Council Meeting, 26 June 2024

HELMDON PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES
of the meeting of Helmdon Parish Council, held in the Reading Room, Church
Street, Helmdon on Wednesday 26th June 2024 at 7:30pm.
Present: Cllrs Harris, Holloway, Marchant, Minshall, Moody, Plunkett, Shepherd, Wheeler
242. Apologies for absence
RESOLVED: None
243. Declarations of Interest
RESOLVED: None
244. Approval and signature of the minutes of May 22nd 2024
RESOLVED: To approve and sign the minutes of May 22nd 2024
245. Matters arising
– Community recycling was a huge success as there was around 50
members of public and there was a whole trailer full.
– From page 5, the chair replied to the plan to West Northants Council
(WNC)
– Cllr Holloway has started work on the Welcome pack for the Reading
Room.
246. Open Forum (15min max- 3 min per person)
– Cllr Hart got in touch with residents at the top of the village to request permission for a defibrillator to be fitted on the residents garage wall. This was accepted and Cllr Hart is to contact charities and perhaps look in to a grant.
– Jenners’ Piece is in dyer need of a tidy up. ACTION: Clerk to get quotes from 3 tendors.
247.
Finance:
A. To receive the financial statement: note payments received and consider invoices to be paid
ACTION: To put on the Finance Committee Agenda how this is to be presented moving forward.
Payee
Invoice No
Reason
Amount
R&G
120798
Grass Cutting
£260.40
Churchyard
N/A
Annual money
£400.00
to the friends of St. Marys
RESOLVED: To approve payments
248.
To review the following policies a. Co-option policy
To change the date on the document to represent bi-annually.
b. Equal Opportunities policy c. Financial Reserves policy
Amend the reserves plan and make the policy bi-annual.
d. Grievance and disciplinary policy
No amendments e. Health and Safety policy
No amendments f. Risk Assessment policy
Remove play ground committee and allocate annual schedule for the
Finance Committee g. Sickness & Absence policy
No amendment h. Training & Development policy
To amend training requirements. Once councillor has joined the committee, the relevant training course must be completed within
6months of joining the committee.
i. Publication Scheme
The chair and clerk to go through this document.
RESOLVED: To adopt the policies following amendments agreed.
249. To receive an update from Station Road working group
The Station Road Working Group met in April 2024, to familiarise ourselves with the issues of vehicle parking by residents in the vicinity of ‘The Green’ on Station Road, prior to holding a meeting with residents, to discuss options and potentially a way forward.
In order for us to move this forward, we need to clarify certain details from the HM Land Registry letter received and have a legal representative, skilled in Land & Property Law, vet these documents for us and explain any ramifications.
A fee of up to £200 has been quoted and feel that it’s well worth this one-off expense to finally get a definitive answer and be able to move this matter forward.
RESOLVED: To approve up to £200 to get a definitive answer. Clerk to address.
250. To receive and update from Local Plan working group
The Local Plan working group met on 19th June 2024, they reviewed previous local plan documents from years 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2011.
There was suggestions of communicating to local residents electronically but could potentially have lower responses due to not everyone having access to emails etc.
The local plan working group are meeting again on 3rd July 2024.
RESOLVED: To note progress from Local Plan working group.
251. To consider a Freedom of the Parish policy
The Freedom of the Parish policy is to award in form of scroll an individual in the village that has been gone above and beyond for the village and nominated by others.
Questions were raised:
– How would it be started off?
– There are many people in the village who are worthy of the award, how could you select one?
RESOLVED: To receive policy from Cllr Hart and to consider in July meeting.
252. To consider having another councillor for playground inspections
Due to holidays, plans, Cllr Holloway would like another councillor to support her carrying out the playground inspections.
Cllr Minshall offered to support by doing bi-weekly.
RESOLVED: To approve Cllr Minshall to support Cllr Holloway carrying out the weekly playground inspections.
253. To consider improving local amenities such as benches and notice boards
It has been noted that local amenities such as benches and notice boards are looking tired and need a spruce.
Cllr Hart has offered to source a volunteer to carry out work on the items.
RESOLVED: To revisit in July meeting.
254. To consider adopting statement of key objectives for hand of parish council
The council considered adopting a statement of key objectives, which would see the council on track and would act as a bit of an action log. i.e Jenners
Piece and defib.
It was suggested that the Local Plan working group will come up with a plan, by potentially Jan 2025, it would be beneficial to re visit this.
Cllr Hart to circulate documents with the clerk to explore.
RESOLVED: Approved
255. To note the correspondence and determine any next steps for
Priory Barn
The correspondence is noted.
Priory Barn has planning permission but without action, decay sets in, and without time reaction, the building is at risk of permanent loss.
The document of the historic England makes the point that a planning authority may not want to use their compulsory purchase powers but just need to start to process and that then puts some formal pressure on the owner of the building.
RESOLVED: To follow up with West Northants Council.
256. Close
Meeting close at 20.47.