Skelton cum Newby Parish Council
Ordinary Meeting Thursday 7th January 2016 7pm in the Village Hall
1 Welcome
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7pm and welcomed everyone.
2 Present
Cllr Peter Greenwood, Cllr Brian Derry, Cllr Peter Myatt, Cllr Philip Backhouse, Cllr Robert Windass, Cllr Nick Brown, Hilary Skevington Clerk and 10 members of the community.
Apologies
None
The Chairman reported that John Gibson had retired from the Parish Council.
He expressed the Council’s appreciation and thanks to Mr Gibson for all his work and support during his time as a councillor. He asked for this to be minuted and conveyed to Mr Gibson.
3 Declaration of Interests
None
4 Approval of Minutes dated 22nd October 2015
The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman.
5 Matters Arising from Minutes
6.1 Village maintenance. Many of the items in 6.1 are still to be dealt with. The chairman said that these would be completed before the next meeting.
Still to do: /Action
a. Weed control along the kerbsb. Remove bottery bushes in the field on main street.
c. Cut hedge, open up entrance to Millennium pond and replace the gate.
d. Chop down ivy on walls on the bend near pond.
e. Repair wall at number 16
f. Deal with two fallen trees on the path from Crowgarth to Church Wood.
g. Lift the crown of the chestnut tree
h. Phonebox to be painted
i. Bus shelter glass to be replaced with toughened / P Backhouse
P Greenwood
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One still to do
P Greenwood
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The Chairman had arranged for grass in the village to be cuts 6 times a year at a heavily discounted rate.
6.3 Speeding . The clerk had contacted the school to find out if speeding past the school was a problem for them. The head teacher said that it was and that she would be happy for the school to support the PC in finding a solution.
As far as we are aware PC Waite is yet to visit the village to do speed checks.
Cllr Windass said the Council were looking into 20 mile an hour signs around schools but there was a cost involved.
Action Clerk
· to put a paragraph about speeding in the next newsletter and Beyond the Pews
· investigate the cost of hiring flashing speed limit signs
· follow up with PC Neil Waite about his proposal to run some radar checks of speeding through the village.
6 Councillors Reports
Cllr Robert Windass
Householders can claim £500 from a grant if water got into their houses during the recent flooding. Separate grants are available for affected businesses.
A new machine has been tested for repairing potholes. It takes two men instead of five to fill a pothole and the process is much quicker but the machine is uneconomic to buy. The chancellor’s Autumn Statement announced much bigger cuts to funding than the Council was expecting. The outcome of this is that County Council element of Council Tax is likely to rise by 3.99% rather than the 1.99% the council was planning. The Chief Executive is seeing George Osbourne to appeal against the cuts.
A chimney is in the process of being built at the Allerton Park waste incinerator plant. It will be as high as the crane which is currently there. Cllr Windass has complained to HBC about the smell and asked them to tidy up the surrounding area which is covered in rubbish.
A question was asked about the length of time it was taking to repair the Copt Hewick bridge. Cllr Windass said it was now imminent but as it is a listed structure it had taken time.
Cllr Nick Brown
Cllr Brown also reported that HBC would need to increase its element of the council tax, by some 2%. This will be the first increase for 6 years.
There is a plan to charge for recycling waste. The price for recyclable rubbish has gone down and HBC now receive £600 000 per year less for it. If they extend the recycling service to the whole borough there will have to be a charge.
Thornton Bridge will be closed for repairs again from 1st February 2016.
There has been a call for suitable building sites. After requests from Parish Council’s and others, a list of sites will be published. It will be emphasised that the proposed sites have yet to be checked for suitability and complicity with the Local Plan. In the Newby ward two big planning applications have been approved for Kirby Hill and Langthorpe which would provide over 300 houses. There is also further possible housing on the John Boddy site. This should ease the situation in the Newby ward. However every village in the ward should be prepared to take a small number of houses.
Cllr Derry made the point that extra housing needs the necessary infrastructure put in place: 300 houses equate to nearly 1,000 more people and 500 more cars, with significant impacts on schools, the NHS and roads. Cllr Backhouse said account needs to be taken of the implications of concreting over large areas and that run offs for water should be mandatory.
