Branston & Mere Parish Council Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council held at the Pavilion, Moor Lane, Branston on Monday 8 th May 2017 at 7pm.

Transcription

1 Branston & Mere Parish Council Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council held at the Pavilion, Moor Lane, Branston on Monday 8 th May 2017 at 7pm. Present: Cllrs. Messrs Clarke, Lundgren, Marchant, Naulls, Newman & Tebb and Cllr Mesdames Catton, Price & Willcox. 2373/17 In Attendance: Clerks - Mrs Stead & Mrs Sparkes. Members of the Public: Three. Item 1 a) Election of a Chairman. Cllr Lundgren was elected as Chairman. Nominated by Cllr Tebb: seconded by Cllr Naulls and elected unanimously. The Acceptance of Office was duly signed. b) Election of a Vice Chairman. Cllr Naulls was elected as Vice Chairman. Nominated by Cllr Clarke; seconded by Cllr Tebb and elected unanimously. Item 2 a) Apologies for absence and reasons given. No apologies had been received. David Lowrie had tendered his resignation that afternoon due to an increasing workload. The clerk was asked to thank him for his time with the Council since September A letter of thanks would also be sent to Raymond Cucksey who had served on the Parish Council since May 1995; including as Chairman between 2005 and b) Declarations of Pecuniary & Non-Pecuniary Interests. There were no declarations of interest. c) Arrangements for co-option. Approval had been given to co-opt to fill the seats vacated by Malcolm Ross and Rob Ford. Four applications had been received and circulated. It was resolved that the Chairman and Cllr Naulls would meet the candidates and provide feedback to members to enable a vote and the seats to be filled at the June meeting. Raymond Cucksey s seat had been advertised and unless ten requests for an election were received by 22 nd May that would also be advertised for co-option. The same process would be undertaken for David Lowrie s seat with the intention that both would be filled at the July meeting. The clerk advised that when all seats had been filled there would be 7 elected and 6 co-opted members; leaving the Council ineligible for Quality Council status. The next opportunity to reverse the trend would be at the 2019 election. Item 3 Public Forum. There were no issues raised. Item 4 To receive reports from representatives on outside bodies: a) Police. During the period 03/04/17 08/05/17 two crimes had been reported: 1 Theft Unsecured cycle from the Community Academy. 1 Commercial Burglary Theft of a handbag from hotel bedroom. b) County Council. Cllr Oxby was welcomed to his first meeting at Branston following the recent boundary changes and his successful election to the new Coleby and Potterhanworth ward; covering Heighington and Branston. He advised that the executive and committees would be formed during the month. He said that stronger links would be formed with the health authority and greater collaboration between health and adult social care. The development of the joint Police, Fire & Rescue and Ambulance facility at the South Park site would be completed by 2019.

2 2374/17 The Eastern Bypass would be completed during the lifetime of the Council The Council had set a one year budget that had seen most department budgets cut by an average of 10%, apart from Adult Social Care that had seen an increase of 10% with a share of an additional 29m expected. Cllr Naulls gave a brief overview of the Speed Report submitted in December and asked for Cllr Oxby s support to press for it to be considered. Cllr Oxby said that the Council was currently restricted by purdah but understood the issues and would put the case forward with the Chairman of the Highways committee as soon as the appointment was made. He suggested that the speed between Canwick and Branston would be slowed by the new roundabout on the bypass. c) District Council. Cllr Cucksey said that the Council would incur costs from the new funeral policy and the policy for dealing with stray animals. A short term contract with Community Lincs had been set up to support Neighbourhood Plans. After the initial 6 months it could be renewed for a further 6 months and be renewed annually if successful. The government response on the retention of business rates was expected. The retention was an important part of the budget. A medium-term financial strategy was in place to enable services to continue. The new Waste Depot would be in operation by the end of the year. The Annual Meeting would be held at the end of May. Cllr Lundgren added that the Local Plan had been adopted and the CIL policy agreed. It would ensure that parishes would receive a percentage of funding from developers towards community facilities. It was unclear whether the three large developments already started or at outline would be included. Provision had been made to continue to support the provision of art within communities. d) Community Library. Mrs Appleyard s report had been circulated and included clarity on the use of the facility by various groups and voluntary donations made by their members. The Chairman said that a charge could not be imposed as it was part of the school but the academy was happy for the Library to receive donations. e) Dog Warden Report. The report would be circulated on receipt. Item 5 Election of members to Committees and Associations: a) Planning Committee. Cllrs Lundgren, Naulls, Price and Tebb. All members would be notified of applications and meetings and invited to attend planning meetings at any time. b) Policy and Resources Committee. All members to serve, to be called as and when necessary. The committee also had responsibility for all personnel issues. In cases of disciplinary action and appeals, the committees are made up as follows: Policy & Resources Committee A: Cllrs Catton, Naulls, Tebb & Willcox. Policy & Resources Committee B: Cllrs Clarke, Newman, Lundgren, Marchant & Price. c) Recreation Grounds Committee. Cllrs Clarke, Naulls, Newman and Willcox agreed to continue to serve. d) Village Hall Management Committee. The clerk acted as secretary and treasurer. When the vacant seats were filled it was hoped that a councillor would also be able to support the committee. e) Four Parish Cluster Group. Cllrs Lundgren, Marchant and Newman agreed to represent the Parish. f) Pavilion Project Committee. Cllrs Lundgren, Naulls and Willcox would support the project. g) Neighbourhood Plan Committee. Cllrs Lundgren, Naulls, Price and Tebb were part of the committee.

