BISHTON COUNCIL CYNGOR CYMUNED TRESEFGOB

MINUTES OF THE BISHTON COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING held Wednesday 5th February 2020 at Underwood Community Centre

ROLL CALL Councillors Mike Hillman (Chair), Anke Hillman, Georgina Jennick, Ben Rice, Graham Watts and Reg Southall (Clerk).

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Councillors Keith Boot, Gillian Burton, John Davies, Rob Hepworth, Craig Johnson, Ian Long and Kevin Rickard.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST Councillor Mike Hillman declared an interest in Underwood Allotments.

POLICE MATTERS There were no updates. However, the Chair emphasised the need for any incidents witnessed to be reported on 101 (anonymously) and incident numbers to be passed to him to feed into the meetings with the Ward CSO.

ANNOUNCEMENTS a. The Clerk made the Council aware that the Public Services Ombudsman had been in contact to inform him that a complaint had been made. At this early stage, the complaint had to be treated in confidence and no further information could be provided. The Clerk confirmed however that it was not in relation to a recent incident which had been successfully been resolved via the Local Resolution process. b. The Chair informed the Meeting that the visit of local Assembly Member John Griffiths planned for 24th January had been postponed. The visit would now be taking place on 6th February with Mr. Griffiths scheduled to be at the Underwood Community Centre from 2pm.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION There was no public participation.

MINUTES AND ACTION POINTS OF THE LAST MEETING The minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting held 18th December 2019 and the Monthly Meeting held 9th January 2020 having been previously circulated to all Councillors and published on the Council website, were approved as a true record and duly signed by the Chair.

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At the 9th January 2020 Monthly Meeting, the Council decided that due to funding restrictions and potential legal issues, it could not accede to a request from the children of Primary School Council for a contribution towards the cost of a project to build a climbing frame in the school grounds. The Chair informed the Meeting that he had been in contact with OneVoiceWales who confirmed that such a donation could be made as this project was not something which is already being funded by the LEA. In light of this, the Chair confirmed he would contribute £40 from the Chair’s Purse to the costs of the project. AP1(05/02/20) – Clerk to write to Llanmartin Primary School informing them of the donation from the Chair’s Purse and action the transfer of funds.

A - PLANNING CONEX/ 19/0923 – External refurbishment of Springfield Court Springfield Court, Llanmartin, Newport NP18 2ER No issues or objections were raised by the Meeting.

B – ISSUES HELD OVER FROM 9th JANUARY MONTHLY MEETING B001/05.02.20 Clerk Statement The Clerk gave brief details of a number of incidents during the current financial year which he considered were unwarranted, questioned his professionalism and constituted harassment. He confirmed that the incidents would be included in the Clerk’s report to the May 2020 AGM and that any further similar incidents would result in an official grievance being taken forward.

C – FINANCE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT C001/05.02.20 Monthly Financial Statement (December) The Clerk presented the Monthly Financial Statement for December 2019 which was agreed by the Meeting and will be posted on the Council website. It was explained that as the Underwood Community Centre extension project was moving forward through the construction phase and payments and reclaims were being actioned, the Monthly Financial Statement would now include a summary of the project monthly financial situation for the duration of the project.

C002/05.02.20 Mandated Councillor payments The Meeting discussed the issue of how the Councillor annual allowance would be administered in light of the fact that there were two differing approaches seen across a number of local Community Councils i.e. issuing a payment and leaving the tax liability to be resolved by the Councillor and payment through the payroll with taxation issue resolved via PAYE. The Clerk pointed out that HMRC guidance indicated that such an allowance was to be treated as a “round sum allowance” and would count as earnings and taxed via PAYE accordingly. The Meeting subsequently voted (the Chair and Councillor Rice abstained as they had opted not to receive the allowance) by a majority of 2:1 for the allowance to be paid through the payroll. AP2(05/02/20) – Clerk to administer mandated Councillor payments for inclusion in the March payroll run.

