Six councillors, plus County Councillor Kidney, were present at the March meeting of St. Florence Community Council, with apologises being accepted from the remaining two. Also present were a number of the public.

Before the meeting began, chair, Clr. D. Griffiths requested a moment of reflection in memory of Clr. John Wolverson who had sadly passed away recently.

Public participation (limited to 15 minutes): Mr. D. Hughes informed the council that since meeting with a surveyor from Pembrokeshire County Council regarding large lorries hitting the corner of his property, he had heard nothing more. Nor had had he any response from Cadw who some three years ago were looking into the possibility of removing some of the corner from the Flemish chimney to allow vehicles to travel without connecting with Mr. Hughes's property. Chair, Clr. Griffiths informed Mr. Hughes that the item was on the agenda for the meeting and that County Clr. Kidney had an update also.

Minutes of the meeting held January 8: Clr. Buckmaster asked for the following amendments to be made to January's minutes:

That he requested that two cheques were to be looked into in further detail, one to Excel and the other to the auditor.

That he requested cheques to be pre-written and attached to invoices. Clr. Eardley stated to Clr. Buckmaster that he alone could not dictate how the cheques were presented and it had already been agreed that this would be looked at when the standing orders were reviewed.

That he read out a statement as follows: "I cannot condone or endorse the practices and ways of the past or allow them to continue into the present. Everything in the future must be dealt with strictly in accordance with the Practitioners Guide 2011 Governance and Accountability for Local Councils in Wales." A copy of which was given to the clerk. At the time, Clr. Evans informed Clr. Buckmaster that that was not a guide the council had adopted.

That three letters of complaint regarding him had been read out. Two from the clerk and one from a fellow councillor.

Clr. Eardley proposed the minutes as a true and accurate record, Clr. Evans seconded this, and Clr. Buckmaster abstained from voting. All other councillors were in favour and the chair signed and dated the minutes.

Minutes of the meeting held March 5: Clr. Buckmaster proposed that these minutes be held over until the next meeting so he could have more time to review them as they had gone into his spam box and he had had to obtain copies from Clr. Treherne. The clerk informed him she had used the same email address as the previous month. Clr. Evans seconded this, so the minutes of the March meeting would carry over to the May meeting.

Declarations of interests: Clr. Buckmaster was unsure whether he had an interest to declare in a matter as he felt he was given insufficient paperwork to make that decision. He would declare an interest if needed when the matter was discussed.

Matters Arising

Notes from public meeting regarding autograss track: Clr. Treherne took the notes at the recent meeting as the clerk was unable to attend. The clerk then typed up the notes which were with Clr. Treherne for checking. These would carry over to the next meeting.

Working party to review complaints and compliments procedures and standing orders: Clr. Treherne had looked into this and printed out copies of the code of conduct for community councillors and The Best Practice Guide - a complaints procedure. These were both possibilities for the council to adopt so the clerk would distribute them to all councillors to review before the next meeting. The advice from the monitoring officer regarding reviewing these items was that the best practice was to elect three councillors to form a working party and feed information back to the whole council before a policy was adopted. Clr. Griffiths recommended that Clr. Treherne form part of the working party as she had already put in a lot of work. Clr. Evans proposed Clr. Eardley also form part of the group. The clerk had received a request from Clr. Phillips to also be included. Clr. Buckmaster expressed interest in taking part as he stated he had a lot of experience of governance. It was decided that all councillors should have copies of the information Clr. Treherne had produced and then decide on a working party to continue forward in the next meeting.

There were three letters to be addressed within the complaints procedure, but the council as a whole felt they were unable to deal with these until a procedure was set in place. The clerk would inform the writers that the council would respond in due course.

Vehicles colliding with West View: As discussed in public participation, the area was view by John Sutton, surveyor at PCC. Mr. Hughes was still awaiting his response. Mr. Sutton advised that a sign showing no large lorries could be an option, but Clr. Eardley pointed out with building plans at the lower end of the village, this may not help.

County Clr. Kidney apologised to Mr. Hughes that he had not heard from PCC and asked him to wait another week. The clerk would contact Mr. Hughes the following week to see if he had had any more information, and if not, she would contact County Clr. Kidney again and write to PCC.

Grass cutting from shop to Eastern Lane: Council were advised at the previous meeting that the person cutting this at present was unable to carry on with this area of cutting. It would be added to the list of village cutting.

CRB (DBS) checks for all councillors: Clr. Treherne informed council that, after doing some research into the matter, she thought council may be acting illegally if they were to carry out DBS checks as they were not role specific and she provided paperwork to support this. Problems that would be posed were who would hold the check and what would be done with the sensitive information that could be contained. It was proposed by Clr. Adams not to go ahead with this and seconded by Clr. Evans. All councillors were in favour.

Emergency Contingency Plan: This was in the development stages at the moment and a rough draft had been compiled by Clr. Griffiths highlighting what an emergency would be determined as, such as snow, major incident or accident. It identified risks and resources. Clr. Treherne had spoken to the emergency planning officer at Pembrokeshire County Council who would be happy to attend a meeting to provide assistance and advice. Clr. Buckmaster asked if he was linked to the emergency services as they would play an integral part in the plan. Clr. Treherne believed he gave advice on behalf of PCC only. Clr. Griffiths stated that once they had spoken with the emergency planning officer, it may be beneficial to hold a public meeting, including the emergency services, to gather more information. The clerk would contact the EPO and invite him to a meeting.

