Minutes 2019

Item

Discussion

1.Attendance and Apologies

Attendance:                                                                 

Cllr. Bourne – Chairman                                             

Cllr. Orton – Vice-chairman                                                                 

Cllr. Foster                                                                  

Cllr. Sardeson

Cllr. Hollidge                         

Apologies:

Cllr Burns

Cllr Watson

Mrs J Bourne -Clerk

Also in attendance:     Cllr. Lundgren

                                    Cllr. Cucksey – NKDC.

                                    5 members of the public

2. To receive reports from representatives on outside bodies

Police Crime Report

The police report from 24th September – 27th October.  1 crime reported on 8th October, theft of a vehicle which was set alight on Station road.  Police were unable to ascertain ownership of the vehicle. 

LCC Matters – No report received.

NKDC Matters:

Cllr. Cucksey:  Please see attached Appendix 1.

Cllr. Lundgren: The Council recently passed a motion relating to domestic violence against women and also violence in the work place. 

The cost of sending tankers to the bridge to pump out water into a gully of 250 metres of blocked pipe is beyond understanding.  There are ways of taking this forward by contacting the Scrutiny Committee at the county council.  Anyone can write to them to request an investigation into Highways and ask them to investigate what has been going on in terms of poor management of this situation.

Cllr Lundgren has also received 2 emails from residents regarding the state of 2 footpaths in Potterhanworth.  He has forwarded these comments on to Cllr. Oxby. 

At the Police Panel meeting Cllr. Lundgren will on our behalf, be asking Chief Inspector Phil Vickers, whose responsibility is community policing for most of our district, questions on community policing issues, such as antisocial behaviour and parking around the school.  He will also be asking about officer numbers as there is a further cut in numbers from 11 down to 8 for the whole district.  There is a real risk that the new funding for these officers will essentially be PCSOs upgrading to police officers.  So it may not have any actual increase in terms of bodies on the beat. If anyone has any burning issues they would like to be raised please contact Cllr. Lundgren.

Please pass on my thanks to Jackie for her work and support she has given to me as a district councillor.

The Chairman gave his brief on the flood.  Although it appears to some people that nothing appears to be happening, a lot has been going on in the background, even though it is not a parish council matter to fix the bridge, it is completely out of our remit.  The County Council Highways section are responsible for roads. However, the Parish Council has written to Cllr Richard Davies, Head of Highways for Lincolnshire. A response has been received from his Senior Maintenance Officer, Rowan Smith and we have had several site meetings about the problem.

The Chairman explained that as you go down Station road, towards the bridge, there is a man hole just by the bridge on the left side which links up to the 2 drains underneath the bridge.  This was blocked with silt and has now been cleared.  Unfortunately, the 250-metre pipe that runs parallel to the railway, that comes out at a drainage ditch in a field, is also blocked. This is owned by Network Rail. The highways team have however now located 3 deep manhole wells down to about 4-5 metres to give the drainage fall. All of which will need to be checked. There is a 300mm pipe from the man hole on the road to at least 1 of these manholes and at some point, it then changes to a 425mm pipe, all of which are completely blocked with silt.  The work will take several days to fix as they need a track mounted pump to continue. They have been assisted by the farmer today to get their equipment out there but it is just simply not possible to get a heavy lorry out on to the field, hence the need for a portable solution.  The Highways scrutiny panel have also been copied in to our correspondence.

The Chairman reassured everyone that things are happening and hopefully in the next week or two an improvement will be seen; we cannot give a definite date as we have not been given one.

We have been asked why we cannot publish this information in Sheepwash or Grapevine.  The submission dates for these publications are so many weeks in advance, the bridge has been flooded twice since then and the details would not have been known and by the time you receive the publications this information will be out of date.  Therefore, the only reliable way of informing people is verbally and via social media with the hope that people will pass on information to those who do not have access to social media.  We are all inconvenienced by having to use different, longer routes, but luckily, we still have the option to use another route.  Some other places flooded may not have had such an option.

