13 June 2023 Open Spaces Committee

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Minutes of a meeting of the Open Spaces Committee held 19:00hrs, Tuesday, 13 June 2023, in the Bridge Room at the Curlew Centre, Sutton Bridge.

Present:       Cllr A Landy, Cllr M Landy, Cllr Middleton, Cllr Mills, Cllr Perkins, Mr Smith, Mrs Croxford.

Observing:  Cllr Billings, Cllr Bruch, Cllr McLaughin, Cllr Philpott, four members of the public.

23.001.It was resolved to elect Cllr Perkins as chair for 2023-24.

23.002.There were no declarations of interest or requests for dispensation.    

23.003.It was resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2021.

23.004.It was resolved to adopt the committee’s terms of reference, deleting a duplicated clause.

23.005.The chairman would arrange with the committee a rota for the safety inspections of the park and children’s play area. It was agreed that in the interests of safety, male and female councillors would accompany each other during inspections.

23.006.It was resolved to arrange a meeting with the Football Club to discuss pavilion and pitch fees.

23.007.It was resolved to move a discussion on the tree report into closed session.

23.008.The chairman would arrange site visit for committee members to consider the Park’s rules. Following the drafting of rule proposals, a meeting with the SHDC dog warden to be arranged.

23.009.General Maintenance

01.Cllr Perkins reported on recent incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) within the park.

02.It was thought that closing the car park gate at night might reduce ASB. Cllr Perkins offered to undertake this. As access conditions to the EV charging points might apply within the lease with SHDC, the clerk would check any conditions which might affect restricting car park access.

03.It was thought that cutting back vegetation along the Arnie Broughton Walk might deter ASB. A meeting was to be arranged with interested parties prior to any works being recommended.

23.010.Dog and waste bins

01.The clerk reported that the Parish Council owned one bin in the children’s play area and two bins along Bridge Road. All other bins belonged to the district council.

02.The clerk reported that condition of the bin near the Nisa store had been reported to the district council and generally bins causing concern should be reported on https://www.fixmystreet.com.

03.Committee members would inspect existing bins and report to the next meeting.

23.011.Parish Noticeboard

01.It was discussed whether there should be additional noticeboards within the village. Cllr Perkins suggested contacting the Men’s Shed about their construction.

02.Committee members would inspect existing noticeboards and report to next meeting.

20:00hrs standing orders were suspended to allow Cllr Philpott to speak on the subject.

03.Cllr Philpott had previously been in discussions with the Parish Council about a noticeboard to be shared with the cinema. It was agreed that he would circulate these plans to the committee.

20:01hrs standing orders were resumed.  

04.It was agreed to investigate Cllr Philpott request and discuss at the next meeting.

23.012.Grant Applications

01.The clerk reported that a community group had previously been awarded £10,000 from Lincolnshire Police for play equipment in the parish. Unfortunately, the grant had not been taken up and the Police had stated that this money was no longer available.

02.Numerous approaches had been made to the District Council about its plans for its parks in the village. To date, the District Council had been unwilling to engage further on this matter.

03.It was resolved that Cllr A Landy would contact the local district councillors to discuss how to move the matter forward.  The clerk would forward relevant correspondence to Cllr Landy.

23.013.Next meeting: 19:00hrs 11 July 2023 in the Bridge Room of The Curlew Centre.

23.014.It was resolved to move into closed session [public bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 s.1(2).]

20:15hrs Cllrs Billings, Bruch, Mclaughlin, and Philpott, left the meeting along with 4 members of the public.

23.015.It was resolved to recommend approval of a quote for fence repair in the children’s play area.

23.016.It was resolved to recommend approval of quote to address unauthorised gateway in the Park.

23.017.It was resolved to recommend approval of a quote to grind out the cherry tree stump.

23.018.It was resolved to obtain quotes for all work that had been identified in the August 2022 Tree Report as being: likely/foreseeable (high & low risk); possible (high risk) and; imminent (high risk).

The chairman closed the meeting at 20:55 hrs.