Minutes

Annual Coningsby town Council Meeting

21st May 2019 7.30pm

In attendance – Cllrs Ruth Sharples, Marlene Wilson, Mary Walker, Sharon Beamish, Tabbi Bannister, Martin Foster, Dick Johnson, Glyn Olive, Matthew Mason, Paddy Donnellan.

District Councillors Alex Hall, Cllr Martin Foster

No public forum required.

Agenda

1. Nominations for Chairman were requested; Cllr Donnellan proposed Cllr Foster, seconded Cllr Johnson, all voted in favour, Cllr Foster accepted the role and signed declaration of acceptance. Resolved

2. Nominations for vice Chairman, Cllr Olive nominated Cllr Donnellan, seconded Cllr Sharples, all voted in favour, Cllr Donnellan accepted and signed declaration resolved   - Chairman Cllr Foster requested a letter of thanks be sent to former councillor Kevin Moorhouse for all his good work over the many years in office.

3. No apologies, there is one vacant seat on council following elections.

4. Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest forms completed and returned to clerk for publication.

5. All councillors signed declaration of acceptance of office for the four year term.

6. No additional declarations at this point.

7. Proposal Cllr Johnson to accept the minutes as a true and correct record of the meeting held on 25th April 2019, seconded Cllr Sharples, all voted in favour resolved.

8. District Cllr Alex Hall introduced himself, nothing to report, Cllr Hall is looking forward to working with Council in the future, Cllr Foster reported changes to the opening hours of the public toilets, summer times these will be advertised on the building. Enforcement order received for a reported breach of planning Curtis Drive.  Drains in the car park are officially declared as blocked the team trying to jet them reported to the office that they can get through a maximum of 10 meters and that is through soil and debris. This was to be reported back to technical services to see what the next step will be.  Hall car park land, 3 quotes being sought to include the markings hopefully the area should hold at least 18 vehicles with turning area.

9. A vacancy has arisen on the Stanley Barker Trustee panel, the Trust has two council members as trustees, nomination from Cllr Johnson, Cllr Paddy Donnellan, Cllr D said he was willing to take on the role, Cllr Walker seconded, all in favour resolved legal proceedings will be completed. asap.

10. St Michaels Clock, it is understood the faculty is now confirmed and in place for one year from March 25th 2019, Cllr Wilson questioned why the council were looking to spend money on the Clock face, Cllr had no issue with the mechanical maintenance being continued; Chairman explained that funds have been ring fenced to the sum of £4,500 so far for the painting of the face, Cllr Donnellan proposed that new quotes are sought for the painting of the face from Mr Czjakoski and two or three quotes for scaffolding and same for possible cherry picker method,( 2 x pickers opposing?) seconded Cllr Johnson, all in favour resolved to get quotes and bring figures back to Council.

11. Councillor Ashton has sent in report the limited parking order requested for the lay by is working through the system, an Archer survey has been requested for Park Lane to establish the need for any further traffic calming measures as requested by a parishioner through the Council. Cllr Richard Davies has not been able to confirm a date for site visit to the village, Cllr Ashton will continue with this request.

12. Planning – Clerk requested to contact enforcement regarding the continued use of the unauthorised access onto New York Road from Willomere Caravan Park.  Also question on the Local Plan, once all identified areas have been built on and numbers reached, can more building take place?

13. Footpath 1124 – the directive has come through that the decision to close the section of footpath leading from Orchard Way running parallel with the road is final, the section from Orchard Way through to School Lane will be kept open.

14a. Presentation of accounting statements and to confirm the annual governance statement, the internal audit is complete, Chairman read out the required questions and councillors agreed the responses “yes” apart from Q 9 which is not applicable. Resolved

14b. Statement of accounts considered and approved, both documents were signed and dated by Chairman and clerk. The inspection period runs from 17th June onwards.

resolved. 

15. Finances – Cllr Wilson questioned why the pension payments had increased, Clerk explained that the employees’ contribution had been increased considerably and the council contribution by 1% as the government guidelines suggested. Cllr Wilson asked that this be requested before increasing in the future, Clerk will get actual figures and report back to Council. Proposal to pay accounts as listed Cllr G Olive, seconded Cllr M Mason, all voted in favour. Resolved.

16. Clerks are having issues with accessing the office, police vetting are working on the problem but this is not ideal, clerk is unable to start work until 12noon when PCSO’s arrive. Chairman requested a letter to PCC Marc Jones setting out the history and asking for some clarity regarding the reasons behind the problems.  Co Option notices should be up before next meeting, Council have potentially three candidates for one seat.   Community payback team have been approved to lean off and paint the fence around the play area.

Proposal to move into closed session – seconded resolved

Cllr Johnson reiterated that three quotes had been requested for the surfacing of the car park, three quotes also to fence matching the community hall metal fencing and a six foot wooden fence at the bottom end abutting the private property.

Idea to approach Tattershall with Thorpe PC regarding joint purchase of land for burials, no definitive answer was heard.  A gentleman had approached council regarding refurbishment of the Cemetery Chapel and possibly purchase of same to bring back into use for funerals. Council resolved the Chapel will not be for sale but should the gentleman wish to discuss refurbishment Council are in agreement it would be a good idea to bring it back into use.

Meeting Closed.