11th January 2022 - Minutes
Notes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held in the Chapel, Chapel Lane, Little Hale on Tuesday 11th January 2022 at 7.40 pm.
Present: Cllrs S Poulton, N Rooke, A Lennox and J Stapleton, Mrs D Scott (Clerk) and 1 member of the public.
Prior to the formal business of the meeting, a member of the public reported on the reply he had received from Mr Frear at LCC in response to his complaint about the way AW had carried out the works under the Road Closure. Mr Frear had explained that AW had powers and duties to install, maintain and repair its equipment and therefore, as the road was too narrow to carry the work out safely in this case, LCC had granted a road closure order. AW had failed to start on time and had applied for an extension which LCC had not granted. LCC had in fact enforced a Fixed Penalty Notice on AW for not starting and completing the work within the permit timescale. The member of the public was concerned that although this particular instance had been resolved, he felt there was no resolution to the overall inadequacies of the system. In reply, Cllr Poulton thanked the member of the public and explained that he had personally contacted AW after the meeting and Mrs Scott had contacted LCC Highways and received a reply from Mr Frear, forwarding his response to the member of the public. Cllrs Poulton and Ireland had also discussed the matter at their meeting with Cllr Key and Rowan Smith, to be reported later.
01/22 Welcome – Cllr Poulton welcomed all to the meeting. Condolences were recorded to Cllr Ireland and family, in his absence, on the recent loss of Mr Ireland snr. A floral tribute had been sent.
02/22 Apologies for absence – Cllr P Ireland, Cllrs S Tarry and S Ogden (NKDC), Cllr Andrew Key (LCC),
03/22 Declarations of Interest and Applications for Dispensation – none
04/22 Notes of the previous meeting, 2 nd November 2021 – approved and signed.
05/22 Finance 2021-22
i. Mrs Scott had shared copies of transactions to date. It was noted that the VAT Claim of £9.20 had been received on 10 th November and the discount for paying the Data Protection fee by Direct Debit had been applied so was shown in the cashbook expenses as a negative item. The balance at Lloyds was £2,242.95, before this evening’s transactions. The balance included restricted funds.
ii. Payments were approved for the Clerk £168.43 by cheque (December and January), and HMRC £38.80 (mth 10 due 19/02/22), Community Heartbeat Trust £55.20 (defib pads) the latter both by Transfer. A further reimbursement for Cllr Poulton would be made at the next meeting.
06/22 Finance 2022-23 Mrs Scott had shared the information received from NKDC re the plans for 2022-23 and the updated tax base for the parish. It was noted that the increased tax base, from 76.07 to 76.98, meant that keeping the Band D Council Tax at last year’s level would generate an additional £26.24 Precept. Mrs Scott re-shared the draft budget for 2022-23 totalling £2,214.95, including anticipated additional costs due to inflation and amounts to add to sinking funds for future election costs, etc., but not including any costs for additional donations or expenses in relation to the Pump Lane project. She shared calculations showing how options for precepts of £2,300 and £2,400 would impact on the Band D Council Tax (Increases of 96p, 3.31% and £2.26, 7.81% respectively). After discussion it was agreed unanimously that a precept of £2,300 be set for 2022-23. Mrs Scott to submit the form to NKDC.
07/22 Clerk’s Report and Correspondence, previously shared by email.
i. Updates from LCC, NKDC, YMCA - noted
ii. LALC e-news – noted. Cllr Poulton had noted a mention of the Screwfix Community Fund in the latest edition and would investigate possibilities for Pump Lane.
iii. LCC Bus Service update - noted
iv. NHS CGS Consultation - noted
v. Lloyds Bank Statements - noted
vi. Mrs Scott reported that she had also received a comprehensive reply from Dr Caroline Johnson, MP, to her letter about re-enabling Parish Councils re meet virtually.
