Minutes of the Meeting of the Helmdon Parish Council
held on
Wednesday, 26th November 2003
in the Reading Room, Helmdon at 7:30 p.m.
Present: Councillors Burns, Brookhouse, Bearman,
England, Gittens, Spendlove, Earl, Moody and Smith.
There were three members of the public present.
1. Apologies:
No apologies were received.
2. Minutes:
The Minutes of the Parish Council held on the 24th September and
19th November 2003 were read and adopted with the word "Report"
being added to line 2 of paragraph 8 of the minutes of the 24th
September.
3. Matters Arising:
There were no matters arising.
4. Open Forum:
i) Mr B Short raised the question of the forthcoming road closure
of Station Road and the possible effect on traffic.
ii) Mr B Short said that the drains on the Wappenham Road side
of the bridge were
overflowing after the recent rain and the Clerk was instructed
to write to WS Atkins to inform them of the problem.
iii). Mr R Wray asked about the position of broadband serving
the village and it was agreed that contact be made with neighbouring
villages on the Sulgrave exchange to ask them to promote the need
for over 135 more residents to declare their interest.
iv) Mrs A Forgham asked if anything can be done to stop cars parking
on grass verges in the village and the Clerk was instructed to
write to SNC informing them of the problem.
5. Finance:
i) Financial position as at 26 November 2003
Current Account …………… £ 1510.82
Savings Account …………… £ 10688.89
ii) Accounts for payment
|
Cheque No. |
Item |
Amount
|
| |
481 |
Texprep |
17.15
|
| |
482 |
C & E |
225.00
|
| |
483 |
Cancelled |
-
|
| |
484 |
NCC (Nordis Industries) |
131.00
|
| |
485 |
Powergen |
99.51
|
| |
486 |
Mrs S V Lidgeley |
75.36
|
| |
487 |
W. Forgham - Salary |
216.68
|
| |
488 |
W. Forgham - Expenses |
37.60
|
| |
|
Total Expenses |
802.30
|
| |
Summary of Clerk's
expenses |
|
| |
|
Ink Factory refills |
16.11
|
| |
|
Postage |
13.49
|
| |
|
Change of address postage |
8.00
|
| |
|
Total |
37.60
|
iii) The Clerk reported that we have not yet received the completion
of the 2002-3 Audit.
iv) The Clerk reported that the signatories for the cheques in
our accounts at the Yorkshire Bank in Banbury require to be updated
and the necessary forms will be
given to the Chairman.
6. NCC Matters:
i) A report on the imminent road closure of Station Road to allow
for surfacing to be carried out was received.
ii) Buses - no further information about the cost of buses has
been received.
iii) NCC Funding Programmes 2003-5 - Cllr Smith produced a report
on the funding which was circulated to all the Councillors and
the Clerk for their consideration.
7. SNC Matters:
A questionnaire concerning the Parish Facility Audit being carried
out by SNC was handed to the Vice-Chairman for his action.
8. Reading Room:
Cllr England, Chairman of the Reading Room Management committee,
reported on the current affairs of the Reading Room and said that
tenders were being received for various roofing works that are
required.
9. Playground Committee:
i) Cllr Smith, Chairman of the Playground Committee reported
having contacted NCC regarding the trees etc around the playing
field and they have said that they will deal with them.
ii) Quotations have been received for various works in connection
with trees etc around the area of the playground. She handed copies
of the estimates to all the councillors, ( but not to the RFO
).
iii) Cllr Smith suggests that the Council should re-negotiate
the lease for the playing filed with NCC as she is of the impression
that the Council owes monies to NCC as she was told that the Primary
School has not received any monies from the Council recently.
Cllr Brookhouse, Council representative governor, pointed out
that no payments were made to the school as they were paid direct
to NCC. The Chairman said that the Council has no outstanding
payments to make and that NCC Finance department has confirmed
that the Council account is fully up to date.
iv) After discussion it was proposed and seconded and agreed that
a sub-committee comprising the Vice-Chairman of the Council, and
the members of the Playground committee should meet and discuss
the future of the playing field and that the Clerk should, in
the meantime, write to NCC giving notice of our possible intention
to relinquish the playground lease.
10. Highways:
Councillor Moody reported on having attended the meeting of the
Parish Highways Representatives with WSAtkins and the NCC Highways
Officers and it was agreed that Cllr Bearman be confirmed as the
Council's Parish Highways representative.
11. Village Plan:
Councillor Moody reported on the position of the Village Plan
and said that it is expected that the questionnaire will be circulated
to all residents early in January.
