July 2025 Minutes
MINUTES OF SILK WILLOUGHBY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 31 JULY 2025 AT 7.00PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL.
Present Cllr Roberts (Chair)
Cllrs Thackray, J Wright, K Wright, and H Bell
In attendance 4 members of the public and Denise Gascoyne Parish Clerk
Public Forum
Cllr Bell confirmed he had checked the defibrillator and in good order.
1.Chair’s Welcome Cllr Roberts welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2.Apologies for Absence. There were none.
3.Declarations of Interest. There were none.
4. To approve and accept as a true record the notes of the Annual Meeting and Parish Council Meeting held on 29 May 2025. The Chair asked that Item 14 be amended to read ‘Cllr Sean Matthews had taken over from Cllr Martin Hill as leader of LCC’ After the amendment it was proposed, seconded and
Resolved that the notes of the Annual Meeting and Parish Council Meeting held on 29 May 2025 be accepted as a true record and these were signed by the Chair.
5.Report from County Cllr Whittaker/District Cllr Jackson.
a. No reports.
6.Chair Update
a. The Parish Council had sent a letter to Time Assured Limited expressing their disappointment that the Church Clock is still not working as expected. A reply had been received and circulated to all Cllrs. Cllr Roberts reminded Cllrs of the history of the clock and that the new regulator would cost in the region of £3300.00. After a long discussion it was proposed, seconded and
Resolved: that the Parish Council would fund the new regulator from the Solar monies.
b. Cllr Roberts told the meeting that the new Occupational Licence between the Post Office/village hall and Parish Council needed to be drawn up.
The Chair of the village hall had asked if the Parish Council would consider sharing any costs involved in drawing up the licence. The Chair suggested that the Chair of the village hall should contact ACRE who would be able to help, and hopefully with no cost to the village hall or parish council. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved: the Clerk pass on the details to the Chair of the village hall.
c. The Chair had been approached by the landlord of the Horseshoes, who was hoping to upgrade the land where the notice board stood, and had asked for permission to remove it. Cllrs had no objection to the landlord taking the notice board down. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved: that Cllrs would walk round the village to see if there was another suitable place for the notice board and may purchase a new one with ‘Silk Willoughby Parish Council’ on it.
d. The landlord of the Horseshoes had also contacted the Post Office about moving the post box. This would be at his own expense, and the Post Office could not guarantee this would be sited elsewhere. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved: to leave this in abeyance until further information had been received from the landlord.
7.Parish Clerk Update
a. The Clerk confirmed that the duplicate Dog Bin on Gorse Lane has been removed from the Asset Register.
b. The White Gates had been cleaned on 18 June 2025 and Cllrs agreed they looked very good now. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved to pay the invoice for the work.
c. Although the Clerk was still in conversation with Proweb regarding the changing to Gov.uk emails. The Clerk was investigating the possibility of grants for this. The Chair suggested we had Chair@ and Clerk@ so when there was a change of personnel the emails could just be passed on. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved to use Chair@ and Clerk@ for email addresses.
8.Finance.
a. The Bank Reconciliations and Cashbook to 31 May, 30 June and 31 July 2025 had been circulated to all Cllrs. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved to accept the Bank Reconciliations and Cashbook to 31 May, 30 June, and 31 July and these were signed by Cllr Roberts.
b. The Approval List had been circulated to all Cllrs. It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved to accept the Approval List and Cllr W Thackray and Cllr J Wright signed the following cheques.
|
Sudmeister |
Cleaning Gates |
Chq.No.100348 |
£79.00 |
|
Tidy Gardens |
Grass Cutting |
Chq.No.100349 |
£397.00 |
|
HMRC |
Employers Cont. |
Chq.No.100350 |
£9.90 |
|
HSBC |
Bank Charge |
DD |
£7.40 |
|
HMRC |
Tax |
Chq.No.100351 |
£96.60 |
|
D Gascoyne |
Fees |
Chq.No.100352 |
£473.10 |
|
Mrs L Roberts |
Repay bank charge |
Chq.No. 100353 |
£12.79 |
c. The Chair gave an update on Savings Accounts. Account Number 2180 was due to mature on 11 August 2025. After a brief discussion it was proposed, seconded and
Resolved: to reinvest the amount for a further 6 months.
d. The Chair confirmed the Lloyds Bank account had now been closed and she had been reimbursed for bank charges.
9.Policies
a. The following policies had been circulated to all Cllrs.
• Financial Regulations
It was proposed, seconded and
Resolved to adopt the new Financial Regulations and a copy would be added to the website.
10.Village Hall
a. A letter from the Charity Commission had been received by the Village Hall Trustees. A copy had been circulated to all Cllrs. After a lengthy discussion it was proposed, seconded and
Resolved the Chair of the village hall contact the Charity Commission outlining their proposals.
11.Correspondence
a. LALC e-news – circulated to all Cllrs.
b. LALC Annual Report 2024-2025
c. Police and Parish Council Briefing Session 16.09.25
d. LALC Training Bulletin – circulated to Cllr Roberts/
12. Date of Next Meeting.
a. The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 25 September 2025 at 7.00pm in the village hall.
13.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 the business to be transacted regarding staffing matters.
The Clerk had completed her Appraisal prior to the meeting. The recommendation was to Increase her salary by one spinal point.
As the position of Clerk/RFO had been advertised, an interviewing committee would be approved when applications had been received.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.15pm
Signed ………………………………..
Chair Silk Willoughby Parish Council
25 September 2025