Neen Savage ParishCouncil
Draft Minutes
Reference Number: 304.
Minutes of Neen Savage Parish Council Meeting held on 25th October 2016 at Kinlet Parish Hall.
Council Members present: Cllr Julian Clelford, Cllr Jane Clelford, Cllr Martin Windridge.
Public present: 13
Officer present: Parish Clerk.
Proceedings commenced at 7.30pm.
304-1.To receive apologies from Members:
Apologies received from Cllr Sheryl Spragg due to family commitment.
IT WAS resolved:
To accept the apologies from Cllr Spragg.
304-2.To receive declarations of interest:
There were no declarations of interest from members present.
304-3.Public participation time:
Mrs Evans: No agenda on the notice board this time.
Cllr Julian Clelford responded: He had personally placed an agenda on the notice board, it must have been removed again.
Mrs Vanderhook: There is no item on the agenda for smart water.
Cllr Julian Clelford apologised for not including this item on the agenda, but said there may be some smart water kits left with Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council. The matter is to be placed on the next agenda for consideration.
Mrs DelMar: In relation to agenda item 6d, requested that a response sent by the Vital Link to Cllr Clelford’s letter dated 5th July 2016 is placed on the Council website.
Cllr Julian Clelford responded: Was the Parish Council”sletter placed in the Vital Link; Mr Vanderhook said and confirmed that it wasn’t.
Cllr Julian Clelford asserted that the Vital Link letter was not accurate.
Mr Vanderhook: Asked why was item 14 on the agenda necessary. Mr Vanderhook was stopped by the Chairman of the Council from making a statement and asked to present his question.
Cllr Shineton: Asked if the responses from Ms Turner, agenda item C letters,could be placed on the Councils website.
No further questions were received.
304-4.To confirmthat the minutes of the meeting held on 28th June 2016 are a true and accurate record of that meeting.
IT WAS resolved:
That the minutes are a true and accurate record of the meeting held on 28th June 2016.
304-5.To consider and approve cheque and payment for the following items:
a) Clerks pay for the months of, July, August, September, October 2016, £800 net.
b) HMRC payments for, April, May, June 2016 and July, August, September 2016, £300 total.
c) Mrs D.Malley internal Audit for 2015-16. £80.00 total.
d) Came and Company insurance premium for 2016-17 £299.02 total.
e) Clerk’s claim for additional work time incurred for ICO responses including expenses £240.
f) Kinlet village Hall hire for 28th June 2016, 16th August 2016 and 25th October 2016. £45 total.
IT WAS resolved:
That all of the above cheques and paymentsitems A to F were approved.
304-6. to approve the following letters in retrospect:
Cllr Jane Clelford read out a statement copy attached as appendix A with the minutes.
a) Responses to Mr Vanderhook dated 9th August, 30th August, 17th August 2016.
b) Responses to Mrs Ratcliff with reference to ICO FS50636586.
c) Responses to Ms Turner dated 22nd August and 28th September 2016, copied to RT Hon Greg Clark, Mr Wright, Mr Dunne, Mr Pate.
d) Complaint letter to Vital Link dated 5th July 2016.
e) Letter to Shropshire Council reference brown signs dated 9th September 2016 items 1-6 remain un-answered.
IT WAS resolved:
That all of the above letters were approved.
304-7. To consider a request from Mr DelMar regarding his request for a donation following his Audit work carried out for the Neen Savage Parish Council during the year 2012-13.
The clerk expressed concern that there was no evidence of an invoice or receipt or quotation for the requested payment / donation for periods 2011-12 or 2012-13 and questioned Mr DelMar”s independence in relation to carrying out Audit work for the Parish Council.
The Parish Council expressed concern that this had not been accounted for in this year’s finances. However, if Mr DelMar provides an invoice in accordance with proper accounting practices the Council will consider it.
IT WAS resolved:
That the Clerk should write to Mr DelMar asking for an invoice and a copy of his quotation for the requested payment / donation for the Audit period 2012-13.
304-8. To consider a request from Mrs Ratcliff on behalf of Neen Savage Parish Hall Management Committee for a donation towards its maintenance.
