2019 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

MINUTES of the Meeting of DEEPING ST NICHOLAS PARISH COUNCIL held on Monday 21st January 2019 at 7:00pm, at Deeping St Nicholas Church

                                                                                                            (Recorded by the Clerk)

Present:          William Rodwell (Chairman), David Branton (Vice Chairman), Andy Croyle, Nicholas Watts, Barry Hopkins, Ian McDonald, Louise McGuiness, Charles Sly, Paul Barrett, Richard Ivatt,

District Cllr Angela Harrison (Clerk)

District Cllr Bryan Alcock

County Cllr E Sneath

Maria Lyon (Representing the LCC Call Connect Service)

                        8 members of public

1.     Apologies

At the time of the meeting, apologies had been received from:

District Cllr J Astill - Dealing with his mother’s funeral

County Cllr N Pepper - Attending Gedney Hill PC

PCSO Timms - Not on Duty (Emailed Report)

Winston Brown (Press) - Attending Gosberton PC

2.     Declarations of Interest (in accordance with the LGA 2000)

AC & NW declared Non-Pecuniary Interests as members of the Community Trust Committee

3.     Public Speakers (Max 3 mins each)

•   Mrs Clarke (Planning Issue)

4.     Minutes of the Parish Meeting held on Monday 19th November 2018

Proposed:       Barry Hopkins

Seconded:       Nicholas Watts

It was resolved to formerly adopt the Minutes of the September meeting and for the Chairman to sign them as a true record.

5.     Matters Arising from the Minutes

PB - Item 8 War Memorial - Church has been approached by somebody whose grandfather’s name is not on the War Memorial.  Apparently, he fought in the Second World War.

DB asked that this person contact him directly and he will look into it.

AC - Top of page 13 he is not Chairman of CTC, although his wife is

NW - Item 11 should read ‘Delaine’ bus service not ‘Delaney’

Item 8 (New Bus Service + Call Connect), was moved up the Agenda to item 6 due to Ms Lyon travelling all the way from Lincoln

6.     New Bus Service + Call Connect (Maria Lyon, Publicity & Engagement Officer)

The Chairman gave an outline to the situation with regards to the new bus service then handed over to Maria Lyon.

-      Changing timetables and working with Call Connect and Bus Services

-      Delaine Bus service applied to run it as a commercial service

-      Changes have been applied for, which will mean that from 4th March the last bus from Stamford would be 16:05, Spalding to Market Deeping 17:15

-      No Saturday service with Delaine

-      Call Connect run a Monday to Saturday service, with 38 through the County

-      Spalding Call Connect area

-      Either a local pickup point, or if you are over 90 or have limited mobility - from gated property

-      Operate from 7am - 7pm

-      Call to register then quote your registration number whenever you call.  No cost to join/register.

-      Fares are zonal, with Adult fares, Child fares are half price and Senior Citizens with bus passes can travel for free

-      Minimum 1-hour notice is required and journeys are subject to availability

-      Cannot compete with a commercial service

-      Call Connect can take passengers on a Saturday to Spalding or to Wyevale Garden Centre in Crowland to pick up the 37 service to Peterborough.  Cannot go to Market Deeping as this would be the Stamford service

-      LM confirmed that the Shaw’s bus service came to an end, it was heavily subsidized to the tune of £15 per head.

-      Maria Lyon will supply the Parish with leaflets and posters to go in the notice boards and out in the Village News

-      Message is to ‘Use it or Lose it’!

Item 12 (Planning Matters for Consideration), was taken next as there were people wanting to speak about the Village Hall application

7.     Planning Matters for Consideration

The Chairman invited Mrs Clarke, (spokesperson for the residents in attendance), to speak regarding the Village Hall planning application.

•   Mrs Clarke expressed that she and her fellow residents felt that the Parish Council had not consulted with them prior to the application being submitted and that there had been no knowledge of the proposals until the application had been submitted. 

•   She stated that the residents did not want a Hall there and asked for the PCs views on their consultation process

-      AC explained that the Village Hall and proposed site had been mentioned in the Spring 2018 edition of the Village News (distributed to every household)

-      There was also an information stand at the Village Fete held on the triangle last summer

-      Resident’s meeting held last week to give an update on the situation

-      The Chairman pointed out that the Parish Plan questionnaire had been sent out late 2015 and that residents had an opportunity to state their opinions at that time, and of course, at any PC meeting before or since

-      LM reiterated that all homes within the Parish had had a copy of the Parish Plan questionnaire delivered, but if residents did not complete and return it, that was their choice. The PC could only act on the information and wishes they received

-      PB spoke of the 2002 verbal agreement with the developers which they had reneged on and mentioned that this was why the PC now owned that piece of land

-      NW agreed and stated that the developers had agreed to build the Village Hall after they had built the 200th house, but stopped at 198 leaving the strip between St Nicholas Park and Home Farm unbuilt.

