Berkley and Oldbury which would be a huge boost to our economy.
The election is on the 6th of May so meetings have stopped during purdah and candidates are out trying to get elected and officers will wait to see which Manifesto they will be required to deliver over the next four years.
4. District Councillor Report
Report provided by District Councillor, Philip Burford and read on his behalf:
My report covers a period which seems like half a lifetime for us all, hopefully we will soon be able to meet in a way which we will think is more normal. I fear, however, that even with the best of progress it will be some time before the new normal is quite the same as the old normal.
The district council has been very busy over the past year and a bit and has taken on additional work administering many government initiatives to support business and the community. Part of this work has involved thousands of person-to-person telephone calls from both members of the council and officers to those identified as the most vulnerable in our society.
During such times and while focus falls outside the normal function of the council it is sometimes difficult to remember to do the day job, but I am pleased to report that a good job seems to have been done in maintaining the waste collection service, dealing with benefit claimants, the collection of council tax and maintaining the leisure centres in a state to reopen as soon as regulations allow. This maintaining of the leisure centres has been a big undertaking and has cost a great deal of money, but this has come to the district as support from central government.
Regrettably some functions have suffered to a noticeable extent, the planning service seems to have been at the head of this list. The main concern here relates to the planning enforcement service which has been close to non-existent for substantial periods and is still significantly under strength.
My main concern however still relates to the progress and proposals for the next local plan and the way this is being progressed. In my view there are still very real threats to the environment and landscape we all value in the north of the district.
These proposals are being brought forward by the cabinet who are of course not from the north of the district. I wish I had more faith in the members responsible for this work, their motivation and what that means to our parishes and our neighbouring communities.
5. District Councillor Report
District Councillor, Brian Lewis reported that due to Purdah there were restrictions regarding what could be reported, but reminded all of his responsibilities as a District Councillor and the ongoing work of the Forest of Dean District Council Planning Committee of which he is a part of.
6. Staunton Police Report
None provided.
7. Chairman’s Report
It is essential that I record this report which covers a year in the life of Staunton Parish Council during a global pandemic. With all the community having to deal with a way of life none of us could have imagined at our last face to face meeting on March 10th, 2020.
We have moved into the virtual world as a Parish Council, which has matched most of the business world too. So, you could say that for once the workings of a humble parish council is now on par with the 21st century way of working .... for many a quantum leap! We have had a seamless transition to the video conferencing world using the ‘Zoom’ platform, which has now become a household name. It provided us with a solution to conduct our business, but it cannot be denied that not having to venture outside on a dark, wet & cold evening made a welcome change. Perhaps looking to the future months, we can begin to feel that a return to seeing each other face to face might not be so bad after all. But maybe let’s Zoom in the winter months .... food for thought!
So, what was achieved during 2020 apart from the increased knowledge & use of technology:
· The Footpath audit that Cllr Williams & Cllr Fardon initiated was a wonderful achievement, & this with the help of parishioners Irene & John Carroll the ‘refurbishment’ of the popular Whitmore Way has been completed. This was indeed an enormous achievement & welcomed by the increase in the numbers of walkers exercising during the lockdowns!
· All year-round hard work by our ‘litter pickers’ Irene & John also supported by Cllr Dave Williams & Cllr Bas Allen.
· Cllr Mat Fuller was instrumental in raising the awareness for funding needed to alleviate the flooding & frequent closure of the A417 at Maisemore. This much needed route was closed at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 and also at Christmas 2020 when our village was badly affected as well.
· The design & management of our new Staunton PC website by Grace our Clerk. With new regulations coming into place in Sept 2020, it seemed a good opportunity to have our own website alongside a more contemporary approach to allow us to offer a fully inclusive site. A great success, with many features & this certainly helped our final triumph of 2020......the Christmas fundraising Raffle & Quiz.
· Our highly successful fund-raising pub quizzes plus raffles were brought to a halt by the closure of The Swan Pub .... but Cllr Fuller devised a set of quiz questions for fun & gathered a vast array of high value prizes from local businesses. This was run as an online fundraiser with Grace providing the website support. A fantastic achievement reaching our target of £500 (increased to £625 with Gift Aid) for our agreed charity of The Royal British Legion.
