LIDDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 3rd July 2024 at 7pm in the Village Hall
Present: Councillors Aftelak, Bunney (Chair), Poppleton, Sturgess and Wilson
Also present: Laura Evans (Clerk), CEO of the Great Western Hospital and one member of the public.
1. APOLOGIES
Resolved: To approve Ward Cllr G Sumner’s reason for absence (unavailable)
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
. Cllr Poppleton declared an interest as Treasurer for All Saint’s Church and Cllr Sturgess as the Council’s
representative on the Village Hall Committee.
3. APPLICATION FOR AND APPROVAL OF DISPENSATION FOLLOWING ELECTION
All Councillors are required to apply for a dispensation to be able to participate in any discussion or vote concerning
the setting of the precept.
Resolved: All Councillors completed the application forms which were duly signed by the Clerk granting the
dispensation.
4. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Resolved: The Minutes of the Full Council meeting held on 5
th June 2024 were approved and signed as a true
record.
5. MATTERS ARISING (10 MINUTES)
Village Fliers – The village fliers have all been distributed.
Hillside Cottages – The request for the grass verge to be cut regularly as it is dangerous for people exiting the
Cottages onto Purley Road has been actioned and cut by Swindon Borough Council.
The Street pothole- The clerk has reported this to SBC reference number E22151
6. CEO OF GWH
The acting CEO, J Westbrook, of the GWH gave an update on recent activity at the GWH.
The Emergency Department was built to be able to deal with 48,000 patients per year but currently the department
is topping 100,000 patients per year.
The waiting lists for operations and consultations have doubled since Covid and the aim is to reduce the waiting time
to 65 weeks.
The new Emergency Department is in progress with a one-way system. The hospital consulted with young children
from Primary schools and other groups within Swindon to design the layout.
New Electronic Patient Records are being installed which will improve the time information is proved resulting in the
right and better care of patients.
The implementation of a surgical robot has been successful with the 100th operation being performed last month.
The robot is capable of carrying out more keyhole surgeries where surgeons hands cannot fit, this reduces the pain,
length of recovery and reduced stays in hospital for patients.
The Parish Council thanked J Westbrook for attending and thanked him and his team at the GWH for the good work
they are doing.
7. PUBLIC SESSION (15 MINUTES)
Spinney Close rear access- received via email – The rear access is hugely overgrown. As this is not a public
footpath and is an access route to the rear gardens of the properties in Spinney Close, the meeting agreed that this
is not the responsibility of the Parish Council but of the housing department at SBC and those who own their
properties. Clerk to respond to the resident. Action- Clerk
The resident in attendance raised concern over a recent article on the Advertisers Website regarding the developers
at the site next to M4 Van Sales on the main road into Swindon, who have applied to SBC to remove any
requirement for affordable homes. As correspondents have pointed out, this company bought the site with its
Minutes – July 2024 Page 2 of 4
planning consent in place; they knew about the conditions and should have factored it into their profit calculations.
The site seems well advanced, and wonders whether the relevant houses have been built already. The resident
urged the Parish council to resist on this matter. Clerk to follow up. Action- Clerk
8. WARD COUNCILLOR REPORT (10 MINUTE)
No report was received from the Ward Councillor.
9. PLANNING MATTERS (10 MINUTES)
(a) To consider any planning applications:
The meeting noted that no applications had been received.
(b) To note any comments submitted between meetings:
The meeting noted that no comments had been submitted.
(c) To note any decisions:
The meeting noted that no decisions had been received.
10. FINANCE (10 MINUTES)
(a) To approve payment of the following invoices:
Resolved: Cllr Poppleton proposed approval of the invoices, standing order, recurring payment and ratification of
the payments made between meetings. Cllr Wilson seconded the proposal and was unanimously agreed
• HMRC- Tax Month 03 – £53.00
• Members Expenses, B Aftelak – £55.00
• Auditing Solutions Ltd- Annual Internal Audit- £234.00
• Liddington Village Hall – Hall hire- £60.00
(b) To approve payment of the following Standing Orders:
• Adams & Watt July Installment – £742.55
(c) To approve the following Direct Debits:
• Three Mobile phone bill – £3.00
(d) To approve payment of the following recurring payments
• Unlimited webhosting – (18/06/2024- 17/07/2024) – £5.99
(e) To ratify payments made between meetings
• Salary June – £212.60
• Vastern Timber -timber for bench – £382.37
• P Harman- Allotment water provision – £787.98
(f) To receive the monthly account reconciliation.
Resolved: The meeting noted that the accounts are in a good position.
(g) Q1 Budget Monitoring
Resolved: The meeting noted that the budget was on track
11. VILLAGE MATTERS (15 MINUTES)
a) Playpark equipment suggestions – A suggestion was received from a resident for more toddler based
equipment including easier access to the slide and an obstacle course with stepping stones, beams, bridges
and tunnels. Cllr Wilson suggested that adult exercise equipment would be a benefit to the playing field.
