Parish Council Minutes: February 2024
DRAFT MINUTES
These minutes will be agreed at the Parish Council meeting on March 11th 2024 and might be subject to slight amendment.
The minutes of a meeting of Oakford Parish Council held in the Committee Room at Oakford Village Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 12th February 2024
Present:
Cllr’s G Baylis (Chair), J Cridland, F Cross, L Gould, J Mayer and J Levick.
In attendance:
County Cllr R Chesterton, District Cllr R Gilmour and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.
151/02/24. To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies were accepted from Cllr P Potter. Apologies were received from District Cllr C Adcock.
152/02/24. Declarations of Interest.
None.
153/02/23. Public Forum.
No members of the public present.
154/02/24. To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 8th January 2024 as an accurate record of the meeting.
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record and they were duly signed.
155/02/24. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
No matters arising.
156/02/24. Update from the Community Group looking at the feasibility of bidding for the Red Lion Hotel. A brief update from Cllr Levick.
Cllr Levick reported on the discussions at the 2 meetings that have been held by the Working Party. A third meeting will be held to decide on the next steps.
157/02/24. Update on new nomination of The Red Lion Inn as an Asset of Community Value for a further 5 year period. A brief update from Cllr Baylis.
Cllr Baylis reported that he had contacted MDDC to find out the meaning of non-ancillary. The response was not clear but examples have now been provided. This information has been passed on to the working party. The owner of the Red Lion Hotel put in an objection to the Parish Council’s nomination of it as an ACV. It is not known what the objection was as MDDC do not have to provide that information. This could be because it is commercially sensitive.
158/02/24. Planning
a) To comment on any planning applications received before the meeting.
No applications received when the agenda was published. No applications received.
b) Update on information requested for 23/00864/Full Change of use and conversion of building to holiday let.Land and Buildings at NGR 290678 121480 (The Coach House), Oakford.
The Planning Officer has now received the Business The document is commercially sensitive for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and it will not be published or made available to the general public. However, it will be formally consulted with the Council’s Economic Development Officer for consideration. The applicant is now proposing to install a new sewage treatment plant instead of connecting to existing septic tank. Further details of the foul drainage arrangements will be secured by a pre-commencement condition should the application be approved and consulted with the Public Health. A pre-commencement condition would also be imposed to secure details of surface water management. There is nothing substantive from this for the Parish Council to consider. Cllr Gilmour will email the Planning Officer regarding possible planning conditions. It was delegated to the Chair and the Clerk to comment on the Parish Council’s behalf if a comment must be submitted before the next meeting.
Action: Cllr Gilmour to email the Planning Officer regarding possible planning conditions. The Chair and Clerk to put together a comment if one has to be submitted before the next meeting.
c) To note any planning decisions made by MDDC.
23/00708/Full Erection of extension to tractor/garage shed. Location: Land at NGR 285946 124134 (Four Seasons Bungalow) Oakford. Decision: conditional approval granted.
23/01791/Full Erection of roof to provide covered yard. Location: Land and Buildings at NGR 289768 123288 (East Tapps Bungalow), Oakford. Decision: conditional approval granted.
23/01867/Full Installation of biomass boiler and flue. Location: Agricultural Storage Building at NGR 286686 120526 Bickham Park Farm, Bickham Lane, Rackenford. Decision: conditional approval granted.
d) Update on alleged planning breaches.
Cllr Gilmour has not heard anything about Spurway Barton. The MDDC Scrutiny Committee has agreed that planning enforcement isn’t good enough. A new Enforcement Officer has been employed and MDDC will also be employing a Senior Enforcement Officer. The previous Enforcement Officer went off sick before he left MDDC and there was no handover. The Enforcement Officers will have other priorities that they will have to deal with before the woodland.
e) Any other planning matters.
No other planning matters.
159/02/24. Highways:
a) Any matters to note or report.
Aldridge Mill Hill is due to be resurfaced and a temporary road closure notice has been issued for March 25th to 27th.
b) Update on flooding issues/blocked drains.
Cllr Baylis reported that he had noticed a works unit out looking at drains. There has been a partial repair at the top of Crosspark Hill on the highway between the farm and Fordmoor Cross. There has been no improvement to the flooding. Councillors were urged to keep reporting flooding.
160/02/24. Reports:
a) County Cllr Report.
A written report from Cllr Chesterton was received by email shortly before the meeting and was circulated during the meeting. At the Scrutiny Committee he made sure money wasn’t taken from the drainage budget. DCC has received an extra £6.663 million for highway maintenance this financial year. The Highways teams have been able to do more pothole repairs as they haven’t had to spend so much time gritting the roads this winter. There were no questions.
b) District Cllr Report.