-      IM supported this and pointed out that part of the site, (equivalent to 8 parking spaces), had been appropriated by Flogas without consulting the PC.  Should they be paying rent? - Chairman to look at deeds

-      The Chairman asked District Cllr Alcock, as a member of the Planning Committee, to confirm that the PC had done all it should, in an appropriate manner, to which he agreed and pointed out that PCs could request money for whatever they want, and need not be restricted to affordable housing, health and education

-      WR advised that residents to go through the proper planning process to air their views via the SHDC Planning Department

8.     Reports from District/County Cllrs

Cllr Sneath said that Look North weather map used Tongue End as a marker

Cllr Alcock - District Council Band D rates going up by 2.9% and looking to increase their housing stock

Cllr Harrison - Pride in South Holland Team looking for ‘Grot Spots’ to clean up in areas throughout the District.  Will invite the officer to the next Parish meeting. 

Attending a course at SHDC on the 7th February regarding the elections and will report back at the next meeting.

9.     Police Matters

PCSO Nikki Timms was unable to attend, but sent the following report via email:

“Apologies first, I am not on duty for your next meeting, so will not be able to attend. As always, please feel free to contact me should I be able to help out in any way.

The crime statistics for the period 26.11.18 – 16.01.19 are as follows:

Hare coursing related incidents – 6

RTC – 1, damage only.

Nothing further to report.”

10.  Highways & Speed Awareness

-      New batteries put into the interactive signs

-      PB - Need one more sign (Community Activity) - Clerk to place order[1] 

-      Currently have 5 trained people

-      Awaiting 2 items from Amazon, to count vehicles

-      Another person from the village has approached to join

-      Looking for another 4, 5 or 6 people - ideally younger people, (so we don’t look like ‘dad’s army)

-      90% of offenders who receive a letter from the Police do not re-offend

-      Cannot operate during hours of darkness

11.  Playing Fields & Bus Shelters

-      WR - Carrying out a winter tidy-up in a week or so - hedges, place by the Gas Tanks (remove tree roots and level the ground)

-      Chairman to check the deeds for where the Gas Tanks are, as that was originally additional parking spaces for the proposed village hall.  If it is Parish Council land, then we should be charging rent

-      Been to Campains Lane site to look at placing some new play equipment

-      £5K from the Windfarm + £5K from the 3 District Cllrs

-      PB has been asking the residents of Campains Lane regarding the bus shelter.  It’s in the wrong location and not worried about it being demolished or replaced, but would like the area tidied up - preferably with grass

A vote was taken with regards to knocking down the shelter;

PB proposed

CS seconded

It was agreed that this should be done

12.  Correspondence

LCC Highways regarding Parish Agreement - Urban Highway Verge Cutting 2019/20 offering the Parish Council a minimum contribution of £203.46 based on a total area of 4624m2.

-      The actual cost for the Parish Council to get the verges cut last year was £1,760.79 (excl VAT)

-      The alternative is to only have the grass cut twice a year by LCC Highways

It was agreed that due to the safety risk of visibility at junctions and the visual impact of unkempt verges through the village, the PC enter into the agreement for 19/20. 

13.  Accounts Update

14.  Any Further Matters (Chairman)

The Chairman suggested that as he was not selected last year, that David Branton’s name to be put forward to go to Buckingham Palace Garden Party this year.

Everyone agreed

•  DB - St Nicholas House along with others, are looking to install Defibrillators within the village and wondered whether the Windfarm could make a donation towards them?

•  WR will apply to the Windfarm to help fund it.

•  It was considered that St Nicholas House would be a good place to site one because that is where the First Responders are located.

•  PB - Open Gardens are looking to fund one, but there are issues regarding ongoing maintenance of them.

•  LM - Grit Box has been delivered and used

•  Signal Box update should be in the next week or two

•  Littleworth signs have been removed

•  PB - Rev’s Erica Crust wishes to invite everyone to a Civic Service with a free lunch and buffet to all Cllrs to thank them for their commitment to the community

•  NW - Undertook a litter-pick in November - about 15 bags

•  Smith’s Bridge down New Road has dropped considerably - report to Highways

15.  To Resolve that, in accordance with the provision of Section 1 (2) of the Public Bodies (admission to meetings) Act 1960, that the Public and Press be excluded from the meeting, for the following items to be discussed In Committee.

16. To agree the Parish Precept for the Financial Year 2019/20

•   The Guidance was referred to in setting the Parish Precept for 2019/20

•   2018/19 Precept was £12,677

•   An extra £650 would just cover inflation, but would still not be enough to cover the cost of Highway Verge grass cutting

•   The cost of insurance is set to increase with the addition of new play equipment

A full and frank discussion was had and the following proposals were tabled and voted on:

BH proposed £13,945 (a 10% increase = £2.28 increase per house per year)

LM seconded

7 votes

DB proposed an amendment of £13,564 (a 7% increase = £1.60 increase per house per year)

IF seconded

2 votes

It was resolved to request a Parish Precept of £13,945

Meeting ended at 9:25pm