7:30pm @ Elberton Village Hall
Agenda & Papers
Downloadable copies of the agenda and meeting papers
2025/02/1 To receive apologies
2025/02/2 To receive declarations of interest and requests for dispensations
2025/02/3 Public Forum
Members of the public are invited to address the council on matters of council business set out below. The Chairman may accept submissions on other matters if he chooses to do so. No council discussion may take place at this time.
2025/02/4 To approve the minutes of last meeting held on 13th January 2026
2025/02/5 To note items of report
2025/02/5.1 To receive the clerk’s report
2025/02/5.2 To receive an update on the meeting with SGC Highways held on 19th January
2025/02/5.3 To receive any further reports from councillors
2025/02/6 Planning
2025/02/6.1 To note the following applications received, plus any received since issue of the agenda, and resolve response
(Details of all current planning applications can be found via the South Glos Council planning system)
i. P26/00104/F – Land Off Bond Lane Sweet Water Lane Elberton – Construction of an agricultural access track (retrospective).
2025/02/7 Council administration
2025/02/7.1 To review progress on Assertion 10 compliance and training
2025/02/7.2 To approve clerk’s attendance at SLCC regional training seminar in June 2026 (cost to be shared with Cromhall PC)
2025/02/7.3 To review the Risk Register (paper 1)
2025/02/7.4 To agree arrangements for the Annual Parish Assembly
2025/02/8 Finance
2025/02/8.1 To note the following payments made under prior approval:
Item Amount Minute (where applicable)
Staff costs for month to 16th January 2026 £313.80 2025/09/9.4
Unity Trust – banking charge January £6.00 2025/05/10.9
2025/02/8.2 To approve the following payments:
Item Amount Power to spend
ALCA – Data Protection e-learning module for all councillors £98.00 LGA 1092 s111
2025/02/8.3 To consider award of community grants
Organisation Purpose Budget allocation Power to spend
St John’s Church, Elberton Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
St John’s Church, Aust Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
St Mary’s Church, Littleton Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
Thornbury Town Council Citizens Advice Service contribution £100 LGA 1972 s142
Severn Area Rescue Association Charity donation £50 LGA 1972 s137
Unallocated budget funding £50
2025/02/9 Any other minor matters of report (no decision required) or items for next agenda
2025/02/10 Meeting closure
Minutes
Downloadable copy of the minutes
Present: Councillors Steve Meredith (chairman), Heather Bayston, Julian Cooper, Ian Jenkins, David Spratt
In attendance: Ward Councillor Matthew Riddle / Tony Williams (SGC). No members of the public.
Clerk: Emma Pattullo
Please note that these minutes are draft until approved at the subsequent meeting, and may be subject to change until that time.
2026/02/1 To receive apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr. Anne Wiseman.
2026/02/2 To receive declarations of Interest and requests for dispensations
There were no declarations of interest or dispensation requests.
2026/02/3 Public Forum
No members of the public were present.
2026/02/4 To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 13th January 2026
It was resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th January 2026 be approved as a correct record. The minutes were signed by the Chairman.
2026/02/5 To note items of report
2026/02/5.1 To receive the clerk’s report
The clerk reported on various matters not otherwise on the agenda:
• Resignation of Cllr. Jeremy Warren has been notified to SGC and advertised. Closure date for calling for an election is 25th Feb.
• Register of interest forms – SGC have asked all councillors to review their entries including whether they include any sensitive information which councillors would wish to have redacted.
• Cllr Bayston will be attending training on running a conservation volunteer group. She and the clerk will review the risk assessments and equipment requirements after the training sessions.
• Special expenses – following the clerk’s response to SGC budget consultation from many town and parish councils, SGC are putting together more detailed proposals. These should be available by late summer, in time to be considered before the 26/27 budget planning process gets underway.
• Response received from the Lead Local Flood Authority re: flood resilience planning. They maintain the responsibility for planning future defenses, including liaison with the local community, lies with the Environment Agency. The “Severn Estuary Adaptive Pathways” project (EA) aim to allow the EA to establish a better understanding of tidal flood risk based on latest predicted sea level rise figures and to assess potential options and costs to deliver capital schemes to construct new / improve existing tidal defences along this stretch of the coastline; a report from the project is expected soon.
• Website is now functional and the council’s pages on the Olveston & Aust community site have been replaced with a generic page about the council with links to the new site. The sign-up form and mailing list are proving trickier to set up than expected but the clerk is working on this in conjunction with the web provider.
