CC 2019 Minutes

Deeping St James Parish Council

The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8HD

e-mail: clerk.dsjpc@btconnect.com

Tel: 01778 343266

Webpage: parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/deepingstjames

Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum

Minutes of the meeting of the Cemetery Committee held in the Cemetery at 8pm on Thursday 20 June 2019.

1.20 To elect a Chairperson.

Councillor Thomas was proposed and seconded in her absence, the proposer confirming that Councillor Thomas was happy to accept the post if elected. The committee nominated Councillor Halls to chair this meeting in Councillor Thomas’ absence.

2.20 To receive apologies for absence, if any.

Apologies had been received from Councillor’s Gilbert, Shinkins-Hoppe and Thomas and were accept by the committee

3.20 To receive declarations of interest, if any.

None declared.

4.20 To agree and approve the minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 28 February 2019.

As Councillor Halls was the only member who had been present she agreed that they were a true record and signed them accordingly.

5.20 Matters arising from the minutes not appearing on this agenda.

Nothing reported.

6.20 To receive an updated report on the number of Burials, Interment of Ashes and reservations since the last meeting

Burials, Interment of Ashes and reservations since 28 February 2019

Burials - 4

Interment of ashes - 5

Reservations of grave plots - 1

Reservations of cremated remains plots – 0

7.20 To review the installation of the replacement railings and the repair work completed around the London Plane tree.

All agreed that the two maintenance staff, former Councillor Brian Barber and the community payback team had done an excellent job and the new railings enhanced the area.

8.20 To assess the grounds maintenance carried out by the contractors to date this season.

The Parish Clerk advised of a number of issues including the contractual cutting schedule not being maintained and complaints being received from visitors to the Cemetery (and posted on Facebook pages) about the length of the grass, damage to memorials and grass being left on the memorials after cutting. The committee did acknowledge that the weather played an important factor in the grass cutting schedule and that there were a number of unapproved ornaments on some graves which made the maintenance of the area more challenging. The Parish Clerk was asked to arrange a meeting with the current contractor to seek improvements. It was also agreed to recommend to Council that the contract should go out to tender for the 2020 season. Following on from this the Parish Clerk showed the committee two graves in the old Cemetery that the community payback team had cleared. The committee agreed that this had improved the Cemetery and it was suggested that this work should be continued by the community payback.

9.20 To consider the health and safety risk posed by some memorials in the older part of the Cemetery which include kerb edgings, laid concrete and decorative stone.

The Parish Clerk advised that whilst visiting the area an Officer from SKDC who is responsible for memorial safety in the closed churchyards maintained by the District Council had raised concerns about the safety of some of the graves that are in the Parish Council’s Cemetery. The committee looked at several of these graves especially those with concrete beds that had broken and cracked. The Clerk was asked to liaise with the SKDC Officer to obtain contacts and costings so that a proposal to complete repair works could be recommended to the Council.

10.20 To consider a request to inter cremated remains in a ceramic urn.

It was agreed to recommend to Council that this request received from the local Funeral Directors was acceptable.

11.20 To review the terms of reference and delegated powers of this committee as written in the Parish Council’s Standing Orders.

It was agreed to defer dealing with this item until the next meeting.

12.20 To agree the date of the next meeting.

It was agreed that the next meeting would take place at 7.45pm on Thursday 12 September 2019 in the meeting room at The Institute.