2022 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

POINTON & SEMPRINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 26th September 2022 at 7.30pm in St Gilbert Primary School

Councillors Present: Cllrs Clarke, Freeman, Green, Greenwood, Ramm and Wesley (Chair). 
In attendance Parish Clerk Boden and nine members of the public.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

22053. To receive reports from outside bodies
No report from C Cllr Hill.
D Cllr Dixon-Warren had sent their apologies. A report is attached.
Questions or Points raised by residents and members of the public. It was brought to the attention of the Parish Council that a large amount of furniture had been building up outside a house on West Road. Whilst it was reminded that anyone can report problems on ‘Fix my Street’ the clerk would do so, as it was felt it could be dangerous with school children passing it daily.

The subject of the Village Hall Clock was mentioned, and it was stated that this was on the agenda for later in the meeting.

COUNCIL SESSION

22054. To receive and accept apologies for absence. It was resolved to accept Cllr Taylor’s apology for absence due to personal reasons.

22055. Declarations of interest. Cllr Greenwood declared an interest in item 6. Social Club and Cllr Ramm an interest in the Village Hall, item 9.

22056. To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 23rd August 2022 and for the chair to sign. It was resolved to accept the clerk’s notes from the meeting held on the 23rd August and for the Chair to sign.

22057. Finances:
a) To receive the clerk’s report on payments between meetings

Cllr Freeman tried to take the meeting away from the agenda asking questions regarding the bench, delegation of the clerk and the right of the clerk to be a signatory on the bank account, as her role as RFO. There were several members of the public who asked Cllr Wesley if they could speak, and he allowed them to do so.

Cllr Wesley then brought the meeting back to the agenda

It was resolved to accept the above payments and for the cheques to be signed.

b) To approve payments as list below.

Cllr Ramm and Cllr Greenwood questioned why the clerk’s wage was covered by GDPR whilst the Litter Picker was not. It was explained that the litter picker issued an invoice and the Council was paying against this. From 1st October she would be a member of staff and she would be covered by GDPR. 

It was also stated that the clerk’s wages are the most expensive item for the Parish Council, along with her requests for Scribe. Cllr Freeman wanted to know what the expenses belonging to the clerk were. The clerk read these out and it was agreed that in future the clerk would break these down. Cllr Freeman was not happy with the car mileage fee of 45p per mile.

c) To approve amended asset register, to now include the tractor. It was resolved that the asset register be amended to include the tractor, now that it has been established that the Council owns it. Cllrs Freeman and Ramm stated that they had not received a copy. The clerk will resend the asset register that had previously been sent out with the August agenda pack.

d) To consider the overpayment of the previous clerk. Cllr Ramm read a statement from the previous clerk that both herself and her agent had done nothing wrong, and she would see the Parish Council in court if they tried to claim any monies owing back. The current clerk suggested that this was deferred as she was still working with HMRC. It was resolved to defer this until a later meeting.

22058. To consider and discuss the Internal Audit. It was a very comprehensive Internal Audit that picked up many faults with how the Parish Council was run during 2021-2022. Cllr Ramm did not agree with some of the audit. Many of the problems listed have now being resolved but a few are still outstanding that the clerk must complete.

22059. Social Club – To receive the financial records and minutes of the committee meeting upon the closure of the Social Club. Cllr Greenwood had issued copies of the Social Club’s bank statements and copies of the minutes to the Councillors prior to the meeting. It was resolved to accept that these photos had been seen.

22060. Playing Field. To consider and discuss

a) Playground Inspection. The playground inspection report was similar to previous years. It was resolved that the Council must act on the recommendations, as best they could. It was suggested that a working group could be set up with members of the public. Cllr Clarke asked people to either get in touch with him either by his Council email address or by Facebook, or they could contact the Parish Clerk.

b) Football Club Pitch Fees (deferred from previous meeting). Unfortunately, no members of the Club had attended so the Council did not know what the Club could afford. It was resolved to keep the fees the same at £120 a month.

c) Container on Field (Sited on car park) – To receive an update of the inspection held on 10th September. Cllr Wesley reported that upon opening the container it was mainly full of car parts and oil drums. The container does not belong to the Parish Council, or the Pavilion and the Social Club does no longer exist. The Parish Council can not be seen to be benefitting individuals and therefore it was resolved for the clerk to write to Cllr Greenwood and ask him to remove the container and its contents. It was also left that whilst removing the container the broken engine outside the PCPF container could also be removed.

