BOTUS FLEMING PARISH COUNCIL Thursday 21 January 2016 Present: Councillor Billing (Chair). Councillor West (Vice Chair). Councillors Adcock, Loveridge and Robinson. Apologies for absence: Councillors Robinson and Ellis. Also in Attendance: Mr J Parker, Mr S Malcom and Helen Wright (Clerk). The meeting commenced at 7.30pm and finished at 8.50pm 112. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest made by councillors regarding items under consideration at this meeting. 113. MINUTES The parish council agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2015 are confirmed as a correct record. 114. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The Clerk reported that she had been advised that there was no further update on the situation relating to the illegal storage of tyres at Ziggerson Hill Farm. Councillor Adcock raised concerns that requests to Cornwall Council, in his opinion, were being ignored. The parish council agreed to email Cornwall Councillor Pugh and the new Chief Executive at Cornwall Council regarding this matter. The Clerk reported that the additional cost for weed spraying for numbers 19 to 26 Carlton Villas was 14.10 (the total cost of the contract would be 312.90 plus VAT). The parish council agreed to procure the services of Cormac Solutions Limited to provide weed spraying in Hatt at a cost of 312.90 (plus VAT). 115. POLICE MATTERS There were no police matters. 116. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN POLICE MATTERS Councillor Adcock reported that an arson attack had taken place at number 20 Carlton Villas on Saturday 16 January 2016. A motorbike parked outside of the property had been set on fire which had also caused damage to the property s front door. Neighbouring properties had also been damaged. Botus Fleming Parish Council 21 January 2016 Page 1
117. MATTERS RAISED BY CORNWALL COUNCILLOR Cornwall Councillor Pugh advised that he did not have any issues to report. Councillor Adcock raised concerns regarding a letter which had been sent to the parish council on 14 October 2015, from the residents of number 25 Carlton Villas, regarding the lack of response they had received from Cornwall Council despite sending a number of letters and emails regarding the light at Carlton Villas not working and the dangerous condition of the pathway which was extremely slippery. Councillor Pugh undertook to follow this matter up. 118. CORRESPONDENCE The Chair (Councillor Billing) provided an update on the Saltash Area Road Safety Committee meeting which Councillor Robinson had attended (Councillor Robinson was not present at this meeting) which included (a) (b) further checks would be made by the police regarding the vehicles parked outside of Rose Cottage; the proposed highways works on the Carkeel roundabout which included the reinstatement of a dedicated lane to Saltash and the re-drawing of the lines on the roundabout which would help to clarify the position of traffic traveling from the north direction. The Clerk advised that information had been received from Cornwall Association of Local Councils (CALC), regarding the new Transparency Code. In order to meet the requirements of the code the parish council needed to publish a number of documents on line, these included minutes of council meetings; agendas and associated papers for meetings three clear days in advance of the meeting; a schedule of all payments over 100, including the date the payment was incurred; the annual return with associated accounts for the year and the Internal Auditor s report. The Transparency Code requirements for on line publishing applied from 2015/16 thus creating what central government called additional burdens. To cover the cost for this the government had set up a three year grant fund which would cover - the creation of a website to take council documents; training for the clerk to use the website; computer and software (laptop or PC); training for the clerk in using the hardware/software; staff time for uploading the documents. The Clerk further advised that the parish council would be able to gain funding through the transparency fund for her time in uploading documents to the website and additional equipment such as a laptop. Botus Fleming Parish Council 21 January 2016 Page 2
The parish council agreed to put in a bid for grant funding as part of the Transparency Code. 119. ACCOUNTS The parish council agreed to authorise the following accounts for payment 234.25 Helen Wright (Clerk s Salary for January 2016) to be paid by PAYE ( 187.45/ 46.80 HMRC per month) 2.48 Helen Wright (Postage December/January 2016) 80.40 Westernweb Limited (Annual Fee for Hosting the Website) 119a. Finance 3 rd quarter The financial monitoring report for the third quarter (31 December 2015) was submitted for information. Councillor Loveridge queried the total amount of payments that the Council had made during this period. (Following this query the figures in the report were checked and amended (the payment on 5 November 2015 to EDF Energy should read 230.39 not 240.39) therefore the total payments during this period equated to 1,826.61 as stated in the report). The parish council noted the report. 