THE LEIGH PARISH COUNCIL
: leighpc@hotmail.co.uk : theleighpc.org.uk
MINUTES OF THE ADDITIONAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11thJune 2025 AT 7.30PM AT THE LEIGH PARISH CHURCH
Present: Cllr. J. Arkell, Cllr A. Bowness (Chair), Cllr L. Glazebrook, Cllr K. Morton and Cllr R. Theyer
Attendance: K. Tilling (Parish Clerk), and 2 members of the public.
1. Apologies:
Apologies were received from Cllr Glazebrook and County Cllr Stanley.
2. Declarations of interest:
There were no declarations of interest.
3. To discuss the Accounts – Presentation of Financial Statements (Annual Statutory Return):
The RFO gave a brief introduction to the 2024/2025 accounts. A few items were highlighted: staff costs have reduced as the Clerk has not claimed any additional hours, other payments have increased considerably many relating to the increased CIL amounts pushing the accounts into the next audit bracket. The precept was increased last year to reflect the growing size of the parish. The RFO also reminded the Parish Council about the General Power of Competence. There is more than a 10% variance in figures. The Parish Council received less CIL money than last year. The houses are now built at Coombe Hill so there are no more large amounts to come. There is over £200,000 this year but this will drop again.
3a. To approve Section 1 – Annual Governance Statement.
Proposed by Cllr Arkell, seconded by Cllr Theyer. All unanimous.
3b. To approve Section 2 – Accounting Statement.
Proposed by Cllr Arkell, seconded by Cllr Glazebrook. All unanimous.
3c. Schedule B of the Bank Reconciliation.
Completed and circulated. End of year showed £10,272.77 in the current account, £324,832.19 in the savings account, £35 in petty cash giving a grand total of £335.139.96 or £46,061.76 not including the CIL money. Of the £289,000 CIL money, over £145,000 has already been allocated.
Completed and circulated.
3e. Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Annual Governance Statement.
The notice has to go on the website within a set time frame and it is hoped this would be done within the next two days.
3f. Financial Statement as at June 2025.
The RFO circulated the accounts for 2025/2026.There is £16,109.79 in the current account and £325,344.12 in the savings account. Of this £288,876.11 is CIL money. The precept has come in from TBC and was slightly raised from last years figure, again to reflect the growing houses within the Parish. Interest from the CIL money can be spent within the normal Parish Council budget. The Parish Council insurance is due to be paid and an outstanding training bill from GAPTC. The RFO reminded the Parish Councillors to submit any parish receipts using a Parish Council claim form. For accounting purposes, all invoices and large receipts must be addressed to Leigh Parish Council. They can use a c/o address but do need to have LPC named on them especially if there is VAT that can be claimed back. The Clerk will circulate the claim form that she uses to claim for small amounts.
3g To approve the Insurance policy renewal.
RFO is seeking permission to pay for the annual insurance premium with Community First and a GAPTC outstanding bill for training. The GAPTC membership helps with lower Insurance costs. The Clerk will post off the completed forms to Community First Insurance and the GAPTC subscription form.
Proposed by Cllr Glazebrook and seconded by Cllr Arkell. All unanimous.
4. To approve any new CIL spending
The latest newsletter highlighted the recent installation of Swift nest boxes on many of the houses in the Wharf. This has taken over a year from consultation to installation. Now other members within the Parish are requesting Swift boxes. Before further boxes are purchased householders will have to arrange for a consultant to visit the various properties and see if their houses are suited to encouraging Swifts to nest. The Clerk will speak to the contact at the Wharf and ask for the consultants contact details.
The visual and audio equipment has now been installed in the church but there is still no Wi-Fi. To put this in and for 1 year’s subscription it will cost £720. After the first year the Parish Council would not be liable for the ongoing costs. The Parish Council will be able to use the Wi-Fi for meetings and therefore agreed to cover this initial cost. All in favour.
