KL Parish Council Minutes

MINUTES OF KINGTON LANGLEY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM OF THE VILLAGE HALL ON

MONDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2007

PRESENT: Cllr. Peter Hart (Chairman), Cllr. Mrs. Lynn Atwell, Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, Cllr. J Foster, Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles, Cllr. Dennis Gill, Cllr. Rev. John Schofield, Cllr. D Styles, District Councillor Mrs. Sherry Meadows, Mrs. Sue Hart (Clerk) plus five members of the public.

APOLOGIES for absence were received by Cllr. Graham Trickey (business commitments) and County Cllr. Mrs. Jane Scott.

098.07

RESIDENTS FORUM

Mr. Andy Allum asked whether there would be any allotments available in the village. The Clerk said that following a request in last month’s Village Magazine three villagers had responded with areas of their gardens they would be willing to allocate and said she would put Mr. Allum in touch with them.

Mr. Ramon Weston asked whether there was a defined village boundary. Cllr. Hart said that there are two boundaries. Firstly, the Parish Boundary and secondly that some areas of the village have defined Development Framework Boundaries.

Mr. Weston asked whether the green on the left hand side of Days Lane opposite Lipgate Cottage could become a Registered Green. The Clerk said she would add it to the list for consideration.

ACTION

Clerk

099.07

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr. John Foster declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the Planning item for Southsea Cottage and was not present for the discussion or voting for this application.

100.07

ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN

Three councillors asked to be considered for Vice-Chairman. Each was asked in turn to say a few words about their interest in the role whilst the others left the room.

Following a unanimous vote by the remaining Councillors, Cllr. Dennis Gill was elected as the new Vice-Chairman and signed his Acceptance of Office.

101.07

MINUTES

Minutes of the meeting held on 13 August 2007 were circulated to all Councillors.

On a proposal from Cllr. Dennis Gill, seconded by Cllr. Rev. John Schofield, IT WAS RESOLVED that the Chairman, Cllr. Peter Hart, sign the Minutes as a correct record.

102.07

MATTERS ARISING

Minute 087.07 - Residents Forum: Following a request at last month’s meeting by a resident, the Clerk had sought advice from the Society of Local Council Clerks to establish whether draft minutes can be posted on the Parish Council website before they are approved.

Now that the Internet is so widely used there are many precedents and therefore on a proposal from Cllr. Dennis Gill, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Lynn Atwell IT WAS RESOLVED that draft monthly and draft annual Parish Meeting minutes would be put onto the web once they were available for circulation to councillors.

Minute 097.07(a) – Allotments: The Clerk asked whether any Councillor was prepared to take responsibility for managing village allotment requests and allocation but as there were no volunteers she agreed to handle it.

Clerk

103.07

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Cllr. Hart said that the activities he had been involved with over the past month would be covered by other items on the agenda.

104.07

CLERK’S REPORT

Byway 34 possible poisoned bait: The Clerk said that one of the farmers had responded raising their own concerns about this issue. The Chairman said he would be replying to the letter.

Village road sign damage: The Clerk said that she had been in touch with CLARENCE (the Highways Maintenance Department) about the fallen sign on the edge of Middle Common. She would also be checking the state of the other village road signs as this is something that CLARENCE are prepared to handle.

Cllr. P Hart

Clerk

105.07

PLANNING

(a) Planning Issues: None.

(b) Planning Applications decided by North Wiltshire District Council:

07/01740/FUL The Pound House, Middle Common – Erection of a single storey timber framed orangery.

Consent Granted – 16 Aug 07

07/01772/CLE Plough Lane Nursery, Plough Lane – Certificate of Lawfulness for occupation of agricultural workers dwelling without compliance with agricultural condition.

Certificate Granted – 22 Aug 07

07/01983/FUL Highfield House, Parkers Lane – Erection of 2-storey side extension.

Consent Granted –

6 Sep 07

Planning Application Recommendations decided under powers delegated to the Parish Clerk: None.

(c) Planning Applications for consideration:

Reissued Planning Applications: None.

New Applications:

07/02189/S73A Southsea Cottage, Days Lane – Detached Home office / Storage Building (Retrospective)

Supported

07/02193/FUL Lipgate Cottage, Days Lane – Erection of Granny Annexe

Supported

07/02361/S73A Christian Place, Malmesbury Road – Siting of Amenity Unit

Supported subject to the same conditions as the main site

Clerk

106.07

COMMONS EROSION PROJECT

Cllr. Hart said that Promises now stand at £4,355. Cllr. Don Styles asked whether a request should be made to the School to hold an Open Day in order to get contributions from parents.

