October 2019 Minutes
Scotton Parish Council
Minutes Of The Meeting Of The Parish Council Held On Thursday 3rd October 2019 At 6pm At The Village Hall, Northorpe Road, Scotton DN21 2RB
Present: Councillors: R.Littlewood (Vice Chairman), P.Kulleseid, Mrs J. Robinson, A.Robinson, A.Ramsay
In attendance: Mrs. L. Cooper (Parish Clerk), Representative (NPD Steering Group) and 2 members of the public.
The meeting began at 6.00pm.
009/19 To receive and accept apologies for absence Apologies were received from Cllrs. R. Ramsay and R. Walker. Proposed and Resolved that the reasons given be accepted.
010/19 To receive declaration of interests in accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and to consider any requests for dispensations No interests were declared.
011/19 To receive and approve the notes of the meeting 5th September 2019 as Minutes. Proposed and Resolved that the above notes of the meeting be approved as a correct record and signed as Minutes.
012/19 Clerk’s Update - The Clerk advised that Scotton Parish Council had been registered with HMRC as required by regulations. - Proper notice had been sent to the Pension’s Regulator and confirmation had been received back acknowledging compliance with current statutory regulations.
013/19 Village Allotment update There was a brief discussion about the continuing difficulties with an existing allotment tenant. The tenant had been sent a letter enclosing the allotment rules with a request to clear and tidy the allotment plot. It was reported that to date, the site had not been cleared. Action: To monitor the situation.
014/19 Millennium Tree update It was reported that it would be more cost effective to buy a replacement tree. Costs to be obtained for buying a tree.
015/19 Presence of Himalayan Balsam in village update Cllr. A. Robinson reported he had observed small numbers of the plants spreading along the water course. It was also seen along Beck Lane and around the allotments in clumps of brambles. Cllr. A. Robinson went on to explain that the plant produced seeds annually and these could remain dormant in the soil for 18 months.
A single pod could disperse as many as 7000 seeds, which had the potential to reach 17m2. Spring would be the best time to begin removing plants and 90% of the plants could be brought under control in 12 months; with the possibility of eradication in 3 years, if rapid action was taken. Residents in the village, especially along the Beck would need to be made aware of the plant. It was suggested that an article could be submitted to the Parish magazine raising awareness and advising residents not to disturb the plants to avoid dispersing the seeds. It was mentioned that the Scouts had helped remove the plants in the village of Scotter. If a volunteer event was arranged in the village, the Scout group could be asked if they would like to take part. To tackle the issue effectively there would need to be access to all the affected areas. It was agreed to contact private landowners to discuss the issue and obtain permission to access the affected areas to undertake a detailed survey. It was proposed and Resolved: Cllr. A Ramsay to contact landowners.
016/19 Speeding & signage
a) Speed Limits on single track roads This was discussed in conjunction with the Road Safety Partnership update due to relevance.
b) The sign for no motorised vehicles on Beck Lane There were plans to have the sign moved to a better position.
Item was deferred to the next meeting as Cllr. Walker was not at the meeting to provide an update.
017/19 Road Safety Partnership update Cllr. J. Robinson contacted the Road Safety Partnership (RSP) to discuss what could be done to encourage speed reduction in the village. RSP advised that they could supply six 30mph road signs. There were stipulations as to where and how the signs could be installed. When speed reductions signs had been installed the RSP recommended installing Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) to deter speeding. There were two possible options:
- To install a flashing sign which captured some vehicle data - £2,000 + VAT + an installation fee. .
- ii. To install 4 signs - £1,700 + VAT + installation fee.
Additionally, the village could be placed on the Speed Watch Programme and speed vans would be sent to the village to monitor traffic. There was also the Community Speed Watch campaign, a scheme run by volunteers from the community. The committee was of the opinion this could be confrontational and other strategies should be tried before this was considered. There was a brief discussion about the roads leading out of the village, some of which were narrow so the signs would need to be placed strategically on roads with difficult junctions or reduced visibility. A suggestion was made to introduce chicanes to slow traffic but the cost and details of these were unknown. In conclusion, it was agreed to work on the problem of speeding in the village before tackling speeding on the larger access roads. It was recognised that reducing speed on larger access roads would require a coordinated strategy with Lincolnshire Highways and Scotter village.
