Parish Council Meeting – 7th April 2021

1 APOLOGIES

2 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Members to declare any (a) disclosable pecuniary interest; (b) personal interest; or (c) prejudicial interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda, the nature of that interest, and in respect of disclosable interests and prejudicial interests, to withdraw from the meeting prior to the discussion of that item.

In these circumstances, the Chairman will control the ‘presence’ of the appropriate Member and give him/her a time slot at which he/she can re-join the meeting.

Members are referred to the Code of Conduct for guidance (issued with the agenda papers for Annual Council on 8 May 2019 and adopted at that meeting).

Whilst the Clerk can advise on the Code of Conduct and its interpretation, the decision to declare, or not, is the responsibility of the Parish Councillor, based on the circumstances.

3 MINUTES

3.1 To approve the following Minutes:

• Minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2021.
• Minutes of extra-ordinary meeting held on 17 March 2021.

3.2 Minutes – Extra-ordinary meeting 31 March 2021

To note that these minutes will either follow under separate cover, or be submitted to the next meeting for approval.

3.3 Minutes – Appointments Committee

To receive for information the Minutes of a meeting of the Appointments Committee held on 17 March 2021.

Note: These minutes can only be approved by the Committee and as this was an ad hoc Committee which will not be meeting again.

4 PUBLC QUESTION TIME

Members of the public are able to ask questions in accordance with the Parish Council’s Standing Orders. Please use the link on the front page to register.

5 POLICE MATTERS – BEAT MANAGER’S REPORT

To receive a copy of the Beat Manager’s Report. These are forwarded to Members as and when they arrive. At the date of publication of the agenda, there have been no reports.

6 CASUAL VACANCIES

To report that Councillors Nicola Cooper and Jane Hassall have resigned. These are regarded as casual vacancies and as such, Cheshire East Council has been notified, and a notice inviting the appropriate number of registered electors to call an election, has been posted on-line.

In the event of no election being called, the Parish Council will be able to co-opt to the vacancies.

The current position for membership of the Council, as a whole, is as follows. There are 12 seats on the Council (10 in the Village Ward and two in Gresty Brook Ward).

There is a distinction drawn between seats which are vacant where there were no candidates at the election in May 2019, and a casual vacancy which can arise in several ways, one of which is where a councillor resigns.

For casual vacancies, a notice must be prepared and advertised, inviting ten registered electors to give notice to the Returning Officer requesting an election to be held within 14 days of the date of the notice (excluding Saturdays Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a Bank Holiday).

There is one seat remaining in Gresty Brook, and the Council is able to co-opt to that vacancy without the need to advertise. The three vacancies in the Village Ward must be advertised to give registered electors the opportunity to call an election.

7 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR DAVID MARREN

7.1 Report

To receive Councillor David Marren’s report on Cheshire East Council matters of interest, together with an update in respect of outstanding parish matters.

7.2 Questions

Members are able to ask questions of Councillor Marren in respect of his report presented under item 6.1 above. This is limited to Councillors and is not an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions.

8 REPORT OF COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN

Committee Chairmen are invited to report on activities for their Committees and the Task Group meetings of each Committee.

8.1 Community Engagement Committee (Councillor Kevin Gibbs)

Councillor Kevin Gibbs to report on Community Engagement Task Group meetings.

8.2 Environment and Recreation Committee (Councillor M Ferguson)

Councillor Ferguson to report on Environment and Recreation Task Group meetings.

8.3 Village Hall Committee (Councillor V Adams)

Councillor Adams to report on Village Hall task group meetings. Councillor Gibbs may wish to report on any quotations received for the supply of electricity at the Village Hall.

9 COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW (known colloquially as ‘BOUNDARY REVIEW’)

The Boundary Review Task Group recommends the following for approval by the Parish Council.

1. An A5 leaflet to be distributed to all households, printed by Solopress and delivered by The Leaflet Team.
2. Six banners to be prepared for locating around the parish.
3. A page to be created for uploading onto the website, to comprise the same information as in the leaflet produced.
4. Social media posts to be uploaded, comprising the same information as in the leaflet.
5. Appropriate budget to be spent on social media (Community Manager to advise).
6. Approval required for ‘download assets’ to be downloadable by residents to enable them to print their own posters from the website.
7. To note the target date for delivery will be the week commencing 19 April 2021, but this will be dependent on The Leaflet Team’s availability.
8. Suggest that funding be vired from one of the budget lines for events, as this could fund the majority of the expense.

Draft copies the leaflet and posters should be available over the Easter weekend and will be issued to all Members.

At the Parish Council meeting to be held on 5 May 2021, Members will be asked to form a view of the parish boundaries, identifying which areas should remain in the parish if possible.

The notes of the last meeting of the Task Group are not yet available; however, if they become available prior to the meeting, Members may wish to consider other recommendations.

10 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – GRANT

To report in respect of spend of the grant from Groundwork UK. Members will recall that a sum of £1,733.27 was awarded and this must be spent by 31 March 2021.

The following was spent by 31 March 2021:

• Printing of Referendum version of the Neighbourhood Plan – £527.00.
• The Leaflet Team – delivery of publicity material for the Neighbourhood Plan Referendum version of the Neighbourhood Plan – £289.00.
• Brave Little Tank – £820.00 net (total gross is £984)
• Solopress – six banners advertising the Referendum – £264.63 (£317.56 gross)

Total net expenditure is £1,900≈. This leaves a balance of £167.00 and the Parish Council is asked to consider if this should be funded from general reserves, or virement from another budget head.