3. Public Open Forum

The speed indicator will be deployed to Moor Lane by the Paddocks.

The resurfacing of Queensway is taking place on 6th November.  The Clerk did contact Highways for further details on this closure and was assured that it was a partial closure because no one had received letters stating it would be a complete closure.  But it appears that this is now not the case and a complete closure may be in place.  The Chairman informed all that during the recent village walk the shocking state of the footpaths had been noted.  He has reported it again on fixmystreet, as we have done for the last few years.  During a site visit with Highways last week it was mentioned about possibly fixing the footpaths, although nothing could be promised.

Additionally, the footpath going past the church was reported once again.

4. To receive Declaration of Pecuniary Interest

None

5. To resolve, notes of the meeting held on 30 September 2019 are approved as the Minutes

It was resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 30th September 2019 be approved as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

6. Matters Arising from previous minutes

• School Safety Zone.  This has been approved by The Regulation and Planning Committee Review.  We are awaiting a start date.
• Lawnmower belts have been purchased and ready to be fitted by Cllr. Orton.
• Bus shelter grant.  A site visit has taken place with Chairman, Clerk, Highways, Safety Officer and Grant dept. Initial concerns are safety, as this is a “request” stop.  The safety issues relate to access to the bus shelter, as well as the bend and traffic speed, but all agreed this is an acceptable position for the shelter. The approach to the shelter, which will be at the existing dropped kerb, with another dropped kerb and path on the triangle in the grassed area leading upto the shelter, as well as a path from the shelter entrance to getting on to the bus.  A grant will be considered and it is looking positive.  We will be entitled to a grant very close to the maximum of £3,000.  We hope to hear a decision before the next meeting.
• TSB forms for additional signatories to be signed at the end of this meeting.
• Exposed pipe at oil tank.  Mr Ing has offered to remedy this.  Cllr Orton will check.

• Neighbourhood Plan (NP) Update:  This has been paid and Nocton have been notified that we will not be developing the NP any further.
• Expenses Policy has been updated and added to the Website.
• Dog waste bin and sign on Barff Road have both been fixed.
• Christmas tree will be delivered around 17th November.
• Play park committee – Cllr Foster has yet to make contact.
• Remembrance wreath has been ordered
• Village walk – the main faults have been reported to fixmystreet.  It is not expected that all will be completed but they have been reported. The Chairman emphasised how important it is to report faults.  Unless faults are reported, the council does not know there is a problem.  The council do not go around villages checking for faults anymore, they do not have the manpower and they rely on members of the public reporting faults. Anyone can report a fault.  The more times a fault is reported, the more likely it is that it will be repaired.
• Play park repairs – we have started these but it is a lengthy job and more time and volunteers would be appreciated. An offer was made by a member of the public to paint the top coats if we could rub down and apply the undercoat. This was gratefully accepted.
• Purchasing of dog mess signs to be displayed.  These have been purchased and Cllr Orton has erected some and is reinforcing the others and will erect.

7.

Correspondence Received.

• New address:  Lodge farm, Station road. The house in front of White house.
• Correspondence from Rowan Smith, Highways Maintenance and Ken Pratt, Flood Authority.  This was regarding the Section 19 Authority.  This has been submitted.

8. Planning Applications received

Planning Applications Potterhanworth

19/1412/FUL.  Resubmission of 19/0440.  Rear of Shumac and Elm View. Barff road.  Concerns are lack of parking, over-development, increased run-off. This application goes against our Neighbourhood plan as this is not low-density development.  It is high density as the plot size is very small, squeezing extra properties into a very small plot behind houses does not go with the character of the area.

It goes against Policy 2 of the plan providing safe and suitable vehicular access and will lead to further on street parking for residents of Elmview.

It should reflect the character of the village, properties being built in gardens go against the character. 

Privacy and amenity of neighbours – this bungalow will be right behind Elmview, whose view will be directly facing this bungalow.  It also faces directly onto 4 Southview Cottages.

