Minutes of the Meeting of Leven Parish Council held on Tuesday 6th February 2024
Held at 7:15pm – Leven CE (VC) School.
Present: Cllr S. Mathison (chair), Cllr. L. Burrows, (vice chair), Cllr. C. Ablett, Cllr. C. Farley, Cllr. A. Fearnall, Cllr. F. Hood, Cllr. G. Jones, Cllr. I. Lamping, Cllr. J. Richardson, Cllr. D. Robins.
In attendance: Ann Woodward (clerk), Cllr. P. Smith (ERYC), Sarah Aiken (Albanwise), Ms Kerry Roydhouse (co-option candidate), Julie Gibson (co-option candidate) PCSO Burton, (Humberside Police)
One member of the public attended.
23-24/136 Apologies – none
23-24/137 Declaration of interest both pecuniary and non-pecuniary – none
23-24/138 Sarah Aiken – Albanwise Update on Leven Canal
Sarah Aiken explained that Albanwise owns Leven Canal. Natural England designated the canal and its environs as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its botanical interest. Albanwise need to ensure it is maintained and they are exploring potential contractors to manage the environment. The canal has a Public Right of Way down the right side managed by ERYC. Albanwise intend to open up a footpath on the left bank and provide seating and interpretation boards to enhance the amenity experience for local people. Ms Aiken is keen to work with the parish council and ERYC to enhance the area for local people. Albanwise are hoping to work with DEFRA to open up a further 644 hectares to reclaim a wetland area to promote flora and fauna, this will in time provide a wider area for recreation for local people as well as protecting the environment. Cllr. Hood expressed concern that visitors to the area may increase congestion and parking in the Sandholme area. Ms Aiken assured the council that when developed this resource would not be advertised as a recreational area but rather it will be developed for local people to enjoy. Ms Aiken explained her role was to improve local people’s access to wildlife. Cllr. P. Smith (ERYC) asked why Albanwise had purchased the canal. Ms Aiken explained that the company has an environment arm to its wider business and the area is linked to other land nearby. Cllr. Smith said he was aware Albanwise has a renewable energy operation called Synergy and enquired whether they had an interest in the area.
Cllr. Burrows asked if Synergy could attend a future meeting to provide information.
Cllr. Mathison enquired if Albanwise would provide lifebelts along the canal and a Defibrillator. Ms Aiken agreed to take that back for discussion. Cllr. Mathison thanked Ms Aiken for her input and agreed to work with Albanwise to promote the canal in the locality.
23-24/139 Sam Rogerson – Leven Life – did not attend.
23-24/140 Parish Council Co-option – Mrs J Gibson and Mrs K Roydhouse
Both applicants outlined why they were interested in becoming a parish councillor and gave a summary of their background and experiences.
Cllr. Mathison thanked both applicants and explained a decision would be made at the end of the meeting and both would be informed of the outcome by the clerk in the morning.
A decision was made at the end of the meeting to co-opt Mrs K. Roydhouse onto the council.
23-24/141 To receive the East Riding Ward Councillor Report/Humberside Police
Cllr. Smith commented on how much he had enjoyed the Leven Carol Concert and thanked everyone for the invite. Recently Cllr Smith has met with groups of residents on 3 matters, an historical planning matter at Sandholme Park, residents living on Mill Drive whose properties will be affected by the proposed extension work at the Leven Surgery and discussions re the Leven to Beverley cycle path.
Cllr. Smith encouraged councillors to consider and respond to the Devolution consultation and enquired if parish councillors had seen the information. Consultation ends on 22nd February. He also outlined the incredibly challenging financial situation ERYC is facing and the impact this is likely to have on service delivery. Cllr. Smith also highlighted that Humberside Police are faced with similar funding challenges. Cllr. Mathison wishes to arrange a village walk about with Cllr. Smith when the weather improves.
PCSO Burton attended the meeting and reported there had been 7 crimes in the parish last month, however 1 suspect was responsible for 4 of these, and another 3 domestic violence incidents were linked together.
Cllr. Jones reported that the anti-social behaviour issues at the sports hall had reduced where lighting had been improved. Grant funding for CCTV upgrades were discussed. Regular but random police patrols of the area have also functioned as a deterrent.
23-24/142 To approve the minutes of the last meeting.
