January 2020 Minutes
Notes of the meeting of The Moulton’s Parish Council held on Tuesday 7th January 2020 at Moulton Seas End village hall. at 7pm.
Present: Cllrs Cooper (Chairman), Henderson, Hahn, A.Woolf, Tibbs, Benton, W.Woolf, Kirk, Poll, Wright and Wakefield.
District Cllr Casson. County Cllr Pepper and 3 members of the public.
1. Chairmans welcome.
Chairman Cllr Cooper welcomed everyone.
Public forum.
2. Apologies:
a. Apologies had been received from Cllr Sanderson. Reason given and apologies accepted by attending Cllrs.
3. Declarations of interest.
a. Cllr Kirk declared an interest in a Moulton planning application.
b. The Chairman stated that the Parish Council will be going into closed session after this meeting.
4. Notes of the meeting held on 3rd December 2019 had been circulated. Cllr Cooper apologised to giving wrong information at the previous meeting he stated that any changes to the minutes needed to be done prior to the meeting, in fact, any errors needed to be corrected at the time of the meeting and not before. Any errors found in the current minutes had been corrected prior to them being signed. It was resolved to accept the minutes once rectified and signed at the next meeting.
a. The current Moulton Councillor vacancy had been discussed, it was questioned whether it was necessary to have a co-option policy. The Clerk explained having one made sure that the correct procedure was in place and that applications had to be received in the proper format stopping anyone from just turning up at meetings and getting voted onto the Parish Council. Cllr Poll said that a judgement must be made on each applicant to their suitability at the time. Clerk was asked to contact those who had previously applied to see if they are interested in reapplying by writing to the clerk.
b. Discussions had been raised again about the current policies, Clerk read a list of all
14 current policies and will send them out to everyone following the meeting and Cllr Kirk proposed that they all be accessible from the website. Clerk assured everyone that ALL policies were on the website and had been for many years. It had been discussed at a previous meeting that all policies would be reviewed by the management group, as of yet this hasn’t happened.
5. Matters arising from the minutes.
a. Cost of tree work in Moulton churchyard will be discussed under item 10h.
6. Admin.
a. Policies. As per item 4b.
b. Training. All Cllrs were given the opportunity to attend any of the training courses read out by the Clerk. Cllr Kirk said that he would learn as he went along attending each meeting. Cllr W.Woolf stated that she wouldn’t be attending any due to work commitments.
Clerk said training courses are held throughout the year, mostly during the day but some are evenings too.
Cllr A.Woolf said he would enquire is SHDC did any form of training for Parish Councillors.
c. Cllrs various responsibilities throughout the parish:
Cllr Tibbs dealing with the SID unit.
Cllr Wright dealing with the CSW and restocking the poo bag dispenser in MSE.
Cllr Cooper dealing with the MSE defib, notice board and play area.
Cllr Henderson dealing with Moulton notice board, restocking the poo bag dispenser, overseeing the churchyard.
Cllr A.Woolf dealing with the Moulton defib and also Moulton Chapel notice board, defib and restocking the poo bag dispenser.
The necessary paperwork regarding the defib and play area checks will be sent to the relevant Cllrs.
d. Citizen of the Year. Discussions had taken place regarding whether it is viable to continue with this award. As 2019 had no applications received. It was agreed by all that this be shelved for 2020 and possibly be reviewed again in 2021 with new criteria for applicants.
7. Cemetery, Churchyard and Allotments.
a. Cemetery. All is well. See item 10e.
b. Churchyard. Moles are in the churchyard. Clerk will instruct the pest control contractors to deal with this.
c. Allotments. All is well.
8. Police matters.
a. None to report. The local PCSO had emailed the latest Police surgeries in various locations in the parish.
9. Highways Matters, SID and CSW.
a. Highways. Residents had raised issues of flooding again in Bell Lane and this had been reported. Also reports of flooding each time it rains in Church Lane, West Cob Gate and Broad Lane. Clerk will report this.
Moulton village green was waterlogged and had sunken in areas.
b. SID/CSW The SID reports will now be included in the minutes each month. CSW data shows that the team had been in Moulton Chapel and out of 110 vehicles passing through 9 were speeding. In Moulton Seas End 100 vehicles had passed and 21 speeding. Other sites in the parish is needed and Clerk to contact LRSP to request this. Clerk was asked if the various pieces of equipment needed calibrating, she couldn’t answer that but will get the nformation for the next meeting. More
volunteers are needed and Clerk will put this in the Village Voice. More high-viz jackets are also needed. Clerk will place the order accordingly.
10. Finance report:
a. The finance report had been circulated. Resolved to accept these figures. Expenditure of £5314.43 and income of £223.51
b. Budget figures had been discussed with the management group prior to the meeting.
