March 2021 Minutes
STUBTON PARISH COUNCIL
Members
Martin Davis - Chair
Bob Warren - Clerk
David Butler - Councillor
Rick Crooks - Councillor
Andrew Smith -Councillor
Jackie Warren - Councillor
Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 10th March 2021
Present
Cllr Martin Davis - Chair
Cllr David Butler
Cllr Rick Crooks
Cllr Andrew Smith
Cllr Jackie Warren
Bob Warren - Clerk
1. Cllr Davis welcomed everyone to the meeting and briefed the participants on the Zoom protocol for the meeting. He stated that the meeting may be recorded by anyone present.
2. Cllr Davis welcomed new Councillor Jackie Warren.
3. No apologies for absence as all councillors attended.
4. There were no declarations of interest received by the Clerk.
5. Open Forum (15 minutes) - Members of the public were invited to speak for up to 3 minutes.
Mr Rose thanked the Parish Council for the purchase of the new lower flagpole cleat which has enabled him to change flags without the need for a ladder. He also wished to express his gratitude to Rob Thornton for standing in when needed. Cllr Davis thanked Mr. Rose for his years of service on the flagpole.
6. The Minutes of the last meeting held on Wednesday 13th January 2021 were agreed and approved. Cllr Davis signed a copy to be delivered to the Clerk.
7. County Councillor Alexander Maughan provided a report on behalf of LCC which was read out by the Clerk. In addition, a report by Cllr Richard Davies from Highways and Transport was read out by the Clerk. Both reports are attached to the minutes.
- Cllr Crooks commented that pothole repairs did appear to be made quickly but they lacked checks to ensure the work was satisfactory, therefore resulting in breakdown of the repair a few days afterwards.
- A member of the public raised the issue of the amount of litter in the area and could this be raised with Cllr Maughan.
- Cllr Smith asked if a spring litter pick could be organised. Cllr Davis agreed to organise this outside of the meeting as it was not an agenda item.
ACTION –Clerk to feedback these comments to Councillor Maughan.
8. A report by District Cllr Penny Milnes for SKDC was read out by the Clerk (a copy is attached to the minutes).
9. Financial Matters
9.1 Precept request submitted for £1300 an increase on £100 from last year.
9.2 Approval of clerk’s salary for £300. Last payment to the previous clerk was £275. Carried by unanimous vote. (Cllr Warren abstained from the vote).
9.3 Garden Waste emptying for St. Martin’s Church. The PC has paid for this since 2013. Approval was sought from the clerk to continue this payment for 2021/22. Annual cost this year £66 for 2 bins. It was deemed to be a good cause for the village. Carried by unanimous vote.
Mr. Rose thanked the PC on behalf of St Martin’s Church. A member of the public queried the cost as they had recently paid £58 for 2 bins.
ACTION – Clerk to query the amount with SKDC.
9.4 Consideration of subscription to LALC (Lincolnshire Association Local Councils) for this year is £73.50 plus a further £90 for the training element with a total of £163.50. It was noted that Cllrs Smith and Warren needed to complete an introductory course to being a Councillor. Carried by unanimous vote.
9.5 Clerks administrative costs– following 3 quotes Viking Direct was the most cost effective. £40.73 was requested for paper and printer cartridges. Carried by unanimous vote.
9.6 Payments made since the last meeting – Flagpole Cleat £13.08.
10. Community Matters
10.1 Planning Application for Home Farm Cottage- Revised plans have been sent to SKDC Planning- these are now on the website. No concerns were raised. Mr and Mrs Phillips thanked everyone for their support. Cllr Davis suggested a letter of support for the revisions. Carried by unanimous vote.
ACTION – Clerk to send a letter of support for the revised plans to SKDC Planning by Friday 12th March.
10.2 Planning Application for Keruan Cottage – no communication has been received by the Clerk re this application. Cllr Davis stated that the submission date had passed and therefore no further comment was needed.
