Minutes of the Meeting held at The Flyford’s Hall on Tuesday 23rd May 2023

Present

Sadie Densham
David Rhodes
Andrew Short
Daivid Waide
Richard Davey (Chairman)
Mark Broughton-Taylor attended as clerk

1. Apologies

None.

2. Declaration of Interest

None.

3. Public Participation

The meeting was live streamed.

The chairman attended on Zoom due to being Covid positive and asked the vice chairman to chair the meeting for convenience.

4. Minutes of the 21st March 2023

Minutes of the meeting held on 21 st March 2023 were accepted as a true record of the meeting.

Proposed: Sadie Densham
Seconded: Andrew Short
All in favour

5. Matters Arising from the Minutes

It was hoped to make a presentation concerning Smartwater but this has been postponed to next meeting. It was suggested that a Saturday morning presentation on the Green might attract more people. Sadie Desham agreed to meet Jane Hand and Debbie Stanley to discuss this suggestion.

6. Correspondence

None.

7. Flyford Green

It was reported that David Rhodes has been appointed as chairman of the management committee. There are presently 4 members.

It was noted that the bin has been overflowing recently. The clerk noted that Phil Childs at Wychavon coordinated the contractors that emptied the bins and said that he would report the issue on this occasion.

The management committee has suggested that two circular picnic benches would be ideal for the green. These provide easier access than the rectangular tables with benches. The clerk was asked to investigate prices.

There was still some debate about the replacement of the stones around the gas tanks.

Some of the strappings to the trees and stakes need to be replaced.

A depression has appeared at the base of the slide. It was suggested that play ground chippings are available which might help to raise the level of the ground.

Flyford Pond

The clerk reported that the application for adverse possession had been rejected. This was very disappointing and appeared to be a result of poor presentation by the solicitor. The clerk was asked to follow the matter up and make his own investigations concerning any present registration of the land.

8. Climate Change

Andrew Short reported that there had been little engagement from the public and had only one reply from 590 on the Flyford Facebook page. It was suggested that the school might be more receptive to ideas. The clerk also mentioned that NALC was doing quite a lot to promote Climate Change initiatives at a parish council level and would pass on any material.

9. District and County Councillors Report

I am delighted to have been re-elected as your District Cllr in last week’s elections a position I have held for the last 16 years. I will also continue as your County Councillor and have now served half of my four year term which has and continues to be quite a learning curve. Please feel free to ask any questions after my report.

Budget Update

A five per cent rise in Worcestershire County Council’s share of the Council Tax was approved last month

The £935million budget for the year ahead will fund delivery of a wide range of essential services including services to keep the most vulnerable people in the county safe.

As part of the budget, the council will be putting in place an uplift to its Council Tax.

The 2.94 per cent rise in Council Tax will help to fund the increased costs of delivering improvements for residents and businesses while an additional two per cent uplift in the rate for the Adult Social Care levy will support vulnerable adults.

Major improvements for Worcestershire residents which includes improving roads, pavements and street lighting, in addition to funding a brand-new school in Worcester to help with school places more of that later.

County Hall will spend £268million over the next 12 months to ensure residents who need Adult Social Care support will continue to receive it.

A total of £146million has been allocated to ensure the County Council can continue to improve the lives of children and young people across the county

£91million is being invested into supporting people to live independently for longer, through the dedicated work of the county’s Public Health and Communities teams.

The budget also includes investment to maintain bus services with £3.5million invested on top of the £1.5million commitment made this year.

An additional £500,000 to enable minor highway works to be actioned more quickly such as the pruning of trees and the replacement of damaged street furniture and signage.

The council is facing similar challenges too, from both the impact of inflation on costs of materials and services to increasing demand for services, all of which adds significantly to the pressure on our budget.

"With more vulnerable people needing our support than ever before and with the cost of this care increasing significantly, our budget for next year reflects this added pressure. Our Council Tax remains one of the lowest of any County Council in the country."

Wychavon froze their share of the Council tax for the sixth year in light of the ongoing Cost of living crisis.

More good news follows from Government to support those in most need.

Household support fund

In the autumn statement 2022, the chancellor confirmed the household support fund would be extended for a further 12 months starting in April 2023, and this equates to just under £7.9 million for Worcestershire to use to support until 31st March 2024. Confirmation and guidance from the department of work and pensions was received in February 2023.

