About Wrinehill

  Already the Betley Parish Accounts for 2025-2026 are being discussed and the precept drawn up.   At the end of the financial year 2023-24 the Betley Parish Council received an external audit, which was published, eventually, in November 2024.   The report made interesting reading in that the External Auditor found ‘significant weaknesses within the Parish Council system’ and that ‘the Council should ensure that the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) form in 2024-25 is prepared in accordance with proper practices’.   This would support the view of the only Councillor who had frequently queried the accounts and the way in which the AGAR Form had been completed by the Parish Council over the last two years, and more latterly, the Audit and Accounts Committee. Clearly the ‘explanation’ Minuted after the November 2024 Parish Council meeting had not been accepted by the External Auditor ( (see November 2024 Minutes, Minute  14 (a)- (d))....

  Several individuals have attempted to close this blog since it provides an often alternative view to that expressed by the Parish Council.  This has been played out at length in  Parish Council Minutes although as a private blog, it is no business of the Parish Council. A recent parish council governance document - the Social Media Policy - accepted despite queries about the validity of some of it intentions attempts to enable the Parish Council to regulate all social media ,not just its own.  This would appear to be a dangerous prerogative by a council since it seems to attempt to censor anything of which it would not approve. It also seems to confuse in a very dangerous way freedom of information with freedom from  information. Freedom from information is not the intention of the Freedom of Information Act although there are some who would try to interpret it in this very dangerous way, paving the slope downwards and backwards to a medieval oligarchy and ...

  Last week I tuned in to a Staffordshire County Council Meeting of Council. The formation of Super Councils was being discussed again (and after a ten year plus gap) and what the options being forwarded might be for Staffordshire. At the moment Staffordshire is a two tier authority - County and Borough Council, supposedly working seamlessly together. The leader of Newcastle Borough council left the meeting before is began. It was clear that Staffordshire County favoured the status quo - ie no change. The tension at the beginning of this meeting was palpable. Parish councils - the lowest tier of governance - but governance nonetheless - were not mentioned in the Government Report. Perhaps there was a justifiable reason for this. The options for change are: to join with Stoke-on-Trent, to join with Staffordshire Moorlands and one or two others such as Telford and the Wrekin in order to make up the required numbers to become a super council. However, and hopefully, it might tak...

 Checkley Lane has closed for most of this week since work is being a carried out under the bridge. It seems that the blocked drain, just above the bridge on the Cheshire East side, was the result of an even  larger blockage to an underground drain.  This was cleared today when a manhole was discovered set into the boundary hedgerow.  The road was dug up to unblock, also, the drain crossing the road - which was causing a blocked and overflowing grid on the opposite side of the road.  Cheshire east claimed that this work had been carried out just before the last election.  Clearly not. It was this blockage that was causing the water to flow from the field onto the road down under the bridge to the two blocked grids causing a flood under the bridge.  The grids under the bridge were recently unblocked, thankfully, but the water from the field continued to flow down the road to the bridge.   This was wrongly attributed, by some, to the HS2 ponds ...

 DEFRA are launching a consultation with regard to hedge management.   Read the new rules and have your say on :    ( https://consult.defra.gov.uk/legal-standards/consultation-on-hedgerow-regulatory-approach/consultation/subpage.2024-05-07.2388061341/  )   to a DEFRA hedgerow management consultation (examining guidance and new regulations around management of hedgerows on agricultural land)'s. This will assist farmers and others with long hedges re the do's and don'ts of hedge management.   There might be penalties for non-compliance.

 After the garage site in Wrinehill was re-developed and nine houses built, the developer made a financial contribution of over £11,158 was made to Newcastle Borough Council.  The suggested use was for the  resurfacing of  of the Betley Village Hall car park.  The 106 Agreement monies were originally conceived in order to improve the local area, which, in this case, residents thought might be Wrinehill, and especially since the Bluebell development 106 Money of around £47,000 went to Knutton.  (See the Post below  for January 2024.) Wrinehill residents had suggested that some of the latest money be used for planting trees on the grass verges outside the new development - Egerton View.  However, the response  to that was: ' The S106 for 17/00968/FUL requires payment of £11,158 specifically for “the improvements to the surfacing at Betley Village Hall or at another suitable local facility managed by Betley Parish Council”. Given that the planti...