Minutes of the Harlestone Parish Council meeting conducted on Tuesday 7 th February 2017 at 7pm in the Village Institute. Minutes Admin matters 134. To receive and approve apologies for absence Apologies received from Cllr Tudor Davies (Pre-planned arrangements) 134. To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on 4 th January 2017 (Minutes circulated and published on 5 th Jan 2017.) Council accepted the minutes and these are approved. The Clerk is asked to formally update the Council with the progress and if appropriate closure or action(s) carried forward from the ordinary meeting. Actions from meeting held injanuary 2017 Action 1Cllr Facer to arrange meeting with the PLF This matter is dealt with in the formal Agenda following a meeting just prior to the HPC meeting. Action completed request this now be closed. Agenda item will cover any further actions. Action 2 Application re Cottsmore Farm DDC notified by clerk request this item now be closed. Action 3 Application re Broombank DDC notified by clerk, request this item now be closed. Action 4. Completed but under review and awaiting confirmation from DDC re preferred supplier status. PENDING and detailed as an agenda item. Action 5. Chairman delivered the Precept certificate by hand. Request this now be closed. Action 6. Dog refuse allocation on Persimmon site PENDING. Action 7. Ru Hira contacted. Ongoing discussions with Althorp and Bennies. This is now BAU and request this item now be closed. Clerk invites the Council to close all actions requested. This was agreed by council following an overview of the above presented by the clerk. 135. Members are requested to make any declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, in line with the 2015 code of conduct, relating to items on this agenda. Cllr Perryman highlighted a conflict in relation to the clerk role and appointment. Cllr Hammond later declared the same interest. Clerk advised the chairman NOT to issue a dispensation as enough Cllrs are in attendance to discuss the agenda and vote accordingly. 136. Finance: To receive an update on Finances from the Clerk.
The council are asked to review the information overleaf, Petty Cash Balance as of 29 th Jan 2017. BALANCE 99.16 (From 100 granted in Dec 2016) Petty Cash activity since last meeting: Balance brought forward NIL Expenditure: No payments made during this period. Total spend NIL Council are asked to approve these figures. Unity Bank Account Balance as of the 29 th January 2017 Please note the below figures do NOT include payments authorised in relation to the AON Insurance invoice as this is yet to be approved. Bank Account Balance Current Account 3544.50 Two other accounts: Allocated Fund account (last three numbers re account 898) Balance 17,541.36 Reserve Fund account (last three numbers re account 885) Balance NIL Schedule for February 2017 Payments detailed by the clerk and all payments highlighted below, authority was granted. (Chairman inspected the invoices and signed the schedule.) February Payment Schedule 21.12.16 Barry Halliday BT (Broadband) LGA 1972 Section 112 66.78 BGC 21.12.16 Barry Halliday Clerk Salary LGA 1972 Section112 410.99 BGC 1 21.12.16 Fifty Seven Services Paul Crotty Invoice 206 LGA 1972 Section 112 30.66 BGC. 21.12.16 BT WIFI HVI LGA 1972 Section 112 NIL Council have now authorised DD 2 137. Parishioners are invited to address the council on ANY matter but MUST be on the published AGENDA. Parishioners will be limited to 15 minutes combined and is strictly limited to 3 minutes per person(s) No members of the public requested to speak at the public meeting. Discussion Items: 1 As per footnote 2, manual payment this month then SO. 2 BT Set up costs 89.99 then 24.99 payments to be made by DD in future. HVI to contribute by 50% Contract 12mths. 2
138. Althorp Estate Update: Katie Evans Althorp Estate Manager. BAU. No exceptional reporting. The Chairman did however highlight the fly-tipping ongoing issues (see Correspondence section) Chairman and clerk to arrange a meeting with the Estate to discuss any solutions and any other updates. ACTION 1 139. Cllr Facer will update the Council on the current position in relation to the PFA, the status of the group and governance structure linking into HPC (Full Council) this follows the pre meeting with the PFA on the 7 th Feb 2017 at 1800hrs chaired by Cllr Facer. Cllr Facer confirmed the meeting had taken place and a number of actions have resulted from that meeting relating to the accounts, insurance and PLI issues and the public access issues had also been discussed. Notes of this meeting have been produced separately and further meetings will be needed to work through the highlighted issues and actions raised. It was agreed Cllr Facer will now be the formal HPC representative and Cllr Letts fully agreed with this reallocation in light of the ongoing issues and work now underway. 