Minutes from the meeting 9th November 2021

 

Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held at the Pavilion on Tuesday 9^th November 2021, commencing at 7.30pm

 

PRESENT: Cllrs McNeil, Mears, Nokes, Shires and Sexton, Parish Clerk Lauren Scott.

 

ALSO ATTENDING: Nicholas Hannon – Head of Environment and waste at Milton Keynes Council, PCSO Huckle and 4 associates, Jeff Charles Caretaker and 9 members of the public.

1. Receive and accept apologies: Cllrs Palmer, McLean, Geary and Hosking, RFO Will Pike
2. Receive declarations of interest: Cllr McNeil in respect of 10.4 Cllr Shires 10.4 and 10.1.
3. Co-Opt new Councillor: Cllr McNeil put forward Andrew Short for Co-Option, Cllr Shires seconded, and all were in favour. Cllr Short was welcomed on to the Council. Action: Clerk – Witness Cllr Short Sign Declaration of acceptance of office and ensure Register of interests is received by MKC.
4. Approve minutes from the meeting 12^th October: Approved
5. Receive Ward councillors report: Cllr McLean sent a report via email to update that he had requested Tru-velo strips be placed on the high street to start the data capture process required for traffic calming measures to be put in place. He also reported that the council are working on flood mitigation on the pathway between Crofts end and the high street along with the wider flood mitigation works further up the high street.
6. Receive PCSO report: PCSO David Huckle reported that October had been a low crime month, The community forum at the beginning of November had highlighted two main areas of concern, Speeding and Fly tipping, he reiterated that Cllr McLean had applied for Tru-velo strips for data capture and recommended the PC look into purchasing a Sentinel camera that works in the same way as a SIDS camera but requires less human involvement and also records number plate information. A new Road safety officer has been recruited to MKC and will be in position shortly.

Regarding fly-tipping David recommends if you come across some you should take note of its What.Three.Words location to pinpoint accurately and then report via the Report it function on the MKC website.

7. Review of action log: Reviewed and focus areas set.
8. Clerks report: Nothing new currently.
9. Receive caretaker report: Please see on website.
10. Project group updates:

10.1 Pavilion: Cllr Mears forwarded a motion to purchase cleaning supplies and equipment to the value of no more than £500 for the Pavilion at the request of the cleaner, Cllr McNeil seconded, and all were in favour. Action – Clerk: To order the requested supplies.

10.2 MUGA: The invoice received was higher than anticipated, Cllr McNeil queried this and Wicksteed agreed to remove items and reinstate the correct discount, a new invoice will be received shortly and then approved for payment.

10.3 SHOP: Cllr McNeil gave a short update, our solicitor will be sending a response to the tenants shortly, more information will be shared in due course when it is appropriate to do so.

10.4 BarnCo: *Due to Cllr McNeil’s pecuniary interest in this area Cllr Mears takes the Chair* – Cllr Mears reminded the room that The PC fully support the principle of a Village shop, but as there is a covenant on the land where the current shop is situated and as a Parish Council we are in the unfortunate position of having inherited the lease for the shop/cabin when ShopCo ceased trading, which is not within our remit, we are unable to support the current shop situation.

To mitigate this a subcommittee named BarnCo were set up and the opportunity to provide a Village shop went out to tender.

Only one application was received, therefore as a PC we will be supporting The White Hart in their efforts to provide a village shop.

The TORs for BarnCo were shared, Cllr Nokes forwarded, Cllr Mears seconded, all were in favour.

Cllr Nokes forwarded the motion to use all available S137 monies from the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21 to support the new shop, Cllr Mears seconded, and all were in favour. The ringfenced rental income will also be used to support the new shop.

Full amounts will be available in the December finance report after these have been carefully checked and verified.

Action: Clerk – To add TORs to the website.

*Cllr McNeil Retakes the chair*

10.5 Landscaping: There are several trees within the village that require maintenance, some are on land with indeterminate ownership, Nicholas Hannon kindly agreed to request a land registry search to ascertain ownership of one area.

Once this has been received the clerk will make contact to request owners support with maintenance.

To celebrate The Queens Jubilee, we have the opportunity to apply for up to 10 trees to take part in the Queens canopy, it was agreed the clerk should send in the form once Cllr Mears, Jeff Charles and David Keene had identified appropriate spaces for planting.

 

 

 

There are several benches within the village in need of repair or replacement, this will be investigated further.

Action: Clerk – Price up replacement benches, Apply for trees.

10.6 Biodiversity: A date for a working party, 27^th November, has been set and Cllr Mears will advertise, a risk assessment has been received

10.7 Drainage: A report was received from Mr Hannon detailing works that will be starting on the 29^{th of} November to remediate the stretch of road between Bakers view and Gun Lane including the reinstatement of the highways verge, jetting of the gullies, tree, shrub and hedge cutback and ditch dredging, following a site visit on the 26^th of October. Riparian landowners will be contacted to remediate their side of the ditches to keep the ditches clear of debris.

The PC and Mr Hannon wish to record their grateful thanks to Stephen Kennedy and Oliver Powell for their time on this project and the highly beneficial reports received which have helped expedite the works due to their level of detail.

 

10.8 Highways: Cllrs Shires and Sexton will reapply to MKC for decorative entrance gates. Speeding is a focus issue and will be covered in greater detail going forward once the focus groups are up to speed.

 

Finance: All payments and invoices received were approved and sent for payment.

MONTHLY BALANCES:

Current Account:     £62,364.55

Savings Account:     £35,477.19

Payments Due:        £60,680.24

Total Funds:            £97.841.74

               

11. Planning: Nothing new on the portal.
12. Consider correspondence and new consultations.

Mrs Hines request to put in an access gate between her property and the Carters close/Village Hall recreation ground was discussed but as the PC are not the landowners more investigation is required.

External meetings: BarnCo – 13^th December.

Councillors’ items: Cllr McNeil is booked to attend training on the 11^th of November for new councillors, once more slots are available other councillors will be booked on too.

13. Receive public comment: A Member of the public brought to the Councils’ attention some landscaping and safety requests to be considered, it was agreed the clerk would investigate and act accordingly.

A discussion ensued with Mr Hannon taking questions regarding the upcoming works.

14. Date of the next meeting: 7^th