10.3 Update on Neighbourhood Plan – Cllr Butler reported there was no update because of current Covid restrictions.
10.4 Update on Doddington Lane designation/signage – Cllr Crooks reported there was no update because of current Covid restrictions.
10.5 Update on signage on permissive footpaths – Cllr Davis reported that a meeting had been held with Mr Wilson (on behalf of PC) and Joanna Knight from Beeswax with regard to the Gorse Lodge Lane to Littlegates circular route. Beeswax agreed to the proposal as long as it remained respected as permissive and that walkers stay on the correct paths. This offer would be rescinded if not. The gate to this route will be padlocked with a code which can be requested from the Clerk. This will restrict the route to residents of Stubton. Cllr Davis will put a map on the website to show this new footpath and the other permissive footpaths. Cllr Davis thanked Mr Wilson for his efforts in liaising with Beeswax.
Cllr Butler demonstrated the phone app ‘What 3 word’s which could track your location if injured or lost whilst out walking.
Cllr Crooks asked about the missing way marker on the public footpath through Beeswax. The Clerk will seek clarity as to the exact location and who is responsible for repairing/replacing it.
10.6 Update on trees on Church School Lane – Nigel Sardeson (arborial conservationist at LCC) visited on 20th January and advised that the 4 alder trees were too large at 14m tall and he advised one tree be felled and its stump ground out while the crowns of the remaining 3 alders and the Norway maple should be lifted to 6m on all sides. The residents of Church School Lane support this. The work has been put forward for scheduling by LCC.
11. Date and time of the next meeting: Wednesday 5th May at 7:30pm. Format to be confirmed.
Attachments
CLLR ALEXANDER MAUGHAN – STUBTON PARISH COUNCIL LCC BULLETIN MARCH 2021
Local elections
The government has confirmed that local elections will be going ahead on 6th May, so councils in Lincolnshire are busy preparing to organise and administrate the upcoming County Council elections.
I'm sure it won't come as a surprise that I announce I will be standing again as a candidate in these elections and hope to continue serving our community for another four years.
I have really enjoyed working together over this term, and irrespective of the election result in May, I would like to thank the whole village for your support in what has been a huge learning curve and privilege to be your County Councillor.
Council budget
Despite the challenges of coronavirus, we remain on track to balance our budget in 2020/21. We have been provided with significant additional funding from Government to protect services and provide support for vulnerable people in the county.
The budget for 2021/22 was ratified by the council last month and we will spend over £500million on delivering services in Lincolnshire next year. Total cost pressures across the council are expected to be £27million. The main cost pressures are in adult and children's services where we are seeing more adults and children with complex needs and general increases in the living wage have to be paid to staff and our suppliers.
To balance the budget we agreed a council tax increase of 1.99%, which will raise an additional £8million of income. Our Council Tax remains one of the lowest in the country despite this increase.
The budget also includes a 10 year capital programme of investment in Lincolnshire's infrastructure. This totals £204million in 2021/22 and £322million in future years. This is before taking into account developer contributions and other grants. In particular I am proud to see the £86m investment in expanding and improving Lincolnshire special schools, which the scrutiny committee I am vice chair of has been monitoring progress.
Coronavirus – vaccinations
The coronavirus vaccination programme in Lincolnshire continues to run successfully with two large vaccination centres at Boston and Lincoln, and a number of GP led sites.
The Lincolnshire Transport Helpline provides information and advice on a wide range of transport options to attend your vaccination if you are struggling to make your apportionment. These include community car schemes and CallConnect to help access your appointment. There is a Lincolnshire helpline which can be contacted on: 0345 456 4474 or by https://lincsbus.info/accessing-lincolnshire-transport/transport-helpline/ . The helpline operates from 9am-6pm Mon-Fri and 9.30am-4pm on Saturday.
From: CllrR Davies <CllrR.Davies@lincolnshire.gov.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 16:08
To: Cllr_Members
Subject: Councillor concerns over our roads
Dear Colleagues
I wanted to write to you to let you know what your Highways Service is doing to tackle the issues of potholes on our roads. The very wet and cold winter we have had has caused a lot of potholes to appear on the network, and unfortunately I don't think we have seen the back of the cold weather just yet.
