FLYFORD FLAVELL, GRAFTON FLYFORD & NORTH PIDDLE PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Flyford Flavell, Grafton Flyford, and North Piddle Parish Council held at The Flyfords Hall, Grafton Flyford at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 13th May 2025 Present S Densham A Crickmore D Waide A Short R Croxton Mark Broughton - Taylor was present as Clerk Linda Robinson - District and County Councillor

1. Outgoing Chairman’s Report ACTION We have dealt with 19 planning applications in the past year. 16 were supported by the Parish Council, 2 were opposed, and 1 was withdrawn after we asked for conditions to be required. The opposed applications were rejected by Wychavon. One went to appeal and was also rejected at appeal. We responded to a government consultation on Neighbourhood plans and attended a seminar. Following this we agreed no further action due to the lack of support previously shown by parishioners. The South Worcestershire Development Plan has continued to be delayed following a government request to add 14,000 houses between 2030 and 2041. It has been reviewed by National Government inspectors and is currently awaiting their response. The Flyford Green Management Group has continued to maintain and enhance the green. Malcolm Jones has taken on the chair from David Rhodes. An infant’s swing has been ordered, with support from a Wychavon grant thanks to Linda Robinson; installation is currently awaited. More wildflower seed has been sown. A Christmas tree was kindly donated by Grafton Nurseries, and Christmas lights were funded by the Parish Council. The play equipment passed the annual inspection. A dog poo bag dispenser has been installed on the Green adjacent to the waste bin. Following some incidents in the 1 village the Management Group has been asked to consider the management of dogs on the green and possible child safety implications. The registration of the Village Green is now completed with the land registry and an application has been made to protect the green by registering it with Fields in Trust. The Village Green investment income has increased again and there has been a small improvement to the capital value. The investigation regarding taking Flyford Pond into community ownership is back with the land registry. We have continued the Lengthsman scheme and appointed a new Lengthsman following Robin’s resignation. We have also held bi-annual litter picks for the roadside verges. The Flyford Flavell war memorial has been renovated and cleaned. Further enhancements have been made to the website including improving the planning comments process and the information available about planning applications. We have continued to push for safety improvements on the A422 and local roads. We finally managed to have a meeting with Marc Bayliss (County Council lead for highways, and deputy Police and Crime Commisssioner,) plus representatives of other Parish Councils along the A422 from Broughton Hackett to Inkberrow. This was constructive and a number of actions were agreed to follow up. Unfortunately we will need to engage with a new County Council lead for highways and reaffirm some of the actions following Marc Bayliss stepping down as a councillor in May 2025. We obtained 200 signatories for our petition of parishioners regarding reduced speed limits on the Radford road and through Flyford. This was presented to County Council in January, however we have had a disappointing response back from the County Council. We have agreed priorities of a second Vehicle speed Activated Sign, A third pole at the top of New Hill, Sharks Teeth for the entry roads to Flyford Flavell, and reduced speed limits as our petition. We have established a working group with Flyford Flavell First School to explore how to reduce the parking problems associated with the school. Further to the rollout of Smartwater property marking in Flyford Flavell last year we managed to enrol sufficient people to implement the scheme in Grafton Flyford including Libbery this year and can now implement Smartwater signage. Unfortunately we could not meet the threshold for signage in North Piddle, though all registered households have been sent marking kits. MB-T MB-T AC 2 VE day celebration parties were financially supported by the Parish Council on Flyford Green and in the Flyfords Hall. We have had a volunteer come forward as Footpath Officer. Unfortunately the County Council have not run any training programmes recently so the volunteer has been unable to start in the role. However the footbridge over the Piddle Brook near the Flyford Arms has been replaced, and improvements are under investigation for the very muddy gateway just after the bridge. MB-T We gave financial support for replacing defibrillator expendibles in Flyford Flavell. We agreed to increase our budget by 3.2% this year, in line with inflation. David Rhodes has stepped down as a councillor, and Richard Davey has announced his intention to do so following the May meeting. I would like to thank them both for many years of valuable support to the PC. I would like to conclude by thanking all our councillors for their valuable contributions and input, and Linda Robinson for her strong support at County and Wychavon. Particular thanks are due to our Clerk, Mark for his continued excellent service, including regular councillor briefings.
