Annual Parish Meetings

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING MINUTES

WEDNESDAY 18th APRIL 2018

Present:               Cllrs M Renshaw (Chairman); G Louis, P Todd, A Davison J Larder & J Taylor.  There were 33 residents present in addition to the above plus District Councillor Andrew & J Brown, Clerk (Minutes).

Apologies:           Councillor R Stockdale & County Councillor H Marfleet

The Chairman welcomed everybody to the annual residents meeting & noted how pleased she was to see so many present.

Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 26 April 2017 – The Minutes were on the web site & copies had been made available at the meeting & it was resolved to accept the Minutes as correct; the Chairman signed the Minutes.

Chairman’s Report – Cllr Renshaw – Another year had passed, and with it yet more trials, tribulations, and potholes.

Life on the council had been made much easier thanks to our clerk and RFO who had continued to steer the ship through all the rules and regulations that seemed double Dutch to most of us, certainly the Chairman, and managed to keep your councillors in order.

The Council maintained public question time at the beginning of each meeting and would put down standing orders to receive relevant information throughout the meetings. Council had been fortunate in that our local District Councillor had attended most of the meetings and had been willing to listen and answer queries. There have been changes in the County Council boundaries and our new County Councillor was Hugo Marfleet.

The defibrillator, installed outside the doctor’s surgery was regularly maintained by the Parish Council, but fortunately had never been needed. There were people in the village who were able to back up our first responders and the emergency services if the need arose. For those who are not sure of the procedure, when anyone rang 999 they were given the code to enable them to access the defibrillator thus allowing someone on site in the minimum time to assess and possibly administer what could be lifesaving support prior to the arrival of the ambulance crew.

The broadband issues were ongoing but the problems seemed a little better; transport issues were constantly monitored by members of the community who were currently looking at other options.

Council appointed a different contractor for the grass cutting last year and all agreed that although there was the odd hiccup early on, they made a good job. They have been awarded the contract for the next 3 years. The village was fortunate that most householders took a pride in their properties and this was more important now with the constraints that the local and District councils were having to impose. The grant that the council used to receive toward grass cutting had been drastically reduced and although Council would endeavour to help out with other areas, our priority had to be the village itself. The council took the decision to enter the best kept village competition last year and the markings awarded overall were very encouraging. Do we enter again? the question would be raised later in the meeting.

The volunteer group have cleared verges, chopped back hedges, painted some of the play equipment and removed an awful lot of rubbish. The group were now kitted out with personalised Hi-Viz vests, gloves and litter pick sticks thanks in no small part to individual sponsors, again anyone interested in helping in any way, please contact Peter Stark or Councillor Davison for information.

The village had seen an influx of planning applications, despite East Lindsey’s emerging local plan. Council recognised that a village could not stagnate but could only grow if the infrastructure could sustain it and there was a proven need, bearing in mind that we enjoyed the protection of being in the AONB.

The highways continued to cause problems, in particular Salmonby bends, and your council continually chased these issues and probably got more results than many other areas. It would be interesting to find out where the extra money from government would be spent. The late winter weather had really exacerbated the pothole problems.

The speed of traffic which passed through the village, particularly at school times, was a continuing worry, the period when smiley Sid was in action showed that this was a definite deterrent. There was the possibility of receiving training in the use of speed cameras and Council would wait for further details.

The provision of a local emergency plan was ongoing, always good and hopefully never needed.

Thanks to a donation from the Flower show, a seat had been purchased and as soon as the weather improved would be sited on the grass at the south end of Mill Lane. Thanks in advance to Councillors Todd and Louis.

We said farewell to Councillor Harden as she moved on to pastures new, Barbara was of course the instigator of the volunteer group, for which we offer our grateful thanks. Thank you to my fellow councillors, our clerk and the local and County Councillors for all their hard work on your behalf and thank you to those who attend the council meetings, we take on board your comments and would continue to do our best to solve issues that were within our remit. Thank you.                                                           

Financial Report – J Brown (Clerk)