It was proposed and Resolved Cllr. J. Robinson would order the 6 road signs and investigate the suitability and cost of chicanes.
018/19 Neighbourhood Development Plan update A copy of the draft Neighbourhood Plan (NDP) Submission version was circulated to all Councillors before the meeting. A representative from the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group gave an update of progress. The plan was currently in the 6 weeks consultation phase and was under review by statutory consultees. Following the consultation phase, a list of examiners would write a report. The NDP could then be submitted to West Lindsey District Council, who would arrange a referendum and the village would vote to either accept or decline the plan. Following the presentation there followed a discussion. Councillors expressed concern that the NDP had not been approved by the current Parish Council. The Environmental Plan, which formed part of the NDP was not available for review at the time of the meeting. The Council did not feel the plan could be approved without having reviewed all the information. It was proposed and Resolved to seek out Minutes from the previous Parish Council meetings which discussed the NDP and to consult with the Chairman on his return, with a view to calling an extraordinary meeting to further discuss the issues that had arisen.
019/19 To consider the budget for 2020-21 regarding future expenses or projects A copy of the draft budget forecast for 2020-21 and the cash book summary for 2018-19, April to September were circulated to Councillors for scrutiny, before the meeting. A brief discussion took place and it was asked what figure was currently held in reserves. Following discussion it was proposed and Resolved to accept the draft budget.
020/19 Finance
a) Income of £44.00, £50.00 and £420.00 in allotment rent had been received.
b) To agree payment of Clerk’s salary of £140.00 and mileage costs of £19.80, proposed and Resolved to approve payment.
c) To consider payment to ICO (Information Commissioners). It was asked what this was and why it had been brought to the Council. The Clerk explained that the Parish Council received and processed confidential information and was entitled to keep the amended version of the Electoral Register for the village. The certificate from ICO would demonstrate that processing of personal data held and obtained by the Parish Council complied with GDPR requirements and data protection. It was proposed and Resolved to purchase a certificate.
d) To pay Mr. Feguson £25.00 for maintenance work around the village. It was proposed and Resolved to pay Mr. Ferguson.
e) To reissue the cheque to Scotton Village Hall because of an error on the cheque. It was proposed and Resolved to reissue the cheque. Signing of cheques was deferred to the next meeting due to the absence of approved signatories.
021/19 To review and approve policies The Standing Orders policy and Facebook Protocols were circulated to the committee before the meeting.
a) Standing Orders: Clarification was sought about the Standing Orders policy. The Clerk explained that Standing Orders was the legal framework which detailed how the Parish Council would conduct its business.
b) Facebook Protocols: The Facebook protocols were written by the Clerk to explain how the Facebook page would operate. Resolved to approve Facebook protocols and return the Standing Order policy to the next meeting to allow more time for review.
022/19 Comments on correspondence circulated prior to the meeting There were no comments.
023/19 Future agenda items NDP
At this point in the meeting, 6.50pm it was Resolved to suspend Standing Orders to hear a report from a resident who had attended the Strategic Development Workshop in Gainsborough on 17th September 2019.
The member of the public gave a summary of the main points from the workshop. It was noted that Gainsborough had little industry and subsequently high unemployment. Very little new development was planned for the city and any new roads would be built to divert around it. Generally, Gainsborough needed modernisation and investment which would help alleviate these issues but currently could not attract investment. Any changes would not affect Scotton village.
At 7.00pm it was Resolved to resume Standing Orders and continue the meeting.
024/19 Date of next meeting 7th November 2019 in the Village Hall, Scotton.
025/19 To resolve whether to move into closed session and exclude the public and press in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, due to the sensitive nature of the business to be discussed. There were no items.
The meeting ended at 7:05pm.