January 2019 Minutes
A meeting of Metheringham, Sots Hole & Tanvats Parish Council was held on Tuesday 29th January 2019 in the Village Hall, Middle Street, Metheringham and commenced at 19:15.
Present: Councillors N Byatt (Vice-Chairman), I Holmes, D Parry, S Walker and S Wilson (Chairman)
1. Chairman’s Remarks: The Chairman Councillor Wilson, welcomed everyone to the meeting. A number of announcements were made relating to fire exits, conduct during the meeting, confidentiality of the closed session; that no recording, tweeting, blogging, videoing or photography of this part of the meeting is authorized and a reminder to Councillors that they must abide by the members code of conduct.
2. To resolve to note Apologies for Absence and accept reasons given:
Apologies were received from Councillor Ward (Personal Reasons), Councillor Peek (Personal Reasons), Councillor Kendrick (Personal Reasons), Councillor J Money (North Kesteven District Council - NKDC) (NKDC Commitments), Councillor R Kendrick (North Kesteven County Council) (NKDC Commitments), S Stafford (Personal Reasons) and S McKechnie (Personal Reasons). It was RESOLVED to accept the apologies and reasons this was proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Parry and all in favour.
3. Members Declarations of Interests:
a) No declarations of interests were made at this time.
b) No dispensations.
4. Notes of the Parish Council Meeting: Held on Tuesday 27th November 2018 having been previously circulated, be approved as minutes. It was RESOLVED to sign the minutes as a true record of the meeting, this was proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded Councillor Holmes and all were in favour.
5. Reports from representatives on outside bodies:
a) To receive a report from the County Councillor - No report
b) To receive a report from the District Councillor - No report
c) To receive a report from the Bracebridge Heath Neighbourhood Policing Team – No report received
d) To receive reports from Council representatives on other outside bodies.
i) Village Hall Management Committee - Councillor Kendrick is attending a meeting on the 13th February 2019.
ii) Metheringham Swimming Pool - Councillor Byatt will attend their meeting on 30 Jan.
6. Clerks report (circulated separately) - No report
7. Financial matters:
a) LALC: To consider subscription to the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils Annual Training Scheme for April 2019/March 2020 at a cost of £130.00 (budgeted item). This was RESOLVED and proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Parry, all were in favour.
b) Annual Report 2018/2019: To consider and resolve that the Annual Report should have a similar format to the 2017/2018 version and to approve a provisional budget of £300.00 for printing (budgeted item). It was RESOLVED that the report be put online with hardcopies to be made available in the library and that they be printed in-house. This was proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Walker and all were in favour.
c) RBS: To consider and resolve quotations received for:
i) Year End close down at a cost of £540.00 plus 45p per mile travelling expenses plus £100 plus VAT for overnight accommodation where required. It was RESOLVED defer this item for more information - proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Byatt and all were in favour.
ii) Purchase and Installation of Rialtas Suite Asset Inventory Software at a cost of: 50% Discount Available until 31st January 2019 - £147.50 - Purchase of Software £ 147.50 1st Year Annual Support and Maintenance Single User Licence* £119 Total Costs 1st Year for Purchase of Software £ 266.50 Ongoing costs: Annual Support and Maintenance Single User Licence* £119 per annum. Online Training per hour £35 per hour, recommended 2 hours. It was RESOLVED to reject this purchase, proposed by Councillor Parry and seconded by Councillor Holmes, all were in favour.
d) John Deer – Sit on mower: To consider and resolve the following - mower sent to Burdens for maintenance - A full cylinder and bottom blade lap (sharpen), hydraulic and pipe service, electrical check, full diagnostic check and engine service, four wheel drive service and alignment's set up at a cost of £380.00. This price includes collection and delivery and all work will be recorded and comes with a full guarantee. It was RESOLVED to accept this work proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Parry and all were in favour.
e) War Memorial Hedge: To consider and approve quotation to cut the hedge at the war memorial garden at an approximate cost of £335.00 (document circulated with agenda). It was discussed to remove the back hedge and put up a different hedge. It was RESOLVED to defer this to the Environment Working Group for a detailed plan, proposed by Councillor Parry, seconded by Councillor Holmes and all were in favour.
f) Lights: To consider and resolve quotation received to replace lights from the swimming pool to the pavilion at a cost of £365.00. As the lights are only 3 years old it was RESOLVED to first get an electrician to identify the cause of the failure then if necessary seek further quotes, proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Walker and all were in favour.
g) Internal Audit: To receive an interim report from the Internal Auditor - No paperwork has been received. It was RESOLVED to defer this item, proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Holes and all were in favour.
h) Accounts for Payment: To consider and approve accounts for payment (circulated separately) - It was RESOLVED to defer this item, proposed by Councillor Walker, seconded by Councillor Byatt and all were in favour.
i) Financial Report: To receive a report from the RFO on the PC finances, Income and Expenditure - No report received.
8. Correspondence:
a) To note general correspondence (publications and letters are available for inspection at the meeting).
