Meeting of the Parish Council 24th July 2025 Minutes
From Claygate
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Despite at least one applicant dropping out, five good candidates presented themselves for public interviews in the co-option process. π΄ Given that the Reform candidate in the Surrey election is campaigning against 20 mph proposals, the Parish Council decided not to discuss the matter. π΄ The Parish Council decided to overlook its one-grant-per-year rule to enable second bites of the cherry by both the CVA and the Church (which with annual income of Β£969,000 is much the biggest charity in Claygate). π΄ The Parish Council is flailing against government proposals for Neighbourhood Area Committees in the unitary reorganisation. π΄ And despite the Tory candidate claiming to be the only one who would keep the Community Centre open, the Parish Council debated the topic and agreed to set up a public meeting to debate Elmbridge's re-structuring of its Community Centres. π΄ The Parish Council resumes its intermittent search for a youth adviser, this time recruiting from the Hub.
Dawn Lacey — Parish Clerk & RFO
claygate PARISH COUNCIL
caring for Claygate Village
Claygate Parish Council
Claygate Village Hall
Church Road
Claygate
Surrey KT10 0JP
β 07741 848 719
email: clerk@claygateparishcouncil.gov.uk
website: www.claygateparishcouncil.gov.uk
29th July 2025
MINUTES OF THE CLAYGATE PARISH COUNCIL Meeting held on Thursday 24th July 2025 at 7pm at Small Hall, Village Hall, Church Road, Claygate
| Present: | Chair: Cllr Holt |
| Council Members: | Cllr Bingham, Cllr Bray, Cllr Collon, Cllr French, Cllr Herbert, and Cllr Sheppard. |
| In attendance: | Dawn Lacey (Parish Clerk & RFO) EBCllr Mike Rollings and EBCllr Mary Marshall 12 members of the public |
| 1. | To accept apologies for absence. |
| Apologies of absence were received from Cllr Moon. |
| 2. | To receive Declarations of Interest in items on the agenda. |
| A Declaration of Interest was declared by Cllr Holt on items 23 & 34 on the agenda. A Declaration of Interest was declared by Cllr French on items 23 & 24 on the agenda. A Declaration of Interest was declared by Cllr Herbert on Item 22a on the agenda. |
| 3. | To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 22nd May 2025. |
| These were approved and signed and dated by Cllr Holt. |
| 4. | To resolve on whether the Council will move into closed session on item 32 to review and approve the details for the Claygate Vision Action Plan Consultation Statement to be published by EBC |
| Due to item 32 being deferred to the September Main Meeting, this item was no longer required. |
| 5. | To invite the five applicants for co-option to the Parish Council to speak to the public and Council members regarding their potential contribution to the Claygate Parish Council. (Other applicants will be asked the leave the room as each individual applicant is speaking so as not to unduly advantage or disadvantage any of the candidates). |
| John Burns, Stephen Ellis, Mary Hennessy, Xingang Wang, Chen Zhao all entered the room individually to speak to the Councillors and members of the public. |
| 6. | Councillors to be able to ask questions that they may have to the applicants. |
| Councillors spoke to each applicant and asked any questions they had for them. |
| 7. | To vote formally for the two new Councillors via ballot papers supplied by the Clerk. |
| The Clerk distributed the voting papers to the Councillors. |
| 8. | To announce the two new Councillors—if there is a tie, a second ballot will take place with the candidate having the lowest number of votes in the previous ballot being eliminated. |
| The Clerk announced that John Burns and Stephen Ellis had been successful. Cllr Holt thanked everyone for their time and welcomed John and Stephen to the Council. They will sign their Declarations of Office at the next Planning Meeting. |
| 9. | To reviewing the actioning of items from previous minutes and agree any further action required. |
| Action β | Date Created | Description | By | Status |
| Cγ030 | 22-MAY-25 | To add Declarations of Interest by current Councillors to CPC website. | Clerk | ONGOING as at 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ031 | 22-MAY-25 | To make adjustments to current policy documents. | Clerk | ONGOING as at 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ032 | 22-MAY-25 | To review CPC's Standing Orders and present for approval at a forthcoming meeting. | Clerk, Cllr Collon & Cllr Sheppard | ONGOING as at 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ033 | 22-MAY-25 | To review CPC's assets and update the asset register and website. | Clerk & Cllr Bray | COMPLETED by 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ034 | 22-MAY-25 | To look at transferring monies from Unity to our High Interest Building Society. | Clerk & Cllr Holt | APPROVED as at 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ035 | 22-MAY-25 | To send the AGAR to external auditors for approval. | Clerk | COMPLETED by 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ036 | 22-MAY-25 | To contact CRGT to tell them of grant award. | Clerk | COMPLETED by 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ037 | 22-MAY-25 | To add to June agenda discussion of Claygate Vision and TLCP future | Clerk | There was no June meeting. It was due to be discussed privately by cllrs at the July meeting. |
| Cγ038 | 22-MAY-25 | To construct proposal for the Courier to contain advertising. | Cllr Herbert | ONGOING as at 24-JUL-25 |
| 10. | To answer any questions from the general public. |
| There had been some questions raised which were answered with satisfaction before the meeting. Further questions were raised which are answered under Items 17 and 28 on the agenda. |
| 11. | To appoint the two new Councillors and Cllr Moon to the following committees: |
| a) Environment, Highways& Transport Committee: Cllr Moon and Cllr Burns were both welcomed to the EHTC Committee. b) Planning Committee: Cllr Burns and Cllr Ellis were both welcomed to the Planning Committee. |
| 12. | To review the updated Councilβs assets. | |
These were circulated with the agenda and agreed to be a correct account. A discussion was had on repainting the gates at the entrances to Claygate. To be discussed when we look at the next yearβs Budget.
