Minutes – June 11
POLICE AND RESIDENTS FORUM No Police or residents attended. A crime report from the Police was received notifying the Council of only one crime, Assault, committed during the last month.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Cllr Anning declared an interest in M/A 1. Cllrs Anning and Priestley declared an interest in Finance 1.
PRESENT Cllrs. Priestley, Anning, Pentith, Ogden, and Fowler.
APOLOGIES Cllrs Batty and Gibbs.
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON MAY 17TH 2011 These were approved.
MATTERS ARISING
1 Exit from Rose Croft – Graham Plant, the Internal Auditor, had suggested to the Clerk and Chairman that it would be wise to minute the reason for spending public money on this road entrance alone when there were others causing similar difficulties to motorists in the village. He suggested the reason given could be that the ownership of the verge was contested and complaints from a number of nearby residents had been received by the Council. Cllrs agreed to which they added parking issues. This would also apply if action were later taken over Mrs Burton’s hedge.
2. Grit Bins– Highways had indicated that they were unable to predict when the blue bins already paid for by the Council, would be available .Council agreed to raise the issue again in July if nothing further was heard before then and thereafter at the Forum.
3. Footpath across Keswick Marsh– Cllr Batty had walked the route with a member of BTCV and representatives of the Wildlife Trust, who now appeared to accept the idea of a path across the Marsh. Cllrs discussed the work to be undertaken and voted by 4 to 1 in favour of the following resolution “To place an order with BTVC for the works to be done at Keswick Marsh in the sum of £6,006p, plus VAT, as set out in their quotation of June 6th 2011.”
4.Crabtree Lane Car Park Highways agreed to postpone work on the car park until the week commencing June 27th to allow sufficient time for the quarry stones first to be positioned. Cllr Ogden had arranged to have the stones delivered and positioned by Mr Hemingway in advance of this date. It was hoped that they would be delivered by Friday 25th.
5. Measures to control Speeding through Village-Cllrs Anning and Pentith had completed Sid Training and are now qualified. The tests on this occasion had resulted in 2 people being found to be driving over the permitted limit. Letters advising them of this had been sent to both individuals. The 2 Cllrs will make arrangements for a further SID test in September/October. They were advised to purchase Hi Viz jackets. The Chairman expressed thanks to the 2 Cllrs for undertaking the training. Cllr Fowler has undertaken research on the Internet on measures adopted in different parts of the country to reduce speeding and had e mailed the results to Cllrs prior to the meeting.
6. Possible Financial assistance to Village Hall- The Chairman has not yet been able to arrange a meeting with Graham Plant but hopes to do so in the near future.
7. Retirement “Do” for Cllr Pinkney. This had been attended by approximately 60 people and had been very successful. A grateful letter of thanks had been received from Dr Pinkney who had been delighted at the gift, the meal and the large number of villagers present and who had offered to continue to help the PC in any way possible. Other letters of thanks had been received from Victor Watson and Susan Lupton. The Chairman wished to record thanks to Beryl and Neil Ogden and to Sharon Dalby and her friend, Jessica for all their help on the evening.
8. Seats /Noticeboard in need of repair and offer of Replacement Seat on Church Lane Green .John Bradford has completed repairs to the seats. Peter Scholey has agreed informally with the Chairman to repair the noticeboard and to report on whether in his opinion it needs to be replaced. The Clerk had written to the Wood family thanking them for their kind offer and accepting it on behalf of the Council.
9. Unlawful Activity conducted from private dwelling. The Clerk had telephoned the complainant after the meeting and reporton advice received form LCC, dog breeding from private property was not illegal. He acknowledged this and no longer appeared concerned about the situation.
10. Condition of Fitts Lane. Roger Brooks of Rights of Way has agreed to get his team to cut back the nettles but would not sanction the use of strong weedkiller
11. Neighbourhood Plan and Localism The Clerk reported that she had spoken to the Clerk of Aberford PC which has just completed the update of its Parish Plan, at a cost of £20k. One of their Cllrs, David Gluck, had taken the lead and had used various consultants to help. Most of the cost had been covered by grants. Cllrs discussed the possibility of holding a public meeting and inviting David Gluck to address it .The Clerk was asked to investigate further.
12. Sandwich Van on Crabtree Lane Car Park. There was nothing to report.
13. Dates of Parish Walks .These have been confirmed as:-· July 4th – Short Walk· July 11th – Longer Walk. Notification had been given to villagers in the Newsletter and Brian Dower had agreed to prepare some posters for placing in the village.
14. Annual Report. It was agreed that Cllr Batty should be asked to produce a document similar to the previous one, and Cllrs would contribute ideas direct for inclusion. It was hoped to complete and circulate the Annual Report by September.
PLANNING
1.New applications: – None.
2.APPROVALS BY LCC:- (a) App. 11/01535 – Southlands, Whitegate – Ext.
3.REFUSALS BY LCC:-
(a) App. 10/02898 – Cleavesty Centre – Appeal dismissed.
4.The Old Star The Clerk was asked to remind Enforcement about the change of ownership and the need to remove the smoking shelter.
5. Static Caravan – Hearfield Farmers Ltd- Enforcement Action. The Clerk had e mailed Enforcement but had received no reply. She was asked to keep reminding them on a fortnightly basis.
