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- Councillor Mrs M. Gilbert (Chair)
- Councillor Ms L. Hopkin
- Councillor J. Wilton
- Councillor K. Rigby
- Councillor K. Harrison
- Councillor Mrs E. Harrison
- Councillor D. Keating
- Councillor Mrs S. Keating
- Councillor J. Kiernan
- Councillor Mrs L. Ball (Broxtowe Borough Council)
- Councillor D. Pringle (Broxtowe Borough Council)
- John Wheatley (Member of the Public)
Clerk
Mrs S.M. Bircumshaw
01/26 Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs S. Wheatley, Councillor Mrs M. Byrne and Councillor Ms J. Goold (NCC).
02/26 Declaration of Interest
There were no declarations of interest made.
03/26 Minutes of the last meeting
The Minutes of the meeting held on 18th November 2025 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
04/26 Public participation
John Wheatley attended the meeting and spoke to the council regarding the re-surfacing of the Church Hall car park. He told the meeting that a grant of £6,740 had been received from the Government Levelling Up fund and that the Church and Cossall Community Chest will top up the amount to £10,000to put towards the necessary work. He asked if the Parish Council would be able to put some money towards this too.
This request will have to be discussed at the next Finance Committee meeting, which will not take place until May/June this year as the budget has already been set for the next financial year. If we have a small underspend in the current financial year this may be possible but this cannot be confirmed until 1st April.
05/26 Police report
No report.
06/26 County Councillor’s report
No report.
07/26 Borough Councillor’s report
Councillor Mrs Ball reported that she had been contacted by a resident on Newtons Lane regarding the amount of lorries going down the lane. It is hoped that the Shilo Way entrance will be opened in late February/early March – they are waiting for better weather to tarmac the roads.
Councillor Pringle reported that he had been contacted by Chris Riley, who has advised that work is being carried out along the canal from Anchor Road to Swancar in the south. They will be closing sections off and so there will be diversions in place. All the trees have gone in the small car park. They have received two lots of funding to carry out work beneficial to the wildlife, especially water voles.
Standing Orders commenced at 7.45pm
08/26 Items for Discussion
a) Church Matters
The LED bulbs have been installed for the floodlights.
The re-surfacing of the car park was discussed in 04/26 above.
Photographs of the war memorials have been sent to the War Memorials Trust regarding the cleaning of the memorials. The trust have reported that the Waterloo Memorial appears to be in good condition and does not need cleaning at this time, as excessive cleaning can cause damage. The trust have recommended that annual checks be made to ascertain if the Waterloo Memorial needs cleaning in the future. Guidance can also be found on Historic England’s website. A quote for cleaning the memorials has been received from Mark Stafford – he uses steam to clean the memorials and would need access to electricity and water on-site. The quote is £1,650 ex VAT. It was felt that this is a lot of money, especially given the comments from the War Memorials Trust. It was suggested that Jason Mordan, at the County Council, be contacted and asked if he would have a look and give his opinion.
Contact Jason Mordan for his opinion/advice
The yew trees next to the war memorials need trimming, which would help with the dirt. Broxtowe Borough Council will be contacted about this. It was felt that we should go forward carefully and follow the advice of The War Memorials Trust.
Contact Emma Georgiou re trimming yew tree
b) Footpaths and pavements
It was reported that Cadent made a good job of re-instating the verges upon completion of the gas works in the village, but now people have started driving over and parking on the new verges and causing damage and spreading mud on the pavements. It is particularly dangerous to walk on the pavements at the bottom of Church Lane due to the mud. The grass is germinating on the verges now but the cars parking on the verges are causing damage. The pavements and verges are owned by the County Council and they can charge for re-seeding if it is known who is parking on the verges. The soil is too high in places at the moment and of course the newly seeded areas are very soft due to them being new and the weather. It was suggested that we ask the County Council to roll the verges at an appropriate time i.e. May, when the verges have dried out. The County Council will be contacted regarding the highway damage to the pavements on Church Lane, asking for inspection and advice as to whether we could put posts on the verges, as a measure, to protect the verges.
County Council will be contacted regarding the damaged verges
It was also reported that the hedge down Robinettes Lane, on the Patchitt’s side, needs cutting back. Photos will be obtained and sent to Broxtowe Borough Council.