2. Election of Chairman and Declaration of Office of Chairman Having given consent to the nomination, David Waide was proposed by Alison Crickmore, seconded by Richard Croxton and all were in agreement.
3. Apologies for Absence R Davey
4. Declaration of Interest None
5. Vacancies No volunteers were forthcoming to fill the vacancies on the council.
6. To elect/appoint the Vice Chairman Having given consent to the nomination Andrew Short was proposed by Alison Crickmore, seconded by Richard Croxton and all were in agreement.
7. Footpaths Officer It is understood that the position of footpaths Officer is still vacant 3 even though we have a volunteer. This is because the necessary training is not available from the County Council. The clerk was asked to contact the County Footpaths Officer and clarify the present situation. MB-T
8. Data Protection Officer The clerk agreed to act as Data Protection Officer.
9. Standing Orders [Rules of the Council] It was proposed to make the following amendments to the policy dealing with Planning Matters MB-T/MWS 1.0 Planning Matters 1.1 All information concerning planning matters will be posted on the parish council portal. Councillors will be informed by email when an application is received or its status changes. All comments on the portal are deemed to be confidential. 1.2 Minor planning applications are to be dealt with by the clerk under delegated powers following consultation with councillors for that particular parish. Each councillor will have access to the details of the planning application through the Portal on the parish council website. 1.3 Comments should be posted on the portal by the stated date. 1.4 The clerk will respond to the planning authority following consultation with councillors. 1.5 The clerk will report the summarised comments to the next council meeting. Comments from councillors will be securely retained on the portal. 1.6 The chairman will be invited to comment on all planning applications. 1.7 Significant planning applications will be dealt with at full council. If there is no appropriate scheduled meeting arranged, an extraordinary meeting will be called to consider the application. A site visit will be arranged by the clerk if appropriate. 4 1.8 The comment to be returned to the planning authority will be formulated at the meeting unless the meeting agrees to delegate to the clerk. 1.9 The full council, or in the case of a minor application the clerk, may decide to submit an oral comment to the development control committee in consultation with the district councillor. This will ordinarily be delegated to the clerk unless full council decide otherwise. 1.10 For the purposes of this standing order a significant planning application is one that: o Effects more than one parish o o Involves the modification, extension or addition to a listed building or is within the curtilage of a listed building. (This would not include like for like replacement of windows or similar) o o The construction of a new dwelling(s) o o The introduction of any new commercial or industrial process o o Alterations to the highway o 1.11 Any two councillors or the clerk may ask for any application to be considered by full council if there is significant public interest in doing so. 1.12 The clerk shall report all comments and decisions to full council at the next meeting following notification. Details of the planning matters to be discussed or reported will be given on the agenda and posted on the parish website three clear working days before the meeting. 1.13 If a Parish Councillor raises a declaration of interest concerning a Planning Application which is dealt with outside of a Parish Council Meeting that declaration should be registered at the following meeting. 1.14 When considering all planning applications, the parish council will have regard to its obligations under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, updated by section 102 0f the Environment Act 2021 as outlined in Section 25 below. 5 1.15 The comments will make use of the standard compendium of comments with particular consideration given to requesting approval conditions including CEMPS, provision of bird/bat boxes, and SUDS to minimise surface water. The Planning Policy was agreed and the standing orders were re- adopted for the coming year. Proposed: David Waide Seconded: Rchard Croxton All agreed
10. Staffing Committee There was no report from the Staffing Committee
11. Treasurer’s Report The clerk presented the accounts for the year. It was agreed that they should be adopted as a fair and true record of the accounts for the year. Proposed: David Waide Seconded: Sadie Densham All agreed
12. Parish Meeting A combined Parish Meeting had been held immediately before the AGM No members of the public had attended the parish meeting held immediately before the council meeting. It was noted that the publicity for the meeting could have been better. 6