2024 Rauceby PC Minutes of Meetings

Minutes
Rauceby Parish Council
Minutes from the Annual Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday, 15 May 2024 at 7.45 pm at The Village Hall, South Rauceby. 

Present:      Cllrs M Ireland (in the Chair), J Malloch (Vice-Chairman), G Enstone, M Froggatt, P Ireland, G Hall, S Enstone and J Hoare; Cllrs R Wright of LCC, J Clarke of NKDC and the Clerk, Mr I Grady. 

Public speaking time:  No members of the public were present. 
1. Election of Chairman: Nominations for the position were invited from the councillors. There were several nominations but Cllr S. Enstone had the greatest number. His nomination was seconded and he was elected by majority vote. He accepted the position and signed the Chairman’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
2. Election of Vice-Chairman: Nominations for the position were invited from the councillors. There were several nominations but Cllr M. Ireland had the greatest number. His nomination was seconded and he was elected by majority vote. He accepted the position and signed the Vice-Chairman’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office. 
3. Apologies for absence: Apologies were received from Cllr A Hagues of NKDC and Parish Cllr. B Balderston,
4. To Appoint the Responsible Finance Officer: Mr I Grady was appointed to this position.
5. To Appoint a Planning Sub-Committee: Cllrs M. Ireland, J. Malloch, M. Froggatt and S. Enstone were nominated and duly appointed to this sub-committee.
6. To receive any Declarations of Interest: None were received regarding this meeting. 
7. To decide on any items to be carried out in Closed Session: None required. 
8. To Review the Insurance Policy and quotation: The Insurance policy renewal quote has been received and circulated. It was agreed that the policy from Zurich Insurance, will continue to meet the needs of the Parish. The coverage includes an All-Risks element valuing, in total, the Parish assets to an amount of £28,000 and a separate valuation of £24,000 for the Buttercross Monument. The premium was unchanged at £327.00.
9. To Review and Adopt the Standing Orders (on website). These were reviewed and adopted.
10. To Review and Adopt the Financial Regulations. A revised version of the Financial Regulations policy template has been received from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC). The template has been modified to suit the needs of the Parish Council and circulated to the councillors. After a short discussion the policy was adopted.
11. To Review the Asset Register (revision circulated). This was reviewed and adopted. Two new items have been added since last year: 
* A new bench was installed on Main Street commemorating the coronation of King Charles III. It replaces a bench that was damaged beyond repair. 
* 20 hoops used for keeping litter bags open to facilitate litter picking in the village. were purchased

A request was made to determine the costs of rebuilding the bus shelters. It was noted that they are quite old and the valuation on the assets register may not represent current replacement value.
Action May (1): Clerk to investigate

12. Review of the Council’s other Policies, Procedures and Practices:  
All of the following policies, procedures and practices have been reviewed since the last meeting by the councillors who confirmed that they continued to be fit for purpose.
* Councillors Code of Conduct
* Records Retention Policy
* Communications/Press/Media and Social Media Policies
* Publication scheme
* GDPR: Data Protection Policies 
* GDPR: Data breach policy and procedure for handling a breach 
* GDPR: Subject access request (SAR) procedure 
* Freedom of Information Requests
* Equal Opportunities Policy
* Complaints Procedure
* Whistleblowing Policy 
* Other website sections: “About”, “Contact”, “Accessibility” and “Privacy”

The following procedure was slightly modified to take into account updated practices regarding VAT claims and the opening of a new Savings Account for the Council. The procedure was reviewed and adopted.
* Risk Management and Assessment 

