April 2022 Minutes
Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard’s Leap Parish Council
Minutes of the ordinary meeting of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard's Leap Parish Council held at Cranwell Village Hall, Old School Lane, Cranwell Village, NG34 8DF on Friday 22 April 2022 at 7:00 pm.
Participating: Chairman: Cllr Mr T Batten
Councillors: Cllr Mr M Pears, Cllr Mr M Cassidy, Cllr Mrs M Cassidy, Mrs C Batten, Cllr Mr M Collier.
Also in attendance: District Councillor Jim Clark.
Mrs Kirsty Elson, Clerk to the Parish Council
Members of the public: 4
The Chairman address the public and asked if anyone has anything they wished to ask the parish council. No members of the public wished to speak during the public session.
Cllr Jim Clarke addressed the Parish Council: He stated that there will be a full planning council meeting on Monday night (25th April). Scrutiny of the board of directors is under review. Housing in 2022 - there is a big conference about new houses being built and numbers in our area.
The Chairman thanked the District Councillor.
The Chairman declared the ordinary April meeting open at 7:08 pm.
1. To receive apologies for absence and reasons given i.a.w. Local Government Act 1972, Sch 12, para 40.
No apologies, all councillors present.
2. To receive declarations of interest and to consider applications in relation to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.
Cllr Michael Cassidy declared an interest in item 5.b. as he is claiming expenses.
Cllr Maureen Cassidy declared an interest in item 5.b. as Cllr Michael Cassidy’s spouse.
Cllr Mike Pears declared an interest in item 5.b. as He is claiming expenses.
3. Notes of the ordinary meeting held on Monday 14th March 2022, of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard’s Leap Parish Council to be approved as Minutes.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the notes of the ordinary meeting held on Monday 14th March 2022, of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard’s Leap Parish Council, as Minutes.
Proposed by Cllr Mike Pears, seconded by Cllr M Collier and approved unanimously.
4. To adopt the minutes of the pavilion sub-committee meeting held on March 7th 2022.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to adopt the minutes of the pavilion committee meeting held on the 7th March 2022. Proposed by Cllr Michael Cassidy, seconded by Cllr Carole Batten and approved unanimously.
5. Financial Matters.
a. Approve the payments made since the last meeting.
The clerk stated that she wished to defer the payments made since that last meeting as the accounts did not reconcile. The clerk has been off work with COVID and needs some more time to solve the matter.
b. Approve the payment of invoices etc. as listed on the Payments to be Authorised sheet.
John Scotney Turf Management EB-0776 £ 713.00
Warden and Security Services EB-0777 £ 132.00
Streetwise Environmental Trading Ltd (INV 52088) EB-0778 £ 479.88
David Holman – Architect EB-0779 £ 117.00
MJT Plumbing Services (Inv 100422a) EB-0780 £ 250.00
Wickstead EB-0781 £ 103.20
Emma Maiden (jubilee Expenses) EB-0782 £ 69.77
Cllr Mike Pears (March Expenses) EB-0783 £ 17.10
Cllr Michael Cassidy (March Expenses) Chq 1904 £ 79.70
Adobe AcroPRO DD £ 15.17
IONOS-Mail Basic 25 DD £ 1.20
IONOS Email Archiving DD £ 3.00
Mailchimp DD £ 15.78
Anglian Water (Acct *****5216 – Old School) DD £ 27.00
Total: £ 2,023.80
The clerk advised that the Parish Council should not pay the jubilee expenses (EB-0782) as the jubilee working group has no delegated powers to spend parish council money. Purchases the Jubilee Working Group wishes to make for the event should be recommended to the Parish Council at an ordinary meeting where councillors can resolve to authorise the purchase(s) (if they wish), the purchases can then be made by the parish clerk following the normal procedures.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the full payment of invoices etc.. as listed on the Payments to be authorised sheet.
Proposed by Cllr Carole Batten, seconded by Cllr Mark Collier and approved by a vote of 3 for, 0 against and 3 abstentions.
c. Approve the bank reconciliation from the previous month (March).
The clerk stated that the bank reconciliation did not reconcile and wished for this to be deferred until next month.
d. Consider the quotes from Sutcliffe Play, Playdale, Wickstead and Online Playgrounds for a replacement cradle swing for the village playpark.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the purchase of a red toddler cradle swing from Online Playgrounds.
Proposed by Cllr Carole Batten, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
e. To consider charging CJFC for the use of the Old School toilets.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to charge Cranwell Junior Football Club £5 per day for the use of the Old School Toilets.
Proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Mark Collier and approved unanimously.
f. To agree to the LALC internal audit service requirements terms of reference.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to agree to the LALC terms of Reference for the Internal audit.
Proposed by Cllr Mark Collier, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
g. To consider purchasing hedgehog signs.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to write to Lincoln County Council to ask how much it will cost to do this.
Proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Michael Cassidy and approved unanimously.
h. To consider purchasing equipment for a Speed watch group (estimate £400).
