September 2022 Minutes
Aslackby Parish Council Meetings
Minutes from meeting held on 26th September 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
Cllr Richard Dixon-Warren
County Councillors
None
1 Apologies – Cllr John Pickard (JP),
Absent – County Cllr Martin Hill (MH)
2 The Chairman welcomed all present.
3 No members of the public were present.
4 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest. JL said he would need to declare an interest if his wages were discussed but BW said this was not going to be discussed at the meeting due to JP being absent and no details had been provided yet. This will be put on the Agenda for next months meeting.
Action: JL
5 Minutes of the Last Meeting – Proposed by MD and seconded by RS.
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 still not yet reviewed the list of Policies sent by LALC and were required for the website. They will do this as soon as they can.
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.
Action: JL
• Litter Picking Volunteers was still on hold. SR will sort this once she has a bit more time on her hands.
Action: SR
• JL was awaiting a quote for combination lacks for the grates on the head walls. He will chaise this and feed back to the next meeting.
Action: JL
• BW said the cleaning out of the silt traps on the head walls will be done asap as BW had missed the opportunity to borrow a mini digger.
Action: BW, JL
• Email addresses, after some discussion it was decided to await further updates from LALC, as it was only a suggestion at present.
7 Planning
JL had received no notifications since the last meeting.
RM asked a question re what was happening about the dropped curb on the new home being built at the end of the village. His main concern was how close it was to the drains on the main road. BW said he was not sure but hopefully if the owner came to the next meeting, she could provide an answer.
8 Cemetery
There was nothing to report since the last meeting. JL did say that he had seen Lionel there this week to do some grass maintenance.
BW said he had received a call from a Mrs Constable, who was related to an old resident from Aslackby and had enquired about buying two burial plots for ashes. BW will be seeing them later this week to discuss.
9 Neighbourhood Watch
The parking issues in the close and on Aveland Way were now under investigation. No update or recommendations were available at present as this was still on-going.
MD said that all the sheds at a couple of the local farms had been broken into. Luckily the alarms had gone off and nothing was taken.
JL said he had received an email from Claire Wilson (Neighbourhood Policing) asking for further information on issues raised at the recent Policing Priorities Meeting. JL had responded but had received no further correspondence.
Residents wall had been knocked down again by a passing vehicle and they had now put white bollards on the verge to stop it happening again.
10 Highways
JL was happy to report that most of the pot holes towards Low Park had now been repaired. He had not checked Laughton Road recently but will do this before the next meeting.
The following issues are still O/S:-
• 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
• There was still no update as to when the reduced speed limit would be put in place on the A15 or outside the factory.
• No update was available re the overgrown hedge on Mareham Lane.
• No update was available re the Burial Site sign at the junction with the village and the A15.
JL was hoping MH would be at the meeting so he could get an update on the above. As he was absent JL will email him to see if there were any updates.
Action: JL
JL had received notification from, Fix My Street to say the demolished headwall had now been repaired. He will check this out and if any different will feed back at the next meeting.
The demolished headwall had now been fi headwalls were built.
Action: JL
JL said all the overgrown hedges on Kirkby Underwood Road had now been cut back. Only one, at the Old School, needed more work. A number of other hedges were raised as an issue so JL will inform LCC Highways of these to get them sorted.
Action: JL
11 Finance
The current balance on the cheque account was £1866.56 and in the Deposit Account was £10290.65
JL said he had received the following invoices that had now been paid:
WAVE – Water Rates - £12.16
BDG Mowing Contractors - £210.00
Both these had been paid.
JL said the Clerks pay rise information, which is to be backdated to April 2021, had been given to JP but this was still outstanding. JP had assured him this will be sorted in the next couple of weeks. JL said that he would need to send payment to HMRC before 30/10/2022 or the PC would incur a fine for late payment. JL also commented that his hourly rate would also need considering as on current ours and rate he was receiving approx. £3.00 less than minimum wage. He also, commented that this is probably why there had been no applications for the upcoming vacant Clerks post. BW will speak to JP in the next week to get this sorted.
