October 11th Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Fiskerton Parish Council held on Monday 11 October 2021 at 7:30pm in Fiskerton Village Hall
Present: Cllrs K Brereton, S Canner, C Darcel, C Hill, R Wall, A Walker, P Whitt, Mrs M Vail (Clerk), C/Cllr I Fleetwood, D/Cllr A Welburn
There were no members of the public.
Meeting started at 7.31pm.
259/21 Open session – suspension of standing orders for 15 minutes:
No open session due to no members of the public present.
260/21 Apologies for absence: None
261/21 Declaration of interests: None given. CH advised she will declare as required as the meeting progresses.
262/21 Approve notes of meeting of 13 September 2021 as a true record:
RESOLVED, with two abstentions to approve the notes as a true record.
263/21 Approve notes of extraordinary meeting held 2 August 2021 as a true record:
RESOLVED, with three abstentions (CD, PW, KB) to approve the notes as a true record.
264/21 To receive observations of the District and County Councillors:
C/Cllr Fleetwood – his written report is due imminently.
D/Cllr Welburn – her written reports have been circulated.
D/Cllrs Darcel and Hill – nothing to report.
FINANCE
265/21 ACCOUNTS
a. To resolve to receive the following schedule of payments and receipts for September 2021:
The following schedule was received.
PAYMENTS
Sage, payroll & accounts package, Sept 2021, £19.00 + £3.80 VAT = £22.80
Virgin Media, phone handset, Sept 2021, £7.00
Virgin media call package, Sept 2021, £8.46 + £1.69 VAT = £10.15
Clerk, salary, Sept 2021, includes 6 additional hours, £490.40
ROSPA, Annual Play Inspection, £72.00 + £14.40 VAT = £86.40
Grant, St Clements Church Council, £3000 to church clock repairs
Annual Data Protection Fee, £35.00
Village hall hire for FPC meeting on 21 June 2021, £24.00
Glendale, grass cutting, £377.08 + £75.42 VAT = £452.50
TOTAL TO BE PAID = £4082.54 + £95.31 VAT = £4177.85
RECEIPTS
Interest, Sept, 0.59
EDF FIT payment, £242.78
TOTAL RECEIPTS = £243.37
b. To resolve to approve payment of the following accounts for October 2021:
RESOLVED unanimously, with SC proposing, seconded by RW, to approve the payments as listed below. Action: clerk
Sage, payroll & accounts package, Oct 2021, £19.00 + £3.80 VAT = £22.80
Virgin Media, phone handset, Oct 2021, £7.00
Virgin media call package, Oct 2021, £8.46 + £1.69 VAT = £10.15
Clerk, salary, Oct 2021, £432.80
PAYE, Oct 2021, £35.20
LCC Pension, Oct, £105.30
Clerk’s expenses – printing, £28.60
Glendale, grass cutting, Oct 2021, £377.08 + £75.42 VAT = £452.50
Village Hall hire for FPC meeting on 19 July 2021, £24.00
PKF Littlejohn LLP, external audit fee, £200.00 + £40.00 VAT = £240.00
TOTAL TO BE PAID = £1237.44 + £120.91 VAT = £1358.35
c. To review the Financial Risk Assessment:
RESOLVED unanimously to approve the reviewed Financial Risk Assessment.
d. To confirm bank statements April – Sept 2021 have been circulated to all councillors ahead of being submitted to chairman for approval and signing:
RESOLVED unanimously to confirm circulation.
e. To receive bank reconciliations, April – Sept 2021:
RESOLVED unanimously to receive the bank reconciliations.
f. To note actual spend to date against budget, April – Sept 2021:
Following a query from RW in respect of allotment expenses set at £60.00, it was confirmed this is the figure budgeted for and not necessarily what was spent. RESOLVED unanimously to receive the spend to date against budget.
g. To receive external auditor’s report – conclusion of audit:
The external audit has concluded successfully, with no matters of concern being raised by the auditor. RESOLVED unanimously to receive the report.
h. To resolve to appoint new Internal auditor and approve associated expenditure:
LALC are now offering a paid internal audit service. FPC’s internal auditor has therefore stepped down. RESOLVED with one against (CH) to approach Chris Rooke Management Services and to approve their internal audit fees of £202.50 plus VAT. Action: clerk
PLANNING: to consider and agree actions as required:
266/21 Neighbourhood Plan: to consider WLDC feedback on draft plan recently submitted to them:
Many points raised by WLDC are straightforward to remedy eg formatting. The final draft plan should comply with national policy; and the next stage is to pass through Regulation 14. CD and AW to meet to progress ahead of Extraordinary Meeting to be held on 18th October 2021. RESOLVED unanimously to approve this plan of action. Action: CD and AW
267/21 Central Lincs Local Plan Consultation response; and to note developer’s response to invitation to meet with FPC to discuss community/planning gain for the parish of Fiskerton:
i. In response to a request for feedback to FPC’s submission to the CLLP consultation; they had replied simply to confirm both receipt; and that all submissions will be reviewed in due course. Noted that feedback is necessary so as to inform work on the draft Neighbourhood Plan. Action: clerk to request timeframe for response to submission.