ACTION β Clerk to add to Website. |
| 13. | To update on the current situation with Castle Water. |
| Cllr Bray noted that this is still ongoing and he is waiting to hear from them re holding a meeting. This is a very serious problem as they have taken over Β£2,500 from the bank account. Cllr Bray will continue to work to resolve this and report back to the Committee.
ACTION β Cllr Bray Cγ040 |
| 14. | To discuss the Blue Room at the Village Hall and a potential clear-out day. |
| Cllr Bray and Cllr French to organise a date with the Clerk to look at clearing out the Blue Room.
ACTION β Clerk to contact Cllr Bray and Cllr French. Cγ041 |
| 15. | To discuss the possibility of replacing the Village Hall noticeboard. |
| To look at replacing the noticeboard outside the Village Hall within next yearβs budget.
ACTION - Clerk to look into costings and report back to the Committee. Cγ042 |
| 16. | 16. To discuss the draft response to Consultation of the Future of Local Government prepared by Cllr Holt and any appropriate action. | |
| EBCllr Rollings confirmed the following dates and points regarding LGR: Neighbourhood Area Committee (NAC) workshop is on 31 July. CPC to attend Civic Centre for NAC briefing on 28 July. β Governmentβs consultation closes on 5 August. Meeting with MHCLG on Friday - expect news on debt and the next stages. Decision in mid-October, for either two or three Unitaries for Surrey. MHCLG letter received today confirms shadow elections on 7th May 2026 Vesting date for new unitary 1st April 2027. Unitary authority will take on statutory responsibilities of County and District/Borough Councils. There were a couple of changes to be incorporated into an already prepared letter by Cllr Holt regarding the consultation. Once completed this needs to be sent.
|
| 17. | To discuss the draft letter to Jim McMahon about devolution and Parish Councils and agree any appropriate action. | |
It was agreed to obtain the letter that Monica Harding sent to Jim McMahon and then redraft our letter slightly. Cllr Sheppard to redraft and circulate to Councillors.
ACTION β Clerk to contact Monica Harding. |
| 18. | To approve the month end accounts for April, May and June 2025. |
| These were all agreed to be correct accounts and were signed and dated by Cllr Holt and the Clerk. |
| 19. | To approve the movement of monies to the Cambridge Building Society high interest account. | |
The Clerk discussed the accounts and suggested an amount of Β£50,000 be transferred to the High Interest Account.
|
| 20. | To discuss the concept of 20mph limits and agree a Parish Council position on them. | |
It was agreed that this is not the right time to be making any decisions on the concept of 20mph limits within Claygate, given the coming SCC election.
|
| 21. | To receive details of Grant Applications from the following. | ||
| a: CVA Grant Application This grant for Β£1000 was approved. However, the Clerk to write to the CVA to request that in the future they apply for one grant per annum only.
b: Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex Grant Application This grant was not approved because we are not empowered to give money to support the operating costs of charities.
|
Cllr Holt and Cllr French left the room at 9.10pm and Cllr Bray took the Chair for this part of the meeting.
