Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held in Barham Church Hall, on Monday 19th November 2024, 7.00pm
- Present
- Chairman Casey Wooltorton, Vice Chairman Cllr Julie Gregory, Cllr Paul Fenn, Cllr Marilyn Lesley, Cllr Ian Woods, Cllr Brenda Mitchell, Cllr Bonnie Head & Cllr Graham Head.
- Also present
- One member of the public, BMSDC Cllrs David Penny, John Whitehead and the Clerk.
Reports from District Councillors
BMSDC David Penny Report.
Reported on the Mid Suffolk taxi bus service which is to be launched. The service for Barham will be introduced end of next year, an 8 seater mini bus will take a circular route round the surrounding villages. Improving recycling rates in Mid Suffolk as currently 200th in the scale. More vehicles to be purchased and new staff. To introduce a small electrical items collection bin at Needham Market, railway station. Village halls will no longer receive funding from bottle bank collections as glass & plastic to be collected from home (a new scheme for village halls will be introduced).
A new dedicated team to respond to fly tipping, aiming to respond quicker and within 48 hours. Cllr Woods suggests that there is no deterrent to stop fly tipping, however Cllr Penny informed that prosecutions are carried out. The Chairman suggests that booking time slots at tips puts people off, it is quicker to fly tip instead.
John Whitehead informed that he and David Penny both have Locality money left to spend in their budgets to the end of March 2025.
The Chairman asked Cllr Whitehead for advice regarding a recent request received from a developer at Kirby Rise to remove 2 street lighting poles and relocate them. Cllr Whitehead advised that the 2 poles in question owned by the parish council and are located at the site of the old doctors surgery, planning permission needs to be granted by the parish council before the poles can be removed. He will look into this for the council so that it can be discussed at the next PC meeting.
1.11 Apologies
- Apologies for absence. SCC Chris Chambers,
- Consent/non consent to absence. NA
2.11 Councillor Declaration of Interests
- Declaration of interests with regards to any item on the agenda. The Chairman reminded that members of the picnic site charity have dispensations already granted.
3.11 To Approve the Minutes of the Last Parish Council Meeting Held on 23rd September 2024
Approved correct, signed by the Chairman, proposed Cllr Mitchell seconded Cllr Lesley.
4.11 Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Last Meeting
- Workplan. Cllr Lesley informed that the Pesthouse Road sign has been knocked down and needs to be repaired. BMSDC John Whitehead will report this to get fixed. The following still to be sorted by SCC Chris Chambers, A14/Barham lakes steps and sign and also 30mph speed limit to De Sumerez Drive. Cllr B Head reported that the bus shelter is disgraceful. Work was started over a year ago, SCC has stripped off most of the paint to bare metal, however she has been advised that they have run out of green paint to repaint it and have also been delayed by the weather. The shelter has still not been cleaned. She will continue to liaise with SCC to get the work completed.
- Barham & Claydon Village Signs painting. The Chairman advised that a quote has been received to repaint the Barham village sign, £1130. He has looked at the sign and in his opinion the sign is not in need of repainting. It was unanimously agreed not to have the sign repainted at this time and to defer to another year, proposed Chairman seconded Cllr Lesley.
- Update on the move to barhamparish.gov.uk. The Clerk reported that the move to .gov.uk has successfully been carried out. New website address www.barhamparishcouncil.gov.uk and parish council email address clerk@barhamparishcouncil.gov.uk. Each councillor now has their own dedicated .gov.uk email address, no longer to use the Gmail address. The changeover has been carried out following advice from SALC to safeguard and for security.
5.11 To Co-opt a New Member onto Barham Parish Council
No applicants.
6.11 Review of Parish Council Planning List and to Discuss Any New Planning Applications Received
DC/24/04482 Erection of 1 detached two storey self-build dwelling, 63 Norwich Road, Barham, Ipswich, IP6 0DH No objection from the PC.
Planning Permissions granted (October) to DC/24/03699 Land North West Of, Church Lane, Barham, Suffolk, discharge of various conditions. DC/22/06117 and DC/22/01274 Land To The East Of, Ely Road, Claydon, Suffolk, discharge of various conditions.
7.11 Finance
- Monthly Payments – to agree the payments for September & October. September payments £4504.60, receipts £32,939.47. October payments £2071.81, receipts £184.62. These were approved by all and signed by Cllr Mitchell. A copy of the schedules along with a summary sheet of receipts and payments for the quarter 3 has also been circulated to all ahead of the meeting.
