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Minutes Council AGM May 21 2024

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Stoodleigh Parish Council held in the Village Hall, 7.00pm on May 21st 2024, immediately followed by the Parish Council Meeting

(District Councillors were available from 6.30pm and 8 members of the public took opportunity for a private discussion)

Members present -:

Cllr S Davey  Cllr W Knowles Cllr J Mansfield  Cllr G Parkman  Cllr C Payne  Cllr J Widdowson  Cllr D Wotton

District Councillors C Adcock & R Gilmour

  1. Election of Chairman – Cllr Knowles was unanimously elected to continue for another year. Proposer Cllr Davey, seconded Cllr Wotton. Signature completed
  2. Election of Vice Chairman – Cllr Widdowson was unanimously elected, proposer Cllr Knowles, seconded Cllr Mansfield. Signature completed.
  3. Apologies – received from County Cllr R Chesterton

The Council were delighted to see Cllr Davey at the meeting. Her 6 months absence although entirely understandable since having a health issue discovered last January and promptly reported to the Council, was formally approved.  

  1. Declarations of Interest – none declared
  2. Retiring Chairman’s Report – Cllr Knowles gave his report for the last year.
  3. Allocation of Responsibilities

Planning – Cllr Payne agreed to continue although he expressed his frustration at MDDC planning officers not giving due recognition to local concerns

Personnel – the Chairman & Vice Chair will continue to take responsibility for this should any matters arise.

Finance – the 3 signatories will continue as before. Cllr Knowles, Cllr Widdowson and the Clerk.  Cllr Mansfield who is not a signatory will continue to regularly monitor expenditure against the budget.

  1. Areas for possible liaison for councillors

Website – Geraldine Talbot has kindly agreed to continue with the responsibility for updating information. Cllr Mansfield will willingly deal with publication of Parish Council minutes and agendas

Police – Cllr Widdowson

Playground – Cllr Widdowson

Highways – Cllr Knowles. He did however wish to express his extreme disappointment at recent events concerning parking adjacent to the Village Hall. He felt that the contractors had done an excellent job at repairing road surfaces in the vicinity, having to reschedule the operation several times. Parking their machines overnight in a car park adjacent on Village Hall property had apparently caused a significant incident where the said vehicles had been penned in and those responsible asked for initially £1000 for damages, later reduced to £300. He was disgusted that a car park that should be available for all is apparently off limits to the public.   Although the demand for financial recompense could class as extortion Cllr Davey felt that representatives for the other side should have the have opportunity to explain their reaction.

Footpaths – until Cllr Davey is back to full health Cllr Wotton agreed to take over this task

Noticeboard updates – Cllr Mansfield

Parish Hall representative – Cllr Parkman

Defibrillator, responsibility and the rota – this remains as Cllr Widdowson but in view of recent events which might require rapid action Cllr Mansfield agreed to deputise when appropriate

  1. Official documentation – members were reminded of the need to update their Register of Interests. Clerk to resend an email to encourage completion. The Financial Orders were adopted earlier in the year. Apparently, according to the Internal Auditor the Standing Orders still need review. This will be addressed.
  2. Finance – councillors were given a copy of the budget prepared in November showing the expenditure to date.