BELPER TOWN COUNCIL

The meeting commenced with prayers led by Councillor Peter Makin.

15. APOLOGIES
    Apologies were received from Councillor Martin Tomlinson.
16. CHANGE IN ORDER OF BUSINESS
    Papers were circulated relating to items11, 13 and 14 on the Agenda.
17. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
    Councillors Jackie Cox and Les Dorey declared an interest in Minute 254 of the meeting of the Council held on 29th April 2003.
18. POLICE MATTERS
    Various members queried the police representative (PC Neil Sanders) on the policy relating to prosecuting people who parked their cars illegally. Specific examples were given in Strutt Street, the Market Place, the Butts and Belper Triangle. Although all these matters had been raised in the past, PC Sanders said he would report back to the next meeting on these specific items.
    Councillor Alan Cox referred to the recent fatal accident at the junction of Broadholme Lane and the A6. He said he was raising the issue of introducing a speed limit on Broadholme Lane with the County Council once again and asked the Police for their support over this matter.
    Reference was made to the role of the Beat Team and the importance of them being seen in the Town Centre.
19. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
    Four residents from Alder Road addressed the meeting on the problems they were experiencing from a number of other residents who were behaving in an anti-social manner. They instanced various incidents over the recent past where the police had been involved as well as the housing authority. Despite this involvement there was no improvement in the behaviour of their neighbours and they were becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of action by the authorities. It was explained to the four residents how important it was to log every single incident so that it could be used if necessary in obtaining eviction orders.
    It was agreed that the Chair and senior officer responsible for housing should be invited to the next meeting, together with the four residents from Alder Road to explain the Borough Council's letting policies and the procedures taken when residents abused their tenancy agreement.
20. IN CAMERA
    No matters warranted being taken in camera.
21. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL HELD ON 29TH APRIL 2003
    The minutes of the Council meeting held on 29th May 2003 were received and adopted.
22. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF 29TH APRIL 2003
    Minute 249 - Wakes Day
    In response to a question from Councillor Alan Cox, the Town Clerk reported that the expenditure on polo shirts for the Sports Youth Leaders had been higher than anticipated. However he would be able to keep within the £1,000 budget because a quarter of the T-shirts for the children were not used and would be charged to the promotions budget.
    Minute 249 - Arkwright Portrait Appeal
    After considerable debate about the relevance to Belper of the painting of Richard Arkwright's son, it was decided that the appeal should not be supported.
    Minute 254 - Annual Grants
    The Town Clerk was asked to report back on the make-up of the grant earmarked for the Belper Leisure Centre Trust.
23. MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD 13TH MAY 2003
    The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 13th May 2003 would be submitted for approval to next year's Annual General Meeting. However, they were received and noted.
24. MAYOR'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
    The Mayor expressed his concern about the level of effectiveness of the CCTV cameras in Belper and suggested that a visit should be arranged for Members to the monitoring room at Police Headquarters. The Town Clerk would endeavour to make the appropriate arrangements with the police.
    The Mayor referred to the recent letters stemming from the changeover of administration in the Council,in the Belper News. He considered that such correspondence reflected poorly on the Council and should not normally be entered into unless agreed beforehand by Council.
    The Mayor then referred to the various activities he had been involved in on behalf of the Council and in particular he referred to Wakes Day which had been a most enjoyable occasion.
    Members were reminded of the Larks in the Parks series: the first of which, a performance by Salmagundi, would be taking place on Sunday, 8th June. They were also reminded that the last illustrated lecture in the Words and Music series would be taking place next Wednesday, 11th June at 7.30 pm at St John's Chapel.
25. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
    The only issue that was raised related to planning application AVA/2003/0505 - the erection of a new primary school and residential development at the former Parks School site. As the site was on the edge of the medieval Deer Park and the boundary of the Park was still evident on the ground, it was essential that any development should ensure the preservation of this important part of Belper's heritage.
26. JUSTICE'S AND ENTERTAINMENT LICENCES
    There were no applications for consideration.
27. PAYMENTS AND RECEIPTS
    The schedule of payments and receipts covering the period from 15th April to 30th May 2003 was received and approved. The schedule is attached to these minutes and shows expenditure of £7,779.70 and income of £117, 149.02. It was noted that because of the change in administration there was a consequent need to change cheque signatories. No cheques had been sent out during this period and it was likely that the cumbersome administrative process within the Co-op Bank would mean that this situation would continue for the next week to ten days.
