November 2021 Minutes
Minutes of the meeting of Cowbit Parish Council held on Monday 8th November 2021, 7.30pm at the Cowbit Village Hall
Attendance. Cllrs Tyrrell, Elliott, Fragale, Sandhu and Barnes.
District Cllr Casson, 2 members of the Public and the Parish Clerk.
1. Chairman’s welcome.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Public Forum
Residents raised concerns with the speed limit and condition of the pavement along Barrier Bank and the parked vehicles obstructing traffic and cracks in the road surface along Mill Drove South. The Council advised they are in discussion with LCC
Highways regarding reducing the speed limits and concerns with the pavement along Barrier Bank and the road surface concerns would be reported to LCC Highways and advised the resident to report concerns with parked vehicles to SHDC.
Cllr Barnes arrived at 7.37pm.
Cllr Sandhu arrived at 7.39pm.
2. Apologies.
a. Apologies were received from District Cllr Woolf and County Cllr Pepper.
3. Declarations of interest.
a. A declaration of interest was received from Cllr Elliott regarding the discussions following the correspondence from the Friends of Cowbit St Mary CofE School, Cllr Elliott is a school Governor and he will not directly financially benefit from any decisions relating to the correspondence.
4. Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 13th September 2021 to be approved as the new minutes.
a. It was resolved to accept these notes as the minutes and the Chairman duly signed.
5. Matters arising from the minutes/admin matters.
a. None.
6. Police matters.
a. Cllr Elliott read through the following Police report:
4x Violence, 1x Suspicious Activity, 1x Abandoned call, 1x Fraud, 1x Wildlife/Hare Coursing, 1x Transport Hazard, 2x Suspicious circs, 1x ASB drunken behaviour
7. Cemetery matters.
a. Ongoing, to find land suitable.
8. Highways matters and CSW.
a. The Clark advised the grit bin on Drain Bank South had been refilled.
b. The Chairman read through the following reported and thanked the CSW team:
We carried out 6 sessions during Sept and October, one planned session abandoned for insufficient volunteers. 163 vehicles were checked with 18 reported for speeding (58mph the highest in 40mph area).
c. The Council discussed the installation of the Welcome gates noting the Chairman and Cllr Fragale had met with Highways and were looking into costings for the installation of 6x gates to bring to the next meeting.
d. Cllr Barnes advised she continued to look into the wildflower grass verges and potential sites had been identified, further work into costings was needed.
9. Bus Shelters.
a. The Council discussed the installation of new Bus Shelters, discussions included different options of shelter, repair vs installation of new shelters. Cllr Barnes proposed and Cllr Elliott seconded the proposal to installation of 2x new Halton bus shelters at a purchase price circa. £2212. All agreed. The Council requested the Clerk make a formal request to District Cllr Casson for a financial donation.
10. Financial matters.
a. The financial report had been circulated and it was resolved by all to accept the figures given.
b. The Bank reconciliation for the 2nd quarter had been circulated and it was resolved by all to accept the figures given.
c. The Budget report for the 2nd quarter had been circulated and it was resolved by all to accept the figures.
d. The Clerk advised the VAT126 payment had been received.
11. Budget and Precept.
a. The Council reviewed the budget and resolved to accept.
b. The Council resolved to accept a precept figure of £14576.00.
12. Planning matters.
a. Planning application had been circulated and any comments made were listed on the SHDC portal.
b. The Council discussed potential sites to be added to the Local list of Heritage Assets and asked for the War Memorials located at Parkin Road and Clarkson Avenue to be added.
13. Village Hall representative.
a. The Chairman read through the following report:
Time has not stood still for the Village Hall committee since the last parish meeting. Since we had the go-ahead to install the broadband it has now been completed with a new 80mb fibre running directly into the back room.
This will allow us many opportunities including users having access to broadband and possibility of installing light controls and CCTV at the hall.
I was well as the new clock we’ve completed other improvements including Shelving in the outside storage.
Next major renovation is in the first two weeks of January where the hall will be closed to all bookings to have all the internal walls & doors painted and the second week to have the wood floor stripped back and re-varnished.
We still continue to looking at the fascia boards and replacing the front doors next year.
Training continues with Dominique on the Village website with 2 completed and Another booked for this Thursday.
Bingo started back in October and although the numbers have dropped we hope to recruit new members.
As this is your last meeting of 2021 the Village Hall committee would like to wish every member of the Parish council a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
b. As above.
14. Playing field/Pavilion representative.
a. Cllr Sandhu reported use of the field had been quieter given the recent weather and he had recently met with the football. Cllr Sandhu noted there had been an incident which the Police were called too involving a person stuck in a swing, general Police presence has been requested to deter anti-social behaviour.
Cllr Elliott advised he received a quote for £905 for the installation of the fencing for the Forrest school, Cllr Elliott proposed and Cllr Barnes seconded. All agreed.
b. Cllr Elliott updated the meeting on the RoSPA report, noting he had collated the 43 actions into a spreadsheet for costings and action. Cllr Elliott advised page 43, was being queried with the inspection company as it had not been raised previously.
c. The Council discussed installing CCTV at the Pavilion as a deterrent following anti-social behaviour. The Council agreed to review after the repairs to lighting were completed.
15. Jubilee celebrations.
a. The Chairman read through the following report:
The jubilee event budget was discussed and a basic listing is attached.
The social committee discussed the main aim of the event is to provide a fun and free event over the bank holiday weekend in June 2022. We are still continuing with smaller fundraising events in the lead up to the main event to add to the budget.
The timings for the event were discussed and so far:
11am - Punt Gun Salute
Event on the field to open at 1pm.
Fireworks to finish (time to be finalised)
Items to discuss:
- We are to approach Clare about the scarecrow festival for the same weekend, as this was very popular this year.
- Kerry about a dog show, providing we can gain agreement to dogs on the field from PCC.
- Next meeting we need to make some decisions around the running order of the entertainment for the day and finalise the budget for entertainment.
16. Community Governance Review
a. The Council discussed an increase from 5 to 7 members (7 Councillors). The increase would take effect following the next election once approved by SHDC, proposed by the Chairman and seconded by Cllr Elliott. All agreed.
17. Correspondence.
a. Cllr Elliott summarised the letter received from the Friends of Cowbit St Mary CofE School. After discussion a donation of £400 was proposed by Cllr Fragale and seconded by Cllr Sandhu, all agreed.
18. Councillor’s reports & items not on the agenda and also for Councillors to raise items for next meeting’s agenda.
a. Cllr Barnes enquired regarding incidents on the Wash, it was concluded it was a matter for the Police and any concerns regarding it should be directed to the Police.
19. Date of the next meeting.
a. Date of next meeting, Monday 17th January, 7.30pm at the Cowbit Village Hall.
20. 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:
a. None.
Meeting closed at 9.15pm.