May 2022 Minutes Annual Parish Council Meeting
Minutes from the Annual Parish Council Meeting, which was held in Southrey Village Hall on Thursday 19th May at 7pm
Attendees
Cllr Robin Darby – Chairman
Cllr Peter Waddington – Vice Chair
Cllr Malcolm Speed
Cllr Luke Cluett
Cllr Frank Bates
Cllr John Papworth
Cllr Mary Corbould arrived late (see minutes for arrival)
Anna Lawson – Clerk/RFO
Laura Allen – Admin Assistant
Absences
Cllr Charles Shaw
Members of the Public
None present
Meeting commenced at 7.00pm
1-2022/23 Election of Chair. To elect the Chair of the Council for the forthcoming year 2022-2023. To receive the Chair’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
PROPOSED Cllr Waddington SECONDED Cllr Corbould to elect Cllr Robin Darby as the Chair, with six in favour and one abstention.
Declaration of acceptance of office signed by Cllr Robin Darby and co-signed by the Clerk.
2-2022/23 Election of Vice-Chair. To elect the Vice-Chair of the Council for the forthcoming year 2022-2023. To receive the Vice-Chair’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
PROPOSED Cllr Corbould SECONDED Cllr Speed to elect Cllr Peter Waddington as the Vice-Chair, with five in favour, one against and one abstention.
Declaration of acceptance of office signed by Cllr Peter Waddington and co-signed by the Clerk.
3-2022/23 Apologies for Absence. To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Clerk prior to the meeting.
Apologies received from Cllr Shaw due to illness. The Chairman wished him well and a speedy recovery, and informed the council that he hopes to be back and serving the council as soon as possible.
4-2022/23 To receive a report from the Chairman.
The Annual Parish Meeting
The Chairman acknowledged that the Annual Parish Meeting went very well, positives included the annual awards being well received among residents and that we may also have a couple of potential candidates for future councillors.
The Fire on Station Road
The Chairman thanked the local and wider emergency services for bringing it under control in time and also being thankful due to favourable weather conditions. This occurrence also highlighted the important issue of not being included in any emergency planning and that if the fire had gotten worse, points of contact were needed to assist in any evacuation of homeowners or sharing of information.
The Chairman concluded hopes to be included in any future emergency action plans and that we would continue to open lines of communication and engage with the wider emergency services to be more proactive.
Our Handyman
The Chairman commended John Major our handyman for all his hard work. The grass and the benches are looking very nice and it is to his credit to have such a good show in the centre of the village.
5-2022/23 To receive declarations of interest under the Localism Act 2011 – being any pecuniary interest in agenda items not previously recorded on Member’s Register of Interests.
None received.
6-2022/23 To receive and consider any dispensation requests on agenda items and decide whether they are to be granted.
None received.
7-2022/23 To approve as a correct record the notes of the meeting held on 21st April 2022 and to authorise the Chair to sign the official minutes.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Speed and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to approve the open session minutes.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Bates and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to approve the closed session minutes.
8-2022/23 To agree the dates of Parish Council & Council Committee meetings for 2022-2023. Dates proposed are the third Thursday of every month with the exception of August and December; 16th June 2022; 21st July 2022; 15th September 2022; 20th October 2022; 17th November 2022; 19th January 2023; 16th February 2023; 16th March 2023; 20th April 2023; 18th May 2023.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Waddington and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
9-2022/23 To agree:
- Membership of standing committee’s
The Personnel Review Committee requires a minimum of three members.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Corbould and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to appoint Cllr Shaw, Cllr Speed and Cllr Papworth.
- Chair of standing committee’s
This item was referred to be discussed in a separate committee meeting.
- Date of meetings of standing committee’s
This item was referred to be discussed in a separate committee meeting.
- Council sub committee’s and membership.
It was expressed that there should be a St Oswald’s sub-committee but we are not in a position to do that until more councillors are recruited and that we would see how the year progresses.
10-2022/23 To receive and consider a report from the Clerk to the Council on any outstanding matters and correspondence received since the meeting of 21st April 2022.
