February 2022 Minutes
Aslackby Parish Council Meetings
Minutes from meeting held on 28th February 2022
Present:
Parish Councillors
Cllr Brian Wilkinson (BW), Cllr Rachel Stevenson (RS), Cllr Malcolm Dodds (MD), Cllr Sue Roberts (SR), Cllr R Miller (RM), Cllr Katie Long (KL)
James Leach – Clerk (JL)
District Councillors County Councillors
Press
James Leach
1 Apologies – Cllr John Pickard (JP)
Absent – County Cllr Martin Hill (MH)
2 The Chairman welcomed all present.
3 4 members of the public were present. – Alison Ray (AR) and Alison Carrbilas (AC), Carol Schofield (CS), Helana Currell (HC)
3a The Chairman welcomed all present and asked the four members of the public if they would like to speak.
AR said she had been approached by a fellow resident Margaret Riley who wished the following questions to answered:
1. Why was the PC website not kept up to date with the latest minutes? JL said that as far as he was aware the latest signed off minutes were on the website, but he would check and also speak with the Website administrator if they were missing. JL also stated that there would always be a delay in previous minutes going on to the website as they could not be published until they had been signed off at the following meeting.
Action: JL
2. Did the PC have a Community Engagement Officer? – BW stated that the PC did not have this role. He also stated that it was difficult to find residents to engage with the PC so doubted whether the PC would be able to find someone to fulfil this role.
3. Had the PC applied for any Government Funding in respect of the Queens Jubilee? BW stated that the PC had not.
4. Had the PC welcomed the recent new residents that had moved into the village? Again, BW said that the PC had not done this.
BW asked AR if this had answered the questions and she responded that it had.
AC explained that the Aveland History Group had applied for, and been accepted for, funding to create a one of piece of art work which would be displayed around the ward on a rotation basis. They will be holing some workshops for ideas and would encourage residents to participate. AC asked if a poster could be displayed on the Notice Board to advertise these workshops. BW said that the PC notice board was for PC business but there was a Village Notice Board in his garden which could be used. MD asked if the PC could make an exception on this occasion and place a poster in the PC Noticeboard. It was agreed that this could happen so JL will do this once he receives the posters.
Action: BW/JL
CS – asked if anyone knew why there had been a man out on the farm lane at the back of her property and near the Cemetery, with a theodolite last week? JL said he assumed it may have something to do with the speed limit reduction work that would be starting any time soon on the main A15 and along the road in front of the factory and the Cemetery, however he could not be certain. BW said he had no update from the Conant Estate as to whether is was to do with their proposed plans. So could not really comment.
HC asked about the proposed plans for the village from the Conant Estate and stated that she hadn’t been happy that she had only found out about them from the Parish Council Minutes. She stated she was concerned with the amount of proposed development at the back of her property, something that CS was also concerned with.
BW re-iterated that at present he had no update from Mr Thompson but would try and get hold of him. JL said he had received an email asking if the PC should be involved in arranging the consultation meetings he wanted to run, to which JL had responded “no”, as if the PC organised these jointly with Mr Thompson it would give the impression that the PC were behind the plans. BW explained that this was not the case as we did not have enough information to make an informed decision. He also went on to explain that since the original meeting where Mr Thompson had given the impression that the estate would donate land to the PC for a car park, allotments, children’s play area and a new village hall, where as this is incorrect as the estate would expect the PC to either rent or buy the land.
RM and SR went on to say that until the estate arranged the public meetings no decision would be made because if the village was against the proposals it would be highly unlike to go ahead. At present the final proposals had not even been put in front of the Trustees so the proposals were still in the early stages and until the public consultation went ahead and the village had voted on the proposals, nothing would happen.
JL finished by saying that it was a 25-year plan so it was doubtful if anything would happen any time soon.
4 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest however at this point BW said he wished to say something. He firstly wished to thank JL for all his hard work as clerk and was disappointed, although not surprised that JL had handed in his resignation. He went on to say that the clerk’s role was now a very onerous task and the recent abuse that he and fellow councillors received from some residents was not acceptable.
At this point BW said that at the AGM in May he would be standing down as Chairman, he will stay on the council until next year when all councillors’ posts were up for re-election at which point, he would resign from the PC completely. He said he had served the village for the last 22 years but the level of abuse and negativity he was getting from the village nowadays was unacceptable.
5 Minutes of the Last Meeting – Proposed by RS and seconded by SR.
6 Matters Arising
All matters from the last meeting, except those listed below, had been dealt with and would be noted under the relevant headings below.
• JL and JP had not yet reviewed the list of Policies sent by LALC but will endeavour to do this before the next meeting.
Action: JL/JP
• JL still needed to contact Highways re putting double yellow lines in the access bay opposite nos 5&6 Council Houses.
Action: JL
• JL had not had a response re the “Children Playing” Signs so he will chaise this as it is unlikely, we will get a 20mph limit through the village.
Action: JL
• JL still needed to put an advert on the website, village notice board and, if possible, on the Facebook page re Neighbourhood Watch Volunteers and help with Litter Picking once details received from SR – see below in AOB
7 Planning
There had been one Planning Applications from Mr Cook at Brookside Cottage for a single storey extension.
There were no objections so JL will send a response to SKDC planning.
Action: JL
8 Cemetery
There have been no internments since the last meeting.
9 Neighbourhood Watch
There have been no updates on the break in and attempted break in that occurred last month.