· Housing development has sadly been on a rapid increase within both Staunton & Corse, also with the reduction of services & amenities to further our concerns. We enter 2021 with a prospect of many more such developments. It is proposed that during the next few months our well documented overview of such plans within this community will challenge this perceived housing demand through constructive dialogue with our District Council.
Finally, to end this report we have come to the letter which I know Cllr Tony Fardon found hard to compose. Sadly, he has decided it is time for him to retire due to ongoing health problems from his long reign since way back in 1976, during which time he had also been Chairman. As currently we cannot thank him face to face for all his hard work & encyclopaedic knowledge of the villages, I would like us to consider (when safe for all to do so) a social gathering where we can offer him our thanks for the past 45 years of service to the Community.
Also, I would like to offer my thanks for all your support, professionalism & commitment to your roles as Parish Councillors during this difficult year, alongside the expertise of our highly skilled Clerk keeping me/us in order!
8. Reports from Local Groups
Cricket Club
(Provided by Graham Bruce)
Obviously 2020 was unusual to put it mildly. However, despite the pandemic we were able to play some cricket. The league eventually started in mid-July with the aim of just playing cricket with no promotion or relegation. Also, due to COVID restrictions we were not able to use the pavilion, except the toilets so sadly no bar or teas! Junior cricket also started in mid-July with 65 children taking part. The ladies cricket goes from strength to strength and we now have two girls who have represented the county and we welcomed Gloucestershire Ladies in September to play a friendly game against our ladies XI. Financially last year could have been a disaster as our main source of income was non-existent (the bar) but fortunately with the help of Sport England, a number of local benefactors and members we were able to make up the shortfall. We are now looking forward to a new season which is planned to start on May 1st with some restrictions still in place but hopefully all back to normal in June.
Football Club
No report provided.
St James’ Church
(Provided by Malcolm Harley)
As with everyone else, St James church suffered badly throughout the Covid Pandemic. Services were curtailed, and all planned fund-raising events were cancelled, which meant our finances were severely depleted.
The Church was to remain locked throughout the lock down.
At the start of the first lock down we suffered a break in, whereby the vestry door was charged, and the lock keep was broken from the masonry, the result was that all the silver was taken from the safe. Fortunately, we were insured, and have been able to recover some monies sufficient to replace necessary items to allow us to go forward.
After some while, Services were started throughout the benefice via
the Zoom platform, and membership at meetings proved to be encouraging.
We wish to record our grateful thanks to both Vicar John, Curate Steve and Debbie, Family Development Minister for all their work in securing a new way for us to worship.
The Church sustained the loss of some roof tiles during the storms earlier this year, 2021, and when the repairs were carried out, it was reported that more major overhaul of the south elevation of the Chancel roof is required. Thanks go to David Williams, who is getting the ball rolling in this regard.
We now look forward to an opening up of our Churches to worship, and a resumption of a steady pattern of Services
We thank you for your previous support and trust we can look forward to continued contributions to the upkeep of our Churchyard.
SCATS
(Provided by Christine Stanbanks)
Due to Covid - 19 and the Government's regulations, SCATS has been in 'hibernation' over the past, many, months.
However, with the total lifting of lockdown regulations approaching, we look forward to meeting up with all our members and restarting our productions. We also hope to complete the work we started on the stage.
Hopefully our next report will show us as being back to our normal activities!
Scouts
(Provided by Tim Brown)
It has not been a good year for scouting as you will be aware or any other social gatherings.
I don't have anything in particular to relay to the meeting as we shut up shop on Tuesday 17th March 2020 and have not met at the hut since.
We have run Beaver and Cub zoom meetings during what would have been
term times and scouts have just started the same. However, our attendance at these meets has only been about 50% of members which is a little disappointing.
We have tried to keep scouting alive in our group and have tried very hard to run interesting and stimulating sessions and I think to some degree we have achieved that by the feedback we have received from parents.
We have not collected any subscriptions during this period as we felt that we would not be able to give "value for money" and scouting was very hit and miss. But we have still had to pay £59 per head capitation which we based on the number of children who wanted to return to face-to-face scouting when it restarts. This was nearly double what we were getting on zoom and our capitation bill was £3009.
Our water and electricity bills will be considerably lighter than usual, so we have had some savings there.
