Agenda for March 2024 meeting
Newton St Cyres Parish Council
Notice of Meeting of Parish Council
Dear Councillors
I hereby give notice that a Meeting of the above-named Parish Council will be held Council will be held in the Club Room, Parish Hall on Thursday 7 March 2024 at 7.00pm
All members of the Council are hereby summoned to attend for the purpose of considering and resolving upon the Business to be transacted at the meeting set out hereunder.
Dated this 1 March 2024
Signed Jane Hole
Clerk to the Parish Council parishclerk@newtonstcyres-pc.gov.uk 01392 851148
Public Participation
Public Question Time. Members of the public are invited to give their views and ask questions on issues on this agenda or to raise issues for future consideration by the Parish Council.
Formal Business
(Members of the public may not take part in the formal business of the Parish Council except under special circumstances)
01/03/24 Apologies - To receive apologies
02/03/24 Declaration of Interest
To receive declarations of personal interest (PI) and disclosable pecuniary interests (DPI’s) in respect of items on this agenda
03/03/24 Minutes of the last meeting – to be agreed and signed as a true record
3.1 Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 1 February 2024 (previously circulated)
04/03/24 Newton St Cyres Parish Council Issues relevant to Mid Devon District Council
4.1 Planning Applications
4.1.1 24/00237/HOUSE - Erection of single storey rear extension and front porch following demolition of existing conservatory and porch at Winscombe Newton St Cyres
4.1.2 24/00222/MARM - Reserved Matters for the erection of a 50 bedroom nursing home following Outline approval 20/01584/MOUT at Langford Park Nursing Home, Langford Road, Langford
4.1.3 24/00257/FULL- Alterations and improvements to existing parking and servicing arrangements including additional hard surfacing, a cycle store and new fencing at Langford Park Nursing Home
4.2 Planning Decisions
4.2.1 24/00020/CAT - Notification of intention to remove one Hawthorn tree within a Conservation Area at Village Green – permission granted. To agree arrangements for planting of new tree
4.3 To consider Town and Parish Charter Review – details circulated separately
4.4 To agree attendance at MDDC State of the District debate – 20 March in Tiverton
4.5 Report from District Councillors on issues relevant to the parish
05/03/24 Newton St Cyres Parish Council issues relevant to Devon County Council
5.1 Report from County Councillor on issues relevant to the Parish
5.1.1 Update on School Hill path weed clearance and rock face opposite Station Road, A377
5.1.2 To agree PC response to DCC consultation on Devolution for Devon and Torbay
06/03/24 Finance
6.1 To agree Payments and note Receipts:
|
Expenditure – current account |
£ |
Receipts – current account |
£ |
|---|---|---|---|
|
NSC PC hall: PC - £63.00; NHP - £13.00; electric - £40.00 |
116.00 |
VAT refund |
635.62 |
|
Simon Saunders grass cutting - Church - £120.00, Green £80.00 |
200.00 |
|
|
|
J Hole – Reimbursement for zoom subscription |
155.88 |
Receipts – Resurfacing Account |
|
|
J Hole – Salary and expenses |
405.05 |
Interest |
13.19 |
|
HMRC – PAYE |
58.40 |
|
|
6.2 To approve on-line authorisation for this month’s payments.
6.3 Balances (after above transactions)
6.3.1 Parish Council Current Account balance: £13,366.13
6.3.2 Footpath Account: £88.02 (included in Current Account balance)
6.3.3 Car Park resurfacing fund balance: £7,292.39 (separate Bank account)
6.3.4 Neighbourhood Plan grant: £3,568.00 (included in Current Account balance)
6.4 Financial Statement and Budget Monitor – see below
6.5 Quarterly Bank reconciliation – details circulated separately
6.6 To sign forms to add three new signatories to Parish Council bank accounts
07/03/24 Other Parish Council Matters
7.1 Churchyard – to consider proposal noted below and to agree ending of grass cutting for 2024
7.2 To consider Proposed delegated spending limits – see below
7.3 Quarterly Report – Development and Planning – Cllr G Barnell
7.3.1 Crediton Cluster Meeting – report of meeting on 19 January 2024
7.4 Quarterly Report – Footpaths – Cllrs S Parker, A Staite
7.4.1 To agree request to apply to National Lottery Awards for printing costs of “Country Walks in NSC”
7.4.2 To agree priorities for Footpath work to include path from Sandown Lane to Pump Street
7.5 Quarterly Report – Travel and Road Safety – Cllrs J Dean, A Staite
7.5.1 To consider Road Warden work at Newcombes Road – information circulated separately
7.5.2 To set up a meeting to discuss priorities for future RWS work
7.6 Empty Homes – discussion paper circulated separately
7.7 To agree attendance at Community Resilience Forum – 22 March 2024
08/03/24 Forward Agenda Planner/Minor Matters and Items for Future Agenda
To report minor matters of information not included elsewhere on the agenda and to raise items for future agendas. Councillors are respectfully reminded that this is not an opportunity for debate or decision making.
8.1 Review of agenda planner for future meetings. Copy circulated
09/03/24 Date of next Parish Council meeting: Thursday 4 April 2024 at 7pm in the Club Room
End of Formal Business
Public Participation
Agenda Item 4.3
Dear Town or Parish Clerk
The Charter between Mid Devon District Council and its Towns and Parishes comes up for renewal every three years, in fact this was last reviewed in 2020 so may I apologise for being late in getting this review to you.
