March 2024 Minutes
Minutes of a meeting of Deeping St Nicholas Parish Council, held on Monday the 25th of March commencing at 7pm in the Primary School on Main Road, Deeping St Nicholas.
Present: L McGuinness (Chair), D Croyle (Vice Chair), N Watts, P Barrett, R Jarvis and A Croyle
County Cllr: N Pepper
Clerk/RFO: Mrs A Harrison
Parishioners: 11
In the Chair: L McGuinness
112. Chairman’s welcome and Public Forum.
LM welcomed everyone to the meeting and opened the floor to the public.
Parishioners raised concerns over the increase in Council tax.
LM explained how the Precept figure was arrived at and what the money was to be spent on. She read out the full list of costs from the Minutes of the PC’s January meeting. The meeting Minutes are published on the PC’s website.
Parishioners stated that they may not have internet access, so it was resolved to include the list in the DSN Village News and to do this annually.
NW explained that the PC was trying to enhance the village and that there are vacancies on the Parish Council if anyone would like to apply and have a say on what we do.
Parishioners asked when the village will get a village hall.
AC explained that there is a committee setup to raise funds for a village hall, CTC, but currently there is no suitable land available. The option for a hall on the Home Farm site is dependent upon a developer taking over the site. Plans are in place for a hall within that site, but the original developer has pulled out.
113. To receive and approve reasons for absence.
Apologies had been received from O McGuinness and were approved by members.
114. To receive Declarations of Interest, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.
There were none.
115. To approve the Minutes of the Parish Council’s Extraordinary meeting on the 26th of February.
The Minutes were moved, seconded and approved for signature by the Chair.
116. Matters arising from the Minutes of the previous meetings. (Not included within this Agenda).
There were none.
117. To receive the Clerk’s report on matters outstanding.
A copy of the Clerk’s report had been circulated prior to the meeting.
The report was received.
118. Accounts: To receive the Bank Reconciliation and reports from the RFO and
The Bank reconciliation and summary report had been circulated prior to the meeting.
a. To approve outstanding invoices for payment.
A list of payments amounting to £12,371.25 Net, were moved, seconded and approved.
b. To resolve funding for maintenance of the village defibrillators.
It was resolved to budget a figure of £100 annually, to be requested by Mr White, should he not have enough funds to cover costs.
119. Playing Fields and Bus Shelters Committee: to receive a report from the PF&BS Committee
A verbal report was given by the Committee Chair.
Thanks to Cllr Harrison for providing the funding for a feasibility study to gain external funding for the proposed projects which include a MUGA and new equipment on all play areas.
Campain’s Lane cannot be included in the plans, as the PC does not have a tenancy agreement or ownership of this land.
It was resolved to move this into closed session.
a. Resurfacing of the toddler play area within St Nicholas Park.
The surface has been replaced with new wet pour which has a 15year guarantee.
Broken railings have been fixed and repainted.
The work was only able to take place with donations of £1K each from Cllrs Harrison, Astill and Alcock and consent to repurpose the £5K grant from the Wind Farm Committee for which we are very grateful.
Purchased 2 goalposts: 1 for Littleworth and 1 in St Nicholas Park, as this was a condition of repurposing the Wind Farm grant.
Disclaimer signs have been posted next to the goalposts to state that they will not be replaced if vandalised.
b. To resolve to replace a swing seat with a cradle swing in St Nicholas Park.
It was resolved to purchase a cradle swing to replace one of the seats in St Nicholas Park.
RJ reported that flowers and soft toys are being left in the Littleworth bus shelter, following a death on the railway line last year. Although this is a sensitive issue, the bus shelter should not be used as a shrine as it is unsafe and currently out of use.
It was resolved to tape off the bus shelter to prevent people from entering.
The Chair thanked P Barrett for cleaning out the bus shelters.
120. Planning Matters: to receive a report from the Planning Committee.
The following report was circulated prior to the meeting.
As is customary the committee has not met since the last meeting and applications have been circulated by email to elicit committee member’s responses. I summarise below the applications received since just before the last meeting and the responses obtained.
H03-0241-24 Toll Bar House, Main Road: Installation of Heat Pump
This is a small addition to this property.
ACTION: No objection
H03-1120-23 Adjacent to 44 Chappell Road, (corner of New Road): Erection of two dwellings
The PC had submitted objections to this application.
**Update** The application has been refused by SHDC
Andy Croyle, Planning Committee Chair
121. Highways Matters: To receive updates on: -
a. Footpaths.
LCC have cleared the footpaths of the growth and done a good job.
