2023 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF SILK WILLOUGHBY PARISH COUNCIL

ANNUAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

Thursday 18th May at 7.30pm in Silk Willoughby Village Hall

Councillors Present: Cllrs Bell, Roberts, Thackray, J. Wright, K. Wright

In attendance: D Cllr Jackson, Parish Clerk Boden and 2 members of public.

COUNCIL SESSION 

23045. To elect a Chairman of the Council and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. Cllr K. Wright proposed Cllr Roberts as Chair. Cllr Bell seconded and it was resolved to elect Cllr Roberts as Chair. The Declaration of Acceptance of Office was signed.

23046. To elect a Vice Chairman of the Council and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. Nobody was willing to stand and after discussion it was resolved not to elect a Vice Chair.

23047. To suspend Standing Orders to allow members of the Public to raise questions or concerns. It was resolved to suspend Standing Orders. A member of public raised a question about the money from the Solar Farm. As this item was on the agenda it was decided to defer until later in the meeting.

23048. To receive a report from the County Councillor. C. Cllr Hague had sent his apologies. No report received.

23049. To receive a report from the new District Councillor. Report attached.

23050. To return to Standing Orders to conduct Council Business. It was resolved to return to Standing Orders.

23051. To receive and accept apologies for absence. No apologies received.

23052. To receive Declarations of interest for items within the agenda. No declarations of Interest received.

23053. To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 30th March 2023 and for the chair to sign. It was resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 30th March and for the Chair to sign.

23054. To receive the clerk’s report.

a)   Acceptance of Office. All Acceptance of Office had been signed prior to the meeting and witnessed by the Proper Officer.

b)   Code of Conduct. All were made aware that the Council abide by the Code of Conduct.

c)   Paperwork required by NKDC and time frames. All DPI and election cost forms had been collected by the clerk prior to the meeting and would be delivered to the NKDC offices.

23055. Finances 2022/23 – To receive the clerk’s report on the year-end figures.

Financial Year End 2022 – 2023 balance £213,477.34
Annual Gross Income - £209,816.79
Annual Gross Expenditure - £6,772.01

It was resolved to accept the Annual Gross Income and Annual Gross Expenditure.

23056. AGAR 2022/23: To finalise the accounts for the year 2022/23

a)   End of Year: Cash book and bank reconciliation as of March 2023

b)   Certificate of Exemption: AGAR 2022/23. To approve and give permission for Chairman and Responsible Finance Officer to sign.

c)   To receive the Internal Auditors report.

d)   Annual Governance and Accountability Return: Section 1, Governance Statement. To approve and give permission for the Chairman and Clerk to sign.

e)   Annual Governance and Accountability Return: Section 2, Accounting Statement. To approve and give permission for the Chairman and Responsible Finance Officer to sign.

f)   Analysis of Variances. To approve the variances.

g)   Notice of the period for the exercise of public rights and other information required by Regulation 15 (2), Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. To approve the dates Monday 5th June – Friday 14th July 2023.

It was resolved to defer this item as the Internal Auditor’s report had not been finalised. An extra meeting needs to be called before the 30th June.

23057.  Finances 2023/24

a) To receive a report of payments, made between meetings, in the financial year 2023/24

b)   It was resolved to accept the report of payments made between meetings. A debit card has been ordered so that future payments can be made straight from the Parish Council accounts, rather than the Chair or Clerk having to purchase and then claim the money back.

c)   To note the payment from NKDC for the precept of £5,200.00 has been received. It was resolved to note that the precept of £5,200 had been received from NKDC.

d)   To review and consider approval of bank reconciliation. It was resolved to approve the bank reconciliation.

23058. Silk Willoughby Roads - To receive an update on the ongoing Traffic and Road Surface problems. 

•   3/5/23 LCC Rowan Smith emailed to say that they are still planning on patching the utility trench as previously agreed but a date has not been confirmed. He will confirm with Cllr Roberts as soon as he can.
•   Complaints have been received over cars parking close to the junctions making visibility difficult and a worry on road safety. 
•   A Traffic Regulation Order could be put in place by LCC if need be.
•   It was resolved that a polite letter be delivered to all residents on London Road first and Cllr Roberts and the clerk look into the TRO and then report back.
•   A tree is overhanging at the junction of School Lane making pulling out difficult. Cllr Bell will approach the resident.

23059. Community Speed Watch - To receive an update on the Community Speed Watch. All the paperwork for the CSW has been submitted. Awaiting news and the invoice.

23060. Speed Sign - To receive an update on the Speed Sign. 

•   Letters have been exchanged with the resident of the hedge.
•   3/5/23 LCC Rowan Smith updated Cllr Roberts that LCC has taken on the responsibility of the speed sign and LCC will maintain it until the end of it’s life but will not replace it at that time. This would be the responsibility of the Parish Council to purchase another unit.
•   LCC will follow up on the trimming of the hedge at the appropriate time of year.

