Minera Community Council Meeting held on Wednesday 19th May 2021

 Commencing at 7.30 pm and conducted by Zoom Videoconference

Present: Cllrs: J Edwards (Chair), H Field (Vice-Chair), W Blaze, D Kelly, A Roberts, J Belton, W Ollerhead, T Grundy, J Marsh, Cllr H Eustace

Clerk: Mr D Hinchliffe

Apologies: Cllr A Fisher

Two residents of the community were present as observers, who were welcomed by the Chair and thanked for their interest in Community Council activities.

14/21               Declarations of interest

14/21.1            There were no declarations of interest.

15/21               Ratification of the minutes of the previous meeting

15.1/21            The minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2021 were proposed as a correct record by Cllr W Blaze and seconded by Cllr H Field.           

16/21               Matters arising

16.1/20            The Clerk advised the meeting that the rocking horse head had not yet been placed on eBay, but would be imminently now that a suitable photograph had been taken.

16.2/21            The new bin at the entrance to Minera quarry was still not in place, so would be chased up by the Clerk.

16.3/21            The Clerk had been in contact with Scottish Power regarding the culvert in Minera, and an inspection had been carried out on 19 May, following which a call had been received to advise that a full clearance of the gulley would be performed within 10 working days, date to be advised.

Cllr D Kelly noted that the underlying issue was that the boundary of Scottish Power’s responsibility ran down the middle of the stream. Piping of the water beneath the carriageway would be the only effective solution in the long term. Pending this Cllr Kelly asked the Clerk to make periodic and regular requests for the gulley to be cleared to avoid rubbish accumulating to the point where is caused flooding of the road in heavy rain.

16.4/21            The operations map requested from North Wales Police had not yet been received so would be requested again later in the meeting when PCSO Lydia Edwards joined proceedings.

16.5/21            The Clerk was still waiting for a response from WCBC regarding suitable application for the youth activities reserve funds. It was understood that the Youth Services office was still not re-occupied following the pandemic, and that this was delaying effective re-engagement with the service.

16.6/21            The Clerk had succeeded in gaining a discontinuation of the old website domain from 123.reg, and the hosts of the new website had confirmed that traffic would now flow naturally towards the new site.

16.7/21            The Clerk had advised WCBC on several occasions in the past month of issues with potholes, and had been impressed with the urgency of responses received from the team. The Chair asked the Clerk to pass on the thanks of Minera Community Council to Mr Kerry Williams and his team for their diligence at a time when they were under severe pressure of work.

17/21               Co-option of Councillors

17.1/21            The Clerk advised the two residents that this item of business was ‘Part 2’ in nature and thus not publicly accessible. They left the meeting with an arrangement to re-join at a suitable point.access

17.2/21            The Clerk advised the meeting that Mr Nigel Jones had been the only interested party to come forward in response to the Notice of Co-option. As Mr Jones had been interviewed for the previous co-option exercise in March 2021, his suitability was attested by those Councillors present at the interview, and the Clerk confirmed that Mr Jones remained content to be considered as a candidate to fill the casual vacancy.

Cllr H Field therefore proposed and Cllr W Blaze seconded that Mr Jones be co-opted as serving member of Minera Community Council.

The Clerk would now advise Cllr Jones of his co-option, and arrange for the signature of the necessary declaration.

One resident was then re-admitted to the meeting. The second resident, who was related to this resident, was unable to re-join for technical reasons, and therefore re-joined from her relative’s house later in proceedings.

18/21               Attenuation ditches at Eversley Court

One resident re-joined the meeting. The second resident subsequently re-joined later in the meeting following access issues.

18.1/21            The Clerk had advised Councillors of concerns notified in the month relating to the condition of attenuation ditches recently installed at Eversley Court by Gower Homes.

Following a detailed discussion of the current condition of the ditches, during which the Chair invited the attending residents to air any concerns of their own, Cllr D Kelly undertook to contact the relevant officer at WCBC to establish whether the ditches had been constructed to a standard sufficient to allow responsibility for them to be transferred to a Management Company, as was planned.

19/21               Police report

PCSO Lydia Griffiths now joined the meeting.

19.1/21            The Chair asked PCSO Edwards whether any progress had been made in dealing with the recurrent problem of stray sheep in Gwynfryn. PCSO Edwards advised that the Rural Crime Unit were actively working on a solution to the issue, and that she was personally involved in the work to resolve the problems being experienced.

19.2/21            The Clerk noted that a requested Police Operations Map for the district had not yet been received. This would now be provided forthwith, and PCSO Edwards also clarified concerns regarding local policing to explain that, in the evenings, all PCSOs were now assigned to the entire Borough, so that incidents would be attended by whichever officer was free to respond.

