North Rode Parish Council
Draft Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 5th February 2026 at Daintry Hall
Present:-
Councillor Huw Williams, Chairman
Councillor Alastair Bayley
Councillor Jacqui Lea
Councillor Brian Evans
Councillor Mark Bullock
Clerk – Mrs B Lomas
Members of the Public – Mr Roger Earle & Mr David Syson
- Apologies for absence –
Councillor Georgina Bailey, Vice Chairman
Councillor Jon Burwood
Councillor Lesley Smetham – Cheshire East Councillor
2. Public Participation
Members of the public were invited to present any comments.
Roger Earle spoke in respect of Prior Approval 26/2560/PRIOR-6.
3. To receive any Declarations of Interest
None received
4. To review, approve and sign the minutes of the previous meetings held on 7th May 2026.
Resolved – Councillors approved the minutes – Proposed by Cllr Bullock and seconded by Cllr Evans.
Councillor Huw Williams, Chairman, signed the minutes
5. To discuss any matters arising from the minutes of the meetings
Cllr Williams advised that following consideration of costs, a charge of £5 for children age under 15 will now be made for the Ceilidh event on the evening of the well dressing on 30th August 2026.
6. Report from Ward Councillor
Cllr Lesley Smetham was absent from the meeting – no report received
7. Well Dressing event – Sunday 30th August, 2026 –
Cllr Williams has secured a road closure of Church Lane. Brochures and tickets for the event have now been printed and the leaflets will be delivered to all residents of the village. The vicar is to bless the well. It was considered whether there should be a limit on ticket numbers for the ceilidh evening entertainment due to the size of Daintry Hall – perhaps 100 maximum.
Cllr Williams has purchased the timber for the well dressing boards – costing £67.50. The clay will be purchased shortly – which has to be ‘puddled’ with water for a week. Cllr Bullock offered a tin bath for this process. Thereafter the ‘petaling’ process will take place and materials will be required / collected for that purpose. The first workshop to create the picture will be on Saturday 22nd August in Cllr Williams’ garage and it could take most of the week to complete.
A small Well Dressing working party / committee is required – volunteers have already put their names forward to Cllr Williams. Daintry Hall will need to be cleared and decorated with bunting etc for the Celilidh event and then cleared afterwards. Due to the limited number of toilets in Daintry Hall – Cllr Bullock kindly offered to bring his mobile toilet block.
Actions: Cllr Williams to organise the well dressing working party. Cllr Bullock to supply mobile toilets for the well dressing event.
8. Planning Applications
a) 26/2560/PRIOR-6 Agricultural building on land off Bank Lane.
A similar application has previously been submitted – namely 26/0512/PRIOR-6. Representation from the Parish Council had been made to CEC at the time but it’s comments had failed to appear on the CEC (planning applications) website. It is therefore likely that the Parish Council’s comments were not taken into consideration. Whilst a subsequent complaint had been lodged to the planning department / planning officer in respect of this omission – a response was not received. That application had been refused mainly for the reason that the application did not include an agricultural justification statement.
The new /revised application has changed the location of the proposed agricultural shed on the land – and a report for agricultural justification had been submitted.
Concerns were raised that the submitted report cited that land to the west of the overall site had received planning approval in 2021 to change the use of the land from agricultural use to equine use – whereas in practice – there had been no evidence of an equestrian use on that land – apart from a couple of horses being temporarily grazed on that land. Neither did the building on the land appear to have been used for equestrian use.
It was discussed that the new position for the shed was in the middle of a field – which was considered to be more obtrusive in appearance than if located adjacent to the existing sheds or at the side of the overall land. i.e. it was felt that a different position would protect the appearance of the countryside.
Action – Clerk to produce the comments from the Parish Council and send to all Councillors for approval prior to submission to CEC planning department
b) 26/1516/FUL Far Whittles Farm, Retrospective planning permission for the construction of a holiday chalet. – a planning application had been submitted to CEC to regularise the use and approval had been granted.
9. Planning Enforcement
Far Whittles Farm, – planning approval to regularise the use of a chalet for holiday lettings had been granted by CEC planning department. This case can now be removed from the planning enforcement section of the PC meetings.
Tinker Bells Hollow – there have been no noticeable changes / no-one is living at the premises. No action required
No further updates had been received in respect of the reported matters for the following cases :-
(i) Land behind Daintry Hall
(ii) Mobile caravan being occupied on land at North Rode stables
Councillor Williams recommended that due to the continued lack of contact from the planning enforcement service – that the parish council should write to planning enforcement following each meeting
Action : Clerk to write to planning enforcement after each PC meeting
10. Highways – the following highways issues were discussed:
a) Impact on the village of the Congleton Link Road
Councillor Williams advised that the Parish Council were informed by the Highways Dept in November 2025, that North Rode would be included in the five year traffic survey following the construction of the Congleton Link road. Cllr Williams has been trying to make contact with the Highways engineer to ensure that this continues to be the case – but had not received responses from the relevant officers. He has therefore made contact with Andy Simpson from the Highways Department to see if he could ask the correct person to make contact.
