Annual Parish Meeting
Parish Meeting held in the Village Hall on Thursday 2nd March 2017
at 7.30pm.
1.
Attendance and Apologies
Present: Cllr. Whittaker, Cllr. Berry, Cllr. Matthews, Cllr.McHugh, Cllr. Shields and
Mrs J. Sardeson Parish Clerk.
Members of the Parish: 6
Apologies were accepted from: Cllr Pike and Mr Underhill.
The meeting was chaired by Cllr. A. Whittaker.
2.
Minutes of the Annual Parish meeting
Held on 24th March 2016 were passed and signed by the Chairman, Cllr. Whittaker as
a true record. It was proposed by Cllr. Matthews and 2nd by Cllr. Shields that the
minutes be accepted.
3.
Matters Arising from the Previous Meeting
None to note.
4.
Charity Accounts
Mr Richard Sardeson presented the Charity accounts. There were no questions. It
was proposed by Cllr. Berry and 2nd by Cllr. McHugh that the accounts be accepted.
The main items being as follows:-
Year Ended 31 December 2016
Church & Poor’s Estate
IncomeLittle Field / 200.00
Townland / 1,155.00
Charinco Interest / 99.36
COIF Interest / ___307.82
1,762.18
Expenses
Secretary expenses / ___20.00
1,742.18
Due to Churchwardens / 871.09
Due to Poor’s Estate / 871.09
Poors Estate
Balance b/f from 2015 / 736.13
Charinco Interest / 6.96
Barclay’s Interest / 0.32
Due to Poor’s Estate / 871.09
1,614.50
St. Thomas’ Day distribution to 32 beneficiaries / ___860.52
753.98
Church Wardens
Balance b/f from 2015 / 81.08
Due to Church Wardens / ___871.09
952.17
Paid to Church Wardens / 890.00
Balance to c/f / 62.17
Starsmore Fields
Income
Balance b/f from 2015 / 219.13
Rent October / __1,067.50
1,286.63
Expenses
Drainage rates / 17.54
Distributions
Yarwell Church / 350.00
Yarwell Playing Field / 350.00
Yarwell Village Hall / ___350.00
1067.54
______
Balance to c/f / 219.09
Mildmay Charities
Balance b/f from 2015 / 128.71
COIF Interest / 9.95
Charibond Interest / ___8.32
146.98
Simsey Island
Balance b/f from 2015 / 386.63
Fishing & Camping / 1,727.00
Sale of Grass / 40.00
Wayleave / ___21.70
2,175.33
Expenses
NFU Insurance / 334.52
Running Costs / 126.04
Distributions
Yarwell Church / 420.00
Yarwell Playing Field / 420.00
Yarwell Village Hall / ___420.00
1720.56
Balance to c/f / 454.77
Cllr. Berry thanked Mr Sardeson for collecting the fishing monies and for arranging for the accounts to be audited.
5.
Playing Field Grant Update
Cllr. Berry said that Cllr Matthews has been in contact with Andrew Budd from Grantscape and the forms had now been completed. Both sets of plans had now been received. Two quotations had been received and a steering group to be put together to discuss the plans further with the Playing Field Committee.
6.
Chairman’s Report
This past year has been a very trying year within the Council’s administration due to the new transparency rules and lot of hard work has gone into preparing the relevant paperwork which the Clerk has worked hard to initialize.
We also lost our Vice Chairman Cllr David Sidgwick who was extremely involved in Council affairs.
We also have the new development going ahead in Dovecote Close with the sale of the land currently being negotiated with the work starting within the next few months.
7.
Any other business
A Parishioner asked if the specifics of the S106 agreement had been finalised, the Clerk said that the S106 would not be drawn up until the land had been purchased but had been assured in writing that the letting of the properties would be offered to anyone with a local area connection first.
She then said that at the February Council meeting a number of people attended to object to the Councils decision to make the playing field a dog free zone and that one Parishioner suggested fundraising events to provide more bins, when they were asked why don’t they take it home with them, we were told that on a hot day they did not want to walk around with it, she said that she was amazed that people are not now responsible for themselves, she said that her children and grandchildren had spent many hours at the playing field and that if their nappies needed changing then she said they were put in a bag and taken home not put in a rubbish bin for others to deal with.
It was suggested that the play area be fenced in so that dog owners could let their dogs run free it was also suggested that the field was not cut, what would happen if someone wanted to form a cricket or football team or to play on the field.
She said she was horrified that dogs should be given priority over children, dog owners said that land should be provided for dogs to run on, will horse owners be the next to ask for land to exercise their horse on and I am sure that all the willing volunteers who worked hard to get a playing field would be horrified to think that dogs might now get priority over people. I do like dogs and was bought up with.
She had been in contact with David Crawley, in Waste Management at ENC and he said if the Parish Council wanted more bins they wouldn’t necessarily get them if ENC thought that there were enough already in place, putting in additional bins would not solve the problem, if you took a photo or a film of someone’s fouling that would be a good start in taking action against them. I hope that the Parish Council will consider some of these points.
It was asked if Council were going to co-opt a new Councillor and if so where was it going to be advertised, the Clerk said that it had been on the Council’s website, on the noticeboard and the Yarwell facebook page. It was also pointed out that it would be obvious to write to the Clerk and indeed there was a sign on the noticeboard stating all contact with the Council should be made through the Clerk and the details were on this and that the Clerk’s details are in the newsletter every month. Cllr Matthews said that it was also in the minutes of the last meeting which had also been on the website. It was decided that we would re-advertise and change the closing date to the end of March. The Clerk to contact the Electoral Services team to ask for clarification.
Cllr Berry thanked Mr Sardeson for emptying the bin, Cllr Matthews said that at the last meeting we would look into where we were going to re-site the litter bin, however, a Parishioner said that it had already been moved just a few feet along which isn’t enough, Council said that they had not asked anyone to move it.
A Parishioner said that she thought that dog bins should be provided, Yarwell was one of the few places where they were not provided. A Parishioner said that the regular litter bins can be used and there were already 4 in the village. People need to be motivated to just pick up to start with.
Mrs Eastwood asked if she could be given permission by the Council to use the playing field to put on a dog show in June, possibly to run on the same day as the re-opening of the playing field. She then gave a presentation on how the event would raise funds and the way forward to organise it. Council gave their permission for the top right hand part of the playing field to be used but no vehicles to be driven onto the playing field, unfortunately no parking facilities could be provided as allotment holders need access to their allotments, it was noted that it would have to be street parking only.
Cllr Matthews asked how much do dog bins cost, to which the response was around £140 each, the Clerk said that she believed it costs around £60 per year for them to be emptied but that would have to be confirmed with Waste Management. It was noted that if the bins were on the playing field Waste Management would not empty them, Mrs Eastwood said that there were a number of dog owners who were willing to empty them on a rota should they be sited on the playing field.
It was agreed that the purchasing of the bins was a good idea and Council looked forward to hearing more about it in the future as it would be a good community event.
Council gave their initial permission, however, the Clerk to contact the insurance company to see if the event would have to purchase a separate insurance policy, she would report back to Mrs Eastwood.
A Parishioner said that he had been informed that the Clerk is paid hourly and asked for clarification, the Clerk said that she is not paid hourly but her remuneration is fixed,
It was asked how long the Fotheringhay road was going to be closed for, the Clerk said approximately three months. Highways had looked into ways of securing it using a concrete bollard but felt that it would narrow the road too much.
The meeting closed at 8.20pm