Gaydon Parish Council

Minutes of an Extraordinary Meeting Of Gaydon Parish Council Held by Video Conference On Wednesday 20th May 2020 At 7.30pm

PRESENT: Parish Councillors: CLLR DAVIES (Chair), CLLR BOURNE, CLLR CLAXTON and CLLR LEWIS

IN ATTENDANCE: Four members of the public, CLLR C KETTLE (Stratford District Council) and MR I WILSON (Clerk).

Apologies

CLLR HILL, who had another meeting, CLLR MIDDLEDITCH and CLLR WILLIAMS (Warwickshire County Council (WCC)), who had another meeting. The apologies were accepted

Declarations of interests and consideration of dispensation requests

CLLR BOURNE declared an interest under item 7, application reference 20/00799/FUL, as a neighbouring resident and director of the Ash Close management company.

CLLR LEWIS declared an interest under item 8, as one of the payments to be authorised was a reimbursement to her for an item bought for the community

Acceptance of Minutes from January 2020 OGM

The outstanding minutes from January 2020 were agreed.

Public Participation

There were no matters raised by members of the public in attendance

Gaydon Meadow

Councillors noted the tender report and evaluation (circulated with the notice and agenda for this meeting). It was noted that following the public tender exercise to undertake the work to design and install play equipment at Gaydon Meadow nine responses had been received, of these five met the basis design criteria and were therefore evaluated against the agreed tender evaluation criteria. Two companies scored considerably higher than the others on evaluation, Kompan and Greenspan, and councillors were asked to consider which of these would be their preferred supplier.

Councillors discussed the detailed proposals and evaluation and noted that Greenspan had score slightly higher in evaluation, particularly in terms of added value. It was noted that Greenspan would be able to incorporate work required for drainage and a self-binding gravel path. CLLR BOURNE commented that Greenspan stood out in terms of longevity and range for all ages and was the more original concept, while CLLR CLAXTON thought Greenspan had the better design layout and was the more interesting of the two.

CLLR BOURNE proposed, seconded by CLLR CLAXTON that the council should award the tender to undertake the work to Greenspan. This was agreed unanimously.

Councillors discussed the next steps and agreed that these were to agree a contract terms and conditions with Greenspan, The contract would include a start date and a risk assessment by the contractor, to be agreed in due course.

Reports from Ward Representatives of Warwickshire County Council (WCC)

and Stratford District Council (SDC)

CLLR WILLIAMS had sent apologies. However, his written report had been circulated ahead of the meeting to councillors.

CLLR KETTLE provided an update on behalf of Stratford District Council. He thanked the parish council for their social media updates during COVID-19 and their support to the Community Scheme. It was noted that SDC had distributed 800 food parcels to those in the district self- isolating from the Stratford hub. Feedback had been positive and those in need had received support. However, feedback had been less positive since food wholesale had become involved in the distribution. CLLR KETTLE asked if parish councillors could let him know if there was anybody who needed support who wasn’t receiving it and also to note this through the Gaydon Community Scheme.

CLLR KETTLE reported that business rate grant amounting to £25m had been provided through SDC in accordance with government guidance, though not all businesses had made a claim yet. SDC itself had lost around £8m revenue as a result of COVID-19, this could be covered through reserves, but that would wipe out the current reserves. SDC were now lobbying government for compensation, with only around £1m having been allocated to SDC so far. WCC have also suffered a shortfall after government compensation, but this is only around £1m.

CLLR KETTLE provided an update on the Gaydon Service Station applications. It was noted that the planning inspectorate had overturned the previous SDC refusal, so there were now two live applications, this and the one approved by SDC. It was noted that costs had not been awarded against SDC.

The meeting discussed how SDC was faring compared to other districts in Warwickshire during COVID-19. It was noted that SDC was the fourth most impacted nationally in terms of economic losses, so was bearing the brunt in WCC. However, SDC was the least impacted in terms of the health emergency. CLLR KETTLE would forward the latest health/fatalities figures to parish councillors for SDC. It was also noted that SDC had utilised the good relations fostered with China to have facemasks etc. donated locally from China.

Planning

Noted that the following applications have been received since our last Ordinary Meeting

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We made no representation

Noted the following decisions have been made since our last Ordinary Meeting

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Financial Administration

Bank account – CLLR DAVIES reported that HSBC were not able to change the current mandate and would not be able to provide electronic banking required by the Parish Council with the necessary controls (two authorised signatories for each payment). It was therefore agreed to switch accounts to Unity Bank who could provide this control. It was also noted that other parish councils used Unity Bank, who provided a simple system designed for parish councils.

The following payments were proposed by CLLR CLAXTON and agreed by Councillors for authorisation

7/1/2020 – M LEWIS (Christmas tree for the Village) £29.99 (authorised at the January meeting, included in the draft January minutes but not included on the January agenda)

9/3/2020 – C PICKERING (Maintenance) £ 83.36

9/3/2020 – J WAIN (Secretarial) £135.90

9/3/2020 – S ROBERTS (Speed Gun Batteries) £ 9.43

14/4/2020 – CANE & CO. (Annual Insurance) £356.53

1/5/2020 – C PICKERING (Grass cutting) £210.00

9/5/2020 – C PICKERING (Gras cutting) £270.00

13/5/2020 – I WILSON (Gross Salary and Expenses – Jan, Mar & April) £802.00

13/5/2020 – E-ON (Streetlights) £593.89

It was noted that the internal audit for 2019/20 would take place in June, so that the final accounts and annual return could be agreed by the council in July to meet the deadline for the external audit of 31/7/2020. The public notice period for the final accounts had been extended by two months to September 2020 to take account of COVID-19

Any Other Business

CLLR DAVIES reported that the planning consultant had advised that while some elements of the neighbourhood plan consultation were on hold there were elements of public consultation which could take place, including the Local Housing Needs Survey. Councillors asked that the clerk contact WRCC to see if the Housing Needs Survey was available to progress and then it could be arranged for distribution with the parish magazine. It was suggested to offer a donation if needed to facilitate distribution with the parish magazine.

The meeting discussed the old playground. The clerk would contact Orbit as the owners to ensure that the site was secured and that the remaining equipment be removed as per their recent offer.

There was also a short discussion as to whether the parish required the current office space and it was decided to defer any decision to a future meeting

Future Meetings

As per current guidance from Warwickshire Association of Local Councils (WALC), it was agreed to postpone the annual meeting and annual parish assembly. Ordinary meetings would continue as advertised using video conferencing. The next meeting would be the ordinary meeting on Tuesday 2^nd June 2020

MEETING CLOSED 20:40