Unfortunately, this has revealed quite a lot of damage, with some raised ironworks.
Cllr Pepper was asked to comment but had nothing to hand so will report back to the PC after the meeting.
b. Community Speed Watch.
No activity recently due to the weather.
Hope to restart this week.
c. Interactive Speed Signs for Hop Pole.
LRSP have agreed to 2 locations to erect the poles for the signs, which will also gather data.
DSN will be the first to have them in a location outside of a 30mph zone.
Just before Munton House and just before the Old Chapel by Hop Pole.
LCC must put up the posts.
The PC required to approve the locations.
Residents suggested that one be put up just past the Bluebell and the other by the Shrubbery.
Funding of £3,000 from Cllrs Harrison, Alcock and Astill plus a grant from the Wind Farm Committee.
122. To resolve the requirement for bus shelter cleaners.
This item was moved into Committee.
123. HR Committee: to resolve to approve policy updates.
There were no updates for this meeting to approve.
Next revues are due in April.
124. To receive an update from the following groups and committees: -
a. the DSN Good Neighbour Scheme.
Good reserves in the bank, thanks to the 3 District Councillors for their donations.
Looking to arrange busses for a trip to Skegness.
Coconut shy planned for the annual fete to raise money.
Need more volunteers.
Working party meeting scheduled for the 9th of April.
Long distance hospital trips to Hinchinbrook and Cambridge are not feasible as this is only a ‘local’ scheme. There are other services such as the South Holland Volunteer Car Scheme SHVCS, that may be able to cover longer journeys.
Chatter Natter table is popular, with numbers of 15-20 people with speakers. Thanks to N Watts for the use of Vine House Farm.
b. the DSN Neighbourhood Watch Scheme.
DSN recently targeted with 4 vans broken into and £1,000s of tools stolen.
Homeowner on Main Road had his Range Rover stolen.
Need more volunteers to be co-ordinators for these areas as they aren’t covered by the scheme yet.
Sophisticated gangs that can disarm cameras remotely.
Do not approach them, report to the Police on 999 if seen.
The tall cameras down by Deeping Van Hire have vehicle recognition.
It was resolved that RJ will speak with the Police to find out if they have any information on the cameras.
c. the DSN Gardening Club.
Looking to purchase circa 700 plants for the planters.
Looking to put in flower beds at the top of Harrow Road, provided permission is granted by SHDC.
ACTION: PB to forward details of planting to the Clerk to send to SHDC.
RBL 3 flag poles either side to mark the celebrations.
ACTION: Clerk to investigate RBL funding.
Also hoping to plant a real Christmas tree.
d. The Tongue End re-wilding project.
No report had been received prior to the meeting.
The Chair had been to visit the site and could see that there was fencing all around and sand bags which suggested work is ongoing.
An update was included in the Spring issue of the Village News, entitled, ‘Tongue End Diary’.
Countryfile will be doing an update throughout the seasons.
e. The Friends of Littleworth Station.
Met recently and another scheduled for this week with railway heritage, to progress Community Interest company to get charity status. The group can then apply for funding to get a survey on the building.
Hopefully it will become a community hub with outlets to rent, but it will go out to public consultation.
Also trying to reopen Littleworth Station.
In the interim, it could serve as a village hall, albeit very small.
125. Correspondence for inspection.
Brochures for bus shelters and street furniture handed to R Jarvis.
126. To agree the date for the Annual Parish Meeting.
Provisionally set for Monday the 29th of April, providing the school hall is available.
Agenda and notices will be published at least 7 days before the meeting.
127. To agree agenda items for the next Council meeting, set for Tuesday the 28th of May 2024.
Littleworth bus shelter
Policy Updates
Finance Committee
Community Speed Watch
Litter
“In Committee”
The Public & Press to be excluded from the meeting in accordance with the provision of Section 1 (2) of the Public Bodies (admission to meetings Act 1960). The items to be discussed being of a confidential nature.
128. North Sea Camp (NSC)
Bus Shelter Cleaning (moved from item 122)
Due to a change in contacts, it was resolved to setup another meeting in 2 week’s time.
Campain’s Lane Playing Field (moved from item 119)
It was resolved that N Watts will speak to the landowner about a tenancy agreement for a peppercorn rent, to enable this site to be included in the proposals.
R Jarvis to circulate all information regarding the playing field proposals prior to the meeting.
Interactive Speed Signs
The grant funding from the Wind Farm looks to be more than required, so it was resolved that the PC will only claim what is required to cover the costs, rather than the full grant.
Meeting ended at 8:50pm