2020 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Londonthorpe & Harrowby Without Parish Council

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held 8th July 2020 Via Zoom meeting started at 7.10pm.

Held under Covid 19 Regulations.

Public Open Session: there were no parishioners present.

Councillors present: Geoff Parnham, Avril Gregory, Richard Keeler, Paul Bavin, Carol Markwell, George Chivers, Paul Bakker, Yolanda Martin and. Janie Lee arrived (9 Members were present.).

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

21/0

Apologies; Margery Radley, John Anderson, Roland Wright. Cllr L Wootten and Cllr A Stokes were in attendance.

2/20

Declarations of Interest; None declared

3/20

Clerks Notes of the 11th March 2020 meeting were accepted as a true record and became the minutes. Proposed by P Bavin, seconded C Markwell, all members agreed.

4/20

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

5/20

Financial Statement No.1.

The Clerk/RFO went through the financial report in the detail explaining all the payments etc. it is to be remembered this is a four-month statement due to the May meeting being cancelled. Cheques were made out for the following: The Community Cleaners and Clerks salaries for the last four months March to June totalling £3198.28. the two payments to HMRC amounted to £692.60. Other payments included £938.86 to Came & Co for the Insurance, Scribe Accounts £339.60 (56.60 VAT), LALC Membership £794 CPRE Membership £36, Zoom £78.40 and SLCC membership £136. Print Bureau £80 for BHMS leaflets, WACS £370 for repairs and litterbin emptying during lockdown. Streetwise for Grass Cutting £558.00 Inc. VAT (£93) and Buckminster Estates £150 for rent. Other payments were the payments made under S137 to Grantham Foodbank £600, St Johns Ambulance £350, LIVES £350, St Barnabas £250, Age UK £250, Lincs Mental Health £250. A total of £2050. Petty Cash was £70.12 (£1.36 VAT)

Total expenditure during these two months being £9461.66 a total of £174.20 of VAT is reclaimable.

Known expenditure due for payment before the next meeting are Community Cleaner’s Salary, Clerks Salary, Grass Cutting, Repairs, Office, and any costs incurred for the Village Planters. The income during this four-month period was Precept £15500.00, Community Cleaner Grant £680.16, Melton Mowbray Interest £212.47, and VAT refund £2014.98 a total of £18407.61.

Agreement to accept the Financial Statement No 1 and all the options suggested, plus the normal expected payments for up to May was proposed by A Gregory seconded by G Chivers this was agreed unanimously.

The Clerk reported that he had completed the HSBC Safeguard Document and returned it but no feedback so far.

He also stated that all the paperwork had been completed to go onto Internet Banking, we await notification off acceptance.

It should be noted that the payment has been made via several different modes including Cheques/Bankers Orders/Standing Orders and cash, this has been necessary due to the pandemic.

The Community Cleaner has restarted with his tasks from the 1st July.

6/20

Annual Governance Statement: this was completed by an email questionnaire and of those who responded it was unanimously passed. It was further endorsed by this meeting.

6b/20

Audit: the clerk took members through the details of the Audit. He reported that the Internal Auditor had done her check of the systems in place and confirmed we were acting responsibly with the safety of our funds. She had no queries other than where she is obliged to check our ways of working etc

The Clerk explained that he must prove why any headings are more than 15% different from last year. There were two items that needed explanation. 1. Total other receipts which had a difference of 18.43% this was because the Government Grant of £494 received last year is no longer made, this made a difference of 9.5%. 2.Other Payments, which showed a difference of 22.75%, the reason being caused in part by the £7000 paid out for the Village Gateways if this were taken off it would be a difference of 4.2% the other way. These will explain all to the auditors.

As far as the accounts go, we are in a healthy position.

C Markham proposed and P Bakker seconded acceptance of the details for the auditors, passed unan.

7/20

Leisure & Outdoor Committee.

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

a. A Committee Meeting was held on the 10th June. R Keeler the committee chairman gave a short report back. The Clerks Notes of this meeting were emailed out to all members. The Clerk then updated members on the following items

b. Playground Safety: Our usual ROSPA Inspector is to be asked to carry out the annual inspection, in October or November. Jobs are continuing to be done but there is no immediate rush, but some do need keeping an eye on in case they deteriorate. The Playgrounds were reopened over the weekend after being wiped down with a anti-bacterial cleanser safe for use where children are involved. the Clerk reopened the Belfry, Withambrook and Fifth Ave on Saturday displaying warning notices on each one. On Sunday P Bakker assisted the Clerk with the cleaning and reopening of Bridge End Grove and Londonthorpe.

c. Withambrook: The New Backboard required for the Basketball court has been done. A working party to deal with the trees mentioned on the “SKDC Tree Safety Report”

d. Belfry: No Problems

e. Londonthorpe: agreed to have front hedge laid this winter by WACS as per the quote presented to L&O Committee. Clerk to try and find someone who can cut the rest of the hedges. New Oak planted in the Winter has died back but making new growth from the base.

f. Hills & Hollows: The tree that died in the Memorial Area that was replaced by one of those planted in February is still growing, it is being cared for by the donor. Most of the other more trees planted have succumbed the extremes in weather conditions. The ones donated by a Woodland Trust member from Foston which were in pots have fared a lot better. Tony Parker and Darren Thorpe have been doing excellent work with the hedge keeping it in shape, they are going to work on the PROW through the Hollows this week. The request for a Geocaching site within the land was not taken up at this time, they may come back to us.

g. Bridge End Grove: no major problems, some slight repairs required to the fence between us and the farmer.

h. New Play Equipment: it was agreed no new equipment required at present, unless any of the wooden equipment is found to need replacing.

i. Grass Cutting Around the Parish: in general, everyone was happy about the cutting this year so far.

j. Woodland Trust Working Party: it is hoped that we will be able to recommence the Working Parties in October using the “Safer Working Practices Guidelines”.

k. Five Gates; the news came through last week that the Big Lottery Grant had been successful to the tune of £428,000. The first bits of the plan to be undertaken are the Cycle Path’s linking to Grantham and the Schools (Learning) areas.

