Parish Of Alfrick And Lulsley

Mrs C Williams, Chairman.

Mrs S Clarke,

Messrs; P Brown, A Biggs, P Gilbert, L Higginson, G Lowe, G M Brewin (Clerk).

Mrs B Hickling (County Councillor).

J Goldsmith, (Parish Footpaths Warden)

Visitors: Nine members of the public.

There were no matters raised by the visiting members of the public.

S Clarke and C Williams declared and detailed their personal interests in the matter of Affordable Housing.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st September 2004 circulated in advance to members were approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman.

The clerk reported that he had reserved the committee room of the Village Hall for councillor 'surgeries' on Saturdays 13^th November and 8^th January from 10.30am to noon. He would arrange refreshments and publicity. It was agreed that Cllrs C Williams and L Higginson would cover the November session, P Brown and P Gilbert the January one.

Cllr B Hickling reported as follows;

A compost bin sale will be held at the Worcester Rugby Club on Sunday 24 October 2004 between 10.00am and 3.00pm.Small bins will be available FREE OF CHARGE (226 litre) Mibto bins (300 litre) will cost only £5.00. There will be a limit of 3 bins per household.

The County Council has renegotiated the contract with WRVS Community Meals Service. After initial teething problems the service is now flourishing. Recipients may pre-order what they want to eat and on which days. The choice consists of four main courses hot or frozen, (with vegetarian and diabetic options) and two desserts. Meals include hot or frozen; tea-time snack packs plus hot & cold drinks. Since the start of this new contract there has been an increase of delivered meals from 3500 to 5500 a day, a rise of 63%.

a) Approve

Clerk's salary - £557.70 and expenses - £ 77.71 (3 months),

Parish Plan Expenditure - Hire of Hall £200, Notice in Show Brochure £70

All approved.

b) Initial estimates for 2005/6;

The clerk gave members a draft of the budget for 2005/6 in advance of a discussion on this at the November meeting.

a) Consider a letter from Mr G Brooke - copy circulated in advance.

Members discussed the request to reconsider the council's decision not to endorse the application for Affordable Houses at Upper House. It was decided that the matter was now in the hands of the MHDC Development Committee and it was not a matter that the council could consider further. The clerk was asked to reply formally to Mr Brooke.

The council had no objection to this application.

The council had no objection to this application.

The clerk reported that there had been no work during the past month. He was asked to remind the contractor of the need to contact Cllr G Lowe and review the situation in the Storridge area.

Cllr P Gilbert reported on the activities of the Parish Plan Steering Committee. The committee had held one meeting, on 5^th October, since the presentation and consultation weekend of 10-12 September. ref appendix-a. A newsletter would be distributed throughout the parish asking for additional questionnaires to be completed. These could be obtained from the Village Shop or downloaded from the web-site. The need for a separate young person's consultation has emerged and the committee would be working on this. The Committee had sent their interim report to the Countryside Agency and had received confirmation of a further £750 of the second half of the funding. (£1500). The remainder of the grant would be available on completion of the Parish Plan.

Cllr Mrs S Clarke reported on the last meeting of the scheme committee. Funds were now available from the Countryside Agency (£27450) and MHDC (£1000) and the minibus, to be known as the Sphere Bus, would run initially on two evenings a week; Thursday to the late-night shopping in Worcester and on Friday to Malvern. Full details would be advertised shortly.

The clerk reported in Mr Goldsmith's absence that there were difficulties in obtaining the services of contractors to operate the arrangement with WCC Footpaths Office. It was noted that the council had £1500 available for footpaths work and the clerk was asked to endeavour to get work under way.

Details of correspondence received since the last meeting are recorded with the agenda. The clerk drew members' attention to the following;

a) MHDC Planning Guide for Householders - The clerk was asked to advertise the availability of this on notice boards and the web-site.

b) E & R Colley, Request to Cllrs for clarity etc. Members have copies of this.

c) W-CALC AGM Notice etc

d) MHDC Electoral Services, Election for Vacancy (C Tolley). There would be an election to fill the vacancy. The date has yet to be decided.

The clerk reported that last year NALC had produced a new version of Standing Orders which superseded those adopted by the council. It would be appropriate for the council to review these and consider adoption of them in order to keep the council up-to-date. Members would review these and consider the matter at the next meeting.

Cllr Mrs S Clarke reported that the Bridle Path at Lulsley by the lake had been ploughed up and was un-rideable. The clerk will discuss this with the Footpaths Warden to achieve reinstatement. There was also a request for better gates on bridle paths.

14. Date of the next meeting;

November 16^th at 7.30pm in the Village Hall Alfrick.

The meeting closed at 8.40pm

Chairman ...............................................................................................................