November 2023 Minutes
Bardney Group Parish Council
Minutes from the Full Council Meeting
Bardney Village Hall Tuesday 21st November 2023 at 7pm
Present
Cllr Ian Fleetwood (Chair), Cllr Barry Newlove, Cllr Barry Percival,
Cllr Frank Bates, Cllr Michael McIIroy, Cllr Lou Reeves, Cllr Ruth Lane
Cllr Robin Darby, Cllr Ken Hutchinson, Cllr Keith Laughton,
Cllr Brian Lintin, Cllr Mary Corbould, Cllr Samantha Wright,
Clerk/RFO Angela Smith.
Apologies were received and accepted by Cllr John Papworth Vice-Chair and Cllr Lynne Newlove
Members of the Public
Nine members of the public were present.
Meeting commenced at 7pm
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
The public forum was invited to commence:
A summary of matters raised by members of the public and responses are listed below:
Question raised regards cleaning of the War Memorial. Member of the public believes what he stated and what was minuted in October’s meeting differ. Chair was happy with how the minutes stand, asked Council if they thought minutes were incorrect, no proposal to this matter therefore minutes stand.
Would like to ask the Parish Council if they would work with the Veterans on Memorial Day after the ceremony to tie the Poppy wreaths to railings to secure them. Chair advised the Parish Council would be willing to work together to secure the wreaths in future.
Member of the public invited members of the Parish Council to a quiz night the Veterans are running.
Bins on skate park overflowing who is responsible for them. Chair advised he thought the skate park bins would be emptied by the Village Hall Committee and the Committee would bring them to the Village Hall Car Park where on a Wednesday / Thursday West Lindsey would pick them up. Litter picking equipment have been given to some of the regular walkers around the field who try to help to keep the area tidy.
Southrey floods - Calvert at the bottom of Ferry Road, 11 gardens were all underwater in the recent floods. Railway carpark is breaking up which may be due to Badger sets. They have spoken to 3rd Witham who own the land and have been told there is nothing they can do. Member of public would like Parish Council to out the details of the problems and ask a representative to come out with the Chair of Parish Council present, this includes Sustran, Railway paths, 3rd Witham drainage and highways to look at the water levels in comparison to the drains. The road is lower than the drains so when it rains the water does not drain away, hence water goes to the property. Flood bank along the top of resident’s garden is 8 foot above their property and if this breaks there would be serious flooding to a lot of properties. Chair advised the Parish Council does not have a remit to these problems however, Chair is a member of 3rd drainage board and has a meeting tomorrow (22nd November 2023) and advised the meeting is open to members of the public to. Chair gave information regards the work that is going on at present on the riverbank. If Badger sets are an issue in the park 3rd drainage should be looking into this. Chair advised member of the public if they would like to email him he would take this to the 3rd drainage.
Cllr Darby – Sand bags distribution is this just for Bardney - Will reserves be available and Chair advised they will; be available for any future flooding. Bags were made available to Southrey through the Parish Council and will be kept there.
229-23/24 Apologies for absence – Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr J. Papworth and Cllr L. Newlove.
230-23/24 No declarations of Interest noted.
231-2324 Minutes to agree and sign from Octobers meeting. Cllr Darby highlighted an item under correspondence, advising an allegation was raised under that item and he would like the opportunity to reply to this. In his email the information he requested in the email the work was already done and the new clerk was not in place when some of the tasks, so the information should have been available but clearly wasn’t. Chair asks which tasks he was referring to, Cllr Darby advised the ride on mower is an issue that has been going on for months and this information should have been available. Other issues were raised from Cllr Darby and Chair advised there has been work carried out and there are still ongoing issues, Chair detailed information for Cllr Darby’s. Chair also advised that his intention was to email Cllr Darby back with the all the answers to his questions rather than email several times.
Chair proposed minutes correct and seconded by Cllr McIlroy, approved with 1 against and 1 abstention.
232-23/24 Police are organising themselves now with Inspector Head who has just finished co-ordinating his team. Cllr Darby asked if the Police would be attending Parish Council Meeting. We don’t think this will be the case now, however Clerk has received an email which she will forward to Cllrs regarding a meeting to be held in December and Cllrs are invited to attend.
District and County Council are coming up to Budgets, which will predict the council tax. Cllr Darby questioned regards the council tax how this could be changed, Chair advised after the budget they could redefine how they are going to spend the money or add additional monies to it.
233-23/24 Chairs report - Reported large tree branch on Station Road footpath, concerns as could blow into the road and cause accident – this was reported and removed within 24 hours.
Handyman has been cutting grass with the orange mower and is also towing a leaf collector behind and this was donated by myself with zero cost to the Parish. Previously spoke about semi-professional Christmas lights and payment for these lights could come out of the West Lindsey Grant. However, because of current pressures we have not had time to complete the application form, so in turn did not purchase any Christmas lights. Chair proposed we buy some outdoor lights for the tree to get this year’s tree lit up in good time, and then when we apply for the grant add the cost of semi-professional lights then for next year. Tree on way into Southrey could have battery or solar panel lights also Stainfield. One Councillor is refurbishing the crib for Bardney and would have some battery lights inside the crib for effect. Also star on the top of the tree to be refurbished. Chair is aware of someone who will donate lights and wanted to know if the Council will accept this as an interim measure. Trying to contact various people around the village to organise a date to do the light switch on and carols around the tree. Chair proposed for lighting in the villages including Stainfield, Southrey and Bardney, seconded by Cllr Reeve, approved.
