FOLLIFOOT WITH PLOMPTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 11 December 2008

Present: Parish Councillors B. Fisher (chairman), C. Florance, S. Milligan, U. Cansfield, B. Butler and E. Bolton. P.C. M. Ayre and one resident.

1. Apologies for absence: District Councillor C. Bayliss and Parish Councillor T. Martin.
2. Declarations of interest in items on the agenda: B. Butler declared an interest in item 9.
3. Public Participation session: There were no matters raised for discussion with the Parish Council, so the Chairman invited P.C. Ayre to speak. He stated that there had been 4 recorded offences since the last meeting. These were one of drug possession, one theft of Christmas tree sale signs at Rudfarlington and two burglaries from outbuildings involving tools and tack at Thistle Hill and Wingate Farm respectively. A serious incident of vandalism had occurred just outside the parish at Haggs Business Park when a number of vehicle tyres were slashed.

The Chairman thanked P.C. Ayre for attending the meeting.

1. Minutes of the meeting held on 6.11.08: Having been proposed by U. Cansfield and seconded by S Milligan, the Chairman signed the minutes as a correct record.
2. Matters arising from the minutes: There were none.
3. Chairman’s communications:

• A letter from S. Mackaness, Rudding Park to thank the Parish Council for its support of the recent planning application to extend the hotel and build a spa complex. Harrogate Council had also given its agreement to the proposals which were now awaiting the decision of the Secretary of State.
• Yorkshire Water - email received to enquire if there were any current problems with the sewage system in the village. This ongoing contact was held to be very helpful.

1. Matters concerning Plompton:

• Rock salt - the Clerk was asked to contact NYCC Highways to request a further delivery to the entrance to the village as stocks were running low following recent icy weather.
• Telephone box - repairs BT had agreed to carry out had not yet been done. The Clerk would follow up. Noted that the paintwork was in a poor condition. It had been inspected and put on a list for painting, but was not considered a priority.

1. Freedom of Information: the Parish Council resolved to adopt the new model publication scheme from 1 January 2009. The Follifoot website administrator had agreed that the template for the scheme and associated documents could be viewed on line. However, there was insufficient space on the parish notice boards to display the information in full, so a notice would indicate that this could be obtained from the Clerk if required. C. Florance agreed to look into the possibility of creating a dedicated email address for the Parish Council.

The Parish Council also approved a schedule of charges intended to cover the costs of providing or viewing information in hard copy.

1. Hillside: Adoption of private sewers: Following the last meeting, the Clerk had obtained information about this matter as requested. It was the responsibility of those residents affected to jointly apply for their private sewer to be adopted, rather than the Parish Council. It would be necessary to form a committee of which all those affected must be members and all must agree to any action to be taken. Costs involved in an adoption application include creating a map of the system and a camera survey to determine its condition. An alternative may be to wait until 2012 when water authorities will have to adopt all private sewers with its consequent impact on charges for all users. B. Butler stated that he had already spoken to Hillside residents about remedial action when the most recent problems occurred. As a Hillside resident, he would canvass opinion on the preferred course of action.
2. Highways:

• Pothole on Spofforth Lane between the village sign and Brookside House. Clerk asked to report this to NYCC.
• Missing metal cover on the pavement below the top ‘bus stop on Main Street reported to both Highways and Yorkshire Water. B. Butler has made further contact with Yorkshire Water who will make its replacement a priority.
• Junction Pannal Road and Rudding Lane - direction sign has been hit by a vehicle and is in need of repair, also chevrons have yet to be replaced in this location. Clerk to ask Highways to re-instate.
• Wetherby bound ‘bus stop outside the Harewood Arms. Comment made about the uneven ground causing potential difficulty when alighting from the ‘bus. This has been raised in the past and the Clerk will bring the correspondence to the next meeting for a further discussion.

1. Finance:

• Balance at the bank - a total of £ 6278.64 was in the accounts. Receipts since the last meeting were £ 391 release of commuted sums for the bulbs planted at the entrance to the village; a £ 73 grant from Harrogate Council for grass cutting; £ 30 from C. Bayliss for a Christmas tree and £ 28.31 bank interest.
• Request for authorisation of expenditure £ 777.55 for Clerk’s quarterly salary and back pay and £ 195 to Springfield Business Services for use of office facilities. Proposed by S. Milligan and seconded by C. Florance.
• Draft budget for 2009-10 and precept request. This had been previously circulated to councillors. The Chairman stated that the aim in preparing the budget had been to keep any increases to a minimum whilst re-building reserves following the large donation to the Village Hall refurbishment during the year. The recommendation was to increase the precept by £ 300 to £ 5600. The Parish Council resolved to approve the budget and precept request. Proposed by C. Florance and seconded by U. Cansfield.
• Grass cutting services - the Clerk had received a letter from a company wishing to quote for grass cutting. The councillors agreed that a quotation should be requested for comparison with that of Harrogate Council. Clerk to progress the matter.

1. Clerk’s report and correspondence:

• September meeting 2009 - agreed the date could be changed to 3 September.
• Code of Conduct - councillors did not wish to make representations on the review document.
• ‘Stop the Drop’ CPRE anti litter campaign. Concern expressed by councillors regarding the level of fly tipping and litter dropped in and around the village. It was suggested that time be spent at the next meeting to focus on the CPRE toolkit for Parish Councils and to devise measures to mitigate the local problems. The Clerk to contact District Councillor Bayliss regarding information about how the matter was managed in other fly tipping ‘hot spots’.

1. Planning: There was nothing to report.