Dawn Lacey — Parish Clerk & RFO
claygate PARISH COUNCIL
caring for Claygate Village
Claygate Parish Council
Claygate Village Hall
Church Road
Claygate
Surrey KT10 0JP
☎ 07741 848 719
email: clerk@claygateparishcouncil.gov.uk
website: www.claygateparishcouncil.gov.uk
MINUTES OF THE CLAYGATE PARISH COUNCIL Meeting held on Thursday 5th December 2024 at 8.30pm
| Present:
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Chair: Cllr Holt
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| Council Members:
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Cllr Collon, Cllr Freeborn, Cllr French, Cllr Herbert, Cllr Moon, and Cllr Sheppard
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| In attendance:
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Dawn Lacey (Parish Clerk & RFO)
Six members of the public
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| 1.
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To accept apologies for absence.
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Apologies from Cllr Bingham, Cllr Bray, Cllr Coffey.
The absence of Cllr Freeborn was noted.
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| 2.
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To receive Declarations of Interest in items on the agenda.
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None.
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| 4.
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Actions from the previous meeting held on Thursday 10th October
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- Item 5:1 Completed
- Item 5:3 Completed
- Item 14:1 In progress
- ACTION – Clerk to get a much better breakdown of what is covered by CIL and what isn’t
- ACTION – Chair to contact John Smith at HTC
- Item 14:2 Ongoing
- Item 15 Completed
- Item 16 Completed
- Item 20 Ongoing
- Item 21 Ongoing
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| 5.
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To answer any questions from the general public.
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- a: Why do the Accounting Statements for 23/24 show Staff Costs going down when in reality the financial year was an exceptionally expensive one for Clerk-related expenses?
- Cllr Holt explained that due to the advice of PKF Littlejohn and Scribe we are unable to show consulting fees on our statements.
b: In view of the rosy financial picture depicted in the Accounting Statements for 23/24, why did the Parish Council see the need to increase the precept at all this year—let alone by 12%, when both Elmbridge and Surrey increased their council taxes by just 3%?
- Cllr Holt explained that the Precept had been unchanged for eight years before the increase was put in place, making money extremely tight indeed for core services, especially following the high levels of inflation we have recently experienced.
c: Why is the Parish Council considering a grant of £50k to Holy Trinity?
- Cllr Collon explained that we are considering the application because it has been made. But it has not yet been decided. Cllr Collon also explained that this is not an application for a grant from the Parish Council but an application for CIL funding.
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| 6.
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To receive a report of EBC’s Oversight & Scrutiny Committee & agree action as appropriate.
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Nothing to report.
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| 7.
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To receive a report of EBC Audit’s and Standards.
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Nothing to report.
ACTION – Clerk to confirm with EBC that they are aware Cllr Freeborn is the CPC representative.
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| 8.
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To receive a report from the Planning Committee.
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This was covered under Item 17 in the agenda.
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| 9.
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To receive a report from the EHT Committee.
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Cllr Bray confirmed that the committees and Non-Voting Advisors can inform the EHT Committee of any ideas they may have but they can only be approved by the committee. Cllr Bray had received contact from Steve Bax who is the deputy to Matt Furniss at SCC. Cllr Bray to draft a response and bring it to the next meeting for approval.
ACTION - Cllr Bray
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| 10.
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To approve a new CIL Form (Appendix 2).
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It was agreed to add the following wording under Item 8 on the CIL application form:
- Costs of up to £500 would require one quote.
- Costs from £500 to £1,500 would require two quotes.
- Costs £1,500 + would require three quotes.
This was proposed by Cllr Bray and seconded by Cllr Holt.
Carried unanimously.
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ACTION - Clerk to update the CIL form and add to the website.
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| 11.
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To confirm arrangements for Remembrance Sunday on November 10th.
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Cllr Bray confirmed that everything was ready. Cllr Bray will also organise a checklist for future Remembrance Days.
ACTION - Cllr Bray
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| 12.
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To elect a SALC Representative.
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Cllr Sheppard was elected to be the CPC SALC Representative.
