June 2020 Minutes
Minutes of the meeting of Cowbit Parish Council held on
Monday 8th June 2020 at 7.30pm via ZOOM
Attendance. Cllrs Tyrrell, Elliott, Fragale, Barnes and Sandhu.
District Cllr Casson, County Cllr Pepper.
1. Welcome. Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Public Forum.
Discussions had ranged from the non cutting of grass in The Pastures, hedges around properties stopping visibility and the half pipe in the playing field being a safety issue.
2. Apologies.
a.None received.
3. Declarations of interest.
a.None received
4. Notes of the meeting held on 2nd March 2020 to be approved as the new minutes.
a. It was resolved to accept these notes as the minutes. Duly signed.
5. Matters arising from the minutes.
a. Bus shelter-ongoing.
6. Police matters.
a. None.
7. Cemetery matters.
a. Ongoing, to find land suitable.
8. Highways matters/CSW.
a. County Cllr Nigel Pepper reported that LCC will be working in the Crowland Division (of which Cowbit is part of) from 15th July until end of July and would Cllrs like to make up a list of items/areas that need work and report it back by 26th June deadline.
Chairman reported that the A16, when built, was to be an ‘environment friendly’ road and wildlife will adapt to their new habitat. But LCC has cut all the grass verges and wildflowers which will in turn remove/display wild bird nests. Chairman requested to Cllr Pepper that LCC only do a safety cut on the verges and possibly leave the remaining areas to grow wild.Chairman also thanked Cllr Pepper for his help on getting the dyke cleaned out at Peak Hill.
b. CSW. The CSW team are now able to be active again from 15th June but putting safety measures in place. The person using the radar unit cannot pass it to any other team member.
9. Financial report.
a. The financial report had been circulated and it was resolved by all to accept the figures given.
b. It was agreed retrospectively to donate £100 to Peterborough City Hospital to purchase fabric for the making of scrubs and masks.
c. It was agreed by all to accept the Internal Auditors report. (page 4)
d. It was agreed to accept the Annual Governance Statement. (page 5)
e. It was agreed by all to accept the Statement of Accounts. (page 6)
f. It was agreed by all to authorise the Chairman to sign the Annual Return to the external auditors.
g. It was agreed to accept and sign the Certificate of Exemption. (page 3)
10. Planning matters.
a. Planning applications had been circulated and any comments made were listed on the SHDC portal. It was suggested that Cllrs set up a sub-committee to discuss each planning application and report to full council.
11. Village Hall representative.
a. Chairman Darren Harper had sent apologies and Cllr Elliott gave the report. The Village Hall committee had received a £10k government grant and was also successful in obtaining a £10k lottery grant. This will now enable them to have the external works done. Planning permission had been granted to have a brick built storage unit, but the depth of the foundations may upset the boundary wall structure, so it was decided to have wooden ‘log cabin’ type buildings instead. The funds will now also allow the car park to be re-done and incorporate disabled bays. No date has yet been set for works to start. Clerk asked if it would be possible that a small area within the units may be allocated to parish council archive boxes and maybe pay a nominal rent. Cllr Elliott will ask at the next village hall meeting. Because of the virus lockdown, the village school has taken over the village hall as classrooms, so currently no other groups can use the hall.
12. Playing field/Pavillion.
The playing field is used most days but due to the virus it was necessary to remove the swings and place barrier tape around all equipment, although this had been torn down. Condition of the ground looks ok, hedges had been cut around the park.
Cllr Pepper left the meeting. 8.20 pm.
Cllr Barnes asked if a cattle grid at the new estate access area to the field would help to deter people bringing dogs into the field, as there was no signs stating this, Clerk was asked to purchase the required signs. Cllr Sandhu asked if it was possible to have signs at the car park entrance to say ‘slow down children playing’ as he had witnessed speeds some vehicles were doing driving through the gates, Clerk to order these too.
13. Correspondence.
a. Any correspondence received was included in the agenda.
14. Councillor’s reports & items not on the agenda.
a. None.
15. Date of the next meeting. Monday 7th September 2020 at 7.30pm via ZOOM.
16. To resolve whether to move into closed session and exclude public, police and press (who will be required to leave the meeting at this stage), in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972), due to the confidential nature of business to be discussed in relation to the following matters:-
No but it was agreed to meet up at the playing field to discuss the cost of having the half pipe removed.
Meeting closed at 8.35pm.
External meeting took place at the playing field, all Cllrs present.
Cllrs discussed the removal of the half pipe and the proposed works of the contractor. It was resolved to accept the cost of £2075 for the half pipe removal and making good of the area and removal of the external flood lights due to rotten wood at the base of the poles.