Minutes from the PC Meeting 7th January 2020

SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

 

Draft Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 7^th January 2020, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm

 

SOME ITEMS HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM OR SHORTENED IN THE MINUTES WHILST CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS ARE ONGOING WITH CONNECTED PARTIES. THEY WILL BE UPDATED ONCE ALL HAVE BEEN SETTLED.

 

PRESENT: Cllrs Hindler, Shires, M Crabb, S Crabb and Readman, Parish Clerk Will Pike.

ALSO ATTENDING: 8 members of the public and Ward Councillor McLean.

 

1. RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Ward Cllrs Hosking and Geary. All apologies accepted.

 

2. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Shires should the pavilion come up.

 

3. APPOINT A NEW CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR

After some discussion it was agreed to postpone this decision for now.

 

4. APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING

Minutes were approved and signed for the previous two meetings.

 

5. RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS

Points were raised as follows:

1. Cllr Hindler introduced Jeff Charles, the new village caretaker to everyone.
2. Received confirmation that we are waiting for an update from Ward Cllr McLean about several ongoing traffic calming measures.
3. The Council were asked about ‘ownership’ of the defibrillator at the Village Hall. Rob Johnstone agreed to forward an email requesting updated details to the Clerk and the Council will take ownership.
4. Tony Pilcher gave thanks to the Council for all their work over the previous year.
5. He also asked about options for the Post Office going forward. W Pike confirmed that until the Post Office had completed their current review then there was nothing that could be done.
6. Cllr Hindler responded to previous comments regarding the meeting format by suggesting that if the meeting is finished by 8.50pm then there will be an ‘non-documented, open forum’ after this where other points can be raised. All were in agreement.

 

6. RECEIVE PCSO REPORT

Crime figures since 12^th November as follows:

1 case of catalytic convertor theft

1 Shed Break-In

Some anti-social-behaviour

 

7. RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT

Due to other commitments Ward Cllr McClean arrived after the meeting had concluded.

 

8. RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING

It was agreed to add the following to the list of ongoing actions:

New notice board in the Perry Lane area.

Clear the culverts in Gun Lane.

Clean drains etc.

Other ongoing items were dealt with at other points in the meeting.

 

9. CLERKS REPORT

WP mentioned the following:

1. There had been a couple of comments regarding the shop’s opening hours over the festive period.
2. The Council had been asked why meetings were not held at the Village Hall. WP that confirmed that the Village Hall charge for hire whereas the Pavilion is owned by the Parish Council and therefore the cost cannot be justified.
3. The red phonebox was mentioned in order to get it back on the agenda.
4. There is a big push currently at MKC to sort outstanding street lighting issues and details on how to report had been sent to Parish Councils and would be published. Any reports should be made direct to MKC in the first instance.

 

10. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN REVIEW

It was noted that since Cllr Watts resigned that the sub-committee now only had two Cllr’s on it. It was agreed that Cllr Hindler will join to keep the group active whilst further input was requested from advisors and Ward Cllr’s as to how to proceed.

 

11. PROJECT GROUP UPDATES

PAVILION:

Cllr M Crabb confirmed that the new rates for hire were now in place and that electrical work will be completed shortly.

SHOP:

The Council were presented with the most recent plans (smaller café / public area). Cllr Hindler called a vote as to whether to progress with these and all were in favour. The next step will be to get proper drawings made up so that accurate costings can be obtained.

Cllr Hindler also called a vote as to whether the Council’s own viability plans should now be made public and again all were in agreement.

BIODIVERSITY:

Not much to report due to the time of year and current weather conditions. Funding is being applied for before further plans for Stonepits Copse are produced. The possibility of using volunteer groups to help is also being talked about.

LANDSCAPING:

There was discussion about the process of taking over the landscaping contract from MKC in April 2020 including some late changes to the process which had not been made clear during earlier discussions.

Cllr Hindler confirmed we now had a preferred contractor and proposed a vote on whether to proceed with this contractor and take over the contract ourselves. All were in favour and so the process will proceed as originally planned.

 

12. CARETAKERS REPORT

Jeff Charles mentioned the following:

We ned to confirm ownership of the current bins around the village and whether it may be beneficial to replace some and possibly add others.

The possibility of recycling bins being introduced as part of this was mentioned.

 

13. FINANCE

Current Account Balance: £2,214.92

Savings Account Balance: £56,467.52

Cheques Due for Payment: £1,683.56

Total therefore being held is £56,998.88

 

All cheques were approved for payment.

 

14. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
    • BARWOOD HOMES

No further update.

14.2         CONSIDERATION OF OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS

None.

 

15. CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS

None

 

16. EXTERNAL MEETINGS

It was agreed that more Cllr’s will attend the planning training courses being offered.

 

17. COUNCILLORS ITEMS

None

 

18. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was agreed that going forward meetings will be moved to Wednesdays to avoid clashing with Ward Cllrs other engagements and also the flourishing Women’s Institute meetings.

The next meeting will be on WEDNESDAY February 5th 2019.