9th May 2024
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
Held in the Village Hall on 9th May 2024
PRESENT: Chairman N. MacDermid, Vice Chairman A. Dewsnip, Councillors K.Tharby, T. Hall, C. Dickinson and J. Locke. Clerk M. Richards. Also in attendance, one resident. (2 other residents arrived at 7.20pm, after item 7)
Election of Chair: Cllr MacDermid was proposed as Chairman for 2024/25 by Cllr Locke, seconded by Cllr Dewsnip, and was elected unanimously.
Election of Vice Chair: Cllr Dewsnip was proposed as Vice Chairman for 2024/25 by Cllr MacDermid, seconded by Cllr Locke and was elected unanimously.
Election of Village Hall Representatives: Cllr MacDermid was re re-elected as the Village Hall representative, proposed by Cllr Locke and seconded by Cllr Hall.
AGENDA:
1. Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Cllr Gallimore.
2. Declaration of Interest and Notification of changes in the Members’ Register of Interest:
None.
3. Public Participation session: No items notified.
4. Meeting Minutes held on 18th April 2024: The minutes were proposed as a correct record by Cllr Hall and seconded by Cllr Dickinson. The Chairman duly signed the minutes.
5. Matters arising from the Annual Parish Meeting and previous minutes: None.
6. Chairman’s communications – included within the agenda.
7. Clerk’s correspondence
a) Letters received from NYC Planning Enforcement
i) Use of Kestrel public house carpark for motorhome parking. Councillors discussed but had no concerns. Cllr Hall observed that the motorhome was no longer present, so no further action is required anyway.
ii) Plompton Square – Enforcement Officer has investigated and concluded that based on “historic photos from a previous case, the window frames aren’t significantly different to the previous window frames in design or colour, however lead detail has been removed from the glazing. Replacement glazing would not require permission and therefore given the similar style/colour of the frames there is no breach that warrants enforcement action. Furthermore, along the row of properties there are no set form when it comes to window frame colour or window design and therefore the replacement windows are not out of character” Councillors expressed surprise at the decision but accepted that no further action was due.
b) NALC has produced an updated set of Model Financial Regulations. The clerk has reviewed the document and considers the recently updated FwP version best meets the needs of the Council. Councillors accepted this comment.
8. Parish Matters
a) Plompton
Councillor Hall had no new issues to report.
b) Updates.
i) Repairs to The Pound wall – completed.
ii) Potholes and road repairs – see item 9c.
c) The Chairman invited the two residents who had just joined the meeting to outline their areas of concern. Their issue relates to the culvert adjacent to their, and neighbouring properties. Excess water, particularly in periods of heavy rain, is becoming a significant problem, despite the action taken by the resident. He is seeking advice (and potential action) from the Parish Council to determine where the responsibility lies for this situation. The Chairman responded by confirming that such matters do not fall within the areas of responsibility of the Parish Council, but obviously the Council will assist in any way it can. He suggested that the Land Registry website would provide details of land ownership and North Yorkshire Council would be able to advise on other areas of responsibility. He then advised the resident to email the Parish Clerk who would be able to provide contact details of NYC and any other relevant individuals.
9. Traffic calming
a) VAS. The latest data does not show significant change in traffic speeds and volume.
b) Haggs Road. As reported at the April meeting, possible traffic calming measures were raised with NYC, who had responded confirming that regulations only permit speed tests to be carried out every 3 years. It had not yet been confirmed when this was last done but councillors now thought the best approach would be for the Parish Council to fund the installation of the monitoring “speed pipes” at the specific location (the road outside the houses at the A658 end of Haggs Road) The Chairman undertook to provide “What3Words” reference parameters to identify the exact location for the pipes. The clerk will contact the NYC Highways Officer to make the necessary arrangements.
c) Pannal Road and Tofts Lane potholes/road surface. The clerk had previously reported these issues to NYC Highways but with no apparent corrective action being taken. He had now provided Cllr Paraskos with exact (What3Words”) details of location etc. Cllr Paraskos is able to make direct contact with responsible officers in the Highways Department, so prompt action should hopefully ensue.
10. Follifields
a) It had been noted that the gravel path, running the length of the play area, had become
very worn with bare patches. Cllr Gallimore had contacted Playscheme who confirmed that the warranty did not cover the “Breedon” gravel path. The clerk will contact the contractor for a quotation for refurbishing the pathway to its original state.
b) Noted that normal maintenance (grasscutting) has now commenced at the agreed rate. New quotations for 2025 will be sought in November of this year.
c) Following the concerns expressed at the April meeting, relating to perceived “anti-social behaviour” the Chairman had placed a posting on the Community Facebook page requesting that consideration to neighbouring properties is given by users at dusk and early night time and that children are supervised by parents. Councillors expressed various views ranging from “use only in daylight hours” to “not such a big issue requiring the introduction of stricter rules” The Chairman summed up by saying that the Parish Council understands and supports the importance of children having a safe and open space to play in. If
issues of anti-social behaviour do arise then a polite request on the Follifoot Facebook page would seem the best approach. A councillor then suggested a further review could follow ifpersistent issues arise when additional action could be considered. Councillors agreed.
11. Planning
a) Applications received.
None
b) Decisions
None
The clerk noted that an application had been received for Loxley Barn, Plompton but was too late to be included on this agenda. He will request a response extension time to allow the application to be considered at the June meeting.
12. Finance:
a) Balance at the bank on 9th May 2024 in Current Account £440.87 and Deposit Account £26,057.29, total £26,498.16. Bank statements to be initialled by the Chairman in confirmation, as part of his payment authorisation process.
b) Monthly Reconciliation – reconciliation as at 11th May was provided with receipts and payments in the period 18th April 2024 to 9th May 2024, reconciling to the account balances shown above at a) Councillors then unanimously agreed the 4 amounts below for payment.
| Grass cutting | S Bush | £184.80 | Bank transfer |
| Clerk’s salary | M Richards | £285.59 | Bank transfer |
| PAYE income tax | HMRC | £190.38 | Bank transfer |
| Village maintenance | NYC | £108.60 | Bank transfer |
c) Monthly budget statement. The Chairman ran through the Cumulative and Summary statements, explaining that although a small year-end deficit was indicated, he was confident that there was scope within the budget for this to be minimised, especially as previous experience had shown that fundraising generally exceeded budget.
d) Draft annual accounts
The clerk had presented the draft accounts to the Annual Parish Meeting and councillors indicated their agreement for the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) to be completed based on these figures. The clerk also confirmed that the Parish Council is not exempt from an external audit review as turnover exceeded £25,000 due to the Plompton Road Scheme, The AGAR statements and Annual Internal Audit certificate will be available for formal review by councillors and will be signed off at the June meeting.
Items for next meeting
a) Asset Register to be circulated for discussion
b) Village grass cutting
Date of next Parish Council meeting: Thursday 13th June 2024 at 7.30pm in Follifoot Village Hall.