Minutes of the online meeting held, via Zoom, on Tuesday 16th June 2020

Present:  Cllrs Hill, Hodson, Pudney  and District Cllr Alban via Zoom and Cllr Dear via telephone link. 

031.20 Chairman’s Welcome

032.20 To receive apologies and reasons for absence

            County Cllr Gardener

033.20 Member’s declaration of Disclosable Interests for items on the Agenda

            There were none

034.20 Public & Press participation session with respect to items on the Agenda

              There were none

035.20 To confirm and accept minutes of the meeting held on 19th May  2020

              Cllr Pudney proposes acceptance, seconded by Cllr Hodson

              District Cllr Alban joined at this point.                                   

036.20 Matters arising from those Minutes that will not be discussed as an agenda item.

              There was nothing that will not arise later in the meeting. 

037.20 COUNCIL ISSUES TO NOTE:

To receive reports from Councillors:

District Cllr Alban advised that:

  • around 3000 people had applied for Council Tax deferral
  • at the start of lockdown there were 26 homeless people, who have all, if they wished, been found temporary accommodation.
  • £28million had been paid out in the form of grants from Huntingdonshire District Council  – Cllr Hill thanked Cllr Alban for highlighting the availability of the grant, which had been applied for in respect of the Village Hall and paid within 48 hours.  Clerk requested that there be some information made available regarding the “terms and conditions” of this grant, if there will be a reporting phase on how the monies were spent or some follow up action – Cllr Alban will research this aspect.
  • Bonfires – there had been some reports of nuisance bonfires in local villages, the Fire Service have advised that no bonfires should be lit to aid coronavirus and those suffering with breathing problems.
  • Cllr Alban reminded that the “My Huntingdonshire” webpage has useful information and reporting links for many District Council matters – https://my.huntingdonshire.gov.uk

038.20 FINANCIAL MATTERS:

                        Clerk advised that, where possible in the future, payments would be made by BACS.  The bank accounts have been altered to enable this to happen.  The signatories remain as Clerk and Cllrs Hodson and Hill. The procedure would evolve over the coming months, but all paperwork associated with the financial matters listed below had been forwarded to Councillors via email prior to the meeting

                        a) Barclays Bank statements

b) Budget control statement and cashflow spreadsheet

c) PAYMENTS to be authorised – scans of invoices provided:

 Payment referenceWhoWhat forAmountVATAuthorisedAuthorised
116Bradgate FencingGrass cutting£99.66£16.61JRTPH
217Milton EstatesFootpath Rental£1.00NONEJRTPH
318J R TroloveWages for April – 35 hours£xxxNONEJRTPH
419Inkwell printingParish News£23.00NONEJRTPH
        

5)  to approve Clerk’s hours worked between 1st and 30th May (27 hours)

***                  Payments made since the last meeting:

BHIB – annual insurance for Parish Council    £485.11 – no VAT 

PH&JRT signed the cheque

Cllr Hodson reminded Clerk that funds in respect of the purchase of defibrillator pads should be transferred to the Village Hall account.

039.20             To view the AGAR documents prepared for the Internal Auditor’s visit.

                        Proposal to agree and sign the AGAR for the year 2019/20.

                        To review the Annual Governance Statement for 2019/20.

                        Proposal to agree and sign the Annual Governance Statement.

Cllr Hodson proposed that the AGAR and the Annual Governance Statement be signed for 2019/20, this was seconded by Cllr Pudney.  Cllr Hill will sign to enable the Period of Public Rights to view the unaudited accounts to commence.

Whilst lockdown continues and it is not possible for a member of the public to visit and view documents in the Parish Office, a copy of the accounts would be made available on request to the Parish Clerk.

040.20             Website Accessibility Statement – to discuss NALC document detailing the requirement to review and set up an accessibility statement in connection with Parish Council and its website use.  Clerk explained that the requirement was to have a review in place by September.  As this Parish Council does not have a dedicated website, but posts information via the village website, it was suggested Catalyst Design, who set up and manage the website, should be consulted regarding the accessibility statement and its implementation.  In the meantime, as before, should a member of the public require information they are able to contact the Parish Clerk.

