Parish council plans to turn former boiler house into office

A redundant boiler house could be turned into a parish council office if plans are given the green light by Stafford Borough Council.

Hixon Parish Council has put forward plans to change the use of the former boiler house site at Walnut Crest, near its current meeting place Hixon Memorial Hall.

A resident objected to the planning application because of concern about lack of parking spaces in Walnut Crest. They said: “We residents already struggle with paucity of spaces.

“There are, I believe, some six or eight members of the parish council; we just do not have the space to accommodate these extra vehicles. The roadway into Walnut Crest has double yellow lines on each side.”

In a response submitted to the borough council, parish councillor Susan McKeown said: “I wish to confirm that the office will be accessed by the clerk and/or individual councillors for no more than 15 hours each week. Most councillors live within walking distance of Walnut Crest.

“The parish council car park is adjacent to High Street, about one minute walk from the application site. The only time a vehicle might be needed is on occasion to deliver or collect large or heavy items from the building – all visitors will be guided to use the parish council car park.”

Members of the parish council’s planning committee heard at their latest meeting that the proposed new parish office was set to include a room where smaller meetings could take place. It will also provide storage space.

Parish council chairperson Brendan McKeown said: “The boiler room has been redundant for 20 years at least. From a parish council point of view, it will be future-proofing the parish council.

“Over most of the years clerks have had enough space to work from home, but with increasing numbers of files and folders, there may a time in the future we have a clerk who hasn’t got the facility to store them.

“They wouldn’t have to be there all the time – they could work at home – but this would be the public-facing part of the parish council. Size-wise, it’s not much different to Colwich Parish Council and they are a much bigger parish council.”