Council Meeting – 25th November 2025

LITTLE EATON PARISH COUNCIL

clerk@littleeatonparishcouncil.org.uk

Minutes of the Monthly Council Meeting held on

Wednesday 26^th November 2025 at Little Eaton Village Hall.

PRESENT: Parish Councillors P Rowlinson (Chair), J Bush, S Caines, A Done-Johnson, J Reid, & K Shankland

IN ATTENDANCE: Parish Clerk

25/126 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Howard and Jennison-Boyle who were unable to attend due to personal reasons.

25/127 To receive declaration of Members Interests – None.

25/128 To consider any applications for dispensations – None.

25/129 Public Speaking – (15 Minutes)

• A period of not more than fifteen minutes will be made available for members of the public and Members of the Council to comment on any matter.
• If the Police Liaison Officer, a County Council or Borough Council Member is in attendance they will be given the opportunity to raise any relevant matter.

County Councillor Hart gave the following update.

At a recent DCC Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council, Councillors voted in favour of a one council option for the local government reorganisation.  This will mean that Derby City and Derbyshire will become one council.  It is felt that this will create bigger savings.

The Chief Executive has resigned together with 2 Councillors, which means a by-election will be held.

There has been flooding on Whittaker Lane which it is believed has been caused by blocked drains so it is hoped that this will be rectified shortly.

District Councillor Eddy sent her apologies as she was ill, but County Councillor Hart stated that Erewash Borough Council has some surplus funds which she is pushing to be allocated to Parish Councils, possibly using the concurrent formula, however a decision on this has yet to be made.

25/130 Variation of Order of Business – None.

25/131 To consider a resolution to close the meeting for public participation under the Public Bodies (admission to meetings) Act 1960 – Not applicable.

25/132 To confirm the minutes of the monthly meeting held on 22^nd October 2025 – All agreed that the Chair be authorised to sign the minutes of the monthly council meeting held on 22^nd October 2025 as being a true and correct record.

25/133 Chair’s Report

New Christmas lights have been ordered for Croft Corner.

The Council is still waiting for a response from the vicar regarding the bench, trees etc and so Councillor Howard will chase.

The new path in the churchyard is beginning to erode in places.  AB Camp have said that they will come and fix it.

The school are keen to get involved with maintaining the plants in the new planters at Croft Corner and the Chair has asked for their input on planting.  Ideas may also be sought from Little Eaton in Bloom.

Thanks were expressed to Councillor Shankland and Mark for their work putting up and taking down the poppies for remembrance as well as their help testing the lights on Croft Corner.

There has been no reply from the MP nor County or Borough Councillors regarding how the Local Government Reorganisation could affect the Neighbourhood Plan.

A number of comments have been received regarding the bridge across the stream on the footpath from the top of Mount Pleasant to Whittaker Lane.  This has been reported to DCC and Councillor Bush is aware.

Actions from the Minutes

24/179 Cycle parking at Croft Corner/Greenway and ways to discourage pavement parking – see Chair’s report above.

25/123 The refurbishment of the roundabout at the park – see Park Group’s minute below.

25/134 Report of the Parish Clerk – The Clerk reported that she had sent the mobile phone footage of the recent anti-social behaviour/criminal damage on the Park to the Police.

25/135 To receive Working Group Feedback (except if the issue is elsewhere on agenda):