2026/02/5.2 To receive an update on the meeting with SGC Highways held on 19th January
Cllrs. Meredith and Wiseman attended along with the clerk.
A38 / Alveston Hill works
These are required for an Active Travel scheme, encouraging people to use the A38 as an active travel route. Works in the Thornbury area should be finished by the end of February. They will then move south down the A38 towards Bradley Stoke.
National Highways plans for holding HGVs on M48 slip roads
The SGC officer who attends the working group explained that SGC have many of the same concerns as the parish council including potential gridlock around Aust roundabout and impacts of queuing traffic on the wider road network. They have requested detailed modelling of the potential traffic impacts, including in unusual circumstances such as a full closure of the M4 Prince of Wales bridge.
We asked whether the yellow boxes on the Aust roundabout (managed by SGC) could be repainted to try to keep access in other directions clear even if bridge traffic is stacking up. SGC will look into this.
We also asked whether there is any air quality monitoring on or around the Aust junction. The SGC officers were not sure but will find out and report back. If not, it may be possible to install a monitoring station.
2026/02/5.3 To receive any reports from councillors
Cllr. Jenkins reported that a site on Passage Road, which had been subject to illegal entry and dumping of waste, has now been cleared and secured.
2026/02/6 Planning
2026/02/6.1 To note applications received and resolve response
The following applications were noted and responses resolved as recorded:
i. P26/00104/F – Land Off Bond Lane Sweet Water Lane Elberton – Construction of an agricultural access track (retrospective). RESOLVED: No objection in principle, with a statement of support for the SGC Rights of Way and Landscape officers’ comments.
2026/02/7 Council administration
2026/02/7.1 To review progress on Assertion 10 compliance and training
The clerk has attended Data Protection training. Appropriate policies and records are in place.
All councillors have been registered for e-learning Data Protection module but only Cllr. Spratt has so far completed it. The clerk will offer a ‘live’ session prior to the next council meeting for any councillors who wish to attend.
Links to Freedom of Information training videos have been circulated – only Cllr. Meredith has completed.
Council owned domain & website now operational. New email address login details have been circulated and most councillors are now using the new addresses. The clerk can assist with any who are still having problems.
Councillors were reminded of the need to complete training and move to the new email addresses by 31st March.
2026/02/7.2 To approve clerk’s attendance at SLCC regional training seminar in June 2026 (cost to be shared with Cromhall PC)
It was RESOLVED that the council will pay a share of the cost for the clerk to attend this training seminar, at the usual split with Cromhall PC.
2026/02/7.3 To review the Risk Register
It was RESOLVED that the Risk Register version 2026-1 should be adopted as presented.
2026/02/7.4 To agree arrangements for the Annual Parish Assembly
It was RESOLVED that the Annual Parish Assembly should be held on 14th April from 7pm.
It was further RESOLVED that the Village Agent, local police beat team, National Highways, Environment Agency and SARA should be invited to present.
2026/02/8 Finance
2026/02/8.1 To note payments made under prior approval
The following payments, made under the given prior approval, were noted:
Item Amount Minute (where applicable)
Staff costs for the month to 16th January 2026 £ 313.80 2025-09-9.4
Unity bank charges January £ 6.00 2025-05-10.9
2026/02/8.2 To approve payments
The following payments were resolved to be made. All will be paid via bank transfer. A record of authorisation will be held by the Clerk.
Item Amount Power to spend
ALCA – Data Protection e-learning module for all councillors £ 98.00 LGA 1972 s111
2026/02/8.3 To consider award of community grants
It was RESOLVED that the following community grants should be awarded.
Organisation Purpose Grant award Power to spend
St John’s Church, Elberton Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
St John’s Church, Aust Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
St Mary’s Church, Littleton Churchyard maintenance £450 LGA 1972 s214
Thornbury Town Council Citizens Advice Service contribution £100 LGA 1972 s142
In accordance with the council’s powers under section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972, it was RESOLVED that the following expenditure is in the interests of the inhabitants of the council area and will benefit them in a manner commensurate with the expenditure, and hence that the following grant should be awarded:
Organisation Purpose Grant award Power to spend
Severn Area Rescue Association Charity donation £100 LGA 1972 s137
2026/02/9 Any other minor matters for discussion (no decision required) or items for next agenda
Cllr Riddle reported that enforcement action has been undertaken at a site in Aust and that the vans recently on the site have been moved on.
2026/02/10 Meeting closure
The meeting closed at 8:28 pm.
The next meeting of the Council will be held on Tuesday 10th March 2026.
Items for the agenda should be with the Clerk by 3rd March.
