St Asaph City Council
Cyngor Dinas Llanelwy
Minutes of the Meeting of St Asaph City Council held on13 January 2016 at 7.10 pmin the Community and Council Meeting Rooms, Roe Plas Meadows.
Present: / Cllrs:J Ellison, C Evans,M Gedd, CHardie (Deputy City Mayor, P G Morton, D Owens, J O Roberts, B J Rust,P Scott (City Mayor), D A Thomas and R Williams.
County Cllr B Cowie.
H Stewart BEM (City Clerk).
1. / Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs: G D Hodgkinson BEM (Illness) and P Mitchell (business).
2, / Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
3. / Co-option
Ms. Joanne Ellison was proposed and seconded to be coopted onto the City Council until the end of this term of administration.
RESOLVED that: Ms. Joanne Ellison be coopted onto the City Council.
The Mayor welcomed Ms. Ellison and hoped she would enjoy her time spent on the City Council. Cllr Ellison thanked those present and signed the Declaration of Office.
4. / Urgent Matters
There were no matters of urgency which in the opinion of the Mayor, required consideration at this meeting.
5. / North Wales Police Service
PCSO Dave Jones reported that there had not been any major issues in St Asaph in the past month and those incidents that were reported were mainly domestic related. Four hubcaps had been stolen from a car overnight, possibly to order and inquiries were ongoing in a number of other cases. There was not much else to report.
The Mayor thanked him for his assistance the previous evening with the flooding and PCSO Jones left the meeting at 7.15pm.
6. / Mayor’s Report
The City Mayor had attended a “soft opening” of the development currently known as Livingstone Place. He confirmed that this was not going to be the final name but was being used during the marketing of the site. The Charity Ball would be on 4 March and all councillors were asked to make a note in their diaries.
7. / Reports from County Councillors
Cllr Owens with his County Council hat on, reported that the planning application submitted by Mr. Grube was unlikely to be considered by the County Council before February. The application had been sent back to the developers to change the design. Having written to the Welsh Government about the finance available to address the flooding in the City he had received a reply from Carl Sargent AM, Minister for Natural Resources. A copy had been sent to the Clerk who would circulate it to all Members.
Cllr Owens confirmed that at the meeting with the DCC Officer about the bollards by the Conservative Club it had been agreed the existing bollards would be” tidied up”. The Clerk was asked to write to DCC Officer Medwyn Williams to remind him of the work required.
County Cllr Cowie informed the Council that there were concerns about parking in HeolEsgoband following some complaints by local residents a two week survey would be undertaken to see if something more than the current plans were required.
Cllr Cowie had been hopeful that the issue with the piece of land by the BT exchange had been resolved but unfortunately the matter was back with the legal department after which it would have to go back to BT so it was a case of “watch this space”.
The torrential rain over the past three days had caused some problems with DCC issuing sand bags to protect the bungalows in Tan Y Bryn. It would appear that the drains cannot cope with the excessive water and investigations were needed to see if larger drains were required.
Any incidents of fly-tipping should be reported to the County Council using the CRM system. This provided a log and timeline and if Cllr Cowie was also informed of any incidents being reported through the CRM system he would monitor progress.
A local person had been found who was willing and able to cut and remove the trees on the river bank at no cost to the City Council. Farmer Williams was to liaise with him in regard to access to the site.
Any concerns about caravans parking illegally on common land should be reported to the Enforcement Officer at DCC so that appropriate action can be taken. It was suggested that the City Clerk write to all property owners backing on to the Common Land asking then to have regard to the privilege of access onto the area and not abuse it by parking caravans there.
8. / Public Participation
There were no requests to address the Council.
9. / Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2015were approved and the Mayor signed them as a correct recordof the meeting.