8/20

Best Kept Gardens: a discussion took place about the feasibility of holding this event during these unusual times, the ability to do the judging on two or three occasions would be hard to undertake. The original nominations would be easy enough as these are done by lone councillors normally. A proposal was put forward by C Markham, Sec by Y Martin too continue with it. A rollcall vote was taken, and the motion was lost four votes to five.

9/20

Email from resident worried about the sight of surveyors working on the grassland between him and Harrowby. Clerk found detail from SKDC Local Plan stating land not suitable for development and forwarded it to him.

9a/20

Blessed Hugh More School Site Consultation: In early June we found out about this consultation document for 68 homes through Cllr George Chivers. Although half of the land concerned is within our Parish, SKDC did not think to notify us. An email was sent to Cllr K Cooke, Cllr B Adams Ch of Planning Committee, Sylvia Bland Head of Planning, and the originator of the consultation document Harrinder Rai. Sylvia Bland replied immediately but was not aware of the document, Cllr Adams replied the next day also not aware. Four days later Harrinder Rai replied and tried to explain the circumstance but not successfully. The Council Leader Kelham Cooke is yet to reply. In the meantime, Cllr Wootten (LCC & SKDC) had become involved and was making enquiries on our behalf and getting much the same answers as we were. We had been contacted by concerned residents early on, but we soon found out not everyone concerned knew about the consultation. We then decided to put out 500 information leaflets to homes nearest to the site. We found that there were many people who knew nothing about it as was online only! Scotney Drive and Kenilworth Road would be the worst hit if this development were ever to go ahead. Residents soon got together and formed an Action Group on Facebook Etc. We tried to support where we could, with both our SKDC Councillors being wholly supportive. A lot of work has been done researching the status of the land as it is believed that there is a Covenant on it. We also know that FOI requests have been made to SKDC and LCC for information on this and other associated matters, replies to these are still awaited, This development if ever to go ahead would be a disaster for the area around the site. Cllr Adam Stokes (LCC & SKDC Cabinet Member) apologised for the fact that we had not been informed. At present the consultation has been pulled after serious complaints about the way it has been handled. It was put out at the height of the Covid Pandemic, with no chance of a Public Meeting being held, online only, failure to connect with other relevant parties (Us) and other matters. There were also complaints about the actual Questionnaire with it being biased to positive answers, the option to give negative answers hidden away.

Going forward we have investigated two options that could possibly put into action. One being a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) the other a Registering of an Asset of Community Value (ACV). G Parnham &R Keeler explained the benefits/pitfalls of both as they had spent some time researching them. After some discussion, a vote was taken on a proposal R Keeler Sec by Y Martin that we go forward with the registering of an ACV, this was passed unan. A small Working Group is to put together for the paperwork.

10/20

Newsletter: discussions took place around whether we should publish or not, there was unanimous agreement that we should but there would not be any urgency as we are unlikely to be able to hold our Open Evening successfully.

The Autumn Newsletter would be used as a vehicle to keep parishioners informed of all that has happened during lockdown and to also remind them of the assistance that is available out there for them. This proposed by P Bakker sec C Markham.

11/20

Highways Notes/Flooding.

Southern Link Relief Road: we expect work to start soon at the Somerby A52 Roundabout as it is believed that work must commence by the end of November, the working area is already marked out on the land. Work at the other end to tie up with the A1 is progressing well.

Flooding around the Parish: we have had nothing further on this. We know that members of the team have been redeployed to work on the Corona teams.

Potholes Etc: some works of the promised have been done on Londonthorpe Lane, but only about half of the sunken carriageway has been repaired. Along this stretch by the Golf Course we have had complaints about the roadside trees growing out onto the carriageway. The trees on Belton Lane that covered the footpath have been trimmed back. Cllr Stokes confirmed the footpaths at Bridge End Grove are to be repaired this year.

Londonthorpe Village Gateways; Members were told that the application for the sites for the planters was with Highways, they will be just in front of the Village Gateways. The order will be placed as soon as the permission is received.

12/20

Tom Childs Award: this will be advertised in the Autumn Newsletter to try and find some of those Heroes from the trying times of the last few months. It was agreed there must be many out there that we are not aware of and deserve to be recognised.

13/20

Parish Open Evening: it was agreed that it would not be possible to hold this under the present regulations. We will look to see if it would be possible to hold it in the Spring if conditions allow.

14/20

Policies: The Standing Orders are to be changed to include the holding of Virtual Meetings as this is something new to us all.

15/20

Correspondence: As usual all other relevant correspondence has been passed on as it arrived. This has allowed members to stay up to date with the ever-changing regulations etc.

16/20

Matters for the Next Agenda etc.

J Lee and Y Martin suggested we could hold meetings and the Open Evening etc via internet and social media channels. This will be an agenda item for September.

Meeting closed 8.55. pm. Diary Dates are as per these minutes and the Spring Newsletter.

Next meeting: Wednesday 9th September at 7.00pm.