Minutes – 14th May 2024 – Annual & Council meeting

 LYDFORD PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting

Tuesday 14th May 2024 immediately following the

Annual Parish Meeting

(Commenced 7.25pm)

  1. Apologies for absence Cllr L Lenton – Unwell (Accepted).
  1. Election of Officers
    1. Cllr Hulett was proposed as Chair by Cllr Skeaping and seconded by Cllr K Lenton. All in favour. Cllr Hulett was duly elected as Chair for the coming year.
    2. Cllr Hulett duly signed the Acceptance of Office.
    3. Cllr Skeaping proposed Cllr K Lenton as Vice Chair, seconded by Cllr Hulett. All in favour. Cllr K Lenton was duly elected as Vice Chair for the coming year.

Cllr Hulett thanked the outgoing Chair for his hard work on behalf of the parish throughout the year.

  1. Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting held on 16th May 2023

The minutes of the meeting were agreed. Proposed Cllr Skeaping, seconded Cllr K Lenton. All in favour.

  1. Matters arising from Annual Parish Meeting

Nil.

  1. Annual Audit

To comply with the SBAA external audit requirements under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, and to complete the Council’s external audit for the financial year 2023/24 the following motions were submitted by the Clerk:

  1. To resolve to approve the Certificate of Exemption 2023/24
  2. To resolve to approve the Governance Statement 2023/24
  3. To resolve to approve the Accounting Statements 2023/24

All three motions were agreed. Proposed Cllr Cook, seconded Cllr Skeaping. All in favour.

  1. New council policies

The council resolved to adopt the following policy –

  1. Playground equipment

Proposed Cllr Hulett, seconded Cllr K Lenton. All in favour.

  1. Annual review

Following internal audit, the following Council documents require review and approval by full council.

No existing Council policy requires review currently.

Meeting closed at 7:35pm

Minutes of the meeting of the Council

Tuesday 14th May 2014

Held on the rising of the Annual Council Meeting

(Commenced 7.35pm)

Present – Cllrs Hulett (Chair), Skeaping, Moyse, Gilpin, Cook. Cllrs Mott, Southcott (DNPA & WDBC)

Apologies – Cllr L Lenton (unwell) accepted.

  1. Declarations of Interest

Nil

  • Minutes of the meeting 9th April 2024

It was resolved to agree the minutes. Proposed Cllr Gilpin, seconded Cllr K Lenton. All in favour.

  • Matters arising from the meeting 9th April 2024

Nil

  • Dog waste
  • Cllr Gilpin updated the council on progress of installing bin at the Sports Field:
  • The bin has been ordered but has yet to arrive. It will be a dog waste-only bin.
  • Cllr Skeaping felt that the council should be thinking about paying the £300 per year for the bin to be emptied. Cllr K Lenton proposed that the council should review the current plan in six months. This proposal was accepted.
  • Cllrs felt that, as there are soon to be three dog waste bins in different places in the village, they could not see where else a bin could be sited. AP1 – Clerk to respond to Bekki Hill with outcome of the discussions.
  • Village website
  • Cllr Gilpin updated the council on his progress to transition the council website. Presently he is busy converting all council records from pdf to html.
  • Booking systems for hall and sports field up and running.
  • Next step is meeting with the Clerk to decide on format of pages and documents to transfer to new web pages. AP2 – Cllr Gilpin and Clerk to arrange date & time)
  • For information, the internal auditor advised keeping both websites updated until the Wix site expires in October 2024 as it’s already been paid for.
  • Lydford Emergency Plan

Cllr Hulett announced that the new storage boxes are now installed and locked. The combination to the padlock will be circulated. Lengthsman equipment has been divided between the two boxes and some of the emergency equipment has been purchased.

  • Finances
    • Cllrs resolved to approve the payments:
  1. J. Bright                            £368.24           May salary
    1. HMRC                                £87.60           PAYE May
    1. Penny Clapham                 £65.00           Internal audit services
    1. S Hulett                              £31.76           Emergency equipment purchased
    1. S Hulett                            £259.99           Emergency equipment purchased
    1. S Hulett                            £329.98           Emergency equipment purchased
    1. Zurich Insurance              £402.00           Council Insurance 1.6.24 – 31.5.25
    1. DM Payroll services         £120.00           Payroll administration 2024-25

Proposed Cllr K Lenton, seconded Cllr Skeaping. All in favour.

  • Cllrs noted the banking reconciliation:

Opening balance 1.4.24         £10,705.30                  Bank holdings at 30.4.24

Less spending to 30.4.24         £1,191.90                  Current A/C balance                  £5,004.81

Add receipts to 30.4.23             £4,955.00                  Savings A/C balance                  £9,463.59

Total “In Hand”                        £14,468.40                  Total                                        £14,468.40

  • Playground

Cllr Hulett – taped off the equipment again after the existing tape was removed in the heavy winds.

Cllr Gilpin – Morwellham Sheds who carried out the last repair are no longer trading. One of the members of the company is now trading alone but is currently on holiday. AP3 – Cllr Gilpin to seek quote for repair.

Clerk – Received a quote from Eco Playgrounds for £70+VAT to re-inspect and certify any repairs. They also quoted £495+VAT to repair the equipment and issue a certificate of conformity. The price was felt to be reasonable, but two further quotes are needed for due diligence.

A quote has been received from Sovereign Designs – £399+VAT for a 5-year inspection package, two inspections per year. Presently the council pays £93.60+VAT per year for one RoSPA inspection. AP4 – Clerk to investigate company further.

  • Planning

Cllrs noted the appeal –

An appeal has been lodged against refusal of planning permission for change of use at The Cloves, Raddon Farm (application 0441/23). No requirement for Council response.

.

  1. Actions taken under delegated authority.

Nil

  1. Urgent business not listed on the agenda below, by permission of the Chair.

Cllrs are keen to see the re-introduction of the southern link meetings. Clerk to feed back to WDBC organiser.(AP5)

Cllrs approved the Clerk’s claim for overtime over the last 8 months of 13hrs 20m.

Cllr Gilpin asked that the question of raising funds for the playground in the future be put on the agenda for the next meeting.AP6 – Clerk to arrange.

It was agreed that the Clerk will circulate the monthly funding email to Cllrs. (AP7 – Clerk to action).

  1. Date of next meeting – Tuesday 18th June 2024

Finish: 8.24pm

Action points before next meeting:

 Person responsibleActionOutcome
1ClerkFeedback to Bekki Hill on discussions around her emailed suggestions on dog waste bin in sports field.Information fed back.
2Cllr Gilpin & ClerkArrange a meeting to decide webpage designs and contentMeeting held.
3Cllr GilpinTo obtain quote for playground repair from second supplier. 
4ClerkInvestigate bona fides of Sovereign Designs as a potential supplier of safety inspections instead of RoSPAEnquiry to Sovereign requesting proof of accreditations.
5ClerkFeedback council response to proposal to reinstate southern link meetingsFed back to WDBC
6ClerkInclude item on fundraising for sports field in June agendaIncluded
7ClerkCirculate monthly funding sources reportCirculated to Cllrs, sports field, hall, Lydford Foxes, Newsletter.