NORTHINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL
Date: Tuesday, 21st April 2020
Venue: Via a Video Conferencing facility
Present: John Mitchell, Dennis Nye, Bill Wykeham, Yvonne White, Melissa Jennings,
Cllr Margot Power, Wendy Simson
Apologies: Cllr Jackie Porter
Time: 7:00pm
1. Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes for the meeting on 31st March 2020 were agreed as a true representation of the meeting. The Chairman had some minor corrections which he suggested he would forward to the Clerk and a final hard copy be signed when the Councillors were able to meet later in the year.
2. Matters arising
Defibrillator at the village hall – Councillor Wykeham informed the Councillors that he had inspected the defib and the battery was still working, however new pads were required. The pads have now been ordered, delivered, and fitted; the unit has also been recorded on the Webnos system to show that it is fully functioning.
Andrew Fannon, who had been looking after the unit has agreed to pick up responsibility for it again
having returned from travels, however Councillor Wykeham will remain as backup if required.
The Clerk explained that the new pads were £42.00 plus VAT & postage, totalling £54.00. The new
battery which was delivered in December 2018 was not paid for, this invoice is for £176.00 (£166.00
plus postage). A total of £230.00 is therefore owed to the Heartbeat Trust which the Councillors
agreed to pay.
The Clerk also informed the Councillors that a resident in Brown Candover, who is looking after the
defib at the Candover Valley Club, is a paramedic and has volunteered to do a day of training for
local residents from all the local villages later in the year. It was agreed that once a date had been
agreed that a message be sent out to all residents to ensure as many as possible attend. The training
will include the code for the cabinet (C159X), this is for residents’ knowledge but is not to be put on
the cabinet as the defibs get stolen. If a 999 call is made then the operator will give the caller details
of the most local defib if required along with the code for the cabinet, so anyone who doesn’t live in
the village but may need it can get access. There is also a plan to take donations for the training
which can be given to the Heartbeat Trust to allow them to install more units in other areas.
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3. Covid19 update
It appears there are still 8 families who are self-isolating, but they are being looked after by neighbours including getting groceries, etc. The WhatsApp Group is still working but has less traffic and the Councillors reported that small groups of residents were working together to give support as required.
4. Planning Applications
There have been two planning applications:
Swarraton Farm – Some of the Councillors have viewed the property and whilst the plan is to increase the curtilage of the property that this can’t be seen from any other residents and so the Council recorded no comment to the Winchester Planning Team.
South West Water Pipeline – The Chairman circulated a draft letter in response to the application which was from comments from the Councillors and residents. The environmental impact of the plans was one of the key points and the Chairman had therefore included this at the start of the letter. Several residents are asked if more of the pipeline could be buried, which would therefore reduce the costs of storage for the pipes.
It was agreed that the letter should start by stating that “Northington Parish Council objects to this planning application”, to ensure that the concerns of the community are put forward forcefully.
The Chairman also suggested that the Parish Council should go to the press about this application, Councillor Power agreed that the Parish Council had nothing to lose in ensuring people knew about the plans.
Action: Chairman to amend the letter to the Planning Team
Action: Chairman and Councillor Jennings to write a piece for the local paper.
5. Food Festival
The dates for the 2021 Food Festival have been given as Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August 2021.
6. Clerk’s statement
The Clerk informed Councillors that the change of details with the NatWest has not yet come through but should be due in the next few weeks.
The budget for 2020/21 was sent along with the agenda for the meeting and Councillors confirmed that they were happy with the figures. To date the first 50% of the precept has been received from Winchester City Council. Once access to the account is established then the Clerk’s salary for January to March 2020, which falls into the 2019/20 financial year, can be made. The Clerk will then be able to close the last financial year and arrange a date for the accounts to be internally audited. The accounts paperwork (the AGAR form) is then due to be signed off at the May meeting, if this meeting needs to be via the webinar then the Clerk will ensure the full document is scanned to all in advance. Once the accounts are signed off, they are required to be available for public scrutiny via the Parish website. The dates for this have been moved back to September due to the Covid19 crisis and the delay in audit. The Clerk will also file the accounts with the External Auditor, however as the Parish Council has less than £25k income or expenditure they External Auditors will only sample 5% of these returns.
Action: Clerk to finalise 2019/20 accounts and take to Internal Auditor
Action: Clerk to scan and send the completed AGAR document to all Councillors in advance of the next meeting, where it will then be signed off.
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7. Lengthsman duties
Councillor Wykeham reported that he will write out to all residents about the first Lengthsman visit due for 6th May to ask for any issues. The Clerk confirmed that usually the Parish Council would have two people for a half day but due to Covid19 one person is doing a full day in each Parish.
Councillor Wykeham suggested that if possible, he would meet with the Lengthsman at the start of the day to walk through the main areas of work. The Clerk restated that if there were any concerns about the quality of the work carried out that would be reported back immediately.
8. Any other business
The Chairman had received reports of a resident dismantling white goods on their property, it was agreed that Environmental Health should be informed as there was a high chance that CFCs were being released into the atmosphere.
Action: Chairman to speak to Environment Health Team.
Councillor White informed the Clerk that email footer was still showing the previous Clerk’s details.
Action: Clerk to amend
The church had approached Councillor Jennings to update the content on the website, the Councillors approved this.
9. Date of the next meeting
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 26th May at 7pm, this will include the review of the past year which is usually part of the AGM, however the Councillors agreed that the election of the Chairman should be delayed until May 2021 due to the Covid19 crisis.
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