ILAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

21 September 2021 @ 8 pm Dovedale House

Present C Sellers, V Nottage, R Wain, N Taylor, K Warrington

E Wain (SMDC), A Pass, P Watson (Clerk)

Apologies L Oulsnam, C Hibbert- Foy

Minutes

● Minutes of the meeting held on 13 July were read and signed as true and correct.

National Trust

● Two quotations have been obtained for resurfacing the Church Path.  The first one is for £10,041 up to Church Lodge as the surface from there on is currently ok.  The second includes the part from Church Lodge onwards and is for £11,814. The Council plans to start a fund to raise the required money and try to solicit donations for villagers and others.

● E Wain will investigate funding via the Internet.

● N Taylor will write to the National Lottery.

● V Nottage will ask Anne Goldstraw about funding ideas.

● At E Wain’s instigation Lafarge are considering making a donation.

● Dan Nottage will try to free up funds from the defunct Ilam Youth Club fund.

● C Sellers will try to open a separate bank account and all payment and pledges should be recorded.

● C Sellers will contact the NT Regional Director after P Watson has provided his contact details.

● K Warrington will help with preparing and sending letters to possible donors including the Diocese, Karen Bradley and Bill Cash. R Wain will deliver one of the letters to the new owners of Castern Hall.

Improving Village Environment

● There is still £60 in this year’s budget for flowers and bushes but the Clerk advised there is more available since some other budgeted items are no longer needed.

● The Council decided to put any request for a second dog poo bin on hold to see how things go in future.

Highways

● While surveying for the new yellow lines County Highways found that the road edges need repairing first.

Website

● The Council decided to scrap the existing ilam.or.uk website. The Clerk will set up a new, simpler site that will contain only the Parish Council information. It is expected that annual costs will be reduced from £155 p.a. to around £50

SPCA

● The Council decided to leave the Staffordshire Parish Councils’ Association thereby saving £60 p.a.

Finance

● There is £1081 in the account. Budgeted expenditure for the rest of the financial year is £553 while income of £600 will be received. So the year-end balance at the end of March would be £1128, which includes a notional £200 for defibrillator maintenance. However there are likely savings of £160 from simplifying the website and leaving SPCA.

New Clerk

● L Oulsnam will take over the role of Clerk. P Watson will hand over the appropriate files and show her how to maintain the new, simplified website.

● C Hibbert-Foy will take over the role of RFO. P Watson will hand over the accounts, cheque book, etc.

Date of next meeting    The next meeting will be on 09 November 2021, hopefully at Dovedale House.