Full Council Minutes

Minutes of the Billinghay Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 3 February 2020 at Ringmoor House, Ringmoor Close, Billinghay.

Present:

Cllr. Cassidy (TC) in the Chair, Councillors Clark (SC), Jackson (JJ), Walters (AW), Harvey (FH) and Bell (AB)

Parish Clerk & RFO Carol Willingham (CW)

District Councillor Ogden (GO)

Minutes Secretary Lou Hird (LH)

1 Members of the Public

Public Session

There was no Public Session

1. Acceptance of apologies for Absence and reasons given (LGA1972 Sch. 12, Para 40)

Apologies and reasons had been received from Cllrs Locke and Chatten. It was proposed by TC, seconded by AW and carried unanimously that these be accepted.

2. Receive Declarations of interest and consider applications for dispensations in relation to DPI’s.

None

3. Accept Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held 13 January 2020 to adopt by resolution as true record and minutes

It was proposed by SC, seconded by AB and carried unanimously that the notes for 13 January 2020 be accepted as minutes.

4. To discuss and agree arrangement for the Annual Parish Meeting

It was agreed that the Annual Parish Meeting would be held on the 18 May 2020 and local organisations would be invited as in the past. The event is to be advertised in the Newsletter.

5. To request/receive an update on Highways and Police Matters

The following items were raised:

• The bollard at the Walcott Road/Field Road junction have been replaced
• Complaints have been made by residents regarding the removal of streetlights along the A153 and they had been referred to the correct authority.
• The manhole cover outside 8 Walcott Road has been damaged again and this has been reported on Fix My Street.
• Residents reported a problem with the disabled spaces t the Co-op Carpark. The Clerk was asked to approach the Co-op to see if anything could be done.

6. To request/receive a report from the Planning Committee (AB)

No new applications had been received.

Application 19/1675/HOUS 30 Field Road Extension has been approved.

Application 15/0022/VARCON – revised plans for Land adjacent to Bridge Farm had been refused by NKDC.

7. To request/receive an update from the Environment Committee

a. To consider/agree weekly hours and 12-month contract for the Environment Officer. (This item was deferred to the end of the meeting as it needed to be discussed in Closed Session)

b. Agree Meeting Date for the Environment Committee.

Deferred as Cllr Chatten was unable to make this meeting.

c. Other items raised were:

• The Clerk was requested to arrange for the skip to be emptied
• The bin for the wreaths is now full and needs emptying. As other wreaths will need removing several Councillors volunteered to do this on 10 February. These and those in the bin will be bagged. The Clerk will then arrange for these to be collected by NKDC.
• The position of a notice board for the cemetery was discussed. It was proposed by AB, seconded by SC and carried unanimously that it be sited within the cemetery but made clearly visible from the outside. Funding for the cost was agreed as part of the proposal. JJ agreed to organise this.

8. To request/receive a report from the Emergency Planning Committee

It was reported that the training session with the Lincs Fire Service had been well attended. Cllrs commented that the session had been very professional and informative. The next step is to produce the final plan and have this reviewed and approved.

After this there will be a run through of the Plan based on a real-life emergency.

9. To accept Terms of Reference for HR Committee

TC had circulated a draft prior to the meeting and was now reviewing the document in view of the comments he had received. It was proposed by FH and seconded by AW and carried unanimously that the revised document be then circulated and agreed.

10. Burial and Allotment matters

The relevant items had been discussed under 7 above.

11. Finance

a. To agree approved payments for items detailed in Appendix A

Cllrs agreed that these were in order. It was proposed by AB, seconded by SC and carried unanimously that they be accepted. At this stage the Clerk advised that the changes to signatories had been passed to the Bank and confirmation was awaited that the set-up was complete.

b. To agree budget and set precept for 2020.

The Clerk handed out revised budget sheets based on the latest information available. She had also produced a revised Precept calculation sheet based on this budget. Cllrs agreed that the budget figures were as accurate as could be ascertained at the time. Therefore, it was proposed by SC, seconded by JJ and carried unanimously to set the budget at £45,125.

12. Correspondence

The correspondence had been circulated prior to the meeting. However the Clerk mentioned the request from a resident for vehicular access from Ballon Walk. This had been agreed subject to conditions at the last meeting. The Clerk had not yet written to confirm this as she had thought it necessary to check certain aspects with our Insurance Company and Western Power whose services were possibly affected. The Insurance Company had been happy with the position but a final reply was awaited from Western Power.

If this was in order, the Clerk will write setting out approval subject to the terms agreed at the previous meeting and also clarify that the permission applies only to use by cars or light vans.

13. Clerks report

This had been circulated prior to the meeting.

She also mentioned that following the recent meeting with the NKDC Customer Services Manager, she had received the draft flyers that NKDC were producing regarding the closure of the Local Access Point. She suggested that the flyers be delivered to every house on Ringmoor and the Whyche and known vulnerable residents. A copy of the flyer will also be displayed in the Newsletter.

The position re signage and IT support was raised and the Clerk will check on these aspects as we would need to act quickly if we could no longer use the NKDC server.

At this stage (7.46pm), the Council went into Closed Session to discuss item 7a on the Agenda - To consider/agree weekly hours and 12-month contract for the Environment Officer

The current contract expired at the end of January 2020. The Enforcement Officer had suggested a new contract for 12 months – based on 4 hours a week at a slightly reduced rate.

There was a long discussion as to whether there had been a positive improvement in the village following his appointment. It was agreed that fly posting was no longer a problem but agreed that a Councillor could go around and remove these. Cllrs noted that a lot of complaints were still being received about dog fouling (statistics showed that the numbers were like other years for the same period). Also, the anti-social behaviour problem seemed no different.

Eventually, it was proposed by TC, seconded by SC and approved with 1 abstention that a Contract Extension of three months be offered for 4 hours a week at the current rate.

The Clerk was requested to convey this decision to the Officer.

The Closed Session ended at 8.05pm

14. Members reports

GO reported that the majority of the work at NKDC had been taken up by budget matters and advised that Council Tax, Rents and Waste Disposal Services will all be increased.

It was reported that the dangerous wall on the alley way between West Street and Victoria Street had been demolished.

The Meeting closed at 8.08pm

Appendix A

Financial Activity January 2020