Agenda for May 2020
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 remotely using Zoom on Thursday 7 May 2020 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 May 2020
Signed Jane Hole
Clerk to the Parish Council parishclerk@newtonstcyres-pc.gov.uk 01392 851148
Public Participation – please email jimenright@newtonstcyres-pc.gov.uk by 6pm on Thursday 7 May for details of how to join the zoom meeting
Formal Business
(Members of the public may not take part in the formal business of the Parish Council except under special circumstances)
01/05/20 Coronavirus
To resolve to adopt supplementary Standing Orders (as advised by DALC) to meet the statutory requirements for the holding of remote meetings. These last until 7 May 2021 or the repeal of legislation whichever is the earlier. (Supplementary orders shown below)
Public Participation (Standing Orders suspended)
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.
02/05/20 Apologies - To receive apologies
03/05/20 Declaration of Interest
3.1 Register of Interests. Councillors to update as required
3.2 Personal Interests. Councillors must declare any personal interest in items on the agenda and their nature.
3.3 Prejudicial Interests. Councillors must declare any prejudicial interest in items on the agenda and their nature and they must leave the meeting for that agenda item.
04/05/20 Minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 5 March 2020 (previously circulated)
To be agreed and signed as a true record
05/05/20 Mid Devon District Council
5.1 Planning Applications: None
5.2 Planning Decisions
20/00131/FULL and 20/00135/LBC - Erection two single storey extensions to rear and side following demolition of existing extensions; construction of swimming pool/pool house; refurbishment/extension of barn for use as agricultural store; erection of bat box and installation of ground mounted solar panels and ground source heat pump at Bakers Farm, Newton St Cyres, Exeter EX5 5BS – grant permission
20/00246/HOUSE - Erection of three-storey infill extension at 8 Newton House, Newton St Cyres – grant permission
20/00208/HOUSE - Erection of two-storey extension to form separate annexe at 3 New Estate, Newton St Cyres – grant permission
5.3 District Councillor, Cllr G Barnell, to report on MDDC business relevant to the Parish
06/05/20 Finance
6.1 Parish Council Receipts Current Account:
|
Item |
Payer |
Purpose |
Amount £ |
|---|---|---|---|
|
6.1.1 |
DCT |
CRG grant |
885.00 |
|
6.1.2 |
MDCC |
Precept (1st instalment) |
6,715.50 |
|
6.1.3 |
Various |
Allotment rent |
120.00 |
6.2 Parish Council Payment Current Account:
The following payments were agreed via email and paid in April:
|
Item |
Payee |
Purpose |
Amount £ |
|---|---|---|---|
|
6.2.1 |
Plunket |
Membership |
240.00 |
|
6.2.2 |
Ian Salter |
Bus shelter cleaning |
32.00 |
|
6.2.3 |
NSC Parish Hall |
Room hire |
26.00 |
|
6.2.4 |
DALC |
Attendance at Conference |
50.00 |
|
6.2.5 |
DALC |
Annual subscription |
208.09 |
|
6.2.6 |
V Safety |
Hi Viz jackets for CRG |
508.45 |
|
6.2.7 |
V Safety |
Hi Viz vests for litter pickers |
29.52 |
|
6.2.8 |
Simon Saunders |
Grass cutting |
160.00 |
|
6.2.9 |
J Hole |
Salary and expenses |
283.24 |
|
6.2.10 |
HMRC |
PAYE |
55.60 |
Payments to be made in May:
|
Item |
Payee |
Purpose |
Amount £ |
|---|---|---|---|
|
6.2.11 |
Information Commissioner |
Data Protection registration fee |
40.00 |
|
6.2.12 |
Parish Hall |
Grant £500.00 and wifi £200.00 |
700.00 |
|
6.2.13 |
Recreation Ground |
Grant £500.00 and rent £500.00 |
1,000.00 |
|
6.2.14 |
Boniface Trail |
Grant £500.00 |
500.00 |
|
6.2.15 |
FANS |
Grant £500.00 |
500.00 |
|
6.2.16 |
Reserve Account |
Car park resurfacing fund |
1,500.00 |
|
6.2.17 |
Simon Saunders |
Grass cutting parish/churchyard |
200.00 |
|
6.2.18 |
J Hole |
Salary and expenses |
273.90 |
|
6.2.19 |
HMRC |
PAYE |
56.80 |
6.3 To approve signatures for this month’s cheques
6.4 Balances (after above transactions):
6.4.1 Parish Council Current Account balance: £14,338.34
6.4.2 Footpath Account: £268.02
6.4.3 Car Park resurfacing fund balance: £6,012.18
6.5 Financial Statement and Budget Monitor (attached) and Receipts and Payments summary for year ending 31 March 2020 (attached)
6.6 Annual Return – to note internal audit has been completed satisfactorily
6.6.1 To approve Section 1 Annual Governance Statement 2019/20
6.6.2 Annual Return – to approve Section 2 Accounting Statements 2019/20
6.6.3 To sign Certificate of Exemption stating that during 2019/20 the higher of the authority’s income for the year or gross annual expenditure did not £25,000 and declaring PC exempt from a limited assurance review
Annual Return documents are available on the website https://www.middevonparish.co.uk/newtonstcyres/finance/
07/05/20 Matters raised by the Chair - None
08/05/20 Councillor’s Reports
8.1 Update on Coronavirus and NSC PC response
8.2 Areas of Responsibility reports
8.2.1 Update on allotment renewals – see below
8.2.2 Report from March surgery
09/05/20 Clerk’s Report
9.1 Update on accessibility changes to PC website
10/05/20 Parish Council
10.1 Update on progress with Community Shop
10.2 Update on progress with volunteer drain clearing/logging pot holes programme. To note 3 volunteers have completed DCC online safety training and are on the waiting list for Chapter 8 training. To agree in principle that once trained, NSC should join DCC Road Warden Scheme.
