Full Council Minutes

Minutes of the Billinghay Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 12 April 2021 (7.00pm) on Microsoft Teams

Present:

Cllr Cassidy (TC) in Chair, Cllr Locke (KL), Cllr Catlett (AC), Cllr Bell (TB), Cllr Waters (TW), Cllr Harvey (FH) & Cllr Dymoke (AD).

Parish Clerk & RFO Carol Willingham (CW)

Minutes Secretary Lou Hird (LH)

0 Members of the Public

Public Session

No members of the public attended.

1. To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Clerk prior to the meeting.

No apologies received.

2. To receive Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011 - being any pecuniary interest in agenda items not previously recorded on members’ Register of Interests.

 KL declared interest in item 7 – Appointment of Internal Auditor.

3. To approve as correct record and minutes notes of the PC meeting held on 1 March 2021 and Planning Committee Meeting 29 March 2021

It was proposed by TC, seconded by KL, and agreed unanimously by those Councillors who had attended the meeting that the Notes for the 1 March 2021 be accepted as minutes.   

4. To receive an update on the vacancies for Parish Councillors: co-option of Councillor

 The Clerk reported one enquiry but after sending details, had heard nothing further. The vacancies will continue to be advertised in the Newsletter and on the Notice Boards. It was suggested that a Councillor who had recently left be approached to see if he would return. TC agreed to do this.

5. Allotments Update

Because of the sensitive nature of the subject, it was agreed to move this to the Closed Session at the end of the meeting.

6. Parish Council Policies Review and Adoption.

Prior to the meeting, copies of the above had been issued by AC to all Councillors. It was proposed by TB, seconded by AC, and agreed with one abstention that the undernoted new policies be adopted.

PCD001 Document control policy.

PCD007 Community grant policy.

PCD010 Data protection and access policy.

PCD011 H&S Policy.

PCD014 Whistleblowing policy.

PCD016 Complaints policy.

PCD021 Sickness absence Policy.

PCD023 Purdah policy.

PCD024 Volunteer Policy.

PCD026 Maternity and Paternity Leave Policy. 

PCD029 Lone Working Policy. 

PCD031 FOI Policy. 

PCD034 Policy and Finance Committee ToRs.

PCD036 HR Committee ToRs.

PCD039 Data Breach policy.

PCD040 Records retention policy.

AC will pass Word versions of the updated documents to LH so they can be added to the website.

7. To appoint an Internal Auditor – two applications received and circulated to Councillors

 The Clerk had circulated details of both applications to Councillors before the meeting. (KL took no part in the discussions or vote because of her declaration of interest.) It was proposed by TC, seconded by AD, and carried unanimously that the post be offered to Kirsty Sinclair. The Clerk to arrange this.

8a. To agree procedures for Parish Council Meetings (as remote meetings will currently not be legal after 7th May 21.)

As there are currently ongoing discussions at national level with a view to changing the position re remote meetings, it was agreed to hold a remote meeting on the 5th of May, 2021. Future action re meetings could be agreed based on the legal situation at that time. The Clerk will circulate any information received before then on this subject.

8b. To consider and agree Parish Office arrangements regarding re-opening of the Office.

This was deferred until the meeting on the 5th of May and decisions would be based on the latest information.

9.  Finances

• To approve payments made since the last meeting (list circulated to Cllrs prior to meeting) - it was proposed by KL, seconded by TB, and agreed with one abstention.

• To approve annual governance statement and accept accounts to the year ending 31 March 2021.

The Annual Governance Statement had not been issued and it was agreed to leave the Accounts until they were audited. At this stage it was mentioned that the Minutes for the remote meetings needed the paper copies to be signed by the Chair. CW to organise.   

• To consider and agree purchase of hi viz vests and litter picking equipment.

       It was proposed by TC, seconded by KL, and agreed unanimously that up to £300 be spent on the purchase of Hi-Viz jackets and litter picking equipment to   assist in any planned Parish Clean-up activity.

10. Highways:

The Clerk was asked to re-report the state of the potholes at the Fen Road/High Street junction and the West Street/Fen Road junction as they were deteriorating further.

11. To consider and agree installation of bat and bird boxes (KL).

KL had put forward this item on the agenda because she felt more could be done in the village to improve the environment particularly on land owned or controlled by the Council. This also included, in addition to the above, the planting of wildflower areas, and sedum on bus shelter roofs. It was agreed that before anything could be agreed, a risk assessment would be needed. Several ideas were put forward these being:

• We must let residents know what is being proposed and get their views. Details to be given in the Newsletter, on Facebook and Parish Notice Boards.
• Get local involvement of children – School, Rainbows, Brownies & Guides. CW was asked to approach these organisations if there was no adverse public response from residents.
• Involve residents who volunteer.
• Purchase kits for bat & bird boxes so volunteers could assemble and locate these.
• There was a Great British Bin Clean-up in May/June and, if interest was shown by residents, the Council would support Groups that got involved.

