AC PC Minutes 2017 11 29
MINUTES OF A PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 29 NOVEMBER 2017
Held in All Cannings Village Hall, All Cannings on Wednesday 29th November 2017
PRESENT: Cllr Gray (Chair), Cllr P Whitehead, Cllr Butcher (2nd half), Cllr Tilley, Cllr McDonald, Cllr Daw, Cllr Gay, Cllr Williams, RFO K Asbury, Parish Clerk E Comfort.
PUBLIC: 1
Declaration of Interests: 0
Public Welcomed
Meeting opened by Cllr Gray at 7.30 pm.
Appointment of new parish clerk: [Redacted] Emma Comfort has been approached to take on the role. She has provided Cllr Gray with references and her CRB check.
Her appointment was proposed by Cllr Gray, seconded by Cllr McDonald. She was unanimously voted in.
ACTION Emma Comfort has the contract which she will read and return to Cllr Gray ASAP.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting on October 25th were approved and signed by Cllr Gray.
Matters arising:
Cllr McDonald has not been received e- mails. ACTION Cllr Gray to check distribution list and address
REPORTS
a) PCC and Churchyard. Cllr Tilley/Belinda Mead (public) reported that the church was shortly going to lose 2 church wardens.
b) Cemetery. Cllr Butcher not present but Cllr Williams had information from her. The branches have been removed and burnt. The soil still has to be removed, but this had to wait until the neighbouring farmer’s crop had been harvested. To be chased.
3 Memorials have been dislodged, but can be easily fixed.
The side gate isn’t shutting. ACTION Cllr Gay to look at it
c) Village Green. Cllr Gay hasn’t checked the equipment recently but has received no reports of damage.
The grass cutting has stopped for the season. The new tenders need to be put out.
ACTION Cllr Gray. Decision to be made by February 2018.
d) Village Hall. We have a new Best Kept Village Plaque to go on the wall. Cllr Tilley suggested removal of the earliest plaque, which would be kept in the village chest, and so make room for the new award. Cllr Gray suggesting keeping them all up as a measure of how we value to the awards. We will have a new wooden board made to hold all the current awards and with room for more. There was discuss on the placement of the board. Cllr McDonald called for a vote whether they should stay where they were or be moved to the side. Cllr Gray voted to keep them as they were, the other 5 voted to have them moved to above the notice boards. We need permission from the village hall committee to put the board up. ACTION Cllr Tilley will organize the board and request funds if necessary, but only if it will be more than £50.
e)
Cllr Butcher arrived at this point.
f) Pre –School. Nothing to report
g) Glebe fields and Allotments. The grass has been sown. Cllr McDonald will contact Sue Williams and ask her to plant bulbs.
Cllr McDonald has strimmed the orchard.
The roadside hedge needs to be tidied up. The PC will remind the contractors that it is their responsibility.
h) Primary School. Xmas fare on December 1st. We are waiting for the travel plan for the school before we can discuss the option for a dropped curb sited in Tumlins.
i) Footpaths. Footpath 25 cannot be found as it is very overgrown. Paul Millard has been contacted by Cllr Gay. It appears that it goes through some gardens so will be left to Wiltshire Council to contact any landowner that has caused an obstruction to it. It was recorded that the landowner is responsible for the upkeep and safety of any stiles on their land. To be re-visited in Spring.
Footpath 14 - Paul Millard has no objections to staggered barriers being placed at the end. The PC should approach the Area Board for financial support. Cllr Butcher to get quotes for next meeting.
j) Parish Stewards. The Parish Clerk is to liaise with them. Cllr Whitehead will send names and Cllrs Daw and McDonald will arrange to meet them, to discuss who is responsible for what.
k) Maintenance contracts: They have been revised and advertised on Facebook and the PC website.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS
No new ones.
No objections were raised to the tree work to be carried out at both 29 The Street, and Richmond House.
CLERK’S REPORT
Admin costs for cemetery are to be deferred until 2018.
Cllr Butcher to report on the Grant of Burial for Riesley-Pritchard at next meeting
Wiltshire Council are to plant 10,000 trees throughout Wiltshire to commemorate the fallen of Wiltshire in the First World War. Each Parish may decide where they want them planted. All Cannings have 24 trees to plant. Suggestions will be discussed at next meeting.
ACTION Cllr Daw will organise a beacon to be lit on 11/11/2018
ACTION Cllr Butcher to follow up telephone enquiry from Mr Maslen
ADOPTION OF FINANCIAL REGULATIONS:
Cllr McDonald thanked Cllr Butcher for drawing them up, as this has been a lot of work.
The word “Chair” has replaced “Chairman”, and blue highlights are now in black. The wording has been altered in sections 3.1 and 3.3.
The bank statements have to be signed off every 3 months by a non-signatory council member. Cllr McDonald will step down from being a signatory and be responsible for auditing the bank statements.
Next year the wording BACS and CHAPS will need to be replaced with “faster payments”.
Cllr Gray signed all pages of the regulations
The adoption of the financial regulations was voted in unanimously.
Emma Comfort will scan and save a copy.
All documents are saved both electronically and to dropbox which is encrypted.
Kate Asbury and Emma Comfort will change all the passwords and will give a copy of them all to Cllr Gray in a sealed envelope.
Discussion of Clerk’s Hours
[ITEM REDACTED]
RFO Report
There should be separate bank accounts for money raised from Concert at the Kings and the play equipment to ensure everything is clear and transparent. They should be savings accounts to save on bank charges. This received a unanimous vote.
Kate Asbury and Emma Comfort will organize the passwords as above.
Cllr McDonald will meet with Kate Asbury to ask/answer any questions
The amount of payments or wages paid should not appear on the agenda – only that payment has been made.
Concert at the Kings has given us £2,500. Cllr Williams to ask the school if they have any projects we could donate to.
Kate Asbury gave details of bank accounts, payments out and monies received.
The precept was agreed to be increased by 8.49% to £15,525.
There was a unanimous vote to be signed up to the ICO data protection. ACTION Cllr Butcher to start the application.
AOB
There are tramlines in the village for speed checks. If there is a need for new signage this may cost up to £3,000, of which the PC will be liable for 25%.
The time scale for staff appraisals should be posted on the calendar so that they aren’t missed.
Cllr McDonald mentioned that a resident of Townsend was putting his lawn cuttings in the soakaway by his house. He will request that he stops
There being no other business the meeting closed at 22.30
Chair: Date:
Next meeting Wednesday January 31st 7.30pm in All Cannings Village Hall.