Action: JL,BW
JL said the issue of the Bank Account at Lloyds still remained unresolved and the PC needed to make a decision as to whether the PC wanted to stay with Lloyds and go o on line Banking, however this would mean that all the current signatories would need to register for on-line Banking. This would involve closing the current accounts and opening a Business Account. He had been assured by Lloyds that they would keep the same Terms and Conditions if they chose this option.
Another option is to open an on-line account with a different bank. RM said that JP had said he would speak to HSBC re this so said that we should hold off making a decision until they had spoken to JP.
The final option was to stay as we are but make JL a signatory.
RDW gave a brief summary of how Haconby PC operated their Banking, which was via email to the Bank to carry out transactions. This may be another option?
This will be added to next month’s Agenda.
Action: JL, All
JL gave an update re his complaint to Lloyds Bank. He had received an initial response and an offer of compensation; however, they had failed to answer most of the points he had raised so had written back to them and was awaiting a response. Hopefully he will have an update by the next meeting.
Action: JL
JL had received the purchase order from LCC for Grass Cutting and had sent off the Invoice to LCC for payment.
12 Correspondence
All correspondence had been dealt with via email since the last meeting in July, and anything of relevance had already been emailed to all Councillors. The following items were raised;
• JL said he had received numerous items iro the death of he Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He had actioned all this in accordance with guidelines and the website had also been amended accordingly. He had also put up a notice of condolence on the PC Notice Board.
• JL had received numerous emails from Mr M Thompson iro of the proposed development from the Conant Estate. This mainly cantered around flooding. JL had responded with links to articles and photos and had received nothing back since.
• A number of articles had been received re the proposed new reservoir from Anglian Water. This was going to be a huge undertaking and JL will continue to distribute information as and when he gets it.
• Information had been received re the proposed Polling Station review. There would be no change to the Aveland Ward so no action was required.
• An email had been received from Ridgeway Energy re possible help they may be able to provide to local amenities to help them stay open during the winter months. He had passed this on to the village Hall and Church.
• SKDC had sent out information regarding the Council Tax Support Scheme. Information was available on the SKDC website,
13 SKDC Update
• SKDC had followed protocol re Operation London Bridge and had done a sterling job to keep websites and information up to date.
• A ceremony had been held for the inauguration of King Charles III. No one from the PC had attended.
• Residents should look at the SKDC website to see what help was available re the Cost of Living Crisis. They were also looking at ways of getting the information out to those who did not have access to the Internet.
• Currently there is an opportunity to apply to the Rural England Prosperity Fund to help with community projects. The fund is worth up to £4 million for SKDC so if there are any projects that we feel would benefit we should let SKDC know.
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 still been no applicants for the upcoming Clerk’s vacancy, but as previously discussed this may have something to do with renumeration.
He had had a discussion with BW after the last meeting and agreed to stay in post until the AGM in May when all Councillors positions were up for re-election. A final decision would then be made on his position, dependant on the outcome of the pay review.
Action: JL
Skip – BW will order the skip for Saturday 29th October. JL will sort slips out and give to BW.
Action: JL
SR had raised the issue at the last meeting asking if Councillors thought that the PC could leave a legacy as all Councillors were up for re-election next year. This could be anything from a bench, shelter over the seating at the bus stop or even a children’s play area. Some discussion was had and the play area was dismissed due to the added costs the PC would incur on insurance and maintenance etc. This had been looked in to before.
Another idea was to employ someone to litter pick.
As there was little support at present, and because re-elections were not until May, JL will add it to the next Agenda for further discussion
Action: JL
BW said that, due to having to postpone the last meeting due to the Queens funeral, he had altered the next two meeting dates.
The next meeting will be 31/10/2022 and the one after that will be 05/12/2022. Dates for meetings in the New Year will be decided at a later date.
16 Date of next meeting Monday 31st October 2022 – 7.00 pm at the Village Hall. Meeting closed at 20.12pm