1st September 2020 Minutes
Notes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held using Zoom on Tuesday 1st September 2020 at 7.35 pm.
Present: Cllrs P Ireland, A Lennox, S Poulton, and J Stapleton, Mrs D Scott (Clerk). Cllrs Sally Tarry and Stewart Ogden (NKDC)
87/20 Welcome - At Cllr Ireland’s request, due to work commitments, Cllr Poulton took the Chair on this occasion, with agreement of those present and he welcomed all to the meeting
88/20 Apologies for absence – Cllr N Rooke.
89/20 Declarations of Interest and Applications for Dispensation – none
90/20 Notes of previous meeting, 6th July 2020 – approved as accurate record. Arrangement were made for signing at a later date.
91/20 Finance 2020-21
- Mrs Scott had shared copies of transactions to date, including the payment to the Chapel for the 2019 and 2020 meetings up to March 2020,as agreed at the last meeting. Cllr Poulton commented that he had checked the transactions against the bank statements provided and was happy that they matched.
(Cllr Ireland left the meeting briefly)
- Cllr Poulton proposed that the recommendation of Councillors, who had met after the last meeting to discuss the Clerk’s pay, that a pay increase of 10% be awarded with effect from 1st August, this was seconded and agreed unanimously. Mrs Scott thanked Councillors for their support.
- Payments were approved for the Clerk £161.43 (August and September, inc expenses (reimbursement of travel, stationery etc) and HMRC £39.00 (mth 5 due 19/09/20)
92/20 Clerk’s Report and Correspondence
- Covid-19 updates from LCC, NKDC, LALC and LRF – noted
- Lloyds Bank Statements – noted
93/20 Policing Update – Mrs Scott had added the CBT contacts poster to the noticeboard. Cllrs once more expressed disappointment that on-one from CBT had responded to the meeting invitation. He would contact the Community Beat Manager.
94/20 Highways Matters
- Potholes – Mrs Scott reported that Richard Lennard had said that potholes were no longer being given temporary fixes, all should now be permanent fixes under the new contract with Balfour Beatty. Pothole work was planned for Fen Road. He had added that the work required at the junction of Burton Road and the road out of Burton towards Helpringham was too large for the pothole repairs team and would be waiting for funding for more extensive repairs.
- Cllr Poulton advised that his report to ‘fixmystreet’ about the speed limit sign on Burton Road had been actioned and resolved
95/20 Flooding. It was noted that the work commissioned by LCC, through the IDB, to clear the dyke behind the phone box had been started. Cllrs were concerned about the difference in the relative level in the newly cleaned length and the other dykes which suggested that a blockage still existed. Cllrs Poulton and Ireland or Lennox would investigate the dyke behind the houses.
Two issues had arisen, firstly that the wooden piling had failed and would be replaced with more substantial piling and secondly, the cause of the blockage in the culvert in front of numbers 19/21 Main Road had been identified by the IDB as the NKDC lamppost on Main Road which had been installed with its base in the culvert. It was understood that, NKDC having refused to accept responsibility, LCC would arrange for the culvert to be bypassed. Cllrs felt this was unfair and asked that NKDC be held responsible.
Cllr Tarry asked Mr Scott for more detail about the lamppost and she would raise the matter with NKDC officers.
Cllr Lennox also raised the issue of flooding at the T-junction on Fen Road, which appeared to be due to a blocked gulley. She agreed to report this to LCC via ‘fixmystreet’ including photographic evidence.
96/20 Broadband – Cllr Ireland reported that he had further information from Quickline and Quantum about their fibre proposals. The companies were offering similar deals but he felt that Quickline had a better record and more experience. He explained that no funding/fee was required from the Parish Council, the company was just asking for the Parish Council’s blessing to go ahead and approach residents directly for a commitment to subscribe the service. The company would be able to claim Government support through the Broadband voucher scheme in respect of each subscriber, if numbers proved viable the project would go ahead, with the aim of going live this time next year. It was understood that around 25 subscribers would be the minimum, although any business subscribers would count more than households. It was noted that several households had committed to mobile broadband but the fibre broadband could be more reliable and less sensitive to weather conditions etc.
It was proposed by Cllr Poulton, seconded by Cllr Lennox and agreed unanimously that Cllr Ireland contact Quickline and ask them to go ahead.
97/20 Planning Matters
Planning Applications – see www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/planningonline
- 20/0276/FUL 10 Fen Road retrospective re Stable Unit and Tack Room - approved by NKDC 7th July 2020
- 20/0542/FUL Plot 1 Land Off Fen Road Little Hale Sleaford Lincs (the westernmost of the two plots) - approved by NKDC 20th July 2020
- 20/0544/FUL Plot 2 Land Off Fen Road Little Hale Sleaford Lincs (the easternmost of the two plots) - approved by NKDC 20th July 2020
98/20 Planning Inspectorate –
- Viking Link – no update
- Triton Knoll – no update
99/20 Community Defibrillator – it was noted that checks were ongoing. A minor issue re an overlap in checking had been resolved.
(The Zoom meeting closed briefly and resumed at 8.10 pm, with Cllr Ireland absent)
100/20 Dog Fouling – minor issues were reported, thought to be non-residents walking dogs.
101/20 Land at Pump Lane – It was noted that Cllr Ireland had installed a temporary gate and had flailed the vegetation. Mrs Scott added that she had started to draft an application to the Sleaford REP Community Fund for funding towards a new gate etc. She agreed to share the documents so far for Cllrs’ comments/suggestions including quotes and costings for ideas. The deadline for submission was 9th December.
102/20 Parish Website – Mrs Scott explained that she had attended virtual training on the new LCC websites and would be setting up the contents shortly. She added that the aim was to make all public bodies’ websites compliant with accessibility requirements by later this month which meant that all documents had to be either as webpages or accessibility-compliant pdfs. There was an issue with the software required to reformat documents but she hoped to resolve it shortly, Cllrs offered assistance.
103/20 Autumn Clean Up – as briefly discussed at the last meeting, the date was set as Sunday 18th October at 1pm. Cllr Poulton agreed to organise signage to advertise the event, mentions nearer the time on facebook and the website and Mrs Scott would ask NKDC for the use of the litter-pick kit again plus bags and collection, etc.
104/20 Matters for the next meeting – as above
105/20 The Dates of Meetings for 2020-21, at 7.30pm
3rd Nov, 5th Jan 2021, 2nd Mar, 4th May (Annual Meeting, Annual Parish Meeting)
Cllr Tarry drew the meeting’s attention to the current consultation by the Boundary Commission regarding the proposed change in District Ward boundaries which could see Helpringham Parish moved from the Heckington ward into a new Helpringham & Osbournby ward. She recommended visiting the BCE website. Closing date for comments 19th October.
The meeting closed at 8.33 pm.
3rd November 2020 - the Minutes were agreed as a true record and signed by Cllr Paul Ireland