Minutes of the Annual Village Meeting held on October 13th 2025 at the Village Hall
Rona welcomed everyone (almost 60 attendees) especially representatives of BBV, Hannah Taylor who is working on an art project with HS2, all the parish councillors and Peter Stanworth who has continued to work hard to explain the engineering aspects of HS2.She also welcomed 16-month-old Alfie, who was probably the youngest resident ever to attend such a meeting.
Apologies:
Apologies had been received from Cllr. Andy Gibbs who was ill with Covid and Cllr Alan Marshall. The police team also sent apologies as they were not on duty this evening. If anyone wanted to contact the police about a specific issue, Rona provided paper and envelopes and offered to pass on any correspondence.
Minutes of the last meeting:
The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting of September 2024 were accepted.
Proposed: Judi Hibberd
Seconded: Dianne Adams
Matters Arising:
Any matters arising had been dealt with.
Chair’s Report:
A report from Rona had been circulated in advance as follows:
The Residents’ Association has planned a busy pattern of events over 2025. Two community lunches, in March and September, proved as popular as those of previous years with first class food matched by first class company. Our VE Day celebration on May 8th, with a fish and chip van, an excellent quiz and the lighting of the beacon, was the highlight of the year. An armistice display will be arranged on the Coronation Verge and plans for Christmas are well under way with our traditional Christmas tree, children’s Christmas card competition and a visit from Santa on December 22nd. Many thanks to everyone who works so hard to deliver all of this.
We continue our on-going drive to report potholes and fly tipping and to enhance our environment with flower tubs at the entrances to the village. Together with the Parish Council, we have supported residents in opposing the building of 37 alms houses at the junction of Cromwell Lane and Red Lane; this development was, however, approved by Solihull Planning Committee at their meeting on October 8th.
The IndiG0 Plus bus service continues to be a success for Red Lane residents. We are pushing for an extension to Hickory’s but, this is currently looking unlikely as Cromwell Lane has the hourly 87 service which could be used to travel to Kenilworth with a change at Warwick University.
Hickory’s have been keen to liaise with us to support the community and we have recently made suggestions to improve the chaotic parking situation in Cromwell Lane during their firework event.
Working with the Parish Council and the Greenway Trust, and mindful of our responsibility not only to ourselves, but to the wider community and to future generations, we are currently looking at how we can mitigate the aesthetic impact of HS2. We had a useful meeting with Sir Jeremy Wright, MP on July 4th and a meeting has just been arranged for November 7th with Sir Jeremy and Saqib Bhatti, the Meriden MP to look at this issue and, in particular, the concrete sound barrier which will run along our linear park Greenway for a quarter of a mile at a five metre height.
So, as you can see, it has been a very busy year! Many thanks to all the Burton Green Residents who have made it all possible. Collaborating with the Village Hall, we are delighted to be presenting to the community in a new format: the Burton Geen Annual Meeting. We hope it facilitates everyone’s voice being heard.
Rona thanked everyone who helps to maintain Burton Green’s community spirit.
A recent setback was the approval by Solihull of the building of 37 alms houses in spite of local opposition.
Election of Committee members:
Janet Hickinbottom, in her role as Joint Secretary, conducted this agenda item.
The constitution requires that the officers and three committee members should stand down. All the officers, Rona Taylor, Mary Webb, Janet Hickinbottom, Judi Hibberd and Dianne Adams were willing to stand again if approved.
Proposed: Peter Stanworth
Seconded: Caryl Green
Unanimously agreed.
Three committee members also stood down and agreed to be re-elected:
Faith Ward, Hilary Cox, Helen Hehir
Proposed: Eileen Nisbet
Seconded: Jill Line
Unanimously agreed.
It was reiterated that new committee members or those willing to volunteer for specific projects would be most welcome and should approach a current committee member to discuss this.
Rona explained that the date of the meeting was too close to the end of the BGRA end of its financial year and so the accounts were not ready. However, they would be published later in the year. Because of the small size of the BGRA committee, it was not necessary to have an Independent Examiner for the accounts.
Village Hall Report
Cheryl Wall, Chair of the Village Hall trustees, provided an update on the Village Hall. She explained that the Village Hall trustees do not have to hold an AGM but they take this opportunity to hold themselves to account. The Village Hall can have a maximum of 12 trustees and a minimum 0f 7. She thanked Adrian Hickinbottom who was stepping down as a trustee. He has been lead of the technical and maintenance group for several years and so if anyone has these skills and would like to join the trustees, please let Cheryl know. All new entrants can act as co-opted trustees in the first instance.
The hall remains very popular for weekend children’s parties, with bookings well into 2026.
We are maintaining capacity at 80 for private events to limit noise levels, ensure sufficient car parking and reduce wear and tear.