Cllr. Hart said that following the inserts in the previous months’ Village Magazines and the erection of the large stone on Middle Common, communications had been received from villagers giving a variety of feedback from support to alternative suggestions. Cllr. John Foster distributed to councillors a proposed questionnaire to be inserted in the Village Magazine giving a number of options and asking for any other suggestions. Following minor modifications by Councillors, the Clerk was asked to submit it to the Village Magazine.

Area 3 Funding cut-off was the end of August for the next Area 3 Committee. The next cut-off is 21^st December for a 4 February 2008 meeting in order to obtain funding from this year’s budget. It was anticipated that a final decision and projected costs should be finalised by then.

Cllr. Hart suggested that the kerbing and turf reinforcement from the first project should now have bedded in adequately for cars to park across it. Councillors agreed that the School should be advised that the Parish Council would no longer object to cars parking across the protected verge.

Clerk

107.07

VILLAGE POND

Cllr. Lynn Atwell advised councillors that she had been in touch with the Village Pond Conservation Society and a representative would be visiting the pond with her to consider how it could be best managed. Councillors discussed alternative objectives for the pond, as this would influence the representative’s advice. It was concluded that the back area of the pond should be a conservation area and the front should provide an attractive setting to the edge of the Common.

Cllr. Val Giles said that the Lengthsmen had now painted the railings.

108.07

VILLAGE GREENS PROJECT

The Clerk said that the booklet from the Open Spaces Society had now arrived and provided a lot of advice on how the registrations should be carried out. This would now be followed up over the coming months.

109.07

REVIEW OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY

Following a request by Cllr. John Foster, councillors were asked to consider the Council’s current Equal Opportunity Policy in the light of last month’s decision that councillors should not receive payment for work carried out for the Parish Council.

Following some disagreement on whether this was an Equal Opportunities issue, Cllr. Foster proposed that the Council should “revise the Equal Opportunities Policy to allow for discrimination against contractors who are councillors”. The proposal did not find a seconder and therefore it failed.

110.07

REVIEW OF POLICY EXCLUDING COUNCILLORS FROM WORKING AS CONTRACTORS FOR THE PARISH COUNCIL

Following a request by Cllr. John Foster, discussion was re-opened on the subject of payment to councillors. Councillors still supported that principle that this could be a conflict of interests and could be seen as such by the public. The Clerk suggested that contracts over £1,000 which have to go out to tender could be considered differently from smaller contracts, which would not necessarily come to the notice of all local contractors. However, in spite of Cllr. Foster’s objection, it was concluded that the resolution (Minute 095.07(d) of the 13 August 2007 meeting) should stay as it was.

111.07

FINANCE

(a) Cheques issued and transfers made since 13 August 2007 meeting:

21 Aug 07	Farmington Natural Stone Ltd.	994	£94.00
10 Sep 07	NWDC Election Costs	995	£19.00
10 Sep 07	Complete Weed Control: 2^nd Footpath Spraying	996	£158.63
10 Sep 07	Clerk Salary - August	997	£333.37
10 Sep 07	Petty Cash	998	£100.00
	Total:		£705.00

Payments Received: None.

Transfers Made: None.

Direct Debits Paid: None.

Invoices for the above cheques had been inspected and approved by the signatories. On a proposal from Cllr. Rev. John Schofield, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, IT WAS RESOLVED that cheques numbered 994-998 be approved by the meeting.

(b) Bank accounts: The last reconciliation had been successfully carried out on the 10^th September 2007.

Bank Accounts and Petty Cash as at 31 August 2007:

Current account	£2,466.48
Deposit account	£6,782.37
Petty cash	£2.60
Total:	£9,251.45

(c) 2007-8 Precept – 6 month Update:

Copies of the Parish’s Income & Expenditure against budget at the 6-month point were distributed to councillors. Parish Finances are tracking as anticipated with a considerable saving as a result of not having contested Parish Council elections in 2007.

(d) End of Year Internal Audit Review:

The Parish’s external auditors, Mazars, had submitted a two-page report which it advised the Parish Council to consider. The document reviewed whether the Parish’s internal auditors, Auditing Solutions Limited, met the standards and characteristics of effectiveness defined in the report. Councillors reviewed each point in term and responses will be held on record with the end-of-year accounts.

(e) Grants / Other Financial Actions:

The Clerk reported that at the 6-month point there were no requests for grants or donations that needed to be considered separately from those previously allocated in the Precept.

Clerk

112.07

CORRESPONDENCE

(a) Received:

Letter from Mr. & Mrs. Dixson dated 16 July 07 re. Greens Re