Photos to be obtained and sent to Broxtowe
c) Roads/Traffic/Bikers
Nothing to report.
d) RCAN
Councillor Harrison reported that he has passed on the Cluster Meeting information to Marilyn Reed.
There is also a potential online session to discuss Counter Terrorism Security for Church/Village halls.
e) CPRE
Nothing to report.
f) Village signs
Councillor Mrs Gilbert reported that Match Funding starts again in March. We have got £1,750 towards new signs with another £750 to be added in next financial year.
Awsworth Parish Council have sent information regarding new signs for the bypass and by Bennerley View and have asked if we would like to join in with a double-sided signs 1.5m wide. The exact cost is not known at this time but it will be around £1,100 each when split two ways between each council. There is a potential grant which could reduce the cost per council by either 25% or 50% these prices do not include fitting. Avant Homes may pay for fitting the signs.
As we are not sure what the actual costs will be it is difficult to make a decision at this time but it is felt that it is too good an opportunity to miss. We should be able to provide our own artwork to be in keeping with the headers on the notice boards i.e. the Church.
In principle we are interested but need to know the actual costs before committing to anything, costs need to be within our financial limits.
An emergency meeting to discuss costs could be called if necessary to make a decision.
A letter will be sent to Awsworth Parish Council informing them that we agree in principle but a final decision will depend on the cost
Letter will be sent to Awsworth Parish Council
g) Defibrillators
Councillor Mrs Gilbert confirmed that Seal Calibration will be servicing the defibrillators on 13th February.
09/26 Correspondence
The local Scout Leader has been in touch asking if there are any events they can help with. Councillor Mrs Gilbert has passed on his contact details to the organiser of the Open Gardens and let him know.
10/26 Planning applications
It was reported that an outline planning application has been submitted to Broxtowe for the Bennerley development – 25/00925/OUT. The plans are for a huge industrial development, which is horrendous. Access is planned for the small island at the bottom end of Awsworth. Everyone was urged to put in objections. It specifically states in the application that they are not applying for a Country Park – which was indicated in the original plans.
We will put in an official objection regarding this proposal along the lines of:- “We are objecting to this proposal on the basis that traffic movements per day would be unacceptable for the road configuration and that better ways could be found to get in and out of the site than the one proposed. The road is gridlocked at the best of times every day.”
Official objection to be made regarding this application
Awsworth are holding an information meeting tonight and will be asking everyone to make individual objections.
11/26 Finance
Councillor Wilton was asked, in his capacity of handyman, to take a look at the notice boards as they are in need of repair/re-painting and to bring costs for the work along to the next meeting.
Cllr Wilton to cost up noticeboard repairs
It was suggested that we request a grant from the County Councillors to go towards the costs of a professional maintenance of the war memorials. Let them know that we feel it is important to honour the people who sacrificed their lives for us to have a better life.
Grant to be requested towards costs of refurbishing war memorials
12/26 Accounts for payment
| The following accounts were approved for payment | ||
| Mrs S. Bircumshaw – Clerk’s Salary/Printer Paper | £511.08 | (£503.58/£7.50) |
| Cossall PCC – Room Hire – 20/1/26 | £35.00 | |
| Mr R Heard – Website Administration/Website Hosting | £426.76 | |
| Mrs T. Wilson – Hall Cleaning | £20.00 | |
| Mrs M. Gilbert – Christmas Tree Expenses | £400.00 | |
| Slater Electrical – Replace Floodlights | £657.60 | |
| TOTAL | £2,050.44 | |
| Income since 18/11/25 | ||
| Bank Interest | £37.77 | |
| TOTAL | £37.77 | |
| Deposit Account | ||
| Reserve | £7,000.00 | |
| MTFS | £1,750.00 | |
| TOTAL | £8,750.00 | |
| Balances @ Bank – 31 December 2025 | ||
| Deposit A/C | £7,144.25 | (-Res/MTFS) |
| Current A/C | £326.58 | |
| TOTAL | £7,470.83 | (Available) |
| Balances @ Bank – 20 January 2026 | ||
| Deposit A/C | £5,644.25 | (Reserve/MTFS deducted) |
| Current A/C | £176.14 | |
| TOTAL | £5,820.39 | (Available to spend) |
13/26 Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Tuesday 17th February 2026, commencing at 7.30pm in the Church Hall.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm.