GRINDLEFORD PARISH COUNCIL – MINUTES OF MEETING HELD REMOTELY BY ZOOM ON 14 MAY 2020 at 7.30pm
At 8 pm Cllrs broke to go outside their doors and clap for the NHS.
Present: Robert Wilson, Chair; Elizabeth Coe, Andrew Battarbee, Hilary Hart, John Morton, John Mottershaw, Rob Tamlyn Peter O’Brien, Ray Whiteley. Sarah Battarbee, Clerk.
Apologies: PC Boswell.
County Councillor’s report. The Darley Dale recycling centre was due to reopen on Monday 18 May. No vans or trailers would be allowed and users would have to take their own rubbish up to the bins. EC asked about the collection of white goods. PO’B asked Cllr Twigg to look into rubbish collection at the school.
District Councillor’s report. Staff at DDDC were working hard on providing financial support to businesses which was taking up most of their time. Bins at Padley had not been emptied for some weeks. Green bins were due to be collected again from 1 June. Car park charges would be reinstated from 16 May.
Police report. PC Boswell reported that there had been no crimes during this period.
Minutes of the last meeting had been circulated to all members before the meeting. There was one amendment. John Mottershaw had agreed to stand as second vice chair not Rob Tamlyn. Otherwise they were pro EC sec JSM as being a true record approved and subsequently signed.
Matters arising Signatures for cheque signing. The clerk had received some information about on-line banking from NatWest but it would require a visit in person to the bank. Meanwhile a protocol for cheque signing had been established.
Letter to Tim Shephard – sent
Parish Council website. It had been agreed to link the website to the existing Grindleford one. There were issues with the Grindleford site to do with security. Matt Heason was looking into it. There had also been discussion about putting an archive of photographs on the Grindleford website. PO’B asked that the existing Parish Council page be updated to include the names of Cllrs and ensure access to all relevant pages. It was suggested that the Grindleford flag design should be used as the Parish Council logo.
Repairs at the War Memorial. It was agreed to leave this until a later date.
Upkeep of Jubilee Gardens. RT agreed to ask the Conservation Volunteers if they could reinstate the fence and also look into repairing the broken paving. Council to bear the cost of materials.
Planning matters. There were none.
Highway matters. RB reported that the traffic light sequencing at Calver was due to be changed to give priority to the Baslow-Tideswell road sometime before March 2021. This was allegedly in response to accidents at the crossing although these seemed mostly to be cars running into the back of each other. It would increase waiting times for cars coming from Grindleford and would also add to pollution from exhausts. HH commented that it would push traffic through Froggatt and Calver. There was agreement that a roundabout at that junction would be preferable.
There was discussion about the state of the walls on the road towards Longshaw. The wall on the left hand side is thought to belong to the NT, on the right hand side possibly to Longshaw. Clerk to confirm.
HH presented a report on an accident caused by a falling tree at the bottom of New Road, to be passed on to the police. Action to fell other dangerous trees has been arranged to be carried out by John Dudgeon.
Accounts. The following cheque was presented, pro EC sec HH that it should be paid:
| Cheque | Date | Payee | Amount | Details |
| 965 | 14/5/20 | P Colledge | £30 | Bus shelter cleaning |
The annual precept has been awarded in full.
Summary of requests on spending for early consideration by Cllrs. Clerk put forward a summary of potential funding requests for Cllrs to consider and reflect upon before the main discussion once the audit is complete, so that all possibilities could be considered in the round. It was agreed to bring it back to the next meeting with clearer explanatory notes and more supporting information.
Audit: The auditors Littlejohns had written to all parish and town councils advising on changes to the audit procedure. These were circulated separately. In essence, an extension until 31 July was granted to complete the audit. There would be no 5% enhanced audit for Parish Councils. Accounts did not have to be published for 10 days in the Council noticeboard until the end of September.
Parish Council meetings. Due a change in the relevant regulations, there was no requirement for Parish Councils to hold an annual meeting until the following year, although they could do so remotely if they wished or at any time once restrictions were lifted. Existing appointments would continue until the next annual meeting. It was not possible for parish councils to hold a parish meeting.
The Council agreed not to hold an annual meeting in 2020 and to defer until next year. All in favour.
The Council put forward a motion that the following changes be made to the Standing orders in order to reflect this and to allow remote meetings:
1. As per Standing Order 26a and the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, propose the following changes to Standing Orders until May 2021 or such time as the government revises or revokes the legislation:
2. 3i .. A person shall notify the meeting when requesting to speak by means of ….. (eg electronically raising a hand).
3. 3s …Voting on a question will be (eg by a show of hands electronically OR eg by each councillor giving their vote verbally, one at a time) ……
4. If the Annual meeting of the council is not going to be held:
5. 5b,c and e to be suspended
6. 17e Change the date from 30 June to 31st August.
The motion was passed. All in favour.
Correspondence: plans to set up a village speed check had been deferred but the police had written to report that they had set up a speed check on the Calver road on Saturday 2 May. They had not caught anyone speeding. Sheila Pigott had reported speeding through the lower part of the village but during the week, possibly drivers commuting to work. This was noted for future action.
There being no further business the chair closed the meeting at 8.50 pm.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING– Thursday 11 June 2020
Sarah Battarbee
Clerk to the Council