|
Minutes of the full Parish Council held on Tuesday 7th. August 2007
In the Community Room of St Peter and St Pauls Church Lynsted.
Present:
Councillors Baxter (Chairman) ; Bowling ; Broughton ; Champion ; Darling ; Disney
English and Jones.
In attendance:
Cllr. A. Bowles and Cllr .R.Barnicott together with two members of the public .
In opening the meeting Cllr Baxter recorded on behalf of the Parish Council his thanks to the outgoing clerk Liz Attwood and acknowledged her work for the Council over the few months she had been with us. He was sorry the association had not worked out due to the workload of our Parish Council.
He acknowledged the offer of help from Cllr. English to take the Minutes of this meeting.
1. Apologies for Absence.
Apologies for absence were received from :
Cllr Dawes due to holiday commitments.
2. Welcome to new Councillor.
The Chairman welcomed Cllr Broughton to the Parish Council and hoped he would take an active interest in its work.
3. Declarations of Interest.
There were no Declarations of Interest recorded on any items of the published agenda.
4. Time set aside for members of the public to address the Council.
Members of the public in attendance did not wish to address the Council.
5. To confirm the Minutes of the previous Meeting held on 25th June 2007.
Subject to the following amendment - para. 8.0 to read “ 8 of the 12 properties will be available for rent “
Cllr Disney proposed these be signed as a correct record, seconded Cllr Champion
and unanimously agreed.
6. Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes.
6.1. Page 51/2007 para. 16.3 ownership of land - Cllr Jones had no answer as yet.
6.2. Page 53/2007 para 19.0 it was confirmed no response had been received from SBC regarding parking of lorry cabs on rural lanes overnight. Action the Chairman to follow up.
7. Affordable Housing.
Cllr Disney reported he had spoken to Alison Thompson and there appears to be a slight delay in proceedings at the Vigo Farm site over the discovery of protected lizards.
8. Parish Plan.
8.1.Cllr. Disney, updating on the Greenstreet Design Study reported that £8,000.00 of the required £10,000 -00 had so far been received / promised.
Following a question from Cllr.Jones regarding what agreement had been reached with Teynham Parish Council. Cllr. Disney explained that the outcome would be an equal partnership in line with the draft agreement previously drawn up and submitted to Teynham Parish Council. At this stage Cllr. Jones requested a copy of the draft agreement.
Following on from this a general discussion ensued on items to be considered at the joint meeting. Which included replacement costs for insurance purposes of the Jubilee Pump on London Road. Cllr. Champion reported he would be updating the joint meeting on the present situation at the Playing Fields and discussing it’s future.
8.2. A report was received from the Environmental Working Group and Cllr. Baxter explained this would form part of these minutes
9. Phase 2 Footway Lynsted Lane.
Cllr. Disney reported that Mike Knowles of SBC had viewed the site and his estimate of cost was £16,000 –00 subject to a retaining wall not being required.
It was agreed, if this was the cost we should pursue the matter and go ahead. In the meantime a meeting should be set up with Mike Knowles of SBC and Mr. Haratbar of KCC Highways.
10. Finance.
The Chairman acknowledged the offer of help with finances from Cllr. Champion.
10.1. Expenditure update as previously requested, was noted.
10.2. Payments requested / to be agreed.
10.2.1 £120-30 contribution towards insurance of Pump payable to Teynham Parish Council. Proposed Cllr Darling that this sum to be paid, in the meantime details of sum assured and relevant documentation be requested from TPC. Seconded Cllr. Jones and unanimously agreed.
Action Cllr. Baxter to contact TPC Clerk for details.
10.2.2 £51-64 Edf replacement lamps following vandalism. Before payment it was agreed to ask the nature of vandalism as it was reported the inner lamps needed replacement but not the outer globes. Action the Chairman to follow up.
10.2.3 2007/2008 membership to ACRK £35–00 plus request for a further donation. Proposed Cllr Jones that membership be paid only, no further donation. Seconded Cllr Disney and unanimously agreed.
10.2.4 Request from CPRE to sale raffle tickets it was generally agreed not to carry this out.
10. 2.5 £ 58-66 to Cllr Baxter for new clerks newspaper advert.
10.2.6 £ 20-00 to Cllr Baxter for purchase of school book tokens.
10.2.7 £35-00 renewal of Registration as Data Controller ( Freedom of Information Act ).
Proposed Cllr Jones the above three items be paid. Seconded Cllr Darling and unanimously agreed.
10.3 It was noted the sum of £711-77 received in respect of VAT repayment.
10.4 General discussion on Subsidiarity Grant -- no decision taken.
10.5 It was noted the queries from the Audit Commission had been answered.
10.6 Additional invoice received from SBC in respect of election expenses for the sum of £832 – 71 This as a result of a notification sent by SBC 12th December 2006, unfortunately this was never drawn to the attention of the parish council. Copies of this letter were available for each member.
In opening the discussion the Chairman felt this was an unfair charge that singled out Parish Councils who promoted the democratic process.
