January 2020 Minutes
KEXBY PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 16th January 2020
Present; R. Gore (Chair), C. Hunt, S. Farrow, C. Cuckson, L. Hoggarth, D. Edwardson, D. Forrest
Apologies; None
01/20 Minutes of meeting held on 14th November 2019 were approved and signed. Minutes of a finance meeting held on the 8th January to discuss alternative banking arrangements were also approved and signed.
02/20 Clerk’s Report on progress since last meeting – this had been circulated and was approved. Several issues raised at the Neighbourhood Plan drop-in session had been successfully addressed, one on-going issue was the siting of the second defibrillator. A site had been agreed with the residents of a private dwelling and work was progressing with WLDC. Lincolnshire Highways had consulted Councillor Butroid (the local County Councillor) regarding the issue of speeding traffic on Kexby Lane. He had supported the Parish Council’s request for an investigation into the need for a speed restriction and this would now take place.
The Clerk had attended a Clerk’s networking day which had not been particularly successful and he would not be attending future such events.
At a recent village hall committee meeting the issue of unreliable Post Office provision had once again been raised.
There had been no improvement since Upton Parish Council had raised the issue with the MP, the Council agreed that the Chairman should follow this up.
Action RG
03/20 Finance Report – the Clerk reported that the finances remained healthy and the budget was still predicting an end of year surplus. It was reiterated that responsibility for the parish cottage, given its age, meant that it was necessary to maintain a reasonable amount in the reserve account.
It was agreed that the precept from WLDC for 2020/21 should be confirmed at £2,000, the same as for the current year. This was signed off and the Clerk would return it to WLDC in time to meet the deadline of 29th January.
Action GP
04/20 Matters outstanding
a) Telephone box -the notice board had not deteriorated further, there was less condensation now that the concrete had dried out and it was agreed that it should be left for the time being.
b) Speed Indicator Device – speeds of up to 70mph were still being recorded, a total of 3,744 vehicles exceeding 40mph had been recorded during December. This was about 11% of the total traffic (33,510 vehicles), further investigation into the main times at which speeding occurred would be conducted with a possible view to seeking police assistance to reduce the incidence. Messages to this effect would be placed on facebook, where people would be asked to like and share, and the village website.
Action CH/GP
c) VE Day 75 Celebrations 8th May – at a recent committee meeting it was agreed that this would take the form of an evening event from 7:00 – 11:00pm in the village hall. It would be an all ticket event to aid catering arrangements, tickets would be £2 and there would be a raffle, funds raised would go to SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association). There would be a short quiz, some (not too energetic) games, live entertainment from a local choir, a disco with 1940s music and a buffet. There had been a request for a grant of up to £500 to support the event, this was proposed by C. Hunt, seconded by D. Edwardson and passed unanimously.
d) Neighbourhood Plan - the working group were working on a tender document to go out to potential consultants shortly so that quotations would be received in good time to prepare a budget to enable a grant application to be submitted to WLDC as soon as the 20/21 funding round opened. The Clerk would circulate a copy from another parish as an example along with the draft terms of reference which had yet to be adopted.
Action GP
The working group were due to meet again on 29th January to finalise a tender document and again on the 5th February to determine which consultants to invite to tender. The Clerk would circulate the tender document after the meeting on the 29th to give councillors the opportunity to comment before it was sent out following the meeting on the 5th February.
Action GP
e) Banking arrangements since there had been several issues with the Nat West account which had proved difficult to resolve following the closure of the local branch it was decided to move the accounts to Barclays. This would enable a move to internet banking which was becoming the norm with most Parish Councils. In order to do this it would be necessary for the Clerk to become a signatory so that they could monitor the account and prepare payments. The Clerk would prepare payments which would then be sent to one of the
Parish Councillors for authorisation before payment was made. This was a change to the current requirement of two Parish Councillors signing each cheque and would therefore require a formal resolution to change the constitution.
RESOLUTION – that the constitution be amended to enable the Clerk to become a signatory on the account to facilitate on-line banking and that on-line payments would require the authorisation of one Parish Councillor.
Motion proposed by S. Farrow, seconded by L. Hoggarth and passed unanimously. The Parish Council signatories would be; R. Gore, S. Farrow and D. Forrest.
f) Tenancy agreement – annual renewal was now mandatory so there was a need to renew the agreement for the parish cottage. The current tenant had occupied the property for six years so it was felt that a rent review was also appropriate. It was decided that the new tenancy agreement should be in place before the review was undertaken so the Chairman agreed to get the tenancy agreement in place before the next meeting and the Clerk would include “rent review” in the agenda for the next meeting.
Action RG/GP
05/20 Correspondence – a list of correspondence had been circulated the main issues arising were;
- Zurich had confirmed that any injuries caused by the telephone box would be covered under the current public liability insurance.
- WLDC had agreed to replace the street signs at the corner of Glentworth Road and High Street.
- LCC would be consulting residents of Kexby Lane on the need for speed restriction.
- LALC training fees for 2020/21 were such that there was no financial advantage in joining their training scheme.
- PAYE was £49.12 in credit, this would be deducted from the next payment.
- The insurance renewal for the parish cottage was due, there was a minor increase from the previous year but this was considered reasonable and it was agreed to pay the renewal.
06/20 Annual Parish Meeting – date agreed Wednesday 20th May
There were no suggestions regarding activities to be included on the evening, attendance tended to be fairly low making it inappropriate to invite a visiting speaker. If any ideas came forward there was adequate time to arrange this at a later date. The meeting would be preceded by the Parish Council meeting as usual and the Clerk would book the village hall.
Action GP
07/20 Any Other Business
a) Website – Lincolnshire County Council (the current hosts) had a new accessible and mobile-friendly website. As a result they were upgrading the Parish Council websites that they currently hosted, making these websites also mobile-friendly. Support for the current website would end on 31st March, after which it would remain active but no back-up support would be available. All existing sites were to be switched off by 30th April. Training sessions for the new site would be arranged and the County Council were requesting venues for this training.
It was agreed that the Parish Council should offer the village hall as a potential venue. If the offer was taken up the Clerk should contact Cllr. Milne who could arrange for Quickline to boost the signal for the training day.
Action GP
b) Potholes – a complaint had been received about these on High Street, one of which was 4” deep. The resident had been advised to report this to Lincolnshire Highways direct but the Clerk would also report the matter via their on-line reporting service. Discussion followed about other potholes throughout the village and the Clerk was asked to check all roads and record them together.
Action GP
08/20 Date and time of next meeting – Thursday 19th March 7:30pm in the village hall
There being no further business the Chairman closed the meeting at 8:45pm