• The Council carried over £8,857.66 and continued work to reduce its reserves to an acceptable level. As East Lindsey District Council had advised Parish Councils that the 4-yearly Parish Council elections must be paid for by the Parish, Council had been saving a sum of £500 for the past 3 years; any unspent funds would be placed back into its budget following the next election.
• Savings that were made included the Clerk’s membership of the Society of Local Council Clerks not being renewed - a saving in the region of £100 as it was felt that the information required by Council was available as part of its membership of Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils; The grant to the Recreation Committee was reduced from £500 to £250 & the grass cutting contract was negotiated on a ‘fixed sum’ basis for 2 cuts per month with a fixed price for any additional necessary cuts.
• The Precept, which was the main income for the council, was raised from £5,000 to £6,000 partly to compensate for the loss of the Council Tax Support Grant which East Lindsey District Council no longer passed on to local Councils.
• Lincolnshire County Council gave the council a grant of £186.90 towards Amenity Grass Cutting, the previous year’s figure was £923.10; total costs for the grass cutting last year was £1,326.00 including VAT which was reclaimed.
• Tetford & District Flower & Vegetable Show’s donation of £400 had purchased a bench for the land at the end of Mill Lane
• The budget for the year was set at just over £8,800 with a resultant spend of just £8,193.52 which included the £500 ringfenced as previously mentioned for potential election costs.
• The end of year accounts showed a balance of £8,189.56 to carry over. The accounts were available at the meeting for examination & were also available on the web site as was the budget for the forthcoming year.

Community Emergency Volunteers Plan – Councillor Renshaw – The Chairman noted that the Council kept adding volunteers to be included within the plan and would welcome more, they were offering either skills that could assist in an emergency or suitable equipment. It was hoped it would never be needed but would be an essential backup in an emergency.

Neighbourhood Plan – Councillor Renshaw - Council had looked at this some time back but having seen the East Lindsey District Council proposed plan and a lack of people to step forward and run it, it had been abandoned as there were no grants currently available. People needed to be aware that any plan could not be negative in respect of development within the villages, it was actually to suggest where development would be welcomed.

Hamilton Hall Report – Cllr Renshaw noted that it was well used and well maintained and kept clean & tidy thanks to people’s efforts. There had unfortunately been an attempted break in over the last few days and the rear  door was now slightly difficult to use.  Councillor Andrews noted that the West Ashby Hall had been broken into and oil taken. Cllr Renshaw was pleased to say that the area was very lucky in that respect with only a small amount of reckless vandalism of the 30mph signs which appeared to be deliberately focused on and broken into small pieces, residents were asked to keep their eyes open and report anybody seen doing vandalism to the Police. The heating system was now much better.

Recreation Ground Report – Cllr Taylor commented that the recreation ground was in good order thanks to fund raising & donations which had helped; the Cricket Club was supported and the play area maintained with grass cutting and insurance being the main expenditure

Edward Richardson Trust Report – Cllr Taylor noted that they had met three times namely in September, December and April to consider applications of which there had been approximately 14-15 in the year. Applicants could always go back for further help. Reserves were quite healthy with interest approximately £4,500 and £3,400 given as grants.

Volunteer Group – Cllr Davison commented that he had only recently been appointed as the Council’s lead for the group. In March several volunteers had spent 2 ½ hours doing a rubbish collection, which had included an armchair and car windscreen. Volunteers time was given freely to work throughout the villages and up to Bluestone Head Road & he urged people to get involved as the more volunteers the group had the more it could achieve and it also gave awareness of what was going on around the villages and it was quite amazing what was being dumped rather than taken to the facility in Louth. Anybody interested in assisting should contact either Cllr Davison or Peter Stark, any help would be welcomed.

WI Update – Cllr Renshaw – the group had 11 meetings across the year on the 4th Wednesday in the month & guests were welcome to come and attend anything that was of interest to them, there were also open meetings and the group welcomed visitors which commenced at 7.30pm in Hamilton Hall.

Police Report – Unfortunately the PCSO was not in attendance but the Clerk had been advised that in the last month there had only been one report which had been regarding a transport or traffic issue.

