Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council Held at 7:30Pm

Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held at 7:30pm

on 17th March 2014, in the Millennium Hall.

Present: Cllrs Andrews, Beattie, Bridgwood, Brylewski, Gulliver, Houghton, Robinson, Scott, Trevor, Welburn, County Councillor Fleetwood, Mrs M Vail (clerk), Mr MJ Tomlinson (RFO), and two members of the public.

A reminder was given that the meeting was being recorded.

One resident spoke in connection with the proposed playing field rent increases. Cllr Andrews strongly objected to comments made by the resident in connection with a newly installed bench behind the football goal. The resident was advised that the Leisure & Amenities committee would reply after they had considered matters further.

Meeting started at 7.39pm

2013/174 Apologies: Cllr Blackwell (childcare), Cllr Booth (meeting), Cllr Cutler (ill), Cllr Parrott (civic function). It was resolved to accept the apologies.

2013/175 Members’ declarations of interest, gifts and hospitality:

Cllr Gulliver (cricket club member), Cllr Scott (bowls club member), Cllrs Bridgwood, Robinson and Welburn (members of the Witham Valley Access Project).

2013/176 Chairman’s remarks:

The chair reported that she had been asked by the Community School to take part in some lessons on local government, and parish council issues, and that she had not yet committed to this.

2013/177 To receive the notes of the Council meeting held on 17th February, and agree for them to be signed as a true record:

It was resolved with one abstention to accept the notes which were then duly signed as a true record.

2013/178 To receive reports from outside bodies, including the Police, District and County Councillors (if any) and agree actions as required:

Cllr Welburn reported that WLDC were not increasing their precept for the next financial year. She further reported that herself and Cllr Parrott had an additional £1000 available to them in their Councillor Initiative Funds.

Cllr Fleetwood reported on the following matters:

o  that LCC opinion on when the outcome of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass Inquiry would be received varied from April to June 2014, and he noted that no additional comments had been sought or made from any department.

o  there was currently a public inquiry running into the East-West link through Lincoln, and he noted that the area between St Marys Street and Debenhams would become pedestrianized.

o  LCC had agreed a 0% increase on council tax but the final amount payable by residents would alter once the police and parish council increases had been received. Cllr Welburn confirmed that the police increase would be 1.96%.

o  he had visited the Reepham oil refinery site to check the facility and had found no apparent issues. He noted that the company had a community grant of £200,000 per annum to be allocated to neighbouring parishes but that this was not guaranteed to be spent locally. He confirmed that there were no applications or pre applications for fracking in the county.

o  the Bowser Estate was currently looking at planning applications, and that there would be some pre application enquiry meetings taking place in the near future.

The clerk gave the following police report:

o  Some youths had been reported as hanging around The Parade but moved on after an Officer spoke to them

o  A vehicle had been stopped and a resident had taken the keys from the driver as he appeared to be very drunk. The driver had been arrested and found to be unfit to drive.

o  Youths were reported hanging around garages on St. Matthews Close: this had been passed onto NPT to keep a closer eye on.

It was then noted that the uninsured car that had been parked on the High Street had been dealt with by the police and was now on the resident’s drive, and further noted that the police had logged an incident of a man exercising his dog off a lead at St Paul’s Play Area but that this hadn’t appeared on the report read out from the clerk. The clerk was asked to write to the police to ask why it wasn’t mentioned. Action: clerk

2013/179 To receive the schedule of receipts and payments since the last meeting

The RFO noted a receipt of £118.50 from Croft Carpets which had been made in error. The money would remain in the account until it was reclaimed. It was resolved to accept the receipts and payments.

2013/180 To receive reports and recommendations (if any) concerning the business of the Council and its Committees, Sub-committees etc:

a)  Finance & General Purposes:

i.  To note response (if any) from WLDC regarding precept request

No response had been received. Cllr Welburn reported on a conversation she had had with WLDC in which they had said that they would not comment on the precept amount as all they could do was write to the council to express their displeasure, and that the precept would be received when it was asked for. They had also said that they weren’t sure if the RFO felt there was an anomaly within the tax and, if there was, it was down to the change of circumstance in the tax support system. The RFO explained that WLDC awarded £100 to each parish over the asked for precept as a tax grant.

ii.  To receive the bank reconciliation:

It was noted that the reconciliation covered the period up to 28th Feb 2014. It was resolved to receive the reconciliation.

iii.  To receive budget figures to date:

The RFO noted that the Council had seen the budget figures in October 2013 when the budget had been fixed, and all he had done since then was to update the figures to take into account spending since then. It was noted that £4000 less would be taken out of balances than had been expected, with £2000 less being spent on general expenditure and £2000 less on projects. It was noted that these underspends came from lower than planned for spending on the Neighbourhood Plan, youth, and Village Improvement Committee projects. It was noted that the Finance Committee was recommending that committees start work on project planning between April and September so that accurate figures could be presented to the Finance Committee for consideration at its October meeting to aid future budget planning.

iv.  To receive the notes, for information only, of the meeting held on 3rd March 2014 and approve the following recommendations from that meeting:

a)  To approve an increase in burial fees from 1st April 2014

The clerk reported that the burial ground fees had last been updated with effect from 1st January 2012 and that she understood it to be the case that all fees which had until that point been charged as separate items, which included a burial administration fee that had been received by a previous clerk, had been rolled into the one fee. Cllr Beattie stated that the burial administration fee had disappeared as a separate fee after the previous clerk in question had left the Council. He stated that this previous clerk ‘was putting it in her back pocket.’ When Members objected to this statement he said ‘This was true.’ Cllr Robinson confirmed that it had been the custom for the previous clerk in question to receive this fee and that this clerk had been doing nothing underhand at all in accepting this fee. Cllr Andrews stated that as far as he was aware that this practice had always been the case. When asked to retract his statement Cllr Beattie refused, stating that he had no problems with his remarks being put in the minutes. Cllr Trevor then asked that Cllr Beattie’s remarks be quoted verbatim in the minutes.