13. Adoption of New Procedures:  No new procedures have been introduced.
14. Review of the Council’s Expenditure incurred under Section 137 
of the Local Government Act 1972 or the General Power of Competence. Two expenses were incurred in the year that were considered to be allowable under S.137 provisions: the purchase of the Remembrance Wreath at a cost of £20.00 and the purchase of gifts costing £123.75, for long-serving councillors who did not stand at the elections last year. This is substantially below the maximum allowable of £4508.
15. Financial Matters:
i) To approve the internal auditor for 2024-25 and approve the Statement of Assurance: It was unanimously agreed to reappoint Mrs D Gascoyne as internal auditor for the coming year. 
ii) To formally adopt the Annual Governance Statement 2023-24 and to set the 
dates for public inspection: The Annual Governance Statement 2023-24 was adopted in the meeting and signed by the Chairman and Clerk (RFO). The dates for public inspection of the AGAR documents will be specified shortly.
iii) To formally adopt the Accounting Statement 2023-24: The Accounting Statement 2022-23 was adopted and signed by the Chairman having already been signed by the Clerk (RFO).
iv) To agree and sign the AGAR 2 Exemption Certificate: the AGAR 2 Exemption Certificate was agreed and signed by the Chairman having already been signed by the Clerk (RFO).
16. To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2024: Unanimously approved; the Chairman signed the minutes.
17. Rauceby Gigabit Project: An update from Cllr. S Enstone was presented at the meeting.
* There is some concern about the installation of full fibre to premises that require an emergency lifeline link. The broadband suppliers are following Ofcom guidelines and refusing to carry out installations at these premises because they cannot guarantee a full service for the lifelines. This is being investigated.
* About 20 properties are still to apply for an upgrade and their vouchers. There is some risk to Rauceby Gigabit Ltd, the company that was formed by a small group of villagers to oversee the Gigabit project on behalf of the village, for the outstanding amount. It is hoped there is some leeway in any shortfall.
* The council wished to extend its grateful thanks to the people who have spent an enormous amount of time and effort on our behalf for the last 5 years: John Gasson, Jeremy Dent, Simon Dachtler, Mark Ireland and Simon Enstone. 
18. Reports from Visiting Representatives and Police Matters if any: A report by Cllr R Wright is attached to the minutes of the Open meeting held immediately prior to the Parish meeting. 
In addition, Cllr Wright requested that when asked by LCC, we respond to their bus shelter survey. He also mentioned a debate within LCC regarding the effectiveness of the paper and card waste collection. There are no moves to remove the requirement to separate these items from other waste types.
19. Planning Applications Received from NKDC (This may include plans received since the agenda was circulated):
i. 23/1533/FUL | Erection of 2 no. broiler poultry units (meat production) with feed silos, roof mounted Solar PV panels and hardstanding | Boiling Wells Farm Grantham Road Greylees Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QX. No Objections at regular meeting of Rauceby Parish Council. (Submission to NKDC complete 19/01/24.)
ii. 23/1321/LBC | Conversion and change of use of barns to class E retail gun shop | North Rauceby Lodge Church Lane North Rauceby Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QU. No objections by Planning Sub-Committee (Submission to NKDC complete 07/12/23.) This application was amended by the applicant. There were no objections to the amendment by the full Council. (Submission regarding the amendment complete 17/05/24.)
iii. 23/1320/FUL | Conversion and change of use of barns to class E retail and gun shop | North Rauceby Lodge Church Lane North Rauceby Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QU. No objections by Planning Sub-Committee (Submission to NKDC complete 07/12/23.) This application was amended by the applicant. There were no objections to the amendment by the full Council. (Submission regarding the amendment complete 17/05/24.)
Plans decided by NKDC since the last meeting
iv. 24/0219/FUL | Installation of agricultural Biomass boiler heating system within agricultural building and installation of solar panels (non-domestic). | Boiling Wells Farm Grantham Road Greylees Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QX. No objections by Planning Sub-Committee (Submission to NKDC complete 07/03/24.) Approved by NKDC.
v. 24/0145/LBC | Repairs and conservation works to roof including replacement leadwork, repointing, repair of coping stones, replacement finials and external refurbishments including replacement windows, replacement downpipes (cast iron) and internal refurbishments | The Middle House Rauceby Hall Tom Lane North Rauceby Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QN. No objections by Planning Sub-Committee (Submission to NKDC complete 12/02/24.) Approved by NKDC.
vi. 24/0144/HOUS | Repairs and conservation works to roof including replacement leadwork, repointing, repair of coping stones, replacement finials and external refurbishments including replacement windows, replacement downpipes (cast iron) and internal refurbishments | The Middle House Rauceby Hall Tom Lane North Rauceby Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8QN. No objections by Planning Sub-Committee (Submission to NKDC complete 12/02/24.) Approved by NKDC.
20. Matters Arising and New Business: Notified to Clerk prior to meeting
i. Installation of a permanent SID speed monitor. Rough costs from Wilsford PC regarding their Speed Monitoring equipment are £17,000. We feel this is too expensive for our requirements (given there are three entrances that may need monitoring). 
The Cranwell system, which is solar powered, apparently has reliability issues. However, Cllr Hoare will contact them regarding their experiences and the cost of purchase.
Action May (2): Cllr Hoare to contact Cranwell PC
The issue of speeding along Thorpe Drove raised by a member of the public in the earlier Open Meeting was discussed. At this stage there is limited data to substantiate this concern.  The Road Safety Partnership shall be contacted regarding the possibility of conducting an Archer traffic survey in the village so that the real level of speeding can be understood.
Action May (3): Cllr S Enstone to contact the Road Safety Partnership
In the meantime, we shall continue using the shared portable SID.
ii. Web Management System annual fee. The fee structure for this service is being changed by LALC. Currently if the amount of Webmaster time purchased by a PC in a financial year is not used, it is lost without recompense of the fee unspent. The new structure will allow the purchase of time to roll over financial years until it is consumed. It was agreed to purchase the minimum of time – 3 hours for a cost of £54. We only used a few minutes of the webmaster’s time last year.
iii. Condition of telephone kiosk. The telephone kiosk has been repainted and it looks much better than it did. Our thanks have gone to the supplier of the paint, Dacrylate Paints Ltd who donated the red and gold Post Office colour paint.
iv. Safety check of PC Assets. A safety audit of Parish assets was carried out in March and the results are attached to these minutes. There is nothing of note to report as one dangerous bench was removed earlier in the year and two others repaired with new planks. Another bench has one arm rest missing and we are trying to retain a specialist cast iron welder to fix it. The bench is not in an unsafe condition until this is repaired.
v. Repairs to planks of two benches. As above – repaired.
vi. Repairs to bus shelter on Main Street. The gutter of this bus shelter had broken off in places. It was repaired in April with new guttering.
vii. Repairs to bench with a broken armrest. As above – awaiting repairs.
viii. April litter pick. This was another successful event where about 20 people turned out to help clean up the open areas of the village. Another event is to be planned for the Autumn. A request was made to obtain more hoops for litter bag openings, more litter picks and more Hi-Viz jackets to maintain safety standards during the roadside pick.
Action May (4): Clerk to investigate costs
ix. Repairs to verge outside church after Openreach excavations. It was considered that the costs to remake this area of verge were too high for the benefit we may get. It was decided to leave it to grow back on its own.
21. Update on Outstanding Matters