It was agreed to object to this application.

Decision Notices

19/0356/FUL.  Church Farm Cott.  APPROVED

19/0859/HOUS.  1 Church Lane.  Conversion of garage.  APPROVED

19/1230/ADV.  Rushfield.  Illuminated sign.  APPROVED.

9. Pavilion Committee update

The pavilion is running well.The Dog club are making regular bookings and are hoping to run a dog show in February.

The car park has held up very well during the recent wet weather and is draining well.The tennis courts are still not running off as well as they could be. It was mentioned by a member of the public that the tennis courts have been a long standing issue well before the car park resurfacing.

10. Finance

Payments to agree:     

• Backup system (external hard drive) for the Laptop.
• Solid state drive (internal drive) to speed up the booting up

We do not have any form of cloud backup on our MS Office package as it is too old (2007). 

If we buy the Office 365 which has cloud backup, there is a cost of £80 per year, every year.  The beauty of this is it is renewed with the latest software every year and allows cloud storage.  It also provides the proper Outlook email system as currently we have a free piece of software which has caused problems.

For a total of £150 we will be able to refresh the hardware (external hard drive and Internal drive) and £80 will update the software with Office 365.  Total of £230.

Cllr Hollidge agreed to research into the most cost-effective way to purchase these.  Perhaps the purchase of a new laptop with the above packages included would be a possibility.  It was agreed that the maximum budget would be up to £300 for new laptop with the above features included, with similar spec.  If this purchase is unachievable then we will purchase the 3 items separately and add to the current laptop.

• Defibrillators.  The PC own the one at the pavilion.  EMAS own the one at the bus shelter.  We would like to purchase another 2, 1 to be at the Park, where the first green is at the underground drainage tank, near the lamp post for power.  We have been advised by Medics to have power fed to the box as heat is required to avoid damage to the lithium battery.  The cost is up to £1,200.00.  We will discuss at our next budget meeting the purchase of the 4th machine.

It was agreed to contact Western Power and make enquiries into the process of electricity cost/positioning.

11. Dates

• Date of next meeting: 
• Future meetings: 2019: 25th November.

2020:27th January, 24th February, 30th March, 27th April, (11th May Annual Parish Meeting), 18th May, 29th June, 27th July

• Play park repairs and paint work.  Rubbing down of wood and steel, undercoating and top coat.  A member of the public, Lee, offered to send his workmen, when they have free time during the day to help, if the PC can get all the primer completed then he will have available men to help with the top coats.   We have all the materials available.  Dates 2/11/19, 1pm to rub down and prime.
• Budget meeting:  Wednesday 8/1/20 at 7pm.

PARISH COUNCILLORSTABLE OF ACTIONS

B/F and from meeting held on 28th October 2019

Action

Resp. Person

Start date

Finish date

Complete

Lawn Mower – To fit new belts. 

Cllr. Orton

24/6/19

Bus Shelter Grant – Awaiting decision

Clerk

24/6/19

Ongoing

School Safety Zone – Awaiting start date

Clerk

Christmas Tree liaise with Mr Holmes and Stuart re delivery and erection

Clerk

30/9/19

Gardener – to recruit

Clerk

30/9/19

Clerk – Interviews to arrange

Clerk

30/9/19

Cleaner – Awaiting interviews

Cllr. Orton

30/9/19

Play park committee – initiate contact with Emma to form committee

Cllr. Foster

30/9/19

Play park repairs/paint.  Meet 2/11/19

All who are available

28/10/19

TSB forms to be collected and sent to bank

Clerk

30/9/19

Oil tank pipe – to cover exposed pipe (Mr Ing)

Cllr Orton

29/7/19

Lap top - research into Lap top update as in pt.10

Cllr. Hollidge

28/10/19

Speed indicator move to Paddocks

Cllr Hollidge

28/10/19

Defibrillator – investigate cost and Western power

Clerk

28/10/19