2022 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

FALDINGWORTH PARISH COUNCIL

WEDNESDAY 16 March 2022

MEMORIAL HALL FALDINGWORTH

PRESENT     D Waine (Chair), D Dickinson, W Green,

S Harkins, P Gregson, A Lillywhite, M Thompson

OFFICER      A Hopkins - Parish Clerk

PUBLIC         There was 1 member of the public present

21/03-1           APOLOGIES AND REASONS FOR ABSENCE

There were no apologies received.

21/03-2           DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were none.

21/03-3           PUBLIC FORUM

It was resolved to suspend standing orders to allow members of the public to speak.

There were no matters raised.

21/03-4           CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

                        The minutes of the following meeting was resolved as a true and correct record of that which took place.

            Council Meeting                                           19 January 2022

These were proposed by Cllr Green and seconded by Cllr Gregson, all in favour.

21/03-5           Updates from Police

Contact had been made with PCSO Angie Law, who had been sending emails to an incorrect address. Cllr Waine read out the report received, there had been two incidents reported, one about a digger, and another of people on a farm in the early hours, but both were recorded as “no crime”.

21/03-6           Updates from County and District Councillors

                        There were no County or District Councillors present at this point.

21/03-7           Resident Issues

The request for a war memorial in the Village had been raised at the last meeting and the Clerk had followed up the possibility of siting this at an area identified outside the Kisimul School. The Head Teacher had confirmed that the land belonged to the School and had passed the request to their facilities team. A number of questions had been raised, but it was generally positive, The facilities team would make a visit to the site, hopefully before the next meeting with a decision.

LALC had confirmed that Section 137 money could be used for the memorial.

Cllr Waine had apologised for not arranging a residents coffee morning before this meeting, but he would arrange one for 10:00am two weeks before the next meeting.

21/03-8           FINANCIAL MATTERS

The following items were resolved for payment as proposed by Cllr Thompson and seconded by Cllr Green, all in favour.

The banking reconciliation, as presented by the Clerk, to the end of February 2022 was resolved as correct as proposed by Cllr Green and seconded by Cllr Thompson, all in favour.

Following a letter from HSBC the Council considered adopting online banking. This would help reduce charges by making payments online. Cllr Gregson was asked to investigate with the bank and a decision would be made on how to move forward at a later date.

The Council discussed the appointment of the internal auditor. It was resolved, as proposed by Cllr Green, and seconded by Cllr Lillywhite, and all in favour that the current auditor be retained for consistency.

Cllr Grimble had arrived during this item and Cllr Waine invited her to give an update. She informed the Council that they were returning to face-to-face meeting and that WLDC had raised the Commonwealth Flag for Commonwealth Day

21/03-9           REVISED CODE OF CONDUCT

A revised Code of Conduct had been sent round from WLDC, this was based on the national code developed by the Local Government Association.

It was resolved to adopt the new Code of Conduct as proposed by Cllr Harkins and seconded by Cllr Green, all in favour. Councillors duly signed an acceptance form, and these will be sent to WLDC as confirmation.

21/03-10        Village Grass Cutting

The Clerk had circulated two quotations received from the four that had been sent out. The current provider, Glendale, had sent in the cheapest quote and as there were no real issues with the service provided it was resolved to accept their quotation, as proposed by Cllr Thompson and seconded by Cllr Lillywhite, all in favour.

The Clerk was asked to request that the strimming is undertaken around posts/obstacles etc. as sometimes this was left.

21/03-11         PLAYING FIELD ISSUES

Cllr Thompson and Cllr Gregson had inspected the field and identified an area that may be suitable to fence off for dog owners, they had also obtained an estimate of £12980+VAT for the work to be done.

There were 4 options discussed:

• Allowing dogs on the field
• Do nothing
• Enforcement through WLDC
• Fenced off area for dogs to exercise

Cllr Thompson was asked to look at more quotes for fencing off an area at the field and all the options would be discussed with parishioners at the residents meeting.

Cllr Waine raised the clean-up day at the play area and field, he suggested either the 23rd or 30th April and would send arrangements via email. This would include the clearing of the ditches as raised by Cllr Thompson and other volunteers from the village would be asked to join in. Cllr Waine reported that he had also tightened the bolts that were raised on the inspection report.

21/03-12        PLANNING MATTERS

There were none.

21/03-13        Correspondence & Updates on previous actions

The Clerk had circulated the LCC Local Plan Consultation to all Councillors.

The had not yet sourced the replacement Neighbourhood Watch signs and would do so before the next meeting.

The bench on Buslingthorpe Road was due to be fixed.

21/03-14        Any urgent items for discussion

There were none.

            The Annual Parish and Annual Council Meetings would be held on             Wednesday 18th May 2022