The minutes of the virtual Ashwell Parish Council meeting held on-line at 7pm on Tuesday 2 March 2021, hosted by Val Harvey.
Present were Wendy Cheesman, Chair ; Tony Graveling; Val Harvey; Brian Farr.
Ward Councillor June Fox. The Clerk was Sally Harnett.
There were no members of the public present.
1 There were no apologies for absence.
2 There were no Declarations of Interest.
3 The Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and signed.
4 Matters Arising from the previous meeting:-
It was decided to not proceed with the contact from Cloudy IT.
The Neighbourhood Link has proved useful in providing updates on current affairs.
Quotes have been received for the replacement of the village notice board, further quotes will be sought.
5 Finance report by Tony Graveling
The present balance stands at £9961.66. This total is slightly lower than the expected balance in the budget set for 2021/22, mostly due to the necessary increase in work by the clerk during the pandemic.
The Parish Precept of £4000 for the 2021/2022 Financial Year was applied for in January 2021 as agreed.
An invoice received for 2020/2021 street lighting electricity costs of £206.30 has been paid.
An invoice for removal of tree stumps from the green was received, and £150 paid to Mr D Gardiner for his work.
A bank reconciliation was carried out on 31December2020.
At the December 2020 meeting of Ashwell Parish Council it was mentioned that a generous donation could be made to the Village Hall using the Local Government Act 1976 s19(3). From the start of the financial year, using this Act, Ashwell Parish Council could make a generous donation if requested. The maximum donation suggested in the budget would leave an expected balance of approximately £7000 at 31March2022. It was decided to delay the proposal of a donation to the Village Hall until the next parish council meeting in May2021.
Membership fees for LRALC will shortly be due, at a cost of approximately £160. The renewal of membership of CPRE is also due shortly (£36 last year).
Resolution to approve the renewal of membership of LRALC, proposed by Wendy Cheesman, seconded by Brian Farr, passed unanimously.
Resolution to approve the renewal of membership of CPRE, proposed by Tony Graveling, seconded by Val Harvey, passed unanimously.
Ashwell Parish Council will again be exempt from an External Audit, but PKF Littlejohn will be available for any questions from the public regarding Ashwell’s Annual Return for the year ending 31March2021. Hard copies of the Annual Return forms will again be requested in preference to email versions. Fiona Tylecote has accepted an invitation to be the Internal Auditor for Ashwell Parish Council for the 2020/2021 Annual Return.
The Clerk was thanked for all her hard work, and wages of £336 for 28 hours were paid.
Tony Graveling was thanked for his excellent voluntary work on Finance.
5a Village Hall update.
Work is nearing completion, having been held up by electricians.
Quotes of £1400 and £1200 have been received for the installation of a new village notice-board, further quotes will be invited from known contacts. When the renovations are finished Robyn Green at RCC will be contacted about acquiring a license to install the notice-board and the bench.
6 Planning.
There are some outstanding applications, there has been a large increase in applications for tree works.
Ashwell Parish Council has put much effort into attempting to ensure that proper flood prevention is installed on the Manor Farm Estate to try to protect future residents. Regular inspections by RCC during building work should be compulsory.
7 Highways.
Good regular correspondence has been carried out with Robyn Green at RCC, she has been very responsive to queries by Ashwell Parish Council. Donna Ulla has also been very efficient, the main item has been flooding on the village roads. Her report states that it has been found that the outflow of drains has been hampered by silt and tree roots, this will be repaired in the future. Ashwell Parish Council will continue to send photographic evidence when flooding occurs. Flooding into adjacent gardens has recently occurred. It was decided to strongly request RCC to perform the clearing of the pipes before next winter.
Subsidence at the junction of Water Lane and Cottesmore Road has been repaired, but now large puddles are appearing in the area, ice could cause incidents at this important junction. Photographic evidence would be submitted to RCC.
The Woodside/Cottesmore Road junction is somewhat improved by the new white lines, but parking of vehicles does still impair visibility. The owner of the hedge on the opposite side of Woodside is to be approached for consultation regarding visibility up the Cottesmore Hill.
A resident has requested strongly that efforts are made by RCC on the problem of vehicle parking on pavements, causing a danger to pavement users, especially buggies for the disabled and pram pushers. A contact will be made to Lucy Stephenson, Portfolio Holder at RCC before 15 March.
Two residents are in correspondence with RCC regarding speed control in Ashwell. Ashwell Parish Council has made some progress in persuading RCC to install some controls, but more is needed for the safety of residents.
Another drive, for example via The Wellspring, will be made to try to attract the interest of residents in Community Speedwatching.
8 Correspondence.
Fight4Rutland. It was decided to not join the organisation at present.
The Rapid Testing Centre is open at Oakham Business Centre.
Councillor Alan Walters will be asked for an update on Rutland Health News. It was suggested the information could be passed on to residents at the Annual Parish Meeting in May 2021.
9 Public Forum.
No subjects had been forwarded to the clerk.
- Items for discussion.
It was to be noted that there had been many hours of extra work during the last year. It is expected that the work should settle down during the next 3 months.
Ashwell Parish Council wished to emphasise that the service at Rutland County Council should not be allowed to deteriorate. One example was the intention by the Planning Department to cease displaying yellow notices near to properties where a planning application is ongoing. This is the most important way that residents can know there is an application which may affect them, and as such is of vital importance.
The new radio station for Rutland is well under way. It is called Rutland and Stamford Sound, up to date details are online.
RCC Parish Council Forum representative. In future the published agenda will be examined for any reference for Ashwell, and a representative nominated. Val Harvey will attend the March Forum.
11 AOB for the next meeting. Extra work for small councils during the last year. Parish councillor work explanatory leaflet. Community Speedwatch group.
12 Date of next meetings.
25th May 2021 is the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council (previously called the AGM), this meeting is held after the closing of the Annual Meeting of the Parish, where reports of the year’s activities are given by village groups.
7th Sep 2021.
7th Dec 2021.
The meeting was declared closed at 20.20hrs.