|
MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN ST ANDREWS ROOM AT 7.30 PM ON MONDAY 13th DECEMBER 2004.
PRESENT: Cllrs M Short (Chairman), G Bailey (Vice-Chairman), M R Smith, C Knott, R Giles, K Hill, B Hogarth, G Morgan, M Leimdorfer, M Dury, R Retter, J Edwards and E A Sparey.
IN ATTENDANCE: Mr K Richardson (Clerk), Cllr T Leimdorfer (North Somerset Council) and Mrs K Paul (Clerical Officer). APOLOGIES: PC Tacchi (Holiday) and Mrs M Johnson (family illness). DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: There were declarations of personal interest made by Cllr Hogarth and Cllr Bailey for agenda item 8 – Update on Closed Churchyard; both are members of the PCC. Cllr Hill declared a personal interest in the crime figures. Cllr Edwards declared a personal interest in the Planning minutes.
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: There were no members of the public present.
POLICE REPORT: The Crime Schedule and Police Report which were distributed with the papers were noted. The Chairman reminded Cllrs to send any questions direct to Kim Tacchi in writing. ACTION: The Clerk to check if Kim Tacchi has an email address. KR NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL: Cllr T Leimdorfer gave a verbal report on a number of issues. He announced it appears North Somerset has been set a better budget than expected however the respite care budget has been cut. Cllr T Leimdorfer will be looking into this area to see what improvements can be made. The decision for Puxton Farm Proposals has been postponed until January 2005. Cllr T Leimdorfer noted his concern that no bids for the South Area Committees Funding Projects have come through from Congresbury yet.
127/04 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 8th NOVEMBER 2004:
Members approved the minutes of the meeting held on 8th November 2004 as a true record of the meeting.
128/04 REPORTS RECEIVED:
PLANNING COMMITTEE: The Minutes of the last meeting, circulated with the meeting documents were noted by Members. Cllr Hill pointed out that the Conservation Group noticed that the Ship and Castle’s signs said ‘Patrons only’ parking. Congresbury Parish Council pays for some of the car parking spaces. ACTION:
The Clerk will write letter to North Somerset about this matter.
KR HIGHWAYS & PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE: The Minutes of the last meeting, circulated with the meeting documents were noted by Members.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: The Chairman reported that the Finance Committee met and thoroughly discussed the budget accounts and grants. ACTION: The
Clerk will provide each Cllr a copy of the budget accounts before the next
Parish Council meeting.
KR MEMORIAL HALL COMMITTEE: The Minutes of the last meeting, circulated with the meeting documents were noted by Members. Cllr Edwards noted that there was low attendance at the last meeting. The Chairman noted concerns over the alterations to the license, however the Clerk confirmed that the Parish Council as trustees cannot interfere in the War Memorial Halls affairs. ACTION:
Cllr Giles asked Cllr Edwards if she could request at the next War Memorial
Hall Committee that those who are presents as trustees be noted in the
minutes. JE
STRAWBERRY LINE: A report, circulated with the meeting documents was noted by Members. Cllr Retter expressed an interest in becoming involved in this area.
SW REGIONAL CONFERENCE: Mrs Paul reported that the conference was very interesting but was only able to touch the surface of the very complex area of funding.
129/04 ACTIONS FROM LEISURE SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING
a. The floor to St Congar’s Room in the Old School Room is no longer slippery. It was resolved with the Cleaning service not to polish floor. b. C.J. Hole sponsorship – Millennium Green Play Area – this will be put on hold until project goes forward.
130/04 UPDATE ON CLOSED CHURCHYARD
The Clerk has written to ALCA who have passed the matter onto NALC. The Clerk will report back when a response is received. The Association of Burial Authorities has advised that the ownership and maintenance the churchyard remain with the Church. This is a legal opinion and has not yet been tested in a court of law.
131/04 REVIEW OF CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENTS
Senior Citizens Tea Party – The Chairman thanked everyone for all their help. Cllr Bailey noted that the food was of excellent quality. It was agreed everything went smoothly. The Chairman gave a special thank you to Julia Thyer and Mrs Lawson for decorating the Hall, a thank you letter will be sent to them. It was noted that perhaps the lack of disabled toilets could deter some people from coming. If anyone has any further comments please pass them to Cllr Bailey.
ACTION: Removal of Decorations – It was agreed to take the Old School Rooms decorations down on Thursday 6th January 2004 at 2.00 pm.
Carol Singing – is on Monday 20th December 7.00 pm for 7.15 pm. Cllr Retter suggested Cllrs could bring fold up chairs. The Clerk and Cllr Bailey to liase re: where the poster can be displayed.
132/04 DISCUSSION OF PROCEDURES IN CLERK’S REPORT FOR LAST MEETING 1. The Clerk requested that members inform him as soon as they know they are unable to attend a meeting. This is to ensure a quorum can be guaranteed. 2. The Clerk pointed out that the Agenda needs to be published on the notice board by the Tuesday before a meeting is held. To enable this deadline to be met the Clerk requested that Agenda items be submitted by the Friday a week before the meeting. 3. The Chairman
reminded members that the meeting must be adjourned if a member of the
public is requested to speak once the formal meeting has commenced. This
would happen when the member of the public is able to answer a question that
has arisen during the meeting. Cllr Giles asked if recommendations could be included on the agenda under the headings of meetings – ‘For recommendation and determination’. Meeting adjourned at 8.50 pm. It was proposed by Cllr T Leimdorfer that the minute taker reads back recommendations to check for accuracy at the meeting. Meeting reconvened at 8.55 pm. The Chairman asked if it could be included on the Agenda that Committee Meetings and Reports are available from the Parish Council office. 133/04 Cllr Giles referred to the papers circulated with the meeting and asked for them to be inserted in page 17 of the Standing Orders as the were some previous omissions. All Cllrs were unanimously in favour to accept these amendments with the word ‘Proposed’ crossed off.
134/04 CONSIDERATION OF PARISH COUNCIL’S RESPONSE TO ANONYMOUS LETTERS
The Clerk explained the reason behind including this item on the agenda; stating it was his duty to bring it to the Councils attention. Discussion took place on how to deal with anonymous letters.
The meeting was adjourned for Cllr T Leimdorfer to speak.
Cllr Leimdorfer pointed out that it is up to the Member to declare a personal interest. They can vote on issues with a personal interest but not with a prejudicial interest. Cllr Leimdorfer reported to Cllrs that items held from 4th January 2005 will be applicable to the Freedom of Information Act.
The meeting was reconvened.
It was unanimously agreed that if the Clerk receives an anonymous letter he will bring any relevant issues to the Parish Council but will destroy the actual anonymous letter. 135/04 The schedule was included in the papers posted to members. The 23rd December 2004 Planning meeting will not be held. A Highways & Public Services Committee meeting was inserted on 24th January 2005.
Standing Orders was suspended for 5 minutes to deal with the Correspondence and Cheques.
136/04
137/04 This was circulated at the meeting and noted by Members.
138/04 ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT:
All invoices and cheques checked by Cllr Mrs Short. Invoices are available for inspection at the Parish Office. Cllr Morgan proposed adding ‘ Items for the next Agenda’ to the Agenda.
139/04 The Chairman informed the Council that there were no exempt items of business. There being no further business the Chairman thanked members for attending and declared the meeting closed at 9.35 pm. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||