February 2019 Minutes
STUBTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes amended by Councillors. To be formally approved at next meeting on 15 May 2019
Minutes of the Stubton Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 27th February 2019
Present:
Mr M Davis
Mr R Thornton
Mrs A Wise
Mr H Wilson
District Councillor Mr B Sampson
1. Apologies from County Councillor Mr A Maughan and Ms L Stevenson
Declarations of interest: Cllr Thornton declared he was a member of the committee administering the funds remaining from the reVOLT campaign but no financial gain was involved in this undertaking.
.2. The Minutes of the meeting held on 4th December were read and approved.
3. Matters Arising
3.1 reVOLT: Some applications had been received for the remaining surplus funds and these had been dealt with. The very small sum remaining would be split between Hough and Brandon Parish Council and Stubon Parish Council whose villages had been the main contributors to the fund initially.
3.2 Village Hall: An EGM of the Village Hall committee will be held on either 6th or 14th March 2019. The village would be emailed with the details.
3.3 Best Kept Village: A decision was needed regarding the village entering the competition this year. Following a show of hands it was agreed to participate in the competition.
The Clerk would email the village when the competition was due to begin and would include in the information the issues and problem areas highlighted in the judges marking during the 2018 event.
4. District Councillor Sampson
4.1 DC Sampson informed the meeting that this would be his last as the village’s District Councillor as he was not standing at the forthcoming elections. He thanked everyone for their hospitality over the past 8 years.
At this point the Chairman thanked DC Sampson for his time and all the effort and assistance he had given to support Stubton Parish Council over the last eight years.
4.2 DC Sampson informed the meeting of the two major developments recently approved by SKDC, namely the 3000 homes to be built at the new Garden Village at Spital Gate, south of Grantham and the 90 retail units approved at the Downtown site.
4.3 SKDC has formed three new companies during the last financial year, “InvestSK”, “DeliverSK” and “EnvironmentSK”. All three companies are headed up by the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, together with the Chief Executive of the Council. Some concerns have been expressed about these Business Company Directorship arrangements.
4.4 In 2018 SKDC reported £30M worth of reserves. Cllr Sampson reported that about half these reserves had been utilised during the past year towards internal staffing reorganisation, Council Office building alterations, together with various site and major acquisitions for future housing and commercial premises. However, concerns had been expressed over future timescales in developing these sites due to the inordinate amount of time required to get the necessary infrastructure in place.
4.5 As Cllr Sampson is standing down he explained that Ms Penny Milnes was putting herself forward in the election as an Independent candidate.
5. Village Gates
5.1 Cllr Thornton updated the meeting on the progress regarding the proposed village gates. He had made contact with Cllr Andy Brewer (of Beckingham) who deals with these projects at LCC (had been the instigator of the speeding gates in that village) and will carry out the required utilities searches and ensure the County Council are happy with the location of the gates.
A contractor with the correct certification for installing the gates had been found, John Daubney of Fenton.
Cllr Brewer had all the relevant details for Stubton’s gates, the finances were in place and it was hope that the project could commence before too long.
5.2 Discussion ensued regarding gates sizes, working parties being required for painting and the general cost of the project.
6. Annual Litter Pick
The litter pick will take place on Sunday 17th March commencing at 11am and lasting an hour.
The village hall will be open for coffee after the litter pick.
The Clerk will email the village.
7. Village Drainage System
7.1 Cllr Wilson gave a report on the state of the village drains.
a) The older properties in the village are on septic tanks which create “grey water” as their outfall. This water is carried from the individual tanks to a dyke on Fenton Road, under the road and away towards Claypole.
b) The newer village properties have their waste taken to the small pumping sewerage works near Stubton Hall.
c) Additionally, there are rainwater drains at the sides of the various village roads.
7.2 Highways have been notified of the failure of the road drains on Fenton Road but to no avail. Cllr Wilson asked DC Sampson for his help in getting LCC Highways to come and clean these drains.
7.3 Anglian Water are due in the village in the next 2 weeks to dig up the road to investigate the grey water draining; the company fears a collapsed drain.
Cllr Wilson will continue to liaise with Highways and Anglian Water in order to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
8. Bus Shelter
8.1 Cllr Thornton thanked Roy for his hard work planting up the areas around the bus shelter. Unfortunately Roy’s health has deteriorated and consequently the Chairman asked villagers to help maintain the planting in this area.
8.2 The bus shelter notice boards had been an item in the BKV judging which had received criticism. Very kindly, Mr Martin Stammers, has made a third noticeboard and it was hoped that with this extra space the notice boards will more easily be kept tidy and up to date. The Chairman gave a vote of thanks to Mr Stammers.
9. Village Planting
Villagers were asked to take note of areas in the village requiring further planting. Funds will then be make available for the purchase of more plants for these areas and working parties established for planting out.
Joe S asked if a village Christmas tree would be considered for planting. It was agreed to be a good idea and the Clerk noted this for further discussion at the Autumn meeting of the Council.
10 Beeswax
10.1 All permissive footpaths are now open until 1st September 2019. Cllr Thornton has been in touch with Beeswax asking if they had experienced any problems in the village during the winter/shooting season.
Shooting: 1st September for Partridge (which probably make up over half the Beeswax shoot) 1st October for Pheasant. Permissive paths will hence be shut again from 1st September.
10.2 Discussion then took place regarding the speed of tractors through the village and other problems with speeding in Stubton generally. The Chairman suggested photographing the offending vehicles and it can then be established to whom they belong and owners can then be approached.
11. Parish Council Election 2019
The Clerk is attending a briefing session, relating to the Election, on Wednesday 6th March and will email the village with the details of the procedures for an election in due course.
12. Chairman’s Report on Meetings with LCC Highways
Cllrs Thornton and Davis have attend two meetings held by LC C Highways.
12.1 December 2018: The road outside Hill Farm Furniture to the railway bridge was inspected by LCC Highways in the presence of Cllrs Maughan and Sampson with Mr Rowan Smith.
The road from Fenton to Beckingham was also inspected.
Both roads were found to be severely wanting and although there is no money readily available repairs will be undertaken in due course particularly as Fenton Road is an “escape” route should the A17 be blocked.
12.2 A meeting was held in Long Bennington attended by various District and County Councillors and numerous Parish Council representatives. Cllr Richard Davies who is the Portfolio Holder for Hough Division of Highways was present and discussions were held regarding pot hole repair, quality of road repairs and gritting routes amongst others.
There was a brief discussion around a “self help” scheme for pot hole repair and Cllr Thornton agreed to contact CC Maughan for further details.
13 Any Other Business
Cllr Wise reported that Western Power, whilst carrying out works on Hargreaves Row, had said that the BT telephone cables were too low. Cllr Wise agreed to notify BT.
The next meeting of Stubton Parish Council will be held on Wednesday 15th May 2019 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall
This will be the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council and the Village Annual General Meeting will also take place that evening.