March 2024 DRAFT Minutes
Timberland and Thorpe Tilney Parish Council Meeting Minutes
Date Monday 25th March, 2024
Start time: 19:00
Close: 20:42
Meeting Location Timberland Village Hall
Attendees:
Councillors Lenton (Chair), Kornat, Slater, Audis and Sharplin
Clerk – Kay Harvey
District Councillors Adrian Whittle and Sarah Lawrence
Apologies for Absence: None
1. Parishioner open forum
One Parishioner present. No questions or comments received.
2. Apologies for absence
Cllr Kendrick.
3. Declarations of interest
None.
4. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes for meeting on Monday 15th January 2024 require some amendments:
9.3 date of forecast should be 2024/25
10.5 should state Community Market not Village Hall
Clerk will amend and Cllr Lenton will sign.
Proposed Cllr Audis, Seconded by Cllr Kornat . All Agreed
5 . District & County Councillor remarks
Cllr Whittle reported receiving three complaints from Timberland residents regarding speeding in the village. Advised that the PC have discussed this issue at length and looked in to all of the offered options to try and tackle speeding. The PC have had roundels painted on the roads at the entrance points to the village, we have put up more 30MPH signs on telegraph poles and looked into the community speed watch programme. The PC have considered all options to reduce the speeding, the electronic speeding monitors are cost prohibitive for our PC and volunteers to stand and monitor speed is not practical.
6. Planning
• A number of planning applications and decisions have been received all with no impact to the village and the PC. No objections to note.
7. Highways
• The PC would like these 30MPH signs at Station Road to be moved 40 - 50 metres from the last dwelling, to encourage the reduction of speed.
• Speeding traps not set up yet.
Action: Clerk to email Cllr Kendrick and Highways Department (Rowan Smith), asking for a progress report on moving the 30 MPH signs and results of speed traps.
8 Standing Parish items
8.1 Timberland Green
Action: Cllr Lenton to contact Cllr Kendrick to see if negotiations can be more productive in resolving / finalising the lease. Update: Cllr Lenton reported that he had contacted Cllr Kendrick by email twice but had received no response. Cllr Kornat noted that Cllr Kendrick has supported the parish in discussions and had helped move the negotiations forward regarding the annual lease cost. Action complete.
• Cllr Kornat has had a reply from the lease company advising that they are dealing with it and they will respond in due course. The lease expires in May and if no agreement has been reached by then the PC will pay the agreed amount of £250 (plus VAT) on or before the 12th May which is the lease renewal date.
Action: Clerk to organise payment of the £250 plus VAT as above.
• Cllr Audis suggested that the goal nets are removed as he has heard reports of deer getting stuck in them in other locations. It was agreed that the nets will remain in place until a similar issue arises in the parish.
• Parish mower has now had a service at the cost of £130.00
• Following the mower service Cllr Audis reported that he has been advised to use more expensive petrol to help maintain the engine’s condition. All agreed.
8.2 Timberland Village Hall
• Last VH meeting took place on 4th March.
• VH Committee have notified that further investigations into the asbestos survey has now revealed asbestos in the main roof and ridge tiles and have been advised this will cost around £20,000 to resolve. The asbestos is currently in a stable condition but must be checked each year at a cost of around £400
• Cllr Whittle advised that he has knowledge of asbestos issues from his work in the building industry and has advised that £20,000 is likely to be a hugely expensive. He asked to see the report and can help liaise with any companies he can recommend to support.
Action: Cllr Kornat to liaise with VHC to ensure Cllr Whittle has access to the survey report to advise next steps.
• VH have paused any further improvements until the scale of the asbestos issue is fully understood.
• The items that the VH have completed are, heating in the kitchen fixed, painted external bench and planter, damp in foyer now repaired.
• The PC would like to thank the Village Hall committee for all their work.
Action: Clerk to contact Cllr Kendrick regarding community projects and their volunteers and if there is any progress.
8.3 Community Market
• Next Community Market will take place on Thursday 28th March.
• Cllr. Kornat reported that the Community Market is still well attended and still raising money. All monies raised goes towards VH improvements.
8.4 Grounds Maintenance
• Cllr Audis has talked to Mr South (local landowner) who is looking at clearing the dykes in the next month or so.
Action: Clerk to create a draft letter (sending to PC for approval) to contact houses that border the dykes and advise of the work to be done and remind of their riparian rights and responsibilities.
• Grass cutting for Bayfield has now been approved by LCC and will continue at the same prices as 2023 – no allowance has been made for cost of living increase of the previous year.
8.5 Family fun Day 2024
• Cllr Kornat and Clerk have met and are collating a contact list of possible donors to be contacted requesting support as provided in previous years. Additionally, Dyson Estates will be contacted again.
• FFD Committee will meet again after Easter.
8.6 Social Media
• Account details to manage the Facebook site have been provided by the previous councillor. The outstanding action on this point is now closed.
• Cllr Slater is now managing the Facebook site, and the page is going well.
8.7 Correspondence
• Email received from parishioner regarding unfinished road works following Opus energy, have advised to report on Fix my street.
• Email received from parishioner with interest in the PC vacancy, advised to attend the meeting today to gain insight into what happens each time and contact will be made by the clerk afterwards.
• Email received by Auditors with information on audit procedures and when to start.
9 Finance Status Update
9.1 Accounts Status / Finance update
• Bank Balances – Community Account £6,425.56, Business Current Account £1984.40
• Community Account includes £798.17 of FFD funds.
9.2 Payments for Approval
• 100810 Cllr Kornat FFD deposits £64.65
• 100811 Cllr Lenton Pespex for notice board £91.73
• 100812 Clerk Salary £540.45
• 100813 Clerk Expenses £36.99
• 100815 HMRC £13.79
• 100816 Litter Picker £93.78
• 100817 LALC Subscriptions
• Cash payment to Cllr Audis £52.52
Proposed Cllr Slater, Seconded Cllr Sharplin, ALL agreed.
• Cllr Lenton is still waiting for Barclays to provide the necessary equipment and access from Barclays to enable approval of electronic banking transactions. This remains outstanding since September 2023 when Barclays were last contacted.
Action: Clerk and Cllr. Lenton to meet and call Barclays directly to resolve.
• PC have agreed to pay Defib machine cost of £151.20 when the correct invoice is received.
Proposed: Cllr Kornat, Seconded Cllr Audis. All agreed.
• Cllr Audis asked if the balance of the Community Account would be moved into the Business Account would be performed this year as previously discussed.
Action: Cllr Lenton to meet with Finance Committee to discuss the proposal and report back to the PC.
9.3 Full Year Forecast
• Clerk confirmed SKY account is for 36 months and runs out on 28-Aug-2025. The outstanding action on this is closed.
Action: Cllr Lenton to update the finance tracker to show full financial year transactions and share with the PC.
10 Supplementary Items
10.1 Asset List
• Cllr Lenton reported that the draft Asset Management policy had been shared to the PC for approval, but no responses have been received to date. When the proposal is approved the Asset List can be finalised for review at the Annual Meeting in May/24.
Action: All councillors to review and approve or comment as appropriate.
Action: Cllr. Lenton to finalise the Asset Management List.
Action: Cllr. Kornat to create the Asset Management process document.
10.2 Parish Council Documents
• A £10 donation has been received from the previous PC councillors to replace the shredded documents. This will be added to the Finance Tracker for audit purposes.
• Clerk and Cllr Kornat to look through PC documents that are housed in the storage container and make more accessible as well as perhaps create a log of the contents. Any documents no longer required can be shredded / recycled.
Action: Clerk to gain access to storage container and start document log
10.3 Emergency Planning
• Robert Nell and Helen Gordon have been added to the Emergency Flood Plan. Cllr Slater confirmed this is in place.
• Cllr Slater has now completed Emergency Plan and has passed 2 copies to Cllr Lenton to sign. The PC will retain a copy in the emergency box in the VH. One copy will be provided to Ian Sterling to read.
• Salt bin needs attention as it solid, Highways have confirmed that they won’t refill until reported as empty. Outstanding actions on this topic are closed.
10.4 Notice Boards
• Cllr Lenton and Cllr Audis will install the Perspex on Fen Road notice board when time and improved weather allows. All materials have been received and a cheque has been presented to Cllr Lenton, VAT will be claimed back to the PC on the next VAT reclaim.
10.5 Litter Picker Contract
• Cllr Kornat and Clerk have confirmed that the contract is in place and Litter Picker is in receipt
• New pay award arrives on 1st April and will be paid moving forward.
10.6 Parish Council Vacancy
• One parishioner has expressed an interest in joining the PC and has been invited to a PC meeting to observe the process and topics discussed. The parishioner was present at the meeting.
• Vacancies now need to advertised formally in the PC notice boards. The vacancies are already advertised on the PC Facebook page and have also been advertised in Grapevine magazine.
Action: Clerk to create adverts for PC councillor vacancies and publish in village notice boards.
10.7 Precept Planning 2024
• The Precept was received on 01-Apr-2024. A sum of £7560 has been received. All actions related to 2024 Precept are now complete.
10.8 Agenda Items for Next Meeting
None
11. Meeting Closure
Meeting closed 20.42