We did apply for a grant from the FoD District Council and were able to secure a sum of £10k.
This will cover our expenditure for this year and hopefully go a long way in getting us back on an even keel in 2022.
As 3 of our leader team are in mid 70's we are very cautious of putting them at risk from covid. The current plan being we will start face-to-face when those leaders have had their 2 jabs and waited the 3 weeks for maximum resistance.
However, this will be down to the individual leader. Anyone not totally willing to return face-to-ace for whatever reason will not be pressurised and it will be down to them to return to the fold when concerns have been resolved.
There is no plan for a summer camp this year due to the uncertainty of covid but if things continue to improve them it is possible, we will run a short camp somewhere local. No promises on that obviously.
Brownies
(Provided by Belinda Murphy)
In addition to the unit starting to implement the new Girl guiding programme with an amazing range of activities, awards, and badges, we planned in even more fun for our Brownies to ensure we give them a well-rounded programme of experiences!
Outdoors we practised our cricket and circus skills, (though not at the same time), played lots of games that they often made up for themselves; went pond dipping followed by campfire songs; and had our annual summer barbeque. Brownies designed their own obstacle course and then their first aid skills, (not due to any trips though).
Visits away from the hall were to the National Birds of Prey centre and grass sledging at Bugs boarding in Maisemore. They met with other local Brownies in the district at the summer activity session at TRAC in Newent, and for the Christmas party following the visit to the Newent Christmas tree festival.
Our main celebration marked the 60th Anniversary of the unit with a party and a specially made badge, designed by one of our Brownies. We were joined by lots of special visitors linked with Girlguiding, Scouting, the church, Brownies and leader’s past and present. We also welcomed visitors to help us understand about Remembrance Day and the meaning of the nativity, before attending the church services.
The Brownies love to have a theme, so we had meetings based on Switzerland, with cheese and chocolate tasting, yodelling and Swiss games; harvest – with more food tasting; Parliament week; and a Halloween fancy dress party.
Badges are always welcome. We managed to complete the local history badge, and 2 relating to looking after our environment: ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ of plastics and Looking after our oceans.
All our activities involve a wide range of resources and methods and aim to build skills and confidence. We use singing and mime, games, imagination, craft, food and listening. We encourage all our Brownies to participate in a way that they are comfortable with and enjoy being part of a girl only space in Girlguiding.
Following the announcement of the national lockdown we have adapted the way we met as a unit and moved to meeting virtually on Zoom. We have been meeting regularly throughout 2020 and the beginning of 2021, as a unit and as a district with other Brownie units in the area. Our Girlguiding region is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and the brownies have been involved in virtual celebrations to achieve the Birthday badge created by the region. We also celebrated World Thinking Day with a virtual sleepover with other units with around 6000 other girls in the Southwest. Next week we will begin meeting outdoors face to face again and are looking forward to lots of activities together before the end of the summer term.
Playing Fields
(Provided by Graham Bruce)
I hope you agree that the Playing Fields continue to be a credit to both villages. Obviously,2020 was an unprecedented year with both Football and Cricket clubs having truncated seasons due to the pandemic. However, when possible they did manage to play some sport although were not able to use the pavilion. We did take the opportunity to redecorate internally.
Despite limited organised sport, the Playing Fields were used by many villagers for their daily exercise, and we did receive many complements although we still have the problem of not all dog owners picking up their dog poo.
The finances of the Playing Fields would have been a problem as the committee felt it unreasonable to charge the normal rent to the sporting clubs but thanks to a government grant the finances are in a healthy position. Also, numbers of the 200 club dropped but I am pleased to report that they have recovered this year to a record 245 members. Thanks again to both Parish Councils for their continued financial support. We are very lucky that we have a number of dedicated volunteers who give their time freely to maintain the field and play area.
Staunton and Corse Academy
(Provided by John Tibbles)
The last year has been challenging for the academy but the strength and support we have as part of a collaborative Multi Academy Trust has enabled us to make good decisions for the children of Corse and Staunton. The school has remained open throughout for the children of key workers and for vulnerable children. Throughout both lockdowns our remote learning protocol was used and involved timetabled home learning for children, face to face sessions with teachers online, collective worships online and videos to inspire learning in many of our curriculum subjects. The Seesaw software used enabled children to return the work they had done online so that the teacher could mark and return it.
