013 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – Cllr Blades due to an examination commitment.

014 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None.

015 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Abel and unanimously agreed to adopt the minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2003. These were duly signed by the Chairman.

016 BUDGET REVIEW

Members considered the Committee’s budget and noted that expenditure was on course for this point in the year. Concern was registered about the amount of income received and it was noted that there had only been four interments to date. It was agreed that the income levels for 2003/04 should be set at a realistic rate during the annual budget process.

With regard to maintenance of the cemetery, the clerk reminded members that the current maintenance contract is due for review. Members considered that standards of maintenance could be better controlled if the work was undertaken directly by an employee under the supervision of the clerk. In view of the number of areas which the Parish Council is now involved which require an element of maintenance, repair or inspection it was felt that this option should now be properly considered, particularly in light of the recent decision to employ a Litter Picker.

It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Auger and unanimously agreed to recommend that the clerk be instructed to conduct a feasibility study into employing a Maintenance Operative to undertake aspects of work across the entire range of Council activities.

017 SCALE OF FEES REVIEW

It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Abel and unanimously agreed to recommend that the scale of fees remain unchanged for the forthcoming year.

018 TREE MAINTENANCE WORKS

Tenders for maintenance works to the Wellingtonia and London Plane trees were opened and considered:

• Absolute Arboriculture Ltd £430 + VAT
• David Palmer Landscapes £1,400 + VAT
• Jeff Rowlett Tree Surgery £1,150 + VAT

It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Auger and unanimously agreed to recommend that Absolute Arboriculture Ltd be awarded the works.

019 DELEGATED POWERS

It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Abel and unanimously agreed to recommend that the following activities in respect of cemetery and burial matters be delegated to the clerk and that the same be entered into the Council’s Standing Orders:

• Approval of requests for lawful interment, burial and issue of grants of exclusive rights of burial.
• Approval of requests for memorials and inscriptions in accordance with the Council’s rules (non-standard requests to be considered by the Committee/Council).
• Determination, collection and banking of fees payable in every instance in accordance with the Scale of Fees.
• Enforcement of Council policies in respect of the cemetery.
• Searches on behalf of relatives in accordance with the Council’s data protection policy.
• Authorisation of urgent maintenance or other works where it is the clerk’s opinion that a health and safety risk exists providing that the cost of the works can be met from the Committee’s budget (subject to report to the Chair of the Committee and the Council at the earliest opportunity).

020 IRON RAILINGS

Members under took a risk assessment on the iron railing fence to sections A, B & C and made the following report:

• The iron railing fence has been in place for decades, is part of the conservation area and in-keeping with the cemetery is contains.
• The fencing stands approximately at adult waist height and has a round spike finish approximately 2.5cm long.
• It is painted with black Hammerite paint and generally in good condition.
• There has, to the Committee’s knowledge, only been one incident where potential for injury occurred, this being some years ago.
• The fence runs close to the public footpath, this being wide enough for two people to pass by, with a ‘No cycling’ order in place.
• The fence is clearly obvious to footpath users.

It was considered that it was low-risk that an incident should occur but that there could potentially be a high-risk outcome due to serious injury.

Despite it being to be a low-risk situation, it was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Auger and agreed by majority vote to recommend that the Council obtains a quote for the grinding off of the top 1cm of each spike, filing off any resulting sharp edges and touching up with paint to reduce any potential incident to a low-medium risk outcome and that this quote is then considered against the perceived risk.

021 REQUEST FOR REPLACEMENT MEMORIAL

Members heard an application to replace the memorial on Grave B667. It was proposed by Cllr Auger, seconded by Cllr Abel and unanimously agreed to recommend that in instances of straight forward replacement of memorials, no fee is charged in line with common practice.

022 BURIAL GROUND EXTENSION

Due to the low number of interments, the land was not needed as urgently as originally expected. The clerk reported that District Council has agreed to meet with representatives of the Committee to discuss the siting of the new play equipment. This will be arranged when agreement is reached with the former landowner in respect of the covenant on the land.

023 ASSOCIATION OF BURIAL AUTHORITIES

Newsletters and fact sheets provided by the Association were made available to members.

024 MAINTENANCE INSPECTION

The overall appearance of the cemetery was considered and although it was reasonably good overall, members were disappointed that certain aspects such as path spraying and strimming between some graves had not been undertaken. It was agreed to raise this with the contractor concerned and request urgent attention.

025 CEMETERY NOTICE BOARD

Members considered various designs, styles, sizes and materials from two recognised suppliers. The principal concerns were to provide a suitably designed board which would hold up to 8 A4 sheets, be vandal and weather resistant and maintenance free. It was proposed by Cllr Fisk, seconded by Cllr Auger and unanimously agreed to recommend that a lockable black aluminium framed notice board with polycarbonate glazing, black legs, black personalised name board with silver lettering and additional magnetic strips be purchased from Filcris Ltd for the sum of £557.65 + VAT. Although this is more than the budget allocation (£450), the overall budget of the Committee will be able to meet this expense.

026 SAFETY INSPECTION AND REPORT FOR HEALTH & SAFETY PURPOSES

It was agreed that this should form part of the feasibility study referred to in minute 016.

027 DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Saturday, 6 December 2003 at 10.00am in the Cemetery.

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 11.00am.