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the purchase of equipment for a speed watch group, up to the sum of £410.
Proposed by Cllr Michael Cassidy , seconded by Cllr Carole Batten and approved unanimously.
6. Receive a report from the Clerk on matters pertaining to the Parish Council.
30/03/22 – The clerk had contacted BT about the £4.80 bills received for January, February and March. The bills were a fee for the paper bills and should have been cancelled when the account was cancelled in December 2021. These have now been cancelled and the payments of £4.80 for January, February and March 2022 will be refunded by BT to the Parish Council treasurer’s account.
7. Planning Applications.
No planning applications to comment on.
8. To discuss establishing a Speed Watch Group.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to establish a speed watch group.
Proposed by Cllr Mike Pears, seconded by Cllr Michael Cassidy and approved unanimously.
9. To set the parameters for the use of the Garden of Remembrance.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the use of the garden of remembrance by the Romper Room, as long as the village hall agree, and it is treated with respect and left in good condition.
Proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Michael Cassidy and approved unanimously.
10. To approve the re-painting of the Caloo playpark equipment.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the re-painting of the Caloo playpark equipment with a yellow band over the area where the paint has corroded.
Proposed by Cllr Michael Cassidy, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
11. To consider placing gates/markers at the end of the village.
Action: The Council did not resolve to place gates/markers at the end of the village as there is not enough room to do so on the Sleaford side of the village.
12. Pavilion Update.
Still waiting for planning permission to be approved by NKDC.
13. Receive reports from councillors on their areas of responsibility.
Cllr Carole Batten reported from the Jubilee working party – The following has been organised so far for the jubilee celebrations – Thursday 2nd June, residents can decorate their houses and there will be a prize for the best decorated house. Friday 3rd June is the main event with activities organised all day, starting with a morning craft fair on the playing field, there will be bacon sandwiches and coffee available, there will be areas on the playing field for people to bring their picnics and games for the children in the afternoon. There will be a marquee outside the pavilion with vintage crockery and cakes available to purchase. There will be food available in the evening and a band in the village hall. Saturday 4th June – There will be a Church coffee morning and an afternoon barbeque in the village hall car park where there will also hopefully be vintage cars. Sunday 5th June – 4pm barbeque and a social club event – the parish council would also like to encourage people to have their own street parties.
Cllr Michael Cassidy asked if we could have the playing field grass cut just before the jubilee celebrations.
Cllr Mark Collier – Circulated his report to all councillors prior to the meeting.
Cllr Michael Cassidy - Circulated his report to all councillors prior to the meeting
Cllr Mike Pears.
(1)SIDs. After much testing we’ve now established that both display units are faulty – one has faulty display lights and the other has stopped working completely. Thanks to Trevor for your help with this. This is due to a faulty microchip in the display unit. Our supplier has advised that they cannot get any replacement chips until May next year so they are working on a new circuit that removes the need for these chips. They are saying that they should be ready around the end of this month so as soon as they are we can arrange for both of our display units to be replaced. They say that the one with faulty lights can probably be repaired but I have arranged for them both to be replaced with new ones so we don’t have any with the “faulty” chip inside. We do continue to get data from the unit that is currently on College Road.
(2) POTHOLES. I’ve identified 4 or 5 reasonable large potholes on Sleaford Road within the 30 mph zone. I need to get out there and study them, photograph them and mark their location with What3Words. I’m not sure if they will be the “right size” for action. I will then post that information onto FixMyStreet.com.
(3) ENERGY PLANT. On March 30th 2022 Michael Cassidy and I went on a visit to the “Sleaford Renewable Energy Plant” on Boston Road. In the 2 hour visit they explained the procedure for applying for loans from their Annual Fund of £25,000 and then took us round on a conducted tour of their plant. I think I can say that we both found it very interesting.
They donate a total of £25,000 per annum to organisations within a 5 mile radius of their plant on Boston Road in Sleaford (Cranwell qualifies). They have a maximum of £5,000 for each grant although they are keen to give smaller amounts to more beneficiaries. Applications must be from properly organised local groups that are doing things for the community with a clear vision of how the locality will benefit. They will not give money to Parish Councils. Any group that applies must have a constitution although they don’t need to have a bank account as, if they are supported by the Parish Council, the P.C. can act as their “bankers” and look after the money as a reserve fund in its own account. The applications are looked at every three months by a small committee – deadlines being mid-April, mid-July, mid-October and mid-January.
They’ve donated to schools, small community groups with shared interests, churches, etc. So if you become aware of any local groups that might qualify please bear this in mind.
I do have some slides of their presentation if anyone is interested.
14. Confirm the date of the next meeting.
The clerk confirmed the date of the next meeting will be on Monday 9th May 2022.
15. To resolve to go into closed session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, as amended by Section 100 of the Local Government Act 1972, to discuss the following matters;
Action: The council RESOLVED to go into closed session, proposed by Cllr Mike Pears, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 8:19pm.