2023 Parish Council Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF HEYDOUR with AISBY and OASBY PARISH COUNCILLORS MEETING

Tuesday 25th July 2023 at 7.00pm in Heydour Parish Hall

Councillors Present: Cllr Ballaam, Peace (Chair), Smallwood and Turner.

In attendance: D.Cllr Trotter, Parish Clerk Boden and 1 members of the public.

A minutes silence was held to pay respect to Cllr Taylor.

AGENDA

Chairman's Welcome and Housekeeping.

23052. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

To receive reports from outside bodies.

Report from C. Cllr Hill. No report was given.

Report from D. Cllr Trotter.  There is a new admin team at SKDC due to the elections. Cllr Richard Cleaver (Ind) is the new leader and wants to have a ward walk on the 4th August. The SKDC Community Awards have a closing date of the 24th August with a number of categories for everyone to enter. This includes one for people’s gardens. At present a number of Afghan refugees are still being housed at the Urban Hotel whilst SKDC are trying to rehome them - £953,000 is available for this scheme.

Questions or Points raised by residents and members of the public. No questions were raised.

COUNCIL SESSION

23053. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest. No declarations were received

23054. Apologies for Absence. It was resolved to accept apologies for Cllr Kennedy for personal reasons.

23055. Approval of Clerks Notes – Tuesday 16th May 2023. It was resolved to accept the minutes of the meeting held on the 16th May 2023 and for the Chair to sign.

23056. To consider the co-option of a new Councillor and to witness the signature of Acceptance. It was resolved to accept the co-option of new Cllr Owen Sylvester and for the clerk to witness the signature of Acceptance.

23057. Crime & Safety -To consider a report on the possible steps forward, following the outcome of the Annual Parish Meeting. A member of public had requested this item be placed on the agenda as a follow up from the Annual Parish Meeting in May and was encouraged to speak. It is clear that the police and trading standards are not encouraging any more No Cold Call Zones but Crime Stoppers are still active. It was questioned if the PC could create a page on the website where crime alerts could be mentioned and parishioners be encouraged to check each week as due to GDPR the clerk can not use other groups email lists to send updates out.

D Cllr Trotter is part of the police and crime panel and reminded everyone of the team meeting that was held a number of months ago with the new police crime panel. She expressed her concern over scare mongering. She asked the clerk if the PC receives updates from the crime panel as she has found some parishes are receiving them whilst others are not. As Heydour does not receive the updates she will arrange this.

The PC will join Lincolnshire Alert where one email a week will be received and added to the website.

Cllr Ballaam raised the point that on many occasions it has been raised regarding the Neighbourhood Scheme but there is not the call for the uptake.

23058. Clerk’s Report. To receive an update of outstanding matters from the previous meetings. The external auditor has sent an email announcing the closure of the audit for financial year 22/23. The exercise of public rights was announced for between 5th June- 14th July 23 – there have been no public requests. The final total for the extra funding previously agreed was £93.13 with the rest being covered by the National Lottery Grant for £1,150 received in March.

23059. Finance: 2023/24

a) To receive the clerk's report on payments between meetings

To note VAT received on 8/6/23 - Amount £345.18 Bank Bal £8,802.53

It was resolved to accept the clerk’s report on the payments made between meetings.

b) To note that VAT of £345.18 for financial year 2022 -23 has been received. It was noted that £345.18 has been received from the VAT reclaim for financial year 2022-23.

c)To review and consider approval of bank reconciliations. It was resolved to approve the bank reconciliation.

d)To review and consider the quarterly budget spend. It was resolved to approve the quarterly budget spend.

23060. To consider the appointment of the Internal Auditor for the financial year 2023- 24. After discussion it was resolved to appoint LALC as the Internal Auditor for the financial year 2023-24.

23061. To consider and review Asset Register. The Asset Register was reviewed and it was resolved that all was correct.

23062. To consider and review the following policies.

a) Health & Safety policy. It was resolved that the review of the Health & Safety Policy be accepted.

b) Equality and Diversity Policy. It was resolved that the review of the Equality and Diversity Policy be accepted.

c) Publication Scheme. It was resolved that the review of the Publication Scheme be accepted.

d) Freedom of Information Request. It was resolved that the review of the Freedom of Information Request be accepted.

23063.To consider and approve an amendment to Standing Orders, reducing the quorate number from 4 to 3. After discussion it was resolved to keep the quorate number of Cllrs at 4 in the Standing Orders.

23064. Training. To consider any future training for the clerk and Councillors. As the meeting had been delayed by two weeks the clerk had already attended to Annual Conference. Cllr Peace had wanted to attend to Chairman’s workshop but it was already fully prescribed. There will be new Cllr training on zoom now that the large batch of in person training had been completed. Cllrs Smallwood and Sylvester could attend new Cllr training when new dates are released.

23065. To receive an update on the responsibility of Aisby Beck. SKDC have previously cleaned Aisby Beck once a year or when blocked by employing Black Sluice. Going forward this will not be the case and as it is a riparian drain it will be the landowners responsibility. 

23066. To consider the need of a grass cutting program for Mill Lane and other areas on an ad-hoc basis. This subject has been discussed on a number of occasions for the verge along Mill Lane. It was resolved that the Council adopt ‘No Mow May’ to allow the wild flowers to blossom and give food for wildlife. For the rest of the growing season the verge can be cut from the speed sign to just pass the bus stop. The clerk will collect quotes and place the item on the agenda for September.

23067. To consider an inspection of the Parish Council owned trees around the playground, owing to Canker. It was resolved to defer the item to the next meeting due to only one quote being received.

23068. To consider updating the village maps and adding ‘What 3 Words’ to each household. The village maps were originally created by volunteers and it was resolved that the Parish Council would adopt them, with the clerk to update them. It was resolved not to add ‘What 3 Words’ to the maps and to let the home owners decide if they want to add the words to any delivery.

23069. Planning matters: 

a) New – To discuss the planning applications received from SKDC

b) Current

TRO - Mill Lane, Oasby, 30 MPH speed Limit - Pending decision. (Advertised in the paper).

S23/0874 (McSpadden) – 83 Village Street, Oasby, Lincolnshire, NG32 3NB – Approved.

S23/0660 (Gelder Group) – Folly Farm Cottage, Village Street, Oasby, NG32 3NA - Approved

S22/2067 (Wild) - Honeysuckle Cottage, Mill Lane, Oasby, Lincolnshire, NG32 3NA – Approved

23070. To consider items for inclusion on the agenda for the next meeting.  Items for the next agenda to consider ways that the Council can promote itself.

23071. Date and time of next Parish Council Meeting Tuesday 12th September at 7.00pm. 

The meeting closed at 8.59pm