It was resolved to formally write to the resident and explain that it is now the responsibility of LCC and they will now deal with all outcomes. It was resolved to remove the speed sign from the Asset Register.

23061. Coronation Celebrations - To consider the feedback from the Coronation Weekend.

•   Very positive feedback has been received on the contribution made by the Parish Council
•   20 rolls of bunting was purchased and 18 rolls given out.
•   280 vouchers with a value of £5.00 were purchased and 173 given out, leaving 107 vouchers with a value of £535 for the PC to spend on the village.
•   It should be noted that some residents have said that they didn’t collect them so that the vouchers could be used for the village.
•   30 mugs were purchased for the children and 24 were given out.
•   A final total will be added to the next agenda so that the PC can consider what to purchase with them.

It was resolved to write a letter of Thanks to Pennells.

23062. Village Pond - To receive an update on the Village Pond and the way forward.

•   2/4/23 the PC met and added the different coloured dye to the various gullies to see if any fed directly into the pond. One gully led into the pond and photographs were taken
•   Cllr Roberts emailed LCC Rowan Smith on both the 3rd and 6th April with a map. Several emails have been sent since but the latest reply was the 3/5/23
•   The PC are waiting for an update on the liability and resolution.
•   It has been noted that both Highways and LCC have always stated that they have nothing to do with the Village Pond.

It was resolved to wait for an update but to carry on looking into sluice gates/ penstocks to purchase so that the pond can be maintained easier.

23063. Grant Applications – To receive and consider Community Grant Applications from

a) Silk Willoughby Village Hall 

b) St Denis Church

No grant applications have been received for the PC to consider.

23064. Dog Bins – To discuss the siting of the dog bins along London Road. A resident has requested if the PC can contact the relevant authorities and ask for a bin to be placed near Mountain’s Yard, as there is a bin on the exit of the village and then one near the Quarrington Co-op.  It was resolved to write to Quarrington explaining the situation. Whilst writing could the hedge be mentioned as it is growing out and covering the footpath.

23065. Parish Council Facebook Page. To consider the opening of a Parish Council Facebook page. After discussion it was resolved for a facebook page to be set up so that the PC can have another communication channel with the members of public.

23066. Village Projects for the forthcoming year

•   Hosting a Scarecrow event
•   Pump Repairs
•   Monument Clean-up
•   Milestone touch up
•   LCC Roadstone (TRIL)

The above projects were discussed and agreed but it was also felt that a Council visit to the Sewerage works would be beneficial. Also, some new litter picking dates would be good as a number of people did turn up for the event, on the Coronation weekend, that had to be postponed.

23067. Solar Farm - To receive an update regarding Gorse Lane.

•   4/5/23 Aswarby Estates Mark Jones had phoned Cllr Roberts saying that he driven down Gorse Lane. He has spoken to the Solar Farm Developers about the state of the road and he will be chasing them to make sure the road is fixed.

23068. CIL Funds -To receive an update of CIL spending.

•   21/22   £2118.39
•   22/23   £2074.29
--    £4192.68

Spent   £1188.44

Total left    £3004.24

23069. Unity Bank Application – To receive an update of the Unity Bank Application. The application forms needed signatures and was then ready to be sent. Cllr Roberts had also started an application with Lloyds Bank. It was resolved that once the 3 accounts are opened then the £200,000 will be split between the accounts and then reviewed every 3 months to compare interest rates.

23070. Sleaford Transport Strategy – To consider the Sleaford Transport Strategy. 

•   Cllr Richard Davies (LCC) had emailed the strategy summary across showing points that may affect Silk Willoughby.

It was resolved to write to show interest and ask for more information 

23071. Website – To consider the costing of LALC to refresh the website. The cost for the website to be refreshed and make sure that we are compliant on accessibility is £170 + vat. It was resolved to contact LALC to refresh the website.

23072. Street Naming – To consider and approve one of the following names, as suggested by NKDC.

a) Silkby Court

b) Silkby Close

c) Old Pond Court

It was resolved to name the new builds Old Pond Court.

23073. To consider items for inclusion on the agenda for the next meeting. Items to be put on the next agenda include the Coronation vouchers and the Neighbourhood Plan.

23074. Agree schedule of Parish Council Meetings for 2023/24 

27th July 2023            25th January 2024
28th September 2023         28th March 2024
30st November 2023         30st May 2024

It was resolved to accept the schedule of Parish Council meetings for 2023/24.

23075.Date and time of next meeting 27th July at 7.30pm. 

CLOSED COUNCIL SESSION

Items of confidential nature to be debated in the absence of the press and public. Under the Public Bodies (Admission to the Meetings) Act 1960 (due to the confidential nature of the business).

23076. Documentation regarding the Post Office – To consider the documentation regarding the Post Office. It was resolved, that after taking advice from LALC, a letter should be written to the holder of the documents.