July 2024 DRAFT Minutes
Londonthorpe & Harrowby Without Parish Council
Clerk; Peter A. Armstrong 27 Belton Ave Grantham Lincs NG31 9JE
Tel 07929321426 E-mail londonthorpeharrowby@ntlworld.com
The Minutes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 3rd July 2024 at Belmont school. Meeting started at 7.00pm after the Annual Parish Meeting Pete Armstrong the Clerk took the notes.
Councillors present: Paul Bakker, Alan Bowling, Geoff Parnham, Carol Markwell, Paul Bavin, R Keeler, Elvis Stooke, Paul Nesbitt and D Thorpe. Y Martin arrived 7.20pm. Chair; Cllr C Markwell in the Chair. 10 members were present. LCC Cllr L Wootten & SKDC Cllr P Gadd were also in attendance.
24/17 Apologies: Avril Gregory (I).
24/18 Declarations of Interest; None declared.
24/19 Notes of the 22nd May Meeting; these were agreed and signed as a true record, proposed by A Bowling Sec G Parnham Unan.
24/20 Clerks Progress report: All covered elsewhere in the agenda except to note that the Audit was returned on time and appropriate notices on the Website.
24/21 Casual Vacancies: Two vacancies remain and are advertised on the Website. Are to be advertised also at the Belton Community Event.
24/22 Co-opted to sign declaration: None.
24/23 Financial Statement No 2: Councillors as usual had received the reports taken off the Scribe system prior to the meeting. The Clerk went through the report in the detail explaining all the payments.
Salaries £2502.23 inc. £642,23 tax/NI, Grass Cutting £1024.26 VAT £170.88, Clear insurance £964.45, “Parishonline” £259.20 VAT £43.20, ICO £35.00, Bank Charges £12.25: Kompan Swings £4932.48 VAT£822.08, Jacksons Fence £1867.68 VAT £311.28, Buckminster Rent £200, WACS Repairs £372.91 VAT £6.32, Misc Gardens £116.97 VAT £19.49, Weedkiller £28.00 VAT £4.67. S137; Hudson White Toilets “Sunnifest” £240 VAT £40. Office Misc £14.90 VAT £1.85. C/C Expenses £50. Total Expenditure £12,726.33 VAT £1419.77.
Income: Community Cleaner SKDC £694.98, VAT Returns £2703.29, Newsletter £55.00, Bank Interest £86.80 Total £3510.07.
Payments prior to next meeting: Fitting of play equipment at Londonthorpe & Bridge End Grove, Fitting of Fence at Londonthorpe, Salaries, HMRC, Newsletter, Community Festival Belton. Repairs, Office etc. TCA S137s. Any payments re Defibrillator and Fixed SID.
Agreement to accept the Financial Statement No 2 for 2024/25 plus the normal expected payments for up to the September meeting was proposed by G Parnham seconded by R Keeler and R Keeler and D Thorpe signed off the statements for this period. Agreed Unan.
24/24 Leisure & Outdoor:
Parish Tour: Items picked up on the parish tours have mostly been dealt with or are on separate area headings of these minutes.
Belfry: Painting good, signs replaced by P Bakker, thanks Paul. Gate spring repaired.
Londonthorpe Amenity Area’s: Defibrillator still trying to confirm positioning. New Fence at Amenity Park to be fitted in July expected delivery 15th. Will be done by WACS saving nearly £1000. Hopefully swings will be done in July also. Swing Seat possibly getting free from Vale. If not, we will fit a flat seat which we have in stock. New litterbin to replace the dustbin! Chipping done by P Bavin assisted by his own worker and the Clerk. Area where the brash was taken from will need reseeding in the autumn. Front hedge to be cutback in the autumn. Some trees need new stakes and guards. Planters all planted up thanks to the village volunteers who are organised by C Markwell.
Bridge End Grove: still waiting for equipment to be fitted, hopefully to be done in July then we will need to organise the press release etc. There may be another piece of equipment coming free of charge from Vale.
WACS to look at how we can replace the rail on the fence. Also, the vehicle access gate, this may be after the completion of the improvements.
Withambrook: serious case of smashed drinks bottles on Thursday/Friday 20th. Community Cleaner had to be called to sweep up the whole of the MUGA, taking over 5 hours picking up all the pieces. Clerk attended on the Sunday and warned the children playing to be aware of the danger! Clerk reported to our local beat officer. Heard nothing back.