Cllr Greenwood stated that the container had been in situ for several years, and he was unable to move the container. A member of public offered to move the container if it was emptied. The Chair of the Village Hall would also like to be considered for storage purposes.

22061. Planning Applications: To consider planning applications received since the last meeting of the Council. 

a) S22/0784 (Savill) -Edendale Cottage, West Road, Pointon, NG34 0NA. Change of use of ancillary annexe (Edendale Cottage) to a separate independent dwelling from No.75 West Road. It was resolved to submit ‘No Comment’.

b) S22/1201 (Bancroft) - 57 High Street, Pointon, Lincolnshire, NG34 0LY. Single storey side and two storey rear extensions & porch to back door. Approved

c)S22/1266 (Beech) – 12 West Road, Pointon. Erection of a dwelling within the existing garden of 12 West Road, Pointon. Approved conditionally.

d)S21/1763 (Roper) – The Old Ship Inn, Pointon. Submission of details reserved by condition 3 (drawings showing existing and proposed levels) pursuant to S18/0596. Drawings acceptable.

22062. Village Hall Clock. To discuss the purchase of the clock. The Chairman of the Village Hall read out all the emails that had been sent and received in connection with the clock. In those emails it stated that the VH committee agreed on the clock to be purchased and the Parish Council were informed. The PC were sent 3 images and it was a combination of these three pictures that the PC purchased. 

The clerk clarified if the clock was purchased due to a grant from the PC to the VH or if the VH ordered the clock and the PC paid for it, as an outside body should not be ordering items for the Parish Council and placing it in the PC’s name. 

The Chair of the VH stated that the PC paid for the clock and it was not a grant. Terms of reference as to who insures, pays for repair and any maintenance is to be placed on the agenda for next month. At the present time the clock is on the asset register of the PC.

22063. Traffic Calming for Pointon and Millthorpe Crossroads. To receive an update from Cllr Freeman regarding the results of the questionnaire. Cllr Freeman gave an update on the results of the leaflet drop. She had received 19 copies back of which she had potentially gained 5 volunteers to carry out speed checks.  16 of those replying were happy for the Council to pay for the next stage of joining the scheme, at a cost of £200. The survey was also held on-line, with a link from the PC website. There were 7 replies, and all questions were relied as a no.  All on-line comments were negative.

A member of the public asked the Chair if they could comment. Several other local villages were already part of the scheme and some of these villages had been asked and received on how the scheme worked.

The next action is for Cllr Freeman to get the potential volunteers together.

A member of the public asked the Chair if they could comment. Both themselves and his neighbours, who lived outside the village, had not received the questionnaire and asked if he could have copies for both him and his neighbours. It was resolved for the questionnaire to carry on for a couple of weeks so further potential responses could be counted towards the questionnaire.

22064. Date and time of next Parish Council Meeting Tuesday 25th October at 7.30pm.

D. Cllr Richard Dixon-Wilson's  Report, September 2022

Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – His Majesty King Charles III

Many will have mourned the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, perhaps joined ‘The Queue’, and watched her State Funeral.  SKDC Members and staff played important roles during State Mourning when SKDC’s formal proceedings were paused as a mark of respect.  
Volunteers stepped forward to support the Books of Condolence in the towns, to organise public floral tributes and to ensure the four local proclamations were made properly and on schedule.
God save The King!

The Rising Cost of Living - SKDC Initial Response – Update
I have asked for information to be made more widely available on ‘Cost of Living help and support’, specifically for those unable to access this via SKDC’s website at http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=15901

Investment boost for South Kesteven's rural areas
Rural England Prosperity Fund (the Rural Fund) will provide rural areas of South Kesteven with an extra £540,460 of Government capital funding to help meet specific needs and challenges.  This is in addition to £3.9m already allocated through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
SKDC has until the end of November to submit specific capital projects to the Government for endorsement and seeks opinions from rural partners and businesses. Businesses that may be eligible include farms looking to diversify by opening a farm shop, wedding venue or tourism facilities.