Minutes 11 July 2024
BILSBY & FARLESTHORPE PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD
11 July 2024 at 7pm in Holy Trinity Church, Bilsby
Present: Cllrs A. Carolan (Chair), N. Gaston (Vice Chair), D Morley, E. Cooper, J. Hudson & N Simmonds. Mrs K Culley (Parish Clerk)
Also present: Cllr G Marsh (ELDC)
One member of the public in attendance.
PUBLIC FORUM
A member of the public raised their concerns over the parish council’s stance in regard to the National Grid proposals. The member of public expressed the view it could be beneficial to the community and we should be ensuring we were looking into what may be available to the community in terms of funding, jobs and development for the parish.
21. WELCOME
The Chair opened the meeting at 19.18 hours
22. APOLOGIES
All parish councillors were present. Apologies were received from County Cllr C Matthews and District Cllr S Devereux.
23. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
All councillors have declared a pecuniary interest in item 27 and have been granted a dispensation by the proper officer in accordance with the council’s standing orders.
24. MINUTES OF THE AGM MEETING HELD 9 MAY 2024
It was unanimously resolved to approve as minutes the notes of the meeting held 9 May 2024 and these were signed by the Chair.
25. TO RECEIVE ANY UPDATES FROM THOSE MEETINGS NOT ITEMISED ON THE AGENDA
a. The external auditor has accepted the parish council’s exemption certificate for the last accounting year.
b. The two councillor vacancies have been advertised out and the Farlesthorpe members of the public approached but the clerk has received no interest. The member of public at tonight’s meeting was invited by the Chair and the Chair is also talking to someone else who may be interested.
26. TO RECEIVE ANY GENERAL UPDATES FROM LCC AND ELDC REPRESENTATIVES
Cllr Marsh (ELDC) informed the meeting that generally he keeps the clerk updated as and when developments occur rather than wait until our meeting. As Cllr Marsh needed to leave the meeting early the Chair brought forward items 32, 33 and 29a for discussion on funding. Cllr Marsh also updated the meeting on Eversleigh. He had been given a timeline by the Planning Lead but nothing had been done over the past 12 months. The matter is awaiting 5 properties to require an architect for heritage work on economical grounds. Therefore, it is difficult to provide any timeline but there are 4 properties currently on the list.
32. TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE SPEED INDICATOR SIGN
Cllr Marsh explained the District Cllrs would not be able to support the speed sign as requested by the Council. There has been a heavy demand on their funds and it is up to the parish council to plan what they want to do so that it can be budgeted for by way of the precept. It may be by the end of the year if there was some left in the pot that would be made available but it will only be a small amount of funding. Cllr Marsh also referred the Council to the BADGE community group who he believes have funding that would cover this. He suggested the Chair look into this as it is something the Chair was not aware of.
33. TO CONSIDER THE COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE FOR 80 YEARS OF PEACE
Cllr Marsh said that the District Cllrs would be willing to fund this project.
29. PLANNING
a. N16/733/23 – Erection of two houses adjacent Jasmine Cottage – The clerk read out the latest email response District Cllr Devereux had received on the matter. Cllr Cooper asked District Cllr Marsh if he could get the matter resolved due to the length of time it has been going on. Cllr Marsh informed the meeting that there was now a presumption that planning would be approved unless it could be shown there were issues. The delay therefore suggested as things stand that the planning officer does have issues and the delay will only be harming the applicant who is unable to progress until the concerns have been addressed. It was resolved to note Cllr Cooper’s frustration with the lengthy delays. Cllr Marsh then left the meeting.