140. NHP. Clerk to update council relating to Troy-Naviguis Partnership Consultants who have been appointed by the council and now subject to review and currently pending. Council received an update from the clerk this is currently pending whilst we await the update from DDC. 141. Conservation Exhibition update (17 th Jan 2017) and clerk to update council on correspondence from the Althorp Estate. Public consultation will take place within the council meeting in April 2017, during which standing orders will be suspended upon the authority of full council. The Chairman provided an overview of the exhibition and also the correspondence the council had kindly been copied into between Althorp and DDC. The council are minded the public consultation period will commence in April and the council will facilitate this process as part of the meeting. Cllrs in attendance fully supported this course of action. 142. Appointment of the new clerk to be agreed and formal handover date and tandem support plans to be agreed. Chairman outlined the clerk recruitment process and selected Mr Paul Thomas as the proposed new clerk. Cllrs fully endorsed this selection and agreed to this appointment to commence on the 1 st March 2017. The current clerk then provided a detailed handover brief and proposed a formal handover. The briefing paper was presented to council and this paper was subsequently sent to ALL Cllrs for completeness. Council agreed to adopt the recommendations presented and the clerk (current) will step down on the 25 th Feb 2017 and his P45 will be issued by Payroll. He will remain in post (FOC) until the 1 st March and the new clerk will take the official office of Executive Officer (Clerk) and RFO. 3
Mr Barry Halliday will support the newly appointed clerk for a period of 2 months only as a consultant to the council and clerk and will be paid a consultancy fee for the 2-month period. The current clerk has already drafted Mr Paul Thomas s contract and JD and salary scale (SP 17.)This low banding will reflect over 2000 in savings based on the agreed 20hrs per week contractual hours. Full details of this arrangement are detailed within the Cllrs briefing note circulated on the 9 th Feb 2017. 143 Appointment of a new Cllr following the authority to co-opt granted by DDC. Council agreed to appoint Mr Barry Halliday as a Cllr for HPC and he will take up his office as Cllr on the 1 st May 2017 following his consultancy period concluding. In line with the legal obligations of the council this appointment will NOT take place until the consultancy period has ended. This follows NCALC guidance. 144. Harlestone car park. Council are invited to request the subcommittee to implement and commission works for the renovation of the car park as per the budget and conservation restraints and compliance. This follows the rejection of our funding bid to the National Lottery. Council fully agreed to this agenda item and the sub-committee to reconvene and make progress in line with the budget provisions already authorised by HPC. This item will now return as a standard agenda item to seek progress reports and delivery of the project in line with the current time restraints on the project. Complaints have been received from residents and those attending the school and progress and solutions need to be found. An interim emergency works may also need to be considered to remedy any high risk areas within the car park. Cllrs feel the wider project will address the main issues however further post project work may be needed to educate those attending the school of the new safe facility and to ensure respect is afforded to local residents. (MOP GM expressed he had also received complaints.) See correspondence section also. Correspondence section since last meeting: 4 Northamptonshire Police crime prevention advice via BT in relation to nuisance calls. Item placed on website for wider circulation. Defib equipment now ordered, BT phone boxes in process of being purchased. Consideration and scoping to be carried out in line with conservation issues for conversion into new notice facilities and defib installs. Clerk progressing with Cllr Stock. Volunteers requested to support awareness plans and training. (Cllr Stock confirmed the BT purchase/adoption and council agreed this should be progressed for the plans re Defibs etc. These have now arrived and will be stored at the HVI for safe keeping.) Street lighting E mail from Clerk at Pitsford.Cllr to be appointed to progress this purchase and seek best options and link in with other PC s. (This is in line with our budget plans for 2017/18.) Chairman asked for this to be added to the March agenda as he will have further information for the appointed Cllr moving forward.) ACTION 2
