Hassocks Parish Council

Agenda

You are summoned to a virtual meeting of the Parish Council on 4th August 2020 at 7.30 pm.

Parish Clerk  29 July 2020

Members of the public are encouraged to come to the meetings and there is an opportunity for them to address the Council relating to the non-confidential items on the published agenda.

If you wish to attend, this virtual meeting please email info@hassocks-pc.gov.uk before 4pm on 3rd August 2020 to be sent an electronic invitation before 6pm on the 4th August 2020.

AGENDA

1. APOLOGIES

1.1 To Accept Apologies for Absence.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

2.1       Disclosure by Councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, and whether the Councillor regards their interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

3. MINUTES

3.1       To accept the minutes of the:

Parish Council meeting 30th June 2020

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Up to fifteen minutes will be available to allow for the public to make representations, answer questions or give evidence in respect of any item of business included in the agenda, in accordance with Standing Orders.

5. MINUTES

To accept the following Minutes

5.1       Planning Committee – 22nd June 2020 and to note the minutes for the 13th July 2020.

5.2       To note the minutes of the Ground & Environment Committee for 9th July 2020

6. FINANCE

6.1       To approve the Financial Report and authorise the list of payments in the sum of £25,390.30 for the period ending 30/6/2020 set out in (Appendix 1.) To view Appendix 1 please click here.

7. REPORTS

7.1       District, Councillors’ Report
7.2       County Councillor Report
7.3       Rail Matters (oral report, Leslie Campbell)
7.4       Youth Initiatives
7.5       Police report
7.6       Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented.

8. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

8.1       Current matters (oral report)

9. CLERK’S REPORT

9.1      Committee membership: At the previous Council meeting in June the Council co-opted Claire Tester onto the Council. Cllr Tester has now attended a number of Council meetings and has indicated that she would like to be considered to sit on the Planning Committee.

Therefore members are invited to formally approve Cllr Testers request to join the Planning Committee.

9.2       Christmas light motif sign repair At Grounds & Environment Committee members considered a report regarding the letting of the new festive lights contract and the repair of the Merry Christmas Hassocks motif. Members approved the repair of the motif to be funded from savings realised from the lighting contract budget and the balance shortfall of up to £700 to be met from General Reserves subject to Council approval.

The extract from the minutes is set out below

Extract from Grounds & Environment minutes 9th July 2020:

GE 20/15         At the Grounds & Environment meeting held on 27 February 2020 Members were informed that the Merry Christmas Hassocks Frame has started to fail in sections, which is to be expected over a period of time.  Members were invited to consider the various options and agreed that keeping the original frame was the preferred option.   It was therefore AGREED that a complete refurbishment would be the preferred route at the provided guide price of £1200 plus VAT if a guarantee were provided with the work.  The quote had been provided by the current contractor Merlin Lighting Ltd.  The Deputy Clerk was instructed to confirm that a guarantee would be provided.

The contractor had confirmed that a 12 month warranty would be provided on the refurbishment.  This guarantee would be extended to cover 3 years should the contractor be selected to provide the overall lighting as he would be responsible for the movement and storage of the light.

It was noted that a saving of £860 had been made on the Festive Lights this year and therefore this could be used towards the refurbishment of the large motif.  Allowing for funds to cover the cost of energy usage, based on a max charge of £1500 for the repair £700 would be needed from General Reserves to cover the full cost.

GE 20/15.1      It was RESOLVED TO APPROVE the expenditure of £800 from the 2020 Festive Lights budget towards the cost of the refurbishment of the Merry Christmas Hassocks motif at a total cost of up to £1500 plus VAT to be carried out by Merlin Lighting Ltd.

GE 20/15.2      It was RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND to Full Council that up to £700 may be released from General Reserves towards the cost of the refurbishment of the Merry Christmas Hassocks motif at a total cost of up to £1500 plus VAT.

Members are therefore requested to consider the recommendation from the Grounds & Environment Committee to fund the shortfall in the Festive lighting motif repair from general reserves up to a maximum sum of £700 with the balance being met from savings in the Christmas lighting budget.

10. Urgent Matters at the discretion of the Chairman for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

11. Date of next meeting 8th September 2020 at 7.30pm

EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS In view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted Councillors will be referred to the Confidential agenda If any members of the public or press are present they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting.

FILMING, RECORDING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS AND USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
During this meeting members of the public may film or record the Committee and officers from the public area only providing it does not disrupt the meeting. The Confidential section of the meeting may not be filmed or recorded. If a member of the public objects to being recorded, the person(s) filming must stop doing so until that member of the public has finished speaking. The use of social media is permitted but members of the public are requested to switch their mobile devices to silent for the duration of the meeting

Please Note
All members of the public are welcome to attend to attend meetings of the Parish Council and its Committees.

Item 4 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public statements and questions relating to the published non-confidential business of the Meeting.

It may be necessary to consider particular items in confidential session and where this arises, these items will be considered at the end of the agenda.

Minutes

Minutes of the Virtual Meeting of the Parish Council held on 4th August 2020 at 7.30pm.