Clerks Report:
The fire this Sunday again highlighted the vulnerability of our area from the nature of some of our local businesses. Our thanks go to Bardney Fire Fighters who were on call on Sunday and whose quick response and actions prevented the situation from deteriorating further, however it is disappointing that emergency support from LCC and WLDC did not occur again, especially as the fumes were highly toxic. Residents were very lucky that the prevailing wind was away from Bardney and not in its usual direction.
No formal instruction was made to residents other than two Twitter posts at 6.45pm and 10.22pm. Twitter is not regarded as a formal means of emergency communication when dealing with a regional incident. Sadly the formal system of ‘Stay in, Tune In’ did not take place. It must also be noted that if the wind direction had changed then residents would have had to have been evacuated. When this occurs Parish Councils are expected to step in and assist and therefore BGPC should have been contacted in readiness.
It is disappointing that this failure occurred again following the issues with the flooding in November 2019 and the fact that we met with the team last year.
Plans for the Jubilee are going well and £250 of vouchers have been received from Lincolnshire Co-op, which will be spread around the various groups who are holding events that weekend.
The grass cutters have been working in the cemetery today and have been reminded about strimming around the graves.
We are currently chasing insurance quotes due to several companies pulling out of the sector, which unfortunately means that it is taking longer than usual. Quotes so far have also been significantly higher than last year and this does seem to be the norm across the sector.
The Chairman and I met with the Acting Inspector for the Nettleham Neighbourhood Policing team last month where we had an open and frank discussion about all issues facing our community at present.
The Internal Auditor visited the other week and passed all items however he did raise an issue in relation to the relationship and practices between BGPC and Bardney Cemetery Improvement Team.
Two new benches have been installed on the Village Green and many thanks go to Cllr Bates for his assistance.
Over the coming days bunting will be installed around all the villages and the planters will be made up with red, white and blue petunias.
11-2022/23 Financial matters:
- To approve the bank reconciliation statement for April 2022.
Bardney Group Parish Council
Bank Reconciliation for April 2022 as at 30.04.22
Balance as at 01.04.22 £30,619.00
Total income £75866.08
Admin 824.70
Salaries 4564.25
Handyman 117.85
Grasscutting 1348.51
Villages 8.44
Grant 144.00
Event 1380.00
Allotment 13.28
Community land 22.18
Councillor Training 30.00
CIL 2312.40
Total expenditure £10,765.61
Balance as at 30.04.22 £95,719.47
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Waddington and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
- To ratify payments of accounts, salaries, BACS payments & payments already made.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Waddington and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
- To approve signatories for bank accounts.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Corbould and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
- To ensure compliance with external audit requirements:
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Speed and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to ensure compliance.
- To consider the Accounting Statements by the members meeting as a whole;
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Speed and UNANIMOUSLY resolved consider accounting statements.
- To approve the Accounting Statements by resolution;
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Speed and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to approve the accounting statements.
- To ensure the Accounting Statements are signed and dated by the person presiding at the meeting at which that approval is given.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Waddington and UNANIMOUSLY resolved to sign and date the accounting statements.
12-2022/23 To consider the revised price increase from the grass-cutter.
The revised price increase from the grass cutter was now offered at 2% and was a reasonable counter offer after further negotiation. It was agreed to accept the increase and review the pricing in another year.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Speed and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
13-2022/23 To consider planting bulbs on the banking adjacent to the Cemetery
It was considered to allow people to plant bulbs on the verge between the railings and the footpath in order to discourage planting bulbs in the cemetery and make the grass easier to cut.
PROPOSED Cllr Speed with no seconder to allow bulb planting on the grass banking. Therefore it was concluded that we may consider a different proposal in an agenda item for a future parish council meeting.
14-2022/23 To consider undertaking ILCA following the Personnel and Review Committee comments and contract clause.
PROPOSED Cllr Darby SECONDED Cllr Waddington and UNANIMOUSLY resolved.
15-2022/23 To confirm date of next meeting Thursday 16th June Venue TBC
Meeting closed 8.55pm
* Please see the Council’s policy on the audio recording of meetings for more information. Items at meetings are taken in order of inclusion, subject to the Chairman’s (with the Council’s) discretion to bring items forward or back in order to orderly manage the meeting and not unnecessarily exceed the recommended time for meetings.