Agreed – Proposed by Cllr. Fearnall and seconded by Cllr. Burrows
23-24/143 To receive feedback from the Personnel Committee – Clerk Interviews
Cllr. Fearnall explained the recent meeting to recruit the clerk, processes and decision making. Confirmation was given that the interim clerk, Ann Woodward, had been appointed from 1st February 2024. She also reported that the handyperson would receive an increase of PayScale from 1st April 2024 subject to an appraisal. It was agreed that Cllr. Richardson would act as liaison between the school and the council.
Thank you letters were sent to Budgens, and Tesco for their support for the Christmas Carol Concert.
23-24/144 To approve the Emergency Plan questionnaire for HEPS
The questionnaire was agreed for submission to the Humber Emergency Planning Team
23-24/145 To receive and note the Clerk’s update report.
Precept notice was sent to ERYC.
The new website is working but does require a lot of management to ensure new material is added and old data removed.
In terms of communications the clerk will occasionally use the local Facebook pages for some news items, e.g. the co-option vacancy was posted on there.
Scribe accounts learning is continuing, the need to manage this across 2 bank accounts was a challenging learning curve. The clerk will be starting to think about end of year accounting soon. Access to the accounting system can be shared with a parish councillor to aid accountability. It was agreed that Councillor Farley would be nominated for this on a read only basis. The clerk has signed up for a year end health check of the system by Scribe.
A letter of complaint was sent to NAT WEST Bank regarding the handling of the transfer of funds to the Unity Trust Bank. The bank has apologised and given the Parish £200 compensation.
Lanyards still are still outstanding for Cllrs. Farley, Lamping and Robins and the clerk has requested photographs to progress these. Lanyards will also be processed for the handyperson and clerk.
The Parish needs to start a procurement process for the grass cutting contract to commence in April 2024.
As we close in on the year end the clerk will refine and adjust the 24/25 budget and put this on the agenda for the March meeting.
23-24/146 Personnel Matter – Clerk
The clerk has met the Mr. Mitchell the handyperson. The workload and task were discussed and recommendations are made to:
- Increase his contracted hours from 7 to 10 hours a week – unanimously agreed.
- Purchase essential equipment to assist in the discharge of the role – unanimously agreed.
- Chase ERYC re the reprovision of a larger or second bin next to Costcutter.
- Agree to plant summer bedding below the trees in the jubilee garden – unanimously agreed.
- Contact ERYC re maintenance of the roundabout at the end of East Street.
- Improve signage regarding litter and dog poo – unanimously agreed.
- Invite Mr Mitchell to attend 2 Parish Meetings a year – unanimously agreed.
23-24/147 Action Tracker update
The outstanding actions were noted.
23-24/148 To note ERYC planning applications:
- Variation of Condition 2 (extraction of materials) of Planning permission 10/01703/ STVARE (variation of condition 2 of planning permission 303-297, to allow the quarry to be worked until 2024) to allow the quarry to be worked until July 2039 – location Yarrows Aggregates Ltd. Little Catwick Quarry – update on progress only.
The above application has been ‘called in’ by Members and will be heard by the full East Riding Planning Committee. The additional applications outline below, will also be on the agenda of that meeting so they will all be considered together. A date has yet to be set for which Committee the applications will be considered at. The planning officer will keep the clerk informed.
- Variation of Condition 1 (expiration period) of planning permission 18/03666/CM (Erection of a building for use as a concrete batching plant and maintenance workshop (retrospective)
- Variation of Condition 2 (expiration period) of planning permission 16/00721/CM (Erection of extension to existing bagging plant building, erection of a two-storey office building, installation of 2 weigh bridges and wheel wash, parking and turning circle)
- Variation of Condition 1 (expiration period) of planning permission 15/00219/STPLF (continued use of land for the operation of aggregate recycling plant)
- Variation of Condition 2 (expiration period) of planning permission 21/02221/CM (erection of extensions to house drying fans, material storage and fuel storage and erection of canopy)
- Variation of Condition 2 (expiration period) of planning permission 18/03118/CM (Erection of two-storey office building, 2 weighbridges and alterations to access)
The parish council agreed (in line with its opinion on the previous application to extend the life of the site) to strongly object to the application.
- Installation of solar panels – front and rear slopes of roof (retrospective) 23/0352/PLF Charters Butchers and Deli.
The parish council supports this application.