Cllr Aftelak to contact companies who supply this type of equipment. Action- Cllr Aftelak
b) Medbourne Lane landslips – No further update.
c) Information board at trigpoint and cleaning of the compass – Cllr Aftelak obtained one quotation for an
information board just to give the Cllr’s an idea of the price range of a board. The quotation was
approximately £900.
Resolved: Cllr Poppleton proposed to revisit the suggestion at a later date due to funds being needed
elsewhere. The meeting agreed.
d) Footpath Suggestions
Resolved: The Parish Council agreed the following response to the presentation;
Thanks for sharing your ideas for improving the village at June’s Parish Council meeting on 5th June. Your
‘A Liddington Tour’ presentation was well received, and we appreciate you taking the time to prepare it and
talk us through it.
The Parish Council discussed your ideas at the July Parish Council meeting on 3rd July and concluded the
following:
– Whilst there is a walking route to Badbury Park and the GWH via Dayhouse Lane, we agree that a
footpath along the side of Purley Road down to the Commonhead Roundabout would be more convenient
for many in the village
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– We also agree that moving the 30mph sign closer to Commonhead would improve safety although
previous attempts to request permission from SBC to do this have been unsuccessful. Applications for other
speed deterrents have also been rejected in the past
– Improving the entrance to the village isn’t a priority as we think it looks ok as long as litter is cleared
on a regular basis. If we were going to plant more trees, the priority would be to screen the M4 and the
A419 to reduce noise pollution
– Creating additional circular paths would be very welcome.
Given this, we propose the following way forward.
As a Parish Council, we have responsibilities that we need to execute, and we would want to ensure that we
are ‘in control’ of any activities that impact these responsibilities. That said, we are delighted that you are
happy to get involved in driving this forward. We therefore propose:
1. The Parish Council liaises with SBC to put forward the suggestion of a footpath alongside the Purley
Road down to Commonhead. We would prefer to use SBC land rather than farmer’s land. We still have the
farmer’s land option if SBC reject the idea
2. The Parish Council approach SBC to request moving the 30mph restriction nearer Commonhead
3. You approach farmers and landowners regarding the permissive paths you have suggested. If they
agree then the Parish Council would like to provide the required signage.
I hope you agree that this is an appropriate way forward and thanks again for your ideas
12. FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
To discuss the implications of the recommendation of section 7 – Electronic Payments of the updated Financial
Regulations.
It was noted that the Financial Regulations are designed to fit all sizes of Parish Councils.
Resolved: The meeting agreed to remove section 7 of the Financial Regulations (as this is not a statutory obligation
and is just a recommendation) and to continue with the current process for making payments. A policy to cover this
will be drafted by the Clerk. Action- Clerk
13. ANNUAL INTERNAL AUDIT (5 MINUTES)
To receive the internal audit report 2023-24 as provided by Auditing Solutions
Resolved: The meeting noted that the report was excellent with no advisories. The meeting thanked the Clerk for all
the hard work.
14. CLLR’S WHATSAPP GROUP
Resolved: The meeting agreed to start a Cllr only Whatsapp group which can be used for urgent matters. Cllr
Aftelak to set up. Action- Cllr Aftelak
15. COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS (10 MINUTES)
Councillors who have attended meetings on behalf of the Parish Council or who are responsible for local schemes,
amenities and projects will have the opportunity to provide an update on progress made.
Allotments (AP & GW) – The allotments are now full. An Income and Expenditure finance sheet has been created by
the Clerk, as requested, for clearer details on the finances of the allotments.
A resident whose garden runs alongside the allotments raised concerns that their wall is leaning which they believe
is due to the traffic from the allotments. After inspection the meeting agreed that the leaning wall has nothing to do
with the Parish Council and has not been caused by the minimal cars that use the allotment parking.
Playing Field (CB) – – Cllr Bunney confirmed the playpark had been inspected on 20th June 2024. There have been
some youths gathering in the playing field late at night, but they are not causing any issues.
Village Hall Committee (JS) – The Village Hall Committee raised concerns over the potholes located at the entrance
of the car park. The committee to report this to SBC.
Town Advisory Engagement Group (GW) – No recent meetings held.
Swindon Local Council Forum (CB & GW) – No recent meetings held.
Parish Chairs/Clerks Engagement Meeting – No recent meetings held.
16. PARISH MAGAZINE (5 MINUTES)
The meeting agreed to put the following in the Parish Magazine;
• Footpaths
17. CORRESPONDENCE
The meeting noted that no correspondence had been received.
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18. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION/FUTURE AGENDA
To receive information on matters not covered elsewhere & to receive future agenda item
No future agenda items were received.
The meeting closed at 9:01pm
Signed………………………………………………………………………………..Date……………………………………..