12. Parish Clean-up – to consider and organise, if agreed.

The Clerk had already requested an estimate from a local tradesman to carry out work to clean, road sign, notice boards and litter bins but had not yet received a response. She agreed to circulate details when received. It was suggested that a deadline be set for receipt of estimates and, if not met, other tradesmen be approached.

It was proposed by KL, seconded by AD, and agreed unanimously that up to £400 be spent on the work.

At this point, FH had to leave the meeting.

13. Clerk’s Report

The Clerk had not been able to circulate a report prior to the meeting but had sent everything she thought relevant to them. She agreed to send details of anything that had been missed. She also reported that the New Liner for the Litter bin on the Market Place had been received and would be put in place immediately.

14. Website update.

LH reported that the website was up to date apart from:

• The new policies and procedures referred to in 6 above.
• The addition of relevant photos – agreed to request in Newsletter. TW volunteered to take photographs around the village and KL agreed to send some that were in her possession.
• Addition of links to relevant websites – local organisations and useful links such as “Fix my Street”.

Cllrs were asked to look at the website and suggest possible additional items and improvements.

15. Planning Matters

TB explained the process with applications and the deadlines set for comments to be sent to NKDC. This often meant that responses were required before the next Council meeting. He mentioned two recent important applications for the West Street and Park Lane developments where a Planning Committee meeting was necessary because of the deadlines to ensure our comments got there on time. He requested that anyone, viewing new applications online, send their comments to CW as soon as possible rather than waiting for a meeting. She can then forward these to other Councillors and NKDC for consideration.

• Applications Received:

            None received.

• Applications Approved:

            No new approvals

16. To receive Councillors’ Reports - For information only.

TB advised that several items for discussion had arisen when reading the new policies approved in 6 above. He agreed to send a list of these to CW for inclusion on the next Agenda.

TW volunteered to take photographs around the village and KL agreed to send some that were in her possession.

KL was concerned about large vehicles parking on the Market Place and some vehicles cutting across the Market Place rather than going round. She asked if we could put up signs or place flower boxes in such a position to prevent this. Signs were thought to not be in keeping with the Market Place but the Clerk was asked to speak to Highways to see if they could advise an acceptable and practical solution. An item is to be added to the next agenda to discuss their response.

17. To resolve whether to exclude the public and press in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960 to discuss staffing matters.

It was proposed by TC, seconded by KL, and agreed unanimously that the meeting go into closed session. Accordingly, the current meeting closed at 8.01pm. The closed meeting commenced at 8.01pm.

The first item discussed was the Allotments update that had been deferred.

CW had circulated a report prior to the meeting giving full details of the use of the Allotments and the Pinfold which the Council owned. An extensive discussion took place on the best way forward. No decision was reached because of the complicated nature of the subject. It was eventually agreed that CW obtain legal advice for selling the land or re-negotiating agreements, having obtained an estimate for the costs of doing this.

1. To discuss and agree arrangements for staffing matters.

            CW explained current situation and that future arrangements would be covered    by b) below.

2. To consider appointing new staff members: Litter Picking and Assistant Clerk.

Litter Picking

Councillors felt that the future planned developments would impinge on the current litter picker’s ability to cover all the new areas along with her current workload. Options discussed included:

• Could current employee do more hours to cover an extended area.
• Could the entire new area be split with an additional employee doing one half.
• Should we train a new employee and the existing one so that they could issue fines if warranted. Not agreed as tried in past with a Warden without success.

The Clerk was asked to speak to the existing employee to obtain details of:

• The current areas that she covered.
• What additional Council work she sometimes does?
• Whether she would be prepared to do extra hours

Eventually, it was proposed by TC, seconded by KL, and agreed unanimously that the Council appoint another employee to do any work additional to the current workload and general cleaning work as and where required. Rate of pay would be the same as current employee.

The job is to be advertised after the Clerk has spoken to the current employee.

Assistant Clerk

This appointment has been deferred for some time due to the COVID 19 situation. It was agreed that TC would contact the three people on the original short list to see if they were still interested. He would also inform them that the job will be re-advertised when a date for working from the Office is established.

The meeting closed at 8.41pm.