Meeting of the Parish Council

Wednesday 17 May 2023 at 7.05pm,

Reed Village Hall

Minutes

Download printable version (opens as PDF document) Present Cllrs: K Langley (Chair), E Kilby and B Blower and N Payne. In attendance the Clerk Catharine Toms, County Cllr. F Hill and Dist. Cllr. G Morris. This meeting would be recorded for the purpose of the minutes. 1.5.23 Attendance. As listed above. 2.5.23 To receive Councillors’ signed Acceptance of Office Declarations – duly signed and received by the Clerk. 3.5.23 To receive apologies for absence. Cllr. d’Ayala (on holiday) – apology accepted. Cllrs. Hill and Morris were at another meeting but would arrive shortly. 4.5.23 To receive Members Declarations of Interest and to note dispensation granted. No declarations of interest. The Clerk, through delegated authority had granted Cllr. Kilby, for his forthcoming period of office, a renewed dispensation allowing him full participation at meetings in issues arising concerning The Cabinet public house including, but not limited to, planning matters. The reason for granting this was that it was considered in the best interest of the public. The Monitoring Officer at North Herts Council (NHC) had requested that all Cllrs. reviewed their Interests Forms previously submitted and amend the existing forms with any new information in Section 10 and re- date the bottom of the form. If there were no changes, then just to re-date the form. The Clerk to submit all updated forms to NHC. Action: Clerk 5.5.23 To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 1st March 2023 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them as a true record. It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to approve. Resolved. Approved minutes to be posted on the website. Action: Clerk/Webmaster Cllrs. Hill and Morris arrived in the meeting. Standing Orders were suspended. 6.5.23 To invite Members of the Public to address the meeting. No one wished to speak at this point. A further opportunity would arise at the Annual Parish Meeting (APM) that would follow. Standing Orders were resumed. 7.5.23 Chair’s Report – To be delivered at the APM. 8.5.23 To review action points from the meeting on 1 st March 2023 – reviewed. It was noted that the largescale forestry works being carried out in Rokey Wood were part of a Forestry Commission countrywide scheme to deal with Ash die back. It allowed for Ash trees to be removed whilst they still represented saleable stock. Replanting would take place with disease resistant trees. Action Points from this meeting (see Appendix A). 9.5.23 To receive report from the Clerk on current financial position A list of monies received and payments to be authorised had been previously circulated to all Cllrs. Accounts showed a bank balance of £26,763.75 of which, £10,133.35 was Push Energy Community Contribution (ring-fenced for special projects), £4,610.00 was Bonfire Night reserves, £690.75 was P3 grant balance, S106 Sustainable Transport Reserve was £651.87, Play Park Reserve was £2,000.00, leaving general reserves at £8,677.78. Receipts since the last meeting included £531.73 HMRC VAT reclaim and £4,209.00 from North Herts Council for the half year Precept payment. 10.5.23 To agree accounts for payment, including insurance renewal. Payments to be authorised at the meeting were Clerk’s salary and PAYE. £56.00 Clerk’s expenses to cover cost of broadband for the year and McAfee virus protection software. £49.97 for expenses incurred by K Langley for Play Area maintenance. £289.43 to BHIB for annual insurance and £199.04 to Hertfordshire Association of Parish and Town Councils for the annual subscription. £98.00 to Reed Village Hall for hire of the hall in 2022/23. Proposed, seconded and approved by all. The Insurance fidelity guarantee cover was considered by the Council to be more than adequate. Resolved. Note: An alternative comparable insurance quotation received from Zurich was £471.00. 11.5.23 To ratify response of ‘No Objection’ to Planning Application, 2 The Kilns, Reed. Case Ref: 23/00663/FP – Proposed, seconded and agreed by all. Resolved. 12.5.23 Save The Cabinet Action Group (SCAG) to receive update – Report to be delivered at the APM. 13.5.23 To receive update regarding broken kissing gate at junction of Reed 005 & 011 – The landowner was likely to be Dukes (along with the land on Reed 013 where there was another unstable kissing gate). It was agreed that the Clerk would write to Dukes to ask if these could be repaired and inform the Herts County Council (HCC) Rights of Way Officer that this had been done. Action: Clerk 14.5.23 To consider quotations for purchase and installation of a kissing gate on Reed 020 – The Clerk reported that she was struggling to obtain a breakdown between supply and installation for the best total price quoted so far of £780.00. It was agreed that she should contact Rights of Way Officer at Herts County Council (HCC) and ask if they would go 50/50 on that cost with Reed Parish Council. Action: Clerk 15.5.23 To receive update on project to preserve ponds and agree any action required – It was reported that tadpoles had been recently spotted in Pitties Pond. Cllr. Blower would try and contact Countryside Management Services (CMS) again to obtain their assistance. Action: BB 16.5.23 To receive bi-monthly Parish Council play area inspection report and report from the ‘Big Help Out’ – Items identified as needing attention by the external annual inspection had all largely been done, apart from sorting out the links. The playground was all safe and useable. A report would be given at the APM. It was agreed that the Play Area Working Party would now contact those volunteers that had helped with the repair works and invite them to join the effort to try and seek potential funding and source appropriate new play equipment. Action: KL/BB 17.5.23 To confirm intent to hold Bonfire Night in Nov and to decide the terms of this event’s fundraising – It was proposed, seconded and agreed by all to hold another Bonfire Night event on Saturday 4 th November 2023. Resolved. As there was now a substantial balance in the Bonfire Night ringfenced fund, which would adequately pay for the purchase of fireworks for an estimated 4 future years, it was suggested that any funds raised through bucket collections in those years (or until that fund was depleted) could be money raised for other village causes, such as renewing the Play Area equipment. This change of policy would need to be made clear to everyone ahead of the event and the recipient of the fund raising advertised as such. It was agreed to give the matter more thought and defer any decision until the July meeting. Action: Clerk 18.5.23 To receive matters for report or referral to next agenda. (Information only) Bonfire Night, Website renewal, Ponds Protection Project, Footpath Kissing Gates. 19.5.23 To note correspondence received. (Information only) – Nothing not covered elsewhere in the meeting. 20.5.23 To agree date of next meetings. Weds 5 th July 2023. Agreed. There being no further business the meeting closed at 19.59pm. ..