2019 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Londonthorpe & Harrowby Without Parish Council

Clerks Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held 11th September 2019 at Belmont School 7.00pm

Public Open Session; there were no parishioners present.

Councillors present; John Anderson, Geoff Parnham, Avril Gregory, Richard Keeler, Paul Bakker, Paul Bavin, Janie Lee, Yolanda Martin and Wayne Charley.

(9 Members were present.).

Geoff Parnham the Chairperson took the Chair. Pete Armstrong the Clerk took the notes.

36/19

Apologies; Roland Wright and Margery Radley

37/19

Declarations of Interest; None.

38/19

Vacancies on the Council. There is one vacancy to be filled; this has been advertised in the Newsletter to all residents. The Clerk explained the procedure for filling this space. The vacancy will be advertised at the Open evening and on the notice boards. A co-option vote will be taken at the November meeting. The clerk has received three notices of interest so far all from the newsletter advert.

39/19

Clerks Notes of the 3rd July 2019 meeting were accepted as a true record and became the minutes. Proposed by R Keeler, seconded J Lee, all members agreed.

40/19

Clerks Update on Matters Arising; none, all items covered within the agenda.

41/19

Financial Statement No.3.

The Clerk/RFO went through the financial report in the usual fine detail explaining all the payments etc. The Community Cleaners and Clerks salaries for the last two months May & June totalling £1468.22, Grass Cutting by R Webster for July of £486 (VAT £81), LALC Newsletter £17.50, Arien Designs for the replacement info signs £526.80 VAT £87.80, A Boyle £60 VAT £10, Grantham Computers £678.99 VAT £113.17, SADS Defib Spares £170, Print Bureau £600. £100 from S137 to Old Somerby re Roundabout maintenance. Littlejohns for the Audit £20 VAT £40 and SKDC for the Elections costs £148.57.

Petty Cash expenditure owed to the Clerk during the last two months amounted to £107.04 this included Office General £9.99, Newsletter Stamps £45.67, Working Party £9.98, and Repairs £41.40 VAT £14.09

Total expenditure during these two months being £4603.12 a total of £346.06 of VAT is reclaimable.

Known expenditure due for payment before the next meeting are; Community Cleaner’s Salary, Clerks Salary, Repairs, Road Safety, Open Evening, H&H, Office and the BKG certificates/prizes)

The Clerk informed the meeting that all budget headings were as to be expected for this time of year in fact he showed members the printout produced by the new software.

The income during this two-month period was £5.29 HSBC Interest and the VAT repayment from 2018-19 of £2077.59. Agreement to accept the Financial Statement No 3 and all the options suggested plus the normal expected payments for up to September was proposed by J Anderson seconded by R Keeler this was agreed unanimously.

A request for a grant towards the organ at St Johns was discussed in detail and a decision was made to make a grant from the S137 fund of £200. Prop J Anderson Sec P Bakker agreed unan.

Also proposed and agreed by all was a proposal by J Lee sec Y Martin to pay St Johns the usual £250 grant towards the grass cutting.

The informed the meeting that the Audit had been signed off by Littlejohns with no queries raised.

42/19

Leisure & Outdoor Committee.

All Areas covered by this Committee are as usual reported in this item.

There had been no committee meetings since the last meeting;

The committee chair R Keeler gave some details on the last meeting of L&O committee stating most thing was covered under separate agenda items which the Clerk would update members on.

a. Playground Safety: it was agreed to arrange for our usual ROSPA Inspector to carry out the annual inspection

b. Withambrook; New Backboards required for the Basketball court will be done when our contractor starts back in October. The replacement sign on the fence re the history of the MUGA and the incorrect telephone number sign have been ordered. A Working Party is required to do some tree work recommended in an SKDC report.

c. Belfry; AMG are still trying to source a new flywheel for the step trainer. If now available a new one will be required, L&O will discuss at their next meeting.

d. Londonthorpe; the idea to look into Mock Entrance Gates to the Village or even planters as traffic slowing method was left until after the Open Evening as planned. This is being followed up by an article in the Newsletter and inclusion at the Open Evening. A couple of residents have already been approached on this to arouse early discussion.

e. Hills & Hollows; the Information Lectern sign are now with the clerk and a suitable date is trying tpo be found to have the donors of the trees to come along on the same day. To encourage new growth, it is planned to mow some of the grassed areas this autumn. A machine would be hired for approx. £50 from LRS.

f. Bridge End Grove; only the extra bulbs to be planted in the autumn was mentioned a date to be set.

g. Fifth Ave; Park Bench in Green made with Recycled Plastic Bottle is in place and has been seen to be used. The quote for the replacement caps for new equipment received at the last meeting although expensive were proposed by P Bakker an Y Martin as necessary, all agreed they should be ordered. The fencing discussed at earlier meetings is still an option even though SKDC will not sell us the land.