Proposed by Cllr Bray and seconded by Cllr Moon.
Carried unanimously.
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| 13.
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To sign off the reconciliations for September and October.
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These were both agreed to be correct.
Proposed by Cllr Holt and seconded by Cllr Sheppard
Carried unanimously.
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Cllr Bray asked about moving some monies into our high interest account – this will be looked into once the second precept is received.
ACTION - Clerk and Cllr Holt
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| 14.
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To consider and approve the costs of hiring HTC’s hall and the provision of hospitality for expected attendees at the Green Network Elmbridge event on Wednesday 20th November 2024.
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An amount of £528 was requested for this event to cover food and drink at £9 per head plus the room hire.
It was discussed to give a budget of £438 at £7 per head and Cllr Holt will assist Peter Stevenson with this.
Proposed by Cllr Holt and seconded by Cllr Bray.
Cllr Freeborn voted against the proposal and Cllr French abstained from voting. All other councillors agreed.
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ACTION - Cllr Holt
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| 15.
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To consider the specification to update the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the PC Website—not the content of the technical implementation.
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Cllr Holt explained that the idea was looking into changing the GUI—not the content—and to make the website look and feel more modern. It was agreed that the Communications committee would meet to discuss this and Cllr Holt would prepare some screen mock-ups. Cllr Bingham already has some mock-ups which she will share with Cllr Holt. This will be brought back to the main meeting in December and to be carried forward to a meeting in the New Year once the CPC website design has been finalised.
ACTION - Cllr Holt, Cllr Bingham and the Communications Committee
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| 16.
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To provide and update on the Vision for Claygate and proposed next steps.
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Cllr French will be working with Emma Curtis from the CTWF survey team to draft the Vision for Claygate based on the Claygate the Way Forward report.
ACTION: Cllr French
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| 17.
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To provide an update following the meeting with EBC on the Local Plan.
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It was reported that the Inspector has rejected the plan. Therefore EBC needs either to revise its current plan, for which it has a maximum of six months to complete, or withdraw this one and start again with a new plan. If they choose the second option, then they will probably have until 2026 (when the current Local Plan expires) to complete it. Clive Thompson from the Housing Working Group attended the meeting and had issued a list of possible sites (including some Green Belt areas) that may fall under consideration by EBC or by developers. It was noted that inclusion of a site in this list does not imply endorsement by CPC of development there. It was agreed that the Loseberry Farm field(s) next to the BT building should be classified as Green Belt, not Grey Belt. It was agreed that CPC needs to work very closely with our Ward Councillors.
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| 18.
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To agree a date for the Spring Litter Pick.
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The date of 26th April was agreed. Cllr Moon to organise the purchase of a fire extinguisher, first aid kit and first aid book, and to liaise with the Clerk.
This was proposed by Cllr Sheppard and seconded by Cllr Bray.
Carried unanimously.
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ACTION - Cllr Moon and the Clerk.
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| 19.
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To confirm the arrangements for agreeing the 2025-26 budget for the Parish Council.
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Cllr Holt and the Clerk to meet to discuss the budget and then to meet with all councillors to discuss the proposed budget so it is ready for presentation at the next meeting of the CPC council in December.
ACTION - Cllr Holt and the Clerk
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| 20.
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To agree on whether we respond regarding 'Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings'.
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It was agreed that no comment would be made on this.
Proposed by Cllr Moon and seconded by Cllr Holt.
Carried unanimously.
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| 21.
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To update on the possibility of applying for a £1,000 grant from Elmbridge Community Fund towards the development of the ‘This is Claygate’ website.
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There is currently no update on this. To be carried forward to a meeting in the New Year once the CPC website has been finalised.
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| 22.
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Matters for Information purposes only.
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New Bench on The Parade: this is currently ongoing. Cllr Holt has emailed the owners of the Chemist to discuss the possibility of the bench being placed there.
ACTION - Cllr Holt
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| 23.
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Date of the next meeting.
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The next meeting will be held on Thursday 5th December at 8.30pm at Claygate Village Hall (Main Hall).
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