Minutes: 22 April 2020

Minutes from the full Parish Council meeting held on 22 April 2020.

Download a full copy of the meeting minutes by clicking here.

PRESENT: Councillor B Gibbs Chairman Councillor V Adams Councillor L Buchanan Councillor K Gibbs Councillor J Hassall Councillor G McIntyre Councillor M Ferguson Councillor R Hancock Councillor R Moore

IN ATTENDANCE: Borough Councillor David Marren

APOLOGIES: Councillor N Cooper

231 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

Members were invited to declare any (a) disclosable pecuniary interest; (b) personal interest; or © prejudicial interest which they had in any item of business on the agenda, the nature of that interest, and in respect of disclosable interests and prejudicial interests, to leave the meeting prior to the discussion of that item.

Councillor Buchanan declared a personal interest in Minute No 233 on the basis that she was Chairman of Shavington Youth Club which was a lessee of 140 Main Road. Councillor Hancock also declared a personal interest in Minute №233; this was on the basis that Shavington Village Festival Committee, of which she was a member, was a sub-tenant of 140 Main Road.

No other declarations were made.

232 MINUTES

RESOLVED: That the following Minutes be approved as correct records. (Signature of the minutes by the Chairman would be deferred to a future date.)

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote and the motion was carried. • 4 March 2020 • 11 March 2020 (Extra-ordinary meeting) • 18 March 2020 (Extra-ordinary meeting)

233 DONATION — SHAVINGTON YOUTH CLUB

At the meeting held on 5 February 2020 the Parish Council donated £2,000 to Shavington Youth Club and agreed to consider making a further grant, at its meeting which was scheduled to be held on 1 April 2020.

As that meeting was cancelled, the Council was due to consider the matter at this meeting; however, following issue of the agenda, the Treasurer withdrew the request, advising that the Youth Club currently had £1,200 of funds. She predicted that in August there may be a shortfall of £800 but this would not be known until the Youth Club re-commenced its activities in July 2020, subject to the lockdown arrangements.

This matter would be considered at a future meeting.

234 DONATION — SHAVINGTON SCOUT GROUP

The Parish Council considered a request from Shavington Scout Group, for a donation of £1,500 to offset its current financial position as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic. An email from the Cub and Scout Leader outlining the current financial position of the group, was submitted. It was noted that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the subscription payments to the Scouts Group had reduced and on 1 April 2020, the group was approximately £630 short of expected subscriptions. Moreover, the pandemic had prevented the group from organising fund-raising activities to supplement its income.

The requested donation of £1,500 would cover the shortfall and would be able to offset the expected hardship to be experienced when the next round of subscriptions was due on 1 September 2020.

The Small Grants scheme allowed for £250 only to be granted. If this donation were approved, therefore, it would need to be authorised under S.137 of the Local Government Act, which allowed parish councils in England to spend money where there was no other statutory power to spend.

The policy objective of that section was to permit parish councils to incur expenditure on items that were of direct benefit to their area where no other powers of expenditure existed. Section 137(4) of the 1972 Act provided for limits for such expenditure, and for the method of calculating those limits. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had recently notified the National Association of Local Councils that the appropriate sum for the purpose of section 137(4)(a) was £8.32 per elector.

The Parish Council was minded to approve the request but agreed that to enable an informed decision to be made, detailed financial information was required. When previous donation requests had been considered, the applicants had been required to submit detailed financial information.

RESOLVED: (a) That Shavington Scout Group be asked to provide detailed information about its financial position, showing income and expenditure to date, projected income and expenditure, and a copy of its latest bank statement; and

(b) That, upon receipt of the financial information, the request be considered at the next available Parish Council meeting.

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote and the motion was carried.

235 140 MAIN ROAD, SHAVINGTON

At the meeting held on 4 March 2020, the Clerk was asked to contact Councillor Nick Mannion, Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Regeneration to enquire into Cheshire East Council’s plans for 140 Main Road, Shavington, currently occupied under lease by Shavington Youth Club. Councillor Mannion referred this matter to the CEC Property Services Manager, who phoned the Clerk to discuss the Parish Council’s intentions regarding the building.

The key points in the discussion were as follows:

• Roof repairs to the building would cost approximately £200,000 and the Borough Council was not proposing to use its funds to carry out these repairs, irrespective of whether the Parish Council wished to take it over as an asset
• The building could be let on a lease of 30 years, but if the Parish Council wished to request a lease of 99 years, this would be considered.
• In a lease arrangement, the cost of the roof repairs would need to be funded by the Parish Council.
• The lease fee was unknown.
• The Borough Council would not be willing to give up the freehold.
• The Borough Council had no firm plans for either retention or disposal of the building.

Members discussed various issues which would need to be taken into consideration in the event of the Parish Council wishing to pursue the adoption of 140 Main Road as a Parish Council asset. Matters to be considered included initial financial outlay (e.g. repairing the roof), potential use of the building, its potential loss to the parish as a building of historic value, and the financial viability of operating it as a community venue.

It was suggested that in due course, a consultation be undertaken with residents to establish if there was interest in retaining the building as a parish asset. It was acknowledged that this would need to be a robust consultation to ensure that residents were fully informed of the financial consequences of accepting responsibility for this building.

RESOLVED: (a) That a small working group be established which would meet with the appropriate Portfolio Holder and Officers at Cheshire East Council to discuss options for a potential transfer of 140 Main Road, Shavington, to the Parish Council; (b) That the Working Group comprise Councillors B Gibbs, L Buchanan, and J Hassall; © That each Member consider the issues raised at this meeting and email the Clerk with their views on the advantages and disadvantages of accepting 140 Main Road, Shavington as a Parish Council asset; (d) That the Clerk retain the emails for future consideration; and (e) That no further action be taken at this time.