7 Precept
Having looked at this year’s spending and the estimated spending for next year, Councillors voted 3 to 1 not to increase the precept but to keep it at the current amount.
8 Grants
A grant of £457.83 has been secured from the government for implementing the Transparency Code. This is to buy a designated laptop and pay 10 hours work on the website. The Parish Clerk was congratulated on achieving this.
9 Insurance
The Chairman reported that the public liability insurance provided by Newby Hall estate covers the Parish Council, the playground, the pond and the village hall. It is a requirement of the village hall lease agreement that the PC insures the building and contents. This is done through the landlord Newby Hall estate. This reduces the Parish Council’s planned expenditure for 2016 by £200, which will help rebuild reserves.
10 Village Hall
The lease agreement for the Village Hall from Newby Hall estate runs until 2028 at a rent of £50 a year. The lease for the play area runs until 2067 at no cost to the village.
The clerk received copies of the lease agreements and the insurance document, which will be kept on file and published on the website as part of the Transparency Code
Action: Cllr Greenwood and Clerk to meet the Village Hall Committee to clarify roles, responsibilities and funding arrangements.
11 Road Drainage
There had been flooding at both ends of the village, with the chairman, Richard Lithgow, Jim Spillings and others involved in clearing blockages. Concerns were expressed about the frequency of drain and gully clearing. The chairman pointed out that the County Council has abandoned responsibility for the drains out side the road entrance to Church Wood.
Action Peter Greenwood -oversee the inspection and clearing out of the gully in front of number 29 before the opening of the Hall, including excavating under the road to check the drains.
Action Parish Clerk -to write to Cllr Windass to find out if there is a programme of gully and drain clearing and if so when it is due for Skelton.
12 External Audit Regime Changes
A unanimous vote to go with the default option of the Sector Led Body auditing scheme, at an expected cost of £100 per year.
13 Elections New Information
The meeting was made aware that anyone wishing to stand as a councillor in the May elections will have to submit nomination papers by 7th April. Meetings are to be held during March to explain the new system. It was suggested that this be an item in the next newsletter in the hope that we can attract candidates.
Action Clerk - Publicise the elections in the next newsletter
14 Transparency Code
Councillors will get together on Thursday 14th January to review policies with a view to presenting them for publication at the next full meeting.
Action: Clerk to arrange meeting.
15 Queen’s 90th Birthday
There is a plan to light a beacon on the Queen’s birthday 21st April at Marten le Moor. Newby Hall will arrange this and provide transport.
Action Cllr Backhouse and Cllr Greenwood - to organise and report back.
16 AOB
No objections to additional Sand and Gravel Extraction at Givendale.
A grant to pay half the cost of a defibrillator is being offered by HBC. It was agreed to take advantage of the offer. Action clerk -to send off the expression of interest form to HBC.
Clerk to ask Councillor Windass for a contribution towards the defibrillator from his grant fund.
It was agreed to complete the external refurbishment of the Village hall by purchasing a flower trough, compost and plants for the entrance.
Action: Cllr Greenwood to arrange.
Action: Clerk to seek funding assistance from Councillor Windlass.
Councillors agreed to refund the cost of dog poo bags to Mrs Lee and Mrs Lithgow who empty the bin at the entrance to Church Wood.
Action: Clerk to agree and arrange an appropriate annual payment.
Broadband: Jim Spillings is still pursuing BT and NYCC for a firm date for making superfast broadband available to the three-quarters of village households still denied access. A recent response raised the new prospect of having to wait for a technological development.
Action Cllr Derry and Jane Mosley -volunteered to deliver the next newsletter, perhaps linking up with delivery of the Church Newsletter, “Beyond the Pews.
Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 31st March 7pm.
The meeting closed at 8.25pm
Minutes submitted by: Hilary Skevington (Clerk)
Approved by:
Peter Greenwood Chairman signed …………………………………….…………….Date………………………………..