EOM 03 August 2021
03 August 2021 EOM
NORMANBY PARISH COUNCIL EXTRAORDINARY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
03 August 2021
MINUTES
Present:
Councillors: Cllr. D. Barton-Smith, Vice Chair (Deputising Council Chair), Cllr. A. Hanson, Cllr. A. Creek, Cllr. T. Firth, Cllr. J. Goodchild Clerk and RFO: Mr S Baxter
Members of the public: 18
Meeting commenced at 7.30pm
AGENDA ITEMS AND DISCUSSIONS
1. The Chair’s welcome to all Councillors and any members of the public sitting in
observation and opening remarks.
The Acting Chair welcomed all, including and checked all Councillors were ready for the meeting
to commence.
The Acting Chair stated that as this was an EOM, not a Full Parish Council Meeting, there would
not be any public questions while under his leadership. He stated that it was his discretion and he
felt that as there was only two substantive agenda points that it was therefore not appropriate for
public questions.
There was considerable voicing of discontent by the members of the public in the room and
abusive comments by several people There were also comments made that if the Councillors did
not permit any questions from the public, he along with others in the room would in effect stop the
meeting from proceeding by making substantial noise and stop the Councillors from NPC from
discussing or agreeing any action.
The Clerk recommended to the Chair that if this was to continue, he may consider suspending the
meeting if people involved in this action would not cease their behaviour. He also stated that the
Council were within their right to contact the Police if any persons were deliberately and without
reason disrupting or stopping a legally convened Local Authority meeting.
Cllrs Firth and Creek make their feelings known that they disagreed with the Council decision –
this was despite the Council being a collective. They then did not leave the meeting.
2. Apologies for absence from Councillors – to agree the reasons for absence (if any)
The Clerk had previously been made aware of the apology given by Cllr Watson who is absent
due to personal and family reasons. The Council confirmed that they would accept his apology.
3. Declarations of interest – for the Council to note including dispensations presented
Item not proceeded with due to the need to quickly proceed to the election of the new Chair.
4. Motion to exclude members of press and public from participation but can remain to
view
Item not proceeded with due to the need to quickly proceed to the election of the new Chair.
5. Formal note of the resignation of former Cllr Roy Bellamy as Chair and Parish
Councillor and the nominations for the role of Chair of the Parish Council and formal
vote for the role of Chair
The Acting Chair noted that due to the resignation of the Chair, former Cllr Mr Roy Bellamy, there
was a need to have an election for a new Chair.
The Acting Chair, Cllr Barton-Smith stated that he wished to nominate Cllr Angela Hanson as the
Chair and it was seconded by Cllr John Goodchild. The Clerk asked Cllr Hanson if she wished to
accept the nomination to which she confirmed she did.
As per requirement, there was a vote for the nomination.
• Motion was agreed by majority (with two objections by Cllrs Creek and Firth) and
thus as of 03 August 2021, Cllr Angela Hanson was duly elected as the Parish Chair
of Normanby by Spital Parish Council.
The Clerk confirmed that as of that moment, Cllr Hanson would then be the Chair of the
Council and Chair the meeting and Cllr Barton-Smith would revert back to the role of Vice
Chair of the Parish Council.
There was a query raised by Cllr Creek if the meeting in effect would have two Chairs, but the
Clerk clarified that this was incorrect as the Chairing role of Cllr Barton-Smith ceased upon the
election of Cllr Hanson.
POINT OF NOTE:
The newly elected Chair stated that she would allow a limited number of questions from the
public. She expressed her wish that the public were respectful and did not swear. She
confirmed that no answers would be given as they would be provided in a written form.
1) There was a statement from Cllr Mellor from Owmby PC (who introduced himself with his name
and Councillorship details). He stated that he had not seen any evidence in any minutes from
NPC of any debate or decision by the Council and that in his opinion the decision by the Council of
considering the CPC defunct as unlawful. He stated that in their opinion the only way for the
dissolution of the CPC was for both Councils to agree and that this had not happened. This person
demanded an answer from the Chair immediately – the Chair in her permitted discretion stated
that she would answer the question in due course by an email. She confirmed there would be no
answers during the meeting.
2) There was another statement about the technical aspects of the former CPC and the Terms of
Reference that it was bound to follow. The statement by the member of the public was that the
detail released by the Council that the CPC failed to meet the ToR frequency of meetings was
incorrect. This person said that there was no requirement stipulated to the frequency of meetings
and the opinion of the Council was incorrect. It was also stated that NPC website has the wrong
version of TOR.
