Minutes- Annual Meeting of the Parish Council 30 May 2024
Minutes of the meeting held Thursday, 30th May 2024 at 7:33pm in the Parish Rooms
Part A
05/24-1 Election of Chair. Cllr Gillian Pollard was proposed and seconded for the appointment. There being no other nominations, it was RESOLVED to reappoint Cllr Gillian Pollard as Chair and duly signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
P: TA S: IA, All in favour
05/24-2 Election of Vice-Chair. Cllr Ian Appleby was proposed and seconded for the appointment. There being no other nominations, it was RESOLVED to reappoint Cllr Ian Appleby as Vice-Chair and duly signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
P: TA S: GP, All in favour
Public Session
a) Report from ELDC Ward Member. There was no further update apart from the one provided at the Annual Parish Meeting earlier.
b) Report from LCC Ward Member. Cllr Alex Hall sent his apologies as he is on holiday.
c) Public Forum. Five members of the public were in attendance. The issues raised included more comments on the National Grid upgrade, the cost of staff employment and the lease agreement.
Part B
05/24-3 Record of Members Present and Apologies
Present: Cllr Gillian Pollard (GP) (Chair), Cllr Ian Appleby (IA) (Vice Chair), Cllr Angela Quinton (AQ), and Cllr Terry Aldridge (TA)
Also present: ELDC Ward Member Cllr Edward Mossop and Mrs Nadine Must (Parish Clerk/RFO)
Apologies accepted: Cllr Anne McCready Cllr Lesley Jackson (LJ), Cllr Anna Smith (AS) and LCC Ward Member Cllr Alex Hall
05/24-4 Chair’s Remarks. There was no further update apart from the report presented at the Annual Parish Meeting held prior to this meeting.
05/24-5 To receive any Declarations of Interest on any item on the agenda. Cllrs AQ and IA were given dispensation on item 05/24-7g relating to the lease agreement.
05/24-6– Minutes from 28 March 2024 – It was resolved that the draft minutes were accurate and was duly signed by the Chair.
P: TA; S: AQ, All in favour
05/24-7 Council Matters
a) Annual Review of all Council policies. The Council resolved to defer the review until the next meeting due to the amount of important considerations to resolve at the meeting.
b) Actions from previous meeting. The Clerk’s report was noted. Cllr AQ reported that CVV was going to purchase a bin and an application to ELDC to include the new bin in their collection rota.
c) Communications Received. This was noted.
i. D-Day 80 Celebrations. Cllr TA volunteered to ring the bells at St Mary’s Church on the 6th June at 6:30pm. The Clerk will register the event with the national organiser and get a certificate to commemorate the event.
d) Creation of an Executive Committee. Cllr TA asked that this be deferred until the next meeting when he will provide the terms of reference for a Finance and Resource Committee.
e) Gardening hours’ contract. The Council agreed to increase the hours from two hours a month to four hours a month between April and September plus extra hours as necessary during winter to trim the hedges.
P: TA; S: IA, All in favour
f) Survey Reports. The recommendations were considered especially those considered high priority from the fire risk assessment report. It was agreed that some of the recommendations cannot be resolved while CVV had plans to make changes to the lay-out. It was agreed to move the rubbish bins away from the front window and that a fire action notice be printed and placed in prominent places in the rooms. The Vice Chair will print off and laminate.
g) Lease Agreement. The amended lease agreement as advised and amended by the solicitors was discussed in detail and was put to the vote. It was resolved to accept the lease agreement with some minor changes regarding the insured risks and permitted use. The Clerk will send CVV a copy of the tracked changes for their reference and also send the final copy when completed by the solicitors. Cllr TA wanted it noted that he voted against the agreement.
P: IA; S: AQ, Passed
h) Parish Council insurance. It was resolved to amend the reinstatement value of the Parish Rooms to £251,000 as advised in the Property Valuation Report. This meant that the renewable cost premium went up from £464.77 to a total cost of £525.85
P: TA; S: IA, All in favour
05/24-8 Finance and Budgets
a) Payments. The Council resolved to accept the following receipts and payments for May 2024.
P: AQ; S: TA, All in favour
b) Receipts
c) Review of Receipts and Payments 2023/24. Noted.
d) 2023-2024 AGAR. The Internal Auditor Report was noted.
e) 2023-2024 AGAR. The Council reviewed and approved the Governance Statement.
f) 2023-2024 AGAR. The Council reviewed and approved the Accounting Statements.
g) 2023-2024 AGAR. The Council has certified itself exempt from a limited assurance review and has signed the Certificate of Exemption which will be submitted to the External Auditor.
05/24-9 Planning Matters
a) N/037/00667/24 The New Plough, Main Road, Covenham St Bartholomew. The Council resolved to object to this on the grounds of increased traffic generation and highways safety. The lack of capacity of local infrastructure i.e. public drainage or water systems
b) N/037/01614/23 – Appeal lodged - Sunnyside, Grange Lane, Covenham St Bartholomew. The previous objection submitted remains unchanged and the Council awaits the assessment of the ELDC Environment Officer regarding the foul smell.
c) There were no other applications received between agenda close and meeting.
05/24 – 10 Date of next meeting – Thursday, 25th July 2024, 7pm
The meeting closed at 9:10pm.