11 FINANCIAL MATTERS

11.1 Payments made under the revised Scheme of Delegation

To report on recent payments made by the Clerk under the revised Scheme of Delegation adopted at the July 2020 meeting of the Parish Council. These are additional to the various direct debits made.

11.2 Refund to the Parish Council

A set of headphones was purchased for the Community Manager and eventually ceased to function. These were provided by Insight. The company has made a refund of £287.99 and the Community Manager will purchase a new set of headphones.

11.3 Police Car for Use by the Parish Council

Members will recall that Cheshire Police did not provide costs regarding the acquisition of a retired police car, in time for specific consideration at the budget meeting; however, a sum of £1,800 was included in the final budget (Line 33).

Cheshire Police has now advised that the following options are available:

1. No charge but the vehicle could be used by other PCSOs and PCs on the neighbourhood team, but PCSO Corbett would be given priority whenever he was on duty.
2. For an annual charge of £750, the Parish Council could have exclusive use of the vehicle by PCSO Corbett and PC Sadir (new Beat Manager for Shavington). In the event of an emergency or major incident the Police reserve the right to use the vehicle elsewhere.

In these circumstances, Sgt. Martin Caldwell would monitor the situation and report back to the Parish Council.

12 POLICE SERVICE – SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA)

The Parish Council is asked to approve the enclosed SLA between Cheshire Constabulary and the Parish Council, in respect of the services of PCSO P Corbett.

13 INSURANCE CLAIM – DAMAGED PLANTER

13.1 Came & Company has acknowledged the claim request for the damaged planter; however, as there is a £250 excess on the policy, the funds left to be paid to the Parish Council would be £144.00. Came & Company would not normally recommend pursuing a claim for this small amount, in the interest of retaining lower premiums.

The Parish Council is asked to consider if a claim should be pursued.

To enable a claim to be processed, the following information will be required.

• The date the damage occurred or when first reported.
• Location/address and postcode (if possible) of the damage.
• Any photos of the damage.
• The estimates (ideally two independent quotes, for comparison) for the repairs or replacement needed, on a like-for-like basis, including the cost of installation.

14 LENGTHSMAN

At the meeting held on 3 March 2021, the Parish Council agreed that advertising for a lengthsman as an independent contractor was the preferred option; the other option being to engage him/her as an employee.

The Parish Council is asked to agree a timeline for advertising and a closing date for receipt of quotations.

15 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS – 2021-22

It is expected that virtual Parish Council meetings via Zoom may change in May 2021. The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has reported that the Government has no plans to introduce emergency legislation to extend the provision for remote meetings beyond May 2021.

NALC is still pursuing this, but the current aim is to re-introduce physical meetings.

In the meantime, enclosed is a draft Calendar of Meetings based on an assumption that there will be an Annual PARISH Meeting, followed by an Annual Council meeting on 5 May 2021. This would normally be submitted to the Annual Council meeting, but Members may wish to have review the proposed calendar.

16 FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Finance Committee Meeting: 29 April 2021

There is a scheduled Finance Committee meeting for 29 April 2021 to consider the accounts for 2021-22 prior to submission to the Internal Auditor. The Committee will then make recommendations to full Council in May or June.

Next Parish Council meeting: 5 May 2021

17 CAMERON AVENUE

The Clerk sought three quotations for the work required at Cameron Avenue to inspect the trees and take action as appropriate.

The only company which quoted was AH Tree Surgeon. The cost is £485.00 and the Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman, approved this quotation, copies of which are enclosed for information.

The work is due to start imminently.

18 SHAVINGTON VILLAGE FESTIVAL COMMITTEE – FESTIVAL 10 JULY 2021

To receive a letter from Shavington Village Festival Committee about the scaled-down Festival to be held on 10 July 2021. In the event of Councillor Hancock being unable to attend a meeting to be held on 8 April 2021 (via Zoom), the Parish Council may wish to nominate a representative to attend.

19 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

The Council is invited to RESOLVE that in accordance with Paragraph 1 (2) of The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items owing to the confidential nature of the business to transacted and the public interest would not be served in disclosing that information.

20 REQUEST FOR COUNCILLOR’S LEAVE OF ABSENCE

The Parish Council is asked to approve a six-month period of absence for a councillor, in accordance with S.85 of the Local Government Act 1972.

21 APPOINTMENT OF CLERK

The Appointments Committee has agreed on the appointment of the new Clerk/Responsible Financial Officer and will report to the meeting.

22 140 MAIN ROAD, SHAVINGTON

The Parish Council is asked to consider the Clerk’s report.

23 BRAVE LITTLE TANK – RETAINER CONTRACT

(Reason for exclusion: relates to contractual arrangements between the Parish Council and the contractor.)

The creative retainer contract with Brave Little Tank came to an end on 31 March 2021 and the Parish Council is invited to decide how to proceed.

24 RECREATIONAL LAND IN THE PARISH

(Reason for exclusion: Relates to contractual arrangements between the Parish Council and the contractor).

To update the Council.

25 SHAVINGTON PHASE II – RESIDENTS LIASON GROUP

(Reason for exclusion: The meetings of the group are private)

To receive the Minutes of a meeting held on 17 March 2021.