Fly-tipping complaint received whilst clerk was on holiday. Matter dealt with and the complainant Mr Bilbie advised alongside the Estate. Fly-tipping has occurred in other parts of the parish however this latest incident appears isolated. Evidence found and DDC will deal with the complaint from Mr Bilbie once reported. E mail from Mr Simon Bovey requesting expressions of interest relating to litter collections. Council will receive revenue payment to arrange for this to be done on a bespoke basis if adopted. Clerk responded with a positive view, in part based on the somewhat poor service currently provided. (Cllr agreed this was a positive approach and supported the clerk s intervention.) PCSO progress. Pitsford PC has allocated a sum towards the appointment ( 2500.00) and the view a collaboration approach with interested councils is the best way forward. Cllr BF did write directly to the PCC who has since responded indicating this is an operational police matter and referred the issue to the Chief Constable. Cllr to be appointed to progress this project in line with the budget. (Council agreed this will be Cllr Barry Halliday once appointed in May 2017.) Complaint received from Mr Stuart M.re gate latch. Matter dealt with by the clerk and NCC informed. (Althorp also informed but not responsible.) Fox and Hounds update re letter and complaints. Cllr Dobbs has already met with the landlord. (This remains ongoing and will be reported at the next meeting.) Second letter issued (4 th Jan 2017) to the owners of property near to the F&H pub re highway obstruction. No work has been carried out and clerk to inform Highways for enforcement action to be taken. Action 3 Clerk to raise this with Highways. Second application submitted to the community enforcement teams (Rebecca Miller) following no work being carried out as promised in 2016. List remains unchanged including signage cleaning, road debris removal etc. Rural Services Broadband update circulated and updated on website. This was also sent to a number of residents who have a keen interest in ongoing development or lack of it in LH area of the village. HVI BB install. Delayed again due to infrastructure issues for BT Open-reach. Remains ongoing at this present time. External auditor for 2018 announced by NCALC as PKF Littlejohn. In relation to the accounts for 2017 this will still be BDO. Planning application DA2016/1136 DDC informed no change to the original submission. (As per Cllr Stocks recommendations.) Complaint via Althorp re car park. Clerk linked in with Althorp. Grass cutting matter raised by UH resident. Matter with clerk. Greenbelt meeting (Mgt Company for the HM site) 16 th Feb Chairman asked for a Cllr to attend. Or Cllrs. Cllr Perryman offered to attend the meeting in an effort to understand the previous issues highlighted by CL at previous meetings re precept and Mgt Fees. HVI weddings and lack of suitable signage issue raised by resident in UH. NOT a complaint but requested this be raised. Matter highlighted with the HVI Trustees and relates to Sat Nav directions being used rather than clear signage. Details of resident highlighting issue with the clerk. Only two Notice boards now in use one in UH (England Cottage) the other in LH (Glebe Lane) the other two notice boards are no longer usable and a notice has been placed directing visitors to the nearest board and website. These will be removed in due course. Clerk has now secured a local resident willing to deliver future newsletters within the entire parish. Fee to be similar to previous contract but this time all residences will receive a copy of the newsletter. 5
Video conferencing consultation Clerk has responded already and Cllrs invited to participate. TF experience submitted to NCALC upon request and for this to be used as an example for other councils to consider seeking funding for transparency projects. Next meeting date: Tuesday the 7 th March 2017 at 1900hrs. B M Halliday Barry Halliday Clerk and RFO. HPC 17 th Feb 2017 (Published) 6