PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
held on Tuesday
18th April, 2023
in the Village Hall, High St.
Present: Councillors; G Kirt (Chairman), H. Aylesbury, D. Batty, C Bysshe, S Jackson, R. Joshi-Boparai, R. Randall, A Staines, S Singh, & the Clerk, Mr J Haste. No members of the public were present.
MINUTES OF MEETING
776. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – Councillor G Wright sent apologies as unwell. Cllr Lane also sent apologies as would be absent for personal reasons
777. MEMBERS DECLARATION OF INTERESTS – None recorded
778. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – None
779. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 21st March, 2023
Proposed Cllr. Randall Seconded Cllr. Batty
780. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES (information only) – None
781. PLANNING
a) Status of current planning applications – An update report on applications previously considered by the parish council had been circulated with the agenda and the only change from the previous meeting was that the tree works at the Primary School had been permitted on 11th April. It was noted that these had since been carried out
b) 23/00339/CTR – 16 High Street – Fell I Conifer and lateral branch reduction on another. Parish council have no observations to make
782. COMMUNITY MATTERS –
a) Ashburn Close Play Area – The Clerk reported that the city council property manager had yet to provide the details of the solicitor being appointed to progress this title transfer to the parish council. We instructed the Clerk to chase up an early reply.
b) Defibrillators – Cllr. Randall presented a slideshow on a study he had conducted to logically determine the best locations to provide optimum coverage of all residents in the village. We accepted his findings and agreed that, subject to a positive outcome of a grant application to fund the acquisition of two more defibrillators, one would be located on the land at the junction of Beech Road/ Helpston Road and the other sited near the memorial bench at the junction of The Willows and Welmore road. Both sites have the additional benefit of the presence of Street Lighting to Highlight the presence of the equipment.
c) Gas Compressor Station. The Clerk reported the positive response by National Grid to our request for a site visit. The clerk is to relay information requested by NG of those councillors wishing to attend the visit.
d) Biodiversity issues – The Clerk reported he is to seek a response from Anglian Water to our request for funding of the proposed signs and the offer of acknowledging the sponsorship and approval to the use of the AWA logo for the purpose.
e) Winter Warm Hubs –Cllr. Bysshe reported that the Good Neighbours scheme had secured additional funding and that it might be possible to fund the scheme without financial input by parish councils. Cllr Bysshe also reported on the success of getting volunteers but the lack of take-up of the facility. We considered that with proper marketing the facility might meet the needs of a different and client group to that originally intended. We agreed to consider the subject again at the May meeting of parish council.
f) Community Engagement – Cllr. Jackson reported on the continued growth of the FaceBook pages and the success of the one dedicated to Golden Orb (Coronation) events. Cllr Jackson also made a plea for information to be supplied to him by all parish councillors to ensure that the Facebook page remained current and informative.
783. REPORTS – Standing item – Cllr. Batty reported on the City Council endorsed Climate Change Summit. The full text to be circulated to all parish councillors.
784. GOVERNANCE MATTERS
a) Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR) – The Clerk drew our attention to section one of the Annual return and the requirement for parish council to consider all the itemized matters contained in this section of the AGAR. We had the benefit of this section being projected on to the screen and considered each one in turn. We RESOLVED to instruct the Clerk to tick all boxes confirming our agreement to each item and to tick the “not Applicable” box relating to trust funds.
Proposed Cllr. Randall Seconded Cllr. Kirt
b) Accounting Software – The Clerk reported on the current arrangements for maintaining the financial records of the parish council and the need to convert the date for completion of the year end accounts, the annual return and VAT claim. We also noted the potential risks of maintaining the integrity of the formulas used for maintaining those records on complex spreadsheets. We considered the merits and costs of two suppliers of dedicated accounting software for parish and town councils and subject to the Clerk being satisfied with the financial standing of the company we RESOLVED to approve purchase of the Rialtas Alpha software for maintaining our financial records for the current and future financial years.
Proposed Cllr. Randall Seconded Cllr. Bysshe
c) Operation Golden Orb –
i Programme Planning – The chairman circulated copies of the printed Programme for the Coronation Day Event, a copy of which will be delivered to every household in the village. We recorded our thanks to Andy and Judy Staines for putting together the artwork for this professional looking document. Cllr Kirt then detailed the arrangements and locations of all the activities planned for the day
ii Payment Card Readers – The Clerk had obtained two “Sum UP Solo” card readers to allow for payment by card before and during the event. One had been trialled the weekend before our meeting as worked well. We RESOLVED to authorise the purchase of a further two readers (four in total). These would remain the property of the parish council and would be available for all future events
Proposed Cllr. Joshi-Boparai Seconded Cllr. Jackson
iii Prize Draw – Organised for the event by the Glinton Community association books of tickets had been printed and were on sale in advance of the event. Over twenty prizes to be drawn We thanked Cllr. Joshi-Boparai for obtaining many of these prizes.
iv Insurance – We noted that for insurance purposes the parish council covered volunteers for public liability whilst engaged on parish council business, volunteer input is being fully recorded before the event and proper risk assessments is already in place. The chairman reported on the high cost and exclusions in event insurance to cover bad weather and we noted the financial exposure of the event and RESOLVED to take no further action on event insurance
Proposed Cllr. Randall seconded Cllr. Bysshe
d) Replacement Notice Boards – The Clerk reported on quotes from 6 companies for the supply only of three notice boards – Prices ranged from £1690 – £6758. We noted that Greenbarnes were the suppliers of the notice board we had installed by the Primary School fence and were satisfied with the quality and ease of use compared to our other notice boards. WE therefore RESOLVED to accept the quote from GreenBarnes at £2246.
Proposed Cllr. Randall Seconded Cllr. Kirt
e) Metro Bank 95-day Deposit account – The Clerk reported that the account and the associated current accounted were now in place and that the current account had been linked to the sumUp card readers.
785. OFFICIAL NOTICES AND CORRESPONDENCE
There were no items for consideration other than those matters covered elsewhere on the agenda
786. HIGHWAYS & other issues within the village –
i. Sign outside the Nisa shop has still not been repaired or replaced
ii. Outstanding request to extend yellow lines from Jct of Beech / Helpston road to first bungalow
iii. Open bins on playing field, request replaced by covered variety
iv. Request weight limit sign in NFR by kissing gate
787. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS –
i. report of working party on Village Sign Replacement.
ii. Signage Plaques, information boards and Village Pump
iii. Bonfire night event – 2023
iv. Fundraiser
v. Village sign replacement
788. Date of Next Meeting – The next scheduled meeting of the parish council is Tuesday 16th May in the village hall commencing at 7.30pm, preceded by the annual parish meeting
Meeting closed at 9.51pm,
Clerk/Proper Officer,
20th April 2023