08/22 Policing Update - none
09/22 Highways Matters - Cllr Poulton reported that he and Cllr Ireland had had a very positive meeting with Cllr Key and Rowan Smith. They had spent a good hour walking around the village and covered issues including the AW works, as discussed above, Potholes, especially on Fen Road and Main Road, missing cats-eyes on Main Road and the proposed work on the culvert diversion around the lamp-post on Main Road for which Cllr Ireland had pointed out the markings suggested an uphill flow. Mr Smith had asked Cllr Ireland to mark the correct route on a map. He had added that maintenance of the culvert under the properties would not be LCC responsibility and land ownerships would need to be checked to clarify. He also reported that, despite the cuts to the Highways budget, funding was in place to re-surface the whole of the Helpringham to Burton road, including the badly damaged section at the junction with Burton Lane as well as installing new passing places along the road. He re-iterated the value of reporting issues via Fix My Street. He admitted there were issues with third-party contractors about costs and timemanagement which LCC was trying to resolve. Cllr Key was thanked, in his absence, for his proactive approach. Other matters to be reported were the damaged chevron signs on Helpringham Road. It was noted that the fly-tipping reported after the November litter pick had been removed and NKDC had reported that they’d identified the culprit and issued a £400 fine.
10/22 Flooding – as above and noted that Highways were pleased to see the dyke behind the houses had been cleared and work was being scheduled to complete the project. It was noted that future maintenance and any other work on private land in connection with the drainage was the responsibility of the riparian landowners.
11/22 Broadband – it was noted that there was no further update and national news that BT would receive more funding to extend fibre broadband in rural areas may account for the lack of progress by smaller companies offering alternatives.
12/22 Planning Matters
i. 21/1710/TPO – crown lift to Walnut at 30 Main St – noted that informal comments had been submitted and the application approved by NKDC on 29th November 2021
13/22 Planning Inspectorate –
i. Viking Link – No update
ii. Triton Knoll – No update
iii. Heckington Solar Farm – a notification had been received from the Planning Inspectorate regarding the scoping for the Environmental Impact Assessment. It was noted that this was the next stage in the process and still a long way from final approval.
iv. South Lincs Reservoir – Mrs Scott reported that she had received assurances from a party involved in the consultation process that the Little Hale Fen option was not being considered, due to its size and topography.
14/22 Phone Box and Community Defibrillator Reporting – ongoing, thanks to the volunteer group Incident – Mrs Scott agreed to chase, as there’d not yet been an update on the investigation into why the code had not been given to the member of the public. EMAS had confirmed that the correct information was on the database and available to 999 call handlers.
Defib/ First Aid training – Cllr Poulton reported that the session had been set for Saturday 22nd January, 9-12 with 12 places available in total. He would advertise the remaining spaces on the Facebook page and Mrs Scott to list it as an event on the LH website
15/22 Dog Fouling – nothing to report
16/22 Land at Pump Lane – it was noted that the newly seeded grass was establishing well. Cllr Poulton had donated and planted the Christmas Tree which could be decorated and lit as a ‘village Christmas Tree’ in future. Locations for planting the donated fruit trees were discussed and points at the far end were chosen, to maximise sunlight. Cllr Poulton would organise the planting.
17/22 Litter Picking –7th November Cllr Rooke reported on a successful event. The meeting was pleased to note that less and less rubbish is being picked up at the events, largely due to the ongoing efforts of local residents doing regular litter picks throughout the year. Thanks to NKDC for picking up the full bags and the use of the kit again.
18/22 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022. It was suggested that, given the possibility of further Covid restrictions, it would be sensible to look at an outdoor event, maybe based at Pump Lane, using the Gazebo along with an event such as scarecrow trail around the village to involve as many residents as possible.
19/22 Parish Council Communications i. Website – Cllr Poulton agreed to send some suitable local photos. Mrs Scott would find and share the statistics about website usage.
20/22 Matters for the next meeting – Queen’s Jubilee event, plans for the Annual Parish Meeting (3 rd May).
21/22 The Dates of Meetings for 2021-22, at 7.30pm, as agreed, 1st Mar, 3rd May.
The meeting closed at 8.36 pm.
Agreed at the meeting held on 1st March 2022 and signed by Cllr S Poulton