It was then reported that the Finance and General Purpose Committee had considered a recent 5% rise by Nettleham Parish Council of its burial ground fees, and that they had agreed to recommend a similar rise for Cherry Willingham. It was noted that the fees would still be very cheap in comparison to other local parishes. Cllr Beattie stated that he couldn’t see why the fees needed to be increased. Cllr Bridgwood queried the budget figures and the RFO confirmed that monies received from burial fees were ringfenced towards the future purchase costs of a new burial ground.

A further recommendation was to alter the age that no fees be payable for children from age 16 to age 18.

It was resolved to accept the revised burial ground fees, with one against (See Annex A attached).

It was resolved that no fees be payable up to the age of 18 for those resident in the village at the time of their death, with one against and one abstention.

It was resolved that half the single plot fee (ie £115 burial plot and £84 cremation plot) be payable for those up to the age of 18 not resident in the village at the time of their death.

b)  To approve an increase in hire fees for the Millennium Hall:

Cllr Beattie stated that he felt there should be no charges as he felt it was illegal given there was no emergency exit from the Hall Cllr Welburn confirmed that Community Lincs had risk assessed the building and its fitness for purpose and had approved it for use. After noting that the hire charges for the church and village halls were more expensive, it was resolved to accept a new hire fee of £5.50 per hour all year round.

c)  To approve an increase in playing field users rents:

It was noted that the recommended new charges were £200 per playing field user per annum. Cllr Bridgwood, as Chair of the Leisure & Amenities Committee, explained the rationale behind the recommended increase of £45.00. Members then discussed the matter, with comments made both in support and against the proposed increase. During the discussion, Cllr Andrews referred to his earlier objection to comments made by the resident about the bench behind the goal mouth, and a point of order was made to advise a councillor not to discuss the matter directly with the resident within the meeting. Cllr Andrews noted that the cricket and football clubs paid a scheduled users fee, not an annual rent, and that this came with certain responsibilities, and that the bowls club paid an annual rental as they undertook their own maintenance work. It was noted that an e-mail existed containing relevant information and that it would be very useful if Cllr Andrews could check the information contained therein.

The clerk then read letters from the Bowls Club and Sports Association, both of which opposed the recommended increase. It was noted that no feedback had been received from the cricket club. It was resolved, with two against and 1 abstention, that investigations be undertaken into previous rents, and that a joint meeting between the playing field users and the playing field committee be held after the associations had had time to discuss the matter. Cllr Trevor asked why some L&A members were voting against this proposal when they had voted for it in the Committee meeting and Cllr Andrews explained that possible new information had come to light in this meeting that might change matters.

d)  To approve two grant applications, with the required monies being taken from the current financial year’s ‘balance’

It was resolved to approve a grant application from Reepham Rascals for £87.58. It was resolved with 3 abstentions to approve a grant application for £50 from the Witham Valley Access Project, and for the required monies to come from current ‘balances’.

b)  Planning matters:

i.  To receive a report on recent planning applications, approvals and refusals

Applications:

130861 Amended application to remove garage block from application: Objection: previous comments still apply. Action: clerk

131062 and 131067: Co op new shop front and new fascia sign: No objections.

ii.  To approve the actions of the Planning Committee:

It was resolved to approve the actions of the Planning Committee.

iii.  To receive a report on progress made regarding Neighbourhood Plan, and agree any other actions accordingly

The clerk reported that there was a need for the Steering Group meetings to recommence in order to review progress to date and to update timelines. The first meeting was planned for the next fortnight.

iv.  To consider any matters relating to the Estate of the late Roy Bowser

Cllr Welburn reported that a favourable response had been received from the Bowser Estate in relation to an initial letter from the Village Improvement Committee (VIC) for a meeting. It was noted that Cllr Booth and the Estate were liaising over Neighbourhood Planning related matters, but that a separate meeting was required with the Estate as the VIC had interests in village issues which were separate to those of the Neighbourhood Plan. It was resolved that a further letter be written to the Estate to request a meeting. Action: clerk

v.  To note response from LCC to Stage 2 letter of complaint from the parish council in respect of the bypass plans and procedure followed by LCC and agree any actions accordingly

The clerk reported that she had received two interim letters from LCC acknowledging the parish council’s request to escalate the complaint to Stage 2 and that a response would be made to parish council within 20 working days following further investigation by LCC.

c)  Employment Committee:

i.  To approve a sanction that the clerk continues to be paid an additional 4 hours per week for a further six months from Jan to June 2014.

It was noted that the Employment Committee had already approved these additional hours and that the clerk was already working the hours. The clerk confirmed that she was contracted for 20 hours a week, and approved to work an additional 4 hours a week, and that she worked the bulk of her hours in the Millennium Hall. Cllr Robinson confirmed that it had previously been agreed that the clerk could also work flexibly. It was resolved, with one abstention, to approve this sanction.