ii. The developer had been invited to meet with FPC to discuss community/planning gain for the parish. Their reply advised a significant amount of community benefit is being provided in the proposal in the form of three permissive paths that will provide connectivity between Fiskerton and Reepham and Cherry Willingham for the life of the project. This was included as part of the proposal following pre-application discussion with the local community.
Noted that this is not a satisfactory response as FPC had not been consulted with; it is not what residents had asked for; all the proposed solar panels will be in Fiskerton parish; and permissive access can be rescinded. Noted that the decision can only be overturned by judicial review (expensive) or by agreement with the owner of the planning permission (lower cost). RW suggested writing to Michael Gove. AW suggested requesting a tarmac path.
Action: RW AND AW to provide response for clerk to send to developer. Action: clerk
UPDATE REPORTS: to consider and agree actions as required:
268/21 Repairs to Village Hall roof:
i. grant applications:
ii. any meetings/minutes;
iii. next steps
The National Lottery have awarded £34,000 (including a 10% contingency) to the roof repair project. Together with other grant monies awarded, work can now proceed, with an anticipated start date of Feb 2022 due to the builder having not yet ordered the materials. AW was thanked for his efforts in securing grant monies.
269/21 Transfer of land from Morris Homes:
i. any additional financial contribution from Morris Homes
ii. consider report from solicitor; whether additional information is required; and, if appropriate at this point in time; to resolve to accept report as is thereby proceeding with taking on ownership of the land
Morris Homes have requested that FPC’s solicitor provides the additional search quotes so they can take further instruction (note: these had already been supplied by FPC) in respect of any additional financial contribution.
Reports have been received from the solicitor, and everything is in place for the transfer to take place. Although the solicitor had been asked about party boundaries; CD noted that he had not seen anything in the solicitor’s reports about party walls. RW has reviewed the reports and confirmed he had not seen anything to put him off proceeding. AW has found nothing of concern excepting that chancel repair liability insurance is recommended. AW considers it is worth taking this out at £52 for life of ownership for £1million cover. (It covers the Church claiming money from all the landowners for church repairs). The solicitor does this as part of the transfer of land, so it is in place before FPC takes the land ownership on.
RESOLVED unanimously to authorise the transfer of land with the abovementioned insurance incorporated before FPC takes on ownership. Proposed: RW, seconded: SC. Action: clerk
270/21 Holmfield Open Space:
RESOLVED unanimously to move item 22 into this item.
To ratify decision taken at meeting held on 13 Sept 2021 to set up a Holmfield Open Space Committee with a consultation budget of £200:
CD queried if the £200 budget was too high an amount. RESOLVED to keep it as is.
i. Holmfield Open Spaces Committee – report; and update from committee meeting:
The Committee had met once, discussing potential options and a possible survey for the open space land usage to feed into FPC’s decision making.PW had subsequently circulated additional information.
ii. Consider future use of land on Holmfield estate
Noted that covenants exist restricting use only as a public open space; with no buildings or structures allowed.Noted that £10,000 had been given to the parish towards play equipment and maintenance of the open spaces only on condition that the land was left as open space.Members then discussed planting.RW confirmed that FPC will manage it as open green space; but that it must get to point of ownership first; then keep matters under review.
AW confirmed that FPC can’t survey residents as it can only be used as open green space. He suggested introducing hedging; and safety railing along the roadsides.***
RESOLVED that the Holmfield Open Space Committee remains as is; and to canvas opinions as to what residents would like to see. Proposed: RW, seconded: SC. Action: committee
iii. To confirm extraordinary meeting date of 18th October 2021 to hear resident’s concerns relating to Holmfield Open Space:
RESOLVED to confirm the aforementioned extraordinary meeting.
271/21 update from the post lock down event committee:
Planning needs to begin for the event to take place the first weekend of June 2022.RW noted that the school head is positive; and that the school is the only location with a large open space. RESOLVED unanimously to bring information to January 2022 meeting. Action: Committee
272/21 Troughs and planters – consider quotes for soil and plants and agree amount to be requested from D/Cllr A Welburn’s CIF fund: Item deferred.
273/21 Consider revised draft Hodgson Trust allotment agreement:
Noted that items 4 and 10 on the draft agreement now tally and make sense: FPC is now responsible for both the maintenance and the insurance. No short-term maintenance is anticipated following some work carried out about 2 years ago. Action: clerk to request that the term ‘livestock’ is amended to include mention of bees.
RESOLVED with one abstention (RW; who declared an interest) to accept the draft agreement. Action: clerk
At 9.06pm D/Cllr A Welburn and C/Cllr I Fleetwood left the meeting.
274/21 Five-mile bridge – receive any update on ownership: Item in progress.
275/21 Scout hut solar panel feed in tariff payments – update on FIT and physical meter reading:
British Gas had advised that they are legally required as part of the FIT scheme to undertake a physical meter read every two years.However, the clerk has since been notified that a meter read with a compliant photo is acceptable. Action: clerk to arrange for meter read.
276/21 Receive progress report on findings of ROSPA play inspection - August 2021: leaning wall, swing chains; tightening of nuts, and update of inspection regime:
KB is to attend the play area imminently.CD is required to sign the play area risk assessment. Action: CD. RW has tightened the nuts (most are under the slide’s platform).
Perimeter wall – Action: clerk to seek builder’s assessment. A risk assessment is required ahead of two swings being reinstated. Noted that wood has been thrown onto the village hall roof and good CCTV would be of benefit.
277/21 To agree timescale to complete outstanding jobs as follows:
i. Training: AW spoke positively about training he has attended.
ii. Policies: there is a need to expand on the few policies already in place.
iii. E-mail accounts: AW has set up FPC owned e-mail addresses.
iv. Office sort out: planned to coincide with work to the village hall roof.
v. Old minutes onto website: work in in progress with 5 of 18 minutes completed.
vi. map to go with the riverbank agreement: CD has produced map.
NEW ITEMS: to consider and agree actions as required:
278/21 Feedback/suggestions from APM:
RESOLVED unanimously for an annual autumn bus shelter and play area cleaning programme; noting that a budget already exists for this. Action: clerk
279/21 Review all complaints received in last 2 years against newly adopted Complaints Policy:
Whilst recent complaints concerning comments about a Holmfield open spaces ‘’sports day’’ had been referred to WLDC; it was RESOLVED unanimously to write to two earlier complainants in respect of village hall accounts, to refer them to WLDC. Action: clerk
280/21 Recent WLDC actions to interfere in FPC matters and undermine FPC decisions: Item not discussed.
281/21 Receive a sample FRI lease:
CD reported as follows: that the lease is a standard Repair and Insurance lease; which is standard on a lot of commercial buildings.Whilst FPC has signed the lease, the VHMC have not. Case law exists where leases are valid and binding even if they have not been signed. The easy solution would be for the VHMC just to sign the document as per a suggestion in an email from Community Lincs in early 2020; then send it to the Charities Commission saying it is an amended document. The Charities Commission have confirmed this would be an acceptable course of action. Much is being made of the lease document not being legal: it means that FPC have an illegal tenant in the building as the tenant has not signed the document. AW had asked CD to circulate what he thought was a lease document.
282/21 Matters relating to Fiskerton roads signs:
CD considers that professional artwork is required for the signs; and that residents will not want to see a lot of money spent on the gates.Noted that people do get used to such gates. RESOLVED with 5 for, 1 against (CD) to proceed using the artwork as it is.
283/21 Memorial wreath – if required, to approve up to £40 to purchase:
Noted that a suitable wreath costs £50.00. RESOLVED to approve £50 to purchase a wreath.CD will lay the wreath. Action: clerk
284/21 Xmas tree – if required, to approve a contribution towards costs:
RESOLVED with 5 for, and 1 against (AW) to contribute £50 per annum (if required) to the VHMC towards costs of an Xmas tree. AW had stated that historically councillors had covered the full expenses and AW objected to reducing it down to £50.00.
CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED:
285/21 The following require no action:
Nettleham Police Newsletter; WLDC Parish News; D/Cllr Welburn report; C/Cllr Fleetwood report (due imminently); Police new road safety campaign will urge drivers to “Belt up. Hang up. Ease up; and the Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter
286/21 Chairman’s comments: None
MEETINGS:
287/21 Matters for inclusion on next agenda:
Budget and precept setting
Winter updating of planters
288/21 Date of next meeting: Monday 8 November, 2021, 7.30pm, Fiskerton Village Hall.
289/21 To resolve to move into Closed Session as the following item contains information of a sensitive nature:
290/21 To consider a questionnaire to survey Holmfield residents about Holmfield Open Space
The above two items were not needed as 1) no members of the public were present 2) Holmfield Open Space was considered until item 270/21 above.
Meeting ended at 10.04pm
Mrs Michelle Vail
Clerk/RFO to Fiskerton Parish Council Dated 26.10.21
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