Minutes of Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 18th July 2023 in Claxton Village Hall
(Subject to amendment until signed by the Chair at the next meeting)
|
Parish Councillors present Absence |
David Hamblin (Chair), Jos Harwood (Vice-Chair), Andrew Mussell, Adrian Gidlow Sue Wallis-Garcia |
| County Councillor | None |
| District Councillor | Vic Thomson |
| Also in attendance | Charlotte Rust – Parish Clerk |
| Members of the public (MOP) | Two |
23.62 Welcome from the Chair.
The Chair welcomed all in attendance.
23.63 To elect the Vice Chair of the Parish Council.
Cllr J Harwood was elected Vice-Chair. Cllr D Hamblin proposed Cllr J Harwood to be nominated, with Cllr A Mussell seconding. A vote was taken, three Cllrs voted and one abstained.
23.64 To receive the Declarations of Acceptance of Office forms from the newly elected Chair and Vice-Chair.
Cllr J Harwood signed the Declarations of Acceptance of Office, which was co-signed by the Proper Officer (the Parish Clerk).
23.65 To receive and approve apologies for absence.
Cllr S Wallis-Garcia sent her apologies and the Parish Council approved the absence.
23.66 To receive any declarations of interest from Members & consider requests for dispensation.
Members are invited to declare Disclosable interests and other interests in items on the agenda as required by the Claxton Parish Council Code of Conduct for Members and by the Localism Act 2011.
None.
23.67 To approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 16th May 2023.
Subject to a small amendment to minute 23.58.1 to read ‘the Clerk is to raise the blocked drains adjacent to Peascod Lane to highways.’ the minutes were approved and signed by the Chair.
23.68 Adjournment for Public Participation (15 minutes allowed for). This provides an opportunity for members of the public to raise questions about and comment on items on the agenda before the Council make decisions.
The Speed Monitor volunteer reminded the Council that the SAM2 Speed Monitor is jointly owned by Claxton and Langley with Hardley Parish Councils and operates on a three-month rotational basis. Last year LwH’s SAM2 volunteer left the Council and stopped handling the SAM2 in December. They have been unable since then to find a volunteer to take over their three-month deployments. They recently informed that they had found 2 volunteers and were asked for confirmation that they had been trained by Westcotec and had the wherewithal to download their data at the end of their deployments – something the Speed Monitor volunteer had been doing for them since 2019. Several weeks later they came back to say the sole volunteer had hurt himself and was unable to take this on, so it could stay with us. We have therefore had it for the whole of 2023 so far.
The Monitor must be relocated every month and the data from that month downloaded and analysed, to produce a report which goes on our website. According to the statistics, the average number of hits (reads) of the monthly SAM2 updates is 3. That has made the Speed Monitor volunteer question why he bothers to analyse and publish reports. No other nearby Parish Council does i.e. Loddon, Chedgrave, Rockland, Surlingham and Bramerton all have their own monitors but there is rarely a mention in any of their websites of the device, and nothing about their findings. To download data, some devices can be connected to a laptop (a fiddly process) but ours is Bluetooth but only to Android phones and tablets.
The Speed Monitor volunteer realises that this is an integral part of the Speed Watch Team’s strategy, but will be considering which parts of what he currently does can be safely shelved, or passed on. The Speed Monitor volunteer also asked if an item on “Traffic Issues” could be added to each agenda so that he and the Speed watch Team could update on their activities. All Cllrs agreed to have this item added from September 2023.
Cllr J Harwood mentioned that the Community Speed Watch officers have been reviewing this information and have been active in Claxton four times since April 23. He suggested that a regular item ‘Traffic/Speed Watch/ be added to the agenda going forward.
23.69 Reports from:
23.69.1 Parish Clerk.
The Clerk provided an overview of her report:
- Confirmed works were programmes for the potholes at the Warren.
- Submitted the Parish Council mini recycling adopter payment paperwork.
- Waiting a response from Cllr K Mason-Billig and Gary Overland regarding the issue of road safety within Claxton.
- Forwarded on all relevant correspondence.
- Confirmed that she had transferred over most of the information over to the new website host ready for the approval of the registrar.
- Presented her research on registrars, all of whom are on the approved list on the gov.uk website and offer 2 factor authentication requirements. She had contacted four companies and received two responses. All Cllrs agreed to appoint BWP Creative Limited as the domain registrar. The Clerk is to action this.
23.69.2 District Councillor, Cllr Vic Thomson.
Cllr V Thomson provided an overview of his report, of which a full copy will be available on the website:
- Fully in the office at Broadband now and it is working well.
- Reuse shop at Harford raised £22,177 last year for The Big C charity.
- County Broadband – contacting parishioners regarding their offers on fibre broadband. Cllr J Harwood asked will the broadband work if there is a power cut, which it will not. The Clerk is to add this information to the website, and this has been added to September’s agenda for further discussion.
- Cllr D Hamblin asked about a mobile mast in the Yare to improve the very poor mobile signal in Claxton. Cllr V Thomson confirmed that there are no current plans for this as it is not a high priority of the mobile phone providers.