12. Standing Orders:
Councillor Spendlove requested the following amendments to the
Standing Orders as circulated :
i) Clause 51 ; delete "orders" and add agrees
ii) Clause 55 : RFO to read responsible Financial Officer
iii) Clause 70b : add after Chairman - "of the Planning Committee"
iv) -
v) Clause 78 : after "deal" add - "as soon as possible"
and omit all after "Officer"
vi) Clause 83 : after "orders" add - "together
with any subsequent amendments" and omit all after "office"
vii) Schedule 1 h : change "on" to "to"
viii) Schedule 2 j : omit "as"
ix) Policies and Practices : add a new paragraph :
"Financial Statements: A financial statement should be included
on the agenda of all Council Meetings".
It was agreed that these amendments be made and Councillors were
asked to alter and record the amendments to their copies.
13. Correspondence:
i) The Chairman has received a letter from Mr Tony Humphrey declining
to make a donation to the Jubilee Seat as he has now committed
himself to sponsoring the Village Carnival for the next five years.
ii) Correspondence from 25th September until 26th November 2003
Alzheimers Association news letter
SNC Community Safety Partnership
SNC Footpath Diversion Notice
NCC Parish Highway Representative's meeting
SNC Refuse collection for village halls
NCC Voluntary & Community Group resource pack
Bucks Fizz catering company
Brackley Hospitals Trust Annual report
SNC NPower fridgesaver Scheme
WS Atkins re Gravel Path
Forest Enterprise request for volunteers
SN Volunteer Bureau activities
SNC House numbers in Wappenham Roaad
Plus Publicity service Local Councils update
Matta products play surfaces system
Clerk & Council's Direct magazine
Gravity Skate Parks
Calor Village of the Year
DEFRA Rural Services
NCC Waste Local Plan
East Midlands DA Annual report
NCC SNhants Area Committee
Geoplus Technology
NCC Revised Deposit Waste Local plan
Police re Unsung Heroes
Shaw's books for local councils
Police re distraction burglaries
NCC temporary closure of Station Road
NACRE re Village of the Year
WS Atkins safer routes to school
N'ton Touring Arts
SNC Animal Welfare service report
NALC Update
SNC Village Directory 2003
NACRE Playing Field magazine
NALC Annual report 2002 - 2003
The Local Channel web sites
SNC Contamination Land Strategy
14. Individual Matters raised by Councillors:
i) Cllr Earl thanked the Clerk for all the assistance he has
been given during his term as a new councillor.
ii) Cllr Brookhouse asked all councillors to let residents know
of the increase in distraction burglaries.
iii) It was agreed that the Clerk should write to Mr Bernie Wadeson
and Mrs Sue Lidgley thanking them on behalf of the Council for
the work they put in around the Jubilee Seat.
iv) The Chairman asked that with the departure of the Clerk the
Council should approve delegated powers to the Chairman and Vice
Chairman of the Council to enable them to act on all matters concerning
correspondence and other affairs until the time of the next Council
meeting on the 28th January 2004. Cllr Earl proposed, Cllr England
seconded and it was agreed unanimously that the delegated powers
be given to the Chairman and Vice Chairman accordingly.
v) Cllr Moody asked what is being done to fill the vacant position
of Clerk and the meeting was told that efforts to recruit a new
clerk are proceeding slowly and that approaches are being made
to neighbouring councils to see if their clerks are prepared to
serve Helmdon Parish Council as well.
15. Any Other Business:
i) The Chairman said that as this was the last Council meeting
the Clerk will be attending he wished to thank him on behalf of
all the Council for all he has done so efficiently during his
period as Parish Clerk.
ii) The Chairman thanked Cllr Bearman for repairing the notice
board in The Square.
iii) The Clerk reported on the Northamptonshire 2003 Village of
the Year results and gave a resume of the points awarded to Helmdon
which were a total of 86 points out of a maximum of 100 split
as follows:
Overall impression of the village …….......……
26 out of 30
Absence of litter ……………………...........………
23 out of 25
Tidiness of public features ……........…………..
17 out of 20
Tidiness of Playing Field and Open Spaces …. 7 out of 10
Visability of "Village of the Year" competition posters
and orderliness of advertisements and other notices
V O Y Posters ………………………………
5 out of 5
Tidiness of Notice Boards …………………
4 out of 5
Facilities map supplied to judges ………… 4 out
of 5.
16. Date of next meeting:
The next meeting of the Council will be on Wednesday, 28th January
2004.
The Clerk handed a calendar and list of the 2004 Meetings to all
councilors.
The Meeting closed at 9.12 pm