July 2022 DRAFT Minutes
Aslackby Parish Council
Minutes from meeting held on 11th July 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), Dist Cllr Richard Dixon-Warren (RDW)
Absent – County Cllr Martin Hill (MH)
2 The Chairman welcomed all present.
3 2 members of the public were present. – Alison Ray (AR) and Helena Currell (HC)
3a The Chairman welcomed all present and asked the two members of the public if they would like to speak.
AR – said that she had a couple of questions from Alison Carrbilas (AC), as she was unable to attend the meeting. The first question concerned the sign for the green burial site that was raised at the last meeting. JL said he had received no update from MH, who was going to check with Highways that the proper procedure had been followed, so he would keep it in the Agenda for the next meeting.
ACTION: JL
The second question was what comments the PC had made on the planning application for the proposed Solar Farm on the old airfield. BW explained that no formal planning application had been made yet so the PC had no comments to make at the present time. JL went on to say that he had received an email from the Planning Directorate to say that comments on the proposal had now been put back and he would be informed once a new date for comments was agreed,
HC asked what further information the PC had received about the Conant Estate planning proposals for the village. The reason for the question was that she had seen Mr Thompson measuring up and knocking stakes into the ground. He had also asked Helena a number of questions to clarify a few points. BW stated that the only contact the PC had received from Mr Thompson was to check if BW was still the Chairman of the PC. No other information had been forthcoming at the time.
JL
4 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
5 Minutes of the Last Meeting – Proposed by SR and seconded by RM.
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 JP said he would 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 still not had a response re the “Children Playing” Signs so he will chaise this.
• Litter Picking Volunteers was still on hold. SR will sort this once she has a bit more time on her hands.
ACTION: SR
• Neighbourhood Watch Volunteers. This is on hold for the time being.
7 Planning
JL had received notification that 2 Planning Ammendments had been approved by SKDC. These were both in relation to AR. One was to alter the orientation of the garage and the other was to do with drainage.
Ridge Clean Energy had held a number of meetings last month re the proposed Solar Farm on the old Airfield. BW said that of the 35 attendees at Folkingham, 20 at Lenton, 20 at Pickworth and 30 at Aslackby there had only been a couple of objections and as a whole most were in favour and in some instances said it was a shame it could not be done any quicker.
BW asked AR if she was against the proposal to which AR said she was not against the proposal purses but held reservations about batteries being stored up there.
BW said that the route on to the airfield had been discussed at the meeting and a Plan B was to bring the route via Laughton Lane. If this was the case then they would need to upgrade the road which would be an added bonus in view of the fact that LCC had still not fixed all the issues.
8 Cemetery
There was nothing to report since the last meeting.
9 Neighbourhood Watch
One resident had been the victim of number plate theft where both plates were stolen during the night.
BW said that there had been a number of Catalytic Converter thefts from cars in Folkingham in the past few weeks so residents should be reminded to be extra vigilant.
There were still issues with the cars parked outside Nos 5 and 6 Council Houses and in the close, not helped by the fact that there was now a caravan parked in the road. JL said he had a meeting with RDW this Wednesday to discuss the parking issues and would feed back at the next meeting. BW said that it should be made aware that the 4 Council Houses on Aveland Way should not park at the back as Aveland close wasa Private Road and only had parking for the houses in Aveland close. This was maintained by SKDC and of the houses ain the Close only a small number were still SKDC properties.
KL suggested that maybe SKDC should put in a dropped curb so that the Council Houses could park at the front of their own properties.
JL asked how many of the Council Garages were occupied, to which BW said only one was currently used and the rent was approx. £500 per year.
MD said that one of the properties on Temple Road had had some diesel stolen recently.
10 Highways
A number of Highways issues were still ongoing and these are listed below:
• The numerous potholes on Laughton Road were still outstanding however someone from Highways had been up and sprayed paint on the worst ones, which suggested these would be repaired shortly. MH was not available for an update to confirm this
• JL had still not received a response from SKDC re the uncut hedges. He has now in the process of sending sent an email to LCC Highways to see if they can do something. The main culprits are 3-4 houses on Kirkby Underwood Road where the hedges were so wide that you could not use the footpath.
ACTION: JL
JL had received notification that the Aveland Way, just as you leave the village towards the airfield, was to be closed for 3 days for a new water connection to the home AR is building. He was going to put it on the Facebook page however the notification had been placed in the village already so he will now not do this.
JL said Highways had been to cut the verges on the road to Low Park last week and in doing so had demolished one of the headwalls. JL will be sending an email to Highways to get this fixed.
BW said that when the headwalls were built when the new drains were installed, the PC had agreed to keep the silt traps emptied. These were now overflowing so BW said he will look at doing this in August when he may have the use of a mini-digger. JL said he would help with this.
ACTION: BW, JL
MD said if any silt needed carting away, he would assist. JL also said that the original locks may need replacing as they had not been opened since they were installed. MD suggested a combination lock instead of ones that required a key. JL will look into this.
ACTION: JL
JL said that the village sign on the Northbound carriageway of the A15 had now been installed. KL asked if there was an update on when the speed limit would be reduced. JL said he did not have this information and MH was not here for an update. He did say that as they had now installed the new village sign, he did not think it would be long before the speed limit was done as well, but would need to speak to MH to confirm this.
ACTION: MH
JL raised the issue of the hedge on Marehem Lane as he had received a complaint recently about it protruding into the main carriageway. This had caused damage to a car as a result of there being nowhere to pull in safely when the main A15 had been closed. MD said this was an ongoing issue and MH was now involved as there was a dispute as to whose responsibility it was, i.e. the tenants or LCC. MD said it was currently being looked into but had no other information than that. JL to put on agenda for next meeting to get an update from MH.
