January 2024 Minutes
MINUTES OF THE HOGSTHORPE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2024
Present: Cllr Chris Rolph (Acting Chairman) Ellen Smith, Stephen Day Clerk: K Hayes
Also present: Dist Cllr Colin Davie, Dist Cllr Steve Evans, the Chairman of the Charity Farm committee and 8 members of the Public
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
A Minute’s silence was observed in memory of the Chairman who had passed away on the 10th January 2024.
The clerk confirmed that the Vice Chairman, Chris Rolph would be acting Chairman until the AGM in May when a new Chairman would be put in place.
An application for a councillor had been received from Matthew West. A vote of the councillors was taken. Cllr Smith abstained as she was the partner of Mr West. Only two councillors remained – one was for and the other abstained from voting. This would be discussed outside of the meeting.
PUBLIC FORUM
i) Several members of the public brought up their concerns about the sale of Charity Farm land which they believed should be held by the Charity in perpetuity. They had looked at the Charity Commission web site but could not find any clause on whether or not the Charity could sell land without the public’s knowledge. The Charity Chairman stated that there had been nothing illegal about this sale. This item was an agenda item and the council would give their reply under that item.
ii) A member of the public asked if the question of the Parish Council’s responsibilities for the maintenance of the churchyard/cemetery would be brought up under Correspondence. The member of the public produced copies of The Herald magazine which noted some items from the Parish Council meetings of that time. The clerk replied that the council were looking into this and would note any comments made in The Herald. This would then become a specific item on the March agenda for full discussion.
1. APOLOGIES – Cllr Mary Banks, Dist Cllr Roger Dawson
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None
3. APPROVAL OF NOTES OF MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting of the 7th December 2023 were unanimously approved and signed by the Acting Chairman. It was noted that the November minutes had stated that proceeds from the Christmas party event would be given to RNLI. This should have read that the proceeds were going to ‘Air Ambulance’.
4. CLERK’S REPORT
The clerk read out her report – copy attached.
5. REPORTS FROM OUTSIDE BODIES
i) Cllr Davie reported on the status of the Devolution programme and noted that he believed this would be of great benefit to the county not only for the extra funding that would be available from Government but that the county would have more power to make their own decisions. The consultation process was now closed.
ii) Cllr Davie also reported that there was much concern about National Grid’s intention to run cables via pylons throughout the Lincolnshire and Norfolk countryside. He believed that this would ruin the beauty of the countryside and devalue properties. There are various meetings to be held (a copy of the dates of the meetings was posted on the notice board and the clerk also stated that there was a meeting at the Corn Exchange in Alford on the 10th February).
iii) Cllr Davie stated that the councillor tax would be raised by 2% allowed for social care and a further 3% because they wanted to put more money into flood defences to deal with the aftermath of recent flooding. The total increase would be 5%.
iv) Dist Cllr Evans had nothing to add to Cllr Davie’s report.
6. SALE OF LAND
The clerk read out the letter which had been sent from the Parish Council to the Goodwin Charities’ Trustees noting their concern at the sale of land to Hill View caravan park. The trustees had replied to say that that they had received several communications regarding this and had taken legal advice. The final paragraph from Legal stated that the Trustees, having received this ‘libellous’ correspondence (referring mainly to the Parish Council letter) the matter now rests with their legal advisors. (Should any parishioner wish to see copies of the Parish Council communications, they can be made available via the clerk). The Councillors had taken the decision that they could not take this further as it may involve litigation which the Parish Council could not sanction. It is believed that the best course of action would be for members of the public to form a group to look into this with the Charity Commission. The councillors will back any approaches made by the group.
7. CORRESPONDENCE
The clerk noted that information had been received on the Pylon issue and posted on the notice board.
The clerk also noted that she had received information about the 80th D-Day celebrations to be held throughout the country on the 6th June when beacons will be lit to pay tribute to the thousands who helped to secure the freedom we all enjoy. The council will consider this.
