2019 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Scotton Parish Council

Minutes Of The Meeting Of The Parish Council Held On Thursday 7th November 2019 At 6pm, Village Hall, Northorpe Road, Scotton DN21 2RB

Present: Councillors: R. Walker (Chairman), P. Kulleseid, Mrs J. Robinson, A. Robinson, A.Ramsay

In attendance: Mrs. L. Cooper (Parish Clerk), Cllr. L. Clews, Cllr. C. Perraton-Williams and 5 members of the public

The meeting began at 6.05pm with the 15 minutes

Public Forum. Cllr. Clews spoke during the public forum and commented that residents who had been members of the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) had done so as volunteers and had made a massive commitment to the project. Cllr. Clews asked that all parties work together on the Scotton NDP, for the good of the village. There being no further comments the Parish Council began discussing business items.

028/19 To receive and accept apologies for absence Apologies were received from Cllr. Littlewood. Proposed and Resolved that the reason given be accepted.

029/19 To receive declaration of interests in accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and to consider any requests for dispensations There were none.

030/19 To receive and approve the notes of the Full Parish meeting on 3rd October and the Extraordinary meeting of the Parish Council on 15th October 2019 as Minutes. Amendment to notes of the meeting of 3rd October - 017/19ii to replace the following words from ‘Cllr. Robinson to order the 6 signs’ to ‘Cllr. Robinson to continue discussing the options before purchasing the signs.’ Proposed and Resolved that the above notes, with the amendment noted, to be approved as correct records and signed as Minutes.

031/19 To hear Police, District and County Councillor reports (if any) There were none. Cllr. Perraton-Williams spoke to advise reports of flooding could be reported to ‘Fix my Street’.

032/19 Clerk’s Update

 - The Clerk advised that the fee for applying for an ICO Commissioner’s Certificate had risen from £35 to £40. Approval was requested to pay the increased fee, which was £5 more than expected. The additional cost of £5 was approved. Action: Clerk to purchase certificate.

- The Clerk had been in contact with a volunteer who gave talks on becoming a ‘Dementia Friend.’ Councillors expressed an interest in hearing the presentation and suggested arranging it for the early evening so residents could attend. Action: Clerk to contact the Volunteer and invite them to give a presentation. - The Clerk observed that the new Facebook page had received positive comments from residents. The page had 41 followers to date.

033/19 Neighbourhood Development Plan update

Report of meeting with WLDC 28.10.19 The Chairman began by stating that the Parish Council had taken ownership of the Neighbourhood Plan now that it had been approved by the Parish Council and it was ready to be submitted to WLDC. However, at the meeting with WLDC at the Guildhall, it had been suggested to the Parish Council representatives that the dissolved NDP Committee should be reformed and continue to be involved in the Plan.

Members of the dissolved NDP committee were advised that the Parish Council would be willing to reform the committee if two members of the Parish Council joined the reformed committee, which would meet monthly. Monthly meetings were suggested so that Parish Council could be kept informed of the work being done by the committee. At this point of the meeting the Chairman was spoken over by the residents of the dissolved NDP who stated that they would not be willing to work with the Parish Council unless they had complete control of the Plan and did not accept the suggestion proposed. The Chairman asked for order as residents present were commenting at the same time. The Chairman asked that further questions proceed through the Chair for order. However, the meeting became increasingly heated with calls to order ignored by the audience. The resident who had been involved with the NDP was visibly angry and left the meeting abruptly.

Cllr. Clews suggested that the Chairman should behave with more compassion as the resident had been experiencing personal difficulties. The Chairman acknowledged what was said but that discussion could not take place with continued disruption. The Chairman asked for confirmation from the Clerk if Standing Orders requesting order at meetings was standard practice at Parish Council meetings. The Clerk confirmed they were.

The Chairman commented that as the residents involved in the NDP had left the meeting without discussing a way forward, the Parish Council had no other option than to continue developing the NDP. The discussion again broke into argument, the Chairman asked if such behaviour would be allowed during a meeting at WLDC, the Chairman received a derisive response.

The Chairman commented that nothing further could be gained from continued discussion and called for order. Business moved to the next item on the agenda.

034/19 Village Allotment update It was noted that one of the tenants had not returned the Allotment Rules despite being sent a reminder by the Clerk. The waste had also not been cleared away. It was proposed and Resolved to contact the tenant who would be asked to return the signed rules or to vacate the allotment. ACTION: Chairman to send a letter to the tenant.

