April 2021 Minutes
SPILSBY TOWN COUNCIL
Minutes of the Extra ordinary meeting of the Full Council held on 8th April 2021 at 7pm via video conferencing.
Present: Cllr Terry Taylor (Chairman), Cllr L Day, Cllr M Gibson, Cllr S Haddock, Cllr M Holland, Cllr T Kemp, Cllr E Lowe, Cllr D Mangion, Cllr B Rose, Cllr K Wood, Cllr A Wright
Also present: Mrs Y Smith (Town Clerk) (TC), Mrs R Ford (Assistant TC)
62. Apologies
Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Marsh due to work commitments.
63. Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011
None
64. Press release regarding the current position regarding the rebuilding of St James’ Church Wall (as per Para 52 of the meeting 25/3/21)
Cllr Taylor said that the statement has to go out via the Clerk and all have to agree on the statement.
Cllr Mangion said the statement needed to include that fact that the Council make a commitment to investigate and that the matter will be investigated. Cllr Rose said that it should be included that the lack of insurance was being looked in to and the Council needed to be certain what the responsibilities were. Cllr Rose also wanted more information regarding tombstones.
Cllr Kemp agreed that there must be an internal investigation to see when lack of insurance occurred and that he was reluctant to say there was an error however it was difficult to say where it was. He suggested to investigate and then publish the findings. He added that the Council would need to be careful about publishing anything during Purdah and to make sure that the Council is getting it right and that the Monitoring Officer should be contacted. He suggested that the two reports which had been written be looked at in more detail. As to the rise in Precept, many other Councils have put theirs up and Spilsby is in line with towns of a comparable size.
Cllr Haddock said that how could the wall be insured in the future when the cost of replacement is unknown. Cllr Taylor said that it may have to be assessed and put on as a different item on the insurance.
Cllr Wood wanted a unified statement and wanted the lack of insurance to be investigated. Mrs Ford said that she had been the Clerk in 2007 when a repair was necessary and that between 2007 and 2013 nothing had been done by the Town Council of the time.
Cllr Taylor summed up by saying that everyone seemed to be in agreement and that the statement needed to be put into a logical format to then put to the residents. He suggested publishing the statement after the County Elections.
It was RESOLVED to reform the documents into one document with a view to putting it out to the public after the election.
A group was formed to look at the content of the statement and investigation of the church wall and church wall insurance and to ask other councils if they had the same problem.
Group to consist of Cllrs Kemp, Mangion and Wood. Cllr Holland suggested that Cllrs Haddock and Rose investigate the insurance and this was agreed.
Cllr Kemp said that whenever a draft is ready it will be put to the other Councillors.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 7.50pm