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

The 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 7.45pm on Tuesday 11 October 2022.

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

23.21   To receive apologies of absence. Councillor Hosking was not present.

23.22   To receive any declarations of interest. None received.

23.23   To adopt the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 16 August 2022. Councillor Bowell questioned the budget of £12000 for a storage unit which was mentioned in minute 23.19.1 as he felt it was excessive. The clerk advised that at the time the Parish Council were obtaining quotes for a concrete sectional garage unit set on a concrete base, this had since been revised so the costs were likely to be much less. Councillor Bowell also asked if the Barclay bank mandate had been amended to which the Clerk advised that it had not.

Councillor Bowell asked if the reinstatement valuation for the Village Cross and lock-up (mentioned in minute 23.15) had taken place to which the Clerk confirmed it had on Monday 3 October and the report had been received today and would be shared as an item of correspondence at full council meeting on Tuesday 18 October 2022

The minutes were agreed by those who were present at the meeting and signed by Councillor Bowell.

23.24   To receive the Clerk’s report. The Clerk had nothing to report.

It was RESOLVED to move into closed session in accordance with The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 due to the confidential nature of the business to be discussed in relation to the following matter.

23.25   To receive the minutes from the Personnel sub-committee meeting held on Thursday 6 October 2022.

Councillor Gilbert advised that he had completed all five staff appraisals and had provided the committee with a list of points to be discussed from which recommendations would be made to full council.

Councillor Stevens joined the meeting during these discussions.

It was RESOLVED to move out of closed session to discuss the following matters.

23.26   To receive an update on the Parish Council’s current financial position. The bank balances including general reserves earmark reserves were noted.
 
23.27   To receive and consider reports on the Parish Council’s income and expenditure from 1 April 2022 to date.

Councillor Bowell raised the following points

1.   Should the budget for seating (504) within the Cemetery be amalgamated with the budget for Cemetery Land reserves budget (604) and renamed Cemetery improvements reserves this way if not spent it would not be lost. Councillor Olson reminded the Clerk that there had been discussion about purchasing another garden bench and refurbishing the one in the Institute gardens to be located at the Cemetery so some of the budget would be spent.

A discussion ensued from this about finding alternative suitable land for burials so that the land currently used as a play area would not be returned to burial land in the future as the covenant stated. It was agreed to RECOMMEND to full council that the Clerk should contact Christ Church, Oxford who were known to own land in the parish to see if they were interested in selling any.

2.   The Library grant funding budget was overspent by £500. The Clerk explained that the recent grant request from the Deepings Library for £500 towards the preparation and cost of obtaining planning permission for the extension should have been coded to 901 not 903 and she would correct this.

23.28   To receive and consider the 2023/24 budget recommendations from the Cemetery Committee.

Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe asked why there was no budget for the Cemetery paths and the Clerk replied saying that full council had agreed to use money from the Cemetery reserves and the general reserves if required to complete this project within this financial year. It was also noted that an application for funding from the SKDC Community Fund would be made once a costing had been obtained.

The Clerk advised that an agenda item had been added to the next full council meeting as clarity was needed on what type of path quotes were needed for especially now that a storage unit was to be located at the end of one of the pathways. Councillor Stevens said that it should be the Cemetery committee who made the decision not full council or others meeting outside of committee or council. As the Cemetery Committee are not scheduled to meet again until January 2023 Councillor Olson as Chair of the Cemetery committee agreed to call an extraordinary meeting at 6.45pm on Tuesday 18 October 2022 prior to the full Council meeting so that a recommendation could be agreed and shared with Council.
 
23.29   To receive and consider the 2023/24 budget recommendations from the Recreation and Open Spaces Committee.

Councillor Stevens asked when the resolution agreeing to the transfer of ownership of Jubilee Park from South Kesteven District Council to Deeping St James Parish Council  had been agreed as if 6 months had elapsed, she wished to bring the item back to the Council for re-consideration. Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe advised that the resolution was passed at the April 2022 Council meeting (minute 22.157) so could not be re-visited until at least November 2022.

It was also noted that the current year’s Jubilee Park budget was due to be used to install CCTV and this needs to be progressed.

23.30   To consider all non-committee budget headings for 2023/24 in preparation for precept setting.

The committee went through the non-committee budget headings and drew up a draft budget for 2023/24 however it was acknowledged that more work was needed.

Councillors Gilbert and Stevens left the meeting during this item.

23.31   To receive the updated Parish Council’s action plan and agree any further additions. Councillor Bowell asked the Clerk to remove reference to Jim Blessett and Tim Stevens from the document as they were no longer serving Parish Councillors.

He also stated that he was happy to add resolutions from council meetings to the document however Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe questioned whether this was the purpose of the document. The Clerk admitted that it was challenging to keep such a working document up to date and that she did not refer to it often. It was concluded that more work was needed to make this a useful document.

23.32   To agree the date of the next meeting – 7.45pm Tuesday 15 November 2022.