May 2022 Minutes Annual Parish Council Meeting
Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard’s Leap Parish Council
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard's Leap Parish Council held at Cranwell Village Hall, Old School Lane, Cranwell Village, NG34 8DF on Monday 9th May 2022 at 7:00 pm.
Participating: Chairman: Cllr Mr T Batten
Councillors: Cllr Mr M Pears, Cllr Mrs M Cassidy, Cllr Mr M Cassidy, Mrs C Batten, Cllr Mr M Collier.
Also in attendance: County Councillor Richard Wright, District Councillor Jim Clark, RAF Community Liaison Officer.
Mrs Kirsty Elson, Clerk to the Parish Council
Members of the public: 3
No comments from the public.
County Cllr Richard Wright: Cllr Wright had come out three times to check the traffic and noted the speeding and contacted Speed Watch. If there is a regular pattern of traffic that is speeding this information needs to be sent to him. Cllr Mike Pears stated that he would send the statistics from the new SIDs that give a large number of speeding vehicles going through the village, this information has been sent to the police and Cllr Pears would email this information on to Cllr Richard Wright.
Road repairs have been chased but the budget is limited for this year. Cllr Batten stated that the road surfaces are not in a great state this year.
RAF Liaison Officer: He stated that if any RAF personnel are caught speeding in the area, then they will be brought to task on this. The RAF Police are starting to liaise with Lincolnshire police on this matter.
The Chairman declared the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council open at 7:11 pm.
1.Election of a Chairman.
Action: Cllr Mike Pears and Cllrs Michael and Maureen Cassidy nominated Cllr Trevor Batten for the position of Chairman.
6 votes for Cllr Trevor Batten for Chairman, 0 against, 0 abstentions.
It was therefore RESOLVED that Councillor Trevor Batten was voted in as Parish Council Chairman. The Chairman then signed the declaration of acceptance of office.
2. To receive apologies for absence and reasons given i.a.w Local Government Act 1972, Sch 12, para 40.
No absences.
3. To receive declarations of interest and to consider applications in relation to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.
None.
4. Election of a Vice-Chairman.
Action: Cllr Trevor Batten nominated Cllr Mike Pears, this was seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and agreed unanimously. It was therefore RESOLVED that Cllr Mike Pears is appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 7.15 to hear a candidate for the vacancy of Parish Councillor present the reasons why she would like to become a councillor.
The Chairman then re-opened the meeting and moved to item 26 on the agenda.
5. 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 Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Carole Batten, with a vote of 6 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions and therefore approved unanimously.
The closed session ended at 7.15.
Action: Cllr Trevor Batten proposed that the Parish Council co-opt Alice Holden to fill one of the Councillor vacancies. This was seconded by Cllr Mike Pears and approved unanimously. Alice Holden then took up her place on the Council.
6. Notes of the ordinary meeting of the Parish Council held on Friday 22nd April 2022 to be approved as minutes.
The Council RESOLVED to approve the notes of the ordinary meeting held on Friday 22nd April 2022, of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard’s Leap Parish Council, as Minutes. Proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten, Seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy, with a vote of 5 for, 0 against and 1 abstention.
7. To receive the minute of the last meeting of the Pavilion Committee.
The Parish Council deemed this item void, as explained under the next item.
8. To consider any recommendations made by the Pavilion committee.
Cllr Mike Pears proposed that the Parish Council disband the Pavilion sub-committee as it had been set up incorrectly. Cllr Pears also stated that he believed that all the work that had been done and minuted should be accepted.
Action: The Parish Council RESOLVED to disband the Pavilion sub-committee but accept all the minutes to date from the sub-committee. Proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Mike Pears, and approved unanimously.
9. To review the delegation arrangements to committees, sub-committees, staff and other local authorities.
The Clerk explained to the council the correct structures of committees – A Parish Council can have several committees and a committee can appoint a sub-committee.
Action: In light of the clerk’s recommendations Cllr Mike Pears proposed that the Parish Council appoint a Building and Projects Committee, this was seconded by Cllr Mark Collier with a vote of 7 for and 0 against and therefore RESOLVED.
Cllr Mike Pears had sent out terms of reference for the new committee prior to the meeting and proposed that the Parish Council agreed to apply these terms of reference to the Building and Projects committee, this was seconded by Cllr Trevor Batten and approved and therefore RESOLVED.
The Parish Council then appointed the members of the Building and Projects Committee, the appointed members are:
Cllr Maureen Cassidy, Cllr Michael Cassidy, Cllr Mike Pears, Cllr Trevor Batten, Cllr Mark Collier, Cllr Alice Holden.
The Parish Council decided to appoint a Chairman of the Committee at the next meeting.
