MINUTES of the BILLINGHAY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD on MONDAY 2 August 2010 at 7
MINUTES OF THE BILLINGHAY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 7 February 2011 AT 7.00PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL
Those Present: Councillors: Dickinson, Davies, Wood, Richards, Miller, Liles, Forman and Harper with Cllr Wilson in the Chair
Parish Clerk: Carol Willingham
District Councillor Powell
County Councillor Pat Bradwell
Minutes Clerk: Lou Hird
Sleaford Standard Reporter
1. Apologies for absence Cllr Minton (away).
2. Public Discussion No members of the public present
3. Declaration of Interest in items on the Agenda
Cllr Wood - Allotments (Personal)
4. Acceptance of the minutes
The minutes of the meeting 10th January were accepted – proposed by Cllr Liles seconded by Cllr Richards & carried unanimously as a true record.
5. Matters arising from the minutes
Cllr Liles asked about provision for training Councillors on the NKDC Computer Planning System. The Clerk advised that this could be arranged. Maximum numbers would be four at a time. She needs to be advised of suitable dates to arrange but Cllrs Wilson, Miller, Minton & Liles had indicated that they would like to be included in the training.
6. Planning Matters
- Applications:
10/1529/HOUS Attached double garage 10 Victoria Street
This was discussed and Councillors advised that they needed to look at the development site before agreeing comments. Interested Councillors were to view the next day and advise the Clerk of any comments they wished to put forward. Cllr Forman asked that a comment be included that we were not happy with timber clad buildings in a Conservation area.
11/0057/FUL Fire Station – solar heating installation
Councillors had no comments to make
- Approvals/Refusals
10/1455/RESM 9 dwellings off Mill Lane Application approved
80a High StreetClerk reported that this had been approved although the Planning system had not been updated
7. Church Wall Update
Cllr Forman said there was nothing to report
8. Allotment Business
Cllr Wood asked about the dyke clearance on the allotments and advised that only one was the responsibility of the Parish Council. Cllr Miller agreed to get the exact measurement of the relevant dyke and pass this to the Clerk to obtain three quotes for the work.
9. Burial Ground Business
Cllr Wood reported that a number of graves need making up due to settlement since infill. He estimated that 5 tons of topsoil would be required. He agreed to approach two local farmers to see if they could supply this.
Cllr Wood reported that some headstones had fallen over or were about to do so. He and the Office Assistant will compile a list of these so that people responsible for their upkeep can be contacted.
Cllr Wilson felt that although the Ashes Areas were neat and tidy, they could be improved considerably by the addition of some plants/shrubs as a backdrop.
Cllr Wood advised that the mower needed servicing and he was organising this.
Cllr Harper asked if he could have a key for the cemetery shed so that he could store grave digging equipment therein. It was agreed that a copy could be obtained. He also reported that he had not yet cut down the tree to the left of the cemetery gates.
10. Highways matters
Cllr Wood commented that on the recently produced list of works published by Highways, there was no mention of Digby Fen Road and he had contacted them regarding this as Rowan Smith had indicated that the work was to be done soon.
Cllr Richards had received a complaint about a large hole in the High Street outside “Hair by Robert” and this needed early attention. Clerk was asked to report this to Highways.
11. Police Matters
Cllr Wilson reported that she had spoken to PC Daniels at the Police Panel Meeting regarding the money promised to the parish for the youth of the village. He said it had already been passed on. The Clerk was asked to check that this was the case.
Cllr Liles reported a long discussion at the Cluster Meeting regarding the SID and the extraction of data. Data extraction is an ongoing issue with training being arranged. Other Cluster groups had reported that their SID was not working efficiently but was still being used because it was recognised as having value as a deterrent.
12. Correspondence
The Clerk reported a Temporary Road Closure – Williamsons Drove
A letter had been received from Eon re replacement of overhead electricity lines and need for replacement street lighting columns. Councillors felt that this was a matter for NKDC and the Clerk was asked to communicate with them.
First Contact Workshop – Clerk gave details
Community Links – Play Facility Advisory Service Affiliation Scheme – details given
A letter had been received from Eon advising that a 5% discount was available if you “pay as you go” but a special payment method was required. The Clerk was asked to investigate further.
A letter had been received from the Bowls Club thanking the Council for the recent grant which had been used to buy sleepers for the edge of the green.
A letter had been received from Michelle Carrington (NKDC) acknowledging receipt of our preferred option of those put forward for future LAP funding. A decision will be made on the 24th February and she will advise us after that.
13. Reports from Councillors for the Clerk’s attention
Cllr Forman reported that he had been approached by a resident of Fen Road asking why no mention was made of that area when the “flash floods” occurred. He felt that action by Highways to remove a “hump” in the road had made his residence more susceptible as this used to prevent water spreading on to his property. Cllr Wilson agreed to look further into this matter.
Cllr Liles reported that the money from the devolved fund (Cluster Group) remaining of £160 had been given to the Skirth Regeneration Society.