Parish Council were asked to consider purchasing a tent for community events. It transpires there is a tent, 10 x 20 feet, Cllr Arkell is storing the canvas and Ken Poulton has the metal frame. This will be followed up to see what condition the tent is in.
To purchase a minibus and then hire it out. Hiring out a minibus comes with a multitude of rules and regulations including specific licence requirements, regular maintenance checks and holding a PSV carriers licence. Parish Council do not wish to take a project like this on.
A Defibrillator is still being asked for – possibly through Cotswold First Aid. There are a number of issues that have already been discussed at earlier meetings including on going maintenance costs, on going electricity costs, batteries needing to be regularly replaced and not enough footfall in one location within the parish.
Bus stops – still chasing for quotes for work. GCC Highways have been approached. Max confirmed it was not his area of expertise and recommended talking to ITU (Integrated Transport Unit). The first 4 shelters need to be purchased and installed. The Clerk emailed the GCC Officer in charge of the junction upgrade and asked in their installation could be included in the work schedule. No reply has been received.
Bonfire night 2024 was a good event and will be repeated again this year. It was proposed to provide a budget of £300 for the 2025 event.
Christmas Parish Get-together – Cllr Morton will contact Simon at the Swan and discuss the suitability of a children’s party and a separate adults evening party. See if he can suggest suitable dates.
5. 20s Plenty Gloucestershire.
Parish Councils have received an email from the Gloucestershire 20s Plenty group that are raising awareness of reducing speed limits in certain built up areas. The Parish Council support the resolution in principle, especially the need to reduce the speed limit to 20 in some areas. This has to be location specific. It would not work on the main A38 but might be more suited to the lanes around the Leigh Village. The Clerk will respond to the email appropriately.
On a similar note, residents from Lapwing Meadows have also approached the Parish Council with their concerns over the safety of turning into the site and coming out onto the busy road. Before both estates were built at Coombe Hill the Parish Council raised a number of concerns regarding traffic speed, volume and pedestrians trying to cross the road. These concerns were all ignored by GCC Highways and TBC Planners. The Parish Council suggest that a traffic survey is conducted to confirm the amount of traffic travelling through this junction. The clerk will write to the MP and County Councillor Stanley highlighting these concerns, requesting a survey and asking ITU to organise it as private surveys do not seem to carry any weight when it comes to road speed assessments.
6. M5 Junction 10 Improvements Scheme – DCO decision
The Parish Council have received an email from GCC Highways and Infrastructure confirming that the Secretary of State for Transport has granted development consent for the M5 Junction 10 Improvements Scheme. The approved scheme will see the construction of a new all movements junction at junction 10 which will provide access in all directions on and off the motorway. It also includes a new link road connecting the A4019 to the B4634 in west Cheltenham and the widening of the A4019 Tewkesbury Road as well as the provision of new active travel facilities and flood mitigation measures. It is believed that these improvements will provide sufficient highway capacity to accommodate the increased vehicles that will follow once the new housing and employment sites have been built. Information events during the summer will provide the public with more details. Preparation works will begin summer 2025 to enable the start of the scheme construction from Spring 2026, with completion anticipated in 2028. The latest information can be found at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/J10.
It is understood that the Elms Park project is contributing over £20 million towards the junction improvements. Contributions are also being discussed with the developers for the Golden Valley Project (which involves the new link road)
AOB.
Clerk to still sort out the new domain name and Parish Councillor email addresses. To move away from private addresses and use business ones.
The chair is asking for a tablet to conduct Parish Council business.- get quotes
Recent Emergency Planning meeting on flooding. A group of Parishioners met with two people from TBC at the Village Pond to look at setting up a sand bag scheme. They are looking to set up a number of sites around the borough. This Parish Council has no land to accommodate a scheme. Sand bags only work in certain situations.
Allotment rates – the chair has received a request for them to be reviewed.
Leigh Poor Charity Trust. Needs a review.
Meeting closed 21.30