10. To review the terms of reference for the Pavilion Committee.
Not applicable.
11. To review the appointments of member to existing committees.
Not applicable.
12. Re-adoption of documents.
Cllr Trevor Batten stated that the address at the top of all the documents need to be updated.
Action: It was proposed by Cllr Mike Pears, seconded by Cllr Mark Collier and approved unanimously to re-adopt the following documents:
Standing Orders, Advertising Guidance Policy, Annual Investment Strategy, Bullying-Harassment Policy, Code of Conduct, Communications Policy, Freedom of Information Publication Scheme, Grant and Donations Policy, Social Media Policy, Data Protection Policy.
13. To review arrangements with other local authorities and review contributions made to expenditure incurred by other local authorities.
The Parish Council concluded that it had no arrangements and therefore this is not applicable.
14. To review the inventory of land and assets including buildings and office equipment. (Asset Register)
The Chairman stated that this is too much work to do at the meeting and requested that a Parish Councillor take on the task to update/revise the asset register. Cllr Alice Holden agreed to take on the responsibility to complete the Asset Register and present to the Council at the next meeting.
ACTION: Review of completed Asset Register to be presented to the June ordinary meeting of the Parish Council.
15. Confirmation of arrangements for insurance cover in respect of all insured risks.
Action: It was decided that this item will be offered to the next ordinary meeting of the Parish Council in June.
16. Determine the time and place of ordinary meetings of the full council up to and including the next annual meeting of full council.
Proposed dates: Monday 13th June ’22, Monday 11th July ‘ 22, no meeting in August, Monday 12th September, Monday 10th October, Monday 14th November, Monday 12th December, Monday 9th January, Monday 13th February, Monday 13th March, Monday 3rd April (Note the April meeting is the first Monday of the month, as the second Monday of the month is Easter Monday). Monday 8th May.
Action: It was proposed by Cllr Michael Cassidy, seconded by Cllr Mark Collier and approved unanimously, to accept the dates given for ordinary meetings of the Parish Council for the next year, up to and including the next Annual Meeting of the Parish Council.
17. Financial Matters
a. Approve the payments made since the March and April meetings.
Payments made between the March and April meetings.
Microsoft 365 Annual Subscription Online £ 79.99
Amazon - USB Drive for CFWP DMMO Application Online £ 11.38
Secure a filed Ltd EB-0771 £ 431.94
Amazon – Elixir Gardens Clear tree guards Online £ 19.99
Adobe AcroPro DD £ 15.17
Kirsty Elson Clerks Salary (month 12) EB-0772 £ 686.92
Kirsty Elson Clerks Expenses (Month 12) EB-0772 £ 53.81
ESP Play Scotland Ltd – Deposit INV 21701649 £2,385.00
BT Bill DD £ 4.80
Fee for maintaining CSPA DR £ 5.00
Amazon CD 2812 Online £ 37.41
Amazon CD 2812 Online £ 261.66
CCTV Hikvision – Min Ref:131.g. pg 43-2021 Online £ 73.42
CCTV Hikvision – Min Ref: 131.g. pg 43-2021 Online £1,758.12
Non – Dom rates Bill 2022/23 Old School Building EB-0773 £ 56.89
Correction Mailchimp (increase in DD) £ 0.57
Correction Anglian Water (unknown increase) £ 7.00
Total : £ 7,982.49
Payments made between the April and May meetings.
Cartridgesave – Magenta cartridge Online £ 41.77
RBL – Queens Green Canopy Plaque Online £ 119.99
Panda Dome antivirus annual renewal Online £ 35.49
Replacement defib pads – Brauncewell EB-0774 £ 99.54
Cllr Trevor Batten (Chairmans Allowance Jan-Apr)EB-0775 £ 60.00
Kirsty Elson – Clerks Salary (Month 1) EB-0784 £ 686.92
Kirsty Elson – Clerks Expenses (Month 1) EB-0784 £ 41.66
Amazon – High vis vests Min Ref:58.h 22nd April 22 Online £ 22.94
Correction of Mailchimp payment (unknown increase) £ 0.04
Anglian Water Playing field) DD £ 8.00
Fee for maintaining CSPA DR £ 5.00
Total : £ 3,186.92
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the payments made since the last meeting.
Proposed by Cllr Mike Pears, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
b. Approve the payment of invoices etc. as listed on the Payments to be Authorised sheet.
