PARISH COUNCIL - At their August meeting, Breinton councillors expressed concern at the recent spate of thefts from vehicles around the parish. Representatives of the police and the National Trust will be invited to attend a future council meeting to address these concerns. Plans are proceeding for the firework party at Lower Hill Farm on November 5, which will be combined with a celebration for the 10th anniversary of Drovers Wood. The Woodlands Trust will be approached for some funding for this celebration.

The Woodlands Trust will provide a further 420 trees and parish councillors are still looking for ideas as to where these will be planted around the parish.

The National Trust, Nature Trust, Stretton Sugwas school and some landowners will be approached to see if the trees can be planted where the public will be able to benefit from them.

Contact the clerk on 01432 340129 to make any other suggestions. Although Amey has carried some maintenance to the drains around the bottom of Breinton Lane, further repairs are required to one of the pipes, and the clerk will contact Amey to rectify this problem. Following complaints about traffic problems with the car boot sale on Roman Road each Saturday, police have promised to ensure proper enforcement of traffic regulations and in the longer term will monitor traffic flows. Ward councillor Bob Matthews reported further progress with the footpaths and cycleways in the Kings Acre and Stretton Sugwas areas and it is hoped these works will be undertaken later in the year. There are plans to reduce the speed limit on certain stretches of road, and improve the visibility at the Wyevale junction. As part of Herefordshire Council’s Shaping Our Place, the preferred options for rural areas were published recently, in which it appears Breinton is still classed as ‘open countryside’ where residential development will be limited to agricultural, forestry or farm diversification, or growth of rural enterprises. Parish council representatives will be attending a further meeting and providing feedback as part of the ongoing consultation.

It was agreed that the lengths man will be asked to undertake works to maintain ditching and tidy up various verges around Breinton. The clerk will prepare an item for inclusion in Teamtalk to remind parishioners that there are instances when grass cuttings and hedge clippings (for example) are dumped in the verges around Breinton, and farm contractors do not clear up mud off the road, which can then block ditches and causes flooding.

The parish council then spends parishioners’ money to have it cleared.

Please do not leave or dump waste on the roads or verges of the parish. As there are several unresolved problems on the footpaths around Breinton it was agreed that the local footpaths officer will take advantage of the offer from Amey to attend a parish walk and to discuss these outstanding matters.