Minutes of Rushden and Wallington Annual Parish Council Meeting
Wednesday 11th May 2017 in Wallington Village Hall at 8.00pm
Present: Councillors Chris Garrett, Kate Heath, Linda Hill, Steve Pettyfer, Frank Randall
In attendance: District and County Councillor, Steve Jarvis, Clerk, Marian Messenger and two
Parishioners
17/017 To elect the Chair for 2017/18
Linda Hill nominated Steve Pettyfer to be Chair for 2017/18. Carried unanimously.
17/018 To receive and accept apologies for absenceNone
17/019 Declarations of interest and dispensations
17/020 To confirm the Minutes of Rushden and Wallington Annual Parish Council Meeting
held on 18 May 2016. Chair to sign.
Resolved that the Minutes of the Rushden and Wallington Annual Parish Council Meeting
held on 18 May 2016 be agreed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings and be duly signed by the Chair. Unanimously agreed.
17/021 To consider the financial report for the year ending 31 March 2017 and to consider / approve
Section 1 of the Annual Return
Resolved to accept the financial report, as presented, for the year ending 31 March 2017. Proposed by Steve Pettyfer. Unanimously agreed.
Resolved to approve Section 1 of the Annual Return.Proposed by Steve Pettyfer.
Unanimously agreed.
17/022 To consider / approve Section 2 of the Annual Return
Resolved to approve Section 2 of the Annual Return.Proposed by Steve Pettyfer.
Unanimously agreed.
17/023 To confirm the position of Responsible Financial Officer for 2017/18
The Clerk, Marian Messenger, was confirmed as the RFO for 2017/18
17/024 To review the Risk Assessment and Management Document
Resolved to accept the updated Risk Assessment and Management Document.
Proposed by Steve Pettyfer. Unanimously agreed.
17/025 To review the Code of Conduct
Resolved to accept the Code of Conduct in its current form. Proposed by Steve Pettyfer. Unanimously agreed.
17/026 To set provisional dates for meetings for the rest of the year 2017/18
Provisional dates for PC meetings: 14/09/17 (R) 18/01/18 (W) 10/05/18 (R)
Provisional dates for Parish Assemblies: Rushden 12/04/18 Wallington 13/04/18
MINUTES FOR THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 11/05/17
17/027 To receive and accept apologies for absenceNone
17/028 Declarations of interest and dispensations
17/029 To confirm the Minutes of Rushden and WallingtonParish Council Meeting
held on 18 January 2017. Chair to sign.
Resolved that the Minutes of the Rushden and Wallington Parish Council Meeting held on
18 January 2017 be agreed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings and be duly
signed by the Chair. Unanimously agreed.
17/030 To receive a report from the District Councillor
As Steve Jarvis is now both the District and County Councillor these two reports were combined.
17/031 To receive a report from the County Councillor
Steve Jarvis reported that the District Council had voted to proceed with the Local Plan.
It is now with the Secretary of State and an Inspector will be appointed for the next stage.
Steve reported that improvements to drainage in Wallington are allowed for in the budget
for this financial year, but exactly what will be done is to be confirmed.
Steve will be discussing the priorities for highways, including 20mph speed limits in the villages. He aims to find out what residents’ priorities for highways are.
Steve has asked for a report on what could be achieved for Broadband in the area.
Steve confirmed that repair to Bennet’s Lane drainage in Rushden is not on the list for this year. He will add it to the list when he discusses the programme.
17/032 To update councillors on the transfer of money from the current account to the reserve account
The Clerk reported that the transfer has taken place as shown in the financial report.
17/033 To consider the proposed changes to the route of the Kits Lane footpath in Wallington.
Kate Heath explained that there had been an objection to the previously proposed route of footpath FP22. The new proposal means that the footpath will diagonally now cross the land leased by the PC and will come out in the layby. This was unanimously approved.
17/034 Planning Applications
Kate Heath raised the issue of a potential planning application that is causing a lot of concern in a neighbouring parish. It was unanimously agreed that the Parish Council
will wait until the application has been submitted and then will take a view.
17/035 The Local Plan
There has been a communication from a man in Gravelyencouraging local Parish Councils to group together to protest against the Local Plan. It was unanimously agreed to take no action on this.
17/036 To consider the listing of the Moon and Stars pub as a community asset
After discussion, it was agreed that the Parish Council is minded to make an application
for listing as a community asset, subject to a conversation between Steve Pettyfer and
the owner,Laurie.
17/037 To consider whether to use any of the surplus funds to make a donation to Sandon Sports Club
After discussion it was decided to delay any decision and the Clerk was asked to request a copy of Sandon Sports Club latest accounts so that the Parish Council can make a more informed decision.
17/038 To consider whether to join the Parish Paths Partnership
Kate Heath informed the meeting that she had been given some information by Julia Clarke which could be beneficial to the Parish Council. If the Parish Council becomes a member of ‘The Parish Paths Partnership’ it will then be able to apply for grants for specific projects such as replacing a style with a kissing gate to give improved access.
There were some concerns about ongoing responsibilities as not all councillors had seen the detailed information regarding this suggestion. It was decided that Kate Heath will go back to Julia Clarke and ask why work has been carried out in Rushden but similar work cannot be done in Wallington unless we join this partnership.
17/039 To suggest agenda items for the next meeting of the Parish Council
The following items will be put on the Agenda of the next Parish Council Meeting
The meeting closed at 9.45pm.
N.B.
Since the meeting there have been some changes to the proposed dates for meetings in the next twelve months. These are the revised dates:
Parish Council Meeting in Rushden 07/09/17
Parish Council Meeting in Wallington 18/01/18
Parish Assembly in Rushden 11/04/18
Parish Assembly in Wallington 12/04/18
Parish Council Meeting in Rushden 03/05/18