July 2023 DRAFT Minutes
Great Ponton Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of GPPC held on 3rd July2023 at 7pm
Present: Councillors Eileen Booth, David Booth Richard Parkinson Gordon Taylor Linda Adams and Fred Furber. Ian Cruickshank Chair. Parish Clerk Carol Ramsey.
Chairmans welcome.
Open public forum. Mrs Barbara Furber. Barbara expressed concern regarding works done in the past on the new cesspool. She felt the money was unwisely spent as the village received no benefit from the works. She would like to see more facilities on the fields for the village teenagers such as football golf and a basket ball hoop. Agnes from the Old Barn, Great North road attended to complain about the weeds encroaching her garden from Hope’s Paddock. It was agreed we would get this area cut back on a regular basis.
1 Apologies. Ben Green and David Bellamy
2 Declarations of interest according with the Localism Act 2001. None received.
3 Previous minutes 15/5/23 were declared as correct.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MEETING
4a Community speed watch. 17667 vehicles passed through the village with an average speed of 26.2 mph, maximum of 65 mph was recorded. Speed camera x 2 solar panelled are £4250 +VAT. Richard Parkinson has sourced other quotes and these will be discussed at the next meeting. GPPC will pursue a 20mph advisory scheme around the school at Dally gate. This matter has been requested to Highways along with other traffic calming measures. No replies have been received as yet. To follow up.
4b Boundary village centre still ongoing.
4c The PC resolved to go ahead and purchase outdoor gym equipment and a child’s double swing for Hope’s Paddock.
4d Raised walkway on Dally gate which has uneven surfaces, and a steep drop to the road has been passed as fit for purpose by Highways. The PC are appealing this decision. Convex mirror for the Terrace/Dally gate Highways: 1 do not provide such mirrors and 2 do not erect them on the highways. No news on white gates PC to chase this up.
4e Grass cutting is going well with our two new contractors. There is an area on Dally gate which needs cutting back further CR to organise along with the area behind the Old Barn on the PF.
4f Quotes for speed cameras will be discussed at the next PC meeting
4g The portacabins remain in very poor condition with many complaints by the villagers. IC is to meet with Mick White to look for replacements.
District and county councillors’ reports.
None given.
Village centre matters
Martin Frazer attended on behalf of the VH. He stated the village centre is going well with plenty of functions, including coffee mornings, bingo, functions and Sunday lunches. However, he could not shed any light on the general state of the VH finances apart from confirming the bar float is £200 and any single purchase is limited to £250. This remains unsatisfactory. The Parish Council are the umbrella trustees for the Village Hall and must be kept abreast of financial matters of the village hall.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees of the Village Hall held on 7th May 2023 include:
1 Ian Cruicshank agreed to be chair.
2 There were no formal minutes from any previous meetings.
3 Accounts for 2021-2 are complete and can be submitted to the Charity Commission. A copy was given to the PC.( These accounts are not on the CC website to date.)
4 Mandy Rawdins, Pete Jackson and Hilda Whalley resigned as trustees. Martin Frazer and Rob Podam volunteered to be trustees. Eileen Booth and Carol Ramsey were coopted as trustees. It was agreed that these four people would be added to the Charity Commission. It was not stated that this would take place at the AGM on October 6th 2023. To date this has not happened.
Community playing field
6a There was no further information re Gonerby FC.
6b CC opened in April with approx. 14 visitors. Accounts for the CC were presented to show income and outgoings. Bookings have been slow since.
6c The roof over the generator shed is unsafe and will be demolished as soon as possible.
6d It was agreed to open the outdoor toilet 9-6pm on a trial run for the villagers use unless caravanners are present when it is open 24/7.
6 e Grass cutting is going well. We will review costings at the end of the grass cutting season. As the PC are the first line of local government for the village we must adhere to UK law and must employ contractors who have all H/S and R/A in place or the PC insurance is null and void.
6f It was resolved to charge £12 rent and £5 for hook up with no exceptions. These charges are on the website but are not being adhered to.
7 Financial matters
7a Updated financial accounts were given to all parish councillors and accepted. Banking with HSBC is now running smoothly.
8 Correspondence
8 Correspondence was received from Fred Furber, giving his resignation from the litter picking in the village. The vacancy is to be advertised in the village and on the website.
9 Councillors reports and matters for the next agenda
Requests To have the graffiti removed had been overlooked. It was agreed to ask SKDC regarding the future of the building as well as having the grafitti removed.
Date of next meeting 4th September 2023 at the village hall at 7pm.