Council Meeting – 22nd October 2025

LITTLE EATON PARISH COUNCIL

clerk@littleeatonparishcouncil.org.uk

Minutes of the Monthly Council Meeting held on

Wednesday 22^nd October 2025 at Little Eaton Village Hall.

• • PRESENT: Parish Councillors D Howard (Chair), A Done-Johnson, J Reid, P Rowlinson & K Shankland
• IN ATTENDANCE: Parish Clerk

25/110 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brown, Bush and Jennison-Boyle who were unable to attend due to work commitments and Councillor Caines who was ill.

25/111 To receive declaration of Members Interests – None.

25/112 To consider any applications for dispensations – None.

25/113 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 was unable to attend the meeting but sent the following report.

With some extra money for Highways through EMCCA more pothole repairs and resurfacing work is being carried out and the weather has really helped this summer.

DCC’s Cabinet Member for Send and Education has resigned his post so there will have to be a bye-election.  A new councillor has been appointed to the Send/Education portfolio, he is Cllr Simon Mabbutt who represents Kirk Hallam in Erewash.

There have been some short videos on Facebook of the Leader and Cabinet Members introducing themselves.

Borough Councillor Eddy stated that there had been an extraordinary full council meeting on the 8th October regarding the use of an hotel in Long Eaton for asylum seekers, where it was agreed to look into its legitimacy.

There is a meeting on 6^th November to look at the Local Government Reorganisation.

There are reserves held by Erewash Brough Council which Borough Councillors are urging be distributed to Parish Council’s prior to the reorganisation as part of its Core Strategy.  The next time that this can be proposed is April 2026 and Borough Councillor Eddy has therefore requested that Parish Councillors put together a list of duties that they undertake which would be the responsibility of the Erewash Borough Council if the Parish Council did not exist, eg playground and churchyard maintenance.

The Erewash Borough Council Community Grant scheme is open for applications from local community and voluntary groups and Borough Councillor Eddy has recently supported an application from Little Eaton Community Cares.  Further details are available here.

25/114 Variation of Order of Business – None.

25/115 To consider a resolution to close the meeting for public participation under the Public Bodies (admission to meetings) Act 1960 – Not applicable.

25/116 To confirm the minutes of the monthly meeting held on 24^th September 2025 – All agreed that the Chair be authorised to sign the minutes of the monthly council meeting held on 24^th September 2025 as being a true and correct record.

25/117 Chair’s Report

A meeting with the Church took place to discuss the planned churchyard improvements.  It was noted that the Church will need to apply to the Diocese for an objects licence to put a bench in the churchyard.

The Chair is in communication with the primary school regarding the children taking over the maintenance of the new planters for Croft Corner.

Thanks were expressed to Councillor Shankland for putting up the poppies for remembrance around the village.

Actions from the Minutes

24/179 cycle parking at Croft Corner/Greenway and ways to discourage pavement parking – the cycle racks have now been installed and Councillor Hart is chasing up the object licence for the planters.

25/079 the request from Derby Daybreak Rotary Club for a bench/object in the churchyard – as the garden centre voucher will expire sooner than an object licence could be obtained the Rotary Club will spend the voucher on compost and plants for the planned conversion of the compost heap into a flowerbed.

25/081 repairs to the pedestrian slope into the park from the park gate – A quote for £800 +VAT to create a pedestrian slope into the Park has been received from A B Camp.  It was agreed to accept the quote.

25/084 dates for the publication of the newsletter – It was agreed that the newsletter should be distributed by 23^rd of June, October, January and April.  It was also agreed to investigate the possibility of publishing a double sided A4 Christmas edition of the newsletter.  Councillor Ried will obtain some quotes for printing and Councillor Jennison-Boyle will be asked to find out whether the volunteer distributors would be willing to deliver them.

25/085 the uneven paving at Croft Corner – it was noted that this has been repaired.

25/118 Report of the Parish Clerk – It was agreed that a donation will be made to the Royal British Legion for this year’s Remembrance.