3) The questions were continued by another member of the public stating that the actions
permitted by each Council as to the (now former) CPC. The person stated that according to the
ToR they had seen (although a copy was not provided for the Councillors), no decision could be
made about the CPC by one Council alone and that any decision would be for the Councils jointly.
The Chair in her permitted discretion stated that she would answer the question in due course by
an email. She confirmed there would be no answers during the meeting.
4) There was a statement from a member of the public into how the Community Park came about.
The person stated that the Marshall Family wanted to build a development on an area in Owmby
and as part of the development plan, offered the area now known as the Community Park under a
Section 106 agreement. This was after Mr Jeff Summers had been searching for a community
field. This person continued that the offer under the S106 agreement was more generous that it
needed to be and that despite the area being in Owmby, it was felt it should be a joint Community
Park owned by Communities through their Parish Councils. She continued by stating that in her
opinion the Council had not been gracious and had caused issues with the joint ownership – that it
was the community volunteers that were heavily involved, and the Council was not working with
them. She stated that some Councillors were not wanting to work with the (now former) CPC. The
Chair in her permitted discretion stated that she would answer the question in due course by an
email. She confirmed there would be no answers during the meeting.
5)The Chair of Owmby PC made a statement that it was never the intention by the Parish Councils
to micro-manage the Community Park and that it was the volunteers that ran the Park, not the
Parish Councils. It was hoped that more of the Fetes and events could be held in the following
years.
6) A member of the public stated that they wanted to make a Freedom of Information request to
the Council for copies of all qualification and certificates about the Clerk. He confirmed he would
make this request by email. The Chair in her permitted discretion stated that she would answer the
request in due course upon submission of an email. She confirmed there would be no answers
during the meeting.
7) There was a statement made by a member of the public that some Councillors had no vested
interest in the village – he pointedly referred to Cllrs Hanson, Cllr Goodchild and Cllr BartonSmith. He stated that they had no interest in trying to sort out the issues and that if the
Community took a vote of confidence in the Council, in his opinion, the Community would vote for
no confidence. It was stated to the Clerk of the Parish Council that he had no vested interest in the
village or community and is only here as his occupation. The statement concluded stating that this
council is full of negativity and no positive work is achieved. The Chair or Clerk did not reply.
8)The Chair of the OPC asked if the minutes would be put on the website and if the minutes could
be sent to the Clerk of OPC.
9) Question raised on the use of the Council using Facebook. The Chair agreed that the minutes,
will be published on the website of the Council and the Clerk will provide a link to the website to
the Clerk of OPC. The Chair stated that the Facebook page of NPC was accessed last week. She
continued that Cllr Watson had recently been able to get contact with the administrator and gain
access. The issue with the use of the Facebook page was that the current policy of the Council
prohibited the use of social media, and it would take a change of policy to allow the use.
6. Partnership Agreement – recommendation to agree the detail in principle and to agree
way forward
The Chair stated that the Clerk had circulated the draft Partnership Agreement V3 proposal for the
Councillors to consider. The version was written after an informal meeting the Councillors had the
attempt by the Clerk to get something in writing to find a way forward. The Chair asked all the
Councillors present on their thoughts on the proposed agreement and if this should be forwarded
to Owmby PC for their consideration.
There was some support for the provisional Partnership Agreement but there was a detailed
discussion if the document was too detailed and too long which may cause some disquiet with
other stakeholders.
The suggested approach was that the Parish Councils from each Community should in effect ‘start
again’ on what is the most important aspects for the management of the Community Park. This
would mean that each Council starts with a blank sheet of paper and then through a dialogue and
discussion it was hoped that a majority of the ‘wish list’ would be the same for both Councils.
The Chair agreed that dialogue was needed through a discussion with the Chair of the OPC.
The Chair also confirmed that she would offer to meet every NPC Councillor individually to discuss
their thoughts on the way forward. Cllr Firth stated she did not want to meet with the Chair – all
other Councillors agreed to this meeting.
To conclude the Chair confirmed that she would also speak to the Cllr Watson (who was absent
from the Meeting) about his views and his opinion.
CHAIR CLOSED THE CLOSED SESSION OF THE MEETING AT 8.35PM
Version 2 Minutes NPC _3.8.21 - Amended 8.11.21