27. UPDATES ON NATIONAL GRID PROPOSALS FOR PYLONS AND SUBSTATIONS
a. It was resolved by a majority to obtain drone photos to make a mock-up of the proposed substation site at Bilsby. The cllrs who were able to help out marked their locations on a map so the drone operator could choose the most appropriate for what she wanted. Clerk to instruct her to go ahead.
b. It was resolved to hold a public meeting after our next meeting in September. A date of 17 September at 18.45 hours was agreed if it was acceptable on everyone’s calendars.
c. Cllr Cooper informed the meeting Highways had removed three of the parish council’s banners from the Highways but had allowed the 40s weekend to display one. It was resolved the clerk would ask Highways what permission was required to display the banners and the Cllrs would look for new sites to display those that had been removed.
d. Response from His Majesty the King- Clerk to publish on website with other responses
e. It was resolved the clerk would draft a parish council response to the EGL3 & 4 proposals along the same vein as the Grimsby to Walpole response for the council to approve and send prior to the deadline of 15 July 2024.
28. FINANCIAL:
a) The following accounts were approved:
(i) Clerk’s salary and expenses - £372.93
(ii) HMRC payments - £22.40
b) The budget of up to £50 for drone photographs was approved.
c) A request from Bilsby DCC for an increase in grant for maintenance of the Holy Trinity Church churchyard was considered. It was resolved to discuss further at the next meeting to see whether contingency funds would cover some increase this year and raise more through the precept next year. The clerk to look at the capped amount that could be granted under S137 funding.
d) Council resolved to approve and sign the documentation for setting up the Unity Trust Accounts.
e) Council resolved to transfer, by cheque, £500 from the Barclays Savings Account to the Unity Trust Savings Account and £500 from the Barclays Current Account to the Unity Trust Current Account.
f) The clerk informed the council compensation had been granted by Barclays Bank for £300 which was the maximum without going to the ombudsman. The clerk had also completed their satisfaction survey setting out the issues faced.
g) Council received and resolved to approve the quarterly accounts.
29. PLANNING
a) N16/733/23 – Erection of two houses adjacent Jasmine Cottage – previously discussed
b) Outer Dowsing – The Seabed survey is now ongoing. There was a community liaison group meeting recently but this will no longer involve Bilsby.
30. REVIEW OF POLICIES:
The following polices were reviewed and approved and signed by the Chair
a. New and updated policies:
i. Complaints procedure
ii. Freedom of Information Request
iii. Publication Scheme
iv. Risk Assessment
v. Financial Regulations
b. Reviewed but unamended policies:
i. Code of conduct
ii. Data Protection Policy
iii. Planning Policy
iv. Standing orders
31. TO CONSIDER THE NEED FOR COUNCILLORS TO HAVE OFFICIAL EMAIL ADDRESSES AND WHETHER THESE SHOULD BE .GOV EMAIL ADDRESSES FOLLOWING THE NALC GUIDANCE
It was resolved that Council would take on official email addresses. It was also resolved to adopt .gov addresses as advised by LALC. It was resolved to use Cloudnext as a provider who were the best value.
32. TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE SPEED INDICATOR SIGN
As the District Council are unable to fund the majority of this cost it was resolved to return to the matter when the budget came under discussion later in the year.
33. TO CONSIDER THE PLAQUE COMMEMORATING 80 YEARS SINCE WWII
It was resolved that Cllr Gaston would write a brief of what was required for the design and send it to the clerk. This would then be sent to the junior school in the first instance to see if they were interested in it as a project.
34. PARISH COUNCIL RESPONSE TO THE RIGHTS OF WAY SURVEY
It was resolved that Cllrs would respond to this on an individual basis as it was difficult to put together a consolidated approach.
35. TO RECONSIDER THE NEED FOR A STAFFING COMMITTEE FOLLOWING ON FROM THE LALC GUIDELINES WHICH STATE IT IS ESSENTIAL AND IF APPROVED RECEIVE AND APPROVE THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE STAFFING COMMITTEE
It was resolved to form a staffing committee with a quorum of 3. These would be Cllrs Carolan, Gaston and Morley. It was also resolved to adopt the draft terms of reference.
36. ANY OTHER MATTERS FOR GENERAL DISCUSSION (NOT DECISION) OR ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA.
Cllr Hudson asked whether the Parish Council would consider writing a letter of support for her to apply for a brown tourism sign. To be discussed at the next meeting.
37. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Thursday 5 September 2024.
Signed by the Chair: Date: