April 2021 Minutes
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting of North Kelsey Parish Council held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 13th April 2021 at 6.30pm
Those present : Cllr M Williams, D Hunt, D Weir.
In attendance: J Waite (Clerk) 2 members of the public
Nominate a chair from the floor as both chair and vice chair absent.
Proposed to nominate Cllr D Hunt.
Proposed Cllr D Weir. Seconded Cllr M Williams . All in favour.
A I minute silence was held in memory of HRH Duke of Edinburgh.
1To receive apologies and reasons for absence Ref 21/399
Cllr T Turner, Cllr L Barker, Cllr R Smith, Cllr P Bryan, Cllr S March, Cllr H Burrows ( may arrive late).
Cllr R Smith is very poorly in hospital – council to send card and wishes him well.
2 To receive declarations of interest under the Localism Act 2011 – being any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in agenda items not previously recorded on Members’ Register of Interests. Ref 21/400
Cllr M Williams – Disclosable Pecuniary Interest - Grass cutting contract.
Cllr D Weir – personal interest planning application 142672
3 To approve draft minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Parish, held on 9th March 2021. Ref 21/401
Resolved to approve as a true record.
Proposed Cllr M Williams. Seconded Cllr D Weir. All in favour.
To approve draft minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council, held on 9th March 2021. Ref 21/402
Resolved to approve as a true record.
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr M Williams. All in favour.
To approve draft minutes of the Extra Ordinary Meeting of the Parish Council, held on 24th March 2021. Ref 21/403
Resolved to approve as a true record.
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr D Weir. All in favour.
4 Public Questions Ref 21/404
Resident raised concern about planning application 142532, land off Carr Road – would have liked to have seen a village meeting held to raise opposition to the application. Concerns raised about the state and width of the road not being able to take more traffic, issues with having 3 access point to the site, existing drainage problems in this area and there not being room for a footpath on that side of the road.
Chair proposed to move item 8 higher up agenda
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr M Williams. All in favour.
8 Planning applications and decisions received Ref 21/405
Application 142532 – Council object to this application on the grounds that there is not sufficient road width to take any more traffic, and 3 access points are too many and could cause accidents due to poor visibility. Concern about flooding in this area and car parking causing extra narrowing of the road and congestion. Concern about removing hedges and the affect of wild life in the area.
Application 142672 – to be discussed at next meeting.
1 member of public left meeting.
5 Chairs Report Ref 21/406
Action Plan Reminder – copies circulated at meeting.
Clerk to book places on LALC training May 18th – employment law, and GDPR updates. No councillors wanted to attend either training session.
Councillor online training – Cllr Williams and Cllr Hunt are still to start. Cllr Williams stated that she was not planning on doing this training.
6 Clerk’s report Ref 21/407
The email address to contact the Clerk is clerk.northkelseyparish@gmail.com
There is currently 1 casual vacancy for the council – the Clerk has received no nominations.
Clerk informed Council and read out 2 resignation notices from Cllr P Bryan and Cllr S March. Both stated in their letters that they are leaving because of the attitude of other councillors. Clerk to inform WLDC electoral services. This leaves 3 vacancies on the council at present.
No requests for Covid support have been received from residents.
Clerk to make amendments to new 2020 revised Standing orders and circulate before next meeting. On advice from LALC, council resolved to have a working party of Cllrs M Williams, H Burrows and D Weir to amend the financial regulations and bring to next meeting for approval.
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr D Weir. All in favour.
Clerk has taken legal advice from LALC, the Monitoring Officer at WLDC, ACAS and an HR firm and has been advised not to discuss issues surrounding contract of employment until more advice is taken.
An example of an aggressive email received by the Clerk was read out to council – Clerk has been advised not to respond to this type of email in future.
Cllr H Burrows joined meeting 7.40pm.
It was resolved to plant a cherry tree on the grass area at the end of Easthall Lane in memory of HRH Duke of Edinburgh.
