May 2022 Minutes Annual Parish Council Meeting
Londonthorpe & Harrowby Without Parish Council
Clerk; Peter A. Armstrong 27 Belton Ave Grantham Lincs NG31 9JE
Tel 07929321426 E-mail londonthorpeharrowby@ntlworld.com
Clerks Notes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 11th May 2022 at Belmont school.
Meeting started at 7.03pm. Held under Covid 19 Regulations at the time.
Public Open Session: No parishioners present.
22/1 Councillors present: John Anderson, Richard Keeler, Paul Bakker, Carol Markwell, Alan Bowling, Avril Gregory, Roland Wright, Paul Bavin, George Chivers, Y Martin arrived @ 7.15 due to work commitments during the Financial Statement. 10 members were present.
Roland Wright took the Chair. Pete Armstrong the Clerk took the notes.
Apologies: Geoff Parnham, Paul Nesbitt ill, LCC Cllrs L Wootten & A Stokes agreed as acceptable absence.
Geoff Parnham the retiring Chair although unable to attend did sent a letter of thanks to all Councillors and the Clerk for their valued support during his three years of office. His term, having coincided with the Pandemic had been challenging but, in his opinion, we as a council had coped very well.
22/2 Election of Officers: Chairperson: Roland Wright the present Vice Chairperson was proposed by P Bakker and seconded by J Anderson this was agreed unan. Vice Chairperson: Carol Markwell was Proposed by R Wright and seconded by G Chivers, again agreed unan.
22/3 Acceptance of Office: R Wright duly signed the declaration.
22/4 Casual Vacancy: Applicant pulled out due to changed family circumstances.
22/5 Signing of Acceptance Papers: Not Applicable
22/6 Declarations of Interest; None declared.
227 Clerks Notes: those of the 9th of March 2022 meeting were accepted as a true record and therefore became the minutes. Proposed by A Gregory seconded C Markwell, all members were fully in agreement.
22/8 Clerks Update on Matters Arising: No Further news from anything to do with the Lion Gate Entrance or Belton Park in general. As usual all other matters fall within the full agenda.
22/9 Financial Statement No1 of 22-23 and late items for No.6 of 21-22.
The Clerk went through the report in the detail explaining all the payments etc.
Councillors as usual now had received the reports taken off the Scribe system prior to the meeting.
Late No 6 21-22 items; included expenditure around the interviewing and setting up the new Community Cleaner £72.83 VAT £9.68, Bank Charges £13, Solicitors £3186.60 VAT £573.60. totals £3223.53 VAT £582.28. These were agreed on a prop by C Markwell Seconded by J Anderson
No 1 of 22-23; Cheques, Bank Transfers or Debit Card payments were made out for the following:
Community Cleaner & Clerks Salaries for the two months March & April £2351.93, this included a final salary payment to the previous cleaner and HMRC.
Leisure & Outdoor: Barrow £60.00 (Vat £10), Repairs £430.44 and Keys £25 (Vat £4.17), Paint £ 4.80 (.80p)
Office Scribe acct package £345.60 (Vat £57.60), Website £180 (Vat £30), LALC Memb £824.75, £10.95. HSBC Charges £42.00.
Jubilee Project; Seat £650, Community Cleaner Products: £20.80 (V£3.47)
£4964.32 gross, Inc £110.87 VAT.
Payments made in cash by the Clerk totalled £2. Not yet reclaimed. All payments made on the card by the Clerk were agreed by and signed off accordingly.
Income was Precept £16500.00
Items known due for payment before the next meeting are, Repairs, BHMS, ICO. SLCC, Rent (Bridge End G), Parish-online, Jubilee Projects, CPRE and Salaries plus anything relating to the other ongoing projects already agreed within the parish.
Agreement to accept the Financial Statement No 1 for 2022/23 plus the normal expected payments for up to the July meeting was proposed by C Chivers seconded by A Bowling. Agreed Unan. Cllrs C Markwell & G Chivers signed off the account. The insurance is also due to be paid on the 1st June a quote is being sought from BHIC which would give us Parish online for free. Councillors agreed to leave the decision to the clerk in consultation with the chairperson.
Bank Account, some progress is being made with setting up a new account with NatWest which will reduce the charges that we are now seeing from HSBC. The account we applied for on the advice of the branch is not available to Parish Councils, so we have had to go through part of the application process again.
22/10 Governance Statement. Members had been supplied with a copy of this prior to the meeting so that they could study it.
The clerk read through it question by question and all items were agreed as covered. On a proposal by G Chivers seconded by P Bakker it was agreed unan.
22/11 Audit details and sign off: Bank Balances reduced by £3226 to £43518.19. This was in spite of £1100 of extra income due to grants received (this represents an increase of 24% on other income) Other Payments went up by 21% to £26950. The extra expenses incurred were £1100 for the third Newsletter in the year, the solicitor costs for the purchase of the land and slightly more on certain aspects of the L&O budget. Although in other areas of L&O we spent less
Our Fixed Assets grew by £4400 which you can see offsets that.
Staff costs increased from £11222 to £12171. A 9.2% increase, due to the changes in Community Cleaner and the new rates that were introduced at last year’s salary review. Also, the new pay rates scheme for the Clerk and back pay due up to spring 2021. The Precept was increased by £2000 for 2022-23 to cover future increases. Of the £43k in the Bank £30000 is put aside for projects that have not yet come to fruition. It was proposed to agree the Audit figures by A Gregory & Seconded by R Keeler agreed unan.
