2020 Minutes

Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held 7pm Tuesday, 28 January 2020 in the Farmers’ Room at The Curlew Centre, Sutton Bridge.

Present: Cllrs: S. Booth (chairman), Scarlet (vice-chair), M Booth, Brewis, Clery, Davies, Ebbs, Goodwin, York.
Clerk: Mr R Smith.
Public: 5

Cllr S Booth greeted everyone present. 

One member of the public requested to speak during the public forum and the following item were discussed:

* Village signs need a clean.

* Picnic benches on the village green need attention as worn and rotten in places. It was suggested that nearby local businesses might be willing to contribute to the renovation costs. 

It was resolved for the clerk to obtain written quotations for the above and for these to be raised for consideration at the next meeting.

20.001 Apologies (1) 

Cllr Cook, Cllr Summers.

20.002 Declarations of disclosable pecuniary or other interests not previously notified to the Monitoring Officer and any written requests for dispensation. (2)

i. Cllr S. Booth declared an interest in agenda item 21 as a tenant of the Parish Council.

ii. Cllr M. Booth declared an interest in agenda item 21, being related to Cllr S. Booth.

20.003 Signing of the minutes (3)

It was resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held 17/12/19 as an accurate record.

20.004 Police matters (4).

A police surgery had taken place on 19th January. More dates were awaited. Cllr M. Booth stated that there had been very little interest from the public with only one attendee, who raised the problem of illegal drugs in the village. It was resolved that the clerk suggest to the PCSO that the time allocated for the police surgery be split between attending the police room and walking around the village.

20.005 Chairman’s remarks (5)

See appendix 1 and 2.

20.006 Clerk’s report (6)

i. The precept requirement had been submitted to the District Council as resolved.

ii. Pension contributions submission for 2020/21 had been submitted as resolved.

iii. The website had been updated.

iv. Planning comments had been submitted as resolved.

v. The two new desktop PCs had been installed and were working well.

vi. A VoIP soft telephone account had been set up and was working, as resolved.

vii. The Parish Council’s agency litter reclaim from the District Council (SHDC) had been paid.

viii. A meeting with SHDC to discuss Princes’ Street Park and the play equipment was to be arranged.

ix. The fair had been booked and will be on site Sunday 29th March to Sunday 5th April, open Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th. Another fair had asked about booking the park but withdrew the request as it would have been too close in time.

x. A visit to further investigate the District Council putting in electric vehicle charge points in the car park would be taking place Tuesday 4th February.

xi. The buyer for Kenzie Drive was away until the 2nd week in February when it was hoped that land sale completion could take place.

20.007 To receive reports from County and District Councillors (7)   

Cllr Brewis’ reported:

i. SHDC road sweeper had been in evidence in the village. Despite advanced notice of its visits, the biggest problem to its effectiveness was parked vehicles. The chairman commented that it was good to see that the District Council had responded to the Parish Council’s requests.

ii. The restored tarmac at the cemetery had been inspected and was now considered satisfactory.

iii. All road drains would be inspected annually by the County Council.

Cllr M. Booth reported:

    See appendix 3.

20.008 Financial matters (8)   

i. Schedule of Payments to 28/01/2020:

It was resolved to approve the payments as above. 

ii. The following receipts were noted: interest £135.53; SHDC litter picking reclaim £1,260.00; wayleave £197.93.

iii. Delegated expenditure by the clerk of £7.99 on litter picking equipment was noted.  

iv. It was resolved to accept the quarterly budget review, noting funds remaining under individual headings. Also, to record thanks for the excellent financial information that the Council was receiving.  

v. There were no grant applications.

20.009 Recent correspondence (9)

i. East Elloe Good Neighbour Scheme. Cllr Davies would attend the next meeting for the Scheme and report back. It was resolved for the clerk to invite representatives of the scheme to address a future Parish Council meeting.

ii. The receipt of information on wider requirements for water abstraction licences was noted.

iii. Receipt of proposed coastal exclusion information was noted.

iv. Information received on VE Day celebrations and Pride Award nominations was noted. It was resolved for a resident proposed by Cllr Brewis to be nominated by the Parish Council. Cllr Brewis to forward full details to the clerk.

v. Information about the County Council’s forthcoming upgrade of Parish Councils websites was noted. It was resolved for staff to attend training as required, it was to be suggested that the Curlew Centre be used as one of the training locations.

vi. It was resolved to permit the Northern leg of the Student Cross to use the pavilion showers on the evening of Tuesday 7th April 2020 as requested. The football club had been informed.

20.010 Planning matters (10)

i. New applications

* H18-0046-20: Full. 6 New Road, PE12 9RQ. Internal alterations and extension. It was resolved to support the application.

ii. Applications previously considered in accordance with the Parish Council’s planning policy 

* H18-1215-19: Barn at land adjacent to Westmere Farm New Road, PE12 9QD. Modification to approved application H18-0751-19. No comment submitted. 