Action – Cllr Willams to pursue the Traffic Survey with Cheshire East Highways with assistance from Cllr Smetham.
b) HGV’s using Bank Lane and Church Lane
Councillor Williams continues to log incidents of HGV’s using the lanes and reports them to P C O’Connor of the Police to pursue. S J Bargh, milk tankers are noted to be continuing to use the lanes in spite of a number of reports having been made.
Cllr Williams has reported 24 HGV incidents so far this year – which confirms that the number of HGV’s is increasing again – since the last 2 years. It is hoped that following the outcome of the five year traffic survey, CEC may make a decision on how to mitigate / control the increase in traffic along the North Rode lanes
Action- Cllr Williams to continue to log and report HGV use of the lanes
c) Installation of a traffic mirror
Councillor Williams had erected a mirror by Daintry Hall to assist vehicle drivers in seeing if traffic was coming along the narrow, single width length of Bank Lane before committing to move forward. Councillor Bailey advised that he had found it helpful when on his tractor. No other reports as to its success have been received so far.
d) Drainage issues on Church Lane
Councillor Williams reported that the drains had been jetted – which appears to have resolved the leak emanating from below Dane Cottage. However, water is still coming out of the drain below the Vicarage.
Action – Cllr Williams to report the water leaks
11.Finance
a) Current bank balance = £4416.82
b) Approval of the following expenditures
Hire of Daintry Hall for Parish Meeting for 30/7/2026 – £30
Cost of cheese and wine etc. for Parish Meeting held on 7/5/2026 – £62.00
Traffic Mirror for Bank Lane – £83.99
Well Dressing Leaflets – £25.47
Well Dressing Ceilidh Tickets – £20.29
Purchase of wood for well dressing frame – £67.50
Deposit for Maggotty Ceilidh Band – £50 (already paid)
Leek Morris dancers – £70 – to be paid on the day
c) Pre-approval of costs for Well Dressing event – materials
Clay – cost to be confirmed
d) A donation of £20 has been offered for Huw’s assistance with auditing of Marton PC accounts
- It was agreed to use the £20 for the purchase of a raffle prize at the ceilidh evening
Resolved – all above costs to the Parish Council were approved – Proposed by Cllr Evans, Seconded by Cllr Bullock
12. Peak Cluster pipeline – update
It was noted that there appears to be significant objections being raised from other parish councils and residents along the proposed route.
Resolved – that North Rode PC would await the next stage of public consultation.
13. CEC Local Plan
On 20th July – a scoping consultation has been produced by CEC which is inviting comments from all residents and Parish and Town Councils within CEC. Comments are required by 1st September 2026. Prior to the scoping consultation there was a ‘call for land’ exercise – whereby land owners could put forward land for possible development purposes. Cllr Williams advised that the scoping consultation report identified that a parcel of land at the rear of Daintry Hall had been submitted.
As part of the Local Plan process, CEC will assess all offered land for its suitability– following which – a further consultation will take place. It was agreed that at the present time, the Parish Council had no comments to make and that it would await the further consultation. It was suggested that Cllr Williams consults with the parish council liaison group to ascertain what, if any, comments will be made by other Parish Councils to the Local Plan.
On Tuesday 11th August at 6pm – there is an online meeting which has been organised by ChALC – at which CEC Officers will present the current information in respect of the Local Plan and questions can be asked.
Action – Cllr Williams to consult with the Parish Council Liaison Group and to attend the Local Plan online meeting
14. Parish Council Liaison Group
Cllr Williams advised that it had been discussed at the last meeting if the Liaison Group should continue. It was decided to carry on as he and several others present found that it provided useful information on what other villages were doing and more recently in relation to the Wildlife Corridors identified by CWT which connect parishes together.
15. Daintry Hall plans
Cllr Evans enquired about the position in respect of the plans to extend the Daintry Hall and to erect a pavilion – following the very sad loss of Tony Hayes of the Daintry Hall Management Committee who had inputted a significant amount of work towards the improvement schemes. Cllr Williams advised that a number of meetings had recently been held and that a local engineer had been employed to assist with Building Regulations and drawings. It is planned that the foundations and framework for the pavilion will take place this year. The village newsletter will be used to provide updates.
16. Poppies / Remembrance Day
Cllr Williams advised that the current poppies which are placed around the village may be further increased in number this year. In addition, ladies in North Rode have knitted 1000 poppies (so far) and it is proposed to attach them to a net which will be draped over the Church tower as an additional remembrance display. Cllr Williams would like the parish council to pay for the net. This expenditure (cost unknown at present) was agreed by Councillors. Cheshire Life are interested in writing an article on the village poppy displays.
Resolved – the Parish Council to pay for the net on which to attach knitted poppies for remembrance day. Proposed by Cllr Bullock and seconded by Cllr Evans
17. To confirm the dates of the next two meetings
Thursday 22nd October 2026
Thursday 21st January 2027
The meeting closed at 8.50pm