8. FINANCIAL MATTERS
i) The financial statement for the period 1st April to 31st December 2023 had been circulated to all councillors showing a current balance of £22092.06. Councillors passed this unanimously by a show of hands.
ii) The clerk confirmed that the Precept application had been submitted for £11870 – a 3% increase on the previous year as per the budget presented in December.
iii) Bank mandates had been changed to delete Les Wildman and add Cllr Rolph and Cllr Smith as two further signatories. A letter was also being sent to Barclays Bank to change the business address and the email address to the clerk. The clerk was also exploring the way BACS payments could be made.
iv) It was unanimously agreed that Jen Cooper be approached to complete the internal audit at the end of the year.
v) Cheque payments on the 24th January were unanimously agreed by email. They were:- £516.67 to K Hayes for salary, £129 to HMRC for PAYE, £84.00 to K Hayes for homeworking allowance postage and stationery, £33.72 to Sid Dennis, £15 for hire of Village Hall, £10.78 to Roy Lane for Xmas party purchases, £150 to LALC for training sub fees, £282.28 to LALC for annual fees and £4200 to Tyrrell & Noble for initial payment of picnic area surfacing. The clerk explained that there was still £2700 to pay for the completion of this work. There was some discussion on how this should be paid – the clerk is endeavouring to obtain a grant towards this. A further two cheques of £102 to LALC for further web site input of village survey and £15 to Village Hall for hire of meeting room.
9. POLICIES AND PROCEEDURE REVIEW
The proposed amendments to the policies and procedures were unanimously agreed. Amendments to these would be made on the web site.
10. PLAYPARK
i) The Playpark meeting had been cancelled due to commitments by the committee.
ii) Clerk reported that on-line banking had been arranged with Lloyds and the bank balance now stood at £4294, having received the HSBC written off amount plus £250 compensation. Further discussion was required on the contribution to be paid towards the picnic area out of the playpark charity account.
iii) Tyrrell and Noble had now completed the work on the picnic area and had inserted the picnic tables in the sub-base.
iv) Discussion took place on the placing of a waste bin.
11. BENCH INSTALLATIONS AND MEMORIAL PLAQUES
The Acting Chairman informed the meeting that the contractor putting in the base for the village benches required the exact locations – Cllr Smith to meet with him to confirm this. Memorial plaques for the ex Chairman and Cllr Paul Smith would be ordered when the benches were in place.
12. PLANNING
i) Mayfield – despite objections, planning permission had been granted for the siting of 14 static caravans at Mayfield on Bracken Lane
ii) Mill House, Sea Lane – change of occupancy clauses. The clerk explained that this application had been made to bring all the various conditions on several planning permissions to be brought into line with one another. She confirmed that the condition would still only allow for holiday lets.
13. CHANGE OF DATE FOR ANNUAL PARISH COMMUNITY MEETING
The clerk explained that a village survey was to be carried out by YMCA and the results announced as soon as completed. It was proposed, therefore, that the date of the parish community meeting be changed from May to the 4th April when the survey results could be announced and discussion could take place on the findings.
It was reiterated that this meeting was not a Council meeting but was for village participation. It is proposed that cheese and wine or coffee and cake be offered.
The Acting Chairman also noted that the Police Sergeant would be invited to this meeting to meet with the community and address issues of speeding. A programme had been put together to read the data from the speeding cameras in graph format and the results for the year were as follows:-
For South End, the police could have given warnings to 106432 drivers, issued 32584 fixed penalty notices and 9185 would have been sent straight to court. For High Street, there were 141504 warnings, 54740 fixed penalty and 21567 straight to court.
14 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be 7th March 2024 commencing at 6pm for Public Forum
15 ANY OTHER BUSINESS FOR NEXT AGENDA
To be itemised as agenda items for the next meeting: (1) Churchyard maintenance responsibilities (2) bank mandate changes and (3) Co-option of Councillor if agreed.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30 pm
OF NOTE AT THE END OF THE MEETING:
A member of the public brought to the attention of the council that under legislation there must be a minimum of 5 councillors to form a Parish Council. This was not known by the clerk or the councillors and they were operating under extenuating circumstances after the death of the Chairman. This legal issue will be looked into by the Councillors and Clerk and decisions taken accordingly.