The new fund from April 2023 is intended to provide assistance to vulnerable households in most need of support to help with the increase in living costs linked to energy and food. Whilst the general purpose of the fund is the same as that provided previously, there is a stronger focus on energy and supporting those vulnerable groups that may be facing additional costs, such as families on low incomes with children of all ages, pensioners, disabled people, carers, and care leavers.

The proposed allocation of household support fund April 2023- March 2024 will allocate resources to the following funding areas: food, energy, district councils, advice services and management costs. District councils will be delivering local support through either direct in-house schemes or through various voluntary and community sector organisations in order to reach the most vulnerable residents in their local communities. Cabinet has endorsed the approach to the use of the household support fund (HSF) in2023/24 as set out in the report.

Highways

Highway’s issues take up a large amount of my time as a County Councillor so here is some relevant information you may find interesting. Following the recent announcement of £200m additional capital funding for highways maintenance, the Department for Transport has now published individual allocations for local authorities. This is in addition to the previous Dft funding and local additional monies already allocated for improving roads and pavements in the budget.

Our road surface dressing season has started! Throughout spring and summer, road surfaces across the county will be restored, with over 160 sites set to be treated.

Surface dressing is a very effective way of restoring the road surface to extend the life of an existing surface, prevent deterioration and improve skid resistance. It also seals the road against water preventing potholes forming in winter You can find out more, including a list of sites included in the 2023 programme here: http://worcestershire.gov.uk/surfacedressing

If you spot a Highways maintenance issue including potholes you can contact me or report it yourself on line to www.worcestershire.gov.uk/reportit with a precise location or do both and also send a picture if possible.

This new Report -it function went live last August and since then circa 5,000 reports have been received which equates to about 16,000 enquiries each year. 89% of enquiries since then have been completed. The top four enquiry types are still Roads/ footpaths, grass cutting, drainage and potholes.

Our gritters have travelled 3 times around the world this winter!

The winter season has now come to an end but since October last year, we have carried out an impressive 54 gritting runs, spreading over 5,000 tonnes of salt, keeping our roads moving and safe for motorists.

Nearly 70,000 miles were covered, which is the equivalent of three times around the circumference of our planet, from the six depots across Worcestershire.

Update from the Acute Trust at Worcs. Royal

ALL non-emergency operations will be moved away from the city’s hospital in an attempt to cut the huge backlog for treatment and cut long waiting times.

The county’s health bosses have agreed to a plan which will see only emergency and vascular operations performed at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester with the rest moved to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital by the end of May.

NHS England has tasked the county’s hospital trust with cutting the longest waiting times – which includes 18-month delays and two-plus-year waits – for all ‘planned’ hospital appointments and treatment.

The ever-mounting wait for care has built up since the Covid-19 pandemic when a decision was made to pause all non-emergency care – with hospital staff told to focus only on treating the virus, most planned operations and cancer treatment.

A ‘recovery’ plan, which was published by the NHS in February last year, called for all twoyear waits for care to be “eliminated” within six months, 18-month waits to be removed by April this year and year-long waits to be wiped out by March 2025.

The target before the Covid-19 pandemic for GP referral to treatment was 18 weeks but astonishingly the hospital is now having to battle to make sure people are seen within a year for some treatments.

Matthew Hopkins, the chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said two-year waits had been “largely eliminated” last September and the trust is currently focusing on cutting 78-week-plus waits before attention shifts to cutting 65-week and then year-long waits.

Mr Hopkins, who has revealed the trust’s biggest priority was cutting waiting times even if this came at the expense of balancing the hospital’s budget, said the biggest challenges to cutting wait times were staff shortages as well as previous and pending strikes by hospital staff.

The acute trust boss said recent industrial action – which saw junior doctors strike for 72 hours straight earlier this month – had caused "significant problems."

Junior doctors went out on strike for four days as part of a 96-hour walkout between April 11 and 15.

"“To be honest the main constraints are our theatre nurses because there is a challenge,” Mr Hopkins told Worcestershire County Council’s health and overview scrutiny committee on March 13. As the NHS looks to gear up elective capacity, theatre staff will be the group that becomes the sought-after nurses and allied health professionals… We have done quite well with overseas recruitment into theatres, that is going to be a particular challenge if we are increasing the actual quantum of operating theatres and lists. We’re going to need more staff."