22/12 Leisure & Outdoor Committee:
Cllr R Keeler the Committee Chairman reported that there has been no of the committee since the Council Meeting.
a. Playground Safety: nearly all jobs complete.
b. Community Cleaner: New Community Cleaner working well, seems very keen on litter picking. Teething problems with SKDC in getting rid of the rubbish now sorted.
c. Covid 19 Update: no changes to the actions we are already taking.
d. Withambrook Play Area: The large hole is being gradually filled by rubbish. Trev Whatton (WACS) has completed the removal of the all the dangerous industrial waste (Concrete etc) from under the trees into the hole. The hole will still need some soil to finish to ground level. This may come from the spoils from BHMS if we ever get it done.
e. Belfry: still waiting for the correct bolt that’s missing from multi-unit.
f. Londonthorpe Amenity Park: New entrance gate fitted. Thought needed about replacing the Wooden Swings within the next couple of years. Bark has been topped up.
g. Hills & Hollows: A request was received from a resident to plant some trees in the area. He has been thanked for the offer, but the Clerk has informed him there are very few spots left except for memorial trees or of certain species. If any other locations come up, he will be re-contacted. A telephone called was received from a resident informing of a barbecue party taking place in the hollows. On a visit by the Chairman no evidence of damage was found.
h. Bridge End Grove: Fence now completed by the contractor.
i. Working Parties: None planned at present except at BHMS as noted in item 22/13.
j. Woodland Trust Five Gates Project: Five gates Lane, road closure for the next two weeks. The Toilets have been removed as they were not of the specification ordered. Replacements have been ordered. Question raised about the new route of the ROW footpath from Alma Park Road to the woods. R Keeler is to investigate and report back.
k. New Land: see next item 22/13.
Other items a complaint has been received from a resident who has just heard about the removal of the tree on Church Green Londonthorpe. A reply stating the reasons has been sent including a copy of the Permission notice. The planning application has been passed to remove it. The work will be done after the blossom has all died.
22/13 Queens Jubilee Planning Update. Those members present at the site meeting looked over the whole of the new land area and selected the point with the best view over towards Syston Park etc.
From this vantage point looking slightly east you can just see Belmount Tower poking through the trees, Alma Wood, and the valley through to Londonthorpe. Looking then directly ahead you see the White House in Syston Park above all the trees in Belton Park. To the left you can see the trees above Belton Woods Hotel and on through the Loveden Valley.
Seat is ready and paid for Clerk will make the arrangements with the contractor for it to be fitted. The Working Party on the 5th May cleared and levelled a space for the seat, along with strimming a new pathway and pruning back the dead ash trees. As soon as we get a date for the fitting, we will set a date for a short ceremony to official name the area. the Working Group are to come up with a suitable name for the area. A panoramic information board showing the features visible from the seat will be arranged when the seats in situ.
Organised Events: We know one event is planned for Londonthorpe and one on the Sunningdale estate. The Sunningdale event organisers have asked for support in providing toilets. After discussion a proposal was made by Y Martin Sec A Bowling to subject to some conditions which the Clerk is to discuss with them. Passed Unan.
Cllr G Chivers on our behalf has enquired about us managing the land belonging to SKDC below us on the hillside. The response so far has been positive.
22/14 BHMS; Still waiting at present the contractor to come back to us with an acceptable Method Statement. The Clerk has contacted him twice in the last week. Most other things within the “Draft Licence” are now ironed out. The Clerk is continuing dialogue with the Solicitor.
22/15 Planning: Still awaiting any further Planning information re PWOG and the Spitalgate Garden Village developments.
App no’s during last period:
S22/0253 1 Ascot Drive Brick Wall, Once again, the householder rides roughshod over the DC Planning by building first!!!.
S22/0769 Further building at the Hall Farm site. No Objections Raised
S22/0700 27 Saltersford Rd No Objections
Anglia Waters latest section plans received. Queries raised about the number of trees and hedgerow removed, it is expected the hedgerows will be replanted.
Holscot plans for greenery not sufficient in the councillors’ views.
Grantham Town Council, members were against this.
Members asked if we could get a representative from Planning to speak to us as there are so many things going through that seem to be against the best interests of our residents.
A Motion was put forward by J Anderson for the next meeting as follows:
This Council recognises that our reliance on Fossil Fuel must be reduced to achieve the aim of being carbon neutral by 2050.To this aim we suggest that all new planning applications must include:
1) Solar Panels
2). Deep Heat Pumps3) Electric Car Charging Points.
22/16 Highway Matters: Community Speed Watch is still catching several offenders, but more volunteers are desperately needed, especially to cover the areas outside of Londonthorpe Village.
The Village Gateways have a quick spruce up, but another attempt will be made using a special plastic cleaning fluid. The community cleaner undertook this.
Galliford Try’s latest newsletter was passed to members, this outlined the works completed and any planned works for the next few weeks. Areas of the parish such as Kenilworth Road have been top dressed. The standard of work and materials delivered was much better than on Sunningdale. Members were requested to report all potholes on Fixmystreet.com.
LCC to be notified of the dead tree on Fifth Avenue.
22/17 Policies: non dealt with this month.
22/18 Correspondence: As usual all relevant correspondence has been passed on as it arrived.
22/19 Matters for the July Agenda etc.
Meeting closed 8.52pm Diary Dates are as per these minutes and the Calendar passed to members and available on the Website and Noticeboards.
Next meeting: @ Belmont School Wednesday July 6th, 2022, at 7.00pm.
Signed as a true copy of the meeting held 11th May 2022