Minutes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting of Stow
Monday 9 May 2022 7.00 pm
Present: Cllr Duncan, Cllr Martinson, Cllr Turner, Cllr Taylor, Cllr Justham,
Cllr Hewitt
In attendance: Mrs L Gibbs Clerk
One member of the public
246. Election of Chairman and signing of declaration of acceptance of office.
Cllr Turner proposed and Cllr Martinson seconded Cllr Duncan, there were no other nominations and Cllr Duncan accepted the post of Chair and signed the declaration of office.
247. Election of Vice Chairman and signing of declaration of acceptance of Office
Cllr Duncan proposed and Cllr Hewitt seconded Cllr Turner, there were no other nominations and Cllr Turner accepted the post of Vice Chairman and signed the declaration of office.
248. Apologies for Absence
There were no apologies of absence.
249. Declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and any dispensations that may arise
Cllr Taylor declared a pecuniary interest in item 21 planning application number 144540 as the application is from a member of her family.
250. Minutes of previous meeting of Monday 14 March 2022
Amendment to item 239 should read the West side of the Cross Key Pub not the East.
It was proposed by Cllr Turner and seconded by Cllr Martinson with the above amendment to accept the minutes of Parish Council Meeting as a true copy of the meeting, it was Resolved All in favour
251. Matters arising from Minutes of Monday 14 March 2022
Item 240 was discussed, and it was agreed to ask the Clerk to arrange a site visit with Northern Power grid to properly understand where the new transformer would be situated in the playpark.
Item 241, Tree survey, the Clerk bought the tree survey quotation back to Council as one the quotation’s received was higher than the £250 budget allocated.
It was proposed by Cllr Justham and seconded by Cllr Hewitt to accept the higher quotation due to contractor’s (local resident’s) offer to take the dead tree on the village green down free of charge. It was resolved all in favour.
239 Joe Phillips, Highways Lincolnshire County Council, has responded as below.
“Ingham Road, Stow, is currently undergoing a speed limit review as a change to the legal speed limit order would be required to consider extension of the 30mph limit.
Regarding the One-Way this is something I would suggest unlikely to come forward as we have many other sites to prioritise with a history of incidents, though the same process would be required for it to be investigated and would require a legal order to change the carriageway to a one way only.”
The Chair postponed standing orders in order for item 14 to be bought forward on the agenda.
252. To consider co-option application for Councillor vacancy.
It was proposed by Cllr Duncan and seconded by Cllr Turner to accept the application from Jonty Waudby, and resolved all in favour.
Jonty signed the acceptance of office form and Cllr Duncan welcomed him to the Council.
The Chair unsuspended the Standing Orders at this point to continue the meeting.
253. To agree final accounts for 2021/2022
The final accounts prepared by the Clerk and audited by the Internal Auditor were proposed by Cllr Turner and seconded by Cllr Taylor, it was resolved to accept the final accounts.
254. To agree and sign the Certificate of Exemption for 2021/2022
Proposed by Cllr Turner and seconded by Cllr Taylor to accept the certificate, it was Resolved all in favour.
255. To accept and sign the Audit Annual Governance Statement for 2021/2022
Proposed by Cllr Martinson and seconded by Cllr Turner to accept and resolved all in favour.
256. To accept and sign the Audit Accounting Statements for 2021/2022
Proposed by Cllr Martinson and seconded by Cllr Turner to accept and resolved all in favour.
257. Authorisation of payments and receipts made since the last meeting 14 March 2022
Accounts from 14th March 2022 – 9th May 2022
To agree payment of invoices paid since last meeting: -
| VAT | Date | ||
| LALC Subscription | £142.44 | 04/04/22 | |
| Citizens Advice Bureau | £50.00 | 08/04/22 | |
| N Power (Christmas Lights) | £7.27 | £0.36 | 08/04/22 |
| L GIbbs Salary | £122.00 | 08/04/22 | |
| HMRC | £30.49 | 08/04/22 | |
| Sharps of Stow | £4500.00 | £900.00 | 13/04/2022 |
| S Solecki (Grass Cutting) | £342.00 | 368.40 | 25/04/22 |
Receipts
Stow Recreation Fund £5400
West Lindsey Jubilee Grant £500
Bank Balance as of 09/05/2022 £14679.44 Of which currently £1729.04 is ring fenced from Stow Recreational Fund for an inclusive piece of play equipment.
The accounts were accepted and proposed by Cllr Martinson and seconded by Cllr Turner, it was Resolved all in favour to accept the accounts.
258. To accept Council Insurance for 2021/2022
Clerk has obtained three quotations as the current 3-year policy expires at the end of May 2022.
It was proposed by Cllr Martinson and seconded by Cllr Hewitt to accept the three-year quotation from BHIB and RESOLVED all in favour.
259. To renew ICO data protection fee
It was proposed by Cllr Read and seconded by Cllr Justham and RESOLVED all in favour.
260. To review and accept the Council’s policies and asset register
The Council accepted the Standing Orders, Financial Regulations. Risk Management Assessment, Environmental Policy, Data Protection Policy and Safeguarding Policy and Asset Register as having no updates and RESOLVED all in favour.
The new Code of Conduct was agreed by Council and acceptance forms were completed, to be sent to West Lindsey by the Clerk.
261. To review Council’s objectives for 2022/2023
The Council accepted the proposed objectives for 2022/2023.
Cllr Taylor agreed to monitor highways problems with the Clerk.
Cllr Turner agreed to liaise with the Clerk on planning applications submissions to West Lindsey.
Land registry to be discussed at the next meeting.
262. To appoint and Internal Auditor for 2022/2023
The Council agreed to appoint Elizabeth Harrison as the Internal Auditor for a further year and agreed to purchase a gift voucher as a thank you.
Proposed Cllr Martinson and seconded Cllr Taylor and resolved, all in favour.
263. Update Jubilee celebrations and planting of tree and positioning of bench.
Councillors met before the meeting to decide on the position of the bench.
Cllr Martinson will arrange to have the bench fixed to the ground and the Clerk will order and collect the plaque.
Cllr Turner will dig the hole for the tree.
Clerk to invite Mr and Mrs Harthan and Cllr Tracey Coulson to the ceremony.
The programme of the events will be in the Bugle due to go out at the w/c 16th May. Stow Fun Raisers are also preparing a flyer to be delivered to each household.
The grant received from West Lindsey will primarily go towards the food and entertainment.
264. To discuss the future of the Parish Field.
The field is rented out on an ongoing agreement on a 364-day lease. The tenant looks after and maintains the field. The Council agreed to formally review the agreement at the end of the year. Clerk to contact Mr Harthan regarding the initial agreement for renting of the field.
265. Update on the Stow Bugle
The next issue, will be circulated w/c 16/5/22.
266 Update on Planning Applications
144010 – Application for change of house types to previously approved scheme 136472 18 South Drive. Comments submitted to WL, additional comments to be submitted on the amendment to the application.
144540 – Application land adjacent to West Farm, Normanby Road, Stow – Comments submitted to WL.
267. Date of next meeting Monday 11 July 20227pm Stow Minster
Please be advised that these are notes of the meeting taken by the Clerk and cannot in any way be regarded as the official minutes of Council proceedings until they are approved and signed at the next meeting.