23.69.3 County Councillor, Cllr Kay Mason-Billig.
None.
23.70 Matters arising from May’s meeting:
23.70.1 To receive an update on the Play Area.
- The Play Area working group are commended for raising a staggering £865.00 holding their summer BBQ event. The Parish Cllrs would like to extend their thanks to all those involved for such an exceptional effort including sorting some amazing raffle prizes and providing delicious food.
- Fencing – on going child safety issue of having no fencing on The Warren. There was discussion about implementing the fence before the play area was constructed however concerns were raised over the impact this may have on the overall cost of the project. Cllr D Hamblin is to contact the Play Area working group to discuss this and will report back to the Parish Council. Once discussed and confirmed the Clerk will obtain quotes for the fencing. This item, along with minute 23.71.1 will be discussed together at September’s meeting.
23.71 Correspondence:
23.71.1 Child safety at The Warren.
Please refer to minute 23.70.1.
23.71.2 Grass cutting agreement.
The agreement runs out in March 2025. The Clerk is to update the tender and send it out for bids in preparation for next year.
23.71.3 Parish Partnership 2024/25.
The Clerk is to research in to whether the play area fencing falls under this scheme.
23.71.4 Chet Neighbourhood Plan Pre-Submission Regulation 14 Consultation.
- Concerns were raised on healthcare, education and traffic. From experience there will be limited or no assistance from the developers on these issues.
- Any planning is faced with objections.
- Stretching the resources of Chet Surgery, increasing wait times for appointments potentially resulting in reducing the catchment area.
- School capacity will be affected, which may have a knock-on effect with neighbouring parishes.
- Traffic has already increased with the parish, and this would exacerbate the issue with increased congestion.
- Cllr J Harwood is to compose wording on behalf of the Parish Council for the Clerk to submit.
23.71.5 Signed Shared Training Costs Agreement.
All Cllrs agreed on this item. The Chair signed the agreement. Claxton Parish Council would like to thank Rockland St Mary with Hellington and Surlingham Parish Councils for signing this agreement.
23.72 Policies:
23.72.1 To review the following polices:
23.72.1.1 Action Plan.
All Cllrs approved.
23.72.1.2 Complaints and Procedures.
All Cllrs approved.
23.72.1.3 Data Protection.
All Cllrs approved.
23.72.1.4 Equity and Diversity.
All Cllrs approved.
23.72.1.5 Appraisal.
Subject to amending the appraisal form this was approved by all Cllrs.
23.72.1.6 Reserves policy.
All Cllrs approved.
23.72.1.6.1 Reserves report.
The Clerk went through the figures and all Cllrs agreed to keep the reserve amount totalling six months of the agreed precept each year. The Clerk is to amend the working balance, Contingency and Earmarked Sections for approval at September’s meeting.
23.73 Planning:
23.73.1 To receive any new planning applications and make comment.
None.
23.73.2 To receive the results and updates on any outstanding applications.
None.
23.74 Highways:
23.74.1 To receive a report on any highways issues outstanding.
The Clerk confirmed works were programmed for the potholes at The Warren.
The Parish Council would like to acknowledge a thorough job was done by Highways by the gullies.
23.75 Finance:
23.75.1 To receive a Statement of Accounts as of 18th July 2023.
Received by the Cllrs. The Clerk confirmed the Parish Council had another account to hold the Play Area funds. Cllr A Gidlow asked about interest rates on the account. The Clerk is check and investigate other savings accounts available to the Parish Council and report back.
23.75.2 To note the bank balance.
£5,060.80.
23.75.3 To note any receipts.
| TO NOTE INCOME | ||||||
| 19.07.23 | RSMwH printing expenses Feb – Jul 23 | BACS | £18.60 | £0.00 | ||
23.75.4 To note any grants.
None.
23.75.5 To approve payment of invoices and other expenses received since last meeting (see payment schedule).
All payments were approved.
| FOR APPROVAL | ||||||
| DATE | EXPENDITURE | PAYMENT METHOD | TOTAL | VAT | P/R NO | |
| Loddon Garden & DIY | 03.07.23 | Grass cutting | BACS | £447.96 | £74.66 | |
| Norfolk ALC | 23.06.23 | July Website | BACS | £10.00 | £0.00 | |
| 19.07.23 | Clerk July Expenses | BACS | £116.14 | £7.50 | ||
| 04.07.23 | Kanga Grounds Services | BACS | £25.00 | £0.00 | ||
| TO NOTE PRE-APPROVED PAYMENTS | ||||||
| 28.07.23 | Clerk July Salary | S/O | £220.61 | £0.00 | ||
| 29.08.23 | Clerk August Salary | S/O | £220.61 | £0.00 | ||
23.76 To receive updates from individual Council Members (for information only).
None.
23.77 To receive any items for inclusion on the next agenda (for information only).
Traffic/Speed Watch.
Fencing and Play Area.
County Broadband.
23.78 To confirm date and time of the next Parish Council Meeting as Tuesday 19th September at 7.30pm in Claxton Village Hall.
Confirmed. Cllr D Hamblin is unable to attend September’s meeting.
The meeting closed at 20:49pm.
