Annual Meeting of the Parish Council

and Bi-monthly Meeting of the Parish

Council,

Wednesday 8 May 2024 at 7.30pm, Reed

Village Hall

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

Download printable version (opens as PDF file) Present: Cllrs. Langley, Kilby, Blower, Payne and the Clerk. In addition, four members of the public were present. This meeting would be recorded for the purpose of the minutes 1 . To appoint a Chair of the Parish Council for the ensuing Council year. Proposed, seconded and all voted in favour that Ken Langley be Chair for the ensuing Year. Cllr. Langley took the chair. Resolved. 2 . To receive the Chair’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office. Signed. 3 . To approve the minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 17th May 2023. Proposed, seconded and agreed by all. Resolved. 4 . To appoint a Deputy Chair of the Parish Council for the ensuing Council year. It was resolved not to appoint a Deputy Chair as it was not a legal requirement. There being no further business the meeting closed at 7.34pm

Minutes of the regular meeting

Download printable version (opens as PDF file) Minutes of the meeting held on 8 th May 2024 at 7.35pm (following the Annual Meeting) held at Reed Village Hall. Present Cllrs: K Langley (Chair), E Kilby, B Blower, N Payne and S. Aries. In attendance the Clerk Catharine Toms, Dist. Cllr. M Prescott, County Cllr. F Hill and two members of the public. This meeting would be recorded for the purpose of the minutes. 1.5.24 Attendance. As listed above. 2.5.24 To receive Councillor’s signed Acceptance of Office Declarations – it was agreed that this was not necessary as it was not an election year. 3.5.24 To receive apologies for absence. None. 4.5.24 To receive Members Declarations of Interest and note renewal of dispensation granted. Cllr. Kilby, * for his period of office , a dispensation granted allowing him full participation at meetings in issues arising concerning The Cabinet public house including, but not limited to, planning matters. *Renewal of dispensation was not necessary as it was not an election year. 5.5.24 To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 6 th March 2024 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them as a true record. It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to approve the minutes. Resolved. Approved minutes to be posted on the website. Action: Clerk/Webmaster 6.5.24 To agree co-option of a new Parish Councillor – Mr Simon Aries was present to volunteer his services as a new Parish Councillor. It was proposed, seconded and agreed unanimously to co-opt Mr Aries onto Reed Parish Council. Resolved. Mr Aries signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office, which was duly countersigned by the Clerk and he was warmly welcomed onto the Parish Council. 7.5.24 To consider allocation of responsibilities within the Council – Cllr. Blower to circulate possible dates for an informal meeting. Action: BB Cllrs. to make a list of responsibilities of the Parish Council, the tasks they currently carried out themselves, and to consider those tasks discharged by former Cllr. d’Ayala. Action: ALL To be an item on the agenda for the July meeting. Action: Clerk Standing Orders were suspended. 8.5.24 To invite Members of the Public to address the meeting – No one wished to speak. The Chair agreed to suspend Standing Orders during the meeting if members of the public wished to speak on agenda items. 9.5.24 To receive report from County Councillor - County Cllr. Hill thanked former Dist. Cllr. Gerald Morris for all his hard work over his years as a District Councillor, they had worked well together to help the community. She had been informed that the grass verges were not being cut up to the edges again, she would aim to rectify this. She had been in contact with the Safety Officers at Herts County Council (HCC) regarding the Church Lane/A10 junction and data held did not match that reported by residents. She would investigate this further. The Ride London cycling event was due to take place on 10 th May and various road closures would be in place between 10am and 12.30pm. The Clerk to send Cllr. Kilby details for the website. Action: Clerk/EK Blocked drains previously reported had been inspected and were currently clear. Cllr. Hill to be advised if there were any further problems. HCC was supporting local schools to set up an Eco Council, a project aimed to raise awareness of the need to protect our ancient chalk streams. The Locality Budget was still in place but had been reduced this year. A Community Surgery was due to take place on Sat 11 th May in the Market Place at Royston. 