Minutes of the Meeting of St Mabyn Parish Council held on Tuesday, 5th July 2011 in
the Memorial Hall, St Mabyn at 7.30pm.
Present: Cllrs. Mrs H Barrett (Chairman), A Finnamore (Vice Chairman), Mrs A Bunney,
Mrs C Bray, M Menhenitt, B Finnemore, D Masters. Also attending: Mrs J Hoskin (Parish Clerk) Cllr J Rowe (Cornwall Council) Mr Neil Embley – candidate for co-option and two members of the public.
1. Public Session: The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the
members of the public to address the Council, if they so wished.
Mr K Brown reported that a Cornwall Council Cormac vehicle was parking on the section of land containing the garages for “The Crescent”. It was understood that the driver lived in the new Mabena Lea development. The Clerk and Cllr A Finnamore agreed to contact Cornwall Council.
Police: An email from PCSO Lloyd Paynter was read by the Clerk. Since the 3rd May 2011 the police had received two reported crimes in the parish, being one burglary and one criminal damage. Investigations were ongoing on both incidents.
Cornwall Council – Cllr J Rowe spoke on tourism tax, and the review being carried out by Cornwall Council following the recent changes to the maintenance and provision of grit bins where only 4 of the 213 parishes had opted to take over this responsibility.
At this point of the meeting the Council resolved to bring forward Agenda Item 11.3
Parish Council Vacancy – co-option of Councillor: Councillors agreed to accept the one application received from Mr Neil Embley and invited him to join the Parish Council.
2. Apologies for non attendance were received from Cllrs. R Chadwick, PCSO Paynter
(Police).
Cllr Heath was suspended, pending his decision following a Code of Conduct hearing on the 13th May 2011.
3. Members Declaration of Interest: None declared at this stage of the meeting.
4. Minutes: The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 7th June 2011, as circulated, were
approved and signed by the Chairman. An amendment to the minutes, presented by the
Chairman was not accepted.
At this point it was reiterated that all documents should be sent to the Parish Clerk and distributed by Parish Clerk.
To discuss the publishing of Minutes on the St Mabyn website: The Clerk notified the
Council that the published minutes did not include details of the individual payments to contractors or the Parish Clerk.
It was agreed that the format of the minutes be amended for Financial reports and that the minutes be published on the St Mabyn Blog website and displayed on the two Parish Council notice boards outside the Memorial Hall and Longstone.
5. Matters Arising from the Minutes:
Item 5 (14.2) Midas Site at Mabena Lea: Cllr A Finnamore had met with a representative from Cornwall Council on the 30th June 2011 and the Highways department were looking at the possibility of placing signs each side of the steps warning drivers of pedestrians walking out onto the public highway. If funds were available the “sharks teeth” on the approach to the village would be repainted.
Item 7 Accounts – EDF Meter Reading: Cllr D Masters had recorded the meter reading
and passed the information to the Clerk.
7. Accounts / Financial Matters: Financial report issued to Councillors as Part 2 of these Minutes. Councillors approved the payment of Cheque Numbers 1311 – 1315 to the value of £1241.19
Throughout the past month the Clerk has been notified of problems with the presentation of cheques in relation to the bank signatories used. Lloyds TSB had, whilst transferring information onto a new database, lost details from numerous organisations countrywide and
new forms had now been obtained to replace these details. Disappointingly a restriction had been placed on the account that did not allow any transactions to be made, and therefore cheques written at the June 2011 meeting had been rejected.
The Clerk will liaise with the bank and resolve the matter.
Bank Reconciliation: The Clerk agreed to produce an up to date bank reconciliation and income and expenditure account once the bank account queries had been resolved.
Clerks mileage expenses: It was agreed that a reimbursement for the mileage expenses
claimed by the Clerk for attending the Code of Conduct Hearing on the 13th May 2011 at St Austell be sent to Cornwall Council.
8. Cornwall Council LMP – Footpaths: The contractor will be asked to trim the path from Rectory Drive leading to Pencarrow.
9. Playing Field:
9.1 Inspections -Cllr R Chadwick had completed recent inspections, but was not present to give a verbal report. Cllr Mrs C Bray agreed to complete forthcoming inspections.
9.2 Liability sign for entrance gates – Signs will be erected on the entrance gates
stating “The Parish Council take no responsibility for injury or theft whilst using this playing field”.
(Mr Brown left the meeting at 8.46pm)
9.3 Main Entrance – The Chairman had placed cones along the main entrance of the playing field on the day of the St Mabyn Church Fete to prevent vehicles obstructing the gates for a long period of time.
9.4 Grant Money – The Chairman was completing the bank account information document
for the Awards for All grant application. Cllr A Finnamore continued to liaise with Midas in obtaining funding for the field from the company that had developed the new homes at Mabena Lea.
9.5 Boundary Hedge: It was agreed that a letter be sent to the properties adjoining the playing field reminding them of their right to enter the field only to maintain boundary hedges, and not permitting an established right of way across the land.
(Cllr J Rowe left the meeting at 8.55pm)
10. Correspondence: The Clerk presented the correspondence file.
National Training Strategy for Town & Parish Councils – It was agreed to obtain one
copy of the publication “The Good Councillor’s Guide” for each councillor.
Parish Council documents: A letter will be sent to Mr Ron Heath stating that the Chairman will make arrangements to collect all Parish Council documents in his possession on Friday, 8th July 2011. Should Mr Heath wish to obtain any parish council information, whilst suspended, then he must write officially to the Parish Clerk as a parishioner for these documents.
11. To Agree / Discuss:
11.1.1 To consider the structure and usage of the existing bus shelter at
Longstone - Cllr Mrs A Bunney reported that the general service and school bus
both stopped at Longstone but not at the existing bus stop. Councillors agreed to
make enquiries with those using the service and Longstone parishioners.
11.2 Community Plan – setting up of a Steering Group. Cllr B Finnemore reported on
the disappointingly small attendance at the meeting on the 15th June 2011. A coffee
morning and open weekend event had been arranged for the 11th October 2011 when
members of the public and parishioners will be invited to attend to express their
views on the proposal to produce a community plan.
11.3
Parish Council Vacancy. Item moved to the beginning of this meeting. The notices
will now be removed.
11.4 Extended Services – update following the presentation by Keltie Seaber on the
7th June 2011. The Chairman had attended a meeting at the school on the 27th June
2011 when it was stated that the current extended services scheme was to finish at the end of August 2011, but this was to be replaced with a similar scheme, being named the “Sustainable Community Cohesion” offering the use of the school services (IT equipment etc) and the Parish Hall for public use.
11.5 Local Council Advisory Service. The Clerk will obtain further information on this service and circulate to Councillors prior to the next meeting. The Chairman
recommended that the Council should join an alternative service, having decided not
to continue with the membership for the Cornwall Association of Local Councils.
12. Date of next Meeting: Tuesday, 2nd August 2011.
13. To close the Meeting: There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.35pm.
