May 2024 Minutes
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 20 May 2024 at St. Peter's Church, Louth Road, South Somercotes
Present: Chair Cllr Antony Baker
Vice-Chair Cllr Brian Lewis
Cllr David Poulter
Cllr Julie Stretton
Also Present: Clerk Mrs Binal Sawjani
Members of Public No members of the Public
District/County Cllr Daniel McNally
Item 0524/01 Welcome to the meeting: Chair opened meeting at 18.03 and welcomed the councillors and district councillor.
Chair invited Cllr McNally to speak:
- 4th carbon management plan to reduce carbon emissions for this area Initial Action Plan 2020-2025 – Lincolnshire County Council the Cllr stressed that this would be the hardest stage and very challenging. There is also an food caddy initiative to roll out to homes across the county.
- Council has renewed the contract for 40 – 74 years olds to have a public health check. Council to let parishioners know as people can ask for themselves from their GP’s.
- There is funding available for the Community Foundation Village Project - £25k allocated and chair asked if we would qualify for the works we would like to do in the parish. Cllr McNally will send the criteria and the council can apply.
- The RSPB is leading a bid to get parts of the East's coastline named a UNESCO World Heritage site. An application for wetlands along the East of England's coast to be added to the UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites has been submitted to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It comes after a new report indicates the east coast is one of the world’s most important places for nature
- Stop pylons campaign continues and further consultation with groups and landowners continues. Grimsby to Walpole | National Grid ET discussion about the size of the substation has been rumoured to be size of Alford.
- Holiday activities programme funded by the government is still available for school holidays. More details Holiday Activities and Food Programme – Lincolnshire County Council
- Department for Work and Pensions’ £842 million Household Support Fund extension comes into from April 2024. Extra money given to councils to provide further help to most in need with essential food and energy costs. Vulnerable households and families encouraged to check their council website for details of support available Household Support Fund – Lincolnshire County Council
- The Environmental Crime Partnership has been setup to protect Lincolnshire’s environment by working together to effectively tackle waste related crimes. Their aim is to:
- Reduce and prevent fly tipping across Lincolnshire, by bringing all relevant agencies together and working in partnership. And to find new and innovative methods for closer working, both operationally and strategically.
- Campaigning for tougher legal action on fly-tippers (much discussions on places in the parish where this occurs). The partnership have contributed to the campaign lobbying central Government for tougher legal action on fly-tippers. Currently, sentences handed down do not always match the severity of the offence committed or fairly reflect the costs incurred by the public purse. This means that punishment for the offence of fly-tipping does not act as a suitable deterrent. Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership (lincolnshire-pcc.gov.uk). A scheme called ‘catch a tosser’ will accept footage from dashcams if fly tipping has been captured. Report fly-tipping form v2022 - About this form - NORTHLINCS.GOV.UK (achieveservice.com)
Outstanding Matters for Cllr:
- There is a hedge in village that needed cutting back. After continuous attempts to call on the resident no action has been taken. Cllr McNally advised that a legal letter can be sent but in his experience this has not really worked.
- Road repairs – minor road repairs will continue to be made throughout the area but the work on South Road has been scheduled for August 2024 at the Cllr request.
Cllr McNally left 19.33
Item 0524/02 Election of Chairman: The chair asked for nominations and Cllr Antony Baker was proposed, seconded and RESOLVED. Declaration of Acceptance was signed.
Item 0524/03 Handover to new Chairman: Not required
Item 0524/04 Appointment - Vice Chair: Cllr Brian Lewis was proposed, seconded and RESOLVED
Item 0524/05 To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and to consider any requests for dispensations: None
Item 0524/06 Apologies for absence received and approve: Apologies received and accepted from Cllr Rickett
Item 0524/07 To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and to consider any requests for dispensations: None
Item 0524/08 To approve the draft notes as minutes of the last meeting held on the 4 April 2024: It was RESOLVED to adopt and sign the notes as accurate minutes, and they were dated and signed by the Chairman.
Item 0524/09 AGAR Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) 2022/23: Clerk reported that further information was needed and the current AGAR form needs to be amended and resent. This process has been done with Chair signature and additional information and amended AGAR resent to the external auditors. The 2022/23 AGAR has been closed and certificate has been sent to council. AGAR 2023/24 internal auditors meeting scheduled 31 May 2024.