Results of which show an increase of 3.5%. It was agreed by all and resolved to accept this precept increase for 2020-2021.
c. Clerk explained the need to purchase two new defib cabinets and explained why, due to the breakdown of the current cabinets. The cost of each new polycarbonate (non rusting) cabinets are £510 each if we but two. Cllrs A.Woolf and Kirk/Tibbs will look at the Moulton defib cabinet to see if the problem can be dealt with before replacing the unit. It was agreed by all to purchase two new cabinets should the Moulton one need to be replaced. If this is not the case, then one will be ordered to replace the MSE cabinet. Cost of fitting is £50 + vat per unit by the same contractor who fitted the replacement cabinet in Moulton Chapel.
d. New cemetery mower. Cllr Cooper will take a look at the current mower and report back at the next meeting. Usually the mower is replaced every 4 years and is due this for replacement this year 2020.
e. It was agreed to keep the cemetery fees the same for this coming financial year.
f. Clerk had expressed her idea of now benchmarking some of the funds in the business bank account towards the purchase of land in the future for a new cemetery. She explained that the current cemetery had at least 20 years worth of space left, but finding land and setting up a new cemetery would take quite some time and perhaps now is the right time to be thinking of putting money aside for this. After serious discussion by all, it was agreed to wait until the end of the current 2019-2020 financial year to see what funds we have to be able to do this. Bearing in mind £60000 is benchmarked for a future play area in Moulton (land yet to be obtained).
g. Urban grass cutting costs had increased significantly. Discussions had taken place and standing orders suspended to allow District Cllr Casson to try and explain why. The cost had gone up from £787.58 for 2029-2020 to £2208.28 for 2020-2021. Cllr Casson was to speak to the relevant department at SHDC to ask for an explanation. It currently seems that LCC had been using old maps of the area to work out their costings of grass cutting per mtr and they had now obtained a more accurate set of maps showing there is more urban grass than thought. The results of Cllr Casson’s findings will be reported at the next meeting. Standing Order’s were resumed.
h. Moulton Churchyard three year plan for tree work on the right hand side of the area has now been completed and the left hand side is in need of being done urgently.
Clerk explained as this current years tree budget has been used up, would it be possible to get the work done prior to 1st March cut off point for tree work due to birds nesting, but the invoice be paid out of the 2020-21 budget. After discussions, it was greed to get the contractor to do the work as a matter of urgency and pay his invoice from this years finances. Cost of work is £1700 +vat. Proposed by Cllr Poll and seconded by Cllr Wakefiled and it was agreed by all to get this done. Clerk had already obtained the necessary planning permission from SHDC for this.
i. Discussions had taken place regarding making purchases on behalf of the parish village halls to enable the Parish Council to reclaim back the vat that had been paid.
This had previously been agreed at a former meeting for Moulton Chapel play equipment purchase and Cllr Henderson asked if this could be made available for the two other village halls. It was proposed by Cllr Kirk and seconded by Cllr Wright that this be resolved and looked into further for each individual case put forward. Agreed by all.
11. Planning report:
a. Planning Applications had been circulated to each ward Cllr and comments etc had been on reported on the SHDC website.
b. The Moulton Chapel Larkfleet planning application had been discussed at an extra meeting held by the Parish Council. Comments on this had been circulated to everyone and had been put on the SHDC portal. It is understood that this planning application will be dealt with very soon by SHDC. Parish Councillors all agreed that the officers on the planning committee need to start and listen to both the Parish Council and indeed public when concerns are raised over all planning application.
Standing Order’s were suspended to allow District Cllr Casson to explain his position on the planning committee. He suggested that the Parish Council approach the developers direct to discuss any grants they may be able to give.
S.O’s resumed.
12. Moulton Village Ward:
a. The new windows work has started in the community centre and new LED lighting to be installed in the village hall and new windows to follow this.
13. Moulton Seas End village.
a. Update from MSEVH.
● All is well and no maintenance issues. The play area equipment is rather slimy and in need of a jet wash. Clerk wo arrange this with the Pride Team.
b. To receive an update on MSE Recreational Trust.
● All is well except for the grass being exceptionally wet.
14. Moulton Chapel Ward.
a. MCYCC have now placed the order for the play equipment.
Items 12,13 and 14 Cllr A.Woolf gave the date for the Spring Clean up of each village as Saturday 22nd February meeting as per usual at 10am in the same locations. Clerk to put this in the Village Voice. Cllr A.Woolf also asked if he could purchase more ‘litter pickers’, it was proposed by Cllr Hahn and seconded by Cllr Wright and agreed by all to make the purchase. Upon receipt Clerk would reimburse Cllr A.Woolf.
15. Correspondence.
Various correspondence had been included in the agenda and read out.
Moulton Chapel village school had written in saying that pupils of the school had won the First Lego League Team at the Regional Final in Peterborough and now go on to the National Final in Bristol on 22nd February 2020. The schools asks if the Parish Council could in any way make a financial donation to help fund this trip. After discussions separately as Ward Councillors, it was agreed that Moulton Chapel ward give £250 from their ward budget, Moulton ward give £125 from their ward budget and £125 from the Moulton Seas End ward budget. A total of £500. It was a unanimous decision and directed the Clerk to pay this. Clerk stated she had already conveyed to the school congratulations on behalf of the Parish Council.
16. Councillors minor reports and items for the next agenda.
MSE play area pipe.
17. Date of the next meeting.
Date of the next Parish Council meeting will be on Tuesday 4th February 2020 at Moulton Chapel village school. at 7pm.
18. To resolve whether to move into closed session and exclude public, press and police.
Yes.
General meeting closed at 9pm