• Village Hall –
  • A business rates demand for £5,988, has been received from Erewash Borough Council due to them reassessing the Village Hall as being managed by the Parish Council rather than a community group. This means a discount applied in previous years has been removed.  County Councillor Hart will contact the Director of Finance to try and help clarify the management of the village hall.
  • K & K Fire Protection have been instructed to undertake all the maintenance on emergency lighting and fire alarms.
• Park Group –
  • Councillor Reid circulated a mock-up of a sign for the playground showing its address and emergency contact details. A couple of quotes for the work were also circulated.  Councillor Reid proposed and Councillor Rowlinson seconded that the quote from 981Design for £224.02 should be accepted.  All agreed.
  • Councillor Reid stated that he had contacted 3 companies regarding the replacement of the worn wet pour surface around the roundabout. Each company had come up with a different solution with a wide range of costs from c£1,550 to £6,000+.  Councillor Reid proposed and Councillor Brown seconded that the quote from Playbuild Projects Ltd of £1,554.20 should be accepted.  All agreed.
  • Sovereign were asked to provide an updated quote for the accessibility swing and gate. The revised cost is £14,998.  Playbuild Projects Ltd were also asked to quote for the works and their quote was £13,886.  Councillor Reid also stated that the cost from the 2 companies for the gate element of the quote was £2,229 and £935 respectively and proposed that the Council should go ahead with the replacement of the playground gate as this is a safety issue.  Funding should then be sought for the basket swing. All agreed.  It was further agreed to ask Playbuild Projects Ltd to re-quote for just the gate and to pre-approve the work up to £1,500.
  • A £13,411 quote for the proposed MUGA from Sovereign was circulated. Councillor Reid also met with Playbuild who think they could install the MUGA for c£6,000.  Councillor Rowlinson stated that the Youth Café would be willing to make a substantial gift towards the MUGA.
• Churchyard Sub Group
  • See Chair’s Report above.
• Finance Group – no update.
• Environmental Action Group (EAG)
  • Councillor Brown confirmed that the money was in place from the grant secured by the Village Hall and EAG earlier in the year towards eco projects in the village and so they could go ahead and order the trees for Millenium Way.
  • A litter pick from Croft Corner took place on 16^th
  • The Recycling Hub is doing well, especially the recycling of blister packs.
• Footpaths
  • Due to work commitments, there has been no progress on overgrown footpath 54 during the month.
  • DCC have not taken Councillor Bush up on his offer to meet them at Millenium Way to look at the undergrowth on the cycle path. It was, however, noted that the stretch between Duffield Road and Starbucks has been strimmed, but is still encroaching onto the tarmac.

25/136 Finance – Payments for November totalling £5,518.65 were circulated to members for approval. All agreed that the payments be approved and the accounts to which they relate paid.

It was also noted that rental income and insurance recharge payments totalling £2,915.63 were received.

25/137 Planning Applications

Application number: ERE/1025/0044 82 Duffield Road, Little Eaton DE21 5DT – Single Storey side and rear extension plus loft dormer.  It was resolved that the Parish Council has no objection to this planning application.

Application number: ERE/1125/0014 17 The Chase, Little Eaton, Derbyshire DE21 5AS – Single storey side extension (attached garage) and front porch.  It was resolved that the Parish Council has no objection to this planning application.

25/138 To consider the draft 2026/27 Budget – A revised draft of the 2026/27 budget was circulated to members.  It was resolved to approve the budget and precept demand of £45,685 for 2026/27.

25/139 To consider a quote for the new planters at Croft Corner – It was noted that the quote for the planters has not yet been received.  Councillor Howard will chase.

25/140 To consider dates for the Monthly Council Meetings during 2026 – The dates for the 2026 meetings were circulated to members.  It was agreed the Monthly Council meetings will each take place on the 4^th Wednesday of the month, with the Annual Parish Meeting taking place on Wednesday 20^th May.

25/141 To consider arrangements for any planning applications received during the Christmas break – it was agreed that non contentious planning applications can be dealt with via email during December but anything out of the norm will require an extraordinary meeting.

25/142 Correspondence for Action

• Email from resident asking Council to reconsider planning application ERE/0825/0020 – Neslea Bermuda Avenue, Little Eaton DE21 5DG in view of amendments. Councillors considered the revised plans for this application together with the email received. There was however, nothing in the application that the Council felt would require further comment to the planning authority.

25/143 Correspondence for Information

• DCC have still been unable to recruit a mobile library driver due to its size and the qualifications required to drive it. Two smaller mobile libraries have been ordered which it is hoped will be in service by April 2026. Recruitment for these small vehicles is anticipated to be easier as an HGV licence is not required.
• Home-Start Erewash are seeking volunteers to help support families with you children – full training and support provided visit their website.

There being no further business the Chair declared the meeting closed at 9.07pm.