Minutes - 28 March 2023

CROWTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of Crowton Parish Council meeting held on

Tuesday 28th March 2023 at Crowton Village Hall

2022

Present

Cllr Ross McCrickerd (Chair) (RM)Cllr Richard Thorne (Vice Chair) (RT)

Cllr Elizabeth Stubbs (ES), Cllr Jennifer Currie (JC),

Cllr Roger Hammond (RH), Cllr Joel Rutter (JR), Ward Cllr Charles Fifield

Clerk T Whitlow (TW) 15 members of the Public(MOP)

Apologies for Absence were received from:

Cllr Robert Stubbs (RS)

Declarations of Members’ Interests –RM – Coronation Event

Approve Minutes The minutes of the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 14th February 2023 were approved & signed by the Chair

Public Participation

15 members of the public attended the meeting in relation to the work being undertaken on a field on Ainsworth Lane resulting in a lot of soil and debris being left on the road from Crewood Common to Ainsworth Lane. Not only is this an eyesore it is also dangerous for vehicles, as the ruts the lorries have made are deep. The PC and ward councillor Charles Fifield advised all members of the public to report to Highways. TW confirmed she had received 23 emails and 14 phone calls in the past 2 weeks regarding this and has been in contact with both Highways and Planning. CF to follow up further.

Matters arising from the last Minutes

(1) Broadband – Factco continue the build work in and around Crowton, Norley & Kingsley.

(2) Station Road surface- Pot Holes No action has taken place on this from Highways – 75 % of roads and 65% of pavements throughout CWAC are below standard. Residents are requested to use the “Report It” app to notify highways of the ever-occurring new pot holes.

(3) 30-mile hour zone- Ainsworth Lane – TW confirmed that if the PC were to go ahead with the reduction of the speed limit it would have a cost implication to the PC of circa £2500. Resolved not to take this further as unable to justify the cost.

(4) SID’s- Due to difficulties in finding a contractor with the relevant licence to work on the Highway the SID’s are taking longer than anticipated to install. TW to continue working on this.

(5) Noticeboard: The new notice board has been installed, and the old one is being re-furbished to go on the Millennium Green.

(6) Crewood Common Road –United Utilities are coming back to rectify the problems with the road surface dropping away at the edge of the verge.

(7) Kings Coronation – RM now has the tickets for this event for Sunday 7th May, available from the Hare and Hounds – the tickets are free, and are required for numbers for catering. All the village are welcome to attend.

TW has applied and been given a £200 members budget grant towards the event – Thanks were given to Charles Fifield, Paul Williams and Gillian Edwards for this.

(8) TW had contacted all councillors prior to the meeting to inform them that meeting every 6 weeks would prove difficult both for the Village Hall (bookings) and for herself. Resolved to hold full Parish Council meeting on alternate months, if the PC find this is not working out then it be reviewed.

Millennium Green

(1) Proposed changes to entrance gates to make MG wheelchair accessible

TW has spoken to a contractor who is going to give a costing of the work required, as this figure is only to allow the PC to decide how much work can be done, and how much fund raising is necessary TW has only asked one contractor at this stage – If the work were to go ahead 3 quotes will be obtained.

(2) External fence – This is an on-going discussion between the PC and Highways – TW to again request evidence from Highways that the PC own this fence, as there are many similar in the area, usually where there is a stream, which were erected by the old Cheshire County Council.

Planning Applications –

No new planning applications have been received this month.

Emails – TW has organised the new email accounts and most of the Councillors are now using xxx@crowtonpc.com. TW offered to assist those still having problems with the set up.

The website has been updated with the clerks new email clerk@crowtonpc.com and her old email account has been set to forward to the new one, along with a message advising of the change, so no mail should be missed.

Review and Adoption of Policies.

TW has reviewed all policies, these have been circulated.

Resolved to adopt the following policies.

Complaints, Dignity at Work, Discipline & Grievance, Freedom of Information Data Protection, Equality & Diversity Health & Safety, Publication Scheme, Transparency Code, Risk Management, Scheme of Delegation, Email, Financial Regulations and Standing Orders.

TW to upload all onto the website.

100

Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR)

TW informed the PC that Crowton PC have been selected for an intermediate review as part of the 5% sample of smaller authorities who would normally have a basic review.

101

Correspondence – Nothing received that hasn’t already been discussed.

102

Clerks hours

Following discussions regarding clerks hours not being sufficient, and constantly running into overtime it was Resolved to increase the clerks hours by 1 hour per week.

103

Accounts-

Payments agreed:

(1) Clerk’s salary March plus overtime to date & WFH allowance

(2) Clerks expenses Jan & Feb £73.00

TW confirmed the following payments have been made during the month as per agreement at the February meeting:

Rockgraphics – noticeboard £1584 plus £72 for removal of old noticeboard

Linux – emails £107.84

Elan City – SID’s - £5280

104

Items for next agenda –

SID’s update

Highways update

Millennium Green update

105

Date for next meeting – Due to elections the next meeting will be Tuesday 16th May 2023 at 7pm

The meeting closed at 8.45 pm.