DRAFT Minutes of East and West Beckham Parish Council
Held on Thursday 28th January 2016
The chairman opened the meeting at 7.32pm
Present. Cllrs. R. Wilson, (chairman),B. Powell, J. Dovey. G. Place, R. Lewis,
R. Moreton A. Sweeney Dist.Cllr M. Knowles J. Stibbons (clerk)
1. Apologies PCSO Guy Slade
2. Declarations of Interest.
Cllrs. Dovey, Lewis and Sweeney declared at interest in item 7 on the agenda. (Community Fund)
3. Minutes.
The Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 19th November 2015, having been previously circulated, it was proposed by Cllr. Lewis that they be accepted as correct. This was seconded by Cllr. Powell and approved by the members present. The chairman then signed the minutes
4. Matters arising from the Minutes.
Cllr. Powell felt the West Beckham allotments should not be ploughed too early as the daffodils can be picked for fund-raising and charity. Discussion of allotments will be included on the March agenda.
5. Reports.
Dist. Cllr. M. Knowles. The full report is attached to these minutes.
Cllr. Knowles apologised for missing the last two meetings.
Job Centre staff are to be based in the council offices. The Dept. of Works and Pensions will pay a good rent.
A boundary review is to be undertaken ion the near future.
A backlog is building up in the planning office due to shortage of staff. Planning applications will go paperless in the near future.
6. A148 Lodge Corner.
The members were unanimous in their agreement that the Trigger should be installed at the same time as the VAS, not at a later date. If this is in place drivers on the main A148 will know when traffic is joining from a side road.
The VAS will be more noticed if it is not flashing at every vehicle on the main road as drivers familiar with the road will tend to ignore it after a time.
Real safety for pedestrians will only be achieved by imposing a 50mph speed limit.
It was also reported that cars have now started parking on the verge which was recently widened to give a better view of oncoming traffic.
The members were very concerned at this development. It can only get worse as the summer approaches.
It was agreed that Highways should be contacted to see if NO PARKING signs similar to the ones on the other side of the main road could be installed.
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7. EWB Community Fund.
It was reported that two grit bins had been delivered and one was positioned at the Abbey Farm corner, East Beckham.
The War Memorial records the names of all who served. The vicar feels that only the men who died should be on the memorial.
It was proposed by Mr. Wilson that the names on the new memorial should remain the same with no change of names. This proposal was seconded by Mr. Place and carried unanimously.
The Fund Committee suggested that the provision of notice board types of maps for walkers should be investigated further.
An opinion was given that the Hall Farm Solar money should be used for a big project and not be frittered away. This point will be discussed at a later meeting when more funds have come in.
8. Insurance Review.
Te insurance is due for renewal at the end of April. The existing cover was discussed and the meeting felt the present amount of cover was adequate.
A letter from the Zurich Insurance, in reply to a query, confirmed that the Parish Council are covered for accidents to third parties, provided all reasonable care is taken. This query was raised because it was unclear what would happen in the event of a tree or branch falling on a passer-by. Any obvious dangers should be reported to the council and action taken to render them safe.
9. Financial Matters.
A copy of the cash book to date was circulated to members. This showed the following balances:-
- Community account of £2816.08
- Premium account £22455.43
- Scottish Widows Investment account £2908.73 A letter was signed at the meeting requesting a transfer of £2700 to the business account to cover the cost of the VAS at Lodge Corner.
Payments for Grit bins (£287.98) and Printing (£90) were approved by the meeting and cheques signed.
It was proposed by Mr. Wilson that the Parish Plan Committee be authorised to spend up to £100 without prior reference to the Parish Council. This was seconded by Mrs. Powell and carried.
10. Correspondence.
A request for a donation from AgeUK The meeting decided not to make a donation at present.
11. Matters for information or the next agenda.
Allotments are to be included in the next agenda for further discussion and progress report.
There being on further business the chairman closed the meeting at 8.07pm