10.3 To consider if there should be an Annual Report this year? (Report from Parish Hall and Arboretum received)
11/05/20 Devon County Council
11.1 Outstanding Highways issues (see below)
11.2 New DCC issues
11.3 DCC Consultation on local bus services (see below)
11.4 To agree priority between pedestrian crossing in the centre of the village and installation of Average Speed Cameras (ASC). DCC have allocated £140k to pedestrian crossing over the next 2 years. There is currently no planned expenditure on ASC. Also pavement at Half Moon, which is part of S106 agreement with Hanlons (the start date for work is unknown)
11.5 County Councillor, Cllr M Squires, to report on DCC business relevant to the parish
12/05/20 Miscellaneous Correspondence
Thank you from Citizens Advice for grant
Parish Hall are keen to have cycle racks available and are taking this forward
The Local Government Boundary Commission Review has been paused
DCC Climate Emergency Newsletter
A list of any other correspondence will be available at the meeting
13/05/20 Minor Matters and Items for Future Agenda
Each Councillor is requested to use this opportunity 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.
14/05/20 Date of next meeting: Thursday 4 June 2020, Location to be confirmed 7.00pm.
End of Formal Business
Public Participation
Agenda item 01/05/20
REMOTE MEETINGS PROTOCOL AND PROCEDURES
AMENDMENTS TO STANDING ORDERS
The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 allow local councils to hold remote meetings. The regulations give automatic authority to hold remote meetings and amend standing orders as required.
These regulations remain in force until May 7th, 2021 or earlier if repealed, and require a number of temporary changes to Standing Orders.
General
This Protocol and Procedures should be read in conjunction with the Council’s standing orders.
The Regulations made under s78 of Coronavirus Act 2020 apply and where there is a conflict between these and any other adopted standing orders or legislation, these Remote Meetings Procedures take precedence in relation to any remote meeting.
1. Annual Meeting
The requirement to hold an Annual Meeting of the Council is to be disregarded and prior to May 7th, 2021 may only take place
- where called by the Chair or
- following a resolution calling for an annual meeting being passed at an ordinary or extra ordinary meeting of the Council.
2. Access to Information
- Where a document is required to be ‘open to inspection’ this shall include published on the website of the council.
- Where a document is required to be published and made available at the council’s offices, this shall include published on the website of the council.
- Where there is a requirement to publish information including public notices, agendas, minutes, background papers and written reports, this shall include published on the website of the council.
3. Remote Access to Meetings
The definition of meeting within the Council’s standing orders is amended so that
- where a meeting is accessible to the public through remote means, the meeting is open to the public whether or not members of the public are able to attend the meeting in person.
- ‘open to the public’ includes access to the meeting by remote means including video conferencing, live webcasting and interactive streaming
- ‘place’ includes where a meeting is held, or to be held in more than one place including electronic, digital or virtual locations such as internet locations, web addresses or conference call telephone numbers
- If the Council becomes aware that the its technology has failed, and the meeting is no longer accessible to the public, the meeting shall be adjourned.
- If public access cannot be restored within a reasonable period, the remaining business shall be deferred to a future meeting.
4. Councillors in Remote Attendance
A councillor in remote attendance is present and counted for the purposes of the quorum when they can:
- hear and where practicable see other members of the council
- hear and where practicable see members of the public wishing to participate during the public session of the meeting or as invited by the Chairman
- A councillor in remote attendance will be deemed to have left the meeting where, at any point in time during the meeting, any of the conditions for remote attendance at 4 a) are not met.