I attach the Town and Parish Charter and its Annexe both in PDF format and in WORD format. I have left in the tracked changes that we have made so that you can clearly see what is proposed to be changed. Most of the changes are due to changes in Legislation or reflect the current working practices between the District Council and the Towns and Parishes.
I would be grateful if you would take this Charter to your Town and Parish Council meetings to seek their approval or to suggest any further amendments. The Consultation period lasts for three months in order to accommodate all Parish Meeting cycles and so I would be grateful to receive your Council’s agreement or suggested amendments to the Charter by Wednesday 15 May 2024 at the latest. I will collate the responses as they arrive in so do feel free to respond sooner.
In considering the proposed changes, it is considered important to make specific reference to the following points to allow full consideration of the proposed changes:
The Town and Parish newsletter stopped being published during Covid. Now that Communications Team send out regular press releases with any items of interest it is considered to be unnecessary to recommence the Town and Parish Newsletter especially bearing in mind the historical difficulty of finding enough content to fill its pages.
Since Covid, the District Council and many Town and Parish Councils have become much more technologically agile so that many meetings are now held virtually, facilitating and enabling increased public participation.
Resources: Council resources continue to be squeezed meaning that the District Council is, along with many other Council’s, needing to find efficiencies and financial savings wherever practicable in order to ensure that it can continue to meet its statutory obligations. Although the changes proposed through the document are considered minor and are not considered to fundamentally affect the operation or intent of the Charter, it is necessary to understand that some of the proposed changes seek to reflect working practices which have been adopted in order to ensure the Council is achieving more efficient ways of working and operational cost savings.
I hope this all makes sense and look forward to hearing back from you. Do get in touch if you have any queries that I can assist you with.
Agenda Item 6.4
Agenda Item 7.1
Churchyard- Proposed Resolution to the Parish Council for its Future Management
The Parish Council has been notified by the Church that there are a very limited number of burial spaces remaining in the Village Churchyard. The Parish Council is aware that, once there are no more burial spaces, it has been the intention of the Church Council to seek a formal closure order and to ask the Parish Council to take over responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of the Churchyard.
The Parish Council has sought and received advice from both DALC and Mid Devon District Council on its obligations in this matter and has considered whether or not it wishes to take on responsibility for the Churchyard.
It is clear from this advice that, once a closure order is granted, the Parish Council shall take responsibility for the upkeep of the Churchyard unless it asks the District Council to do so in its place.
The Parish Council therefore resolves that:-
- The Churchyard should, if possible, be kept open for burials and cremations. The Parish Council believes this to be an important and integral part of the life of the Parish and also the mission of the Church.
- It does not wish to see the Churchyard closed nor does it wish to take on future responsibility for the management and maintenance of the Churchyard once it is closed.
- It is prepared to gift to the Church authorities the area of land adjacent to the Churchyard originally given to the Council in 2018 by John Quicke for “the use of the Parish”.
- This gift is offered on the understanding that the Churchyard is extended to include the gifted land and, thereby, will continue to be kept open for burials and cremations and, therefore, managed and maintained by the Church.
- The gift of the land is also contingent upon final agreement between the Church authorities and the Parish Council on the terms and conditions involved in the transfer of land ownership including responsibility for legal costs.
- On the basis of an in principle agreement between this Council and the Church Authorities, the Council will seek, and take into account, the views of John Quicke on the proposed transfer.
This proposed resolution has been circulated to the following ahead of this PC meeting
- Revd Tim Collins
- Sue Browne, Church Warden
- Church Secretary
- John Quicke
- Church Community Association
- Chair Chair Arboretum Management Committee
Agenda Item 7.2
Draft Delegated Spending limits
The Parish Council resolved on 7 March 2024 that up to £50.00 may be spent in the following circumstances:
Road Warden
The Road Warden Scheme Co-ordinator (Nick Gillon) when acting as part of the road warden scheme, may spend up to £50.00 (excl VAT) on materials and or equipment at any one time without prior authorisation from a full Parish Council meeting. However, the Road Warden Co-ordinator must inform the Councillor responsible for Travel and Road Safety (John Dean) prior to the purchase of material and or equipment, who must agree the purchase. Receipts must be passed to the Parish Clerk as soon as the purchase is made so that prompt reimbursement may be authorised at the next Parish Council meeting. Reimbursement will only be made following approval at a Parish Council meeting.
If materials and or equipment is required that is more than £50.00 the Councillor responsible for Travel and Road Safety must seek authorisation from the next Parish Council meeting prior to any purchase (agenda item required)
Parish Clerk and Councillors
The Parish Clerk and Councillors may spend up to £50.00 (excl VAT) on minor items without prior approval (eg minor repairs (Parish Clerk) or training (Councillors). Councillors should inform the Parish Clerk of any such expenditure as soon as possible and pass any receipts to the Parish Clerk prior to the next Parish Council meeting where reimbursement for expenditure will be authorised
In addition, to the above, the Parish Clerk retains the provisions stated in Financial Regulations, item 4.5.
Agenda Item 7.6