September 2021

SUTTON MADDOCK PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Sutton Maddock Parish Council in Norton Village
Hall held on Thursday 16th September 2021at 7.30 pm
Present: Cllr. Mrs A. Evason
Cllr. M. Humphries
Cllr S. Williams
Also present: Anne Wilson Parish Clerk
Cllr. R. Marshall – Shropshire Councillor

01/2021 Apologies for absence
RESOLVED to receive apologies of absence for this meeting from:
• Cllr. M. Speke – personal commitment
02/2021 Election of Chairman
RESOLVED to elect Cllr. A. Evason as Chairman of Sutton Maddock Parish Council
for the remainder of the municipal year.
The Chairman signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
03/2021 Election of Vice Chairman
RESOLVED to elect Cllr. M. Speke as Vice Chairman of Sutton Maddock Parish
Council for the ensuing municipal year.
The Vice-Chairman signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
04/2021 Declarations of Interest.
RESOLVED to note that there were no declarations of interest under consideration
on this agenda in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 s32 and The Relevant
Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012.
05/2021 Public Question Time and Participation
There were no members of the public present.
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06/2021 Chairman’s Announcements
The Chairman thanked her colleagues for the faith they had put in her and said that
she would do her best for the parish. She was sure that she would have more to say
at future meetings.
07/2021 Minutes
RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting of Sutton Maddock Parish Council
held on Thursday 11th March 2021.
08/2021 Elections and Co-Option
Members noted that following the notice of election posted that two residents stood
for the Council. Both have now signed their Declaration of Acceptance of Office and
filled in their Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
RESOLVED that Members agreed to advertise the two remaining places for
co-option. All applicants would be invited to the November meeting and asked to
make a short presentation about themselves and why they would like to become a
Councillor before the Council vote on their co-option.
If there were more than two applicants, then a vote would take place using the
proportional voting method and if only two then the Council would have to have a
very good reason not to accept both applicants.
09/2021 Representatives Outside Bodies
RESOLVED to elect the following Members to the following Outside Bodies and
those with special responsibilities:
i) The SALC Area Committee – Cllr. S. Williams
ii) Tree Warden – Cllr. M. Humphries
iii) The Local Joint Committee – Cllr. S. Williams
Members noted that the representation may change when there is a full complement
of Councillors.
10/2021 Annual Parish Meeting
Members note that the Annual Parish Meeting is a meeting for the residents of the
parish and is not a Parish Council meeting and has to be held between specific
dates between March and June annually. I have established that we do need to have
this meeting in 2021, this parish usually holding theirs in May each year, but
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RESOLVED that Members would not like to hold this meeting in 2021, noting that
anyone seldom attends.
Further RESOLVED that Members would consider how to make the 2022 meeting
more inviting. The Parish Clerk gave Members some ideas.
11/2021 Policy Documents
Members, at this stage, noted the following documents, which had been circulated
with the agenda:
i) Standing Orders
ii) Financial Regulations
These documents are normally adopted at the Annual Meeting of Council each year
however we are only now having such a meeting and with new Councillors it would
be wise to give Members the opportunity to look through them before we meet via
Zoom to look through them and discuss any possible changes, noting that the bold
print is mandatory and cannot be amended before adoption at our December
meeting.
Various amendments were suggested but it was RESOLVED that the Parish Clerk
would meet with the Councillors via Zoom to go through the documents before the
November meeting when they could be adopted.
12/2021 Parish Council Matters
i) Training
RESOLVED that the Parish Clerk would be carrying out several short training
sessions for Members via Zoom on mutually convenient dates on the following
matters:
• Roles and Responsibilities of Councillors and the Clerk
• Processes and Procedures
• Agendas and Minutes
• Declaration of Interests
ii) GDPR
RESOLVED that Members noted the GDPR documents attached to the agenda
which were adopted by the Parish Council and are due to be updated. The Parish
Clerk would liaise with Cllr. Williams on this matter.
iii) DDA Compliance
RESOLVED to purchase Parish Council specific e mails for Councillors and the
Parish Clerk
12/2021 Finance
i) Accounts for Payment
Members are asked to agree to the following payments:
• Parish Clerk A. Wilson TBC Salary from 1st April 2021 until 30th September
2021 (usually paid quarterly but as there has been no Council the Parish
Clerk has not been paid)
• HMRC – TBC- period covered from 1st April 2021 until 30th September 2021
• Insurance – £218 – paid for by the Parish Clerk
• Internal Auditor – Mrs V. Voysey £60 paid for by the Parish Clerk
RESOLVED to note that it was not possible for the Parish Clerk to be paid as there
are not enough Councillor signatures on the Parish Council account. Members
agreed that it was not ideal for the Parish Clerk to be paying the invoices for the
Parish Council but understood why this had been happening.
Further RESOLVED that Cllr. Mrs Evason, Cllr. Humphries and Cllr. Williams
become signatures on the Parish Council account. The Parish Clerk would obtain the
necessary paperwork toa dd the signatures, but Members noted that it may be
necessary to visit a Lloyds branch to complete the paperwork.
ii) Accounts
RESOLVED that Members noted that as of 31st March 2021 the Parish Council Bank
account had £5439.62 in it.
Each Councillor had received a copy of the 2021/2022 budget by e mail.
iii) Update on Sage Refund
The Parish Clerk updated Members on the issues surrounding Sage.