- Subject to 4 b) the Chairman may if appropriate
- adjourn the meeting to permit conditions for remote attendance to be re-established
- count the number of councillors in attendance for the purpose of the quorum
5. Remote attendance by members of the public
- A member of the public is in remote attendance when they can :
- hear and where practicable see and so be heard and where practicable seen by members of the council at the meeting
- hear and where practicable see and so be heard and where practicable seen by other members of the public attending the meeting including those wishing to speak during the public session or as invited by the Chairman
- A member of the public in remote attendance will be deemed to have left the meeting where, at any point in time during the meeting, any of the conditions for remote attendance at 5 a) are not met.
- Subject to 5 b) the Chairman may if appropriate
- adjourn the meeting to permit conditions for remote attendance to be re-established
- vary the order of the agenda or complete the remaining business of the meeting in the absence of the member of the public in remote attendance.
6. Remote Voting
Unless a recorded vote is demanded, the Chair will take the vote by :
- confirmation of the meeting that there is agreement or
- a roll call and the number of votes for or against the motion or amendment or abstaining will be recorded.
7. Code of Conduct – councillors excluded from the meeting
Where a councillor is required to leave the room as a requirement of the Council’s code of conduct, the means of remote attendance and access will be severed whilst any discussion or vote take place.
8. Exclusion of the press and public
Where the council has resolved to exclude the press and public from any part of the meeting, due to the confidentiality of the business to be discussed then :
- The means of remote attendance and access to the meeting by members of the press and public will be severed
- Each councillor present shall declare that there are no other persons present who are not entitled to be (hearing or seeing), and/or recording the meeting.
Agenda Item 5.5
Budget monitor accessibility version here
Agenda Item 8.2.1 Allotment Update
Number of allotment plots rented in 2020 = 17 at £20 per plot = £340.00
(waiting for bank statement to verify payments)
Rental income last year was £380.00
Agenda Item 10.1
Outstanding Highways issues
- Speed restrictions in Station Road – SCARF re test requested
- Request for a School sign in Station Road and possible zig-zag lines outside the school – declined - requested this is re-considered
- Uncollected road signs
- Request for a Road Safety audit on A377 in centre of village
- Footpath from Layby to bus stop in Half Moon – request to DCC to improve surface/land owner re hedge
- School Hill pavement – grass needs clearing
- Various Drains
Outstanding District Councillor Actions
Nil
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Agenda item 10.3
25 March 2020
Dear Clerk to the Council,
I hope this finds you well. I’m writing with two items.
First, the good news. The Government have made available new funding for local bus service support in 2020/2021 and each local authority is invited to apply for a pre-determined amount, to be spent on improving local bus services, which can include restoring services which have been recently lost.
Our application has to include a detailed outline of how we propose to spend the funds and over what timescale (this can be more than one year - the funding does not all have to be spent in 2020/2021). We are also asked to indicate what consultation we have undertaken, which is expected to include consultation of our Members of Parliament.
The deadline for submitting our application is 26th June, in preparation for which we are launching a public consultation now. The plan is to allow time for submission and consideration of responses, then the appropriate Cabinet approval prior to submission to Government. As well as this consultation, we will take into account previous consultation submissions as well as ongoing issues communicated to us.
The link to the consultation material and an explanation of our approach is here: https://www.traveldevon.info/bus/dft-bus-funding-consultation-20-21/
This funding is separate from the Rural Mobility Fund and Electric Town funds, which are subject to competitive bids from local authorities, with later application deadlines. It is also separate from the further £5 billion announcement, details of which we eagerly await.
We are very much aware that the implementation of these plans could be severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, but at the time of writing the Department for Transport have confirmed that the submission deadline still stands. We are therefore having to continue with the preparation process.
This brings me to the second item. As a result of the COVID-19 situation, our bus companies are facing a very difficult situation as passenger numbers fall drastically alongside staffing issues and loss of income.
In response, bus companies are planning to reduce their services, inevitably with less than the usual notice period. They are doing this in discussion with the County Council and we are supporting them in obtaining short-notice authorization from the Traffic Commissioner. Some community transport groups have closed down, others have altered their services and some have been able to offer other assistance to people in need such as delivering essential items.
At present the best advice for anyone having to undertake essential travel is to check with their local bus company or community transport group before travelling.
Kind regards,
John Richardson-Dawes,
Principal Transport Co-ordinating Officer,
Transport Co-ordination Service,
Devon County Council,
County Hall, Exeter, Devon, EX2 4QD.