035/19 Millennium Tree update Discussion was had about the type of tree that could be bought to replace the tree that was dying. It was agreed that a Yew would be more disease resistant. Action: To research and find costs for a Yew tree.

036/19 Presence of Himalayan Balsam in village update Cllr. Ramsay reported that farmers had removed the Balsam from some areas and that Spring would be the best time to tackle newly emerging shoots. ACTION: To continue monitoring the situation.

037/19 Location of the No Vehicles sign on Beck Lane Cllr. Perraton-Williams confirmed that Lincolnshire County Council had no objection to the sign being moved. The logistics of moving the sign were discussed. ACTION: To begin process of moving the sign.

038/19 Road Safety Partnership Scheme update The types of signs which could be purchased under the scheme were discussed. The two main options were the purchase of 6 polycarbonate signs which could be placed in the village, or to consider electronic signs, which could be moved around the village. One type of electronic sign available could register the speed of the vehicle and flash warnings of excessive speed and request vehicles to slow down, another version could record the speed of passing vehicles. Further research would need to be done on siting the signs and obtaining any required permissions. Action: Cllr. J. Robinson to continue research.

039/19 Update on supply and costings for electricity in the kiosk The Chairman explained it had been difficult to find a supplier to continue electricity supply to the kiosk. Enquiries had been made with the Village Hall, if they would be willing to allow it to be relocated to the Village Hall. The Village hall had agreed to the proposal. It was proposed and Resolved to move the defibrillator unit to the Village Hall. ACTION: To obtain costs for moving the unit.

040/19 Discussion of projects 2020-21

 a) Burial Ground This would be a large project and further research was needed to begin investigating requirements and costs before committing to a budget. The current burial ground at the church had an estimated capacity for another 10-15 years.

Action: To begin research and planning for costs. To be returned for budget consideration in 2021-22.

b) Christmas Tree A resident had contacted the Parish Council to ask if a Christmas tree could be put up in the village. The Chairman commented that the previous Parish Council had considered putting up a tree but had been unable to find a source of electricity for the lighting. It was suggested that electricity supply could be obtained from streetlighting. There was a discussion of locations for the tree or if an existing tree could be used in the Churchyard. Action: The Chairman would speak to the Church wardens about the possibility of using a tree in the Churchyard.

041/19 Analysis of current and approved budget for 2020-21 A budget forecast was circulated to all members prior to the meeting. The budget was discussed in detail and two main items were noted. Costs for grass cutting had been passed to Parish Council’s as LCC did not have the budgets to spend on this. The Parish Council had increased the budget for grass cutting to account for this. It was noted that the Clerk was spending more than 2 hours per week on Parish Council work. The Clerk had made a record of hours worked and reported that an average of 4 hours per week was worked. The budget was increased to employ the Clerk for additional hours in 2020-21.

042/19 Setting the Precept for 2020-21 The Chairman mentioned that raising the precept was not a decision taken lightly and having worked through the budget suggested it be fixed at £10,500. Cllr. Kulleseid calculated that would represent approximately 80p per household per week. After further consideration it was proposed and Resolved to request a precept of £10,500. ACTION: Clerk to send the estimate to WLDC by the end of November.

043/19 Finance

 a) Accounts for payment A schedule of payments for approval were circulated to the committee before the meeting. The required signatories were unavailable at the meeting in October so payments from October and November were presented to the meeting. It was proposed and Resolved to approve payments. The following payments were approved: -

044/19 To review and approve Standing Orders Policy A copy of the updated Standing Orders (NALC 2018 version) were circulated prior to the meeting. It was proposed and Resolved to approve Standing Orders.

045/19 To approve meeting dates for 2020 A schedule of meeting dates was circulated prior to the meeting. The Chairman noted that except for January and May, meetings could be arranged for the first Thursday of the month. The Clerk had suggested moving the meeting in January to the second week of the month as the meeting in the first week would fall on 2nd January, when many Councillors may be on holiday. The meeting in May had to be moved to the second week as the Crime Commissioner’s election was taking place on that day. It was proposed and Resolved to accept the usual meetings on the first week of the month. ACTION: Clerk to check dates for January and May with the Village hall booking secretary.

046/19 Comments on correspondence circulated prior to the meeting -A resident had enquired if it would be possible to build a bus shelter on a bus stop in the village. Action: Clerk to investigate options. -Application for grant funding from the Samaritans. Clerk observed that grants of this nature could not be paid from the precept.

047/19 Future agenda items Bev Hill, Chairman of the previous committee had requested an amendment to the September minutes.

048/19 Date of next meeting 5th December 2019

The meeting ended at 7:45.