May 2021 Minutes
1 Elections
a. It was RESOLVED to elect Cllr Alan Woodward as the Chairman of Utterby Parish Council.
b. It was RESOLVED to defer the election of the Vice Chairman of Utterby Parish Council to a later date.
PUBLIC FORUM
• A resident congratulated the Council on all their hard work over the previous year.
• Cllr Edward Mossop reported that he felt the Annual Parish Meeting held was a very good representation of what went on in the village. Further he reported that a new Lincolnshire County Councillor for our area would be elected the next day.
• A second resident commented that he was pleased to see the new daffodils and plant troughs. Further he asked whether we would be able to leave the grass longer along the straight parts of the road to encourage wild flowers? The Chairman reported he would ask to have the subject added to a future agenda.
Record of Members Present:
Present - Cllr Alan Woodward (AW) (Chair), Cllr Terry Buckley (TB), Cllr Nicola Gallant (NG), Cllr Nicola Mackin (NM), Cllr Jackie Woodward (JW) and Cllr Matthew Wright (MW).
NB: Cllr Gallant arrived at 7:05pm and Cllr Buckley arrived at 7:45pm.
Not Present - Cllr John Mackin (JM).
In Attendance - Clerk Maria Vincent, Cllr Edward Mossop and two members of the public.
2. Apologies Received
Apologies were received from Cllr John Mackin (JM) and Cllr Terry Buckley advised he would be late to the meeting.
3. To receive any Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011
None.
4. Minutes
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting 7th April 2021 as correct and for the Chairman to sign a copy forthwith.
5. Council Matters, Actions and Communications
a. It was RESOLVED to confirm the revised list of Meeting Dates of Utterby Parish Council 2021-22 (now starting in May 21 – April 22).
b. Following a review it was RESOLVED to accept the Asset Register as circulated to Councillors as of end March 2021.
c. Chairman’s Remarks. Nothing to report.
d. Clerk’s Report. The Clerk reported that the appeal for the continuation of remote meetings sadly failed, so after the end of this week, all Council meetings must be face to face - general discussion etc can still take part on zoom, but no meetings where resolutions are made. Further she reported that the Council should be able to have a meeting at the Village Hall on June 2nd, with 2 metre distancing and controls in place. The Clerk reported that she had passed the ILCA qualification that the Council had paid for. Lastly the dog fouling posters would be delivered at the weekend.
e. The Clerk reminded Councillors to complete new DPI forms for 2021/22 if required.
f. It was RESOLVED to approve the review of Standing Orders – no changes.
g. It was RESOLVED to approve the changes to the Financial Regulations – ref costs of contracts now we had left the EU.
h. It was RESOLVED to approve the review of Code of Conduct.
i. It was RESOLVED to approve the review of the Complaints Procedure with a couple of spelling mistakes amended.
j. It was RESOLVED to approve the change of £100 to £250 in the Risk Management Document (correction made from April 21).
k. It was RESOLVED to adopt the new Grievance and Discipline Procedure policy.
l. There were no consultations to review.
m. Communications were received and noted regarding a donation request by LincsLSAR, grants available from the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service and ELDC civility in public life. Donations to organisations to be added to a future agenda.
6 Finance and Budgets
a) It was RESOLVED to accept the end of year 2020/21 Finance information (the including quarterly monitoring from Dec-end March 21).
b) It was RESOLVED to approve the budget sheet with the following change – due to the increased cost of insurance, £120 would be moved from Elections to Insurance (now £470 and £180) keeping the budget total the same. NB: This item was discussed after item 6c.
c) Following discussions as to the best value of the three quotations, it was RESOLVED to choose Came and Company for the Parish Council’s Insurance policy (£444.46) for the 3 year term as there were concerns regarding the cheapest company’s exclusions list creating a problem if a claim was ever filed.
d) It was RESOLVED to approve the payments: DW Gibbs £20.00, Staff (expenses and mileage £203.94, stationery £2.14 Printing signage £24.00) Total £230.08, LALC - zoom licence £119.90, Came & Company £444.46, Glendale Countryside Ltd £118.80. TOTAL £933.24. It was also RESOLVED that if the Parish Council were unable to meet due to restrictions in place for meetings, that any regular cheque payments should be made on email approval of all Councillors and payments to be ratified at the next meeting.
e) It was RESOLVED to accept the Internal Auditor’s report and pass on the Council’s thanks to him for completing it.
f) Annual Governance and Accountability Return
i. It was RESOLVED to agree that the Council was eligible to apply for the Certificate of Exemption and it was approved, to be signed by the Chairman and for the Clerk to send it to the auditors, PKF Littlejohn LLP.
ii. It was RESOLVED to review and approve The Annual Governance Statement and for the Chairman to sign it.
iii. It was RESOLVED to approve the Accounting Statements and for the Chairman to sign it.
g) It was RESOLVED to approve the Bank Reconciliation and Explanation of Variances.
h) It was RESOLVED to approve the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Annual Governance and Accountability Return.
7 Planning
a) No urgent plans to consider.
b) Planning Updates - Cllr Mossop reported that he had spoken with the estate agents who sold the land on Grange Lane/Chapel Lane to ask them to pass on the information regarding the use of Grange Lane to access the land. The estate agents had reported that the original owner of the land had retained ownership of the plot 6 so that access via Grange Lane could be maintained, and that he would sell this after the other developments were completed. Cllr AW reported that there were three signs now up to notify development traffic using Chapel Lane. He had spoken with the owner of the land to see if there was a way to ease the possible situation with traffic using Chapel Lane. Councillors reported there had been no incidents over the previous few weeks.
8 Parish Council Amenities (bus shelters, village green, etc)
a) Welcome Pack. One new resident.
b) Utterby Up Campaign – Nothing to report.
c) Trees – following a report from Cllr JW regarding the visit from the Tree Officer at ELDC in April, that his opinion was that the best plan of action would be to fell the tree and plant a replacement, it was RESOLVED that the Council would write to all those who lived around the Village Green to notify them of the situation (also include in the Utterby Voice), that the Clerk would apply for a TPO to fell the tree and then obtain quotations for the felling of the willow, to trim the Millennium Oak and minor work to other trees. Further that the Council would buy a large weeping willow tree and obtain quotations for the purchase and planting of this separately, along with the white beam trees previously resolved on.
d) Verges and Village Green – All agreed that the verges and Village Green were looking wonderful and it was RESOLVED that the Clerk should write to Glendale to thank them.
e) Bus Shelters – Looking fine.
f) Utterby Voice – Due to be printed in June/July 2021.
9 ELDC/LCC Services (Streetlights, Bins, Highways, Verges, Footpaths, etc
a) It was reported that the black bin on private land by the Public Footpath near the Kissing Gates had finally been removed, but no-one knew who by.
10 Notifications
a) Nothing to report.
11 Date and time of Next Meeting
a) Parish Council Annual Meeting on Wednesday June 2nd 2021 at 7pm at the Village Hall (TBC).
The meeting finished at 8:42.
Signed ___________________ Date________________________