May 2024 Minutes


1    Elections
a.    It was RESOLVED to elect Cllr Matthew Wright as the Chairman of Utterby Parish Council.
b.    It was RESOLVED to elect Cllr Robert Newton as Vice Chairman of Utterby Parish Council.

NB: Cllr Buckley was not present for the election of the Chair and Vice Chairman arriving at 7:03pm
PUBLIC FORUM
•    Nothing raised.
Record of Members Present:
Present - Cllr Matthew Wright (MW) (Chair), Cllr Tina Bryan (TTB), Cllr Terry Buckley (TB), Cllr Robert Newton (RN), Cllr Marc Traves (MT).

Not Present – None.
In Attendance – Clerk: Maria Vincent and 3 members of the public.
2  Apologies Received
None.

3  To receive any Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011
None.
4  Minutes
a) It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of Parish Council Meeting 3rd April 2024 as correct and the Chairman signed them. 

5  Council Matters, Actions and Communications
a)    Chairman’s Remarks The Chair had no remarks.
b)    Clerk’s Report – The Clerk confirmed that there had been two Councillor resignations following the publishing of the agenda – that of Cllr John Mackin and Cllr Nicol Mackin and that ELDC had published the notices. It was noted that the Bank Mandate would have to be changed again and included on the next agenda. It was reported that the precept had been received.
c)    What’s App Group It was RESOLVED that a What’s App group would be formed for internal notifications only. 
d)    Asset Register – It was RESOLVED that the figure for insurance purposes for the assets would be increased by 10% across the board, but that this would not be accounted for in the 2024/25 insurance as the quotes for these had already been received and to be considered.
e)    Civility and Respect Pledge It was RESOLVED that the council would keep to the statement currently agreed to as they could not agree to some of the conditions stated on the pledge (ie receiving training).
f)    Standing Orders. It was RESOLVED to change the contractual amounts A public contract regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 with an estimated value in excess of £214,904.00 for a public service or supply contract or in excess of £5,372,609.00.

g)    Financial Regulations It was RESOLVED to change contractual amounts For public supply and public service contracts £214,904.00 as of January 2024 and  For public works contracts £5,372,609. The Clerk also notified the council that a new edition of Module Finance Regulations had now been published and that once checked through it would be brought to council.
h)    Code of Conduct – No updates required.
i)    Complaints Procedure. It was RESOLVED to update of change of email address.
j)    Consultations: None
k)    Communications: The Clerk advised the Council of an email received on leaving for the meeting regarding an incident that the grass cutting contractors had damaged some plants in a resident’s garden and that they would contact the contractors in the first instance.
6     Finance and Budgets
a)    Quarterly Monitoring Checking - It was RESOLVED that Cllr TTB and Cllr MT would undertake the quarterly monitoring 4 times per year.
b)    Quarterly Monitoring - Following Cllr TTB checking the quarterly monitoring from Dec-end March 24 and it was RESOLVED to approve it.
c)    Insurance: It was RESOLVED to accept the quotation from Zurich Insurance for the Parish Council’s Insurance policy (3 year term) at a cost of £491.04 for year one.
d)    Payments - It was RESOLVED to accept the payments :
1.    Dave Skells Traffic Management Ltd 2 cuts to village green and verges £372.00 ref 702
2.    DW Gibbs May cleaning of Bus Shelters and Tel box £30.00 ref 703
3.    HM Revenue and Customs Only120PX00376161 April Tax £8.80 ref 704
4.    Clerk Salary, home expenses and mileage April £243.28 ref 705
5.    Clerk Landscaping items expenses  £57.93 ref 706
6.    Zurich Insurance for 2024/25 £491.04 ref 707 TOTAL £1,203.05
e)    Annual Governance and Accountability Return – The Clerk reported that the Council had been one of a 5% sample to be included for an intermediate review but as we were declaring to be Exempt, this would not effect us, and therefore we would send the Auditors just the Exemption Certificate. 
It was RESOLVED to accept to approve the Annual Governance and Accountability Return and give permission to the Clerk to send it to the auditors, PKF Littlejohn LLP.
i.          Certificate of Exemption
ii.         Annual Governance Statement
iii.         Accounting Statements
f)    It was RESOLVED to approve the bank reconciliation and explanation of variances.
g)    It was RESOLVED to approve the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Annual Governance and Accountability Return.
h)    It was noted that the contact information to be sent to PKF Littlejohn LLP.
i)    It was noted that the Internal Auditor’s report was accepted at the April meeting.

7     Planning 
a)    No urgent applications to consider.
b)    The Clerk reported that the family of a resident was currently going to the ombudsman regarding the drainage at the development between Grange Lane and Chapel Lane. It was RESOLVED that the Clerk would contact ELDC to see what the situation was regarding the drainage at the development, and also ask if there was a drains map for the village that we could access.
c)    No update on previous planning permissions.

8     Parish Council Amenities (bus shelters, village green, etc)
a)    Utterby Village Projects 2024 – The Clerk reported that they had been in contact with Alvingham regarding their recent installation of a defib. Cllr MW would check the Kissing gate fences to see whether these needed completely replacing.
b)    Utterby wooden structures – It was noted that the benches and Millennium bench required re-oiling and that it was RESOLVED that the Clerk would contact Skells to see what they would quote to undertake the work.
c)    Verges and Village Green – It was noted that the grass have been cut twice and Skells had confirmed a ‘collect’ had been undertaken on the village green. The Kissing Gate had recently been strimmed.
d)    Planters – Due to a car reversing over a planter, a new trough had been purchased to replace the broken one. It was RESOLVED that a budget of £200 would be set for the plants in the troughs and that each person could spend £30 on plants for the trough. The following people would take care of each planter: Chapel Lane Cllr MW, Grange Lane resident G, Holywell Lane Cllr TTB, Church Lane resident A, Main Road resident J. 
e)    Bus shelters – Nothing to report.
f)    Utterby Voice – This would be eight pages and contain the annual reports. Due to be published early July. If anyone had an article they should bring it to the June meeting.

9    ELDC/LCC Services (Streetlights, Bins, Highways, Verges, Footpaths, etc)
a)    Benson Court update – there had been no updates on the building.
b)    Benson Court wooden benches – Cllr Mossop had been assured that none of the benches would be thrown away. The Council also noted that plants and bushes should also be collected if the land was to be flattened at any point. 
c)    Any urgent issues or updates. Cllr MT had spoken to both the parent who had written to the Council regarding speeding and to the Headteacher and understood that a few years earlier an assessment had been undertaken and was now trying to access this information from LCC.
Cllr Hall had emailed to confirm the 30mph speed limit would be implemented.

10  Notifications
None.

11 Date and time of Next Meeting 
It was noted that that the next Parish Council Meeting was at 7pm on June 5th in the Village Hall, Utterby.
Meeting finished at 8:25pm.

        Signed    ___________________        Date________________________