041.20             Recreation Ground Update:

                        The play equipment remains off limits, signage will be updated/removed as Government advice changes.

                        Risk assessment undertaken by Cllr Hodson on 12/6/2020 identified that the grass was in need of a cut (Clerk had contacted the contractors and the grass was cut on 16 June).  Two sections of the recently installed safety matting had been pulled up and fixing pegs broken – Cllr Hodson relaid this and Cllr Hill will add further fixing pegs.

Cllr Pudney has been in discussion with Huntingdonshire District Council regarding the provision of a Multi Use Games Area, to be sited on the Recreation Ground.  He has also spoken to a local builder, and an architect who lives in the village has offered to draw up sketches.  The process being that planning permission is sought before grants can be applied for.  Any grant application would need to show village support and fund raising activities.  Cllr Pudney will continue with the process and update at a future meeting.

                        Jubilee Wood update:

                        A style of bench has been chosen to be sited in the open area at the centre of the wood.

                        Diseased ash trees are still being removed and repurposed where possible.

Orchard Update:

                        The shelter/seating area is in construction by Cllr Hodson.  Clerk has purchased items for this construction and a BACS payment to refund for this purchase has been set up on the Great Gidding Charity Trustees account – invoice scanned and shared via email prior to the meeting.

Payment ReferenceWhoWhat forAmountVATAuthorisedAuthorised
5CJ R TroloveConstruction materials purchased from Wickes£ 252.77  N/AJRTPH

042.20             Insurance for Parish Council – renewal due 1st June 2020 –

                        Approval of Asset Register – this was sent to Councillors by email prior to the Meeting.

                        Cllr Hill proposed approval of the Asset Register.

043.20             Local Highways Initiative Bid – 2021-22

Luddington Road and Mill Road extension of 30MPH

                        Cllr Hill had shared his proposal via email with Councillors prior to the meeting.  County Cllr Gardener had agreed to support the submission.  Cllr Pudney suggested that Milking Slade Lane should also have 30MPH signs installed so that all approaches to the village were covered by the same speed limit. Cllr Hill had estimated the full cost of the project would be £4000 with the Parish Council to contribute approx. 20% of the final cost (when the County Council view the “site” they then estimate the costs involved before agreeing/approving the submission).  There was some discussion regarding the benefit, or not, of including “gates” at the entrance to villages – these will be included in the submission.  Clerk advised that there was still a box of 30MPH stickers available in the Parish Office and, when the work is underway for the 2019/20  project, this may be a good time to distribute stickers to householders.  Cllr Hill will rework the bid and make the submission to the County Council.

044.20             Co-option of Parish Councillors  – On the May issue of the Gidding News (distributed to all Parishioners) there was a request for interested persons to make contact, the Clerk advised that there had been no enquiries/offers.

The newsletter had been professionally printed, in colour and on “glossy” paper at a very reasonable cost.  On the whole, there had been a favourable response from Parishioners to the new style of newsletter.  Councillors agreed that they would use a professional printer in the future, but would prefer it to be printed on recyclable paper.

045.20             Correspondence received since 19th May 2020 (other than that discussed in agenda items above). 

                        Clerk: NO written correspondence has been received since the last meeting.  There has been considerable email correspondence throughout the lockdown period which, where appropriate and informative, has been forwarded by the Clerk to Councillors, printed where necessary, and despatched immediately due to the constantly changing advice/content/requirements.

046.20             Items for decisions at next meeting. 

                        Prepare for Election or Co-option of Parish Councillor

030.20             Date of next meeting – Tuesday 21st July 2020,

starting at 1930 hours in the Village Hall, Great Gidding, unless we are still restricted to holding online meetings.

Meeting closed at 20.50       

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