Bosses are looking overseas to fill the gap with the vacancy rates for nurses at the trust at around eight per cent – up from five per cent after more posts were created – and a recruitment drive in the Philippines is said to be "going well."

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is also building two more operating theatres at the Alex to add to the seven theatres already in place. A further four theatres will eventually be built in Redditch with a completion date so far unknown.

The trust said its plan to separate its care in this way was in line with best practice guidance and would lead to shorter waiting times and reduce the risk of cancellation.

It would also help the recovery from the impact of the pandemic and ease pressure on urgent and emergency care, the trust said.

On a personal note, my husband was admitted to the Royal last week with acute pancreatitis and the care he received over seven days from being rushed into A & E on the first day of the Doctor’s strike was exemplary.

My only criticism is the total lack of parking available on site which leads to unacceptable delays for relatives trying to visit patients.

10 .Local Police and Neighbourhood Watch

There were no reports other than that noted under item 6..

11. Planning Matters

To report Comments

11.1 W/23/00657/HP

Mr William Crisp
Meadow Croft
Bishampton Road
Flyford Flavell
WR7 4BT

Single Storey Front Extension
No Objection

11.2 W/23/00649/HP

Mr Chris Holt High House
Old Hill
Flyford Flavell
WR7 4DA

Installation of Solar Panels
No Objection

12. Highways and Footpaths

It was noted that the persistent potholes on the A422 near the bridge had now been properly repaired.

It was noted that the fence on the verge at Sawpitts was still there. The clerk was asked to remind Highways about this encroachment.

13. Treasurer’s Report

Grafton Society £1,500.00
Appeal Fund £1,570.00

Deposit Acc £14,854.60
Current Acc £1,650.69

14. Coronation Celebrations – 8 th May

Sadie Densham reported as follows: “In order to comply with our risk assessment statement and to keep a clear passage to the kitchen, we decided we would need to limit the number of tickets available to 56. Applications exceeded the number of places available and we had a list with a further 14 people waiting should there have been a cancellation.

This was a true community event with all four villages represented. We were especially pleased that 16 of the tickets available were taken by Flyford Flavell residents.

Martin Bailey very kindly agreed to act as MC for the event and Nigel Smith very kindly agreed to play the piano for the National Anthem and help Tim with car parking duties.

Jeannie Smith had persuaded Rev Bill Sumner to take the Church service on Monday rather than Sunday, and the majority of those who were at the afternoon tea attended the service held at 5.00pm.

Grafton Flyford resident Penny Hurst made sausage rolls which she donated – and were much appreciated.

With a young couple now running the bakery in Flyford Flavell, and following an introduction by Leena Sheppard of Flyford Flavell, we decided to support the bakery by purchasing some of the cakes from them.

Among the guests were two ladies (Jill Benton from Libbery aged 94 and Margaret Bluck from Grafton Flyford aged 92) for whom this was their third Coronation (George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III). Also, they had both lived during the reign of George V and the uncrowned King Edward VIII. Both ladies were presented with a commemorative badge on behalf of the Parish Council.

We had said we would keep the hall open until 6.30pm for anyone who wished to return after the Church service for tea or coffee – and to finish up the remains of afternoon tea! A good many did return to the hall, and they were joined by four people who had been at the Church service but not afternoon tea.

The last guests eventually left at 7.45pm

The event was generously supported by the Parish Council who provided a grant of £400.00, and the Flyfords Hall Committee very kindly agreed a discount on the normal booking hire rate.

Full costing is attached, but in summary: Cost of hall £ 35.00
Cost of food/drink/entertainment £360.71
Total cost of event £395.71

Jenny Fazliu provided an email report about the Flyford Flavell event as follows: "I’d like to pass on a big thank you to the Parish Council for the funding towards celebrating the Coronation in Flyford on behalf of the social group. The Sunday saw our most successful community event to date with more than 200 people attending.

Can you please mention this at the May PC meeting and also show some of the attached photos."

A litter pick was organised by Andrew Edge for the following day which was very successful.

15. Any Other Business

Sadie Densham asked if the Council Strategy could be on the next agenda.

The clerk was asked to clarify the rules about the number of members required to ensure the meeting was quorate.

16. Dates of Next Meetings

18th July 2023
19th September 2023
21st November 2023