CCTV Cables EB-0785 £. 101.99
John Scotney Turf Management EB-0786 £ 144.00
LALC – First Aid Training EB-0787 £ 132.00
Streetwise Environmental Trading Ltd (April cut) EB-0789 £ 479.88
Online Playgrounds – Toddler Cradle Seat EB -0790 £ 112.60
Adobe AcroPRO DD £ 15.17
IONOS – Mailbasic 25 DD £ 1.20
IONOS – Email Archiving DD £ 3.00
Mailchimp DD £ 15.78
Anglain Water (Acct*****7216 – Playing Field) DD £ 8.00
Anglian Water(Acct*****5216 – Old School) DD £ 27.00
Total: £ 1,040.62
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the payments of invoices, except for the Streetwise Environmental Trading Ltd invoice for £479.88 as it appeared that the grass had not been cut during this month. Proposed by Cllr Mark Collier, seconded by Cllr Maureen Cassidy and approved unanimously.
c. Approve the bank reconciliation from March and April.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to approve the bank reconciliation from March.
Proposed by Cllr Maureen Cassidy, seconded by Cllr Mike Pears and approved unanimously.
The clerk stated that she had not received the bank statement for April yet, so had been able to carry out the bank reconciliation for this month.
d. To consider signing up to an accounts package and if agreed decide which accounts package to sign up to: Scribe, Rialtas or Edge.
The Clerk stated that she had requested quotes and demonstrations from Scribe, Rialtas and Edge. Quotes and demonstrations were received by Scribe and Rialtas but nothing received from Edge.
Scribe had quoted £485+VAT for the first year including setup and free training.
Rialtas had quoted £1383 for the first year including setup.
After viewing the demonstration and looking at everything each package had to offer, the Clerk recommended Scribe.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to sign up to an accounts package and to go with the Clerk’s recommendation and sign up to Scribe.
Proposed by Trevor Batten, seconded by Cllr Mike Pears and approved unanimously.
18. Receive a report from the Clerk on matters pertaining to the Parish Council.
The Clerk reported that a resident from Willow Lane had called the Parish Council to say that it seemed the verges on Willow Lane had not been cut all year. The Chair stated that he had spoken to this resident and afterwards had looked on the PC’s Grass cutting contractors contract, where it showed that they were responsible for cutting these verges. The Chair stated that Streetwise (grass cutting contractors) were not doing their job properly and therefore the Parish Council did not approve to pay the Streetwise invoice this month.
The clerk stated that she had spoken to Streetwise today and they said the verges on Willow Lane would be cut next week. The Chair requested a schedule of cuts from Streetwise.
The Clerk stated that the internal auditor was coming back to finish the internal audit.
The Clerk had also looked at ways of timesaving such as the accounts packages and using an app to produce the Clerk’s timesheet, which can just be printed and saves approx. 45minutes.
19. Planning Applications.
a.22/0534/VARCON – Land at Old School Lane, Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 8DF. Application to vary condition 4 (approved plans) attached to planning permission 21/0817/FUL-Removal of portable buildings and erection of a Community Pavilion. (Parish Council’s Application therefore they cannot comment, listed here for public information.) Comments by May 20th, 2022.
No comments by the council.
b.22/0608/HOUS – Single storey front extension - 41 Edmunds Road, Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 8EL. Comments by 22nd May 2022.
No Comments by the Council
Applications determined:-
22/0176/HOUS – Erection of single storey log cabin for home office/music room – 11 Westside Road, Cranwell, Sleaford. Planning application approved.
20. To consider placing a floodlight on the Village Green.
Cllr Michael Cassidy stated that the only quote he had so far to do the work to supply and install the kit was for £3,400. The kit can be bought for £500, but he is having difficulty in finding a quote to do the work and would like to postpone items b and c.
If it is resolved to place a floodlight on the village green:
a.To consider increasing the budget for this project by £300 to a total of £1000.
Cllr Michael Cassidy stated that £1000 may not be enough. Cllr Michael Cassidy proposed to increase the village green floodlight earmarked reserves by £500 and to not exceed a total of £1,200. Seconded by Cllr Carole Batten and approved unanimously.
b.To consider the quotes for the pole and light fitting from Wydales, LED Store, CR Lighting and Mallatite.
Postponed to the next meeting
c.To consider the costs of the preparatory work, electrician costs and installation of the village green floodlight.
Postponed to the next meeting
21. To agree to the application to the secretary of state, by way of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, for approval to borrow £100,000 from the PWLB.
Action: It was proposed by Cllr Trevor Batten to agree to the application to the Secretary of State, by way of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, for approval to borrow £94,000 from the PWLB, seconded by Cllr Mike Pears and approved unanimously.
a.To present to full Council a comprehensive breakdown of the proposed works and estimated costs for the pavilion project. (Architects plans will be available for the public to view).
The plans were available for the public to view at the meeting. The Council are waiting for the approval for amendments to the plans and need to have a meeting with a Quantity Surveyor who will provide the breakdown of the proposed works.
No further action.
b.To revise the financial planning to fund the £100,000 loan.
