Parish Council Meeting Minutes

616

Minutes of a Meeting of Ellisfield Parish Council held in the Memorial Hall on Monday 3rd February 2003 at 7.30 pm

Present

Tim Sullivan (In the Chair), Phil Self, Paul Turner (Councillors)

In attendance:

Edna Chilton (Clerk)

Mark Ruffell (District Councillor, Upton Grey and the Candovers)

4 members of public

1.

Apologies for Absence.     Bill Thompson (Chairman), Nigel Wilson - working

2.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 6th January 2003    . P615 for Self read Turner, following correction the minutes were approved and signed as a correct record

3.

Matters Arising from the Minutes.    There were none.

4.

RESOLUTION: Ellisfield Parish Council acknowledges the general duty placed upon it by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, 2000. The Council will continue within its functions and policies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and promote racial equality between groups of different racial groups.

Proposed by Councillor Sullivan, carried unanimously

5.

RESOLUTION: Ellisfield Parish Council acknowledges the general duty placed upon it by s,17 of the Crime and Disorder Act, 1998, to consider the impact of its functions and decisions on Crime and Disorder in its area.

Proposed by Councillor Sullivan, carried unanimously

6

To receive an update from Councillor Sullivan on the projected website

Councillor Sullivan reported that the website, which was a pilot scheme with Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council was within a few weeks of being ready to go live. Councillors had been supplied with a coded access to the offline website in order to view it before the meeting. Ellisfield PC would be the first Parish Council in the Borough to have one of these sites, although others were already running from other ways and means. The website was at no cost to the parish except time and effort on the part of councillor and clerk and agreement was now sought to ‘go live’. Asked who would act as webmaster for the PC, Councillor Sullivan  felt that it would probably become a Councillor’s Special Interest but that he was happy to continue to steer it for the time being.  It was unanimously agreed that the website should be continued and ‘go live’ at some time in late February early March.

7.

To receive a report from the Clerk on Administration Matters .

Election: The date of the election had been set at 1st May 2003. All sitting Councillors would cease to be Councillors four days after the election. Anyone wishing to continue needed to re-stand. This meant that there would be six vacancies. There was no question of counting vacancies by deducting those who wished to re-stand from the available places.  All seats were vacant.

Nomination day would be 1st April. Candidates were reminded that it was their responsibility to ensure that their nomination papers were delivered to the Electoral Services Office before 12 noon on that date. One minute past would not do - they would be refused. They would also be refused if they were incomplete in any way. It was, therefore, in candidates’ interests to deliver them earlier than that to allow time for any omissions or errors to be corrected.

The Clerk expected to receive a number of nomination forms within the following few weeks and would pass these on to anyone interested in standing but asked that candidates please be aware that the Clerk would not deliver them to the Borough Council offices after completion.

Candidates would need two persons on the electoral register for Ellisfield to nominate them, together with their electoral numbers and the number of the electoral district. The Clerk had all this information and would supply it on request.

617

Clerk reminded Council that one of the qualifications for Quality Council status was that all councillors must be elected. Should there be a contested election i.e. with more candidates than seats or an uncontested election with the same number of candidates as seats this would cause no problems. In the latter case, even without a poll the councillors would have been elected. Should there be fewer candidates than seats, these candidates would have been elected but a Casual Vacancy or Vacancies would be caused for the unfilled seats.  So far as the Clerk was aware there had never been an occasion where Casual Vacancies were caused post election, except for one unfortunate incident when a sitting Councillor was too late with her nomination paper. It was essential that any such vacancy should be filled by election and not by co-option. Even if there were only one candidate for one vacancy a poll should be asked for to ensure that the candidate is elected. Noted

Electoral Register: It had been established by HAPTC that Parish Council Clerks must be supplied with a copy of the full Electoral Register. However, this no longer applied to parish councillors, except for the copy supplied to them as candidates, and the Clerk would be unable to copy the register. Noted

Annual Parish Meeting: Clerk felt that in view of the election it would be sensible for the outgoing Council to hold the annual Parish Meeting in April, rather than May as is usual.  Suggested dates 18th or 25th - any earlier would not allow time for even the most rudimentary accounts to be ready.  It was agreed that either of these dates suited those members present and that Clerk would fix one of them after consultation with the Chairman. Noted.

Audit of accounts for 2001-2. Bill received. We had been charged at the base rate for our size of turnover with no additions. Noted.

Standing Orders: The new Financial Standing Orders, agreed in December,  had been codified and would be distributed with next set of minutes. Noted

Tree Officer, B & DBC: Due to the workload of the department increasing and in particular, one of the officers having been designated part time bio-diversity officer, David Hill much regretted that he would be unable to act in an advisory capacity to people wishing to do work to trees. Noted and very much regretted as Mr Hill was considered a valuable Borough Council Officer and the ability to call on his advice had oiled the wheels on many occasions.

Freedom of Information Act, 2000: The Schedules of available information had been codified, together with the list of charges for hard copy. Having already been circulated to members it was agreed that these should be published in the next Newsletter.  It was noted that B & DBC had published a blanket statement on their own behalf and that of the Parish Councils that these codes had been adopted. There was, therefore, no need for the Parish Council to do so. The scheme would be reviewed at the end of three years and this would be flagged up by a letter from the Information Commissioner.

Best Value Review: Clerk reminded Councillors that this had been put on the back burner for the Clerk to do when she had time.  It was not mandatory for small councils but is was Best Practise to adopt the principles. The Clerk had nearly finished the review and hoped to produce it in time for the next meeting.  Noted.

Grant Application from Basingstoke & District Counselling Service.  Agreed that it was this Council’s policy to make grants only within the village.

Clerk’s Day Conference at Sparsholt £32 including a briefing on Quality Councils.  Agreed that Clerk should go, if she had time.

8.

To consider any new Planning Applications and receive an update on current applications.     No new applications and nothing to report.

At this point the chairman adjourned the meeting to introduce Mr. Mark Ruffell, the Borough Councillor for Upton Grey and the Candovers Ward, of which Ellisfield forms a part.

Mr Ruffell gave a short talk on his experiences since election. As his party was in opposition at present he had spent the time mainly on ward issues, which were often focused upon planning, and getting to know the different parishes in this wholly rural ward. He was keen to attend as many meetings as possible and agreed to be at this year’s Annual Parish Meeting.

The meeting was then re-convened.

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9.

To receive a progress report from Ellisfield Volunteer Group.

Councillor Turner reported that a Committee Meeting had been held on 23rd January but that there had still been no meeting of the Group as a whole. This would take place on 24th February and the Group was unable to commit itself before that meeting had taken place and even then it would not know whether or not a grant for equipment had been secured from the Lottery Fund.

In view of the uncertainty it was felt that the Parish Council had no alternative but to call for quotations for the work from 1st April. The Clerk was instructed to invite quotations for each individual plot of parish land and for an inclusive price for the whole package. It was stressed that a quotation from the Volunteer Group would be welcomed so long as it arrived by the closing date, because the process had to be seen to be fair to all concerned.

10

To receive any reports and approve any action need on:

(i)

Lower Common       No report.

(ii)

Memorial Hall         No report

(iii)

Highways               Although absent from the meeting the Chairman had sent the following report:

Many potholes have been filled in before the last cold snap came along. Some clearing out had taken place as well. The big grip opposite Park View had still to be done. there were also a few areas where the water had damaged the edges with the resulting erosion. The report was noted. the Clerk commented that she had needed a new wheel after driving into a deep edge hole at the top of College Lane and her husband had needed a new tyre after a similar experience.

(iv)

Maintenance        No report

(v)

Neighbourhood Watch     No report

(vi)

Health & Safety       Letter had gone to the consultant and a reply was awaited.

11.

To discuss any matters which the chairman considers urgent  There were none..  

The meeting closed at 8.40 pm

Chairman……………………………………………………………..

date…………………………………………….

Matters discussed in Open Forum

Asked which Councillors would be standing for re-election, the Chairman was unable to say. This was a matter for individuals and not up to the Parish Council to second guess.

Comment made that the Clerk and her husband had not been the only ones to sustain damage to cars on that particular pothole.