Minutes 2nd May 2018
Minutes of the of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 2nd May 2018 at 7.30pm at the Village Hall.
Present: Cllr S Luxton(Chairman), Cllr E Hollingsworth, Cllr R Tillett, Cllr M Merrett, Cllr J Gibson, Cllr A Birmingham (Vice-Chairman)
In Attendance: Carole Oliphant (Clerk), Ed Nichols (Headteacher), Ed Johns, Tim Holdaway & Roger Cashmore
60/18 Election of Chairman
Cllr S Luxton was proposed by Cllr M Merrett and seconded by Cllr J Gibson. He was elected with a unanimous vote. Cllr Luxton signed the Chairman’s declaration of acceptance which was witnessed by the Clerk
61/18 Election of Vice-Chairman
Cllr A Birmingham was proposed by Cllr M Merrett and seconded by Cllr E Hollingsworth. He was elected with a unanimous vote
62/18 Apologies
Apologies received from Cllr Bloxham (DCC), Cllr S Randal-Johnson (DCC) and Cllr S Grundy (EDDC)
63/18 Declarations of interest
None at this stage of the meeting
64/18 Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 4th April 2018
The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of 4th April 2018 were adopted as a true record and duly signed by the Chairman
65/18 Democratic period
Roger Cashmore (Thorverton) explained a recent planning application at School Lane in Thorverton would have an affect on Brampford Speke. He urged the PC to object to the application. The PC informed Mr Cashmore that they would look over the details and discuss a response at the next meeting.
Ed Nichols (Headteacher) said that he had been made to feel very welcome since he had joined the school. He had been bought in to oversee that changes as the school joined the Exe Valley federation. Discussions about the preschool were ongoing and they were looking to incorporate it into the main school if it could be made viable.
Cllr Gibson said she liked the idea of the School and the PC working together to try and resolve the issues of parking and speeding around the school.
The PC were encouraged that Ed had come to the meeting and said it was very appreciated. He was reminded of the PC Community Grant Fund which could be used to fund a road safety initiative at the school.
The Clerk was tasked with chasing EDDC for the amount available for play and/or sports projects from S106 funds.
66/18 Actions from APM
The PC was disappointed that there wasn’t more public representation at the APM. Discussions were made regarding increasing community involvement and the possibility of a Newsletter and social media explaining what the PC did. It was decided that Community Engagement would be added as a regular item at PC meetings and the lead councillor would be J Gibson.
67/18 Ongoing topics
1: Village Hall –
• Cllrs Merrett explained that the shed had been sold and removed
2: Footpaths & Verges -
• Cllr Gibson advised that she and Julia Gibson had met with Ros Davies from DCC and had been given lots of information and the contacts of James Ayre and Richard Spurway to sort out any footpath issues. She had discussed the issue of mud on Station Hill and Ros was going to chase this up with Richard. Cllr Gibson advised that DCC would complete one free strim of the footpaths in June and after that the PC would need to fund further cuts.
• There was a general discussion about Lake Bridge and Cllr Luxton agreed to make repairs
• Cllr Luxton advised that Mr Butt would be contacted to make the first cut of the village verges at the end of May.
• Cllr Hollingsworth advised that Richard Spurway and Ros Davies were in discussions about the mud on Station Hill. Cllr Gibson advised she would chase this up when she met with Ros Davies.
3: Trees –
• Cllr Hollingsworth advised that Four Seasons had been contacted to complete the first cut of the grass around the WW1 trees
4: Highways & Traffic Management
• Cllr Tillett advised that the surface dressing of Burridge was due in June but was weather dependant
• Cllr Tillet proposed that the PC fund, up to £300 the provision of PPE for Cllr Luxton and Ed Sanders in order that they could attend section 8 training and carry out pothole repairs. This was seconded by Cllr Merrett and the PC resolved to accept the proposal. The Clerk was tasked with sending a list of the required PPE to Cllr A Birmingham to look at costings.
5: Antisocial Behaviour
• PC would monitor the situation. Councillors would take the lead and report any instances of anti-social behaviour via 101
68/18 East Devon District Council
None
69/18 Devon County Council
None
70/18 Planning
None
71/18 Financial matters
The Clerk’s financial reports were all noted with thanks (appendix 1)
The PC noted the recent National Salary increase for the Clerk.
Cheques were approved for:
• The Clerk
• HMRC
• Zurich Insurance
• Mrs J Hubbard
The cheques were signed by Cllr Birmingham and Cllr Tillett
Accounting Statements April 2018
The Clerk presented the Internal Auditors report. Cllr R Tillett proposed that the Internal Auditors report was accepted and the audit results were published. This was seconded by Cllr Merrett and was accepted by the PC by a unanimous vote.
The Clerk explained that due to change of circumstances the PC no longer had access to free payroll software. The clerk had researched available options and recommended that the PC purchase the leading payroll software ‘Moneysoft’ at a cost of £65 per annum. The clerk explained that this was less than £6 per month which was less than outsourcing to a payroll company. Cllr Birmingham proposed that the PC accept Clerks recommendation of purchasing the Moneysoft package at £65 per annum. This was seconded by Cllr M Merrett and was accepted by a unanimous vote.
72/18 Co-Option of New Councillor
Ed Johns had completed his acceptance of nomination form and returned it to the Clerk by the 1st May deadline. Ed was nominated by Cllr A Birmingham and seconded by Cllr M Merrett. The Council voted and Ed Johns was Co-opted onto the Parish Council by a unanimous vote.
The Clerk would send Cllr Johns Register of Interest Forms to complete
73/18 Other information
• Cllr Hollingsworth would obtain some quotes for the replacement of posts on Station Hill and the PC would decide at the next meeting to cover the costs
• The NHW would be amending their processes due to the new Data Protection rules
• The meeting schedule for 2018/2019 was circulated and agreed
74/18 Next meeting
The meeting closed at 9.05pm.
The next meeting would be Wednesday 6th June 2018 at 7.30pm, Village Hall