2024 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES OF SILK WILLOUGHBY PARISH COUINCIL MEETING HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL AT 7.00PM ON 25 JULY 2024.

Present                                 Cllr L Roberts (Chair)

                                                Cllrs Thackray, Bell, K Wright, and J Wright

In Attendance                      County Cllr A Hagues, 2 members of the public and Denise Gascoyne Temporary Parish Clerk

Public Forum

The Clerk agreed to check if Silk Willoughby had or was going to have fibre broadband installed.

The meeting began at 7.05pm

1.Chair’s Welcome. The Chair Cllr Roberts welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.Apologies for Absence. There were none.

3.Declarations of Interest. There were none.

4a.To amend and accept as a true record the notes of the extraordinary meeting held  on 07 May 2024. One paragraph in the minutes had been repeated further down. As these had been written by the former Clerk, it was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to strike through the paragraph and replace original on the website.

 4b.  To approve and accept as a true record the notes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 30 May 2024. As the former Clerk had left, these minutes had been written from the memory of the Cllrs. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to accept the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting as a true record.

 4c.  To approve and accept as a true record the notes of the extraordinary meeting held on 17 June 2024. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to accept the minutes of the extraordinary meeting as a true record.

5a. Report from County Cllr Hagues

a. Cllr Hague reported that £6million had been allocated to repair the roads around the county.

 5b. Report from District Cllr Jackson

Cllr Jackson had sent his apologies but had forwarded a report. This had been copied to all Cllrs.

6.Chair Update

a. The Parish Council were now using Pete Langford Webmaster LALC to get the website up to date. The Temporary Parish Clerk was updating documents and ensuring all necessary documents are included.

b. The Advert for Clerk/RFO was discussed. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to place a copy on the notice board and on the LALC website.

c. The Chair confirmed that the Union Membership and SLCC Membership for the former Clerk had been cancelled.

d. The Chair confirmed that both the Parish Council and Village Noticeboard had been updated with the Temporary Clerk’s details.

e. The hedge on School Lane had still not been cut back.  Mark Jones from Aswarby had confirmed that the parish council can cut this back. The Clerk to investigate.

f. The problem of parking on London Road seems to have been eased. There was certainly less of a problem than at the last meeting. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to just monitor the situation and take no further action.

g.A copy of the internal audit report had been circulated to all Cllrs. After a short discussion, it was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: that recommendations in the audit report had been fully discussed and implemented where necessary.

h.The Chair had contacted the internal auditor on several issues arising from the report. Some of the points highlighted were not accurate. The Internal Auditor had responded and said ‘this was based on a snapshot’ given by the Clerk and that was all the information they had to go on.

i.New Defibrillator Pads had been received. A new battery was due in November. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: that Cllr Bell would install the pads and check the Defibrillator when required. A price would be obtained for the battery due in November.

7. Temporary Clerk Update

a. The Asset List would be updated by the next meeting, and a copy would be circulated to all Cllrs at the next meeting.

b. To date insurance companies have not been contacted re insurance for the village hall. This will be on the Agenda for the next meeting when the Village Hall Trustees have held their AGM.

c. A Staffing Committee had been set up by the former Clerk. After a short discussion it was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: that as the Parish Council only had 5 members this was not necessary.

d. The New Bouy is now in place. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to amend the Risk Assessment from ‘High’ to ‘Medium’

e. The Clerk had contacted Edge IT Systems and the software had been reinstated. The Clerk would cancel Scribe when the necessary transactions had been entered onto the Edge IT system.

8.Finance.

a. The Bank Reconciliation and Cashbook to 30 June 2024 had been circulated to all Cllrs. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to accept the Bank Reconciliation to 30 June 2024 and authorise the Chair to sign.

b. The Insurance Premium had been received.  After a short discussion it was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to sign the cheque for the  premium, but to withdraw from the long-term contract.

c. The Approval List had been circulated to all Cllrs. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to sign the following cheques.

d. The Savings Accounts do not mature until October. However, it was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to investigate alternative accounts  for the next meeting.

e. As we had now reverted to using cheques instead of paying by BACS. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to update the mandate with additional signatories.

9.Updated/New Policies

The following new/updated policies had been circulated to all Cllrs.

• Complaints Procedure
• Internal Control Statement March 2025
• Grievance Policy
• Disciplinary Procedure
• Financial Regulations

I

It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to accept the new/updated policies and a copy would be placed on the website.

10.Village Hall

a. New trustees had come forward to enable the charity to be wound down. However, an AGM would need to be held before this could happen.

b. Until an AGM is held the parish council can do no more.  Accounts had been requested from the trustees. After this has been held the Parish Council will hold a village meeting to discuss the way forward with the Village Hall, Post Office, and upstairs room.

11.Correspondence.

a. NKDC June 2024 newsletter – circulated to all Cllrs.

b. LCC Town and Parish newsletter – circulated to all Cllrs.

c. LALC e-news – circulated to all Cllrs.

d. LALC training bulletin June 2024 – circulated to all Cllrs.

e. FMS update on School Lane Path – 2 residents had reported this on Fix-My-Street, awaiting updates from LCC and residents.

f. Flood resilience team email -  Cllr Hagues agreed to bring this to the attention of LCC.

12.Grant Application

a. Time Assured had started the work on the Church Clock. However, during the installation of the automatic winding units they had found a problem. To rebush the two bushes on the Going train second wheel and two bushes on the escape wheel will cost £750 plus VAT.  Cllrs discussed this fully and stated that they did not have a bottomless pit. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: on this occasion they would pay for the repairs.

13.Conservation/Heritage

a. Nothing further had been done with regard to Conservation/Heritage. The Clerk agreed to contact LCC as there is a grant available for this type of project. It was proposed, seconded and

Resolved: to leave this in abeyance until Spring, and the Clerk to investigate grants.

14.Date of Next Meeting.

a. The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 26 September 2024 at 7.00pm in the village hall.

15.To resolve to exclude the media, press and members of the public from the meeting in accordance with S.1(2) Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 due to the confidential nature of business to be transacted regarding staffing matters.

All matters relating to the former Clerk have been finalised and the Temporary Clerk Contract is in place.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.05pm