| 22. | Item A: "To agree that an application by Holy Trinity Church Claygate for further CIL funding for the Way Maker Project should be considered, notwithstanding that an application for CIL funding by the same applicant has been made in the previous 12 months." | |
|
| 23. | If item 22 is agreed, to receive details of a CIL application for Holy Trinity and consider whether it will be approved. | |
| Holy Trinity CIL Grant Application John Smith, from Holy Trinity, explained in depth about the application and the path they are planning to replace.
|
Cllr Holt and Cllr French rejoined the meeting at 9.24pm. Cllr Holt then retook the Chair for the rest of the meeting.
| 24. | To receive details of a CIL application from CRGT. |
| This entry was an error on the agenda as it was already agreed at the last Council meeting. |
| 25. | To update on the possibilities of advertising in the Claygate Courier. |
| It was agreed to defer this item until the October meeting. |
| 26. | 26. To discuss the merits of a Young Advisor from the Hub joining the PC on a quarterly basis to discuss and update on youth matters and provide input on such matters. | |
Cllr Holt had met with the Hub leaders and discussed the possibility of one of their members becoming the Young Advisor. The Young Advisor would suggest items to go onto our Agenda to do with youth in the village and vice versa for the CPC to be able to discuss issues with them.
|
| 27. | To discuss EBCβs announcements re Community Service Transformation and any action required. | |||
| This was discussed at some length with EBCllr Rollings, EBCllr Marshall and a member of the public. EBCllr Rollings opened the discussion. He was mainly concerned to say that EBC has no plan or intention to close the centre at Claygate or elsewhere, as had been mooted. Rather, EBCβs intention is to spread its limited resources across a larger proportion of the in-need community, with the hope that local, voluntary, groups will come forward to assume control and management of the local centres. EBCllr Marshall felt that the initiative is potentially good, but impractical. She believes that the 18 months available before EBC is wound up, is wholly insufficient for voluntary groups to do all necessary. This view was echoed by Cllr French, who noted that it had taken four years for a group to assume control of the Lower Green Road centre. John Bamford asked the Parish Council to: A β support anyone that is prepared to bid. B β be proactive in encouraging people to come forward to take on the challenge of running the Centre. C β to hold a public meeting for the village. D β make the matter a Standing Item for the next several PC meetings.
|
| 28. | Matters for information purposes only. |
| Council Holt asked for one of the Councillors to attend a meeting at Lower Green Community Centre about the Neighbourhood Area Committee pilot that will run under LGR on her behalf as she is unable to attend. Cllr Collon has agreed to do this and report back to the Committee. ACTION β Cllr Collon Cγ050 |
| 29. | To confirm the date and time of the next meeting. |
| It will be held on Thursday 25th September 2025 in Claygate Village Hall, Small Hall at 7.30pm. |
| 30. | To close the meeting and move into Closed Session for Item 32. |
| Relevant material from EBC was not available, so this closed session was not required. |
| 31. | To review and approve the details for the Claygate Vision and Action Plan Consultation Statement to be published by EBC. |
| As above, the relevant material from EBC was not available, so this item was redundant. |
The meeting closed at 9.35pm.
Appendix 1: Actions List from the CPC Meeting held on Thursday 24th July 2025
| Action β | Date Created | Description | By | Status |
| Cγ039 | 24-JUL-25 | To add the Council's assets to the website. To look into the costs of repainting the Welcome to Claygate gate in the next budget. |
Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ040 | 24-JUL-25 | To update on the current situation with Castle Water. | Cllr Bray | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ041 | 24-JUL-25 | To look at clearing out the Blue Room and make a date with Cllr Bray and Cllr French. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ042 | 24-JUL-25 | To look at costs for replacing the noticeboards at the Village Hall. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ043 | 24-JUL-25 | To finalise the letter for LGR. | Cllr Holt | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ044 | 24-JUL-25 | To contact Monica Harding for a copy of the recent letter sent to Jim McMahon about devolution and share with Councillors. Once received Cllr Sheppard to redraft and circulate. |
Clerk, Cllr Sheppard | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ045 | 24-JUL-25 | To contact Steve Bax about the 20mph limits. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ046 | 24-JUL-25 | To contact the CVA about their grant application. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ047 | 24-JUL-25 | To contact the Air Ambulance Charity about their grant application. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ048 | 24-JUL-25 | To include Matters Affecting Youths onto each quarterly main meeting agendas. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ049 | 24-JUL-25 | To contact EBCllr Mike Rollings about using the Day Centre for a community meeting. | Clerk | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
| Cγ050 | 24-JUL-25 | To attend a meeting at the Lower Green Community Centre on behalf of Cllr Holt on LGR and report back to the Council. | Cllr Collon | CREATED on 24-JUL-25 |
