OFFICIAL NOTICE OF STUTTON CUM HAZLEWOOD PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
The Meeting of Stutton cum Hazlewood Parish Council was held on Thursday 8 February 2024 at 7.30pm
Clerk: Mrs G Kitchen.
Email: clerkstuttonpc@gmail.com Tel: 07796 544404
Meetings are open to the press and public except for any item labelled as Part 2 under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960.
Press and public may not speak when the Council is in session.
Present: Cllr C Heard, Cllr P Spurrier (Vice Chairman), Cllr E Catt, Cllr K Grayson, Cllr Kent
Agenda items
240101. Welcome
Chairman welcomed councilors to the meeting; no public were present.
240102. Apologies
To receive councilors’ and others apologies and reasons for absence; to resolve whether or not to accept the reasons. – Prior apologies received from Mrs G Kitchen (clerk/RFO) – accepted. A record of the meeting was taken by Cllr Spurrier.
240103. Declarations of interest
To receive and record any declarations of personal, prejudicial and disclosable pecuniary interests. Councillors with any prejudicial interests must leave the meeting for the relevant item(s). No interests were declared.
240104. Minutes of previous meeting
Councillors to discuss and resolve whether to accept the 11 January minutes as an accurate record of the meeting. Chairman to sign the minutes if accepted. The council resolved to accept the minutes as an accurate record and the Chairman agreed to sign them as accepted.
240105. Public Forum
To receive comments on agenda items and matters of community interest from electors present. For information only; clerk to note comments; no discussion between councillors and electors. No members of the public present.
240106. Administrative Matters
None presented at meeting.
240107. RFO’s Report on current balances and payments – at 26/01/2024 current account £12671.12
investment account 10182.91
Funds received – none at time of agenda preparation.
Payments –
HMRC £162.60 cheque no. 001117
Clerk salary £216.72 cheque no. 001118
Two additional payments were raised which councillors’ resolved to pay, these were:
A cheque for £55.99 to be made payable to Cllr Catt for the purchase of weedkiller for the Village Hall
A cheque for £33.90 to be made to Cllr Spurrier for the purchase of a memorial plaque
Action: Clerk to prepare and send two cheques
240108. To receive reports from:
- County and District Councillors –
- Any other representatives – Police, CEF etc.
None present
240109– Planning
None at time of meeting, erection of porch at Paddock House. Granted
Decisions – Decision No ZG2023/1273/HPA
240110 – Matters ongoing
Underpass Lighting – no discussion as Clerk taking forward action
VAR signage – no discussion as Clerk taking forward action
Memorial plaque – plaque ordered, and image shared with Councillors. Further discussion about other members of the community who had made a significant contribution to the Parish and how best to mark their contribution.
Website Upgrade – Cllr Heard has now shared all communication he has received on this matter with other councillors. He confirmed we have a development website with Cuttlefish and that the “old” website is once again available to add PC agenda/minutes in the interim. Thanks to David Birchall for updating the website.
Discussions took place regarding the information received from 2commune and way forward, depending upon response from Cuttlefish.
Action: Cllr Heard agreed by the next meeting to establish with Cuttlefish whether we have an active/usable web site available to us and what additional costs would be involved to get the new site up and running.
Speed Activated signs (SAS) – Cllr Spurrier reported that the grant application had been unsuccessful, however it had been passed to the Road Safety Partnership to see if they can assist. Discussion about PC going ahead with the SAS without grant as these are an important safety addition to the Parish. Agreed to approach Cllr Poskitt at next meeting to explore possibility of match funding.
240111 –Correspondence received
None at time of meeting
240112. Village Hall Update Cllr Spurrier gave his update from the Village Hall and Social Committee.
Finance
The bank accounts for the village hall (VH) and the social committee have now been combined for transparency in applying for future grants. The current balance is £21,659.35 – this is up £13,564.51 from the combined total last year. This year £13,454 in grants were received, however without them and the kind donations from the Parish Council and Tuesday Socials the VH would still be running at a slight loss. Steps have been taken to reduce utility bills and any unnecessary costs. On a promising note, VH sales for the year were £3532.50 which is up by £638.75.
Grants
There is one grant application in and waiting; there is another currently being prepared but will require a site visit with NYCC before it can be completed and a third in preparation for a government grant for insulation.
Officer Changes
Kathryn Grayson – Chair
Emily Tudball – Vice Chair
Richard King – Treasurer
Julie Cully – Secretary
Mike Grayson – fundraising/grant applications
Paul Spurrier – Parish Council Representative
Outgoing Chair’s round up of year
Thanks to committee members and volunteers. Since the amalgamation of the Village Hall and Social Committees last year, there is a good core of people available to manage the everyday administration and running of the Hall. Regular bookers have been retained, as well as attracting a good number of parties, plus a few one-off events. There is a regular weekly hire that will continue through to the summer.
Numerous successful events through the year including large whole community events such as Coronation of Charles III with a family BBQ the regular Tuesday Social evenings, initially as part of the Government’s “Warm Spaces” initiative, which are well attended and give some of those members of our community who perhaps would not normally go to other Village Events, a place to meet and socialise. The VH now has a film license, enabling films to be shown for the first time and the VH has hosted a number of Talk Nights on subjects ranging from the geology of the area to “life growing up in Stutton village”.
Over the past twelve months, a considerable amount of time and effort has be placed into securing funding to refurbish and improve the facilities of the Village Hall. This is obviously ongoing, but good headway has been made, and it is looking promising that some funding will enable us to begin works during the coming year. There is a lot to do, but priorities include the toilets, roof and access. How much can be achieved will depend on the success of our applications, but we are hopeful that we can at least get things started. Thanks must go to Mike Grayson for all his hard work in researching and applying for the funding to improve the VH.
Events
20 January – life saving event across the 2 hours approximately 20 people turned up to take part in practical CPR/defibrillator use and receive information about emergency first-aid
24 January -Talk Night – Tourism York – a historic look at visitors to York through the ages was attended by over 30 people, with considerable support and enthusiasm shown for a further follow up session
25 January – VH Committee AGM
27 January – the Burn’s Night supper was canceled due to a lack of interest
The regular Tuesday night get together continues with good support for local residents.
Upcoming Events
28 February – Talk Night – mail from York to London
The regular Tuesday night get together and other events TBA
240113. Councillors’ Forum
a)To take any urgent points of community interest and/or concern from Councilors. No decisions may be taken at this meeting on any items raised here. Clerk to make notes for future reference.
Cllr Heard highlighted the recent guidance that Parish Councils should switch to a “.gov.uk” email account. Councillor felt this would be a good idea and should be added to the agenda for the next meeting.
Action: Cllr Heard agreed to check what was involved in making this change.
240114 – Further comments from the public – none present
240115 – Date of next meeting Wednesday 20 March 2024
240116 – Closure of meeting – 20:29
240117. Part 2 – No part 2 items.