EXMOOR PARISH COUNCIL MEETING Via ZOOM
Thursday 4th June 2020 7.30pm
Councillor(s) Present: Cllrs: F Schott, A Vigars, A Chapman, T Gowlland, District Councillor S Pugsley & Clerk and RFO Mrs C Hornsby
Members of the Public: None
Before the meeting started the Clerk apologised for the Agenda stating Extraordinary meeting, it was in fact a normal full parish council meeting. All Cllrs present noted this.
The parish council had previously attempted a meeting with all Cllrs on Zoom but due to very poor internet coverage for most Cllrs the decision was taken, in light of the recent 6 people can meet permission from the government from Monday 1st June, for the 5 Cllrs and one clerk to meet at The Vicarage Garden where 4G was available and ensuring a 2m distance was kept at all times. Any one else wishing to join the meeting were invited to do so via Zoom. This worked very well and will be implemented as such for any further pc meetings.
01/20 Questions from the public. Previously emailed to the clerk for an official record to be kept. Any member of the public may make a virtual presentation to the meeting (no more than three minutes), by submitting a written summary to the Clerk no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting by email. Alternatively, the Clerk will read the statement out in full. None received
02/20 Apologies of Absence Cllr J Chanter,
03/20 Declarations of notifiable interests Can be raised at specific points of the meeting.
04/20 Approval of the Minutes of the last meeting held on 30/01/2020 These were proposed by TG and 2nd by FS as a true and correct record, the chairman signed the minutes.
05/20 Matters arising from the minutes of 30/01/2020 None
06/20 Planning Clerk reported: GDO 20/05 Driver Farm - prior approval was not needed but SP reported that as it was a Park planning application it was done in full public view. 6/14/20/101 Ashcombe Bungalow - approved with conditions. Clerk mentioned that she had just received notification that day 6/14/20/102 The Old Vicarage proposed manege (30m x 20m) had been revised and now was for an area 40m x 20m and asked TG to speak about the changes. As TG declared an interest on this planning the cllrs will look at the revised plans and pass their thoughts to the clerk to email ENPA.
07/20 Finance (i) Report from Internal Auditor there was one typing error in the minutes which the clerk has rectified and the minutes for the Sept and Nov 2019 meetings were not signed by the chair. The chair and clerk both apologised for this over sight and these minutes were duly signed by the chair. (ii) Approval of gift vouchers for the Internal Auditor TG proposed and FS 2nd £30 gift donation for the work done by Mrs Lyn Fisher for the internal audit and all AGREED, clerk to organise (iii) Presentation of 2019/2020 accounts (previously circulated) (iv) Adoption of Accounts was proposed by AV and 2nd by AC and all AGREED and the Bank Reconciliation was signed by Chair and RFO.
08/20 Section 1 of Audit: Annual governance statement 2019/20 was approved by all Cllrs and signed by Chair & RFO
09/20 Section 2 of Audit: Accounting statements 2019/20 was approved by all the Cllrs and signed by Chair (previously signed by RFO)
10/20 Audit Certificate of Exemption was approved by all the Cllrs and signed by Chair & RFO. RFO informed the Council that the Exercise for public rights will be implemented as soon as the audit paperwork is on the website. (NB: Since the meeting the Clerk has set the date for 22nd June 31st July for the public to view the full accounting records and all accounts are on the website for public viewing)
11/20 District and County council reports. (i) SP- Park Member and District Cllr spoke about the Park and how it is continuing to meet via the internet to conduct its business. (ii) SP reported from the SW&T DC that there were two distinct sets of grants in light of the COVID 19 situation. The first is for businesses, paying business rates with a rateable value of less than £51k in the retail, leisure or hospitality sector, including self-catering holiday letting businesses, camp sites, pubs and village halls (as long as the village hall is not owned by a PC as they cannot apply as they receive a precept from the DC). These grants are allocated to the DC to administer and is a considerable sum of money. The second of the grants has been added as of 1st June and is a Discretionary Grant system, aimed at businesses that dont pay Business Rates. This has much less money (2 million pounds covering all of SW&T DC) and the government are quite prescriptive about what types of businesses are eligible in the first instance (including Bed and Breakfast establishments and businesses in shared premises). If the take up for these grants is slow then the Councils can broaden the eligibility criteria. As the amount per grant can be up to £10,000 this will not go far. (iii) The Parish Cllrs spoke about the recent litter and bad parking that has arisen since the relaxation of the lockdown measures and asked for advice from SP about what could be done. SP will speak to County Cllr FN about the matter of parking and report back to the clerk. It was stated how much rubbish the Park Rangers were collecting during this time and how people visiting the area were leaving waste BBQs, excrement, sanitary products and were not adhering to the social distancing rules. It was a problem that the Park are fully aware of and are doing their best to manage within difficult circumstances.
12/20 Date and time of next meeting: TBC for July 2020
There being no further busines the chairman closed the meeting at 8.10pm
Signed
Chairman .Date