Proposed Cllr Jones that we write to SBC asking them to review the situation and agree to us paying a partial amount. Seconded Cllr Bowling and unanimously agreed.
At this stage Cllr Jones warned that it was important to keep track of the finances as a result it was Proposed Cllr Disney that Cllr Champion be allowed time to look at the finances and report to the Finance Committee. Seconded Cllr Bowling and unanimously agreed.
Items 11 and 12.
- Cllr Darling updated the members on the work of the Standards Committee, there was an ongoing review of the work of the Clerk and the criteria for an annual performance check .
- The general feeling was that it would be in the best interests of the parish council for the new clerk to be self employed they were, however, still seeking guidance on this matter.
- Standing Orders were last reviewed in December 2005 these should be reviewed on an annual basis and submitted with recommendations in time for the Annual General Meeting.
- Regarding Quality Status Council it was recommended not to pursue this just now bearing in mind the considerable workload of the Council and the fact we are without a clerk.
- A Risk Assessment Strategy for the Council was being worked on at present.
- At this time both Cllr’s Disney and Broughton expressed concern at the workload being pressed on the Council by improving governance proceedures.
- Proposed Cllr Darling that the Parish Council adopt the Code of Conduct including para. 12.2. Seconded Cllr Disney and unanimously agreed.
- The Chairman took the opportunity to remind all members to complete the Register of Interest forms and return to him just as soon as possible. As required he would enter them in the Red Interest Book held by the Parish Council and send copies to the Monitoring Officer at SBC.
Cllr Darling offered her apologies and left the meeting at 9.00pm.
13. The Chairman reported, as a result of the newspaper advert there were six applicants for the post of Parish Clerk.The interviewing panel had met and selected three applicants for interview these would be held on Friday 17th. August 2007.
14. Arrangements for carrying out the Clerks duties.
The Chairman explained he had accepted Cllr English’s offer of help to assist him in the day to day running of the Clerks duties.
In addition he had accepted offers of help from Cllr Champion to oversee the finances and keep the Chairman informed of any important items that needed attention.
The Chairman had further accepted the offer of help to oversee the Orchard Account from Cllr Disney who would work closely with Cllr Champion.
In explaining the situation the Chairman stated this was a particularly trying time for the Council and appealed for understanding and consideration from all members.
15. SBC Corporate Plan.
It was noted that comments were invited to be returned by 21st September 2007 .
Cllr Jones requested sight of the plan and any comments he might have would be directed to the Chairman who would respond on behalf of the Council by the deadline date.
16. Consider how to deal with pre-planning applications from Developers.
Cllr Jones submitted a paper outlining his thoughts which favoured an early engagement with developers and private applicants alike which could be of benefit to the Parish Council and the community as a whole via planning gain.
General discussion was opened , the outcome agreed to include this as an agenda item at the next meeting when a firm proposal would be decided upon.
17. Faversham and Swale East Forum.
Cllr Champion had attended this meeting on behalf of the Council he was disappointed with the meeting and questioned the need for future attendance.
18. Reports.
18 .1 KAPC The next meeting was scheduled for Monday 3rd September 2007.
18.2 Playing Fields - Cllr Champion stated the Minutes of their future meetings would form the basis of his reports. In the meantime Cllr Jones agreed to scan the latest Minutes of 24th May 2007 and distribute to the members.
18.3 Lighting - Cllr Champion reported on his latest survey of our lighting columns of which 3 columns were obstructed by foliage and one had its globe missing a report would go to Edf.
18.4 Footpaths - No report available.
18.5 Tree Warden - Nothing to report.
18.6 Transport and Highways. - The Chairman reported on the meeting with a representative from KCC Highways in which he drew attention to a number of outstanding repairs etc that needed completing.
18.7 Police Liaison - It was noted the PCSO for this area had accepted an invitation to attend the next meeting.
18.8 Planning Committee
- The Chairman reported two applications had been received since the last meeting these were for the Teynham side of the A2 namely a revised application for Sandown Cottages, and signage for the Co-op in London Road.
- (18.9) The application for four flats at the Fox P H had been put back for redesigning.
- Conservatory at 17 St Pauls Court had been allowed
- Variation to tree preservation order at 9 The Vallance allowed.
- It was noted a new application for Norton Ash has been submitted.
18.10 Orchard Committee - Copy of Minutes submitted as a report.
Cllr Disney reported on a very successful Cherry Day at which approx. 150 people had attended resulting in a overall profit of £143 -00
18.11 Website - A summary of website visits submitted by Nigel Heriz-Smith was acknowledged.
Cllr Jones suggested when the new Clerk was in place electronic copies of past Minutes should be made to CD’s.
19. Risk Assessment Strategy. - previously covered.
Clerks Correspondence - list only to be circulated the Chairman to highlight items to be attended to.
20. Future Meeting Dates - noted
21. Any Other Important Business for information only.
There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.50pm..
22. Date, Time and Venue of next Meeting.
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as Tuesday 18th September 2007 at 7.30pm in the Belle Friday Centre, London Road, Lynsted.
Minutes prepared by Cllr. T.M. English.
|