County Councillor Report – Cllr Marfleet had submitted a report:

• Potholes – repairs were being carried out with priority given to main roads & as of from January all pothole repairs should be cut out and filled with hot tarmac so that the repairs would last, if that was not the case then Cllr Marfleet should be informed. The on-line system had some issues which were being addressed and it should be friendlier with a better reporting back system. Cllr Marfleet had addressed the potholes issue with the Leader together with local drainage issues and our area generally in depth which had triggered off extra funding for the 2018/19 budget. The other area he spoke to him about was a mechanism in which dangerous road defects could be escalated & how and what was deemed as dangerous rather than every pothole being claimed as dangerous. Over the next period there would also be a certain amount of tar & chip (top dressing) being undertaken. Going forward, when the pothole repairs and top dressing had been completed we needed to see which area needed putting forward to be improved.
• A general comment regarding Lincolnshire County Council – following the last few years where difficult decisions had been made in relation to services following budget cuts and financial pressures this had been done & the council was now relatively stable. However, he noted that the Council had led a very good fairer funding campaign, which this Parish Council had supported, consultation had now ended and LCC awaited the next stage; the extra funding would go a long way to support our rural communities and infrastructure.

District Councillor Report – Cllr Andrews noted he had considered it an honour and a privilege to be District Councillor for the area and he had always been made to feel welcomed when he had  attended the Parish Council meetings in Tetford. East Lindsey District Council Local Plan was expected to be returned by the Planning Inspector in due course and the Planning Policy Committee would then pass to full Council for approval by October. On the 26th April the Planning Policy Committee would meet to approve a document on the NPPF. He also noted that for any group that was properly constituted & with a Bank Account, he had small amounts that could be given as a grant, more details were available on the East Lindsey web site. Cllr Andrews was happy to answer questions but none arose.

The Chairman opened the meeting to residents to give them the opportunity to tell the Council what they wished to see happening or changing.

Questions & Comments:

• Road sweeper – could it be arranged as it had not been through the village for some considerable time and the roads were in a terrible state – the Chairman asked the Clerk to contact ELDC re the road sweeper and stated that the Council was always happy for residents to report anything that needed attention.
• Cycling through Tetford – Tetford Hill was used regularly for races or by groups which created an issue of safety as riders who were not familiar with the road were overtaking on the bend without giving due concern to drivers coming down the hill – could signage be placed there and who was responsible for doing that? LCC Highways were the only people that could close the road or were responsible for signage, although cycling groups often placed their own but these were usually for direction. A resident commented that cycling groups would do risk assessment and marshals should be posted with major junctions which should have warning signs.
• Had any consideration been given to placing a 30mph passive speed sign on West Road permanently – the Clerk had been in touch with Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership who had supplied the original signs; it was currently undergoing a restructure and prices and details of what was available should be forwarded to the Clerk in May.
• Could SID be used on West Road to try and slow traffic down – the Council would see if that was possible, however Volunteers were needed to keep them charged which required moving it from its location, charging it up and then returning it to the location of use – interested residents please contact the Clerk or Councillors.
• Buses – against the odds LCC was maintaining the subsidies for two years which was welcomed as around the country subsidies were constantly eroded. The review would be in 2020; residents needed to use the service as when it was reviewed it was based upon the numbers actually using the buses.
• Travel Club – a number of residents were looking at arranging trips for interested parties by mini bus within Lincolnshire or neighbouring counties – details were on display during the meeting.
• Recycling site at Cross Keys Inn – not under the Parish Council control but Clerk would attempt to get the responsible agency to clean the area.
• Scarecrows – would not be happening this year as there were no volunteers came forward to the request in Tennyson Chronicle for help; it needed a core of 8 individuals to get it up and running and ideally the first meeting prior to the event should be the proceeding November.
• Best Kept Village – The Chairman asked if residents wanted to see the Council enter again; robust debate followed with comments ranging from how good the marks had been last year, the effect of entering on residents pride of their locality, volunteers to encourage residents on each road of the villages, grass cuttings to be cleared from the roads & pavements; the Cross Keys was an eyesore – it was noted that the application form gave an opportunity to detail items beyond the Council’s control, business sites to perhaps make more effort; a leaflet was needed to make all residents aware which had not happened last year & many residents had not realised the villages were entered. It was noted with thanks that the Garden Club planted up the village entrance boxes and had planted a large number of bulbs through the villages.

A vote was called for with a vote in favour of entering by 27 residents. Carried.

The Council agreed to create a flyer which Councillors would deliver to every household informing residents of the previous marks and dates for judging & the Council would submit an application.

There were no more comments.

The Chairman reaffirmed that residents were very welcome to attend Parish Council meetings, there was opportunity for comment but if anybody was unable to attend and wished to raise something they could email the Clerk or speak to one of the Councillors.

The meeting closed at 8.45pm