The District Councillor Report was circulated by email earlier in the month. Cllr Baylis brought Cllr Gilmour up to date on SWW’s plans for the sewage treatment plant. Cllr Gilmour asked for the contact details for the SWW Area Manager and Cllr Baylis will supply them. An officer from Lewes County Council is coming to speak to the Scrutiny Committee about the way they deal with sewage plans in planning applications. She would like representatives from SWW and the Environment Agency to attend the meeting. There were no questions.
161/02/24. Update on SWW work to the sewerage treatment works.
There is no news on the works that SWW are planning. The damage to the verge has still not been repaired. If the damage is not repaired in the next month Cllr Baylis will nudge his
contact.
Cllr Gilmour and Cllr Chesterton left the meeting.
162/01/24. Community Area:
a) Any points to note from inspections of community area.
Cllr Levick passed to the Clerk his reports and photos for inspections carried out since the last meeting. He reported that it was very slippery inside the gate. Cllr Levick will order a warning sign and put it in place.
Action: Cllr Levick to obtain a warning sign and erect it.
b) Update on receipt of quotes for the grass cutting for 2024.
Cllr Levick reported that over the last 3 weeks he had met 5 contractors who were interested in providing a quote for the grass cutting and had shown them what was involved. Quotes have been received and these will be considered at the next meeting. The closing date for quotes is 29th February.
c) Update on plans for a working party and other works.
Deferred to the next meeting.
d) Update on replacement of gate at the top of the play area.
The gate is still to be replaced. Cllr Stevens will do this when ground conditions improve and he is not so busy.
e) Any matters to note.
Cllr Stevens was thanked for putting up the Christmas lights in the village.
The Community Newsletter will be an item for the next meeting.
Action: the Clerk to add producing a Community Newsletter to the agenda for the next meeting.
163/02/24. Finance
a) To approve any invoices or expense claims presented for payment.
It was resolved to make the following payment: Mrs J Larcombe - £150.45 Clerk’s salary for January (Payment ref: 2324/27).
An internal transfer will be made from the Instant Access account to the Current account to return the balance to £500.00.
b) To note any receipts since the last meeting and the bank balances.
There have been no receipts since the last meeting. The Current Account balance is £500.00. The Instant Access Account balance is £11394.83.
c) Bank reconciliation 31.12.23 and 31.01.24.
The bank reconciliations were checked and signed by Cllr Levick.
d) To amend the Financial Regulations and Standing Orders following changes to the Procurement Regulations.
Following changes to the values in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”) the Clerk recommended amendments to the Financial Regulations and Standing Orders.It was agreed that paragraph 11.1 b) and f) of the Financial Regulations are changed to:
11.1 b) Where the council intends to procure or award a public supply contract, public service contract or public works contract as defined by The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”) which is valued at £30,000 or more, the council shall comply with the relevant requirements of the Regulations.
11.1 f) If less than three tenders are received for contracts above £30,000 or if all the tenders are identical the council may make such arrangements as it thinks fit for procuring the goods or materials or executing the works.
and Standing Orders 18 a) v, 18 c) and 18 f) are changed to:
18 a) v Whether contracts with an estimated value below £30,000 due to special circumstances are exempt from a tendering process or procurement exercise.
18 c) A public contract regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 with an estimated value in excess of £30,000 but less than the relevant thresholds in standing order 18(f) is subject to Regulations 109-114 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which include a requirement on the Council to advertise the contract opportunity on the Contracts Finder website regardless of what other means it uses to advertise the opportunity unless it proposes to use an existing list of approved suppliers (framework agreement).
18 f) A public contract regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 with an estimated value in excess of £213,477 for a public service or supply contract or in excess of £5,336,967 for a public works contract (or other thresholds determined by the European Commission every two years and published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)) shall comply with the relevant procurement procedures and other requirements in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which include advertising the contract opportunity on the
Contracts Finder website and in OJEU.
e) Annual Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Controls and Internal Audit.
The report from the Clerk was approved and signed by the Chair.
f) Appointment of Internal Auditor.
It was agreed to appoint Karen Ward.
164/02/24. Review of the Annual Business Risk Assessment.
All references to Covid have been removed. The 2024 version of the Annual Business Risk Assessment was approved.
165/02/24. MDDC Town and Parish Charter Review.
The Charter between MDDC and Town and Parish Council has been reviewed and has been circulated to Town and Parish Councils for their comments. Councils are asked to respond by 15th May 2024. This will be discussed at the State of the District Debate on 20th March and will be an item for the April Parish Council meeting.
Action: The Clerk to add MDDC Town and Parish Charter Review to the April agenda.
166/02/24. Correspondence:
The following correspondence was noted.
DALC Newsletters
MDDC – State of the District Debate on March 20th. The Clerk will find out how
many places the Parish Council can have.
Action: the Clerk to find out how many people from the Parish Council can attend.
MDDC press releases
167/02/24. To confirm the date of the next meeting.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 11th March 2024.
The meeting closed at 8.50pm.