THURLASTON PARISH COUNCIL Clerk/Responsible Financial Officer: Elaine Foxon 16 Cambridge Drive, Desford, Leicestershire, LE99JB

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1 THURLASTON PARISH COUNCIL Clerk/Responsible Financial Officer: Elaine Foxon 16 Cambridge Drive, Desford, Leicestershire, LE99JB Minutes of Thurlaston Parish Council Meeting Held at 7pm, on 5 th April 2018, at Thurlaston Village Hall Present: Councillors Trevor England (TE) (Chair), Paul Holyman (PH) (Vice Chair), Roni Tinsley (RT), Nick Bates (NB), Esther Harrison (EH), Maggie Wright (MW) (In part), Elaine Foxon (EF) (Clerk/RFO) Parishioners/Visitors Present: 2 Parishioners Invited Guests: Richard Mugglestone (Rural Housing), Ian Jones (BDC), Susannah Harrison /18 Apologies County Councillor s Breckon and Blunt /18 Minutes of Full Parish Council meeting held 22 nd February 2018 Proposed by PH, as an accurate account of meeting. by all Members present /18 Request for Dispensations for matters where Councillors have Disclosable Pecuniary Interest Councillor Bates in relation planning and any discussion relating to Proposed Solar Farm Conflict of interests, voluntary (minute reference -04/18) Decision: Granted /18 Rural Housing Richard Muggelstone and Ian Jones Progress update from Richard Mugglestone/Ian Jones Next stage Housing Association Waterloo, East Midlands Homes and NCHA Nottingham with discussions reported direct to TPC. EMH priority due to previous works within the Parish. Positioning of properties will be considered and Association informal discussions affordable/mixed schemes will be progressed. and should EMH decline Richard/Ian referral back to TPC. Chair advised move on agenda item 14, to permit advices and discussion with Susannah Harrison following research with the younger parishioners /18 Play Equipment Inspections Procedure Review Review undertaken via Rec Ground Sub Committee relating to inspections and recommended best practice as follows: Weekly visual inspections with tick box sheet Quarterly written report Annual independent inspection.

2 TE advised recreation ground wall inspection will be undertaken by approved contractor within the next 2 weeks with findings reported to Full Council at May meeting. Susannah Harrison advised discussions had been held with the younger members of the Parish with ideas on new equipment being received. Decision: Rec Grd Sub Committee with assistance from Susannah to progress and source potential, preferred new pieces of equipment within budgets held /18 County Councillor and/or District Councillor Report NO CC report filed District Councillor report filed as follows: PLANNING APPLICATION - SOLAR FARM With reference to Planning Application 18/0242/FUL Elgin Energy EsCo Ltd - Construction of 80 hectare Solar Park. Fields to the South and West of Desford Road Thurlaston. Does the Parish Council wish me to use the Member Call In Procedure and request the application is heard before the Planning Committee instead of being determined by Officers. The Closing date for any request is 25th April Please advise. The Road Closure for the Carnival Parade has been submitted to Blaby District Council. The Carnival Committee volunteers will oversee this on the day. Details are awaited. HIGH COURT SUCCESS The High Court has upheld Blaby District Council s decision to refuse an inappropriate housing development in Countesthorpe. On the basis of this High Court judgement, the District Council s approach to how it deals with major developments within the District has been vindicated and the Council s planning policies, against which planning applications are determined, have been found to be up to date and relevant. LOCAL LAND CHARGES AWARD The Council have won the Most Improved NLIS Services Award for improvements to the Local Land Charges Service in partnership with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. LIGHTBULB PROJECT Blaby with partners won an award in the Public Partners category. The judging panel thought Blaby District Council s winning entry was a superb example of a council seeing the potential of housing interventions on health and social care. Delivering outcomes at a scale, this project provided system leadership on a county-wide basis. BLABY DISTRICT TOURISM PARTNERSHIP LAUNCH The partnership was launched at the Marriott hotel on 23/3/2018 and will now begin consultation and the development of an Action Plan. BLABY PLAN 2018 to 2021 A new plan for the District setting out ambitions up to 2021 has been published. CONTROL OF DOGS ORDER Animal Services will begin enforcement of the Control of Dogs Order 1992 on the 16th April All dogs are to wear a collar and identification tag when out in public. Most owners do not realise it is a legal requirement to have identification on their dog.

