Parish Council Meeting Minutes from Wednesday July 11th 2012

Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held at the North Luffenham Community Centre at 7.30pm on Wednesday July 11th 2012.

 

Present: Cllr. Overington, (Chairman) Cllr Coogan , Cllr Cade, Cllr Ellis, Cllr Read, Cllr Miss Lloyd, & Cllr Tobin

Also in attendance: Mr. I Ferguson, Parish Clerk, County Cllr Miss Waller, and County Cllr Bool

 

PUBLIC FORUM There were 5 members of the Public present including a group of residents who are unhappy about the Digby Farm Compost site. The co-ordinator, Wayne Bishop had 6 questions he wished to put to the Parish Council as follows

What responsibility does the Parish Council have for the site? Answer = none

Does the Parish Council have input to the Environment Agency re the granting of a permit? Answer = No

Will the Parish Council take into account the views of residents in any future similar application? Answer = yes, especially if we are lobbied by concerned residents

Did that happen in the case of Digby Farm? Answer = There have been 4 planning applications re the site but no there was no expression of concern made to the Parish Council until the odour occurred in 2010. However, The PC had registered its concern about the site attracting heavy vehicles. It was noted that any resident can comment on a planning application.

What is the PC’s position re an extension to the site? Answer = It is not possible to say what the PC will decide on any future application

Why was the site positioned so close to the village? Answer = cannot say. The Chairman invited John Ellis who operates the site and was present at the meeting to comment. He said that both Rutland County Council and the Environment Agency had considered the site to be suitable but he sees no need to extend in the future. The tonnage throughput is some 5000 pa although he is licensed to process up to 7000 pa. Mr Ellis said that if the Environment Agency receive a complaint they come out and investigate.

 

There being no further comments from the Public Forum the Meeting Proper was convened.

 

ITEM ACTION
  1. APOLOGIES

Received from Cllr Sewell

 
  1. CODE OF CONDUCT

The existing Code of Conduct had become defunct as at June 30th 2012 and Parish Councils needed to adopt a new code to comply with The Localism Act as soon as possible after that date. Model codes had been produced by NALC and RCC and had been circulated to Councillors before the meeting.

 

AGREED that we would adopt the NALC code as our model.

 

The Chairman proposed 2 further provisions to be added to the NALC code. First, that a member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) should be required to leave the meeting. This proposal was defeated. In respect of the second proposal

 

AGREED that even though a DPI is recorded in the register it should still be declared at the meeting if there is a relevant agenda item.

 

The Clerk then handed out the new “Register of Members’ Interest” forms and asked that they be returned to him by July 25th so that they can be sent to The Monitoring Officer at RCC by the deadline of August 6th 2012.The Clerk will now prepare the North Luffenham Parish Council Code of Conduct as now decided, circulate it, publish it, and send a copy to the Monitoring Officer at RCC.

 

In response to the invitation from RCC, there were no candidates nominated for the RCC Conduct Committee.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All

Clerk

Clerk

Clerk

  1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Read declared an interest in item 6 by virtue of being Chair of Rutland CAB

Cllr Ellis declared an interest in item 9 by virtue of family connection.

 
  1. MINUTES OF MEETING OF MAY 16th 2012

 

The Minutes had been circulated, and proposed by Cllr Tobin and seconded by Cllr Read it was unanimously agreed that they were a true record and were signed by the Chairman at the end of the meeting.

  

 

 

  1. MATTERS ARISING

Pridmore’s Field Nothing further to report. Carry forward

Internal Auditor The Clerk reported that Alan Swindley has agreed to continue in this role

Grass cutting at Ancaster Way The Clerk had now established that the Public areas should be maintained by RCC. The RCC Officer was unwilling to give details of the complaint or complainant but the situation appears to be resolved

Way Leave rent. The Clerk reported that we have hitherto received £28-75 every 5 years in consideration of there being a cable under the Oval. The last two payments were on December 31st 2003 and December 31st 2008. The payments are now changing to £5-75 pa and the payment date is changing hence we received £4-60 as a one-off adjusting payment

Return to External Auditor – The Clerk reported that this was sent on June 20th well in advance of the deadline of July 9th.

Trees on Ketton Road – Nothing further to report. Carry forward.

 

Cllr Sewell 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cllr Sewell

  1. CORRESPONDENCE

Letter from Rutland CAB acknowledging our donation.

Letter from the Audit Commission advising that from September 1st 2012 Grant Thornton will be our external auditors and giving us the opportunity to raise any objection by June 29th. The Clerk contacted members of the Finance Committee about this and none had raised any objection. It appeared to the Clerk that the fee may reduce from £135 to £100.

Letter from Mrs Janet Whittaker re her History and Photographic exhibition at the village Jubilee event. She also enclosed her expenses invoice (listed under item 7). She points out that there is now a sufficiently large amount of archive material to warrant more storage space and Cllr Read agreed to contact Janet to explore possible solutions

Invitation to attend the Institution of Rev David Nicol at Empingham on Sept 6th. The Clerk had sent this to all Councillors on June 25th . The Clerk is required to respond by August 14th if anyone wishes to attend.

