Given below are the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the above parish council held at Cherry Tree Communal Room, Allington on 13 May 2008. The meeting commenced at 7.30pm.
PRESENT: Cllrs P. Lathey, D. Hitt, M.A. Wrighton, K. Hitt, C. Stansfield, P. Bowditch, Don McAllister (Cherry Tree Play Area Supervisor), 4 members of the public. Miss A Hull recorded the minutes.
1. APOLOGIES
Cllr. I. Gay due to unavoidable and unforseen circumstances.
2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
a) CHAIRMAN – Cllr. P. Lathey stood down as Chairman.
As there had been no applications received for Chairman, Mr. Lathey was asked to be re-elected for another term of office. Cllr. Stansfield proposed Cllr. Lathey be re-elected as Chairman, Cllr. P. Bowditch seconded the proposal. ALL AGREED. Cllr. Lathey read out the Declaration of Office notice and duly signed.
b) VICE CHAIRMAN – As no-one had come forward to be Vice Chairman for the following year, Cllr. Lathey asked Mrs Wrighton if she would be prepared to carry on for another year. Mrs Wrighton replied she would. Cllr. Lathey proposed Mrs Wrighton be elected as Vice Chairman. Cllr. P. Bowditch seconded. Cllr. Wrighton read out the Declaration of Office notice and duly signed.
Councillors in other roles agreed to carry these on for another year (Ancient Monuments Officer – Cllr. Lathey, Trees & Footpaths Officer & Woodland Trust Play Area Rep – Cllr. Bowdtich). Don McAllister was happy to carry on with his role as Cherry Tree Play Area Supervisor.
Cllr. K. Hitt left the meeting at this point.
3. TO RECEIVE DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS INTERESTS
None were declared at this point.
4. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The Chairman asked if everyone had both received and read the minutes of last years annual meeting, if so, were they a true record. ALL AGREED. The minutes were duly signed and dated.
5. MATTERS ARISING
None to report.
6. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
With regards to the ongoing problem of the overgrown conifer trees at Longhayes Avenue, Clerk had sent out stongly worded letters to the residents to find out who actually owned them. This time the owners did come forward but said that the conifers were at a point where they couldnt afford to have them cut back and didnt have the time to do it themselves. After a lengthy discussion, Councillors agreed that we should meet with the owners and offer a compromise of assisting them this once and then they take over responsibility from hereon in. Clerk to check the legalities of whether we are financially allowed to do this.
7. FINANCE REPORT
The account balance was read out to Councillors and as usual all books were on the table for any member of the public to read.
a) The first half of the precept has been received as well as £111.81 in interest on the Savings Account, the balance of ordinary account now stands at £12,056.67. The savings at £11,202.82. Clerk asked the council if it was their wish to transfer any of the precept over to the savings account where the interest is greater. Cllr. Stanfield proposed that we transfer £4,000, Cllr. Bowditch seconded. ALL AGREED.
Money paid out since the last meeting is cheques signed at previous meeting, also as there was no meeting in April other cheques have had to be signed. These are Clerks wages £197, Clerks mileage £19.60, DAPTC subscription renewal £201.70, Viking stationery order £100.13. All these now need retrospective agreement, Cllr. Bowditch proposed and Cllr. Stansfiel seconded. Any cheques signed tonight will also come out of account.
b) In line with the NALC and SLCC pay scale, Clerks wages should be reviewed each April with the intention of going up by one increment point if the Council feel their work is up to standard. Details of the pay scale were tabled and it was proposed by Cllr. Bowditch and seconded by Cllr. Stansfield that the Clerk’s wages should go up by one increment which would mean the monthly wage would be £202 instead of £197
c) The following S137 payment was authorised by the council: Bridport House Club £350. This was proposed by Cllr. D. Hitt and seconded by Cllr Stansfield. Life Education Dorset £250. This was proposed by Cllr. Lathey and seconded by Cllr. Bowditch. We had also received a request from Retired & Senior Volunteer Programme but as they had not sent any proof that they benefit residents within Allington Parish, despite being asked for this information, it was decided that they would not receive any funding at this time. The following S142 payment was authorised by the council: Citizens Advice Bureau £750. This was proposed by Cllr. Lathey and seconded by Cllr. Stansfield.
d) Cheques for approval and signing were for £202 for Clerks wages , £40 for Magna for the hire of the Communal Room (£8 was minused for the non availability of the room in April), £354 for Austen Whetham & Guest for dealing with the lease for the Woodland Trust Play Area, and the S137 and S142 donations agreed above.
e) The Insurance quote for the year if we stay with Community First is £592.73 which is £3 more than last year and still considerably cheaper than if we went with, for exampl, Cornhill Insurance which would be a minimum of £636.15. All agreed to stay with our present insurers. A cheque was then written and signed.
8. PLANNING APPLICATIONS 1/D/08/000463 – 8 Laurel Close – This has been Granted
1/D/08/000440 – 1 Threadmill Lane, Pymore (adjoining consultation) – comments were needed on this before the meeting and had felt there was no objections to the owners putting a fence around their garden
1/D/08/000124 – 3 Pond End, Pymore – This has been Granted
1/D/08/000751 – Former Boot Inn, 124 North Allington (adjoinging consultation). There were no objections but only concerns regarding the traffic, not enough parking and concerns of blind spots when coming out of driveway.
9. CHERRY TREE PLAY AREA REPORT
Mr McAllister informed all that the safety mats on the ground were starting to come away and will need replacing. Swings also could do with replacing as now 36 years old. Chairman advised that we will be considering total refurbishment of the play area and Clerk to get some quotes in ready for the next meeting.
10. WOODLAND TRUST PLAY AREA
Paul Bowditch reported that all was fine on the play area but he had noticed that some of the paths on the hill were a little washed out. He has managed to get and put up some ‘please shut the gate’ signs.
Chairman asked Clerk to find out from Andrew Dyke at Symondsbury Estate when they intend to re-do the footpaths that they recently sent us information on
11. CORRESONDENCE
Various correspondence were tabled including a letter from a resident at Pymore looking for funding for a feasibility study into micro-hydro generation at Pymore. This was discussed and the Council felt it would not benefit residents with Allington parish and therefore we would not be able to offer funding.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting will be 10 June 2008.
The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting. Meeting closed at 8.40pm.
|