Awaiting meeting with the contractor to see about clearing some of the brambles ready for the Community Orchard. Metal backboards for the Basketball nets would be approx. £200 each made locally this is just over twice the price of wood. These would last indefinitely though; it was agreed to investigate sourcing these
Thanks to P Bakker who strimmed the drive for us, as it starts to grow again it is to be sprayed.
H&H: plans in place for the autumn to remove certain Cherry trees that are overpowering the Oaks etc.
Still nothing seen of our neighbour to ask about taking over some of her unkempt field. Decided to look at other ways of contacting her. Repairs to one of the fences on WACS jobs list.
Blessed Hugh More Site: we were made aware of a plan to possibly build on the western side of the area. A bowling spoke at the planning meeting for us this were now told this has been shelved!
Still no progress with SKDC Councillors re possibly equipment! Motorcyclists causing a problem again, police have been involved and will be making calls at the addresses noted to have possibly been involved. The police have suggested putting in place the gates barring entry for them. An investigation into costs is at present being done but there are doubts over whether they would be a success. These are known as “K Gates” and we would need at least four.
Jubilee Mount: Again, thanks to P Bakker who strimmed the pathways, these are also to be sprayed. The possibility of putting in something like sleeper steeps is being investigated, waiting for a meeting with the contractor.
Woodland Trust Working Party: provisional dates set, awaiting a site meeting with the new area manager.
Millennium Garden: A little late but this was planted up straight after the school half term by the Belmont school gardening club members. New surround completed.
24/25 Planning: S23/2199 Ash Tree Solar Farm: meetings have been held with Low Carbon and Phil Jordan at SKDC Planning. A meeting of councillors was held to decide our latest response to these new proposals. We must thank Cllr Phil Gadd for his input and knowledge on this subject. Cllr Gadd has also held a Zoom meeting with the developers and stressed our concerns
Other Solar Farms at Church Lane Welby & Welby North also in the planning system we have today heard that the Church Lane one is to go before the Planning Committee on the 11th July. A Bowling will be speaking for highlighting our concerns which apply to all these applications.
Bloor Homes site was passed but still with some queries.
Manor Farm Barns passed also with some restrictions. Iron Oak Farm planning refused for the hardcore track but now represented. We will be sending in our objections re this as the site is not being used as proposed. People are living on site in a motorhome. And other vehicles are always on site.
First Ave: Bungalow in back garden refused as we suggested lack of room!
Other applications in the pipeline or have already been dealt with. All sent out as received. But some have not been received although on the weekly report, SKDC been challenged on this.
24/26 Highway Matters: A permanent reactive sign is being sourced through Lincs Road Safety Partnership. The Clerk and Cllr L Wootten met with their rep and agreed a site on Harrowby Lane. They will fix a pole for it to be fitted to, cost £200c the sign will be c £2500-3000 depending on extras to be added.
Newgate Lane notice given for road closure for the remedial work by Wendella Woods.
Notice received for overnight closures on Alma Park Road etc in July. Some traffic delays possible during the day as traffic lights will be in operation.
Ongoing problems re water flooding out from manhole on Withambrook Park. Harrowby Lane blocked drains Cllr Wootten was able to tell us that information she had just received stated the work was due to start 4th July.
24/27 Open Evening, Community Event & Newsletter: The newsletter will be used as a vehicle to advertise both events and also the Bridge End improvements if complete. Items for inclusion required!
So far it will contain the usual Cllr details, diary, important numbers, L&O updates and a Solar Farm article. There may also be some other planning issues to announce and of course volunteering opportunities.
We still need volunteers to assist for an hour or so at the Belton Event. Meeting to discuss the Information Boards to be held with the team of volunteers.
I have one good nomination for the Tom Childs Award, this was accepted and will be contacted to see if they will accept?
“Sunnifest” has again proved to be a great success!
24/27 Policies: A number of policies will be looked at prior to the next meeting, including Risk Assessment, Expenses, and the latest edition of the Financial Policy to come from NALC, at present this is being corrected as they missed parts out!
24/28 Councillor Area of Responsibilities:
R Keeler asked who the trees belonged to on Bedford Close as two were dead. Cllrs Gadd & Stooke to raise with SKDC.
24/29 Correspondence:
As usual all other relevant correspondence has been passed on as it arrived by email.
24/30 Matters for the 11th of September 2024 Agenda. Planning for Open Evening.
Meeting closed 8.50pm
Next meeting: @ Belmont School Wednesday September 11th, 2024, at 7.00pm.