The coronavirus pandemic prevented the all-important interaction with friends, teachers, sport and schoolwork but after both lockdowns we implemented a home-grown reconnection curriculum focusing on wellbeing, outdoor education, social interaction as well as the core aspects of our normal curriculum as all children returned to school. Of course, a number of precautionary measures have been in place to prevent the transmission of the virus in the school and cases have been limited. We have followed Government guidance carefully and look forward to enabling our children’s classes to mix, have lunch together, sing and work in grouped tables rather than facing the front. Of course, the real heroes of the last year have been the children who have adopted a whole new set of rules, worked at home with parents, missed important events such as residential trips and SATs and learnt new skills online to present their work. I would like to pay tribute to the children for this and for their resilience during the difficult times that we have endured.
Village Hall Committee
(Provided by Ann Dickinson)
As the Village Hall has been closed for most of the past 12 months no groups have been meeting, other than children’s groups when allowed.
However, we have continued to incur annual running costs of insurances, heating and staff payments. There has also been the unexpected added cost of COVID requirements.
We have received grants from FODDC which has offset some of this expenditure.
As with any building there is always ongoing maintenance. The roof over the main hall continues to cause problems which need to be rectified. A new central heating boiler is required, and we need to look at improving the insulation in the Hall. All very costly projects.
We thank you for your support over the past years, and hope that we can rely on your continuing benevolence.
We are looking forward to opening the Village Hall, when restrictions are lifted, and hope that all of the Groups will return with their former, if not greater membership.
Staunton and Corse PPG
(Provided by Cllr Peach)
The past year has been a difficult one for everyone and at the surgery it has been no exception. As the pandemic took effect and we went into lockdown, the Practice was instructed to close their doors to patients and operate a telephone consultation system, offering face-to-face appointments only if strictly necessary, as defined by Department of Health guidelines.
It was very difficult for both you as patients and the practice to operate in this way, but the system, after some initial refinements, has proven to be a practical one and they hope to have been able to offer a service that has met everyone’s needs.
The Practice was able to offer the ‘2020 seasons’ flu vaccinations to all eligible patients and, once the Covid-19 vaccines became available to them, began operating a Wednesday afternoon Covid Vaccination Clinic. This continues (subject to vaccine availability) and patients are invited to attend for an appointment using the Government defined Priority Groups. As of 23rd April, the practice has administered 3446 1st vaccines and 1403 2nd vaccines. Over 98% of patients over 50 and in ‘at risk’ group have had their first vaccination (2900 patients).
The 2021/22 flu clinics are currently in the planning stage using the same appointment format as last year. Once the details are finalised, the information will be shared on the practice website and eligible patients will be contacted.
Migration to the new SystmOne Clinical Computer System is complete and the Practice website is fully operational providing up to date information on day-to-day activities within the Practice as well as links to Covid-19 news. The website offers access to a number of patient support networks as well as enabling the request of repeat prescriptions and a number of referral services. For a number of enquiries, it is possible to use the website to ask a question of staff at the surgery ‘online’ and you should receive a reply within two working days. This facility is for routine enquiries only and for anything urgent please telephone the surgery.
The practice has welcomed new members of staff to the team. Jenny Odell started with the practice in April 2020 as Nurse Manager/Advanced Nurse Practitioner. Pauline Ralph has also joined the nursing team as a healthcare assistant and Rosemary Holland is now in post as a dispensary delivery driver. Dr Brenton Fisher will start at the practice in July, joining Dr Whittle and Dr Chambers as a partner.
The Patient Participation Group has not been meeting throughout the pandemic for obvious reasons. However, before any such activity can be resumed, we urgently need new members and invite anyone interested in joining the group to contact Malcolm Harley or the Staunton and Corse Practice Manager for details. There is also a PPG link via the Practice website where you can register for information.
Finally, the Practice would like to thank all of their patients for their support and understanding during this difficult time. They are also extremely grateful to the many patients and ex-members of staff who have volunteered their time in assisting with the vaccination clinics.
9. Public Question Time
No items raised.
10.Closure of Meeting by Chairman
Cllr Millar thanked all for attending and formally closed the meeting.
The meeting finished at 7:52pm
Signed: Date: