Snape with Thorp Parish Council

Minutes of a meeting of the Snape with Thorp Parish Council held on Wednesday 23 October 2019 in the Snape Institute

 

Present: Councillors John Duck, Richard Poole, Liz Watson, Colin Hodges and Sara Pringle

1. Apologies for absence – None received
2. Declaration of Interest – There were no declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of the meeting held on 18 July, copies of which had been circulated with the agenda, were accepted as a correct record.
4. Matters Arising
   1. Bridges – Cllr Duck reported that he was expecting the works to commence shortly.
   2. Avenue – It was RESOLVED to submit a TPO application to undertake works to the new trees as indicated in the recent tree specialist’s report and to remove low branches affecting the entry and exit to the field off the avenue on the southern side.
5. Policing matters – PC Sarah Norman attended the meeting and presented an update on policing matters in the locality. PC Norman advised on a new call blocker system available for free.
6. Fatal Accident on Kings Kell – PC Sarah Norman advised on the current position of the police investigation into the accident. The Council discussed the road at the site of the accident and it was RESOLVED to seek a site meeting with Highways Department to ascertain what improvements could be made to the road and signage.
7. Financial Matters
   1. Outcome of the external audit

The Clerk advised that the External Auditors had signed the accounts off without comment.

1. 2. Tender for grass cutting and village maintenance

The Clerk had updated the letter used for the last round of tendering and this had already been circulated with the agenda. In discussion it was noted that an approach to clearing the beck without weed killer should be incorporated as it was possible that residents would be prepared to clean out the beck rather than the tenderer. The contents of the letter would be amended slightly and sent out as soon as possible to a number of organisations/individuals. These needed to be returned to give an opportunity for discussion in the setting of the precept which would need to be submitted to HDC by 31 December.

1. 3. Receipts and payments since the last meeting:

Receipts Bank Interest - £1.32; Northern Power Grid - £3.45; HMRC – VAT repayment - £331.17

Payments John Drewett (bat survey) - £240.00; Sarah Lowe (salary) £133.30, £32.50, £21.60; Sarah Lowe (expenses) £27.30; Public Works Loans Board - £513.37; PKF Littlejohn LLP (external audit) - £240.00; Farm and Land Services - £448.80; Playsafety Ltd (Playing field annual H&S report) - £94.80

1. 4. Bank accounts as at 26 September 2019

Current account – £7264.02

Deposit account – £2643.45

Deposit account re Institute - £9732.77

1. 5. Hours worked by the Clerk: The following hours were noted: July – 18 hours 30 mins; August – 4 hours 30 mins; September – 3 hours. YLCA had issued a new financial resolutions document; the Clerk would review this and present it to a future meeting.

1. 6. Donation to the Institute – Sarah Lowe, Chairman of the Institute Committee, thanked the Council for the donation they had agreed to give towards the costs of repairs to the roof at the Institute. However, Committee fund raising and lower costs for the roof repairs meant the donation was not required on this occasion. She hoped this would not mean the Committee could not approach the Council in future if other projects required financial support.

1. 7. Other Donations – it was RESOLVED to make the following donations:

1. 1. 1. £25 to Citizen’s Advice
      2. £25 each to the Air Ambulance Services
      3. £25 for the poppy wreath for remembrance day

8. Playing Field Committee – Minutes of meeting held on 22 August and 17 October were received and the Clerk drew attention to a number of matters including the latest RoSPA report which had highlighted a number of issues and which the Committee would be rectifying as soon as possible. Signage was currently being prepared and would be in situ soon.

A formal opening ceremony was being organised with Cllr John Weighell officiating. It was hoped to have a Mowden Park Rugby ball signed by the players to give away in a free raffle as an attraction at the event and then coffee/tea and biscuits would be served at the Institute. Other ideas including a friendly football match were discussed.

9. Planning matters
   1. Works to trees on land both sides of driveway east of West Lodge, Thorp Perrow. The application had already been circulated and was discussed. It was RESOLVED to submit no objections to the application.
   2. Hambleton Local Plan – it was noted that this had been issued for consultation. No sites for housing had been identified for Snape.
   3. Other planning matters – all previous planning applications had been granted; there were no new applications listed on the HDC site.
   4. Works vehicles at Cedar Garth – the vehicles were on occasions causing some difficulty for passing vehicles. It was understood that the works vehicles would park on site once the first stages of the site were completed but this had not occurred to date. It was RESOLVED that the Clerk should speak to the site manager about these continuing problems.

10. Water on the road on Ings Lane – it was RESOLVED to ask Highways to review this problem and also to flush out the drains on Watery Lane which appeared to be blocked.
11. Emergency planning – the plan had been submitted to the NYCC Resilience team and they had offered to run a table top exercise to check out the effectiveness of the plan. It was RESOLVED to ask the Resilience team for further information before deciding whether to take up this offer.
12. Parish Council newsletter – A newsletter would be prepared covering a number of topics