There were still issues with the cars parked outside nos 5 and 6 Council Houses. So much so that a couple of times this week the road had been blocked enough so that farm traffic was unable to get through. This had caused an altercation between the farm worker and the owner of one of the cars.
JL had received an email from K Mellors re a white van that also now used the passing bay to park and which came at all hours of the night. JL had responded re his contact with SKDC – see below.
JL said he had contacted LCC about the possibility of putting double yellow lines in the passing bay but had received no response yet. He had also written to SKDC about providing adequate parking for their residents not only at the above addresses but also in Aveland Close as he had received a number of complaints from residents about the number of cars now being parked there.
At present he had not received a response but will chaise this up.
Action: JL
JL had received a link from Maisie McMahon, our local Police contact, on information about joining/setting up a Neighbourhood Watch. He will put a request on the website to see if he can get any volunteers.
Action: JL
10 Highways
A number of Highways issues were still outstanding on going and these are listed below:
• The Laughton junction was still outstanding. JL is awaiting an update.
• The numerous potholes on Laughton Road were still outstanding. MH was not available for an update.
• JL was still awaiting an update re the dead tree branches on the Green. He had contacted SKDC for an update but nothing has been forthcoming.
Action: JL
JL had received a notification from LCC Highways to say that the road from the pub to Mareham Lane would be closed for resurfacing, however he did not have a date for the commencement of this work.
JL has reported the hedges in the village that were causing an obstruction to some of the footpaths. Council tenants had been reported to SKDC and private tenants to LCC Highways. To date he had received no reply.
A notice for the proposed speed limit changes on the A15 and outside the factory were being advertised in the local press. No update was yet available as to when this work would commence.
JL said he had contacted SKDC The Big Clean re clearing the footpath from the Village to the Village Hall but had not yet received a response.
11 Finance
JL did not have a current balance on the accounts as he had not received a recent statement.
JL said he had received one invoice that had now been paid:
LALC Membership - £80.82
JL said the Clerks Wages are due this month but these will now be done in April.
JL said he had received a questionnaire from Gallagher Insurance as the policy was due for renewal in May. He will go through this with JP and get it sent off.
Action: JL
12 Correspondence
All correspondence had been dealt with via email since the last meeting in January.
13 SKDC Update
No one from SKDC to give an update. JL will issue an invite to the newly elected councillor Mr Richard Dixon Warren for future meetings.
Action: JL
14 Lincolnshire County Council Update
No one was available from LCC for an update.
15 A.O.B
BW said that the biannual skip was due. Normally it would be done in March however due to Easter being late this year it will be done on Saturday 9th April. JL will produce the slips and give to BW.
Action: JL
Clerks Vacancy – the vacancy had already been advertised on the village Facebook page but BW said he had no one apply for the post. JL will contact LALC and ask how he could advertise the role on their website.
Action: JL
JL had agreed to stay in post until the AGM in May but at a push would stay until September if a successful applicant was not found. He was however hoping a successful applicant would be found before then.
Phone Box – JL said that the Public Phone Box was now owned by the PC, he was just awaiting the signed contract and the invoice for the purchase. He will also chaise up the maintenance kit that he was told would be issued once the sale had gone through. He had received a poster which needed to be placed in the phone box notifying the public that it was now the responsibility of the Parish Council. He will put this up with BW’s contact details.
Action: JL
SR said she had notified Kate but they would not do anything until the spring once the weather started to improve.
RM asked if anything had been done with the electricity supply. JL said that BT were still responsible for this and they had no intention of cutting the supply off. RM asked if it would be upgraded as it was not up to the latest regs. JL said this would not be done and the comment in the contract was for “advice” only and not something that had to carried out.
Queens Jubilee – SR said she had attended a Jubilee meeting at the Church on 25th Feb and the idea is to have the Village Fete as normal, but this year people would be asked for a donation rather than paying for everything as not everyone, especially those with families, could afford to participate in everything on offer. People would then be able to donate whatever they could afford and still enjoy all the events.
In the evening straw bales would be put on the Village Green where families could sit and someone locally would provide a burger van & someone else would do teas and coffees, however if they preferred people could bring their own picnic. Chris from the Church is going to look into having the road closed to make it safe for children etc.
SR asked if the PC could make a monetary donation towards the event. This was agreed in principle however MD did state that, as the Fete was usually there to raise funds for the Church, any donation should be used for the running of the event and not end up in the Church fund. BW asked that all Councillors have a think before the next meeting as to how much they felt the PC should donate towards the event.
Action: All
JL had said he had been contacted by a number of companies trying to sell Coronation Mugs and asked if the PC should donate some of these. A small discussion was had and the consensus of opinion was that something other than mugs should be considered, i.e. water bottles, book marks, tea towel’s etc. JL will look into this before the next meeting and see what was available.
Action: JL
Litter Picking – This was discussed at the last meeting, JL had contacted LCC & SKDC about help towards Litter Picking equipment and had been put in touch with the local Library where they handed out equipment. Unfortunately, they had nothing available at present.
SR suggested that the PC do it off their own back and provide the equipment and then organise a weekend where the event could be carried out. HC also suggested that may be a prize should be given to the person that picked the most amount of litter. SR said she would organise the dates and get volunteers. JL said he would look into the price of litter picking gear, florescent jackets and gloves. An update will be given at the next meeting.
Action: SR/JL
JL had received notification that the COVID QR Code could now be removed now that restrictions had been lifted. JL had done this.
16 Date of next meeting Monday 11th April 2022 – 7.00 pm at the Village Hall. Meeting closed at 20.19pm