Parish Council Minutes 9th September 2010

ORLINGBURY PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held in the Village Hall on
Thursday 9th September 2010

91. Present: Councillors Allen, (Chairman), Rootham, (Deputy), Miles, Rowlatt, Timms (Wellingborough Borough Council) and Clerk, there were no members of the public.

92. Apologies:
Were received and accepted from Councillors Norton, Waller and Watts.

93. Minutes of the meeting 15th July 2010 These were signed as a true and correct record.

94. Matters arising
94.1 Copies of the Annual Parish and Annual General Meeting minutes will go out with these minutes.

94.2 81.2 An agreed letter asking landowners to cut back trees and shrubs, was placed in the parish Council newsletter. Some landowners have already responded to this request The council will now contact specific landowners. Councillors Rootham and Allen will form a sub-committee and meet on 16th September to research the names of relevant landowners and prepare the letter.

94.3 81.3 The area cleared in Rectory Lane is again in need of trimming. The green team are to be be asked to strim or mow the area Councillor Miles to report back. The cost of hiring a stump grinder to remove outstanding tree stumps will also be researched.

94.4 81.4 The light on the corner of Norlinton Close and Harrowden Road remains on all the time.

94.5 81.5 Fly-tipping to be put agenda of next meeting

94.6 82.2 The following response was received from the Borough Council regarding the number of councillors :
There is no requirement in legislation that the number of councillorsshould be proportional to electorate size. From 13 February 2008 district councils have had responsibility forundertaking 'community governance reviews' which consider the electoralarrangements of each Parish. These include the size, boundaries, numberof Councillors etc. We are considering when to begin the next review andwe will let you know when this has been decided. Alternatively, a review can be triggered by a valid communitygovernance, petition which must meet the conditions stated in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. Clerk is to find out how to make a community governance petition.

94.7 82.3 Newsletter produced with article promoting Parish Council Work and inviting interest from the community and Councillors consulted regarding commitment.

94.8 83.1 Trees overhanging on the Green:. The canopy.
3 councillors to meet and decide how to cut back the canopy without spoiling the trees. This to be done at 6.30 Thurs 30th September. 83.2 Trees overhanging the Green: Trees over hanging the road. The Clerk to communicate with the Street Doctor again and obtain quotes from Tree Surgeons.

94.9 86.1 Alex Stephenson to be asked to do something with regard to the Barn under section 77 of the Dangerous Buildings Act. Clerk to write and copy in Tim Lucy.

94.10 88.1 A further four people attended the Speedwatch training on.September 4th 201094.11 88.3 Councillor Timms was thanked for donating the cost of the Licence for the speed indicator sign. Councillor Timms was asked to sign our grant application and it is to be returned to the Borough.

95. Meeting of 15th August re planning issues

95.1 Attended by Councillors Allen, Rootham, Rowlatt and Norton. The supportive comments made on 6 Isham Road –were duly sent to the Borough Council.

96 Section 106 Developments
96.1 It was agreed that instead of the Clerk just reporting figures to the meeting a spread sheet would be produced showing income, expenditure and planned expenditure. This would be presented to the meeting in future.

96.2 Councillor Allen produced a document itemizing all Section 106 expenditure, as there is a need to provide a revised development plan for the Borough Council incorporating how the final part of the grant will be spent in order to obtain this final £13050 of the section 106 monies.

96.3 The Highways component of the Section 106 to be used for the gateways has been approved by the Borough Council. Legal details regarding the relocation of speed signs further out and the exact location of these signs is to be finalised before work begins.

97. Correspondence.
97.1 BCW – S106 new procedures

97.2 NCC – mineral waste strategy has been adopted and is available to download

97.3 Rural Development plan – village community shop – There was discussion about the shop in Little Harrowden probably closing in the next six months, and its implications for Orlingbury.

97.4 Northants CALC AGM information 20th Oct 2010, Unfortunately no-one available to attend as this clashes with other councillor commitments.

97.5 NALC events bulletin

97.6 Crime report for August- none reported.

97.7 Northants fire service –home fires safety checks, Councillor Allen pointed out that this may be a feature of the forthcoming Emergency Group public meeting scheduled for October. 97.8 BCW – Parish forum 7/10/10 Councillor Rootham and the Clerk to attend.

97.9 NRHA – House available in Orlingbury, Clerk to prepare Advert to go into the Notice Board advising of availability and reminding that anyone interested in affordable housing should be on both the Borough’s register and that of the Housing Association.

97.10 NCC – rights of way map – this shows which officer is responsible for each area in the County.

97.11 WBC – building control slide show from meeting via email link; a copy from the meeting attended by Councillors Rootham and Rowlatt At the meeting they were advised that Kettering Borough Council will be outsourcing its Planning to Wellingborough Borough Council. They also learnt that Building Control Inspectors only inspect at ground level and then when the building is complete.

