Agendas and minutes

Minutes of Parish Meeting

24th April 2019  7.30pm

Attendees:

Adrian Orpwood (AO), Polly Tetlow (PKBT), Derek Young (DY), Sue Young (SY), Nicholas Short (NS), Colin Laking (CL), Liz Manders (LM), Irene Lonsdale (IL), Berry McCracken (BMC), Annette McCracken (AMC), Phil Tetlow (PT), Nina Larrad (NL), Janet Orpwood (JO), John Walker (JW), A. F. Fox (AFF)

Apologies:

Sam Spiers (SS), Mary Smith (MS), Su Tetlow (ST),Jane Regler (JR)

Welcome and Apologies

The meeting began at 7.30pm. PKBT welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked those present for their time.

Election of Chairperson and officers:

PKBT told the meeting she would be stepping down as Chair due to ongoing personal commitments. She thanked AO and DY for advising, assisting and taking on many responsibilities over the past few months until she was able to formally resign.  She then asked the meeting who would be the best replacement Chair:

CL nominated Derek Young, seconded by JW. The meeting voted for DY unanimously.

DY took over the meeting from thereon.

Adrain Orpwood was nominated as finance officer by DY and seconded by CL. The meeting voted for AO unanimously.

Co-opted members were Colin Laking, Phil Tetlow, John Walker and Irene Lonsdale.

PKBT agreed to take minutes and act as Clerk.

Minutes of Previous Meeting (held 26th April 2018)

DY, Chair, read out the minutes of the previous meeting. The meeting voted unanimously that they were a true record.

Issues arising from previous minutes:

• Dog waste bags being left in the lane – this issue seems now to have been solved and bags are no longer being routinely left on Church Walk as before.
• School parking – this issue has now been dealt with by letters from school to parents, notices in the playground and occasional spot-check visits from PCSO's.
• Moving the speed sign – investigations found it was impractical and too expensive to move.
• Litter pick – AO will follow this up with the school.
• Signboard – there have been some delays but it's now thought this will be finished and ready to put in place by the end of May 2019. The meeting agreed that near the phone box was still be best site for it.
• Potholes – PKBT reported there had been some progress and that repairs to the main School Lane were being done contemporary to the meeting. However, the deep potholes on Grange Lane, Keddington Road and Chapel Lane were still unfixed. PKBT advised villagers to keep reporting on the ELDC online system.

Finance Report:

With everything taken into account there is enough to cover the coming year, although finances are getting tight. The account has built up a total of 27p interest. AO explained that as a Parish Meeting with an income of less than £25k we were able to apply for an audit exemption.

IL suggested raising the precept to cover cutting hedges from Church Walk, making it a Parish responsibility rather than an allotment one. The meeting agreed this was a sound idea and DY confirmed that old records suggest some parts of the allotments were and should be maintained by the Parish.

AO proposed the precept remains the same this year and that is reviewed next year. The meeting unanimously agreed.

DY has found information about how the Parish Meeting may be able to claim back some allowable expenses, such as room hire for meetings. This takes quite a chunk from our budget and would help us in future years:  DY and AO will take this forward.

Morris Johnson is still able and willing to cut verges with his ride-on mower:  The meeting agreed to continue the contribution of £25 towards his time and petrol.

Allotment fees:

The cost of allotments has remained at £5 for some years. Although this is cheap in comparison to other similar allotments, it takes into account the lack of proper facilities like water. An interim meeting of the Chair, Treasurer and co-opted members agreed to raise fees to £6. This would allow us to remunerate Colin for the maintenance of hedges. There was some discussion over the raise, but the increase was proposed by Colin and seconded by PKBT. The meeting majority agreed for the £6 rate to be brought in.

Derek has spoken to the District Councillor for our Parish, and there may be some financial support available to allow for the installation of a water point, via the Community Grants scheme. Derek will follow this up after the local elections and organise a meeting of allotment holders to discuss priorities and practicalities. PKBT advised that wells and springs may also be available on that land if piping water was not possible.

Matters arising:

• Members raised the issue of dog poo in the churchyard at Alvingham. It was agreed that better signage was needed as a dog poo bin was available nearby. The meeting agreed we should speak to the farm about putting signs on the gate from Puddleducks, as well as a sign from the canal entrance. It was suggested the school may be willing to create some posters.
• GDPR:The new GDPR rules mean that all information the Parish Meeting [Council] keeps has to be stored securely and only used for new purposes with the expressed permission of the individuals involved. DY handed round forms for attendees to fill in which allowed their details to be added to a list to receive regular email and post updates. Extra forms were available to be taken home and for villagers who weren't able to attend the meeting. AO will be the main contact for any GDPR enquiries, with DY as his second. AO and DY assured the meeting that people on the list will be contacted if the rules change again.
• The meeting discussed the possibility of a village Facebook page but it was advised that it would need careful moderation and membership would have to be exclusive. PKBT to investigate how this could be done.
• PKBT passed on details of a new planning enquiry to the Chair.

The meeting closed at 8pm.