The Chairman made clear that Mrs Ratcliff has since emailed wishing to confirm that the request is on behalf of Neen Savage Parish Hall Management Committee.
IT WAS resolved:
That the Clerk is to write to the Parish Hall Management Committee asking the following questions and for evidence of any claims,how, where and when did the Parish Hall Committee or its representatives provide the Parish Hall tothe benefit of the Community of Neen Savage over the last twelve months. In particular,whether the Parish Hall Committee or its representative refused the use of the building or car park for events that would support or benefit its local inhabitants and local environment during this same period.Can the Parish Hall Management Committee provide a copy of its accounts?
304-9. To approve Mazar’s Audit for end of year accounts period 2015-16 and agree the recommendations.
IT WAS resolved:
To accept and approve Mazar”s Audit report and any recommendations.
304-10. To consider a response FW 161004/DT21 from Shropshire Council regarding a hay bail in the river Rea.
IT WAS resolved:
That the hay bail was removed from the river by someone unknown.
304-11. To agree and approve summary accounts for 2016-17, period April to September 2016.
IT WAS resolved.
To agree and approve the accounts for the period April to September 2016. Also to place the accounts summary on the website.
304-12. To agree a date when all invoices can be uploaded on Neen Savage Parish Council website.
IT WAS resolved:
To put invoices received on the Parish Council website by the end of November 2016.
304-13. To agree payment of the annual memorial wreaths and confirm whether the Council intends to donate a wreath to the church and other organisations in 2016. Cost awaited from the supplier.
IT WAS resolved:
That the Clerk writes to the parochial church and the Neen Savage Women’s Institute asking whether they want the wreaths as in previous years.
Mrs Evans confirmed that the WI wanted the wreath, but the WI wished to pay for its own wreath.
304-14. To consider sharing with Market Drayton Parish Council its vexation policy for the purposeof banning persistent and vexatious complaints received by the Parish Council.
IT WAS resolved:
That in view of the continuous entourage of complaints sadly from the same two parishioners, the Council makes contact with Market Drayton PC to share their vexation policy which is not yet available online.
That Cllr Windridge will edit the newspaper story about the policy for the purpose of placing it on the website.
304-15.To review and consider the hire contract for Neen Savage Parish Hall.
The Council felt that after reading the contract it was too onerous.
IT WAS resolved:
To write to the Parish Hall Committee and ask it to compromise on the complexity and onerous terms and conditions within its contract. In addition, that it provides copies of risk assessments for every item within the contract for which it expects the Parish Council to hold sole responsibility. The Parish Council felt it was unable to accept liability for terms and conditions currently expected of it by the Parish Hall Committee unless the PHC is prepared to accept full liability whilst the Parish Council is using the facility which would need to be formally agreed.
304-16. To consider the Parish Survey and matters raised at the last LJC meeting.
The main topic of May’s Local Joint Committee meeting was the Shropshire Councils Parish Survey initiative. Parish Councils were asked if they would be willing to pay more on its precept to fund local services like the library, public transport and the sports facilities, all currently threatened by funding cuts.A survey was issued by Shropshire Council despite no consultation over the content of the questions with Parish Councils, also considered by the Parish Council to be leading questions and the process unethical in its approach.
The Parish Council considered that the survey should have been distributed to all parishioners by Shropshire Council, however this did not happen and the overall results of the survey are considered to be a limited representation of public feeling. The results did identify that the majority of those electors of Neen Savage who responded to the survey were not in favour of increasing the precept or Council tax for this purpose.
The Parish Council argued that money has already been allocated for the provision of these services. To simply shift the burden of a Council tax increase onto Parish Councils does not appear to be a sustainable option for operating these services. This survey is a Shropshire Council initiative and does not, in the Parish Councils opinion, do enough to tackle the economic crisis locally by way of proper community development practice, offering little, if any, local community empowerment.
304-17. To agree a date for the next Parish Councillor surgery.
IT WAS resolved:
To communicate with Cllr Spragg and place on the next agenda.
304-18. To agree a date for the next meeting.
IT WAS resolved:
That the next meeting will be in December 2016 or earlier if necessary
Meeting closed.
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