- Monthly reconciliation – to approve the bank reconciliation to October. As at 31/10/24 the Current Account £67,849.59, Business Account £55,001.09. Includes earmarked reserves £89,446.30 CIL money and £3693.71 towards new play equipment Barham picnic site. Cllr Mitchell signed the bank reconciliation.
- External Auditors Report & Certificate Received for the end of year accounts 2023-2024. The Clerk reported that this has now successfully been carried out and a certificate of completion has been received from the auditors.
- To Approve the Transfer from the Current Account of £3693.71 (BMSDC Locality Budget money for new play equipment at the Barham Picnic Site received from district councillors Whitehead & Passmore) to BPSCP. The Clerk suggests that the £3693.71 currently being held in the accounts should be transferred over to the picnic site charity, so that it can be used for its intended purpose. All agreed in favour that the transfer of the money to the picnic site charity should now go ahead. Proposed Cllr B Head seconded Cllr Gregory.
- To Consider Payment of any Annual Donations. The Clerk reported that the following grant applications have been received;
- Claydon & Barham Community Centre, £6648.60 towards a new tower climbing frame.
- Barham & Claydon Good Neighbour Scheme, £300 towards admin costs of running.
- Claydon & Barham PCC, £800 towards maintenance of burial grounds.
- Headway & the Citizens Advice Bureau.
- Clerks Annual Pay Increase from April 2024. The Chairman reported that the new NALC pay agreement for April 2024 to March 2025 has been received and that the new rates must be implemented. The Clerk is currently on scale SCP 21 which is below the substantive range for a Clerk with over 25 years’ experience. He would like her experience to be recognised and would propose that the Clerk is increased up the pay scale to SCP 25 £18.26 an hour. Clerks working from home allowance to also be increased to £1000 a year. Proposed Cllr Mitchell seconded Cllr Lesley. This was unanimously agreed, The PC thanked the Clerk for her work which has not been easy over the past months. The Clerk appreciated her recognition and thanked the PC.
- To Consider the Draft Precept Budget for the forthcoming financial year 2025-2026. The Chairman, Cllrs Mitchell & Lesley and the Clerk have created a draft proposal ahead of the meeting which has been circulated to all for consideration. It suggests that an increase is needed in the precept for the forthcoming financial year as there are not enough reserves to keep the PC bank balance in a satisfactory position. The Chairman advised that a parish council should have enough general reserves of at least it’s precept amount to be able to operate. Currently Barham Parish Council does not have this and is drawing down from the £14,526.05 remaining in the PC accounts. With still and anticipated £13,193.16 expenditure for the current financial year. Need to recoup the £20,000 spent on court fees and it is unlikely that the PC insurance company will pay out as they are saying that at the time the parish council was not covered as an entity but only as individuals. This has been passed to the underwriters to look into. The Chairman advised that on the draft budget the Barham & Claydon recreation ground grant could be removed and instead add grant to BPSCP Charity £3,000.00 Cllr Fenn would like to propose that the PC continues to make an annual donation to the Claydon & Barham recreation ground committee, however no one was prepared to second this. The Chairman asked for a vote to set the 2025-2026 precept budget at £56,120.00. 7 in favour, 1 against, proposed Cllr Mitchell seconded Cllr Lesley. An increase per household from £5.00 to £7.00 per month.
8.11 Reports
Councillors to report on any meetings that they have attended since the last meeting. The Chairman informed that he has attended a recent meeting with Pigeon regarding the Community Land area at the Norwich Road site. They would like the PC to have an alternative piece of land, however they cannot guarantee which piece of land it would be and there would be no services to it! It was agreed by all that the PC will keep with the current piece of land at the front of the Norwich Road site, which will have services connected to it. He will also be attending a meeting with Port One, grants of £7500 a year to be shared between the 5 surrounding villages to be used for biodiversity projects.
9.11 Dates of Forthcoming Meetings 2025
The Chairman would like to set the dates for the forthcoming year as follows; 20th January, 17th March, 19th May APM & AGM, 28 July, 22 September & 17th November.
As part of the “Stop the Quarry” group against the proposed new quarry near the Fynn Valley Golf Club, BMSDC David Penny would like to know the name of the spokesperson at a previous PC meeting who was objecting to the quarry lorries along Sandy Lane. Chair will pass on the name to him.
The meeting ended at 8.18pm.
Chairman …………………………………………………. Date ………………………...........