234-23/24 Clerks report - Lifebuoy has now been purchased and is now in place on the river bank. Anyone wanting Good Councillor Guide printed off to let Clerk know, Cllr Reeve raised her hand for this. Cllr Darby advised the link can be emailed to Cllrs, however, some Cllrs prefer paper copies, Clerk advised if Cllrs wanted link emailing this also can be done. Training – recently several Cllrs and Clerk have been on Appraisal training, also Handyman has been on Wheel abrasive training. Recently have let 3 allotments and one donated to the Community Open Door, this was an anonymous donation. Village Hall update – electrics are going in soon, however think it will be January before it will be ready to move in to. Relatively new residents came into the Parish Office to comment on how lovely, clean, and tidy the village is kept, nice to hear positive news about the village. Clerk would like to thank Cllr Fleetwood for his help and support over the past few weeks, also thanked all the Cllrs for their support while been in office.
235-23/24 Planning application – 147479 Water Tower - all plans can be viewed online. Cllr Darby felt this would be an improvement for the area. No other comments.
236-23/24 Planning application – 147496 Samara Wood Lane Bardney – No comments.
237-23/24 Planning application - 147515 Land off Wragby Road Proposing some changes to lay out and house designs. No comments.
238-23/24 Planning application – 147526 Non-material amendment of planning permission granted 16th Feb 2023. Changes to doors, windows etc. No comments.
239-23/24 Financial Matters - Ratify and approve payments for November 2023. Proposed by Cllr Fleetwood, seconded Cllr K Laughton, approved, unanimous. All financial information is detailed on the website.
240-2324 Approve bank reconciliation – proposed by Cllr Fleetwood seconded Cllr M McIlroy, approve unanimous.
241-23/24 To consider and agree budget for next year – Two budgets were put forward to the Council, No 1. budget with a 5.9% increase, No 2 budget with 9.7% increase. Chair went through various cost centres with the council and identified areas where monies have been budgeted for. Cllr Darby asked regards election fees. Chair advised that both budgets include election fees, one reason being was that it was not included on this year’s budget, also if 10 members of the public can write to ask for an to take place. Cllr Lane had looked at some information regards this online and the advice was to always budget for an election as it is something that could happen. LALC also advised in the independent report that we need to up our reserves a little.
Recorded individual vote was proposed by Cllr Darby seconded by Cllr Fleetwood. To vote on Budget 2 - Cllr Bates yes, Cllr Lintin yes, Cllr Darby no, Cllr Laughton yes, Cllr McIlroy no, Cllr Reeves no, Cllr Fleetwood yes, Cllr Corbould yes, Cllr Wright no, Cllr B Newlove no, Cllr Lane no, Cllr Hutchinson no, Cllr Percival no. Votes for 5 – Votes against 8. To Vote on Budget 1 – Cllr Bates no, Cllr Lintin no, Cllr Darby no, Cllr Laughton no, Cllr McIlroy yes, Cllr Reeve yes, Cllr Fleetwood yes, Cllr Corbould no, Cllr Wright yes, Cllr B Newlove yes, Cllr Lane yes, Cllr Hutchinson yes, Cllr Percival yes. Votes for 8 – Votes against 5. Budget 1 approved and agreed, this budget will go to West Lindsey no later than the 24th November 2023.
242-23/24 Agree to discontinue subscribing to Pear Technology. Chair explained to Council the software provided by pear Technology which includes Asset Management however this was installed in approximately 2011 and updated in 2016. Other software includes mapping. Annual maintenance cost of £300 = VAT. The software is not being used, so therefore Cllr Fleetwood Proposed to discontinue this subscription, seconded by Cllr Lane, all approved.
243-23/24 Cyber Insurance Cover - Cllr Fleetwood proposed Tapoly Insurance at a cost of £128.18 for 250,000 cyber cover, seconded by Cllr Lintin, all approved.
244-23/24 New member of the P and R Committee - Cllr Lane proposed we defer, seconded by Cllr Hutchinson, all approved.
245-23/24 Agree for Parish Council to have a Debit Card - Proposed by Cllr Wright, seconded by Cllr Hutchinson, all approved. Maximum amount set per transaction will be £500.
246-23/24 Agree Parish Office Christmas Closure - Proposed by Cllr B. Newlove, seconded by Cllr Reeve, all approved.
247-23/24 Agree Clerk training LALC and ILCA - Clerk as requested more training – Proposed by Cllr Fleetwood, seconded by Cllr Lintin, all approved.
248-23/24 Recording equipment - At present using Chair and Clerks equipment as there was an Olympus recorder bought in 2011, however, this is not recording or charging. Need to buy a suitable device to have good quality recording for accuracy. Maximum to spend would be £250.
Proposed by Cllr Lane, seconded by Cllr B. Newlove, all approved.
249-23/24 Resolve to move into closed session. Approved.
CLOSED SESSION
Bardney Village Hall 21st November 2023 at 8.31pm
250-23/24 Agree to adopt - National Pay Award – Staff - Full Council Approval
251-23/24 P and R committee - to resolve an issue regarding a payment made from Parish Council Funds. Ongoing further investigation needed.
Meeting closed @ 20.43pm