* H18-1211-19: 48-50 Bridge Road, PE12 9UA. Outline residential development for 4 x 3-bedroom terrace. No comment submitted. 

iii. Decided applications

* H18-1149-19: Condition compliance. 8A High Street, PE12 9LH. Approved.

20.011 Highways & footways (11)  

i. Update on outstanding matters

* It was noted that Highways had stated that they would be taking no further action at this time regarding the damaged 30mph sign on edge of Village on New Road.

ii. New matters to be reported:

* Crumbled road surface at junction of Garner’s Lane and Grange Road.

* Large pothole on New Road on left as approaching village from the north.

* Column light failure on Bridge Road zebra crossing.

* Road surface of zebra crossing still requires completion.

20.012 Committees and working party reports (12)

None

20.013 Outside bodies’ representatives’ reports (13)

i. A written report was read and received from the Parish Council’s co-opted representative from the AGM of the South Holland Voluntary Car Scheme.

ii. Minutes of the last meeting of the King’s Lynn Joint Advisory Group of the Wash and North Norfolk Marine Partnership had been received, for a copy please contact the clerk. The next meeting of the group would be held on Tuesday 10th March 2020.

iii. It was resolved to thank Mr John Grimwood for attending and reporting on the above meetings.

20.014 Car park (14).

It was resolved to defer a decision until after the receipt of drawings of the proposals.

20.015 Bridge Road school zebra crossing (15)

The matter was deferred until the next meeting, as further information was awaited from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

20.016 Bridge Hotel (16)

i. Following a discussion, a proposal to write to the mortgagees of the Bridge Hotel to request foreclosure of the mortgage in order to force the sale of the property was not supported. 

ii. It was resolved to take information regarding the matter to the District Council for its consideration.

20.017 New pavilion and associated facilities (17)

i. Design and build quotations for the new pavilion were still to be arranged.

ii. It was noted that a copy of the tenancy agreement for estate holding 126 had been received from Savills.

iii. Receipt of an email from Savills was noted. The email concerned discussions between Savills and the football club about the provision of football pitches on land at Wright’s Lane, within Sutton Bridge Estate Holding 126. It was resolved to arrange a meeting with Savills attended by the chairman, the chairman of the allotment committee, and the clerk.

20.018 Parish office (18)

A quote was awaited for extending the office’s electrical dado rail. It was resolved that if the chairman, the vice-chairman, and the clerk agreed that the quote was reasonable, works were approved to proceed.

20.019 To receive members’ requests for consideration at the discretion of the chairman (19).

i. In discussions with the head of Westmere Primary School, Cllr York reported that he had been told that children were being targeted with the supply of drugs and being shown pornographic material at the Princes Street Park. It was emphasised that any reports of such activity should be reported to the police.

ii. Cllr York also reported the offer by the head of Westmere Primary School for the School’s main hall to be used as a youth club.

Standing orders were suspended at 8.17pm to allow a member of the public to speak on the matter.

Mr John Grimwood reported that £1,000 remained available following the closure of the former village youth club. Also, table tennis tabletops and other equipment was being kept in storage. While LCC had initially cut funding, the biggest problem in having youth club was the shortage of volunteers. 

Standing orders were reinstated at 8.22pm.

It was agreed that Cllr York would liaise with the head of the school to see if volunteer might be found, possibility through the school’s PTA. It was resolved that the clerk write to the school in support of a new youth club.

20.020 It was resolved to move into closed session on the grounds of confidentiality by virtue of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 s.1(2).   (20).

Five members of the public left the meeting at 8:25pm.

20.021 Change in order of business

It was resolved to change the order of business on the agenda moving forward agenda item 22.

20.022 Staffing matters (22)

i. A verbal report received from the clerk was noted.

ii. It was resolved that the clerk determine additional costs relating the purchase of a utility vehicle for use by the council for litter picking and outside maintenance purposes, specifically: insurance costs; the costs for adapting the old toilet block for suitable garaging and electrical recharging; costs for a diesel vehicle (costs for an electric vehicle having already been provided).

Cllrs S Booth and M Booth left the meeting at 8:40pm having previously declared an interest in the following item: 

20.023 Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs) (21)

i. A confidential written report from the clerk relating to proposals from land agents for the management of the Parish Council’s FBTs was circulated.

ii. It was resolved that the clerk obtain three quotes, fixed if possible, for the supply of suitable five-year FBT agreements, and a biennial periodic tenancy agreement. Other matters as recommended in the report.

iii. Councillors returned copies of the report to the clerk.

There being no further business the meeting was declared closed at 8:52pm.