However, we are working hard to address these issues and keep our roads safe. We've introduced find and fix gangs on our A and B roads, who patrol our key routes and can quickly repair problems as soon as they find them. And where there are more serious, on-going issues, we're looking to bring forward patching and resurfacing schemes to stop potholes forming in the first place – such as on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford, where we'll be resurfacing a 5-mile stretch once the weather improves.
In January 2021 our teams repaired 2,480 potholes across Lincolnshire, and just last week alone (22 February to 1 March), we managed to fix over 1,500. Our teams have adapted well to the challenges the pandemic has thrown at us, and now are able to raise repair jobs from the roadside with mobile devices, rather than travelling to the office. We're also trialling new technologies that allow us to action repairs even faster, such as the JCB Pothole Pro.
This winter season, we've been out gritting nearly 90 times, and spread over 25,000 tonnes of salt on the roads. The last time we had winter weather like this was in 2018, and at the end of that winter we had nearly 20,000 outstanding reports of potholes from residents waiting to be fixed. Currently, we have around 3,000 outstanding public reports, and 70% of those already have repairs scheduled – so we are doing much better at responding to these reports and fixing defects in a timely manner.
I appreciate that at this time of year potholes will be one of the main concerns that residents contact you about, and I hope you can see that we're doing all we can to repair them as soon as we can.
Please encourage your residents to keep reporting problems to us through FixMyStreet, and we will repair them. If they can, and it's safe to do so, including a picture in their report can help us to schedule a repair even quicker.
Across the county we manage and maintain over 5,500 miles of road, and despite our best efforts and continued efficiency improvements in the way we work, it would cost around £400m to bring all our roads and pavements up to standard. This year's maintenance budget is £51m, so while we will continue to work hard and keep Lincolnshire's roads safe, ultimately how much work we can do is dictated by how much we can invest in the network.
Regards
Councillor Richard Davies
Executive Councillor
Highways & Transport
Cllr Penny Milnes. District Councillor for Loveden Heath Ward.
Report for Stubton Parish Council Meeting 10 March 2021
SKDC News.
Budget.
The Budget is for one year only; it is responding to changes as a result of Covid – 19 measures which have resulted in loss of income from various council sources. Whilst the Government have contributed a lot of money to supporting businesses in the District throughout the pandemic, there is current uncertainty over future government money payable to the council for services provisions. The focus is on stability with no reliance on reserves whist maintaining excellent services.SK have utilised the maximum increase allowed by government – this equates to £5 on a Band D property. Whilst this may seem harsh in the current climate it is balanced by an increase in council tax support claimants between Bands A – D.
Business rates will remain static.
Pay rises are paused in accordance with government rules – those on less than £24k can have a £250 max increase and the Real Living Wage will be used.
9% of the council tax income is for SK specific uses and services; whilst 91% goes to the police, LCC and PC’s
The £100k allocated to underwrite the unveiling of the Margaret Thatcher statue, which has proved to be controversial, has been withdrawn from this budget and will be privately funded.
Planning
S20/0098 Continuation of shooting ground for up to150 days per annum at Brandon Wood Clay Pigeon Shoot.
The application is still under consideration and will be heard by the planning committee when a recommendation is available. I understand shooting will begin again in April.
S20/2145 Replacement Dwelling, Home Farm Cottage
Pending Consideration
S21/0259 Rear Extension and Air Source Heat Pump, Keruan Cottage
Pending Consideration
• Design Guidelines for Rutland and South Kesteven
This booklet can be found at:
www.southkesteven.gov.uk/designguidance
I hope you have been consulted for your comments and I encourage you to look at it carefully.
It is an important document which will be referred to for new planning applications and sets the standards and guidance for all new buildings and estate layouts. It will inform your Neighbourhood Plan Review where you can add specific considerations for your parish.