This has been resolved – the loan will be paid over a maximum of 18 years.
c.To consider the steps/options the council has to mitigate the risk for not being able to afford the loan repayments.
This is being paid out of the current precept which has already been increased to cover the repayment cost each year over an 18 year period and so is guaranteed.
22. To consider naming the new road on the new development near Willow Lane.
Action: The Council RESOLVED to agree to the name The Hawthorns. Proposed by Cllr Michael Cassidy, seconded by Cllr Mike Pears and approved unanimously.
23. To consider whether the parish council wishes to provide any feedback to the NKDC public consultation on the interim Polling Place Review 2022. Public consultation open from Tuesday 3rd May 2022 and closes on Monday 6th June 2022.
No comments by the council.
24. Receive reports from councillors on their areas of responsibility.
Cllr Carole Batten reported: a working party meeting for the Jubilee was held on Tuesday 9th May.
face painting - £120, crazy golf £200, £69.77 has been paid for. marquee - £250. these invoices will be sent for approval by the Parish Council. the Clerk stated that the correct way to do this would have been for the working party to recommend these activities and costings for approval by full Council, the Clerk would then raise purchase orders and the invoices received would be put on the accounts for payment, for approval to be paid.
The Chair stated that the Parish Council have already earmarked £900 for the Jubilee. It was concluded that the invoices will be put in the accounts for payment for approval at the June meeting.
Cllr Carole Batten stated that the total current costs for the Jubilee is £639. the car park would be closed for the Jubilee, on Friday and Saturday.
Cllr Mark Collier reported: The R.A.F. lights that were previously not working are all sorted, and the Council owned lights will be reported to Fix My Street.
Cllr Michael Cassidy :
Byards Leap - B6403/A17 junction - pothole developing between the white lines at end of B6403.
defib checked ok. - await check sheet for record purposes.
A17 near B6403 - the rough surface/potholes etc. Newark direction previously reported now have some yellow markings possible work to be done ?
The island A17/B1429 junction previously reported - still has not had the vertical light replaced following the accident.
B1429 all lights working in area of responsibility.
Some degradation to footpath around Lighter Than Air area etc, not bad enough to qualify for repair.
OASC lay by and lights - copy of email from LCC saying that it is R.A.F. responsibility. Handed to the Wing Commander at the annual meeting. - await a response .
Willow Lane - potholes continue to develop will soon qualify for reporting.
Exercise equipment Caloo - rust now treated , good yellow hammerite band above the green body.
The “need tightening" nuts in Wicksteed report are not able to be tightened any further. What appears to cause the very small rotational movement is that 4 grub screws are seemingly used to further locate the post. These are rusted in and probably have little contact with the main post. I have left a shot of Plusgas on them to see if they will become movable.
The small side railings to the play area gate needs to be relocated to the vertical. Clerk has been asked to forward details of our local "handy person " to myself.
Gate closing speed now reset to slow, or very slow !
Grass on playing field and village green very long. Clerk has been asked to check with contractors re cutting schedule.
The Jubilee tree has been watered and a small amount of fertilizer given. There are signs of bud break which is good.
Netball hoop " nets " need re-attaching, Its a stepladder job for 2.(h&s )
The tennis court net that often lost its tension seems to be ok at present.
Floodlight to the Green - this is not included in my report as it will require input and decisions from the Parish Council. Clerk has been asked to agenda an item for this.
Cllr Mike Pears:
WEBSITE
The viewing figures continue to be consistent with around 1,000 visitors each month and 3 to 4 thousand pages being viewed.
SPEEDWATCH GROUP
I’m poised to get this moving forward – the next step being to organise training for the volunteers who wish to do it. However I’m being held up at the moment due to not having the necessary equipment as it hasn’t been ordered. I don’t want to commit to any arrangements if we might not have what we need.
SIDS
I have now made an arrangement with the manufacturer (subject to Council’s approval) to have our 2 display units repaired. Their new circuit that is being developed to avoid the use of the Chinese chip has suffered delays and now has to be extensively tested in order to comply with regulations. This is likely to take a further 6 -8 weeks. However they assure me that our problems should not be caused by that chip and they feel that they can easily repair them. I have been reluctant to hand them back as I didn’t want to be left without them for many weeks. They are assuring me that they can arrange for them to be collected this week and they will get them back to me in no more than a week after that. On that basis I am prepared to go for the repair if you all agree ?
The data remains more or less the same as before although there was a huge increase in the number of vehicles going at over 70 mph down College Road in the week of the RAF big event when they closed the road.
25. Confirm the date of the next meeting.
The Clerk stated that the date of the next ordinary meeting of the Parish Council is Monday 13th June 2022 at 7 p.m.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 9:04pm.