Minutes 2024

MINUTES

MEETING POTTERHANWORTH PARISH COUNCIL 25 MARCH 2024

In Attendance   -              Cllr Clarke

                                        Cllr Ott

                                        Cllr Giles

Also in Attendance -       NKD Councillor Turner

                                       Mrs Yvonne Pierce

1.            Vice Chair opened meeting by welcoming the very small group to the meeting.

2.            Apologies received from Cllrs Sardeson, Copsey, Nightingale and Carrington.

3.            No declaration of interest to report.

4.            Draft notes from meeting of 26th February 2024 approved as Minutes, after several alterations –

               Namely, 5b, which should read Robbie Moore from DEFRA, 5c, should read Branston Island, not Pool, 7a, correct date of meeting is 27.3.24,

               8b, additional comment to be added reading “Again suggestions were discussed as to how the layout could be improved”, 9c, wording should be changed,

               rather than a statement, it should be a question “Data from cameras should have a Data Controller should this be our responsibility?”, 9d, additional paragraph

               “Cllr Ott also informed that a replacement plaque with the correct information regarding the building of the Bus shelter was required at a cost of £44.50. 

               PC agreed with this cost.  Cllr Ott will action”

5.            Reports from outside bodies -

    a.        Police Crime Report –  The Police Website shows 3 crimes recorded in our area for January, one of which was a theft.  Mrs Pierce informed that she was aware

               that there had been 4 burglaries in the village of Metheringham in the last month.

     b.       District Councillor Paul Turner stood to inform of the Councils discussions regarding empty houses across the NK district. They were discussing specifically whether

               homes left empty for longer than 12 months will have their council tax rate doubled.  The period at present is 2 years.

               He was immediately asked whether NKDC would charge themselves for council houses that remain empty for 12 months or more, as this new ruling certainly means that

               private landlords would be.  When he responded that as the only reason council houses are out of use is because they are uninhabitable due to requiring repairs, it was 

               pointed out that private landlords may have similar manpower problems to quickly repair problems.  Obviously fine tuning to the new rules was needed and Cllr Turner

               would take our comments back.

     c.       Cllr Ott asked, following on from the notification of the 4% council tax increase, how financially secure NKDC is.  Cllr Turner informed that he sits on several committees and

               saw no evidence that the Council was frivolous with the funds and said that he would feedback concerns with regard to cost cutting.  Cllr Ott asked if there were any meetings

               that were open to Parish Councillors attending to air concerns.  Mrs Pierce said speaking as a resident, they are surveyed regularly with regard to the Councils Services,

               even if what they asked for did not always happen.

6.            Public Open Forum –

               Mrs Yvonne Pierce attended the meeting to raise a point regarding the increasing amount of HGV’s using the road through Potterhanworth and Nocton.  This is not the first time

               we have had concerns from residents of Church Hill regarding lorries travelling down the Hill.  Mrs Pierce had made a point of noting the times and quantity of a specific Haulier,

               Goldstar, new to the area, who over the last 3 months, is using the road increasingly, including through the night.  She had brought with her photos of the problem that this is

               causing in the pinch point past the school and down Church Hill, and the damage it is causing to the verges and drain covers, not to mention the speed with which they travel

               through the village. The bad road surface exacerbates the noise problems, specifically in the case of Goldstar which transports chained container from a particular customer.  

               Discussion was had as to whether we contact the Haulier, or whether we contact Highways to look to whether we need reduced speed limits and/or weight restrictions through

               the village or a pinch point creating at the top and bottom of the hill to slow the lorries down. 

               Cllr Clarke asked Mrs Pierce if she would contact Nocton PC in the first instance to ask if they were having a similar problem.  Cllr Clarke also said she would contact County          AC

               Councillor Carrington, as he was not in attendance today, to ask for his opinion on how we should proceed.

7.            Matters from previous minutes still outstanding –

     a.       Potter on the Move update –

               There were many questions asked about how we use the survey results we have so far and whether we need to create a new survey on Spotted to ask further questions. 