Cllr Wilson reported that NKDC will no longer insure and maintain the SID and had suggested that each member of the Cluster Group pay a proportion (ex Timberland who do not use it).
Cllr Wilson advised that she had been approached by NKDC (Sharon Bark & Luisa McIntosh) as they had a chance to apply for a £20,000 grant. This would be used to promote a local scheme in the Council area. Several Council representatives had attended a meeting regarding the matter as NKDC felt that the Billinghay Skirth Regeneration Scheme was an ideal scheme to put forward for the grant. They were given full details of the project and seemed very impressed with the work already being done. They agreed that they would apply for the grant but explained that the money would go to NKDC to help promote the scheme and not directly to the Society. Mention was made that the Parish Plan was helpful in the discussions.
Cllr Wilson praised the work already done by the Society and said that this had impressed the NKDC representatives.
14. Finance
a. Cheques for payment 7 Feb 2011
Mrs C WillinghamClerks Salary£1097.75
Mr M HirdOffice Assistant£ 134.44
Mrs P GilbertWages£ 143.12
Billinghay Bowls ClubGrant£ 200.00
HM Revenue & CustomsIncome Tax & NI£ 418.10
S J Harper ServicesGravedigging£ 150.00
Came & CoInsurance£ 387.98
Anglian WaterAccount£ 93.14
LALCCarol - Training£ 134.50
GE CapitalPhotocopier£ 62.28
BT (Direct Debit)Account£ 64.06 (info only)
b. Acceptance of Accounts to 31 Dec 2010
It was proposed by Cllr Forman, seconded by Cllr Richards and carried unanimously that the accounts to the quarter ending 3st December 2010 be accepted.
c. Agree payment for work in cemetery £200
This is for work in progress not requiring tender as under £200 but still needing approval. The Clerk was awaiting an invoice but it was proposed Cllr Richards, seconded by Cllr Wood and carried unanimously that the work be done and paid for.
d. Cemetery Entrance
Whilst the proposed plans had been approved by the Parish Council, Cllr Forman advised that an application would need to be made to NKDC Planning to approve the work. He explained that although we had a donor for the cost of the actual work, the parish Council would have to bear the cost of the application but explained that Parish Councils get 50% off the normal fee. It was proposed by Cllr Davies, seconded by Cllr Dickinson and carried unanimously that the Application be submitted. It was pointed out that the Parish Council would need special dispensation to discuss the application after this is made. The Clerk was asked to arrange this.
15. NKDC Budget Implications for the Parish
Because of the urgency of a required response the Clerk had circulated to Councillors details of the options put forward by District for future funding of LAPs. A special meeting had been called to discuss these as a response was required before the next official Council meeting. Three Councillors had attended the meeting and two others had put forward their opinion by email. It had been decided that Option 2 was the best for Billinghay and this had been given to NKDC as our “preferred” option. The Clerk reported that other LAPs had chosen this option also and the decision for future funding would be made on the 24th February.
This option would still mean that the Parish Council would need to find £2690 extra in next year’s budget.
Cllr Liles mentioned that we had agreed to leave the precept unaltered before we knew of the extra we now need to find. It had been clearly stressed previously that an increase in precept was not expected as the Council Tax was not being increased.
Cllr Wilson felt that any decision to change working hours etc. could not be made until the exact funding being offered was known. The Clerk was asked to include an item on next month’s agenda.
The Clerk also expressed concern of the impact of the funding options upon possible pension contributions by NKDC – see item 17. She had queried this with NKDC but had not yet received a satisfactory response. Her initial thoughts were that the Parish Council are likely to have to meet the full cost of Employers contributions if the Scheme is adopted.
Cllr Forman also felt there were some aspects of the NKDC proposals that needed comment particularly the fact that Billinghay also provides a service for a lot of other sparsely populated and isolated parishes in the area.
The impact of the loss of the Travel concession work was mentioned as NKDC had made great play on this. The impact is not as substantial as they seem to indicate as the time taken processing the items was minimal in comparison with other work. It was suggested that the new procedures for National Bus Passes be prominently displayed in the Newsletter. LH to arrange.
16. Clerks Review
No literature regarding changes in rates and scales had been received although the Clerk did not think there would be any increase this year. The Clerk & Cllr Wilson will continue to investigate
17. LCC Pension Scheme
The Clerk advised that Mrs P Gilbert was not interested in joining the scheme. She herself would like to and was seeking an outcome or at least an agreement in principle. The crux of the matter seemed to be whether NKDC would make a contribution and the Clerk was asked to press them urgently for a response. Cllr Bradwell commented that if NKDC pay you a salary, you are an employee and entitled for them to pay a contribution. If, however, they only made a contribution to the Parish for work being done, then this consideration would not apply. The Clerk was asked to include the item on next month’s agenda.
18. Any Other Business
Staff Review was deferred
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