2022 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Minutes of the North Thoresby, Grainsby & Waithe Parish Council Meeting held at North Thoresby Village Hall on Monday 7th March 2022 at 7.00PM

Present: Councillors: Knight (Chairman), Kuzemczak, Fisher and Wyatt

In attendance: ELDC District Cllrs Aldridge and Smith.  2 members of the public.

01:03/22   Declarations of Interest:

a)   To record declarations of interest by any member of the council in respect of the agenda items listed below.  Members declaring interests should identify the agenda item and type of interest being declared.

None

b)   To note dispensations given to any member of the council in respect of the agenda items listed below. 

None

02:03/22   Apologies for Absence:

To receive any apologies sent to the Clerk from Members not able to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Burnett.

03:03/22   Minutes of the Previous Meeting(s):

To approve the minutes of the meeting of Monday 7th February 2022.

RESOLVED:   The minutes were approved as a true record.

04:03/22   Open Forum:

A member of the public attended to advise that the Playing in North Thoresby Group that was formed to create and look after the Play Park has been dissolved.   A member of the public attended to discuss matters relating to the grounds maintenance of the Mapletoft Playing Fields.

05:03/22   District & County Councillor Reports:

To receive any relevant LCC/ELDC reports.

Cllr Smith provided a verbal report and advised that budget was approved.  Cllr Aldridge provided a verbal update.

06:03/22   Action Sheet:

To receive an updated action sheet and resolve any actions.

RESOLVED:   Cllr Knight to contact the contractor for the Play Park and research teen shelters. Cllr Knight to contact LCC Highways regarding village entry gates.  Cllr Howard to take forward the Jubilee art work project.  Bike racks and clock for the village hall to go on the next agenda.

07:03/22   Finance & Governance:

a)   To appoint Cllr Kuzemczak as temporary Clerk and Brian Brooks as Locum RFO until the Clerk/RFO vacancy is filled.

RESOLVED:   Cllr Kuzemczak to be appointed as temporary Clerk and Mr Brooks be appointed as the Locum Responsible Financial Officer.

b)   To approve payment of accounts to 7th March 2022.

RESOLVED:   To approve the following payments:

c)   To receive an email from ELDC regarding Parish Councillors’ DPI forms.

RESOLVED:   Members to complete declaration of interest forms and the Clerk to send to ELDC.
   
08:03/22   Planning:

Application ref: 0021/22/TCA 

This item was skipped as the application was not present on the ELDC Planning Portal.

09:03/22   Community Speedwatch:

To receive a report from Cllr Wyatt and agree expenditure.

An update was received from Cllr Wyatt.

10:03/22   Highways:

To consider a proposal from Cllr Wyatt regarding LCC Highways.

The creation of a highways working group involving members of the public was discussed.  

RESOLVED:   Cllr Wyatt to send an article to the Clerk for the website and Facebook page outlining the project and inviting interested parties to get in touch.

11:03/22   Platinum Jubilee:

To agree a lead councillor and/or working group to co-ordinate the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations.

RESOLVED:   Cllr Howard to lead the Platinum Jubilee celebrations project with support from councillors. 

12:03/22   CCTV:

To receive any quotations for CCTV work required at the Village Hall.

RESOLVED:   To accept a quotation of £1150 from Expert Security Systems.

13:03/22   Tree Survey:

To receive any quotations for tree work required in the tree survey report.

Two quotations had been received for tree works, but may need to be updated to include some minor additional works required from the tree survey.  

RESOLVED:   A quotation for £1680 was accepted.  An overall budget of £3000 was agreed for tree work on Parish Council-owned land with awarding the work delegated to the Clerk in consultation with the Chairman.

14:03/22   Grass Cutting:

To receive a quotation to extend the grass cutting contract for a further 12 months.

RESOLVED:   To extend the grass cutting with KC Landscapes and accept the quoted increase of 3% from 2021-22. 

15:03/22   Village Hall:

To agree repairs to the village hall and delegate obtaining quotations and ¬¬arranging the work to the Clerk/RFO¬¬¬¬¬ in consultation with the Village Hall Manager and Chairman.

RESOLVED:   The Clerk to arrange repairs to the committee room ceiling and electrical works to the kitchen and office in consultation with the Village Hall Manager.

16:03/22   Waithe BT Phone Box:

To receive a response from BT to the Parish Council’s formal complaint regarding the removal of the phone box at Waithe.

The acting Clerk advised that BT had responded that it had followed all statutory consultation requirements by emailing ELDC with the proposal to remove a number of telephone kiosks.  ELDC have been contacted to ask if they can provide confirmation of this.

RESOLVED:   To defer to the next meeting.

17:03/22   Christmas Tree 2022:

To review village Christmas Tree arrangement.

RESOLVED:   The Parish Council to plant/install Christmas Tree at the Village Hall for Christmas 2023 and to research options.  

Exclusion of Press and Public: 

To consider passing a resolution in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, that public and press be excluded from the meeting for the matters set out below on the grounds that it could involve the likely disclosure of private and confidential information.

RESOLVED:   The public and press were excluded on the grounds that it could involve the likely disclosure of private and confidential information.

18:03/22   Personnel:

To discuss the vacancy for Clerk/RFO and resolve any action.

The Clerk and a volunteer will sort though historic paperwork in the office.

RESOLVED:   To defer the decision regarding advertising the vacancy to the April meeting.  Expenditure of £250 was approved for an internal auditor via LALC.

To discuss hours for the Village Hall Manager/Caretaker.

RESOLVED:   To increase the hours for the Village Hall Manager/Caretaker from 10 per week to 12 per week.

To approve a payment of holiday pay.

RESOLVED:   To approve the payment.

The meeting closed at 8.42PM