A noise/monitor/limiter is installed and we carefully manage evening summer parties and this has been successful in reducing noise disturbance for our neighbours.
We still have capacity during daytime although many regular bookings/activities are well established. A new regular dance class started in September on Saturdays.
Hiring costs remain the same as our income covers outgoings. There is a 19% discount for residents for community events.
Grounds maintenance
Regular grounds maintenance is established, most trees and shrubs are maturing well; a specialist contractor undertakes weed control around the car park and building paths
New chairs are on order after views obtained from regular users ensured they were comfy.
Acoustic panels have been successful
Work is outstanding to review heating and lighting systems and renovating outdoor furniture.
Community events
Community Events continue to be well attended, subsidising children’s activities and refreshments –
advertised in Bugle, banners and social media
Folk concert (Vikki Clayton from Fairport Convention) planned for 10th July 26.
Made in Burton Green planned for June 26 Deirdre explained that this fun event had taken place on several occasions in recent years (2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018). Deirdre outlined details of the proposed 2026 Made in Burton Green event:
20 June to 5 July Sculpture trail “Enchanted Forest” and scarecrow competition along the Greenway & Village Hall
27 June and 28 June demonstrations, exhibitions, sales and café at Village Hall
School art making day, Community willow workshops etc.
Friends of Village Hall
A group of Friends offer lots of support for community events in different ways such as baking cakes or setting out chairs and tables.
Russ Smith, treasurer of the Village Hall, gave a comprehensive report of financial affairs.
A breakdown of 2024-2025 spending
How have we performed in 2024-2025
Current financial position
As a committee we have decided to invest the money as follows:
Invest £85k in a five-year fixed saver at 4.30%, returning £19,915.70
Invest £20k in a one-year fixed saver at 4.30%, returning £860
This means over a five-year period with no other investment, we’d raise £20,775.70, which is 19.78% (potentially more if the £20k was reinvested in another fixed saver)
This allows us to keep a buffer of £25k which allows us to operate at current costs for 7.2 months if all income stopped, which is unlikely.
Thanks were given to Russ for his hard work. A question was asked about why the CO-OP account had been retained and Russ explained that some payments were still scheduled to be paid into that account. It was added that cash being built up will be used for hall improvements, as required.
In response to a query, the audience was assured that the chairs that are being replaced will not go to landfill but the committee hope to sell them on eBay or via Facebook marketplace.
6. Burton Green Village School Update
Stella Villiers, Head teacher of Burton Green Academy, said the school had 105 places with 101 pupils currently. A pre-school was to be opened in January 2026 with 13 extra places. There had also been much interest in open days ready for September 2026 admissions to the school.
A church inspection (SIAMS – Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) had recently taken place with a good outcome. The report can be found on the school website.
A NEW Assistant Head has been appointed in Mr. Jacob Nailor and has been well received. Mrs. Thompson had been working hard with the school’s eco council and had assisted with the development of the school garden. As a result, the school was awarded gold status as part of Kenilworth in Bloom and will be visited by Kenilworth Mayor who will present the award.
The main schoolroom has become partly obsolete after the construction of two new classrooms and it was planned to revamp the old hall to create a new library as a central hub for the school.
Stella also made a request for volunteers to go into school to hear children read as, since Covid, there had been a discernable drop in parents hearing their children read at home.
HS2 Update: bridge closures
(With thanks to Chris Langton for his summary of the presentation).
Representatives of BBV gave a comprehensive presentation of the proposed timetable to complete the Cromwell Lane bridge (transfer of utilities and realignment of the road).
Subject to Dept of Transport approval, the BBV/HS2 representative said the road would be subject to one continuous closure from Easter next year until September - an estimated total of 20 weeks - the alternative, to do a number of one month closures, would add about another four weeks to the overall construction time and extend the end date considerably.
(Pedestrian access would be maintained at all times).
One reason for the apparent lengthy process is the fact that only one utility can be transferred at one time and has to be undertaken by the utility provider and not HS2.
Concern was raised about the unsatisfactory condition of Hob Lane as the designated diversion route with HS2 agreeing to liaise with Solihull Council over the issue.
Also no extensive dialogue has yet taken place with the school regarding the road closure for the entire summer term.
One proposal from the floor was for some form of parking facility at the Hodgetts Lane end of the closure (possibly the old Village Hall car park) to enable parents to walk to the school from there rather than drive the 7-mile round trip diversion.
HS2 will be having another walk in session at the Village Hall on 13th Nov (2-6 pm)
Any Other Business:
Peter Stanworth offered to arrange a visit to the engineering works at Spaghetti Junction which he described with enthusiasm. Anyone interested should contact Peter directly.
8. Date of Next Annual Village Meeting:
The next Annual General Meeting would be held in October 2026 at the Village Hall.
