November 2022 Minutes
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 8th November 2022 at 7pm in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllr R Elliott, Chairman
Cllr C Turner
Cllr T O’Callaghan
Mr Geoff Cleworth, Clerk
APOLOGIES
Cllrs R Barnard, P Bussoopun, D/Cllr J Ellis
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
As only one councillor who was present at the last meeting had seen the minutes, it was decided to defer acceptance of the minutes of the meeting held on 4th October until the meeting in December..
PROGRESS REPORTS
Jubilee Park
There had been no progress on the new Springies and Soft Pour tarmac. Cllr Elliott will chase Richard Bingham about these jobs and the making good of loose bricks in the park.
Highways
There had been no progress. D/Cllr Ellis will investigate within WLDC to press for a resolution to the issue of HGVs using the private road to Park Farm outside permitted hours.
Flower troughs
Ther Chairman will look into re-stocking the flower troughs.
Christmas lights
There had been no report of progress. Given the proximity of Christmas, it was decided to revert to the arrangement used last year and decorate the tree with lights. The Clerk will advise Cllr Barnard of this. The switch on was arranged for Sunday 4th December at 6pm. Cllr O’Callaghan will arrange prizes, advise the Friendship Inn and will act as Santa Claus if there were no other volunteers.
Parish notice boards
There had been no progress.
Appeal to HMRC against fine for late payment of PAYE
The Clerk had been advised that HMRC had allowed both appeals. He had advised Mr Gee.
New internal Auditor
The Clerk advised that having considered the options, he was happy to proceed with Fiona Simpson as internal auditor. Further consideation to using LALC to audit our systems will be considered in the New Year.
New Parish Councillors
The Chairman had spoken to both interested parties and awaited developments.
Ron Gee/Parish Dinner
Mr Gee had been delighted to be asked to be the Council’s guest at the dinner. He will advise preferred venue.
Remembrance Day wreath
This had arrived
Cllr O’Callaghan access to domain
Cllr O’Callaghan was still pursuing
LOCAL POLICING ISSUES
The Police crime report for October listed 1 burglary, 6 thefts, 2 instances of vehicle crime and 3 instances of criminal damage in the Gainsborough Rural South districts. had been received. None of these affected the Parish..
TREE WALK
The grant moneys had been received. The Clerk had ordered the trees and surrounds. An issue had arisen with the nature of the surrounds. The order was for those which would rust naturally, whereas the application had mentioned galvanised surrounds. These would have been £900 more expensive and would have gone £420 over the budgeted amount in the application. This would have to be borne by the Council along with additional costs from the suppliers resulting from changing the order at the last minute. There was discussion of the terms and conditions which place emphasis on community involvement. We will be careful to produce photographic evidence of progress. The Clerk expressed some reservations about the involvement of Community Service in the project. The Clerk asked that all purchases in respect of the project should be invoiced to the Council so that VAT can be reclaimed.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for October had been distributed to all Councillors.
PLANNING
Application reference 145587
The application had been wrongly discussed at the October meeting. The Clerk had requested an extension from WLDC and presented his notes of our comments which were accepted. These concerned the height of the proposed building, the fact that there were skylights to be installed in a stable block, the unsatisfactory nature of the access and potential use of the facility outwith the terms of the application. It was decided to add a comment regarding the proximity of the proposed building to neighbouring properties.
Application reference 144120
Nothing further had been heard with regard to this issue.
FINANCE
The invoice for £516.03 sent to LCC for their contribution to grass cutting had been paid.
The payment of the following invoices for October were agreed by the Council:
F5 COMPUTING – invoices 11430 Provision of new laptop - £504.00; LALC Clerk’s course - £84.00; Royal British Legion cost of Remembrance Day wreath - £23.98; Designer Metals (Suffolk) lTd cost of tree surrounds - £2520.00; Green Mile Trees Ltdcost of trees - £429.00
CLERK – PAYE AND SALARY
These items were ratified by the meetings meeting
PARISH ACCOUNTS
end of October – balance £18443.76; expenditure £9272.05
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
The Clerk had prepared a budget for 2023/24 with a view to setting the precept. This would produce a precept requirement of £11,460. It was felt that such an increase, whilst possibility justified, might not be popular with WLDC or the taxpayers. It was agreed to set the precept requirement at £10,725, an increase of 10% over 2022/23, which is in line with the current rate of inflation.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
The meeting reviewed the tariff of charges in respect of the Parish cemetery. Reservations of plots were increased to £100 and £50 respectively, the balance payable at each interment increased to £120.
We have received an enquiry about a burial plot. The meeting agreed he could proceed and the Clerk will contact him. It was resolved that as a non-Parishioner, he would have to pay the 50% surcharge on the tariff, but the Council would be prepared to hear an appeal if necessary.
The Clerk advised the meeting that 2023 was election year. The Council will strive to hold an uncontested election, for cost reason if no other. The Clerk will follow the set procedures for elections.
The Clerk advised the meeting that several items on the Council website required updating. These were the change of clerk details, addition of Cllr Bussoopun as a councillor, date of meetings changed to second Tuesday of the month and several sets of Minutes not uploaded. There are currently issues with uploading minutes, and Cllr Turner will attend to the other matters. Discussion of the transfer of the management of the website from Cllr Turner to the Clerk was deferred until the amendments have been made.
There had been a report of fly tipping on Kettlethorpe Road. The Clerk had reported this to WLDC and the offending item had been removed.
D/Cllr Ellis advised that there was a grant of £400 available from her Initiative Fund for 2023/24. Consideration will be given to possible uses for this.
LCC are offering a rolling agreement regarding their contribution to grass cutting. It was agreed to participate.
Reports/newsletters regarding WLDC Safer Together Team, Community Safety Team and possible solar farm developments, Lincolnshire Police Safer Together Team and NFP workshops received and noted.
Contact from Tudor Grounds Maintenance regarding our grass cutting contract. Clerk will check our current contract and retain on file for possible future reference.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
This will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall at 7pm on Tuesday 13th December 2022.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 9pm.