3rd March 2020 Minutes
Notes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held at The Chapel, Little Hale on Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at 7.32 pm.
Present: Cllrs S Poulton, N Rooke and J Stapleton, Mrs D Scott (Clerk).
21/20 Welcome – In Cllr Ireland’s absence, Cllr Poulton took the chair and welcomed all to the meeting. Cllrs were surprised that no members of the public were present as a number of issues had been raised since the last meeting.
22/20 Apologies for Absence – Cllrs Lennox and Ireland, Cllrs Sally Tarry and Stewart Ogden (NKDC)
23/20 Declarations of Interest and Applications for Dispensation – none.
24/20 The notes of the Parish Council Meeting, held on 7th January 2020: it was agreed unanimously that these were an accurate record.
5/20 Finance 2019-20 - The Clerk circulated updated financial statements
- Payments authorised between meetings - none.
- Bank Balance, before this meeting’s payments, was £1072.33.
- Payments were approved for Clerk £153.90 (February and March plus expenses (reimbursement of travel, stationery etc)), HMRC £35.40 (mth 11 due 19/03/20).
26/20 Finance 2020-21 It was noted that the necessary forms had been submitted and acknowledged.
27/20 Clerk’s Report and Correspondence received
- NKDC Snowdrop event February, and later date change - noted
- LALC Lincolnshire Environmental Awards 2020 - noted
- Community Lincs – newsletter - noted
- LALC e-news – various - noted
- VE Day – Running Imp re merchandise – see item 15 - noted
- LCC Website training – (Clerk booked for 23rd March) - noted
- NKDC Environmental Wardens survey/updates - noted
- CPRE – Best Kept Village Competition’s demise - noted
- Lloyds Bank Statements – noted
- CAB Mid-Lincs – AGM 19th March – noted
- LALC – call for photos - noted
28/20 Policing – No update but it was noted that there had been two incidents causing concern, firstly a caravan break-in in the village, and then a pedestrian being involved in a RTA near the cemetery.
29/20 Highways Matters
- HGV route – Councillors were very pleased to see that the new signs had now been installed. Thanks to Councillor Ireland and the team at Highways.
- Potholes – It was noted that various pothole repairs had been completed but inevitably others had occurred. Individual locations to continue be reported as and when spotted.
30/20 Flooding – severe flooding at the junction of Main Road and Fen Road had been reported to LCC in February. In Cllr Ireland’s absence it was understood that the village ditch was reasonably clear now but the blockages in piping/culverts at each end were still causing back-ups of water.
31/20 Planning Matters –19/1578/LBC and 19/1577/HOUS, 8 Fen Road, NG34 9BD. It was noted that both applications had been approved by NKDC.
32/20 Planning Inspectorate Matters
- Viking Link Interconnector Project – the Clerk reported that she had been approached by the project for information on promotional possibilities, e.g. noticeboards, websites, social media, but no updates yet received.
- Triton Knoll – work ongoing at Bicker and East Heckington
33/20 Community Defibrillator – it was noted that weekly checks were still ongoing, thanks to volunteers. Councillors considered recruiting more volunteers as and when necessary. Cllr Poulton confirmed that he was now qualified to deliver First Aid and AED Courses and offered to look at suitable dates for community first aid and defib training sessions.
34/20 Dog Fouling – some instances; any information about offending dog-owners could be reported by email EHTeam@n-kesteven.gov.uk.
35/20 Vermin Report - It was noted that the vermin issue on Fen Road had been resolved by the property being on the market, by the time the NKDC Environmental Team had become involved.
36/20 VE Day event – In Cllr Lennox’s absence, Cllr Poulton would email all with ideas so far. Mrs Scott agreed to check Parva House availability and it was unanimously agreed that up to £60 could be committed to the initial arrangements, e.g. venue booking. It was noted that further commitment may require an extra PC meeting and the next one was not scheduled until the week before the event.
37/20 Village Broadband – Cllr Rooke reported back on a conversation with Cllr Ireland who had become increasingly disappointed with BT Openreach’s responses and apparent lack of knowledge about the current infrastructure in the parish. It was understood that one property had in fact had ‘fibre broadband’ installed but this could not be confirmed. Questions had been raised about it only going to a single property. Councillors appreciated Cllr Ireland’s efforts and hard work but suspected that BT simply wasn’t supporting further fibre installations due to technological advances in other forms such as satellite broadband.
38/20 Community Speedwatch – the Clerk had received an enquiry about having a community Speedwatch group. She had shared the latest information from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership. Cllr Ireland had also discovered that the Cluster SID, previously managed by Swaton Parish Council, was no longer functional. Cllrs were disappointed that Swaton PC had not passed on this information sooner. After discussion it was agreed that permanent speed warning signs would be ideal but benefits were probably outweighed by the costs. Information from local police suggested that CSW volunteers with radar guns had little effect beyond the initial impact and could put volunteers at risk of abuse from motorists
39/20 Land at Pump Lane. The Clerk reported that she had taken advice from NALC, via LALC, and been assured that the process was to ensure that no unauthorised entry was permitted to the land for 12 years. Further information was requested about the previous attempt. Councillors agreed to check the boundary security and erect signage advising that access was by permission of the Parish Council only.
40/20 Spring Clean 2020. Sunday 23rd February 2020 – Cllrs had been very pleased with the turnout on the day, despite the difficult weather conditions. A large number of bags of rubbish had been collected and picked up afterwards by NKDC, along with the litter picking equipment loaned to the Parish. It was agreed that it had been a good idea to hold the event earlier in the spring meaning that litter wasn’t hidden by the new grass growth and that the event should be repeated in 2021.
41/20 Matters for the next meeting – VE Day event
42/20 Dates of Next Meetings: for 2019-20 at 7.30pm, Tuesday 5th May (APM and Annual Meeting).
The meeting closed at 8.50 pm
5th May 2020 - The Minutes were agreed as a true record and signed by Cllr Paul Ireland