Minutes 6th April 2022

The Minutes of a Meeting of the Parish Council held on Wednesday 6th April 2022 at East Anstey Primary School at 7.30pm

Present: Cllrs Mrs H Warne (Chair), Ms J Gannon, R Gibson, J Griffin, Miss L Moore and I Vigus.
In attendance: Miss M Vigus, Anstey YFC, and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.

109/04/22. To receive apologies. Apologies were accepted from Cllr R Milton and Cllr Miss R Warne. Apologies were received from District Cllr E Ley.

110/04/22. Disclosure of interests in items on the agenda. There were no disclosures of interest.

111/04/22. To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 2nd March 2022 as an accurate record of the meeting. The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

112/04/22. Matters arising from the minutes, not included on the agenda. There were no matters arising.

113/04/22. Public Questions. No questions.

114/04/22. Planning
a) To make a recommendation on any planning applications received by the council before the meeting. No applications received.
b) To note any decisions made on planning applications by NDC. No decisions.
c) Launch of the Northern Devon People and Place Project – are there any sites that the Parish Council would like to promote. Cllr Miss Gannon explained that up to ten houses can be built without having to include affordable housing, except if it is an exception site. Development is not usually allowed outside of a settlement area. It was agreed not to put forward any sites.
d) Public Consultation: North Devon and Torridge draft Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and a joint Validation Checklist – Requirements for Planning Applications. Information will be circulated so that any councillor can comment. It was felt that the validation checklist wasn’t worth commenting on.
e) Any other planning matters. No other planning matters.

115/04/22. Highways: any highways issues. Potholes were reported on Woodburn Hill. Councillors were asked to take photos of potholes and to upload the photos to the DCC website. It was reported that a one day temporary road closure is planned for Hawkwell Cross and the diversion will be Broomball Lane. Highways will be asked if they are aware of the very poor condition of the Broomball Lane road surface and its unsuitability as a diversion route.
The verges have been damaged on the road at Swineham and there is mud on the road.

116/04/22. Reports
a) District Cllr. No report.
b) County Cllr. No report.

117/04/22. Finance:
a) To note the National Salary Award for 2021-22 and agree the new rate of pay for the Clerk (Backdated to 1st April 2021). It was resolved to agree the new rate of pay and back date it to 1st April 2021 as recommended.
b) To approve invoices for payment. It was resolved to make the following payments:
Mrs J Larcombe – £124.70 Clerk’s salary for March and expenses (Payment ref: 2223/01)
Devon Association of Local Councils – £61.03 annual subscription (Payment ref: 2223/02)
Net World Sports – £423.93 goal posts x 2 (Payment ref: 2223/03)

Since the last meeting a VAT refund of £1054.69 has been received.
Anstey Village Hall have repaid £1,440.00, the difference in the amount paid for
the heating, the Climate and Environment Grant from NDC and the VAT that the
Parish Council could reclaim.
c) To note 2021-22 accounts. The accounts were noted. These will come back to a future meeting once the internal audit has been carried out for formal
agreement.

118/04/22. Play Area
a) Any issues arising from playground inspections. No issues arising.
b) To agree who will carry out inspections until the next meeting. Cllr Griffin will carry out the inspections.
c) Update on the purchase of goal posts. The goal posts were delivered to Cllr Miss Moore. Prior to the purchase the Clerk contacted the Council’s insurers to check that it was alright to purchase these goal posts because they were premium quality garden goal posts and hadn’t been independently tested to BS
EN 8462 Safety Standards. The insurers, Zurich, did not object as long as they were fit for purpose. These are steel goal posts and are fit for purpose. Councillors will meet at the playing field to put the goal posts  together.
d) Grass cutting 2022. A quote had been received from Ridd and Son but there was a large increase from 2021. Councillors recognised that costs, including fuel, are rising considerably and the increase was reasonable. Cllr Ms Moore will try to get a further quote.
e) Shelter for play area. Quotes will be obtained to purchase a wooden field shelter on skids for the village green. An order will be made if it is less than £1,500.00.

119/04/22. Report from the Anstey Jubilee Garden Party Working Group. Cllr Mrs Warne reported that Anstey YFC had either sorted most of what needed to be organised or were well on the way to doing so. Miss Vigus, Anstey YFC, is part of the working group and was attending the meeting to represent them.
Portable toilets still need to be organised. It was agreed to pay to hire a low level assault course at the cost of £150.00. There might be a small additional cost for a generator. Cllr Griffin will pay the
deposit and reclaim the cost.                                                                                                          It was agreed that the Parish Council would contribute £400.00 towards the cost of the event.
The WI will make cakes for the refreshments. Any other contributions of cakes will be welcome.
The dog show will need to be funded up front but this will be recouped. The WI will provide 4 people to help with the dog show.
The school will be asked to organise the children to make crowns.
Blakes Coaches have offered some sponsorship and this will be used for prizes and sweets.
The YFC are looking for sponsorship for the obstacles in ‘It’s a Knockout’.
The working group will be meeting again on 26th April and there will be a report at the next meeting.

120/04/22. Correspondence. There was no further correspondence.

121/04/22. To agree the date and venue of the next meeting (Annual Parish Council Meeting). The next meeting will be held on 4th May 2022 at East Anstey Primary School.