July 2022 Minutes
Harlaxton Parish Council
27th July 2022 at 19:30
Venue: Harlaxton Village Hall
Minutes
1. Meeting open:
Meeting opened at 19.30 by Andrew Cartlidge
2. In Attendance:
Andrew Cartlidge (AC)- Chair Jane Brown (JB) Kate Darcey (KD) Simon Wicks (SW)
Samantha Key (SK)- Clerk
Guest- Councillor Charlotte Vernon (CV)
3. Apologies:
Jane Mann (JM)
4. Resolution to approve minutes of Parish Council Meeting held 29.06.22: Minutes agreed and signed.
5. Parish Councillors Declarations of Pecuniary Interest: None
6. Public Forum: None
7. Updates from County Councillor, District Councillor and Police and Crime representative:
County Councillor Charlotte Vernon (WAITING SCRIPT) District Councillor- nothing
Police and crime representative- nothing
Discussion following CV comments:
What is LCC take on Saltby Airfield and why have they not commented- is there a vested interest in the planning being approved because of the pension scheme investment?
CV- Doubt those making the decisions will even be aware of the pension investments. Melton Borough Council did not approach LCC for comments on the application. It would be better to see more joined up working, especially as in this case the reality is the application affects Lincolnshire as much as Melton, however there is no requirement for them to have been approached. With regards to commenting on the application keep emotions and feelings out of the comments and go for facts. Build relationships with neighbouring Parish Councils.
What about the roads in Lincolnshire?
CV- The planning application is for Saltby and that is all that will be considered. So, there is no onus on Melton to consult and LCC have not made any comments? CV- LCC have provided comments. Cannot understand why they will not add a condition in for the hay to be covered on the lorries.
That is why they will not use Fulbeck, they consider it a Health and Safety issue for people putting on the netting.
CV- If it does get approved then watch closely what the vehicles do, there may be a case created for enforcement.
Croxton took them to task over the actions of the last three years.
CV- Planning is unlikely to be revoked but enforcement could happen. They cud challenge any conditions that are placed on the planning application. Please note that I am not an expert in this field and the comments made are not legally binding. Keep going with submitting issues and comments, keep them factual and encourage others to do the same, work together with neighbouring Parish Councils and use the different expertise within the villages.
There is an issue with the width of the road and a video has been made. CV- I have not seen the video.
What can you do to support?
CV- The most important thing is making those who are making the decision aware of all the facts. Send everything to planning officers, they must read and consider all the comments they receive.
With regards to the A607 speed limit?
CV- Have emailed highways but not had a response back yet. We have had a traffic survey done.
CV- can you share that with me please?
Also, the Manor have had one done for their planning application. CV- have you put in any comments? Do they engage?
Yes they do engage and have held meetings with the Villagers. The planning application has not come through yet.
CV- Have tried to contact PCSO to see if they can have a meeting with a group of Parish Councils (I look after 27) in a central location to update us all- is this something you would be interested in?
Yes
8. Updates and Discussions
A) Annual play area inspection: the cost is £70 and is scheduled for August. The bin has been recently damaged but could be repaired by willing parties.
AC and SW to repair in August.
Dependent on what the report finds w could b told to close off some equipment, they use entrapment points as a measure- some of the large wooden posts have dried out so much they have started to open in areas, these will be assessed for entrapment.
Vote on budget to repair bin and replace post £50: SW- propose
JB- second KD- agree
B) CCTV system and policy: the policy was sent out and once approved the CCTV system will be ordered (pre-approved). AC in the policy removed preferred engineer (this will be a small system maintained by the users), SW happy that two designated people will be needed to view it. The statement will be placed on the four noticeboards in the village, additional sentence to be added to the statement saying, “the full policy is available online or from the clerk on request.” The statement and policy will also be published on the website. The statement will be added to the next village voice.
Designated people: Andrew Cartlidge Simon Wicks Samantha Key
Vote for policy and statement with amendments to be approved: SW- propose
KD- second AC/JB- agree
SK to action removal of preferred engineer and additional sentence on statement.
Signs will also be needed and displayed, will see if any come with the system, if not then will need to purchase.
Vote to spend a maximum of £10 on CCTV signs: SW- propose
AC- second JB/KD- agree
C) Village hall access ramp and line painting: briefing document was sent out with details of all three quotes. One of the quotes was only ale to quote for the access ramp. Between the two quotes that included line painting one was going for a concrete ramp and the other was going for a tarmac ramp.
Vote to approve A. Tyrell quote: SW- propose
AC- second JB/KD- agree
SK to liaise with contractor and JM (on behalf of village hall) around any restrictions.