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr H Burrows. All in favour.
New meeting dates were circulated.
Council facebook page - Items to be included can be emailed to the Clerk. New photos are needed to update on the site. Cllr Burrows now also an admin.
New website has now been published https://north-kelsey.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/. Currently unable to add information to the site as LCC are updating.
The work log sheets are being completed by the Clerk – to be circulated to all councillors at next meeting. No overtime hours are to be agreed – Clerk will stop working when 6 hours are reached and any urgent emails can be directed to Cllr H Burrows.
Community engagement working party report –
Planning meetings have been held and the group would like to go ahead with an afternoon event on August 28th 2021 at the Village Hall, and maybe using the school playing field subject to permission being granted. There will be food provided – probably a finger buffet, plus teas and coffees. DW has booked an ice cream van to attend, at no cost to the council. DW has booked a martial arts demo and it is hoped to have live music from local groups, a tug of war, dog show classes, medieval crafts demo, circus skills, photo competition, treasure hunt around the village, traditional games. Working group to look at costs and report at next meeting.
7. Financial Matters Ref 21/408
Payments to be made by direct debit.
Wave £9.28
Payments to be made by BACS.
Salaries £466.08
Clerks Expenses and Disbursements £40.39
M Williams – grass cutting £382.80
JB Rural Services – playing field hedge £1230.00
Office Friends – black sacs / paper £36.60
D Hunt – flower box expenses £31.00
NKCA Village Hall Rent 2021/22 meetings £58.50
Payments to be made by cheque.
None.
The expenses claim includes the Zoom monthly membership of £14.39 paid by the Clerk.
Resolved to approve payments.
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr D Hunt. All in favour.
1 member of public joined meeting
Clerk will need 1 hour of overtime to complete this meeting and make payments of invoices.
Council resolved to pay Clerk for this hour.
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr D Hunt. All in favour.
No arrangements were put in place for overtime in future. Clerk will work 6 hours each week. Councillors will be notified as to when hours are reached and out of office message on email will be updated to contact Chair in this circumstance.
The VAT reclaim of £3964.08 has now been received. Clerk to claim financial year 2020/21 as part of end of year accounts in May.
Council resolved to cancel the zoom membership from this month, as face to face meetings are to be held.
The bank mandate cannot be done on the present council lap top – clerk to look at updating and also a safe for storage of the cemetery records.
Internal audit to be done by Stuart Davis – Clerk to organise at start of May.
All paperwork regarding accounts from 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 was given to Cllr H Burrows to conduct internal review of Clerks work.
9 Parish matters – To receive any report or consider any appropriate action Ref 21/409
a) Cemetery - Dogs must be kept on leads in the cemetery and any dog fouling cleared up. Cllr D Hunt is to carry out inspections of the cemetery.
b) Grounds Maintenance - the benches on the green are ready to be revarnished. Request for a new grit bin to be placed near Queens Head pub in North Kelsey Moor.
c) Play Area - no issues to report
d) Wild Life Area – covid response grant was not successful, as applications had closed early due to high demand. No issues to report.
The Chair suspended Standing Orders and local resident Louise Reece spoke to council about the plans to start a Good Neighbour Scheme in the village, with funding from YMCA. To provide things such as collecting shopping, lifts to appointments, collect prescriptions, snow clearing etc for residents who need assistance with this.
A survey is to be sent out to each house in the village and will also be available on line – link on council facebook page.
10 To receive general comments from members for consideration on the next agenda. Ref 21/410
Approval of policies – Disciplinary, Grievance, Safe Guarding, Standing Orders revised 2020, Financial Regulations.
Donation to Village Hall
End of Year Accounts. External audit
Devolved functions / youth club
Resurface of playing field car park
IT equipment up grade
Casual Vacancies
11 Date and Time of next meeting –
May 11th Village Hall North Kelsey, 6.30pm
Meeting closed 8.44pm.