i. Actions from the last meeting: 

22. Financial Matters: 
i. The financial report was approved and signed off by the Chairman.
ii. This month’s payments were approved:
Zurich (Insurance): £327.00
D Elmes (repairs to benches and gutters): £475.00
S Clegg (payroll services): £25.20
Rauceby Village Hall (Hire for meetings): £36.00
I Grady (fees): GDPR
D Gascoyne (internal audit): £175.00
iii. The Current account stands at £10,897.04 at 16 April 2024.
iv. The Savings Account stands at £10,000 at 30 April 2024.
v. A VAT claim for £339.60 will be made with HMRC for relevant parish council expenditure over the last year.
Action May (4): Clerk
vi. The Transparency Code for Smaller Councils (under £25k) requires the publication of all payments greater than £100.00. The following table was not presented to the meeting, and the costs shown have not previously been published. However, all the costs were approved during the FY 2023/24 so the Councillors are aware of the values. Showing the table here is a convenient way of demonstrating compliance with the Code. Item 22(ii) above is the compliance so far for this FY.

vii. The Financial Regulations allow for the agreement by the Council to enable the Clerk to send payment to some suppliers without having to wait for a formal council meeting to agree such payment. This will avoid the situation where some suppliers have had to wait up to two months before they could receive payment. Only those operations that have an established payment scheme will be pre-agreed and three signatures will still be required for each payment so there is no compromise in security.
It was agreed that the following accounts can be pre-agreed for payment on invoice:
Village Hall rental costs
Payroll management costs
Grass-cutting and leaf clearing costs
Internal audit fees
HMRC PAYE costs
23. Any other business: Any matters which have arisen after the agenda was published.
The Council gave a vote of thanks to Cllr M. Ireland who has carried the mantle of Chairman for several years and now decided that it was time for fresh blood to take over.
24. Date of Next Meeting: It was agreed to change the date of the next regular meeting to be on Wednesday, 17 July 2023 at the Rauceby Village Hall starting at 19h30.
The meeting closed at 20h50

Matters which have been raised in previous meetings and which may be considered further at a future date:
* S Rauceby Well refurbishment: deferred until more appropriate.
* (New) Watching brief on requirement for EV charging points for the public and for residents who do not have off-road parking facilities (from March 2024).
* (New) Councils’ new duty to prevent sexual harassment: when more information becomes available about how compliance is to be managed the Clerk will prepare a policy document for adoption by the PC (from March 2024). 
* (New) The Council shall keep a watching brief on the progress of the Rauceby Foundation re-wilding project at the plot of land on Main Street ear-marked for a public leisure area (from May 2024).