March 2025 Minutes
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Utterby Parish Council
Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Tuesday 4 February 2025 at 7.00pm in Utterby Village Hall, Main Road, Utterby, LN11 0TQ
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Clerk: |
Tony Shaw |
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Present: |
Councillors Newton (Chair), Buckley (Vice-chair), Bryan, Lashbrooke-Small, Traves and Clifford |
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In Attendance: |
County Cllr Alex Hall and 5 members of the public
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1. |
Apologies None. |
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2. |
To record declarations of interest in any of the agenda items listed below Cllr Newton declared an interest in item 8 as the applicant of the planning application |
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3. |
To adopt the minutes of the ordinary meeting on Tuesday 4 February 2025 It was resolved to adopt the minutes. These were signed by the Chair. |
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4. |
Open forum A member of the public spoke about the recent flooding on Grange Lane and Queen’s Close and provided photographic evidence to the Chair. These will be used to inform the meeting on 17th March when a LCC Highways manager visits the village. Further discussion about the flooding reiterated there is a variety of underlying issues, including drains that need rodding and field culverts that are blocked. |
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5. |
To receive updates from District and/or County Councillors County Cllr Hall confirmed he will be attending the village on 17th March with a Highways manager from LCC. Their itinerary will include visiting sites of recent flooding and attending Utterby Primary Academy to discuss traffic issues with speeding. Parish Councillors Newton and Traves will be joining them to represent the village’s concerns. District Cllr Edward Mossop was absent and sent apologies via Cllr Hall. |
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6. |
Clerk’s report |
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6.1 |
To discuss Defibrillator training Only two residents have confirmed interest in attending this training plus several councillors are interested. It was proposed that a training session be arranged for Saturday 26 April, following the next village hall coffee morning. The Clerk will contact EMAS to see if this is possible. |
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6.2 |
Highways visit on 17 March 2025 As per item 5, the Clerk confirmed this meeting has been arranged. Council thanked Cllr Hall for his contribution in enabling this visit from LCC Highways to happen. |
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6.3 |
BT Phone Box BT have placed a notice in the phone box on the village green, announcing their intention to remove it, following a 90-day consultation period. The Clerk contacted BT, who advised they have consulted ELDC. However, ELDC denied knowledge of BT’s intention in a follow-up query by the Clerk. Further enquiries are ongoing. Council noted that, according to the decision flowchart Ofcom use to approve phone box removals, it has a strong case to make a challenge. The phone box is on a major route used by school buses and there is no other public phone box for several miles. |
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7. |
Finance and Audit |
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7.1 |
To ratify any payments made since the last meeting on 4 February 2025 It was resolved to ratify the payments. See Appendix 1. |
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7.2 |
To approve a schedule of payments It was resolved to approve the list of payments. See Appendix 2. |
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7.3 |
To approve a bank reconciliation to the end of February 2025 A bank reconciliation was presented that demonstrated the council’s account recording matches its bank statement to the end of February 2025. The balance of its bank account on this date was £19,075.73 It was resolved to approve the bank reconciliation. |
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7.4. |
To approve the appointment of Carl Thomas as the Internal Auditor for 2024-25 It was resolved to appoint Carl Thomas as the Internal Auditor. |
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8. |
To consider planning application N/192/00178/25, White Cottage, Church Lane, LN11 0TH Council considered this application and had no objection. |
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9. |
To agree the specification for the grass cutting contract for 2025 The grass cutting contract renewal is due for renewal from April 2025. Council is satisfied with the service provided by DM Skells and would like to renew for a further 12 months. It was resolved to delegate authority to the Clerk to obtain a 2025-26 quote from DM Skells and renew the contract, providing there is no more than a 5% variation on the 2024-25 price. |
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10. |
To discuss traffic calming near Utterby Primary Academy and agree any actions Council noted the installation of speed repeater signs near the school but these appear to have had little or no impact. Previous correspondence from LCC suggested the Police would conduct a speed survey following their installation. The Clerk will contact LCC to seek an update and ask if the survey will capture both speed and volume data. |
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11. |
To discuss the future format, frequency and content of Utterby Voice Council agreed their preference would be to retain the current “magazine” format but perhaps increase the frequency from two to three editions per year. The Clerk will contact those individuals and groups who provide articles to see if this increase in editions is something they will support. |
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12. |
To receive any agenda items for the next meeting on 1 April 2025 The updated Village Hire Agreement is to be presented at the next meeting, so it can be approved and provided to the Church Group in time for their village event in May 2025. |
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Appendix 1: Payments made since the previous meeting |
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Paid |
Supplier |
Description |
Net |
VAT |
Gross |
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26/02/25 |
A Shaw |
Salary (Feb) |
249.28 |
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249.28 |
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26/02/25 |
A Shaw |
WFH Allowance (Feb) |
26.00 |
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26.00 |
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28/02/25 |
Unity Bank |
Service Charge (Feb) |
6.00 |
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6.00 |
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Appendix 2: Payments approved |
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Supplier |
Description |
Net |
VAT |
Gross |
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Cloud Next Ltd |
Domain hosting (utterbyparishcouncil.gov.uk) |
99.99 |
19.99 |
119.98 |
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DW Gibbs |
Bus Shelter & Telephone Box Cleaning (March) |
30.00 |
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30.00 |