28. INTERNAL AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS AND RISK ASSESSMENT
    The Town Clerk circulated a report entitled "Governance and Accountability" explaining the financial and administrative requirements to be met before the submission of the Annual Return. This year's return had to be submitted by August 4th. It was necessary to appoint an Internal Auditor and have the internal audit exercise completed before the next Council meeting so it could consider and approve the Internal Auditor's report and set in train any necessary remedial action. It was also necessary for members to be involved in assessing the risks that the Council faced in its day-to-day operations.
    Last year the Council had appointed Brian Wood, Town Clerk of Ripley, as the Internal Auditor. Though he was now Secretary of the Derbyshire Association of Local Councils he was still willing to undertake this role.
    It was agreed to appoint Brian Wood as the Internal Auditor and Councillors Peter Arnold and Mick Nelson together with the Town Clerk would form a small working party to carry out the risk management exercise.
29. DATES OF MEETINGS
    The schedule was agreed subject to the Council meeting planned for 8th July 2003 being swapped with the Recreation and Development Committee proposed for15th July 2003. The Finance Working Party on 18th July would be deferred for a week to 25th July. The Leader, Councillor John Nelson said he hoped that the Christmas Working Party scheduled for 17th July would take place as he had contacted several electrical contractors with a view to them tendering for the erection of the Christmas lights.
30. APPOINTMENTS TO OUTSIDE BODIES
    There were still several outstanding issues to resolve but the following amendments were confirmed:-
    1) Councillor Anna Hingston would join Councillor Deborah Biss as the Council's representative on the Citizens' Advice Bureau Advisory Committee.
    2) As Richard Watson sat on Belper Music and Arts in his own right, Ron Day would be invited to be the Council's second representative on this body.
    3) Councillor Jackie Cox would be the Council's sole representative on the Amber Valley Council for Voluntary Services.
    The secretaries of the various School Governing Bodies would be informed that the following Councillors should represent the Town Council:-
    Councillor Jackie Cox - Pottery
    Councillor Peter Makin - Long Row
    Councillor Deborah Biss - Milford
    Mayor Jim Anderson - St Elizabeth's
    Enquiries would be made as to whether the Council's previous representative on Herbert Strutt would be willing to continue. Similarly, enquiries would be made at St John's as to whether Mr John Beddoes wished to continue. If he did not do so then Councillor Melvyne Cluskey would be the Council's representative.
31. PEDESTRIAN CROSSING: MILFORD
    Although the proposed improvement to the one existing crossing to convert it into a Puffin crossing was welcomed, Members were concerned that it did not address the problem of the many people who wished to cross the A6 in the vicinity of the Strutt Arms. Accordingly, strong representations would be made to the County Council to provide a crossing at this point although it was recognised there were problems with sight lines.
32. CULTIVATION LICENCE - SANDBED LANE
    The application for a cultivation licence by the owners of 295 Sandbed Lane was agreed. However, as the work had already been carried out the application should be treated as retrospective.
33. LARKS IN THE PARK
    One of the conditions for the necessary licence to hold Larks in the Park in Belper River Gardens was that there should be four stewards on site during the performances. There would be four performances this year: they were scheduled for June 8th, June 22nd, August 3rd and August 17th. Various Members agreed to steward one or more of the performances. They would meet at 6 pm on the evening of the performance and they would be briefed by the Town Clerk or another member of staff on their duties.
34. DERBYSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COUNCILS
    It was noted that the Association's AGM would be held at County Hall on Saturday 27th September 2003. If any Member should wish to submit a motion, which should be on general matters of principle rather than specific issues relating to a particular Council, they should contact the Town Clerk.
35. CODE OF CONDUCT
    Six Members indicated that they wished to attend the seminar being held at the Town Hall, Ripley at 6.00pm on Thursday 12th June 2003. DALC would be informed of the extra numbers.
36. CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED
    The schedule of correspondence received was noted.
    A letter would be sent to Lieutenant Commander Andrew Price, the new Commanding Officer of HMS Brocklesby, congratulating him on his appointment and asking him to pass on the Council's congratulations and best wishes to the crew following their key role in sweeping mines from the delta of the Euphrates in the early stages of the Allied operations in Iraq.