Draft Minutes of a Parish Council meeting on June 15, 2006, at 7.30pm at the Club House
Present: Cllr Andrew Wheatstone (Chair)
Cllr Michael Binns (Vice-chair)
Cllr Eddie Cullen
Cllr Helen Marshall
Cllr Mike Gover
In attendance: Cllr Pat Fairbank
7 members of the public
1 Declaration of interest. None
2 To receive and accept apologies for absence. Apologies were accepted from Cllr Wheeler.
3 To approve minutes of the meetings held on May 11 and June 6, 2006. The minutes were agreed as a true record with the following change. In the minutes of June 6, Item 4, the last line should read – Marshall would be vigorously refuted by her and would be backed by Cllr Wheatstone.
4 Questions from the floor.
(i) Employment Tribunal – There may or may not be a financial settlement. The Parish Council may need to employ a solicitor which would cost £150 per hour. Costs will have to be borne by the Council as there is no insurance to cover this but all costs will be kept to a minimum. The Council will accept the offer of ACAS in order to look for a settlement. ACAS do not charge for this process.
(ii) New Parish Clerk – An advertisement for a new Clerk will be posted in due course on the notice boards, in the Parish Magazine and the Craven Herald. It is hoped to have a new Clerk in place for the September meeting.
5 County and District Councillors’ Report. There was no report on County matters. The recycling in CDC has been very successful, due to public cooperation and CDC have been awarded a grant which it is hoped will lead to plastic recycling facilities in our area. If all recycling in N. Yorkshire can be organised centrally, in future only one bin will be required for each household. The Farmers’ market in Skipton will continue on the first Sunday of each month. The postcode change is still being debated and may lead to a new postcode for our area. This will help services identify where we are and may improve our insurance premiums.
6 Correspondence. This was received as on the agenda.
7 Finances: Payments to be approved. These were approved as follows
York and N. Yorks Playing Fields Ass. £12.50 subscription
Nestegg Financial Services
£20 Internal
Auditing
Clerks and Councils Direct £9
subscription
JC Cowgill
£189.40 April Maintenance
JC Cowgill
£275.47 May Maintenance + extra
work
Soccertackle
£1152 New Goal posts
75% of the cost of the goal posts is covered by a grant from the Parish Trust.
Receipts: The following income was noted
HM Revenue and Customs £1215.42 VAT refund
Parish Plan Committee £200.63 Payment towards the Village map
8 Bank balances: These were noted as on the agenda.
Approval 52/2006/6440 Removal of 2 Horse Chestnut Trees with replacement at The Willows.
9 Planning. Application 53/2006/6434 Conversion of barn to delling with office space at Noah’s Ark Kennels. No objections were raised.
Refusal A Certificate of Lawful Development, Surgill Barn.
10 To discuss the park and tennis court. A quote for repair of the steps by the tennis court, repair of benches and replacement of a spring on the gate at the end of the football pitch was accepted. A quote for replacement of waste bins and a further path to the Youth shelter with edging to this and the existing path would be sought. A path, directly from the Recreation Ground to the War Memorial, was agreed in principle.
11 To discuss enquiries to BT concerning telegraph poles on Sidegate and White Hill Lane. BT would not reveal the procedure for the siting of telegraph poles. Concerning the poles on Sidegate, it has been established that BT, N. Yorks Highways and a member of the Council met in November 2005. In answer to a question from the floor, it was stated that the local representative was the former Clerk and not a councillor. No authorisation had been given for this local representation. The Council had not been informed of this meeting. The consultation for the poles on White Hill Lane has proceeded normally with a greatly increased timescale. No reply to suggestions in a letter from the Council has been received.
12 To discuss the Council’s response to the Disability Discrimination Act. Two letters had been received from a parishioner regarding access to the Club House. The Council was informed that better access and disabled toilets were to be installed in the summer. Since there is only one more Council meeting until September, it was agreed that the July meeting would be in the Club House as usual.
13 To discuss the new powers available under the Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act 2005. The Council now has powers to take direct action concerning dog fouling. It was decided that no action on this power would be taken.
14 To discuss the storage of Council equipment. Temporary storage could be made available at the Club House. The Village Trust is to examine the land at the rear of the Club House with the view to the possibility of providing a new storage building.
15 To discuss village facility coordination. An offer to examine the facilities in the village had been received. It was stated that the Village Hall and the Village Trust were to meet to discuss this matter. The Council decided to take no further action at this point.
16 To discuss a community emergency plan. This item would be postponed until September.
17 Items of minor information.
(i) Bent Hall Bridge coping stones would be kept on the agenda until action was taken by N. Yorks. (ii) The proposal to twin with a village in France would be dropped. (iii) The Village map would be seen soon. (iv) A meeting had been arranged with Stuart Marshall of N. Yorks. Highways on Monday 19 June at 2.00 at the school. to discuss the traffic calming.
(v) A job description for Kendal Gott would be considered by the employment subcommittee. To date he had done work to the cost of £97.50. It was suggested that the nature of the work done should be posted on the notice boards. This was agreed. (vi) N. Yorks highways should be contacted again regarding the flooding between Lane Head and Winter Gap.
Dates of next meeting: July 13 2006 at 7.30pm in the Club House