2022 Parish Council meetings - Minutes

SCOTTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD AT SCOTTON VILLAGE HALL NORTHORPE ROAD DN21 3RB THURSDAY 6th JANUARY 2021 AT 6PM

Present: Councillors R. Walker (Chairman), P. Kulleseid, R. Littlewood and Sue Walker

In attendance: Leticia Cooper (Clerk & RFO) and Cllr. L. Rollings, District Councillor WLDC

The chairman opened the meeting at 18:00. There were no members of the public.

• 131/1//22 Chairman’s welcoming remarks
  The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
• 132/1/22 To receive apologies and ratify reason for absence
  Apologies were received from Cllr. A. Ramsay. It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to accept reason for absence.
• 133/1/22 Disclosure of interests in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and consider any requests for dispensation
  There were none.
• 134/1/22 To receive and ratify as Minutes the notes of the meeting on 2nd December 2021
  It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to accept the notes as a correct record and signed as Minutes.
• 135/1/22 Scotton Beck
  Cllr. Rollings was invited to speak. Apologies were given on behalf of John Coggins and Cllr. P. Wood who had been unable to attend. A summary was given explaining the proposals suggested by Scotter Parish Council, namely that those sections of the river Eau, currently under the responsibility of the Environment Agency, could be designated to the Internal Drainage board for Scunthorpe and Gainsborough; allowing regular maintenance work that would alleviate and prevent stagnation in the water course by clearing obstructions and avoiding silting and a build-up of vegetation, that could impede water flow. The Environment Agency had advised they were unable to dredge the river and were encouraged by government regulations to work towards rewilding of water courses. However, lack of dredging and regular clearing of vegetation to the 1970’s design standard appeared to have resulted in silting and a build-up of vegetation in the water, preventing a reasonable flow, which had  increased the volume of water on arable lands and presented a risk of flooding to residents living near the water course. Cllr. Rollings advised talks had begun involving the various Internal Drainage Boards, the Environment Agency, and West Lindsey District Council.

Scotton Parish Council were supportive of the proposals and were keen to be appraised of any developments. It was felt that a whole river approach would be more effective in the long-term and beneficial to all living near the watercourse. It was suggested that Severn Trent Water should be encouraged to take part in discussions, especially if the company pumped water into the river.
Mr Coggins and Cllr. Wood would be invited to attend later in the year to talk about any further developments. In the meantime, Cllr. A. Ramsay, the Council’s designated liaison would be available to attend meetings relevant to this proposal, if required.

Cllr. Rolling left the meeting after this agenda item had been discussed.

• 136/1/22 Clerk’s report

• Thanks were extended to Cllr. A. Ramsay for taking delivery of the 1kg free grit bag and topping up grit bins in readiness for colder weather. Approximately half of the grit remained and would be kept in storage until needed.
• The clerk attended the Networking Day and was awarded a certificate for completing ‘Prevent training’ a short course advising how to recognise and report Extremism.

• 137/1/22 Finance matters
  a) It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to approve expenses for January 2022.

b) Balances against budget expenditure up to 16th December 2021 were noted. All invoices, bank statements and cheque books were available for scrutiny.
Ø  138/1/22 Revised Budget 2022-23
The revised budget was reviewed, no further budgeting issues were raised.
Ø  139/1/22 Precept 2022-23
It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to sign the final precept form for £11,000. It was duly signed by Cllrs. R. Walker, S. Walker and R. Littlewood and countersigned by the clerk.
Ø  140/1/22 Allotment
a) The clerk would begin drafting the tender requirements for the Orchard site and return it to the meeting for further discussion.
b) Five trees had been received, a mixture of apple, plum and cherry. Cllr. R. Walker had taken delivery and stored them safely. Planting would start once the frost had passed. Seven trees and tree guards were pending delivery.
c) Amendments to the allotment rules were discussed. It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to accept the additional clauses 7.3 – 8.4 requesting that unsupervised dogs were tethered and prohibiting shooting and mistreatment of wild animals on the allotment site, to take effect from September 2023-24.
d) The Council asked the Clerk to obtain further information about the ‘Zero Carbon Parishes Project.’

• 141/1/22 Correspondence received
  a) The Eau Valley Singers group emailed to thank the Council for use of the cabinet in the Village Hall
  b) Correspondence was received from a resident about the footpath from Westgate leading to Middle Street, which was slippery due to the build-up of leave litter and other debris in damp conditions . The clerk reported the issue on Fix my street and then directly to the divisional officer, Public Rights of Way at LCC. The response to the clerk was circulated prior to the meeting. The clerk was asked to contact the WLDC Street Cleansing team and request a visit from the road sweeper.
• 142/1/22 Updates about the purchase of a bench for the Recreation Ground to commemorate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
  Cllr. Walker had circulated examples of recycled plastic benches for consideration. It was asked if the bench could be replaced with a wooden like for like bench, with a simple backless design. Cllr. Walker would investigate options further and report back to the meeting.
• 143/1/22 Updating of village name signs
  The clerk had been advised that the Council could order bespoke village signs, but it would need to be authorised by LCC, fully insured, and maintained by the Council. Following discussion, it was agreed to keep the existing village signs provided by LCC but that the ‘Best Kept Village’ notice should be removed, as it was many years out of date, and to replace it with a sign requesting drivers to ‘drive carefully through our village.’ 
• 144/1/22 Request to site bench on land near kiosk
  LCC had requested clarification of where the bench was to be sited near the kiosk. Cllr. R. Walker offered to take a photo of the area for forwarding onto LCC.
• 145/1/22 To hear any update from the Village Hall Committee, Cllr. S. Walker
  There was nothing to report.
• 146/1/22 Planning
  a) Applications received for comment
  144086 – Plot 9 Land south of Eastgate DN21 3QR
  Application for approval of reserved matters for the erection of 1no. dwelling and detached garage with annex accommodation, considering appearance, landscaping, layout and scale, following outline planning permission 139520 granted 16 January 2020 – being variation of condition 4 of planning permission 140545 granted 18 June 2020 to increase height of garage / annex and the addition of 2no. dormer windows to annex.
  It was voted upon and unanimously RESOLVED to object to the application on the grounds that the additional height of the garage/annex would affect the neighbouring property and lead to loss of natural light, overshadowing and loss of visual amenity.
  144147 – Plot 6 Land south of Eastgate DN21 3QR
  Reserved matters application for Plot 6, considering appearance, landscaping, layout and scale, following outline planning permission 139520 granted 16 January 2020 to erect 9no. dwellings with access considered being variation of condition 1 of planning permission 141546 granted 23 October 2020 – additional office and utility link between garage and house.
  The Council had no comments or objections.
• 147/1/22 Parish Councillors Reports
  - Cllr. R. Walker discussed the Maintenance Tender circulated prior to the meeting and recommended minor amendments. The amendments were considered appropriate and would be incorporated into the final document. A poster inviting any qualified persons to apply would be placed on the two village noticeboards, the Parish Council website, the Council’s Facebook page, the Scotton Village Facebook site and shared to Scotter Village Facebook page and the local Next Door site.
  - Cllr. Littlewood noted that there was Himalayan Balsam on his property.
• 148/1/22 Date of the next meeting
  3rd February 2022

The meeting ended at 18:54.