FPPC 2022 Minutes

DEEPING ST JAMES PARISH COUNCIL
The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, PE6 8EP
E-mail: clerk@dsjpc.co.uk
Tel: 01778 343266
Webpage: //deeping-st-james.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk Facebook: Deeping St James Parish Council
Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum

Dear Councillors Bowell, Gilbert, Halls, Hosking, Shinkins-Hoppe, Stevens and Thomas.

Minutes of the Finance, Policy and Personnel Committee meeting held in the meeting room at the Institute 38 Church Street Deeping St James PE6 8HD at 8.00pm on Tuesday 16 August 2022. 

Present: Councillors Halls, Olson, Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens.

23.12 To receive apologies of absence.

Apologies had been received and accepted from Councillors Bowell and Gilbert. 

23.13 To receive any declarations of interest.

None declared. 

23.14 To adopt the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 7 June 2022.   

Agreed and signed as a true copy by Councillor Christine Halls who was the only one present who had attended the meeting and had been elected by the members present at to Chair this meeting in the absence of Councillor Bowell. 

23.15 To receive the Clerk’s report.

The District Council ward grant valuing £250 that was being held in the Parish Council bank account was paid to Men in Sheds on 21 July 2022

The Council’s regalia has been listed separately on the Parish Councils insurance documents and an additional premium of £52.47 has been paid to cover the insurance of the items away from the office. 

The valuation of the Grade I listed ancient monument The Village Cross and Lock-Up has been arranged at a cost of £400 

Councillor Bowell completed the signage audit at Woody Heights which was reviewed by the recreation and open spaces committee on Tuesday 5 July 2022 and was deemed to be acceptable. 

The agreed amendments have been made to the Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, Risk Assessment and management Policy and Health and Safety Policy and the updated versions have been added to the webpage. 

A favourable new contract has been agreed with Biffa for two empties per week of the 1100 litre general waste wheelie bin an increase from one. 

Action is still required to complete the Barclays Bank mandate, open a Unity Trust Savings account and add Councillor Jack Little as a signatory. 

The Staffing subcommittee have still to meet to consider the review of the staff contracts and the appraisals which were completed on 5 July 2022 by Councillor Gilbert. 

23.16 To receive an update on the Parish Council’s current financial position.

It was noted that as at 10 August 2022 the Parish Council held £208,463.75 across three bank accounts. General reserves were £50,016.76 and earmarked reserves were £73,550.

23.17 To receive and consider reports on the Parish Council’s income and expenditure from 1 April 2022 to date.

The contents of the reports were noted with no concerns being raised by the Councillors present.  

23.18 To review and update the Parish Council’s action plan.

Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe suggested that all the items that had been completed or were no longer being pursued needed to be removed. 

Councillor Stevens would like to add to the document that noticeboards should be used to signpost residents to other organisations and items of use (e.g. defibrillators) in the parish and that Councillors photos should also be shared on the noticeboards.

The Clerk admitted that she did not refer to the document as she did not find it useful because it was out of date, included issues that the parish council were not directly responsible for and did not include issues that the parish council were actively pursuing. She referred to the gold quality award Council Mablethorpe and Suttons action plan, found on their website, which was for a three-year period (admittedly out of date as it was for the period 2015-18) and felt that DSJPC’s should be for a period and then it should be re-written. 

The Clerk also felt that some items should be worded more generically – to light the beacon and/or fly a flag to mark appropriate dates and events rather than be specific - to light the beacon for the Queens 90th birthday.  

It was agreed that the Clerk should remove the completed or not pursued items from the template and then the document should be reconsidered at a future finance policy and personnel meeting where other actions could be added. 
   
23.19 To consider the budget requirements needed to 

1. supply and install a storage shed (including required groundworks) 

The Clerk advised that the Council had agreed a budget of £2000 for the storage unit. This would not be sufficient to complete the project as the advice and quotations being received suggested the cost would be more in the region of £12,000 to install a concrete sectional unit at the rear of the Institute. Referring back to the income and expenditure reports it was hoped that shortfalls and underspends in alternative budgets may be used to cover this overspend (for example bus shelter budget and land ownership and transfer budget)

Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe stated that she was not entirely sure that locating a storage unit at the rear of the Institute was the ideal location as the area was overgrown and dense with trees that the landowner would not allow to be cleared so the groundworks involved would be challenging and the lifespan of the unit may be impacted by overhanging foliage. 

The Allotment site had been considered previously but this was some distance from where the maintenance team did most of the work. 

Councillors Stevens suggested that a better location would be on part of the extended Cemetery land as this was land owned by the Parish Council. The Clerk was asked to add an agenda item to the next council agenda for the location of the storage unit to be reconsidered. 

2. lay new paths at the Cemetery (including required groundworks) 

The clerk advised that there was a budget of £5050 (£3050 of which was in the Cemetery improvement earmarked reserve budget) available towards the cost of laying new paths in the Cemetery and all the contractors that had been contacted and/or visited the site had either advised or quoted that the project would be costly. The cost would vary depending the surface chosen (the options suggested by the contractors have been bonded resin, slabs or reinforced mesh protection overlay on grass). The committee agreed that a recommendation should be made to full council to use up to £20,000 of the general reserve budget to complete this project within the financial year 2022/23. 

23.20 To agree the date of the next meeting.

7.45pm on Tuesday 11 October 2022