3 GENDER PAY GAP The Council has now published the details around the Gender pay Gap, and this shows that female employees are on average 3.7% less than Male employees. This gap does not appear as a result of paying men and women differently for the same work but is a result of different roles and the salaries attracted to those roles /18 Parishioners Time Parishioners present although no concerns etc; raised /18 Local Concern reported to Members/Clerk Members reported the following: MW concerns over repeated dog fouling issues, suggestion of standard signage keep dog on lead etc; Decision: EF to source and provide costing MW Dog fouling possible option, if necessary, Protection Order via Environmental Health Decision: EF to progress within initial contact BDC etc Traffic calming progression with any options available to improve the speed and volume of traffic Decision: EF to progress and request assistance from CC Breckon /18 Accounts The account detail below was presented to Full Council: To Pay Nett invoice total Invoice total inc VAT Accounts Payable VAT Cheque No: TPC Invoices 2Commune (6 new accs setup) Commune website hosting/annual licence upto Blaby District (Emptying l/bins Jan - Mar 18) Clerks salary and expenses ESPO HMRC (PAYE Apr) Josiah Hicks Solicitors (legal advices on tras rec grd) Leics Tree Services (rec grd works) LRALC/NALC M/Ship fees ( ) Whitehall Accountants (Payroll services ) BDC (Deposit for Skate park/inflatables - Family day 27th Aug VAT total cost 100 deposit) Received up to None / Financial Year End Chair of Finance, PH, advised end of year accounts had been filed with the Internal Auditor with actual expenditure lower than that forecast /18 Risk Management Policy and Fixed Asset Register Annual Review Chair of Finance, PH advised always a work in progress document with regular reviews undertaken, with the latest detail presented. Amendments forecast due to change in legislation relating to GDPR and will be presented as and when.

4 418-04/18 Correspondence Received for Discussion or Information Only CORRESPONDENCE TO BE DISCUSSED (Appendix E April 2018 mtg) Format Contents /Letter From 2Commune confirming individual Councillor addresses to be set up by 9 th May with further instructions to follow. CORRESPONDENCE FOR INFORMATION ONLY (Appendix F April 2018 mtg) Format Contents /Letter Newsltr Fosse villages Police News April 2018 circulated to all prior to mtg /18 Planning and Neighbourhood Plan PLANNING APPLICATIONS from Ref: 18/0242/FUL Fields To South and West Of Desford Road Thurlaston Leicestershire Detail: Construction of an 80 hectare solar park to include the installation of solar photovoltaic panels to generate electricity (40MW) with associated substations, inverters, perimeter stock fencing, access tracks, CCTV and landscaping. MW advised application will be called into Committee and will be speaking as District Councillor. Decision: Following discussion, request for TE to attend Committee meeting, speak or submit statement with Planning Sub Committee to meet and prepare statement and circulate to all for approval. EF to request speaking time for TE. Ref: 18/0245/VAR, The Paddocks, Bungalow farm, Leicester Road, Thurlaston Detail: Variation of condition 5 attached to planning permission 17/0072/VAR WITHDRAWALS/REFUSALS/APPROVAL/APPEALS from Appeals - NONE Withdrawals NONE /18 PROSPECTUS FOR GROWTH - an LCC document relating to Leicestershire projects Report to Parish Council re Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan. April 2018 This follows the CPRE presentation, the exhibition by Blaby district council and the receipt of the transport assessment late March The main aim of the plan is to develop new housing, employment sites, transport up to This is obviously only a general outline, but should inform planning decisions in the foreseeable future. The central element for us on the parish council is the new Eastern bypass (expressway) and the need to find new housing sites. I have set out the report in key points to provide information for our submission. HOUSING Leicester is running out of land and has written to local councils on the edge of the city to take up the slack for housing needs. However 1. Statistics lack rigour and accuracy. There are no reliable total population figures. 2. Using 2011 figures for population growth for Population is below forecast as for The current population figures are below those which housing planners are using to justify housing needs. 4. There is land available in Leicester. Brownfield sites insufficiently developed. Retail sites overestimated. Large numbers of housing earmarked for students. 5. Brexit and Migration are big unknowns, but liable to downgrade forecasts for population growth. HOUSING NEEDS 1. Builders have 5 year land supply ( Up 20% from 2 years ago)

5 2. Housing needs and numbers exceed the number of people that exist in leicestershire using middle growth forecast. There is enough housing sites up to 2031, after which there is an undersupply. (traffic growth assessment Para 2.1.3) 3. There is little detail as regards housing types, the need for affordable housing sites (especially in rural areas) and housing for elderly and disabled residents. EASTERN BY PASS 1. The transport assessment indicates that there are liable to be considerable problems in traffic without planning on a large scale. It is unclear what the impact will be on our A roads and smaller roads because plans are so vague. 2. Not yet established how many junctions there will be. Leicestershire will want a lot to feed proposed housing sites, Highways England will want very few because it s a major strategic bypass. Logistics sites and housing are planned along the route. 3. The impact on local roads therefore cannot be established. We cannot yet see where the new road and its links will be in our part of Leicestershire. We can only assume that traffic will get steadily more congested 4. Logistics sites already exceed calculated needs on a county, regional and national basis. New logistics sites (as opposed to industrial sites) need to be treated with care. T.England Also noted - Detail planning process yet to be undertake and concerns raised regarding adequate infrastructure /18 Exchange of Members Information 1. TE advised Members of the sad loss of Mark Gardner (BDC). 2. TE advised of bus consultation and nothing safe and asked to raise awareness of current bus service and to ensure used. Date of next Full Council meeting: Annual Parish Council meeting 17 th May 2018 Chair declared the meeting Closed at 8.47pm Signed: ( Chair/Vice Chair) Dated:..