10.5.24 To receive report from District Councillor – Newly elected Cllr. Martin Prescott was congratulated on his appointment. He thanked outgoing Cllr. Gerald Morris for his support and would continue from Cllr. Morris to work hard on all community matters. He asked the Clerk to forward his contact details to the Parish Councillors and anyone else on request. Action: Clerk Cllrs. Hill and Prescott were thanked for their reports. Standing Orders were resumed. 11.5.24 To receive report from the Chair – ( see Appendix A ) 12.5.24 To review action points from meeting on 6 th March 2024 – (see Appendix B) 13.5.24 To receive Annual Internal Audit Report 2023/24 - The Internal Audit had been concluded and there were no matters raised for the attention of the Council. 14.5.24 To approve the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24 - Proposed, seconded and approved by all. Resolved. 15.5.24 To approve the Annual Accounting Statements 2023/24 - Proposed, seconded and approved by all. Resolved. 16.5.24 To complete, sign and date Exemption Certificate - Proposed, seconded and approved by all. Resolved. 17.5.24 To set dates of period for the exercise of public rights - Monday 3rd June to Friday 12th July 2024. Resolved. 18.5.24 To note review of the Financial Regulations and agree any proposed changes – matter to be deferred to the July meeting. National Association of Local Councils (NALC) had produced a new model document (April 2024). The Clerk to work to produce an updated Financial Regulations for Reed Parish Council based on the new model document. Action: Clerk 19.5.24 To agree to adopt a ‘.gov.uk’ domain and to migrate the Council services accordingly – Cllr. Kilby reported that he had attended an online presentation by the Parish Helper service, which is part of the Cabinet Office responsible for dealing with the .gov.uk domain, in relation to the possibility of Reed Parish Council moving to such a domain. The upfront costs of moving should be largely covered by a £100 grant. The next step would be to identify an approved registrar, and having reviewed the options he recommended NetNerd, who would be able to provide the registration and hosting services needed at significantly reduced costs compared with our existing web hosts. Migrating the website should be straightforward; however, migrating councillors’ email would be more complicated and would involve archiving existing mailboxes. The appropriate registrant for the new domain should be the Clerk. The meeting agreed that the most suitable new domain should be reedparishcouncil.gov.uk . On this basis it was proposed, seconded and agreed by all to proceed. Action: EK. 20.5.24 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 £31,523.81 of which, £10,133.35 was Push Energy Community Contribution (ring-fenced for special projects), £3,779.45 was Bonfire Night reserves, £690.75 was P3 grant balance, S106 Sustainable Transport Reserve was £651.87, Play Park Reserve was £5,265.47, leaving general reserves at £11,002.92. Income received since the last meeting was £267.03 – VAT reclaim and £4,209.00 – North Herts Council – Half Year Precept payment. 21.5.24 To agree accounts for payment, including insurance renewal. Payments to be authorised at the meeting were Clerk’s salary and PAYE, £209.22 to Herts Assoc. Town & Parish Councils – Annual Subscription, £50.00 to the Clerk for expenses – Broadband 2024-25 and £357.04 to Clear Insurance for renewal of Annual Insurance. A payment made since the last meeting was £84.00 to Reed Village Hall for hall hire 2023/24. Proposed, seconded and approved by all. 22.5.24 To clarify final arrangements for the Annual Parish Meeting on 29 th May and agree any action needed – The event to commence at 6.30pm, set up in hall from 5.30pm. 1) The Clerk to email all village organisations to confirm attendance. Action: Clerk 2) Wine and soft drinks to be purchased. Action: BB 3) Annual Report to be delivered to all households. Action: ALL 4) Annual Parish Meeting leaflet to be delivered a week ahead of 29 th . Action: ALL 5) Set up tables in the hall on afternoon of 29 th . Action: KL/EK 6) The Chair to prepare a formal welcome speech for 7.15pm. Action: KL 23.5.24 To ratify response submitted under delegated authority of ‘Objection’ to Section 73 Application, Rewording of Condition 9 – Case Ref: 23/02887/S73 - Land Between Bush Wood And Rokey Wood High Street Reed Hertfordshire. Proposed, seconded and agreed by all. Resolved. Letter of response to be placed on the website. Action: Clerk/EK 24.5.24 To ratify response submitted under delegated authority of continued ‘Objection’ to the Planning Inspectorate regarding the Nicholl’s Yard Appeal – Ref: APP/X1925/W/23/3335318 – Proposed, seconded and agreed by all. Resolved. Letter of response to be placed on the website. Action: Clerk/EK 25.5.24 To receive update from the Turney Trust regarding site RD1 – There was no update. Representatives would be attending the Annual Parish Meeting on 29 th May. 26.5.24 To receive update from Save The Cabinet Action Group (SCAG) – There was no update apart from the need to address the matter of renewing it as an Asset of Community Value (AoCV) with North Herts Council (NHC). The Clerk to forward information from the previously submitted applications to list The Cabinet as an AoCV in 2014 & 2019. Action: Clerk It was proposed, seconded and agreed by all to apply to NHC to re-list The Cabinet as an AoCV. Resolved. Action: KL/EK 27.5.24 To receive update on Highways matters – (also see item 9.5.24). It was reported that the sign to Reed on The Joint was damaged. Cllr. Hill reported that all signs in the area were being inspected for damage. No notification had been received by residents giving notice of road closures for the Ride London event. Information would now be put on the website. Action: EK 28.5.24 To receive bi-monthly Parish Council play area inspection report and agree any action required – An inspection had been carried out by Cllr. Langley and it was reported that there was further minor deterioration to the equipment. Bolts on Aerial Slide had been re- torqued. Bolt cap cover to be replaced on Tyre Swing and rot on Activity Trail bridge needed monitoring. Action: KL 29.5.24 To receive update from Play Area Working Party, including funding, and agree any action required – It was agreed that Cllrs. Langley & Blower would draft letters applying for community grants from both Tesco and Johnson Matthey. Action: KL/BB 30.5.24 To confirm intent to hold Bonfire Night on Sat 2 nd Nov and to decide the terms of this year’s fund raising – It was reported that the Cricket Club had been consulted and all interested parties were in favour of holding the event on Sat 2 nd Nov. It was proposed, seconded and agreed that funds raised would be allocated, as the previous year, to the Play Area Project. Resolved. 31.5.24 To receive update on proposal to plant trees on the Green and agree any action required – A site meeting to be arranged to consider matters again. Cllr. Blower to set a date. Action: BB 32.5.24 To receive matters for report or referral to next agenda. (Information only) Ponds Protection Project, Tree planting on the Green, Wisbridge Reservoir, Projects for Community Payback work, Speeding in Brickyard Lane, Play Area Project, Community Noticeboard, Turney Trust and Site RD1, Review of Financial Regulations, Allocation of Parish Council responsibilities. 33.5.24 To note correspondence received. (Information only) – Nothing not covered elsewhere. 34.5.24 To agree date of next meetings. Wednesday 3 rd July 2024. Agreed. There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.40pm. Appendix A: Chair’s Report Chair’s Report May 2024 Little for the Chair to report since the March meeting of the Parish Council, beyond what appears in the Annual Report which will be circulated before the Annual Parish Meeting at the end of May. I did attend a Webinar Parish, Town and Community Councils’ Conference on 26th April about Supporting At A Local Level An Ageing Population. It was organised by HSP (Herts. Sports & Physical Activity) and the University of Hertfordshire. It was intrinsically interesting. I was hoping it might open up funding avenues for the playground project. It did not do that. However, it highlighted other partnership possibilities which could be useful in the future. That completes the Chair’s report for this period. ..