Minutes April 2018
Minutes of the of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 4th April 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
Apologies: None
In Attendance: Carole Oliphant (Clerk), Cllr R Bloxham (DCC) & Cllr S Randall Johnson (DCC)
42/18 Apologies
Apologies received from Cllr S Grundy (EDDC)
43/18 Declarations of interest
None at this stage of the meeting
44/18 Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 7th March 2018
The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of 7th March 2018 were adopted as a true record and duly signed by the Chairman
Minutes 7th March 2018
45/18 Democratic period
None
46/18 Ongoing topics
1: Village Hall –
• Cllrs Merrett and Tillett advised that the BSVHT would be issuing a questionnaire to see what villagers wanted to see happen with the Village Hall moving forward. They requested and were granted an agenda item for the Annual Parish Meeting.
2: Footpaths & Verges -
• Cllr Gibson advised that she and Julia Gibson were due to meet with Ros Davies from DCC shortly. The wardens had been actively walking the footpaths and had been cutting back overgrown vegetation.
• The Clerk advised that at £300 P3 grant had been received from DCC and that the P3 funds were currently £620.
• There was a general discussion about Lake Bridge and Cllr Luxton agreed to make repairs
• Cllr Hollingsworth advised that she had reported the fallen tree on Stoke Cannon’s side of the footpath
• Cllr Birmingham advised that there were problems with standing water at Gypsy Lane. Cllr Luxton agreed to take a look and see what could be done.
• Cllr Luxton advised that a metal kissing gate was required on footpath 10 and Cllr Gibson said she would speak to Ros Davies to see the procedure for obtaining one through the P3 scheme.
• 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.
• After further information from Cllr Hollingsworth, the PC agreed to put a motion forward at the May meeting to have a by-law introduced re ‘dogs on lead’ signs installed on Station Hill.
• Cllr Bloxham informed the PC that the EDDC Public Spaces Protection Order already covered the area’s where dogs had to be on leads. It was agreed that the Clerk would circulate the order to Councillors and Cllr Gibson would speak to Ros Davies about putting signs up on Footpaths.
3: Trees –
• Cllr Hollingsworth advised road tree in the village had been removed and the hole had been made safe by Philip Hill
4: Highways & Traffic Management-
• Cllr Tillett had contacted DCC Highways re obtaining plainings to repair the verge outside of Stipperstones but he had been advised that the PC would need to collect them from the depot. Cllrs Bloxham and Randall-Johnson advised they would contact DCC to see if they could get a load of plainings delivered to Cllr Luxton’s yard.
• Cllr Tillett advised he had reported both the flood and pothole at Burridge through the DCC portal but to date neither had been repaired.
• The PC agreed for the Clerk to apply for funding through the DCC Highways Community Enhancement Fund for pothole repair equipment which would be used by Cllr Luxton and Ed Sanders when they had completed the Chapter 8 training.
• Cllr Birmingham reported the bad state of the road at Woodrow Barton Lane and said that if repairs were not carried out soon the road would become impassable. Cllrs Bloxham and Randall-Johnson agreed to contact DCC Highways to accelerate repairs.
• The PC agreed to invite the new Head of the School to the Annual Parish Meeting to ask about traffic flow and parking outside the school to see if this was still an issue that they wanted the PC to look at. Cllr Gibson agreed to issue the invitation.
5: Communications -
• Cllr Merrett advised that BSVHT were grateful of the offer to the PC to finance the installation of Broadband into the Village Hall but they were unable to commit to the ongoing costs. The Pc agreed to remove this item from the agenda until the BSVHT decided on the future of the hall.
6: Antisocial Behaviour-
• PC discussed the matter and felt that encouraging parishioners to contact 101 if they witnessed any antisocial behaviour would be the best course of action. Cllr Bloxham advised that EDDC used field camera’s in remote area’s which did not need a power source. The PC could apply for funding from both the DCC Locality Budget and the Police & Crime Commissioner to fund the camera’s. The Pc decided to put this onto the agenda for the Annual Parish Meeting to see what parishioners thought of the installation of cameras.
47/18 EDDC
None
48/18 DCC Matters
Cllr Randall-Johnson gave some information about Healthcare Plans for children with learning and physical disabilities and advised that there had been a substantial increase in applications.
Cllr Bloxham advised that in addition to the £10k Locality fund both the DCC councillors had access to a further £10k each for capital projects in their areas.
49/18 Planning
None
50/18 Financial matters
The Clerk’s financial reports were all noted with thanks (appendix 1)
Cheques were approved for:
• The Clerk
• HMRC
• DALC
The cheques were signed by Cllr Birmingham and Cllr Tillett
Year End Accounting Statements 2017-2018
51/18 Certificate of Exemption
The Parish Council agreed to certify itself exempt from a limited assurance review under section 9 of the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015. This was proposed by Cllr Tillett and seconded by Cllr Merrett and was agreed by a unanimous vote. The Certificate of Exemption was duly signed by the Chairman and the Clerk
52/18 Annual Governance Statement 2017/2018
The Parish Council agreed the Annual Governance Statement 2017-2018. This was proposed by Cllr Tillett and seconded by Cllr Merrett and was agreed by a unanimous vote. The Annual Governance Statement 2017/2018 was duly signed by the Chairman and the Clerk
53/18 Annual Accounting Statement for 2017/2018
The Accounting Statements and final accounts and bank reconciliations 2017-2018 had been completed by the Clerk and scrutinised by Cllr A Birmingham who declared them to be in order. The Parish Council agreed the Annual Accounting Statements 2017-2018. This was proposed by Cllr Tillett and seconded by Cllr Merrett and was agreed by a unanimous vote. The Annual Accounting Statements 2017/2018 were duly signed by the Chairman and the Clerk
54/18 Standing Orders
A Motion was presented to the PC to amended the Standing Orders clause 1.5 from a requirement for quorum of no less than four members to a minimum of three members. The motion to accept the change was proposed by Cllr Tillett and seconded by Cllr Merrett and was agreed by a unanimous vote. The Standing Orders clause 1.5 were duly amended.
55/18 Chairman Nomination
The PC agreed to defer the Chairman and Vice Chairman nomination and appointment until the May meeting
56/18 Annual Parish Meeting
The PC decided that, as requested by the Chairman, that lead councillors would give an update to villagers on their topics.
Cllrs Bloxham and Randall-Johnson (DCC)confirmed their attendance.
The Clerk was requested to provide refreshments and the Chairman would obtain drinks. The expense for this was agreed to be met by the Parish Council.
57/18 Speke Up
• Footpaths
• Dogs on Leads
• Antisocial Behaviour
58/18 Other information
• Cllr Gibson agreed to produce a poster advertising the vacant councillor post which would be put up on the noticeboard and send to the village email list
• Cllr Birmingham advised the PC that he had obtained quotes for the PC Insurance renewal but they were almost twice the cost of the current quote. He advised to renew with Zurich and the PC agreed.
• Cllr Hollingsworth requested that the PC fund further cuts of the grass around the WW1 Trees. The PC agreed to finance the first cut and then revisit the request over the course of the year
59/18 Next meeting
The meeting closed at 9.05pm.
The next meeting would be Wednesday 25th April 2018 7.30pm, Village Hall (Annual Parish Meeting). The Annual Parish Council Meeting (AGM) would be held on 2nd May 2018 at 7.30pm, Village Hall.