97.12 NALC – AGM & ‘Stand & Deliver’ campaign to promote local elections. 2 places provisionally booked for 14th September.

97.13 NCC emergency planning conference – Councillor Allen to attend, as on same day (7/10/10) as Parish Forum.97.14 NHS Northamptonshire AGM 23rd September – no one available to attend.

98. Financial Matters.
98.1 The following accounts were approved for payment.
669 P Allen –newsletter and distribution expenses £ 29.94
670 E-on elec supply £ 431.38
671 Bosworths car parking £ 350.00
672 E-ON elec maint £ 27.58
673 A Mclaven salary £ 248.40
674 Sywell Mowers £ 55.00
675 R Derry – allotment equipment £ 51.16

98.2 As part of the yearly council audit programme by the BDO the Auditor required further information on a number of issues. The Clerk’s response was read and explained to the meeting and a copy of the letter is on file. The subsequent alterations to the Annual Return were approved.

98.3 The empowerment grant from Councillor Bailey had been agreed and received and the 8.3monies, although shared with Isham Parish Council, since only one cheque for £2500 was sent, have been banked by the Orlingbury Parish Council pending payment for the shared Speed Indicator sign.

98.4 It was agreed new statement sheets will be produced in future for meetings including a separate sheet for 106 expenditure, and planned expenditure. Clerk to liase with Councillor Rootham over this.

98.5 Cheques to be signed by 2 councillors who will initial cheque stubs and sign and date invoices to verify that they have seen them. Every payment must have a written invoice, or other relevant paperwork, and be formally approved for payment by the Parish Council in advance.

98.6 Councillors Bailey and Timms were thanked for their contributions to the speed camera. There was discussion about batteries. Councillor Rootham was willing to be trained to maintain the sign etc. It was agreed to meet with representatives of Isham PC to discuss issues.

99. Recommendation of the Working Party Planning on Audit Procedures
99.1 Mr Richard Abrams had asked the Parish Council to investigate invoices with regard to servicing the mower. At the time, it was concluded that payments and invoice details were in order. Mr Abrams wrote again to request that the parish Council look into his original complaint with more rigour. A working party was set up to review this matter and Mr Abrams was advised of this. Councillor Rootham talked through the report arising from the working party’s deliberations.

99.2 Following more detailed investigation it was evident that the Parish Council had paid for 3 mowers to be serviced in 2008/9, one of which (housed in the same lock-up) was that belonging to the Parish Church. Three invoices including that for the Church Machine had been stapled together and paid for together. Previous invoices for earlier years were examined and it was determined that prior to this only Parish Council mowers had been paid for.

99.3 Arising from the working party’s investigations, the following proposals were agreed.1 No charge is to be made to St Mary’s Church for the error of 2008/9 for the servicing of the Lawn King Mower at a cost of £116.562 A written amendment is to be made at the foot of the Parish Council minutes of January 2009 which will explain that the original minute was incorrect and could cause the reader to draw an inaccurate conclusion, other than the correct one i.e. that the original complaint was based on the commitment by Mr & Mrs Abrams to maintain probity, openness and rigour in invoice payments of a public organisation3 A written apology will be sent to Mr Abrams explaining our findings and expressing our concerns that his original observations of November 2008 did not receive a written response.

100. Planning applications and decisions.
WP/2010/0368 Land at Orlingbury Hall-Erection of a dwelling house within the curtilage of a listed building

The Highways Authority has not yet commented on this application though issues related to the dangers of access to this site are well documented. Part of the application is dependant on work having been agreed in the past for a golf course club house on this site. The applicants express willingness to give up the permission for a golf course on the site, if this application is granted.

Following discussions it was agreed that the Parish Council should ask that the application is refused on the following grounds:
a)The application is outside village development envelope and an application on an adjacent property has recently, been refused for this reason. It was agreed to ask for a site viewing if the application is not automatically refused.

101. Village Hall Work has just been completed on the village hall.

102. Any Other Business
102.1 A letter had been received from Mrs Nora Hurst thanking us for the grant for the Oversixties.

102.2 There was recently, an organised event on The Green and the lack of rubbish bins had been noticeable, although it is recognised that provision for these have been made in the Section 106 development plan. There then followed discussion about disposal arrangements for grass cuttings from The Green. . It was agreed to explore this issue further and to find out costs and then discuss possible storage sites.

102.3 Dog Fouling on the footpath to Little Harrowden is again a problem. The Borough Dog Warden to be asked to monitor the situation but Cllr Timms said that any witnesses to fouling acts would have to make written statements and be able to provide absolute proof before any owners could be taken to court.
102.3 3 trees have been planted outside 6a and 8a Pytchley Road. These are on the highway. Clerk to write and ask the landowner to remove the trees as they are on the public highway.

103. Dates of next meetings.

The dates for the next few meetings are as follows, 21st October 2010, 25th November 2010, 6th January 2011 and 17th February 2011.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 9.50pm with thanks to those attending.



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Chairman Date