FINANCE
1.Bills for payment:- £ Net VAT Total
(a) Mr B. Dower – Gift for Retiring Cllr 125.00 125.00
(b) Zurich Insurance Premium. 834.99 834.99
(c) East Keswick Village Hall – Rent. 67.50 67.50
(d) Local Council Review – Subs. 15.50 15.50
(e) Gaynor Anning – Expenses – Sylvia’s Do 14.84 14.84
(f) Public Works Loan Board – Loan Repayment 2,760.00 2,760.00
(g) CL Gough – Food for Sylvia’s Do. 600.00 600.00
(h) EKVH – Paint for Verity Room 60.00 60.00
(i) GGS Groundcare – Maintenance 682.50 682.50
(j) Rural Action Yorks – Subs. 35.00 35.00
(k) John Bradford – Repairs around Village 85.00 85.00
(l) J. Priestley – Wine for Sylvia’s Do 214.50 214.50
(m) SLCC – Conference Fees(2) (Retro) 90.00 90.00
It was resolved to pay all the bills listed above.
2. PAYE Arrangements. Mr Oddy, who had agreed to manage these arrangements for the Council, advised that as the Clerk, though now registered for PAYE, had not yet received a tax code from the Inland Revenue, she should have her July salary paid gross, with the hope that by October, when the next payment is due, the correct net payment can be agreed on.
Council agreed that this advice should be confirmed in writing.
3. Annual Audit of Accounts. Graham Plant has now signed the section for the Internal Auditor and has approved the Statement of Accounts prepared by the Clerk. He advised:-
· The reason given for dealing with Rose Croft be minuted ( M/A 1)
· He should be informed of any change agreed about placing the insurance arrangements with Zurich.
· Mileage claimed by Cllrs should be corrected to 45p per mile.
· He should be advised in advance of any proposals concerning possible tax avoidance and asked to be provided with written evidence as to the appropriateness of any such scheme .(M/A 6)
· Standing Financial Standing Orders should be agreed on for the year.
It was resolved to thank Graham Plant for his work in connection with the Audit.
The Chair went through all sections of the document in detail and the Councillors resolved to accept the document as drawn and approved. The Chairman signed the relevant sections of the Form and the Clerk will ensure that the appropriate Minute is provided.
It was resolved that the Council approved all sections of the Annual Return.
CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW BUSINESS
1.Letter from Metro re 923 Bus service- Otley – Wetherby- Tadcaster. Metro, at short notice, had asked for comments from PCs about possible changes/ discontinuation of this service. The Clerk had written back strongly supporting retention of the service, whilst accepting that there may be some reductions in the route covered.
2. Letter from Wetherby Town Council re support from parish councils for Community Police Vehicle. Wetherby Council felt that for too long they had borne the total cost of financing this service. They suggested that from 2012 all PCs should make a contribution of 5p per person on the electoral roll. It was agreed to make inquiries about the usefulness of the vehicle and to discuss the issue at the Wetherby & Harewood Forum.
3. Letter from NHS re Closure of Commuter Walk in Centre in Leeds. This was noted.
4. Vandalism at Carr Green. The Chairman reported receipt of an email from a villager reporting that the climbing frame has been burnt in places and the wooden train requires cementing in. After checking on these, he had asked the Clerk to inform the PCSO about the arson damage and to ask Mark Hullah to secure the train. The Clerk was also asked to suggest to the PCSO that the back of the village hall was another place in summer where trouble sometimes occurred, and should be checked on regularly.
5. Change of date for July meeting.? The Chairman reported that he will be away on the normal date for the July meeting and suggested changing it to the following Tuesday, July 26th.After some discussion, it was, however, agreed that there would be no change of date and the Vice Chairman, Cllr Anning, would chair the meeting. .
6. State of ginnel between Main Street and Church Drive. Cllr Fowler said he had received a complaint that this was now virtually impassable due to overgrown vegetation. Other Cllrs reiterated the complaint. It was resolved to write to all “offenders” and request that they cut back their hedges.
MINOR MATTERS FOR DELEGATION TO CLERK/NEXT AGENDA
1. Grass cutting and Tree Work on Crabtree Lane Cllr Anning reported that both required attention.
It was resolved to ask that Glendales cut the grass and Mark Hullah cut back growth on the Memorial Trees as some of the branches are now obscuring road signs.
2. Emptying of Brown Bins Cllr Pentith reported that there had again been a problem on Church Drive and Moor Lane with these bins. She had e mailed her concerns to the Refuse Dept. who had then surprisingly offered to meet her to discuss what should have simply been a matter of getting the bins emptied.
3. Maps of Villages In the Minutes of the last meeting of the local forum , in connection with discussion of possible boundary changes, it had been stated that Anna Turner would obtain A1 size maps of the villages.
It was resolved to request a map of East Keswick.
4. Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Cllr Pentith reminded Cllrs that many villages were getting preparations for celebrating this on July 2nd 2012 underway and it might be difficult to compete for delivery of suitable attractions. Cllr Ogden suggested that East Keswick should hold its Beer Festival to mark the jubilee. The Chairman offered to speak to Janet Thornton who had suggested trying to assemble a group of younger people who might run an event for the occasion.
5. Traveller’s Rest Cllr Ogden reported that this has now been sold.
6. Painting of Milestones Cllr Ogden had noticed that these had recently been painted.
7. Blue Gap Cottage Cllr Ogden reported that he had been approached by a number of people commenting on an apparent extension of the footprint with a new wall behind which the foundations appeared to be almost up to the road. It was agreed to check with the Planners whether Building Regulations had been approved.
8. Ivy Grange Barn The Clerk was asked to report to the Planners that the hedge which had been taken out has still not been reinstated, causing local problems.
9. Top end of Moor Lane (adjacent to A659) The Clerk was asked to remind Highways that this was becoming in urgent need of attention, with the surface deteriorating and potholes increasing in size.
Signed:
Date:
June 11 Mins. (3)