3 h) Emergency Plan Committee. Led by Cllr Marchant and supported by Cllrs Clarke and Lundgren. i) Branston Charity. Cllr Newman and Mrs Woodcock would continue to represent the Council. Elections to committees would be reviewed in September when all seats had been filled. 2375/17 Item 6 a) To resolve that the notes of the meeting held on 3 rd April are approved as the Minutes. Acceptance of the notes was proposed by Cllr Newman and seconded by Cllr Naulls. Acceptance of the notes In Committee was proposed by Cllr Newman and seconded by Cllr Clarke. b) Matters arising from the Minutes for clarification. There were no matters arising. Item 7 Correspondence: a) Newsletters and Periodic Publications Clerks & Councils Direct May Lincolnshire Fieldpaths Association Spring Newsletter. b) Letters for information LCC The Lincolnshire Minerals & Waste Local Plan had been submitted to the Secretary of State for examination Letters of thanks for recent grants had been received from the Bowls, Croquet and Tennis Clubs, the History Group and LIVES. c) LCC New arrangements for contact with Highways An update on progress after two months of the new regime. A cluster meeting would be organised during May or June to give a further update and demonstration of the improved fault reporting system and there would be two sessions a year for County Councillors to enable them to cascade information to their parishes. d) NKDC Adoption of Local Plan The Local Plan had been formally adopted on 24 th April and so had full weight for decisions making purposes. The Chairman said that policy LP4 stated that there would be no additional large development during the lifetime of the Plan but that no longer applied to large villages (including Branston) and so could see further speculative development when the planned three sites were built out. He said that the pressure to maintain a 5-year supply of land ongoing could result in developments being completed ahead of time and additional land being sought. He said that it might be necessary to identify an additional site and need as part of the Neighbourhood Plan, to pre-empt that and maintain a defence. Item Planning Applications & Tree Applications: a) Planning decisions received. Planning permission had been granted on the following applications: 17/0291/CCC Classroom block Branston Community Academy 16/1265 Reserved matters for 73 dwellings Moor Lane. 17/0175 Single storey extension 61 Lincoln Road. 17/0226 Holiday apartment (resubmitted) Pottergate Golf Club. b) Applications already viewed. 17/0387 Single storey building (part retrospective) Fire & Rescue Training Centre 17/0430 First floor side extension 3 The Chalfonts c) Applications for discussion. 17/0490 Two storey side extension 17 Hall Lane Policy LP26 of the adopted Central Lincolnshire Local Plan states that development must make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the environment within which it is located. The parish council would therefore request that the Conservation Officer reviews the application in terms of the potential impact on the street scene and spacing and views through.