C003/05.02.20 Councillor Vacancy The Clerk informed the Meeting that he had been in contact with NCC Electoral Registration Manager. It was confirmed that as a call for an election to fill Councillor vacancies had taken place relatively recently with no responses, it was appropriate on this occasion to fill the vacancy by going straight to co-option. In light of this, the

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Meeting agreed the following timetable to fill the vacancy - a) Advertise the requirement during the weekend of 8th February b) Allow three weeks for candidates to respond i.e. closing date 29th February c) Clerk to circulate responses to Councillors ahead of the 4th March Monthly Meeting d) New Councillor to take place on Council from 1st April AP3(05/02/20) – Clerk to finalise co-opting documentation and forward to Councillors for displaying around the community, and publish on the Council website.

C004/05.02.20 Manual Handling Training for Employees It had been recognised that the Council’s cleaners had not had training in office store manual handling techniques which was a health and safety requirement for the post. Councillor Boot had circulated details of appropriate computer-based training and the Chair agreed to liaise with Councillor Davies to enable the cleaners to undertake the training accordingly. AP4(05/02/20) – Chair to liaise with Councillor Davies to arrange manual handling training.

C005/05.02.20 Review of County Electoral Arrangements for Newport The Meeting briefly discussed the draft proposals and any potential impact on Bishton Community Council. Although there were a number of boundary changes at Ward level with the communities of Bishton, Langstone, and combining, there was no consequential impact on the electoral arrangements for the associated community councils. As such Bishton Community Council would remain unchanged under the terms of this electoral ward boundary review.

D – LEISURE AND AMENITIES D001/05.02.20 Improvements/extension to Gymnasium Project Update Councillor Rice informed the Meeting that due to the ongoing delays with the starting of the construction and the RPW reclaim process, the finances of the project had been adversely impacted. This had resulted in cash flow issues and the risk that payment for the project would not be completed by the financial year-end deadline. A £12,000 interest free loan from Langstone Community Council was therefore crucial in enabling the project finances to get back in good order and facilitate a successful payment / reclaim schedule this financial year. The Meeting expressed its gratitude to Langstone Community Council for this financial support. It was further explained that completion of payments by the financial year-end would need to be made before the completion of the project otherwise the funding would be lost. The Meeting agreed unanimously to pay for the construction of the building ahead of full completion. Given the excellent relationship between Quest Construction and the Council the financial risk was deemed to be extremely low. AP5(05/02/20) – Clerk to write official letter of thanks to Llangstone Community Council for the financial support.

Councillor Rice explained that the final payment of £30,000 would be for the purchase of the fixtures and fittings for the gym though there would not be a completed building to store ahead of installation. It was agreed by the Meeting that the current gym would be closed for approximately two months in order for fixtures and fittings to be stored. It was accepted that there would be the loss of income from the facility during this time.

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Once the project was completed and the facility actively used, income generated would go towards the park project being taken forward by Active Underwood. Further Lottery Funding was being sought though an important aspect of the application is the requirement for active involvement of the community in the project. To this end, the Meeting agreed to Councillor Rice’s request that the Council website advertise the issue when requested by Active Underwood.

It was noted that a temporary track had been laid leading to the area of construction to enable suitable access. Once the project was completed, it had been agreed with Quest Construction that the materials used to lay the track could be used in the allotment track to repair the current damage and sinkage.

D002/05.02.20 Allotments The Meeting confirmed the ongoing policy that on health and safety grounds, any new requests from allotment holders to house chickens would be refused until the current pest control contract had concluded (May 2020). The position would then need to be reviewed accordingly.

D003/05.02.20 Protecting Community Spaces Held over to the March 2020 Monthly Meeting.

D004/05.02.20 Bishton Village Defibrillator Held over to the March 2020 Monthly Meeting.

E – HIGHWAYS AND UTILITIES There were no highways and utilities issues to discuss.

F – FORTHCOMING MEETINGS The next Full Council Monthly Meeting will be held on Wednesday 4th March 2020 at Bishton Village Hall, commencing at 6.30pm and finishing no later than 9.30pm.

The next meeting of the Finance and Governance Committee will be held on Tuesday 18th February 2020 at Bishton Village Hall, commencing at 6.30pm and finishing no later than 9.30pm.

Signed………………..………..………….……….. Date…………..…………….

Chair of Council

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