Attendees: Parish Councillors Jane Baker (Vice Chair), Kristian Berggreen, Nick Owens, David Hammond, Bob Brewer, Frank Rylance, Alex Simmons. Claire Tester and Ian Weir

Parish Clerk: Ian Cumberworth

MINUTES

PC20/29      APOLOGIES

Cllr Peter Gibbons, Leslie Campbell, Francis Gaudencio, Kate Bailey, Sue Hatton and Bill Hatton.

County Cllr Kirsty Lord

PC20/30      DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS

Disclosure by Councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, and whether the Councillor regards their interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

None.

PC20/31      MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on the 30th June 2020 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.      

PC20/32      PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There was no members of the public present (virtually)

PC20/33      MINUTES

To agree the following Minutes.

33.1      Planning Committee minutes for the 22nd June 2020 and to note the minutes of the 13th July 2020.

33.2      To note the minutes of the Grounds & Environment Committee for 9th July 2020.

PC20/34      FINANCE

Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the payment list. The Finance report and payments totalling £25,390.30 for the period ending 30th June 2020.

Members raised a number of queries relating to items on the payment schedule which were clarified by the Clerk. Members therefore APPROVED the report.

PC20/35      Reports

35.1            District Councillors reports: – Cllr Sue Hatton had submitted her apologies but had submitted a paper to the Clerk which he read out:

Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) have suffered a significant impact on its income streams as a result of Covid 19. In particular with regard to the leisure centres and the ongoing maintenance costs associated with these facilities which has contributed to the delay in re-opening. MSDC are currently trying to renegotiate the existing terms with the operator to enable the venues to reopen at a future point.

MSDC Draft Site Allocations DPD (Regulation 19) document has just been published for consultation and two sites under consideration although within the parish of Burgess Hill are on the border of Keymer / Hassocks. The sites are located off Folders Lane but may impact on traffic joining Ockley lane (SA12 and SA13) which Cllr (S) Hatton hoped the parish council will consider making representations on.

The Clerk advised members that the consultation period runs from 3rd August until the 28th September 2020. Cllr Owens (Chair of Planning Committee) confirmed that the planning committee are scheduled to consider the matter at its next Planning meeting scheduled for the 24th August.

Cllr Hatton also advised that the Covid 19 volunteer group within the parish are scaling down but will scale up again in the event of a 2nd wave.

The Clerk advised members that a letter of thanks had been sent to the volunteer group organisers thanking them for their efforts of support for the community as agreed at the Councils previous meeting.

35.2      County Councillors report – None

35.3       Rail matters – Nothing to report.

35.4     Youth Initiatives – The Clerk reminded members that they had approved some funding earlier this year to enable the youth group to continue to operate prior to lockdown.

During the lockdown, the organisers have continued to hold ‘virtual sessions’.

The Council has now been advised that the organisers are proposing to commence some ‘detached work’ with users of the skate park.

This will involve games & activities outside Adastra hall and the skate park which is proposed to be run on Wednesdays between 4 – 5.30 pm. It is understood that similar initiatives operated across Sussex have proved to be successful.

35.5       Police matters – The Clerk informed members that the police continue to visit the park periodically and were requested to do so with the ongoing construction and pending opening of the play areas.

The Council’s Silent Solider installation at the entrance to Adastra Park has recently been vandalised. This was reported to the police who placed an item on social media where they received a number of offers from people offering to contribute to its repair.

The Council has undertaken its own repairs.

35.6      Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented – None

PC/20/36     CHAIRS REPORT – The meeting Chair indicated that she had nothing formally to report other than to reiterate the Council’s appreciation as to how the staff team have pulled together to continue to deliver services throughout the current challenging circumstances and having to adapt to different operational practices. It should also be noted that some of the team are now due to take well deserved leave later this month. Cllr Baker also indicated that she would now be passing the reins back to Cllr Weir as Chair of the Council.

PC/20/37     CLERK’S REPORT

37.1    Committee Membership – this report sought member’s approval to nominate Cllr Tester to sit as a representative on the Planning Committee.

Members agreed the proposal and RESOLVED to APPROVE the appointment of Cllr Tester to sit on the Planning Committee with immediate effect.

37.2   Christmas light motif sign repair: Members were requested to consider the recommendation from the Grounds & Environment Committee (GE20/15.2) seeking approval to release funds from general reserves to supplement the lighting budget to enable the motif (Light Up Hassocks to be repaired) an extract from the minutes is produced within this agenda.

After consideration Members RESOLVED to APPROVE the release of additional funds of up to £700 from General Reserves to part fund the repair of the motif. The balance of which is to be met from savings realised from the existing Christmas lighting budget.

PC/20/38     URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

38.1       The Clerk raised one item for noting: Members were advised that the play areas within Adastra Park have been completed and a final handover meeting with the contractors was scheduled for Wednesday 5th August.

The areas have passed their ROSPA safety inspections which although identified a couple of minor issues that need to be addressed by the contractor these would not prevent the areas being opened.

It was confirmed that Insurance coverage has been arranged to come into effect when the equipment formally passes over to the council.

The Council have been required to undertake risk assessments of the areas in line with the government Covid guidance. As a result of this some pieces of equipment have been temporarily taped off from use.

Additional Covid 19 guidance signage has also been installed setting out additional guidelines in the use of the play area and equipment.

It is anticipated that the fences will come down later this week and the areas opened for use.

PC/20/39     DATE OF NEXT MEETING September 8th 7.30pm

The meeting closed at 19.55pm