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September 2021

Minutes of Monthly Meeting of Llangunnor Community Council held remotely at 6.30pm on Thursday 16th September 2021

PRESENT: Councillor Elwyn Williams (Chair), Geraint Bevan, Paul Totterdale, Charlie Evans, Heather Lewis, Sandra Thomas, and Jennifer Slate

APOLOGIES:

Declaration of Interest

None

Two electors present, in addition Howard Davies Clerk

3. Chair's Announcements

Cllr Williams advised that he had received an invitation to attend the Town Mayor’s Civic Ceremony a week on Sunday and would be representing Llangunnor Community Council.

4. Public Questions

Robin Griffiths asked two questions.

1. He was concerned at the ongoing parking problems continuing to be seen around the facility of the park entrance and sought an update on what the Council was doing to try and improve matters?

Clerk responded that he was well aware of the issues here and had indeed escalated matters to Mike Jacob at Carms C C and was awaiting his response. Chair was asked to speak with Mike Jacob to chase up his response on this important issue. Clerk further advised from his discussions with Nicola Walters PCSO about this issue, she advised that she could only intervene on a reactionary basis eg following complaint from a resident that the entrance to his driveway was being blocked, and in these circumstances the residents are to be encouraged to contact the Police direct. She had also suggested that we contact Carms C C who could consider the use of mobile parking enforcement van, traffic wardens, and the adoption of traffic calming measures, with this already having been done.

2, He was concerned about the excessive amounts of grass that had been left at the memorial site on Llangunnor Road, following a recent grass cut, which had led to an untidy visual experience. He had himself been down to clean up the memorial and asked who had cut the grass, and what could be done to ensure that the site be left in a tidy condition following such works. Additionally, he enquired as to why the works to improve the access to the memorial stone itself had not progressed despite having been agreed by the Council ?.

Clerk thanked him for his efforts in cleaning up the area around the stone and was in the process on investigating further. From his initial discussions with Carms CC it was apparent that the work had not been carried out by them, as due to current policy the Highways Department only undertake one grass cur per year. He would now consult with the Trunk Road Agency to see if their contractors had cut this area, as they cut around the Pensarn roundabout near to the Currys. Additionally, he asked Cllr Charlie Evans who lives near by if he would consult with local residents to see if they could shed any light on the matter of who was cutting the grass, to enable us to have a discussion with them. Clerk will then report back with his findings.

3. Additionally, he enquired as to why the works to improve the access to the memorial stone itself had not progressed despite having been agreed by the Council ?.

With regards to the improvement works already agreed to improve the access to the memorial and its surrounding area the clerk advised that these had been temporarily suspended to allow for a conclusion to be reached as to the type of memorial to be erected to commemorate the Covid Pandemic that still besets us, as dependent on what was decided this could affect the layout of the memorial area. An update on the Covid Memorial will be received tonight under agenda item 14

Lee Whatley asked five questions:

1. Is Llangunnor Community Council open to criticism?

Chair responded that yes it was open to criticism.

2. Why have certain Councillors not had their photographs placed on the new web page?

Clerk responded that it was part of his training for the new web page and would be attended to shortly.

3. What is the reason for having Committees?

Chair responded to say that certain Committees such as Finance were compulsory, and others had evolved to spread workload, and to allow for discussion and evaluation on relevant matters appertaining to that Committee prior to bringing their recommendations to full Council. However, any urgent time critical decisions would go to full Council to be dealt with immediately.

4.How many Councillors have paper copies of the agenda delivered to them.?

Clerk initially responded 4, however upon checking the actual number was 5.

5. When was the agenda notices placed up for display on the notice boards for this month’s meeting

Clerk apologised to say that due to work load this month, and computer problems the previous week having been without a laptop for 5 days, the notices were not posted until the previous evening, however had been available online since Monday which was accepted without further comment. There were no further questions

5. Minutes

It was unanimously agreed and RESOLVED (minute 0921–5) to approve as a correct record the minutes of the monthly Council meeting held on 15 July 2021

6. Committees

Finance

Noted the minutes of the meeting held on the 22nd of July had been circulated and updated to web site

Park & Environment

Noted the minutes of the meeting held on the 12th of July the minutes had been circulated and uploaded to web site

Web & Media -

Meeting to be rearranged as meeting scheduled for 28th July had to be cancelled through the unavoidable absence of Councillors

Christmas -

Meeting to be arranged shortly

7. To ratify and minute our discussions held at our April 21 meeting where it was unanimously agreed that all email correspondence received by the clerk must have a contact address. This will also apply to requests received to attend our virtual meetings over Zoom. Due to Clerks oversight this agreement was not minuted, and therefore ratification now sought to fully document.

Ratification was provided to our earlier agreement made at our April 21 meeting to make it a requirement for all correspondence received by the clerk, to contain a contact address, and this will also apply to requests made to attend our virtual “Zoom” meetings, which had not been previously minuted at the time of that meeting due to Clerks oversight (Minute 0921-7)

8. Review of Clerks probationary period with further request to consider uplifting his paid hours from 50 hours per month to 55 hours to replicate agreement with previous clerk as present agreed hours insufficient to cover workload

It was unanimously agreed that the Clerk had successfully completed his probationary six-month period, which had proved to be most challenging in terms of workload and complexity. Furthermore, his request to increase his working hours from the present level of 50 to 55 hours to cover increased workload, and to replicate the hours paid to the former clerk was agreed. Clerk then thanked the Councillors for placing their faith in him, and that he would continue to serve the interest of Llangunnor Community Council to the best of his abilities. (Minute 0921–8)