10. / Matters Arising
11. Events Working Group – Following the atrocious weather experienced at the Party in the Yard in November a suggestion had been made for holding the event in the Cathedral. This was agreed to be an eminently better option and Cllr Hardie was tasked with discussing the finer detail of the arrangements with the Dean.
12. Regeneration Group - The minutes should be amended to read that the City Council had “agreed” the painting of the bus shelter outside of the cathedral and the painting of the Mary Short memorial.
Cllr Evans was to register the land outside of the HSBC in the name of the City Council.
Cllr Andrews circulated a summary of specific actions the Regeneration Group was asking of the City Council. The summary also listed eight projects with estimated costs for which grants would be sought.
RESOLVED that: The City Council would carry out the specific actions as presented.
13. Outside Bodies-Cllr Mitchell had volunteered to be a representative on Ysgol Esgob Morgan School when a vacancy arose and not the VP School. Cllr Scott therefore volunteered to be the representative on the VP School.
Questions were then raised about representatives rescinding their position if they ceased to be a councillor. The Clerk was asked to write to all the schools in the City to ascertain if they required a City Council representative or not.
11. / Planning Applications
Resolved that:
a)There were no objections to Application Ref: 46/2015/1188
Proposal: Removal of branches of beech tree affecting street lighting
b)There were no objections to Application Ref: 46/2015/1196
Proposal: Erection of first floor extension to side of dwelling
County Cllr Cowie left at 8.10pm
12. / Register of Interest
The Clerk explained the process for registering aninterest at each meeting and that a summary of such would be put onto the City Council website. A flow chart to assist in determining an interest in a matter had been sent to all councillors.
13. / Financial Management
a)A detailed report on the Council’s income and expenditure to the end of December was provided in the format from the new software. The detail would be available at each meeting of the Council with a summary produced for inspection and approval.
b)The schedule of payments as listed below were presented for approval.
Co Options / 3430 / £ 40.00 / £ - / £ 40.00 / Litter Picking
Gail Pendleton / 3431 / £ 122.00 / £ - / £ 122.00 / Caretaker Services
Kon-x / 3432 / £ 7.93 / £ 1.59 / £ 9.52 / Photocopier
Glascoed Timber / 3433 / £ 872.00 / £ 174.40 / £ 1,046.40 / Grounds Mntc
DCC / 3434 / £ 40.00 / £ 8.00 / £ 48.00 / Domain name
DCC / 3435 / £ 358.00 / £ 71.60 / £ 429.60 / Planters - Winter Shrubs
H Stewart / 3436 / £ 554.40 / £ - / £ 554.40 / Salary
H Stewart / 3437 / £ 215.97 / £ 9.45 / £ 225.42 / Office Equipment and Expenses
City Times / 3438 / £ 150.00 / £ - / £ 150.00 / Sponsorship Christmas Edition
HMRC / 3439 / £ 968.42 / £ - / £ 968.42 / PAYE 2015-16
Total / £ 3,328.72 / £ 265.04 / £ 3,593.76
RESOLVED that: The schedule of payments as listed be approved.
14. / Budget and Precept 2016-17
The budget estimates for 2016-17 were presented for consideration. The new codes and the breakdown of budgets into more specific costs were explained. The contribution of £8,000 from the City Councils funds towards the revenue cost of the library for 2016-17 had been factored into the estimates which resulted in a reduction in the allocation for grants.
RESOLVED that: The budget estimates as presented for 2016-17 be approved.
To meet the requirement of the budget estimates for 2016-17 a precept of £60,130 was required. This was a 7% increase on the precept last year but was necessary if the contribution to the library service was to be met.
RESOLVED that: A precept of £60,130 be raised by 2016-17.
15. / Glascoed Road Bus Stop
A request to the City Council for funding of at least £5000 towards a bus stop had been made received from Dr James Davies MP. Unfortunately the City Council had other pressures on its budgets and was unable to meet such a request.
RESOLVED that: Dr J Davies MP be informed that the City Council was unable to pay for the bus stop.
16. / News Digest
There was nothing to report at this meeting.
17. / Correspondence
There was nothing to report at this meeting.

The meeting closedat 8.43pm

Signed …………………………………

Chairman, 10 February 2015

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