WINSTRED HUNDRED PARISH COUNCIL
Peldon Great Wigborough Little Wigborough Salcott Virley
Draft minutes of the meeting of Winstred Hundred Parish Council held at St Stephen’s Church, Great Wigborough on Tuesday 8th July 2025 at 7.30pm
Present: Cllrs Phil Gladwin, Roger Pittock, Clare Lauwerys, Liz Davidson, John Abbott, Jinny Gale (chair), City Cllr Andrew Ellis, County Cllr Kevin Bentley
Apologies for absence: Cllrs Netty Knill Jones, Catherine Sprott, Robert Davidson
The minutes of June 2025 meeting were agreed by all and signed by the chairman
City Councillor Report: The Draft Local Plan will be out for consultation on 10th November 2025. Peldon has been allocated 25 new houses. Andrew suggested that we hold a meeting to inform residents and collect their opinions in time to make an early return as soon as the consultation is announced.
County Cllr Report: LGR (Local Government Reform) is making good progress although the grouping of unitary councils has still to be decided. It is confirmed that an Essex Mayor will be in office in May 2026, shadowing unitaries will be in place by May 2027 and taking over completely in May 2028.
Public-Have Your Say: A suggestion of ‘no footpath’ signs for The Street, Salcott will be forwarded to Highways for consideration.
Dog poo on Moss Hay has been a problem recently and signage will be updated.
A letter will be written to the owner of the loose dog on Moss Hay requesting that their property is more secure to ensure this does not occur.
Consideration to neighbours and the weather (particularly the wind) should be considered when lighting a bonfire.
Complaints about the buses missing out Peldon while the road closure is in place has been forwarded to ECC.
Declarations of Interest: Liz Davidson for item 6.
- Playgrounds and Playing Fields are in good order. The rubber chippings for Salcott playground will be delivered this week. Roger will advertise for volunteers to help distribute the chippings.
- Salcott Hedge, Trees and Book Box – a hedge cut back has been booked. A tree survey has been carried out and all are in good order, however suggested work will be booked for later in the year. The Book Box door parts have now been received and the repair work will take place soon.
- Container for the Five Parish Show – has been ordered and the parish council, having received the funds in full, has now paid for this and it will be delivered in due course.
- The Rules for Future Requests on buying goods for other groups and organisations have been noted having received guidance from our legal avenues. These will be followed strictly in future. We will seek clarification about which external organisations can be helped in this way.
- Remote Attendance at Meetings – the use of remote online access to supplement physical meetings has been approved by an official survey and a recommendation to permit this has been made to Government. The appropriate change to legislation will be made when parliamentary time allows. The Parish Council welcomes this development.
- CCC Draft Local Plan – CALC meeting was attended and a report circulated explaining views from officers and other parish councils with regard to infrastructure problems and other challenging issues. It was agreed to hold a public meeting in September to advise residents of the current Local Plan situation, to answer their questions and gather their opinions to form the basis for an official Parish response as soon as the promised consultation period is announced. Discussion ensued about the format of the meeting, resources needed etc. These discussions will continue during July and August. CCC Planning will be advised of our intended action plan since this varies from what we told them earlier.
- Actions and Reminder List – updated, plus a landowner has been requested to address the overgrown Footpath 13 and the Community Group has been contacted to tackle other overgrown areas.
Planning Applications and Decisions:
| 251109 | Proposal: Remove temporary/broken Heras gates/fence and replace with heritage piers and small wall and gates at Home Farm, Mersea Road, Peldon |
| 251299 | Proposal: Demolition of existing dwelling to follow replacement self-built dwelling at Hill Farm, School Lane, Great Wigborough |
| 250962 | Proposal: Application to determine if prior approval is required – Prior Approval Required – Approved at Mayford, Mersea Road, Peldon |
Schedule payments for July:
| R S Pullen – July salary | £702.00 |
| T & LC – Salcott tree report | £96.00 |
| CALC – annual subscription | £35.00 |
| X2 Connect Ltd. – parts for Salcott Book Box door | £437.04 |
| Qube Containers – 5 Parishes container | £2,754.00 |
| The Wigborough Community Group – Church hire | £35.00 |