120. RECREATION FIELD Councillor Henwood enquired as whether the main hedge along the perimeter of the recreation field would be cut. The Chair (Councillor Billing) advised that due to the adverse weather conditions, the ground was too wet for this work to be undertaken at this time. 120a. Future of the Recreation Field/Renewal of Lease The Chair (Councillor Billing) and the Vice Chair (Councillor West) advised that there was no further update regarding the renewal of the lease but undertook to follow this matter up. 121. PLANNING MATTERS There were no planning applications to consider. Councillor Loveridge enquired as to what advice had been provided by Cornwall Council s planning department regarding the planning application for the Cardinals hotel in Hatt. Cornwall Councillor Pugh advised that he would have received this information and undertook to circulate it to the parish council. 122. RISK MANAGEMENT The parish council agreed its risk management register subject to the inclusion of the lifesaving equipment. Botus Fleming Parish Council 21 January 2016 Page 3
The Chair (Councillor Billing) and the Vice Chair (Councillor West) agreed to undertake a monthly inspection of the life-saving equipment located at Moditonham Quay (and ensure that a written record was retained). The Chair further agreed to ascertain, from Cornwall Council, the company it had used to carry out the annual inspection of the life-saving equipment. 123. QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC There were no questions raised by members of the public. 124. COUNCILLORS S REPORTS The Chair (Councillor Billing) advised that (a) (b) he had contacted Cormac to request that works were undertaken to clear the leaves from the traffic calming area in Vollards Lanes, to clean the pavement (as it had become extremely slippery) and to unblock the drains in this area; this work had now been completed; following the heavy rain the drain opposite the Cardinals Inn had been blocked with debris; he had contacted Cormac regarding this matter and assumed that work had been undertaken to unblock the drain as he had not noticed any further flooding. Councillor Loveridge advised that the potholes by the lodges at Moditonham had been reported. A letter would be written to Cornwall Council regarding this matter. Cornwall Councillor Pugh undertook to follow this matter up. 125. DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING The next parish council would be held on Thursday 18 February 2016 at 7.30pm in the Church Hall at Botus Fleming. 126. CO-OPTED REPRESENTATIVE The Clerk advised that a vacancy had arisen on the parish council following the resignation of Councillor Crook. Following the advertisement of the vacancy, Mr J Parker and Mr S Malcolm had expressed an interest in being co-opted on to the council. Both Mr J Parker and Mr S Malcolm were present at the meeting. Mr Malcolm provided the council with an overview of why he wished to become a parish councillor which included the following main points he had lived in the parish since 1981; he had recently retired following a 35 year career in the Royal Navy; he considered that he was now in a position to be able to pay back into the community; he had recently become a Justice of the Peace; Botus Fleming Parish Council 21 January 2016 Page 4
he wished to work towards better integrating Hatt and Botus Fleming and had a real desire to see the community grow; he had been fully engaged in objecting to the Broadmoor Farm planning application; he was a qualified Hydrographic Surveyor and was interested in the environment. Mr Parker provided the council with an overview of why he wished to become a parish councillor which included the following main points he had lived in Hatt for the past 12 years; he had retired from Waitrose after 42 years of service (he had been retired for three years); the final five years of his service had been spent in the area as he had been the South West Area Manager; the governance structure of Waitrose mirrored that of central government, so he had experience of the democratic process; he was currently study photography at the University and in his spare time he was the photographer at Cotehele; after living in London for the majority of his life he enjoyed the freedom of the countryside and the community spirit in Hatt; he had been a school governor in three schools for a number of years and had gained experience of debating budgets and taking difficult financial decisions. Following their submissions, Mr Parker and Mr Malcolm were asked to leave the meeting, in order that the parish council could conduct a secret ballot. Both candidates were informed that they would be contacted following the meeting to advise them who had been successful in being co-opted on to the council. The Chair (Councillor Billing) advised that this would be a difficult decision for the parish council to make as both candidates had provided strong submissions. Following the secret ballot the Clerk confirmed the results. The parish council agreed to co-opt Mr S Malcolm onto the parish council. Botus Fleming Parish Council 21 January 2016 Page 5