4 2376/17 d) Tree applications for discussion. 17/0475 Remove sycamore branch Springfield House, Mere Road 17/0608 Fell a Spruce 4 Hall Lane 17/0609. Various tree work 49 Lincoln Road The Parish Council would like to register its concern regarding the gradual erosion of greenery within the village due to the number of tree work applications and the likelihood of further loss within the next few years due to disease in the vicinity. The Parish Council would also ask that the Tree Officer considers the impact to wildlife from this loss of habitat. Item 9 Other Reports: a) Neighbourhood Plan update Mrs Sparkes reported that between 550 and 650 questionnaires had been returned That was considered to be a robust response and a comparatively high percentage for a Neighbourhood Plan The consultant had recommended a large scale summer consultation event which, along with a few popup appearances at other village events, would allow her to write the Plan. Saturday 22 nd July had been chosen to hold a Summer Gala at the Moor Lane Recreation Ground. Mrs Sparkes had agreed to take on extra duties to organise the event at relatively short notice and had already started planning. Additional grants were expected to be secured to cover the additional workload. b) To review the updated Logo designs Cllr Tebb said that the revised image to show the face of the sheep had not been good quality and that he would amend it further himself; expecting the final version to be completed soon. c) Report from Recreation Ground meeting The report had been circulated. It was agreed that: Nemasys would be applied to the Lincoln Road recreation ground in July if there was evidence of Chaffer grubs. A roller would be hired to allow the clubs to roll their own pitches. Cllr Mrs Willcox would work with Cllr Tebb to improve advertising for the Astro Court on the new website. There would be a renewed effort to garner support for the Pavilion Project. d) To consider the purchase of a new community site Deferred. e) To approve an inspection of trees during the financial year Mrs Sparkes said that the tri-annual inspection was due in January 2018, as part of the Council s duty of care. The cost would be 2.75 per tree and there were 215 trees logged ( 591). Advice would be sought on the opportune time for the inspection to be carried out. Proposed by Cllr Clarke; seconded by Cllr Mrs Willcox. f) Feedback on Lincolnshire Rivers Trust Event The Chairman said that he had attended the event in Dunston, where the drainage dyke had been improved and returned to its original channel. He said that the straight v-shaped dyke had been replaced by a more efficient, meandering path that had improved the flow and increased capacity by 30-40%; reducing the risk of flash floods. He said that the Trust would be working in Nettleham next but said that there was a good likelihood that they would carry out work to Branston Beck, which was failing, which could, with support from landowners, be returned to its original channel to help protect Heighington from flooding. g) Quote to rebuild the vandalised bridge on Paddock Lane The quote had not been received due to a difficulty sourcing 5m lengths for the main beams. Alternative suppliers were suggested and would be passed to Hill Holt Wood. Other quotes would also be sought before a final decision was made on whether it would be replaced. h) Plan to host NCS group & need for welfare facilities An offer had been made to host a 2 week placement in the Jungle; cutting back, building wooden bins and designing info boards. Use of the Pavilion as a base, initial guidance from a ranger and support from the handyman would be provided. Use of the Pavilion by a second group had also been offered.

5 2377/17 A site meeting with their H&S officer had identified a problem; unless toilet facilities could be offered. The clerk had suggested that NCS could approach a toilet hire company for sponsorship but the officer had asked the Council to consider the provision. The Citizenship scheme was considered worthy and a wider investment in youth and the Council was happy to support a placement. The Chairman said that each student was charged 100 and that a toilet during outdoor projects should be part of the NCS duty of care. The matter would be referred back to the EBP for them to source provision as sponsorship from a supplier. i) To approve the purchase of new batteries for the Linden Ave Defibrillator Cllr Mrs Price proposed and Cllr Newman seconded the purchase at 65. Item 10 Governance Review a) Risk Assessment There was nothing to add. It was noted that the repair to the pipeline path had not yet been carried out and the Handyman had a concern about the time needed for the sealant to dry when repairing the cracks at the Skatepark. Item Finance: a) To approve payments to be made. Staff payments Wages & expenses HMRC Tax & NI NEST Pension Michael Cummins Dog Warden Service CB Ground Maintenance Grass cutting Hill Holt Wood March Tyson s Mower Repair Portland Tools Cable ties Branston Hall APM Refreshments Tstar Solutions Ltd White line car park Lincs Footpaths Association Annual Subs 5.00 James Sutton Deposit - Lamb Total Payments Approval of the payments was proposed by Cllr Naulls and seconded by Cllr Mrs Willcox. b) Fourth quarter report The report had been circulated. The overspends had already been apparent at the half year and third quarter reports. Overall, the expenditure was within budget. c) Year-end report The report had been circulated and showed the proposed movement on the earmarked reserve, based on earmarked reserves spent during the year and over and under spends against budget. Columns had been added to show the 2017/18 precept and the total available. Item 12 Items for information Cllr Newman reported that a tree was beginning to obscure the traffic lights Cllr Mrs Price asked about the possibility of an area on the website where councillors could access information such as policies and the Local Plan. The possibility of using OneNote was also suggested. The matter would be considered Cllr Mrs Catton raised an incident that had taken place near the Church Hall. The clerk was asked to refer the matter to PC Hanson The Chairman made members aware that the Village Hall at Heighington was closing at the end of the month, leaving several groups without a venue. The meeting closed at 9.20pm.