19.3/21            With respect to current Police activity, PCSO Edwards advised the meeting that there had been issues with entry to disused buildings in Minera, notably at Minera Hall, and thefts of catalytic converters had been recorded.

The Chair thanked PCSO Edwards for her attendance and information provided, and she now left the meeting.

20/21               Minera Community Council Chair’s report

The Chair had circulated his report, and raised a number of points from it, that were not covered elsewhere in the agenda, for further discussion:

20.1/21            An incident of vandalism in Minera play area involving the burning of a litter bin had been quickly dealt with and rectified by WCBC. Fortunately, no damage to the play assets had been sustained.

20.2/21            Following a report from the Vicar of littering on the Church bank, litter picking equipment had been provided from the supplies put in place by WCBC.

20.3/21            Various pothole issues and a persistent problem with an uneven kerb had been notified during the month. All issues had been passed to the Clerk for resolution via WCBC.

21/21               County Borough Councillor’s report

Cllr D Kelly briefly commented:

21.1/21            The Tomlinson’s Dairy site at Pen y Palmant had apparently been bought for its refrigeration capacity, and the purchasers were active on site.

21.2/21            The previously reported incident of fly tipping at Tomlinson’s had been carried out at the entrance to the dairy. As this was on private land, WCBC had not removed the waste. Separate instances of fly tipping of tyres had noticeably reduced in the last month.

21.3/21            Closure of the illegal travellers’ site at Llandegla had not been carried out by Denbighshire CC as Covid regulations prevented an eviction where alternative accommodation was unavailable.

21.4/21            The headgear at Minera Lead Mines had been discussed within WCBC. It was felt that the asset could be of interest to CADW, and in the interim a decision had been taken not to dismantle the headgear until funds were available – possibly via CADW – to re-erect it.

21.5/21            No face to face meetings were yet planned by WCBC. Certain Council buildings also remained closed with staff working from home.

Susanne Allcroft now joined the meeting

22/21               Community Agent’s report

Susanne’s report was taken as read, with emphasis added to a few points:

22.1/21            The last month had been especially busy with new requests for assistance, and had provided a number of good opportunities to work with other agencies and providers.

22.2/21            The Tyn y Capel was not yet prepared to allow the resumption of Meet up Tuesday sessions, and the Church was also unable to offer a room due to ongoing Covid rules. Discussions would continue with the Tyn y Capel, and Cllr W Blaze added that Bwlchgwyn Village Hall was a potential alternative venue for the event at least to begin with.

The foodbank supplies were still in storage at the Tyn y Capel, and remarkably there was still no demand for items to be issued from stock.

22.3/21            A Dementia Village initiative was being researched, modelled on the successful introduction of such an initiative in Gresford. Signage and maps would ultimately be needed, and the formation of a committee to oversee installation and sustenance of facilities introduced.

The Chair thanked Susanne once more for her continued and much valued efforts, and the positive impact her role was having and she then left the meeting.

23/21               School Governor’s report

Cllr W Ollerhead briefly commented:

23.1/21            No meeting of Governors had taken place since the previous Council meeting, but engagement with the Headmaster had received a positive response to the proposal that children from the school should perform the official opening of the new play facilities in Minera. The Chair asked the Clerk to establish a suitable date when numbers meeting outdoors could exceed 50, prior to the end of the Summer term. Dates of 2,9 and 16 July would be preferable, subject to Covid stipulations.

24/21               Correspondence

The Clerk had circulated summaries of correspondence throughout the month. One item was identified for further explanation:

24.1/21            Cllr D Kelly asked the Clerk to clarify the legal position which had been enacted with respect to Council meetings. The Clerk responded to advise that face to face meetings were set to re-start within overall Covid-19 guidelines. The law would now require, however, that any face to face meeting must have a facility for any attendee to be present virtually if desired. The law stated that a minimum of ‘hearing and being able to be heard’ would be required.

25/21               Grants and donations          

25.1/21            A number of requests for financial assistance had been received during the month. Following a brief discussion, Cllr H Field proposed and Cllr J Belton seconded a donation of £200 to Hope House towards ongoing costs.

25.2/21            Further requests for assistance from Mencap and Wrexham Community Broadcasting were deferred pending further enquiries as to the expected benefits in the Minera community of the charity’s work in the case of Mencap, and the potential for commercially generated income in the case of Wrexham Community Broadcasting.

26/21               Financial matters

26.1/21            Following a brief recital by the Clerk of the financial activities since the previous Council meeting, the financial report was proposed for approval by Cllr J Belton and seconded by Cllr W Blaze. The schedule of payments, listed below, was proposed for approval by Cllr H Field and seconded by Cllr W Blaze.