ACTION: JL
JL said he had still not had a response from SKDC The Big Clean re clearing the footpath from the Village to the Village Hall. However, it looked like they had now done the paths on Kirkby Underwood Road.
11 Finance
The current balance on the cheque account was £779.15 and in the Deposit Account was ?????
JL said he had received the following invoices that had now been paid:
WAVE – Water Rates - £13.75
BDG Mowing Contractors - £210.00
BW said that following a comment made at the AGM, the Village Hall Committee had now looked at the Hire Charge for the Village Hall and had decided that the charge would increase from the current £120.00 a year to £150.00 per year. MD proposed that the PC accept the increase and this was seconded by RM.
JL said the Clerks pay rise information, which is to be backdated to April 2021, had been given to JP but this had not been actioned yet. This will be forwarded to the next meeting, when hopefully JP will have a proposal.
ACTION: JL, JP
JL said the issue of the Bank Account at Lloyds still remained unresolved but would add this to the next meeting Agenda for discussion. In the meantime, he will look into the possibility of an on-line account. If this was not possible, he would have to travel to Stamford or Sleaford or Grantham to carry out any transactions, which will add time and expense to the Banking. This issue needed a lot more thought as the type of account did not make it easy to change due to the fact any cheques required 2 signatures. The Bourne Branch was due to close in November.
ACTION: JL
JL said he had received an email from Zurich Insurance, whio now held the PC Policy, to state that, due to leaving the EU they had to change their legal status as determined by Brexit. JL had passed this over to JP to look at and had confirmed that no action was required.
BW stated that he had received a note through his door with receipts from the Church in connection with the Jubilee Fete. The PC had agreed to donate £400 towards this at Aprils Meeting, however the total receipts from the Church came to £492.19, less coronation mug sales of £49.60, leaving a balance of £442.59. JL asked the question if the PC were just going to pay the agreed £400 or pay the whole balance of £442.59?
An in depth, and sometimes heated, discussion was had as to why the PC should stick to the agreed amount or pay the extra. In the end a vote was taken. SR & MD abstained, RS voted for sticking to the original £400 and MD, KL and BW voted in favour of paying the full amount of £442.59.
JL will arrange for this to be paid.
In future KL suggested that, if the PC agreed to donate any money to a cause in the future, they would write a cheque and give this to the recipient so as to prevent the above happening again. This was agreed unanimously.
BW asked AR if their sculpture proposal. AR said that they had not received enough sponsorship and so this was on hold for the time being. BW said that if it took off again then the History Society would need to re-submit their request for a donation from the PC.
12 Correspondence
All correspondence had been dealt with via email since the last meeting in February, except the following:
• The latest Clerks & Councils Direct contained an article on funding for Village Halls. He passed this to BW as it may be something Aslackby Village Hall could take advantage of.
13 SKDC Update
RDW was not available but had sent the following update which JL read out.
• I dropped in on the Temple Oak Renewable Energy Park Public Exhibition on Thursday 23 July and spoke to a few people with an interest in this. I heard no objections to the project. Indeed, one couple wished that it could be done more quickly. The restitution of a public footpath closed since the Second World War was raised – I wonder if the Council has any information or views on this.
JL said that as far as he was aware this would be a question for LCC, and would add it to the next Agenda to ask MH about it. No one at the meeting was aware of any Public Footpath which had been closed on the airfield. He will try and get further information from RDW and go from there.
• Progress on £150 rebate payments that SKD is administering to help residents deal with rising energy prices. To date 92% of all Direct Debit payers have been paid (39,000 payments). The remaining 8% are being reviewed as there are mismatches between the Council Tax account and the customer’s bank accounts. If these mismatches cannot be resolved, customers will be paid as those who do not pay their Council Tax by Direct Debit (some 22,000 customers) are paid, which is using vouchers issued by Post Office Counters. A letter will be sent over the coming weeks to all those that this concerns.
• Covid-19 is on the rise again. Lincolnshire’s public health team estimates that some 25,000 people across the county now have coronavirus. The rate of infection last week stood at around 200 cases per 100,000, compared with a rate of 50 per 100,000 at the end of May. SKDC continues to advise caution both for those who become ill and for staff at work, where basic hygiene is still the best form of defence. The Government still offers general advice about simple things we can do in our daily lives to help reduce the spread of Covid and protect those at highest risk.
14 Lincolnshire County Council Update
No one was available from LCC for an update.
15 A.O.B
Clerk’s Vacancy – JL said there had currently been no applicants for the upcoming Clerk’s vacancy. BW also said no one had approached him with an interest in the role.
Phone Box – JL asked SR for an update on the Phone Box as he had received a request from the guy who looked after the website for one. SR she would get on to this once she had done her final stint at working at the school on Fridays. For now JL agreed to give an update to say that the Phone Box was now the responsibility of the PC and to “watch this space” for upcoming news” JL will send this to be put on the website.
ACTION: JL
SR asked the PC to consider, in view of the amount of funds in the bank and the fact that all members were up for re-election next year, whether the PC should use some of the funds to leave some sort of legacy? She said she did not expect an answer now but that fellow councillors should have a think and discuss it at the next meeting. JL will add it as an Agenda item.
ACTION: JL
16 Date of next meeting Monday 12th September 2022 – 7.00 pm at the Village Hall. Meeting closed at 20.00pm