Copy Number 805

Lessingham and Hempstead with Eccles Parish Council

Minutes of the Parish Council meeting

held on the 10th October 2017at 7.30pm in Lessingham Village Hall

Present:Cllr White

Cllr Poll

Cllr Henderson

Cllr Thompson

Cllr Walker

Lynn Crawshaw – Parish Clerk

  1. Apologies and approval of absence

Apologies for absence for Cllr Hanczarykwere received and approved.

Cllr Price (NCC, NNDC) apologies for absence.

  1. Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of interest.

  1. Approval of the minutes from the last meeting

Amendment to Minutes dated 12th September 2017 – Item 4 Matters Arising should refer to two notice boards.

The minutes were approved as a true record. Proposed by Cllr Henderson seconded by Cllr Poll.

  1. Matters Arising

Discussion about the placing of a defibrillator in Lessingham. There are currently two separate parties looking into the possibility of purchasing and placing the defibrillator. The two areas being considered for placing the defib is at the Chapel, the other is at the school. The Clerk will make enquiries as to whether East of England Co-Operative are still providing free defibrillators to village communities. Cllr Henderson will forward the email address of Ross Peedle so that the Clerk can pass on any information.

Action: Cllr Henderson to furnish the clerk with Ross Peedle’s email address.

The Clerk to investigate defibrillators with East of England Co-Op and email Ross Peedle.

Cllr Henderson to make enquiries as to whether the Parish Newsletter are looking for a donation from the Parish Council.

Action: Cllr Henderson to speak to the newsletter Editor.

  1. Progress and information reports

Clerk’s Report: Nothing to report outside the matters arising.

No reports available from NNDC or NCC

  1. Public Participation session (15mins)

There was one member of the public attending. The parishioner was interested in volunteering to produce two new notice boards for the Parish Council. Please see item 8.

  1. Planning

There are no planning matters.

  1. Parish Notice Boards

The Parish Clerk notified the Council that Mr Colin Deacon hasvolunteered to work with the Parish Council to either purchase or produce the new Parish Notice Boards. Mr Deacon has looked at some options for the Parish Council and brought with him somecost-effective options. The board in Lessingham village centre will need to fit the current position so may involve the purchase of new posts to fit it to. There are so many options available to the Parish Council it was agreed that the Clerk and Mr Deacon would liaise over the next month to come up with the most viable options to present them at the next Parish Council meeting for consideration.

Action: The Clerk to liaise with Mr Deacon about the new Parish Notice boards.

  1. Matters raised by Cllr Hanczaryk in September for discussion

As Cllr Hanczaryk is not available this item to be postponed.

  1. Correspondence for information/discussion

The Highway Ranger has contacted the Clerk about the issues the Parish Council raised with her. She has been out and inspected the problems reported. She has been unable to locate two of the sites and asked for clarification as to the exact location. In order to assist the Parish Council in reporting matters relating to the state of the roads it was proposed by Cllr Walker that the Clerk download a google map of the parish Boundary so that we can give the exact location details when reporting issues.

Action : The clerk to provide a Google map of the Parish boundary.

CPRE - Campaign Alliance meeting. The Clerk to notify the association that Cllr Walker will be attending.

Temporary Road Closures – The Parish Council have been notified of temporary road closures by Highways. The Clerk will post the notices on the website.

Helicopter Noise – The Parish Council have been contacted by the Parish Clerk of Dilham Parish Council to ask if residents of the Parish are disturbed by helicopter noise. Parish Councillors have asked the Clerk to respond to say that there is no noise in this area.

  1. Finance:

The following payments were authorised:

Clerks salary for October - £1OO

HMRC PAYE tax for October- £20

Proposal to pay the above cheques made by Cllr Walkerseconded by Cllr Henderson

Precept – Councillors discussed next year’s precept and the following was agreed:-

  • The Clerk was asked to contact the village hall about their application for a donation.
  • It was agreed that a donation for grass cutting was no longer required.
  • It was agreed to put aside £1,000 for the replacement of the village notice boards.
  • It was agreed that the clerk should receive a 2.5% pay rise in the next financial year in line with inflation.
  • It was agreed that the Transparency funding should be identified separately in the accounts when the accounts are submitted for audit.
  • It was agreed that the precept for 2018/19 should remain at £3,500

The above agreements were proposed by Cllr Walker and seconded by Cllr Poll

Action: The Clerk to contact the Village Hall regarding the donation for next year.

  1. AOB

It was agreed that any donation requests should be added to next months agenda for discussion.

Cllr Walker proposed that the Parish Council create a policy or agreement that all parish Councillors sign to say that before the Parish Council ask for an enforcement officer to attend any local parish issue, the parish Council write to the parishioner involvedinviting them to attend a meeting to give their point of view. This policy would not include planning matters. This proposal was seconded by Cllr Reynolds. The clerk will create the policy for Councillors to sign.

Action: Clerk to create a draft policy for Councillors to consider.

Cllr Walker apologised for not being at the next meeting. The clerk will email any donation requests to be discussed next month to Cllr Walker for his approval.

Action: Clerk to email Cllr Walker with donation requests for approval.

The meeting closed at 8.40pm