2 December 2019
Minutes of the Billinghay Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 2 December 2019 at the Ringmoor House, Ringmoor Close, Billinghay.
Present:
Cllr. Locke (KL) in the Chair, Councillors Cassidy (TC), Chatten (RC), Clark (SC), Jackson (JJ), Walters (AW), Harvey (FH) and Bell (AB)
Parish Clerk & RFO Carol Willingham (CW)
Minutes Secretary Lou Hird (LH)
1 member of public.
Public Session
No session required as the member of the public was present for the Councillor Co-option item.
1. Acceptance of apologies for Absence and reasons given (LGA1972 Sch. 12, Para 40)
No apologies had been received.
2. Receive Declarations of interest and consider applications for dispensations in relation to DPI’s.
No declarations made.
3. Accept Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held 4 November 2019 to adopt by resolution as true record and minutes
It was proposed by TC, seconded by JJ and carried unanimously that the notes for 4 November 2019 be accepted as minutes.
4. To appoint a new Vice Chair
Cllr Cassidy was proposed by JJ, seconded by RC and elected unanimously.
5. To agree Co-option Policy & Lone Working Policy
The Co-option policy will be reviewed by the Quiscom Committee and presented at the next meeting for approval. It was proposed by TC, seconded by AB and carried unanimously that the Lone Working Policy be adopted.
6. Parish Council Vacancies – to consider application for co-option
One resident had expressed an interest in becoming a Councillor and had attended the meeting as the initial part of the co-option process.
7. To request/receive a report from Quiscom Committee following meeting held 11 November 2019
A resume of the meeting was given to the full Council, the main items being:
- To agree Policy revisions
- To discuss the Grant Applications and make recommendations
8. To suggest/agree dates for visit to Lincs Energy from Waste Site
Councillors expressed considerable interest in visiting the site and it was agreed that a Friday in January would be suitable. The Clerk was asked to arrange a suitable date.
9. To request/receive an update on Highways and Police Matters
a. Community Speed watch update
TC reported that the Speed watch was now in operation three times a week. Apart from the period when all traffic was being diverted through the village, there was an average of 340 cars in the hour. Of these, an average of 12 were speeding.
b. To agree to continue LCC Scheme for cutting verges
Cllrs agreed that the verges were looking better now that the Parish Council had taken over the grass cutting. The Clerk advised that LCC paid £640 a year to us for doing this. It was proposed by KL, seconded by SC and carried unanimously that the Scheme be continued.
c. Police Update
A report had not been received from the Police but Councillors mentioned several incidents of oil theft occurred.
10. To request/receive a report from the Planning Committee (AB)
AB reported that there had been no notifications of new, revised or approved applications received.
11. To request/receive report from the Environment Committee
The Enforcement Warden report had been received and circulated to Councillors.
12. To request/receive an update from the Emergency Community Plan Committee
There had been a Committee meeting the previous week and the Plan updated with the latest information. In January, there would be a simulated “desktop” exercise. After this, there would be an actual exercise run through based on an emergency situation.
A meeting of the Committee and volunteers is being arranged at the Ship Inn on the 22 January and all Councillors were invited to this.
13. Burial and Allotment matters
The Risk Assessment at the cemetery had taken place earlier in the day and the Councillor who attended advised that the work was not quite complete as an item of equipment was required and training could then be completed. Once the survey was completed, there would need to be a weekly check and a register completed accordingly. One factor that had emerged was that the cemetery was only suitable for single depth burial but this was not thought to be a problem as we did not have double depth burials in Billinghay. No invoice had yet been received so payment could not be authorised.
It was also reported (although unconnected) that the locks on the storage shed required maintenance.
14. Finance
a. To agree approved payments for items detailed in Appendix A
Cllrs agreed that these were in order.
b. To consider donation to LIVES
LIVES had written to the Council requesting a donation. They had given figures indicating considerable need for their services in the village in the past year. It was proposed by RC, seconded by SC and agreed with one abstention that a donation of £500 be given.
c. Update on opening an investment account – Cllrs had been asked to bring appropriate ID so that the account could be opened. The Clerk agreed to sort this matter after the meeting.
d. To revise Lloyds Bank mandate to update signatories
The required forms were passed to the appropriate Councillors. These were completed and returned to the Clerk to take the necessary action.
e. To agree costs/next steps for recruiting new member of Office Staff
A job specification had been created based on Local Authority models and the perceived specific requirements for the parish. The HR Committee will now meet to agree the way forward and assess the impact on the 2020/21 budget.
f. To agree budget and set precept for 2020 (if all info available)
Necessary info for calculating the precept had not yet been received.
g. To agree grass cutting for playing field for 2020
The current contract is with Glendale and some reservations about their service were expressed. The Clerk was asked to look for possible alternatives and the terms of a contract (relating to frequency of cut) with Glendale for the coming year
h. To consider/agree Clerk’s membership of SLCC (£175)
It was agreed that membership was a useful aid to the Clerk. It was proposed by SC, seconded by AB and carried unanimously that Clerk become a member.
i. To consider purchase of new edition of Charles Arnold Baker for Office
This book is considered a useful tool for all Parish Councils but the Parish edition is now out of date. It was proposed by JJ, seconded by TC and carried unanimously that the latest edition be purchased.
15. Correspondence
Most of the correspondence had been circulated prior to the meeting but the Clerk mentioned the following:
- Resignation letter from Cllr Miller
- A meeting had been arranged with the Customer Services Manager from NKDC to discuss the closure of the Local Access Point. Two Councillors said they wished to attend.
16. Clerks report
The Clerk made a request for a Councillor to supply lighting for the Christmas Tree Event.
17. Members reports
- Three new Councillors who had been on the LALC Induction Training Course agreed it had been extremely useful. It had been well presented and covered a wide range of topics.
- RC expressed his interest in the Cemetery Risk Assessment and said it would be discussed by the Burials Committee at its next meeting on 11 December
- AB asked if the RoSPA report on the Playpark had been completed. It is understood that it has and the report contained only minor areas for comment.
- TC mentioned a problem with a drain on Sprite Lane and the Clerk will report this to LCC
19. Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
The Chair asked that Councillors attending should help at the Event.
It was made clear that all refreshments should be free of charge for residents and that the Council would reimburse the Ship catering costs.
Two Councillors agreed to check that the lights were functioning correctly.
The Meeting closed at 8.20pm