9. To receive verbal or written reports from Working Groups:
a) Forward Planning. The key activity is the consideration of a Neighbourhood Plan which will be outlined at a public meeting on 31 Jan.
10. To Receive the Committee Minutes and Consider any Recommendations:
a) Finance Committee: Notes of the meeting held on 19th December 2018 to be approved and signed as the minutes (circulated with agenda) - This was RESOLVED and proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Parry and all were in favour. Recommendation to Council:
i) Budget 2019-2020: To consider and resolve to approve a budget for 2019/2020 (circulated with agenda) – It was RESOLVED to accept the budget, proposed by Councillor Walker, seconded by Councillor Byatt all were in favour.
ii) Precept 2019-2020: To consider and resolve the Precept Requirement upon the Billing Authority (being North Kesteven District Council) of £140,778.00 (one hundred and forty thousand, seven hundred and seventy eight pounds) be approved. It was RESOLVED to accept the precept, proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Parry and all were in favour.
11. Planning:
i) 19/0012/FUL Proposal: Conversion of existing B & B accommodation from two units to 1 No. two bedroomed unit and 3 No. one bedroomed units at 1 & 2 Poachers Mews, High Street, Metheringham, Lincoln, LN4 3DZ. Following discussion it was RESOLVED to support the application proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Parry and all were in favour.
ii) 19/0076/TCA Proposal: T2 Ash Stump - fell at The Manor House, Manor Lane, Metheringham, Lincoln, LN4 3HB. Following a discussion it was RESOLVED to support the application proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Parry and all were in favour.
12. Become a Councillor Event: To consider and resolve to hold a drop in open evening in the parish council office during February, to agree the date and time - It was agreed to hold the event on Saturday 9th February 2019 from 10am until 1pm - Proposed by Councillor Parry, seconded by Councillor Byatt and all were in favour.
13. Defibrillators: To consider and resolve the parish council take responsibility for x 2 defibrillators located at Great Barrier Reef & Zythn Grill (e-mail previously circulated) - It was RESOLVED that the parish council will take responsibility for the defibrillators - Proposed by Councillor Parry, seconded by Councillor Walker and all were in favour.
14. Annual Village Meeting 2019: To consider and resolve the format for the 2019 Annual Village Meeting - It was RESOLVED that the Parish Council would use a power point presentation with time included for question and answers to all councillors. The event to include a buffet (quotations to be sourced) and an invitation to village organisations to speak. Proposed by Councillor Holmes, seconded by Councillor Byatt and all were in favour.
15. Training: LALC Training Events for 2019, all members and staff to give consideration to their training needs and inform the Clerk of selections - It was discussed that all new councillors should undertake various training courses within 3 to 4 months of joining and that existing councillors and the Clerk should do 2 full days training/ refresher training a year. Councillor Holmes spoke about utilising new social media, ie Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter which is something the Clerk and Admin Assistant would manage. The potential for video conferencing among councillors was also covered. There was considerable discussion about the task loading of the Clerk and Administration Assistant as some issues remained unresolved after lengthy periods. It was queried whether the staff had sufficient time in their working week to handle the workload or whether additional hours were needed or if efficiencies could be made, including councillors tackling some of the outstanding issues. It was considered that it would be helpful if councillors had a better understanding of the routine activities and diversions that the staff encountered on a daily basis so that time and task management could be applied to smooth out activities if necessary and identify if issues could be brought to a more speedy resolution. It was noted that the office closure on a Wednesday should be used as a 'catch up' day, including updating social media.
16. Lincoln Transport Strategy: To consider and resolve to make comments on the consultation - It was RESOLVED that each Councillor should make individual comments and get them into the Office for the Clerk to collate within the next week. Proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Parry, all were in favour.
17. Lincolnshire County Council Draft Statement of Community Involvement: To consider and resolve to make comments on the consultation - It was agreed to defer so that more information could be obtained before this could be resolved
- Proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Holmes and all were in favour.
18. MPC Procedures: To consider and resolve amendments to procedures as listed (previously circulated) - It was agreed to defer, proposed by Councillor Byatt, seconded by Councillor Holmes and all were in favour.
19. MPC-040 Data Breach Policy: To consider and resolve to adopt MPC-040 Data Breach policy (previously circulated) - It was agreed to defer, proposed by Councillor Walker, seconded by Councillor Byatt and all were in favour.
20. MPC-041 - Subject Access Request Procedure: To consider and resolve to adopt MPC-041 Subject Access Request Procedure (previously circulated) - It was agreed to defer, proposed by Councillor Parry, seconded by Councillor Walker and all were in favour.
21. Date, time and venue of next meeting: Tuesday 26th February 2019 at 19:15, in the Village Hall.
22. Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 Exclusion of the Press and the Public: To resolve that in accordance with Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 and by reason of the confidential nature of the remainder of the business, the Press and the Public be excluded from the Meeting.
23. Metheringham Library Building High Street: To receive an update in relation to the future of the Library building. A meeting between LCC Councillors and the legal teams is awaited.