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote and the motion was carried.

236 PLANNING MATTERS

236.1 Planning application notifications indicated below, had been forwarded to Members who were asked to make any comments, as individuals, to Cheshire East Council.

20/0513N 45 Ashcroft Avenue, CW2 5HW
Remodelling of existing dwelling to include for removal of garage to Side, extensions to front and side, and internal alterations to layout.

20/0935N Basford West Development, Jack Mills Way
Installation of electrical sub-station, kiosk, and feeder pillar, and Two gas meter housings, concrete foundations, and associated plant.

20/1045N Land north of Weston Lane, Shavington
Provision of separate vehicular egress and alteration and widening Of existing listed stone gate piers to allow agricultural vehicle access

20/1214N 22 Wessex Close, Shavington CW2 5HX
Single-storey kitchen extension

20/0931N Boughey Distribution, Jack Mills Way
Proposed free-standing lightweight demountable canopy.

236.2 Planning Applications

The Parish Council was invited to submit observations on the following planning applications:

20/1423N Unit 1, Alexandra Business Park, Gresty Lane, CW2 5DD
Proposed warehouse/light industrial frame shed.

RESOLVED: That if the Borough Council were minded to approve application №20/1423N, the Parish Council request that it be conditioned to provide for signage which would raise awareness of speeding restrictions on Gresty Lane.

20/1511N Unit 4, Crewe Commercial Park, Jack Mills Way, CW2 5TZ
Temporary planning permission for change of use of ancillary Office space to stand-alone B1 office use.

RESOLVED: That no observations be made on planning application №20/1511N.

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote in respect of both planning applications and the motion for each was carried.

237 PAYMENTS

It was noted that the Clerk had made the following payments either by debit card or BACS.

31 March 2020 £200.92 Scottish Power — Village Hall

14 April 2020 £300.00 Nicola Cooper Photography, £52.79 Zoom — Platform for remote meetings.

20 April 2020 £84.00 Northwich Town Council — purchase of padlocks For Vine Tree Play Area.

20 April 2020 £268.80 Crystal Clean South Cheshire Ltd. 6-hour deep clean of Village Hall, and 2-hour regular clean.one x two-hour

As the two PCSOs were currently using the Village Hall, the Clerk had authorised the cleaning contractor to carry out a two-hour clean each week, sanitising as appropriate.

238 VE DAY CELEBRATIONS

Although the VE Day celebrations had been cancelled, the Parish Council considered arrangements for an updated event to comprise:

• ‘Stay at Home’ street party (Bank Holiday, Friday, 8 May 2020) Suggested time for the party — 2.30–3.30 pm (with a loyal toast at 3.00 pm)
• Build a scarecrow and post a photo online (in readiness for the bank holiday).

There would be no competition; this would be a means of acknowledging the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Brave Little Tank had provided samples of marketing/messaging and the Parish Council was asked to consider using these on the website and social media.

RESOLVED: (a) That the illustrative material provided by Brave Little Tank be used to publicise the ‘Stay at Home’ street party and ‘Build a Scarecrow’, via the website and social media; and

(b) That a note be added to the publicity material to stress that residents should not be leaving their homes to view the scarecrows, but should view them on-line only.

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote and the motion was carried.

239 GROUNDS MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) between Northwich Town Council and the Parish Council had been amended to reflect comments made at the extra-ordinary Council meeting on 11 March 2020.

Following that meeting some Members had made further suggested alterations to the SLA and the Council now considered those suggestions.

• Corner of Barons Road/Crewe Road. The Council had agreed that grasscutting around the flower-bed be reduced from 12 times a year to eight times a year and the figure of eight was featured in the revised SLA. A Member had subsequently suggested that this revert to 12 times a year as this would be consistent with other grass-cutting frequency.
• Sugar Loaf Corner. The Council had queried the cost of £98.00 for leafremoval and considered it to be too expensive. The Clerk was asked to enquire if this cost was accurate, but there was no decision as to what action should be taken when a response from Northwich Town Council was received. Northwich Town Council had confirmed that the cost was accurate. In view of this, a Member suggested deleting the leaf-removal from the SLA.

RESOLVED: (a) That grass cutting at the corner of Barons Road/ Crewe Road be reinstated as 12 times a year; and

(b) That leaf-removal at the corner of Barons Road/Crewe Road be reinstated as once a year at a cost of £98.00.

240 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED: That in accordance with Paragraph 1 (2) of The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items owing to the confidential nature of the business to transacted and the public interest would not be served in disclosing that information.

(Note: Borough Councillor D Marren withdrew from the meeting at this point in the proceedings.)

241 SHAVINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL — USE OF CAR PARK (S.137 GRANT)

(Reason for exclusion: Contractual arrangements between the Parish Council and the Learning for Life Partnership — Shavington Primary School.)

In the absence of reaching agreement in respect of the draft licence provided by the Learning for Life Partnership, the Parish Council was asked to consider making a grant which would cover community use of the car park until 2021.

The power under S.137 of the Local Government Act 1972 had been explained in Minute №234 above.

RESOLVED: (a) That a grant offer of £5,500 be made to Shavington Primary School to allow community access to the car park for 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, subject to any maintenance or repairs which may from time-to-time be carried out by the school;

(b) That community use take effect from 22 April 2020 finishing on 21 April 2021; and

© That the grant be made under S.137 of the Local Government Act 1972, as the Parish Council was satisfied that this would be of direct benefit to the area.

Each Member present was individually polled for their vote and the motion was carried