- Change of use of agricultural land to two dog exercise and training fields including construction of two vehicular parking areas and 1.94m high perimeter fencing 24/00026/PLF Linley Hill Farm Linley Hill Road Leven
The parish council supports this application but outlines their concerns regarding the access road to the proposed facility.
23-24/149 To note the following East Riding of Yorkshire planning decisions.
Certificate of lawfulness for continued use of workshop as residential annex – The Granary Linley Hill Farm, Linley Hill Road. Planning permission granted subject to conditions.
Noted.
23-24/150 Correspondence
Dogger Bank South Wind Farms Local Liaison Committee representation
Cllr. Lamping agreed to be the representative for the parish council on the above committee.
23-24/151 Financial matters and Governance review and approve:
- Audit Heathcheck -Clerk – mentioned above.
- To receive Budget Monitoring report Dec 23 – agreed.
- Bank reconciliation reports agreed and authorised by Cllr. Farley.
- Banking update:
The Nat West account has now been closed and all funds transferred to the Unity Trust Bank.
Amendments to Bacs payments – BACS payment capability has been set up for key suppliers of services so the use of cheques will drop away. This requires online authorisation from an authorised signatory before being processed. All transactions will continue to be pre-authorised via meetings unless urgent.
- To received details of Dec 2023 payments and approve January and February 20234 payments.
December payments
Salaries:
- G Mitchell £218.59
- A Woodward £418.17
ERYC – Job Advertisement – £60
Cartridge People Com. – Printer ink and paper £60.98
January Payments
Salaries:
- G. Mitchell – £485.60 Cheque (includes back pay)
- A. Woodward -£576.10 Cheque (includes back pay)
- Copy Paper – G. Jones – £4.75 BACS.
- HMRC – PAYE £756 DD.
- Former Clerk back pay – £191.07 BACS.
- Paper Shredder – Amazon £36.99 BACS.
- ERYC – Lanyards – £36.12 BACS.
February Payments
- Scribe subscription – Scribe £14.40 BACS.
Salaries:
- G. Mitchell £241.00 BACS.
- A. Woodward – £694.10 BACS.
- M. Peel – planting £1200 Cheque (15).
All the above were authorised for payment.
- Councillor/Clerk Training
The following training has been arranged:
Break Through Communications
- Cllr Ablett – Communication with the Community parts 1,2
- Cllr Ablett – Dealing with difficult situations
- Cllr Burrows – Emotional Intelligence
- Clerk – Data Protection parts 1,2,3 – clerk gave feedback on the part one of the training and plans to update emails in line with GDPR recommendation were agreed.
22-24/152 To receive Councillor Representative update reports – verbal.
Cllr. Jones and Burrows fed back on the event they attended in January to meet service representatives from ERYC.
Cllr. Jones gave feedback on a health workshop she attended and scope for training people in the local community to function as healthy living leaders.
23-24/153 General purpose matters
- D-Day Celebrations – June 2024 – Cllr. Mathison
Consideration was given on how the parish could commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D Day landings. A memorial stone or plaque was favoured and possibility of a tree to be planted. Material on this national event has been provided nationally with ideas for activities etc.
It was agreed Cllr. Fearnall would discuss ideas with the church.
- Photos for website – photos are requested in a more relaxed mode for the website. If Cllrs. have a decent quality photo they can provide the clerk that will be fine otherwise the clerk can arrange to take a photo.
- Rewilding – Cllr. Richardson
Cllr Richardson suggested it would be a positive idea to rewild empty green spaces in the village. For example, seed/plant wild or native flowers and plant native trees. This would require the parish to seek support from landowners to progress, particularly ERYC. Cllrs. supported the idea and requested a report for the agenda in March.
Noticeboard replacement – Cllr Richardson
Cllr. Richardson has obtained 2 quotes and is seeking a third. The movement of the Recreation Hall noticeboard was discussed as it gets buried in the hedge and damaged during cutting. Cllr Richardson would get more information and bring back the matter to the March meeting.
Cllr. Hood also noted that the bottom of the bus shelter is rotten and will need repair/replacement.
Lighting South Street – Cllr Ablett
Cllr Ablett discussed the poor lighting between the barbers shop and the cemetery. This could be discussed on the planned village walk with Cllr. Smith.
23-24/154 Date of next meeting Tuesday 5th March 2024 at 7:15pm in the school
A Woodward
Clerk to Leven Parish Council