D) Playing field hire charge, agreement and booking system: need to establish what is a session- is it a length of time or single use per hire. If it is a length of time should there be additional time either side?
For the Football club there should be a summer rate and a winter rate (the summer is when their space is compromised by the cricket pitch. Need to get a picture of the pitch areas and send over to the cricket club.
The proposed hire agreement has been sent out for councillors to read, once agreed this needs to be sent to the Football Club. Discussion around the wording of ad-hoc and the requirement to request the hire seven full days before the date. A session is a maximum of 4 hours (morning or afternoon) for £20, insurance certificates will be required if AC to change ad-hoc to occasional hire and add in the amendment to the 7 days booking time.
E) Telephone box: we have had an email from a villager who would undertake the restoration as a personal project with the Parish Council paying costs incurred. Would this be safe for him to do whilst it is connected? He is an electrical engineer. Would the phone box be useful as an electric vehicle charge point? An estimated cost for this would be £7000, financially it would not generate a large return but would look better, could consider getting it sponsored. This is an avenue that needs further exploration. The space by the phone box belongs to the Highways so if it were to become a charge point the space would need to be reserved.
Vote to proceed with restoration offer: JB- propose
SW- second KD- agree
Vote to limit expenses to £700 AC- propose
JB- second KD- agree
F) Saltby Airfield: Denton and Croxton have done lots of good work on this. Currently no date for the planning hearing.
G) Village Voice: JB has produced again and done a great job. If it were to be delivered with the Village Link then everything would have to be brought forward i.e., the copy date. For delivery in October the leaflets would need to be ready by 13th September- is this too quick? Could this one be missed out and do one for November/December (it would need to be printed by 11th October and therefore all information needed by end of September). It would have to be folded and delivered to the village link. One problem may be the village groups having events sorted that far in advance. KD- both the WI and the History Club are sorted.
An offer was made informally by a resident for their older children to deliver the village voice for “pocket money”- no figure was given, this offer was discussed, the main area of concern was with employing youngsters.
The parish council are grateful to the manor for printing the village voice. Vote to pay for the Village Link to distribute and change the paper to a lighter paper:
KD- propose JB- second AC/SW- agree
JB to liaise with the village link
H) Councillor training days: AC, JB, KD all interested in attending on 18th October between 10am and 1pm.
SK to organise.
I) Storage area: all councillors met at HSSC to look at location of the proposed storage area and on site all agreed to build a storage area next to the container for the Football Club to use whilst they hire the sports field. An agreement would need to be written up including that it must be cleared out within 7 days of the hire period ending, they must provide their own lock and that the property stored inside would not be covered under Parish Council insurance.
Vote to build storage area up to the value of £500: KD- propose
SW- second JB- agree
CV left the meeting at 21:20
9. RFO Financial Report:
The accounts were circulated before the meeting, whilst the balances are currently healthy there are some significant amounts that will be being paid out over the next month. We also have not had the insurance payment schedule.
The football club made an error in paying and as previously agreed they were scheduled to pay £125 in July and £250 in August, this was communicated by email, however they overpaid in July (no reason known or given). Will advise them to pay £125 in August and this will make the totals correct.
10. Planning Applications:
No comments on the planning applications.
The post box on the Drift has been removed- the Parish Council were not aware of this.
SK to contact Post Office and find out about replacement.
11. Communications:
M. Turner- all agreed and this has been confirmed.
S. Spooner- this clashed with a prior booking and so was declined.
HSSC- request for modernised shower cubicles and accessible toilets, would be useful to see a proposal/plan for what they envisage it looking like (by 1st September in preparation for the next meeting). There may be grants available as this will be a significant cost. They have agreed to the storage area if it is not attached to the container in any way.
AC/SW to build storage area with support.
12. AOB
SW- A607 between the crossroads and the and the bottom corner is prone to flooding. The gullies are meant to be cleared annually but there is evidence that they have not been cleaned and this is contributing to the flooding.
KD- the wording proposed for the memorial oak tree has been approved. Vote to order engraved silver colour tree plaque to the value of £50:
SW- propose KD- second AC/JB- agree SK to order
Defibrillator- AC can not currently get access to the code to investigate the issues.
Bench by the obelisk- this has been agreed by the owner and all correspondence is on email.
Probationary review for clerk- held by employment subcommittee and was passed.
Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership- all agreed to join and for JB to be point of contact for them
13. Closed Session: Not required.
14. Next meeting:
28th September 2022
15. Meeting Close: Closed at 22:05 by AC
Chair – Andrew Cartlidge
E-mail: harlaxtonpc@gmail.com