Parish Council Minutes 6th December 2012

ORLINGBURY PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held in the village hall
on Thursday 6th December 2012 at 7.30p.m.


131. Present:
Councillors B Rootham (Chairman), P Allen, A Campbell, N Reynolds,
C Turnell, and A McLaven (Clerk).

132. Apologies
132.1 Councillor Cole sent his apologies which were accepted.

133. Public Question Time
133.1 There were no members of the public in attendance.

134. Declarations of Interest
134.1 There were no declarations other than already registered

135. Minutes of 1st November 2012
135.1 Councillor Allen proposed and Councillor Turnell seconded all in favour of being signed as a true and correct record.
135.2 The revised minutes of 4th October were also signed after min 125.2 was changed to the lectern sheet has been satisfactorily amended by the producers.

136. Action Log/ Matters Arising
136.1 122.5 There was discussion of the newsletter, only councillors phone numbers to be put in the newsletter, all calls should go through the Clerk.
136.2 Councillor Rootham had not received a draft copy of the newsletter and it was agreed that he would be sent a copy to look through before it was signed off.
136.3 126.6 Councillor Allen had taken away the information about the capital grant but it was felt too late to deal with the paperwork which was very detailed and involved. Many other parishes felt the same and were also not able to put in bids. Clerk to write to the Chief executive and complain about the lack of time to make bids, at least 2 or 3 months’ notice to be able to deal with the paperwork copies to be sent to Councillor Timms and Councillor Bailey.
136.4 129.1 Councillor Rootham was upset by the lack of attendance at the Remembrance Day Service, Councillors Allen and Cole had sent apologies but no other councillor had either sent apologies or attended. The Councillors had their reasons for non- attendance, but had not realised this was the one occasion that it was necessary to attend if possible. The service is an ecumenical one. Unfortunately, partly due to the church being interregnum the person who was supposed to be taking the service was unaware of this and attended at a different service. Councillor Rootham had to take the service and 2 ex councillors carried the flag.
136.5 The above led to discuss of war graves and Councillor Reynolds proposed Councillor Turnell seconded all in favour of investigating the cost and supporting where appropriate the reconditioning of the 2 war graves in the churchyard.
136.6 122.7 The emergency plan is 18 pages and Councillor Turnell suggested something more user friendly, this is her first remit. The plan builds into the Borough then County and then National plan. Councillor Turnell will make further efforts to identify the first aiders.

137. Finance and precept
137.1 All Councillors have signed a dispensation requesting permission to discuss the precept. The Clerk granted the dispensation
137.2 There was discussion of the need to meet expenditure but not increase the precept too much. We need to maintain our 106 expenditure, street lighting will need changing within the next few years and Rectory Lane needs the verge refurbishing.
137.3 Councillor Reynolds proposed Councillor Allen seconded an increase of 2.5% in line with inflation this takes the precept from £7122 to £7300. All in favour.
137.4 Councillor Reynolds proposed and Councillor Campbell seconded the following accounts for payment. All in favour.

773 A McLaven salary and expenses                    £145.08
774 HMRC PAYE                                               £ 24.20
775 S Miles green team expenses                         £239.44

138. Complaints Policies.
138.1 It was felt this was a very formal approach for dealing with formal complaints, and it was agreed to start the Policy with --
If issues raised cannot be resolved by other means, and add ‘all complaints to be dealt with expeditiously on an individual basis’
Councillor Reynolds proposed and Councillor Campbell seconded the additions, all in favour.

139. Training Policy
139.1 A training budget of £500 was identified
139.2 Following discussion of the draft proposal it was agreed that the policy was more relevant to larger council and the Clerk will draft a new policy and distribute before the next meeting for comments.

140. Lectern/Village Sign
140.1 The work at the top of Rectory Lane is almost complete, the Noticeboard will be removed to be repainted.

141. Correspondence
141.1 The Borough Council wrote to advise that although we had requested a site viewing for the application at the nurseries, there would be no site viewing as the site had been visited several times previously.
141.2 NCC Annual waiting restriction review – request for any parking restriction changes – We don’t have any but note was taken that it is a problem in Rectory Lane and around the Green.

142. Planning
142.1 There were no planning matters to discuss.

143. Any Other Business
143.1 Pat White had advised Councillor Rootham of his concerns about the village pavements. Clerk to write to Highways, although we are aware there is no funding available at present.

130. Date of next meeting
The next meeting will be 7th February 2013 at 7.30pm in the village hall.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.15 pm with thanks to those attending.