  

 

 

 

Clerk

Cllr Read

 

Clerk

7. FINANCEThe Finance report had been circulated prior to the meeting. The Clerk had additionally received an invoice from Rutland County Council for £433 for street lighting.AGREED all the foregoing invoices were approved for payment.Jubilee Finances. Prior to the meeting the Clerk had circulated a report setting out the Financial position emanating from the Jubilee event of June 4th. Cllr Coogan expressed concern that the sum of £531-15 which had been collected on the day by way of donations should not be included in PC funds but should be set aside for further social events to be run by the Jubilee sub-committee which is what the group had wanted. However the Chairman was of the view that this sum should be used to partially offset the cost of the event. The issue was put to the vote

 

AGREED The sum of £531-15 should be used to offset the cost of the Jubilee event.

 

(Cllr Coogan left the meeting at this point)

 Clerk
  1. PLANNING

 

Rose’s Woodyard Development. Cllr Tobin reported that he had had a meeting with the developer and expects a copy of the plans to come through at any time. The only concern on the outline plan is the absence of a footpath on the south side of Edith Weston Road between Oval Close and Woodyard corner. Cllrs Tobin, Overington and Read are meeting with Mark Longhurst of RCC on July 12th to discuss developer contributions. This could include some £35000 for village projects. County Councillor Miss Waller re-iterated that s.106 contributions for education go to the County and are not necessarily passed on to the village.

Warren Lodge, Pilton Road There has been an application for new stables. The Planning committee are not objecting.

Ketton Wind Turbine proposal The Clerk had summarised the purport of the Supplementary Planning document and posted the summary on notice boards together with details of how to submit comments and by when. Cllr Tobin had responded to RCC advising them that the PC supported the content of the document but had no specific comments to add.

 

 
9 DIGBY FARM COMPOST SITECllr Overington reported that both a representative from RCC Planning and the Environment Agency had offered to meet informally with the PC to address any issues and he would like to include Wayne Bishop’s group in this. Cllr Overington will set this up. Cllr Read asked whether the odour problem had increased due to the site taking in green waste and Mr John Ellis confirmed that to be the case. Cllr Overington
  1. COMMUNITY RECREATION FACILITY

There is nothing further to report. Carry forward.

Cllr Read
  1. WEBSITE

Cllr Coogan had circulated a paper on this. It was felt that more work needs to be done before we commit to spending money on this.

 
  1. OVAL REPORT (For this item the Council is acting as Corporate Trustee)

Trees T90/T91/T92 Prior to the meeting the Clerk had circulated 3 quotations for pollarding these 3 trees.

 

AGREED that we would ask Roecliffe to do the work (as it is the cheapest) subject to their providing satisfactory references and insurance certificates.

 

Bottom gate There is nothing further to report.

 

Rising Grass It was decided to leave this as it is to the end of the season

Bulging walls It was decided to review this in the 2013/14 financial year

  1. FIELD GARDENS (For this item the Council is acting as Corporate Trustee)

Allotment complaint letters Cllr Cade reported that he had responded to the letters from Mr Wyatt and Mr Jefferies

Allotments not being maintained Cllr Cade will advise the Clerk who are the holders of such allotments and the Clerk will then write asking them to rectify the situation or risk eviction.

Jubilee Wood In anticipation that we may want to serve notice on the tenant before October 11th 2012 we need to start now getting permission for change of use. This urgency is also relevant as planting needs to start by December 2013 in order to qualify for all available grants. If the project were to proceed, the area to be wooded has yet to be decided. It therefore makes sense for the application to include the whole area as the cost, in any event, is approximately £350.

 

AGREED we will apply for planning permission for all 5 ha.

 

14. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

This will be on Thursday September 13th 2012 (note – this is a change from that originally planned)

Clerk 

 

Cllr Sewell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cllr Cade

Clerk

 

 

 

 

Cllr Overington

Clerk

 

 

 

 

 There being no further business the meeting finished at 9-15 pm

 

 

Signed………………………………….Chairman Date__________________

 

 

 

Finance Report – Positions at July 4th 2012

 

Monies paid since last meeting

A Neil Atkins – bins

£75-00

B Rutland CAB £100-00
C Alan Swindley – Internal audit fee

£100-00

D Colin Heasell – work during March/April 2012

£135-00

E The Convenience Co.

£570-60

F AON – insurance premium

£391-21

G Rutland Marquee Co.

£1540-00

H Ian Ferguson – pay & expenses due June 30th 2012

£734-73

I Arts for Rutland

£50-00

J Hill-fort tree care

£1500-00

K Event Insurance Services

£253-00

L Norton rosettes

£36-72

M Truckers Ceildh band

£650-00

N Stamford Brass

£350-00

O Hilary Hudson re Jubilee teas

£257-06

P Spiegls re Jubilee Printing

£200-31

Q Carrier bag shop (Jubilee)

£41-10

R Sallyann Marson (Face painting)

£127-15

S Mrs S Robinson (Bunting/flags etc)

£140-92

Account balances

 

a HSBC Current a/c

£4,920-38

b HSBC Money Manager a/c

£5,427-60

 

To be paid

 

A Colin Heasell – work in May/June 2012

£330-00

B E.ON – replace 2 faulty lamps

£145-20

C Janet Whittaker – history display

£299-13

D Woody electrical – Jubilee

£150-00

E RCC Street lighting

£433-00

 

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