Item 0524/10 Revised ELDC Code of Conduct: To consider the recommendation of the Parish Clerk regarding the adoption of the updated Policy Adoption - Revised ELDC Complaints Procedure to ensure consistency with the revised and approved East Lindsey District Council. All other policies were revised and adopted by the parish council and will be reviewed annually or as legislation dictates
Item 0524/11 Expenses: To receive and note expenses for the following items: Key cutting for the church £9, Event budget for the forthcoming events £300 details below.
Item 0524/12 Bank Account and online banking: To receive an update from the Parish Clerk in respect of the recent changes to the Parish Councils bank accounts. Bank reconciliation completed and provisions need to be made for reserve saving account.
Item 0524/13 Training – Staff and elected Members: To receive the latest training availability via the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC) and consider and book relevant places for staff and elected Members. Chairs training for two Cllr. Request to attend the LALC summer conference. See below in correspondence section.
Item 0524/14 Future Events Update:
- Annual Parish Meeting 18 May - the event went very well and the chair expressed his thanks to all that had helped out on the day. Some interest form the parishioners to co-opt council members
- Commemoration of D Day 8 June – There will be refreshments, raffle, war memorabilia, video and music playing. The event will be like a street style party. Residents will be asked for donations. Donation box will be in around in prominent positions. Event was published in village magazine and insert as well to secure a good turnout.
An event budget £300 has been requested for items needed for all the event – glasses, flags, banner, union jack cloths, warden plastic helmet, table cloths, plates, napkins, bunting, soldiers portrait, white tack, Perspex display stands, speakers, projector and food. Many of these will be used for all events that are organised on behalf of parish.
- Summer Fete and Dog Show – To be reviewed at the next meeting after D-Day event.
Item 0524/15 Parish Matters To receive updates from in respect of:
- Hedge cutting – As mentioned before another attempt by letter to see if we can get the resident onside
- Defibrillator – A request from defibrillator company needed a check to see if there is a fault. Chair checked and our defib is fine.
- Street furniture and dog waste bin –Clerk will chased this up with ELDC – nothing to report
- Church conservation meeting update – meeting was good to make contact with the trust but no funds are available including the lighting (replacing light bulbs) in the church. As we have an event on 8 June for the D-Day commemoration it would be worth doing before event. £150 plus VAT and cost of bulbs. This was proposed, seconded and RESOLVED.
- Footpath and parking –Will continue to monitor.
- Rails of church entrance – Proposed that we use David Hobson at £325 and looked at the front area of the church quote £825 which would replace the path back to the front of the church. This was proposed as we would not get other quotes for this type of work. The contractor would also take out the The proposal was seconded and RESOLVED
- Risk Assessment/ PAT testing – Risk assessment has been undertaken for the church including the tip test for grave stones. On the morning of each of the event a review would need to be done. Nothing more to report as we are looking at the path outside of the church. Clerk has risk assessment on file. The Church conservation meeting raised another point regarding PAT of electrical items in the church are taken completed by the trust every year. This raised a point of testing the electrical items that the parish owns. Propose to obtain quotes.
- Clerk probation – Staffing Committee would like to report that it has considered and discussed the clerks employment following the completion of her probation period.16 April 2024, and are very satisfied with the performance of the clerk who has undoubtedly kept the council on track of their legal responsibilities and has proven herself to be an asset to South Somercotes Parish Council.
Item 0524/16 Correspondence: Election of Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire area is Mr Marc Jones. LALC summer conference is on 24 July and clerk would like to represent the council at the event as would two of the councillors.
Item 0524/17 Future meeting dates: To note the date of the next meeting 9 July, 3 September
No meeting on 24 June.
Item 0524/18 Financial matters:
- Bank balances 19 April 2024 £19,947.16
- To note income for April 2024 from Precept £4,410 April 2024 To be deposit in account £8.10 Book fund, £99.21 donation Pauline Jackson and Julie Stretton from Kings Coronation event last year. Both amounts given to clerk in cash.
- To authorise the signing of orders for payment for May 2024
Meeting ended 19.33