RESOLVED that a further letter be sent threatening legal action should the account
not be closed. Members noted that despite closing the direct debit they had taken
funds out of the bank account.
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iv) End of Year Accounts
RESOLVED that Members confirmed:
i) End of Year Accounts
ii) Annual Return
iii) Annual Governance Statement – each section being agreed
individually
That a certificate of exemption be sent to the external auditors.
14/2021 Planning
i) Planning Applications
RESOLVED that Members made the following comments on the planning application
listed below:
21/03/03702 Proposed camping site at Windmill Cottage, Sutton Common
Change of use of land for small camp site with shower block and formation of
vehicular access.
RESOLVED that Members had no objections to the planning application subject to
there be no interference with the oak trees on the site or at the access.
ii) Any other Planning Matter
Planning Application passed
21/03275/FUL Standeford House, Bridgnorth Road, Norton
Erection of side extension to existing dwelling
Members noted the address on the planning application is incorrect and therefore
the application does not show on the planning portal properly meaning it does not
allow for the searching of the application by parish.
15/2021 Sutton Maddock Village Hall
There were no updates on Sutton Maddock Village Hall.
16/2021 Sutton Wharf Caravan Park
Members were asked to consider the expansion of the Caravan Park at Sutton
Wharf – Members had looked at the planning application for this site before the
meeting and expressed
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Obstruction of the Right of Way along Sutton Wharf (including private sign) –
Members raised the private road notice was still in situ off the Coalport Road and
agreed that Shropshire Council should be contracted yet again about the matter.
17/2021 Condition of the A442
Concern had been expressed about the failure of Shropshire Council under s 4 (1) of
the Highways Act 1980.
The Parish Clerk had spoken with a Shropshire Council Cabinet Member on the
proposals to repair the A442 and the timeline attached.
Cllr. Marshall, Shropshire Councillor was Deputy Portfolio Holder for Highways and
informed the meeting that the Highways budget was woefully under budgeted and
therefore a review was taking place. Andy Wilde, Cllr. Steve Charmley and Steve
Smith were looking at it and were hoping to make and increase of £80m over four
years. Cllr. Marshall confirmed that there were funds allocated for the repair of the
A442 between Bridgnorth and Sutton Maddock roundabout and it was programmed
to be completed by the end of the financial year.
The proposals for the two highways depots being closed had taken some hard
decisions but the two proposed to be closed did not meet health and safety
requirements. They were confident that the needs of the county could be met as
85% already comes out of Craven Arms already but it would be a trial for a year.
The white lines around the potholes in the county were the Highways Inspectors
doing their jobs. Since May 2021 10,000 potholes have been repaired reducing the
backlog by 7500 to approximately 5160and it was hoped that over the next 18
months a big improvement would be seen.
A new app for reporting potholes is a lot more efficient and pinpoints exactly the
location that is being reported. The wanted to collaboratively work with the parish
councils and a map of the areas will show residents where the works are being
carried out.
Concern was raised by Members with Cllr. Marshall about the speed of traffic along
the A442 and the number of fatalities over the past few years which do not appear to
show up in any data analysis. Cllr. Williams agreed to share this information with Cllr.
Marshall as this would give him a basis upon which to look at the needs around
speeding.
Steve Brown was now the Head of Transport responsible for street scene stuff, traffic
lights, signage and transport.
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18/2021 Parish Council Website
Members noted that the website should be DDA compliant in terms of colours and
ability to read the website on any device. Hugo Fox is aware of this matter.
Issues around the Parish Council website were raised, and it was RESOLVED that
the Parish Clerk should look at options with regard to a new website.
19/2021 Shropshire Council
Members noted that there was nothing else to report.
However, the Parish Clerk outlined the poor management at Shropshire Council of the
Councils who were not quorate after the elections. Although Sutton Maddock had been
quorate for reasons beyond their control the Council became inquorate, and it was
found that Shropshire Council had not taken considered processes to assist those
councils who were inquorate as a result of the election or afterwards. Upon asking for
a Shropshire Councillor to attend the May meeting the process had not been put in
place to enable this to happen and the Parish Clerk was told it would be at least July
before any decisions would be made. In the end the process that was expected to
have been followed was not and therefore this had severely delayed the Parish
Council being able to meet.
20/2021 Any new matters relating to the parish not included elsewhere on the
agenda
Members were invited to raise any matter under this item but noted that no decisions
can be made although instructions can be given to the Clerk.
Members noted that it is also the opportunity to ask for items for a future agenda but
noting that if the items require research, then unless a simple answer can be
obtained by the Parish Clerk by an e mail or telephone call then the Councillor will be
asked to do the research and report it to the Parish Clerk for the future agenda item.
• Kemberton Parish Council had contacted the Parish Council about jointly
putting on events to commemorate the Queens Jubilee in 2022. Members
spoke about lighting a beacon or planting a tree.
RESOLVED that Cllr. Evason and Cllr. Willaims were happy to meet with
them.
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21/2021 Date of next meeting
RESOLVED that Members were asked to note that the next meeting of Sutton
Maddock Parish Council is scheduled to be held on Thursday 11
th November 2021.
Members noted the dates of the meetings of Sutton Maddock Parish Council in 2022
are as follows:
• Thursday 13th January
• Thursday 10th March
• Thursday 12th May
• Thursday 14th July
• Thursday 8th September
• Thursday 10th November
Signed ……………………………..…………… Date ………………………………
Chairman