13 July 2020
WALESBY PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A REMOTE MEETING OF WALESBY PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 AT 7.30 PM.
Present: Cllr David Thurman, (Chairman), Cllr Jeanette Ashton, Cllr David Milles, Cllr Judith Sweny, Cllr Mandy Ashley, and Cllr Peter Braithwaite.
In attendance: WLDC Cllr S Bunney, Mrs V Davies (clerk)
42/2020 Apologies for Absence.
No apologies were received.
43/2020 Declarations of interest under the Localism Act.
None were declared. Declarations would be declared throughout the agenda.
44/2020 Minutes. To approve the minutes of the meeting held 26.5.20.
Proposed Cllr Thurman, seconded Cllr Ashton and unanimously agreed to approve the minutes of 26.5.20. Cllr Thurman would sign the minutes and post to the clerk.
45/2020 - Public Forum. To resolve to suspend the meeting to allow no more than 5 minutes of public forum.
Proposed Cllr Thurman, seconded Cllr Ashton to suspend the meeting for a public forum.
A resident raised the issue of footpath 119 which was impassable ;she had reported it to LCC.. Cllr Thurman would also pursue the matter.
A resident raised the issue that in recent planning application comments the Parish Council often stated that Otby Lane could not take any further traffic. The resident did not consider this to be the case. Cllrs noted the comments but Cllr Thurman did advise that at least one other resident disagreed.
Cllr Thurman proposed to close the public forum, seconded Cllr Ashton.
46/2020 - Resignation of Cllr Sprague
Cllrs noted the resignation of Cllr Sprague. The co-option notice was displayed on the noticeboard.
47/20 Proper Officer’s Report and correspondence. Distributed prior to the meeting.
Legal Advice re Public Entity – LALC. The clerk had verified with LALC that the Parish Council as a legal entity is able to sign the contract with BT Openreach when required.
Legal Advice – Public Rights of Way LALC. Questions had been raised by residents regarding the track to Mill House Farm. The clerk had obtained legal advice from LALC. Any issue of planning application had to be pursued by the Planning Department.
Tree Felling in Otby Lane. Correspondence had been received regarding felling of trees on Otby Lane. The Parish Council had written to the resident. In addition, the Parish Council had consulted with the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside service, WLDC Tree Officer and the Forestry commission. . No response had been received from the resident.
Track Mill House Farm to Otby Lane. A resident had raised an issue regarding this
track which was being laid.. The Parish council had spoken with the owner of Mill House
Farm who had consulted with the Planning Department and been advised that no
permission was needed. The Parish Council thereforetook no further action.and advised
the resident.
Reply to resident re open reach. The Parish Council had responded to a question from a
resident regarding broadband.
Village and Parish Websites. New websites were required to be in place by 1.9.20. It
was noted that Joe Magrin would develop a site for village information and there would
be a separate Parish Council website. The clerk reported that she had consulted a web
designer who had advised that the website would be very difficult to create for a clerk
who was not an experienced web developer. This would be investigated by the clerk
and discussed further by councillors.
48/20 Finance.
To ratify payments
Chq no
416 V Davies £168.17 Clerk Salary
417 V Davies £27.00 Clerk Expenses
418 D Thurman £32.00 Reimbursement Flowers
Proposed Cllr Milles seconded Cllr Braithwaite to approve the above payments. The clerk would post the cheques to Cllr Thurman and Cllr Braithwaite for signature. Cllr Thurman had ratified the bank statement.
To note financial report (actual v budget) distributed prior to the meeting.
Cllrs noted the report. No questions were raised.
49/20 Annual Governance and Accountability Return for the Year ended 31 March 2019.
To Execute Annual Governance Statement.
The Council as a whole considered the effectiveness of the system of internal control and prepared the Annual Governance Statement (Section 1 of the Annual Return). Proposed Cllr Ashley, Seconded Cllr Ashton approval of the Annual Governance Statement.
Resolution The council approved the annual Governance Statement which would be signed by Cllr Thurman and the clerk on behalf of the Council.
To Approve Statement of Accounts
The council as a whole considered the accounting statements (Section 2 Accounting Statements 2019/20). Proposed Cllr Milles, seconded Cllr Ashton and approved by all Cllrs the approval of the Statement of Accounts.
Resolution:
The Parish Council approved the Accounting Statement. Cllr Thurman and the clerk would sign the Statement of Accounts.
To Execute Certificate of Exemption
The parish council certified itself as exempt from a limited assurance review under Section 9 of the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015 and completed a Certificate of Exemption. Cllr Braithwaite proposed, Cllr Sweny seconded, and this was unanimously approved by all Cllrs. The statement would be signed by the Chairman and clerk and emailed to Littlejohns the external auditor by the clerk.
To Execute review of effectiveness of internal audit
Due to the Covid 19 outbreak this had been delayed. The internal audit would now be completed as soon as possible.
To Execute the Notice of Public Rights
It was proposed that the dates that the public could exercise their rights to view the accounts would be Wednesday 16 July to Wednesday 26 August. This notice would be displayed on the website and noticeboard.
To note the Variances 2019-20
Cllrs noted the variances. Cllr Braithwaite proposed, Cllr Ashton seconded and approved by all Cllrs.
To note the annual Bank Reconciliation
Cllr Thurman proposed, Cllr Ashton seconded approval of the annual Bank Reconciliation. Unanimously approved by all Cllrs.
To note the Annual Financial Report.
Cllrs noted the annual Financial Report. Cllr Ashley Proposed, Cllr Ashton seconded approval of the Annual Financial Report.
50/20 Footpaths
Cllrs noted the comments from the resident regarding footpath 119.
51/20 Neighbourhood Watch Review
The Market Rasen Police were not sending out Lincs alerts for this area nor registering new residents to the system. Cllr Thurman would pursue.
52/20 Broadband
The application for the vouchers had been submitted. 57 residential applications and 26 business applications had been submitted. The steering group is waiting for voucher confirmation from Openreach and can then negotiate the shortfall in funding with LCC
53/20 Highways Update
The Highways report and Fly Tipping update prepared by Sara Sprague had been issued to councillors. Cllr Ashton raised the issue of blocked drains Walesby Hill. Cllr Thurman would ask Sara if she minded pursuing the issues on Walesby Hill
54/20 Planning applications. To consider any planning applications and to note any approved since last meeting.
A resident had contacted the parish council about building taking place in Otby Lane. This appeared to be permitted development.but the clerk had contacted planning enforcement for a ruling. None had been received- the clerk would pursue.
55/20. Future Meeting Venue
Government advice remained that meetings should be held remotely until further notice.In the event of this advice changing it was noted that the Village Hall as the venue for meetings had to be Covid secure.
56/20 Date of next meeting: 14 September 2020 at 7.30pm,
The meeting closed at 20.30