h. New Play Equipment members were asked to come forward with any suggestions for areas to improve. Open Evening item!

i. Grass Cutting generally much better than last year but areas cut by LCC contractors not up to the standard expected. A suggestion to investigate wildflower areas alongside some roadsides, will be discussed by the LO Committee.

j. Woodland Trust Working Party: a full work agenda for the new season is now in place after a meeting with our managers

k. Five Gates; the suggestion of closing Five Gates Lane to traffic has now been taken of the list of actions that WT & NT are proposing. We await further updates.

l. Defibrillator; Anthony Boyle has fitted the new defibrillator and the Clerk has replaced batteries in both along with the pads. Thanks are due to Tailored Hair for their assistance.

43/19

Withambrook Crossing; The Chairman explained the present situation that after the meeting with LCC Flood Team and the ideas they put forward as possible relief methods. With it looking as though they would be considering using the area around the proposed site. Members agreed that we could not take this any further at present

44/19

Best Kept Gardens: all winners have been selected with some good new gardens observed during the judging process. Members were thanked for their initial nominations. Presentations to be made at Open Evening.

45/19

The request made for a list and or a map of all the trees within the parish with TPO’s on them was not dealt with until the day of this meeting. That was only after the Clerk chased it today. He was informed that there was not a list of trees!! Nor a map available! It was agreed to go around the parish and identify all tree that we believe to be or ought to be protected.

46/19

Newsletter; Plans re Londonthorpe traffic calming included caused much comment, including a survey done by a parishioner on what other ideas they are thinking of. Thank were offered to all who helped to deliver.

Three people have put their names forward for the vacant councillor position all because of the newsletter.

47/19

Highways Notes/Flooding;

Chatsworth Avenue/Harrowby Hill Flooding; remedial work has been confirmed for October on Chatsworth.

There is a great improvement at both here since AW have repaired another leak. This is of course one that they have been denying for some time! This was confirmed to us in a letter last week from SKDC. AW has now ceased work at the top of the hill and the road was opened at the end of August. Thanks, were offered to all our SKDC and LCC councillors. Cllr L Wootten who took the lead on at LCC ably supported by Cllrs Chivers & Craft at SKDC. Some work is still required on the pavement where it is still overgrown, we are grateful though that something has been done.

LCC Letter from R Davies; a letter was received indicating which companies were to be given the Highways contracts for the next three years

Flooding around the Parish; We are in talks with LCC Flood Team about flooding in and around the Withambrook. They are particularly interested in the water sources flowing into the Withambrook where they all run. Some we know are piped under the Harrowby Lane Estates, these take away the spring water and the surface water after rain etc. they are to attend our open evening with an information board to talk to residents

48/19

Tom Childs Award; the recipient has been selected and the Clerk has made contact as she is very happy to receive the award. Cllr W Charley has secured Tuesday 17th September for the presentation. Four councillors will attend the recipient and a guest, the nominator and Kath Childs plus her daughter. The Clerk will also be in attendance he will work with Cllr W Charley to ensure everything is in place.

49/19

Parish Open Evening on 25/9/19; members were asked about their availability for this event. Unfortunately, 4 members stated they were away at this time. This means we will be a bit thin on the ground this year. Cllrs Radley and Gregory volunteered to do the welcoming and refreshments, all others will rotate around the room. We have it confirmed that LCC Flooding team, The Police and Woodland

Trust will be having stands. Other items; Londonthorpe Traffic Designs, Speed Gun Team, Play Areas, Casual Vacancies, Planning, Vandalism, Planning Matters, BKG, Tom Childs Award and the other regular information boards.

50/19

Policies; It was agreed that the Working Party will review other policies when relevant.

51/19

Correspondence; As usual all relevant correspondence has been passed on as it arrived.

52/19

Matters for the Next Agenda etc. J Anderson told of a boundary marker discovered on the Belmount tower section, he offered to check this out. He also raised an item about a plot of land for sale on the edge of Londonthorpe and wondered if the council could purchase it. It was agreed that it was to expensive but if the vendors didn’t sell, we should have registered an interest with them anyway.

It was asked if we knew if enforcement were involved with the illegal developments on Turnor Road, where agricultural land has been built on. Also, on Turnor Rd one homeowner has taken the verge into their boundary fence, it was asked if this was legal.

The background councillor training that the clerk has offered to put on will be diarised for after the November meeting, when we have the new councillor on board.

Meeting closed 9.04 pm.

Diary Dates are as per these minutes and the Autumn Newsletter.

Next meeting; 13th Nov 2019 at 7.00pm.