               We had 60 responses when we asked about a new play park, do we need the same number of replies again to be able to make a proper decision on the second area?

               Conversely, do we need any further involvement when perhaps all we need to do is organise resurfacing.  Do we need a subcommittee?  It was agreed that a brainstorming

               meeting should be held and a date was agreed for 2nd May.  Cllr Clarke will post the meeting date and venue, namely The Chequers.

               Cllr Giles said he would pursue the Tennis court boundary ditch issue with District Cllr Lundgren.                                                                                                                                    JG

     b.       Pergola and Raised Beds –

               We have had confirmation that the Pavilion Committee would be willing to put £6,000 towards a 5m x 5m pergola.  The biggest expense of which is the roof.  As we are

               without Cllr Sardeson this evening we have no update from Karl Butler as yet. 

               With regard to the raised beds Cllr Ott passed on to Cllr Clarke the number for a contact who had done some work previously for him.  Could this contact be involved with               AC

               the creation of the raised beds and also maybe a further quote for the pergola?

     c.       Drainage and dykes -

               Cllr Giles reported no response from his Fix My Street posting yet.  He informed that Steve Plumb has flailed along the ditch to clear the sides but is waiting on who owns it

               before doing further work. 

               The drain that we know is under Norcross ownership is completely silted up, are we able to enforce his cooperation in clearing it?  Cllr Giles informed that Ralph Wilford

               has some history with regard to the drainage systems in Potterhanworth.  Cllr Giles will speak to Cllr Lundgren again to see if there is any update on ownership and how                  JG

               we can best deal with Norcross.

     d.       National Grid –

               Cllr Sardeson not in attendance this evening so no update available till next month.                                                                                                                                                         NS

     e.       Pavilion Wi-Fi –

               Cllr Clarke has informed that we have had a response following on from the survey and that at a cost of £1,000 to us for putting in the poles and line, she has decided

               to cancel the contract with Daisy.  The charge for the router needs to be refunded and the router collected. Cllr Clarke to organise this with her contact Andrew Seymour.                 AC

               So, Cllr Clarke has gone back to BT, who have confirmed that the costs are £33.00 per month with an initial cost of £9.99 for the router and £30.00 to fit it. 

8.            Financial Matters

               Accounts to be updated and payments processed more frequently.  It was agreed that a request should be put in with TSB to change the authorisation signatories to                        LB

               require only 2 rather than 3, so we would not have the problem with holidays again.  Cllr Ott said he would be happy to be a further signatory if required.

8.            Correspondence –

     a.       Broken Branch near bus stop – 

               Clerk to pass information to Cllr Sardeson.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         LB

     b.       Dog attack on Barff Road –

               Clerk passed round email received from resident regarding an attack to her dog.  As it was Barff Road and Cllr Ott was aware who’s dog was involved, he informed he                    MO

               would follow up with the owner and report back.

     c.       Parish Council Policies –

               This will need to be discussed further next month.  Clerk provided a list of policies common to most other PC’s.  We need to decide which we should have.

               It was agreed that as we are employers, we should follow LALC guidelines and have an employment sub-committee set up with Cllr Clarke as Chair.  It would

               require 2 further Cllrs to sit.  To be discussed further at next meeting.

               GDPR – Discussion was had as to whether we were happy with the Pavilion Committee being the Data Controller and it was agreed that we were, in which case we

               would need to check that they had such a policy.  However, this lead on to Pavilion Committee Policies in general.  A conversation would need to be had with the

               Committee to check their list of policies and obtain a copy for our files and make sure they are aware of their obligations with regard to a GDPR policy. Cllr Clarke to                        AC

               follow up with them and ask that they submit a data policy naming their data controller.

     d.       Re-instalment of gates on footpath between Cross Street and Station Road –

               Running short of time – again this item was passed over till next meeting.

10.          Planning Matters – Nothing to discuss.

11.          Monthly Risk Assessment – Nothing to discuss.

12.          Next Council Meeting Monday 29 April 2024.