The Clerk stated that Elliott Poyser-Darby had agreed to be Little Eaton’s Snow Warden again this year. The Clerk will check whether grit is required this year.

25/119 To receive Working Group Feedback (except if the issue is elsewhere on agenda):

• Village Hall –
  • Electrical Inspections have been undertaken and the Cricket scoreboard plus a couple of extension leads failed. These failures will be addressed.
• Park Group –
  • Councillor Reid has repainted the edging strips on the steps at the Village Hall.
  • A working group of Councillors spent a few hours at the Pavilion, Car Park and Playground, clearing the gutters and pruning back the overgrowth from around the lights.
  • The roundabout is currently out of order and undergoing maintenance due to a finger entrapment issue. All the issues highlighted in the annual inspection report have now been dealt with.
• Churchyard Sub Group
  • The Chair met with Vicar James and a Churchwarden, Lucy to go through the plans that the Parish Council and the Rotary Club have for the churchyard, such as creating a new compost heap, water features using butler sinks and the Rotary Club planting crocuses at the side of the path. The church agreed to all the ideas apart from placing a bench in the churchyard and replacing the trees at the front, as they would need to check this with the Diocese.
  • Two quotes for Phase three of the tree maintenance at the churchyard were circulated to members. It was agreed to accept the quote from Rogers & Co at £2,575.50.  It was noted that permission to undertake the work will be required from the Conservation Officer at Erewash.
• Finance Group – draft minutes from the Finance Group meeting held on Wednesday 1^st October were circulated to members.
  • It was noted that cost savings in the first 6 months of the year had resulted in a surplus of £1,560. It was therefore agreed to add a new line to the forecast for Croft Corner Planters at £1,000.
• Environmental Action Group
  • The recycling hub in the phone box has now been open for about a fortnight and is proving very successful, with numerous bags of recycling already, collected and taken to the main recycling points.
  • The recent litter pick was well attended.
• Footpaths – Councillor Bush sent a report in his absence.
  • There has been no real progress on overgrown footpath 54 during the month.
  • DCC have been unable to find the issue with the Millenium Way cycle path and so Councillor Bush has offered to meet them on Millenium Way to show them the exact location.

25/120 Finance – Payments for October totalling £2,821.90 were circulated to members for approval. All agreed that the payments be approved and the accounts to which they relate paid.

25/121 Planning Applications

Application number: ERE/1025/0024 The Lodge 64 Eaton Bank Little Eaton DE56 4BJ

Proposed development: Replacement of all timber windows with flush cream double glazed UPVC windows.  It was resolved that the Parish Council has no objection to this application.

Application number: ERE/1025/0003 321 Alfreton Road, Little Eaton, Derbyshire  DE21 5AE

Proposed development: Change of existing frosted window in the first-floor side rear extension to clear glazed.  It was resolved that the Parish Council has no objection to this application.

25/122 To consider the draft 2026/27 Budget – It was agreed that Councillors will look through at the proposed Budget from the Finance Working Group and think about whether there are any projects which have been talked about during the last year that have been not yet been included.

25/123 To receive update on the removal of the roundabout at the park and consider next step –

Councillor Reid explained that it had been necessary for the roundabout to be removed as it had been found to be dangerous.  New timbers are required to make it serviceable again and it was agreed that these should be purchased.  Councillors Reid and Howard will purchase the necessary materials and repair the roundabout.

In the meantime, Drumhill Scouts have kindly erected fencing around the area where the roundabout has been removed and the Clerk will write and thank them.

25/124 Correspondence for Action

• Email received from resident regarding amended planning application ERE/0625/0032 – 16 Haddon Drive. It was noted that this has now been resolved and the homeowner had thanked the Parish Council for its support.
• It was noted that the resident who had reported the blocked footpath on FP54 had thanked Councillors for their ongoing attempts to clear the path.

25/125 Correspondence for Information – none

 There being no further business the Chair declared the meeting closed at 8.56pm.