Children's project: Clr. Treherne informed council she had spoken with a youth worker from Tenby and also the area youth co-ordinator who confirmed she could speak with the children of the village to see what sort of projects they would like money put into. Ideas could be summer schemes or art and movable graffiti. The clerk informed council that funds were currently being recovered from the dormant account and she would inform the council as soon as this happened. Clr. Treherne would await this news before pressing any further ahead.

Contacts for the clerk: The clerk informed council that the new contact email address for her was now [email protected]">[email protected] Clr. Treherne informed the clerk that not all of the council had access to email, so another form of correspondence must be available for all councillors as there must be a consistent approach. The clerk informed council that her home address was available for posting.

Due to a letter sent to Clr. Buckmaster from the clerk asking him to desist in contacting her, he felt posting was not an option for him. The clerk explained that she felt harassed by Clr. Buckmaster turning up at her door on more than one occasion without invitation which had prompted her to write the letter. A statement from the clerk would be needed in order for Clr. Buckmaster to now post items to the clerk. He stated that he would still not be happy to do this and felt the postal address for all council communication should go to the hall address.

The clerk pointed out there was no letterbox at the hall and Clr. Evans informed him that it had always been the clerk's home address as the postal contact for the council and that mail left at the hall would be neither secure nor delivered to the correct person due to the number of people hiring the hall.

Clr. Evans proposed the address stay as the clerk's and Clr. Adams seconded this. Clr. Buckmaster registered his opposition. Clr. Griffiths was in favour, Clr. Treherne and Eardley were in favour, subject to a written statement from the clerk to Clr. Buckmaster revoking the previous no contact letter.

The clerk would provide a statement entitling Clr. Buckmaster to contact her by post or email.

Position of caretaker: Clr. Buckmaster said he had not had enough information on this subject to decide whether he should declare an interest. Clr. Griffiths explained the hall was financially worse off after losing bookings from St. Florence and Creselly Cricket Club. The cost of maintaining the hall was rising, but the work the caretaker did was commendable. A monthly total of income from the hall would be requested from the booking clerk to get a clearer picture.

Clr. Buckmaster declared an interest and stated that he had a letter from the auditors regarding PAYE. Clr. Eardley said the caretaker's position had always been one of self-employment.

It was decided to carry the matter over for the next meeting when Clr. Buckmaster could produce the letter. The matter would be contracts for employment.

Maintenance of playing field tenders: The clerk informed the council that two tenders had been received. The quotes were discussed and Clr. Eardley proposed to accept the lower quote. This was seconded by Clr. Evans and all councillors were in favour.

Clr. Buckmaster requested it be noted that in the same meeting, the council proposed to maintain a playing field where cricket would not be played and then to get rid of the caretaker. Clr. Griffiths stated it was never an option to get rid of the caretaker. Clr. Eardley advised that the decision to maintain the playing field was made at the previous meeting and was clearly noted in the minutes of last month's meeting.

Finance

Bank balances were read out from the most recent statements. There was not an updated statement for the community account due to the delay in post because of the Bank Holidays. The clerk advised that she and Clr. Eardley had set-up TAS accounts and had begun to input data from April 2012; this was ongoing. Clr. Buckmaster informed council that Open Books would be more appropriate. Clr. Eardley disagreed as TAS was a very informative package which would suit the council. Clr. Buckmaster requested it be noted that Open Books would be more appropriate.

Three invoices were presented for payment. Clr. Buckmaster declared an interest. Payment was proposed by Clr. Evans and seconded by Clr. Treherne. All councillors were in favour and invoices were passed for payment. The clerk wrote the cheques and passed to signatories.

Planning

Erection of 34 CCTV static cameras to include infrared motion detectors and the erection of an ancillary building - Jordanston Farm (council discussed the application and concurred the site was unmanned, so it was sensible to have security as long as it did not breach any privacy. No objections).

County Councillor's report

County Clr. Kidney apologised again to Mr. D. Hughes, of West View, for the lack of communication detailed earlier.

The parking situation at Ridgeway View was reviewed by the surveyor and there was possibility of a drop kerb.

Shrubbery in the village was to be viewed by Glenville Codd at his next visit.

Clr. Griffiths asked County Clr. Kidney to look again at the 'give way' sign at the junction of Parsonage Farm Inn as some motorists were still not complying with it.

Correspondence

A letter was received from Mr. T. Roberts regarding a letter he was expecting from the council: The clerk explained that, after seeking advice from the monitoring officer at PCC, she had been advised that the council had no powers to write to Mr. Roberts regarding comments from a member of the public and it was a civil matter. The clerk would inform Mr. Roberts of this in writing.

Complaint regarding clerk and council from Sian Hughes: This letter was one of the three mentioned earlier which would be acted upon once the working party had concluded its review.

Query regarding grass cutting at Parklands from Mr. D. Edwards: The council asked the clerk to write to the owner of the land asking for an estimated date for cutting.

One Voice Wales membership: This would be reviewed by the working party.

Paul Satori Foundation request for funds: Filed for future reference.

Pembrokeshire County Council questionnaire on electronic engagement: The clerk informed council that the questionnaire covered the use of internet and electronic engagement by the council. She would return the questionnaire and attend a meeting of clerks to discuss this at the end of the month.

Play for Wales Spring 2013 Issue.

The next meeting of St. Florence Community Council would be the annual general meeting. This was to be held on Thursday, May 2. The monthly community council meeting will commence at the end of the AGM.