December 2023 Minutes
South Somercotes with Scupholme Fen Houses PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 4th December 2023 at St. Peter’s Church, Louth Road, South Somercotes
Present:
Chair Cllr Mr Antony Baker
Vice-Chair Cllr Mrs Nicola Barton
Cllr Mr David Poulter
Cllr Mrs Denise Day
Cllr Mr Brian Lewis
Cllr Miss Julie Stretton
Also Present:
Clerk Ms Natalie Daly
County & District Councillor: Mr Daniel McNally
Members of Public There was one member of the Public in attendance.
Item 1223/83 Welcome to the Meeting
The Clerk opened the meeting at 5:57pm and welcomed everyone to the Parish Council Meeting.
Item 1223/84 Resignation of the Chairman, Appointment of a New Chairman & Vice-Chair
The Clerk explained that the Chairman, Cllr Mr McNally had emailed with his resignation from the Parish Council. Members were asked to elect a new Chairman. Cllr Mrs Day nominated Cllr Mrs Barton and Cllr Miss Stretton nominated Cllr Baker. The proposal for Cllr Mr Baker to be Chairman was seconded by Cllr Mr Lewis and unanimously resolved to elect Cllr Mr Baker to be Chairman. Members were then asked to elect a new Vice-Chair. It was proposed by members that Cllr Mr Poulter be Vice-Chair, Cllr Mr Poulter declined. It was then unanimously resolved that Cllr Mrs Barton be made Vice-Chair.
Item 1223/85 Public Forum
County & District Cllr Mr McNally provided an update on the following:
Pecuniary Interest Forms: Had been delivered to ELDC, the only one that was missing was from Cllr Miss Stretton. Cllr Miss Stretton advised that she had posted the pecuniary interest form directly to ELDC.
Greater Lincolnshire Devolution: Consultation on the LCC Website: www.letstalk.lincolnshire.gov.uk/devolution
New Street “Pride Team”: To work alongside the Neighbourhood Services Team relating to Street-Cleaning, Litter-Picking to help raise the appearance of some villages and tackle some of the more difficult cleansing tasks.
Gritting: Three gritting vehicles were out the other night along with snow ploughs. There is a Grit Bon located on the corner of Town Street.
Fix My Street: 50k reports where made via the app/customer service centre.
Cloddygate: Was not listed in the final list produced for Programmed Works, hopefully it will be accepted in next years list and possibly be a Recycling Scheme.
Highways: Extra £5m funding allocated – Previous £12m cut.
Questions Asked: Cllr Mr Lewis asked if repairs are limited to adopted roads. Cllr Mr McNally confirmed yes.
Mrs Benton advised that the footpath outside of Ganders Patch had not yet been repaired. Cllr Mr McNally advised that he had confirmed 3wks ago that both him and the Highways Officer would be inspecting the roads/footpaths in the area in Jan/Feb 2024 and any outstanding works would be brought to attention.
Item 1223/86 Apologies & Acceptance for Absence
District Cllr Mr Paul Rickett had given verbal apologies for not being able to attend the meeting due to ill health. Cllr Rickett had no additional matters to report in his absence, he had advised that Cllr Mr McNally would update the Parish Council accordingly relating to the power for the BT Telephone Kiosk. Cllr Rickett also asked if it would be possible for the Parish Council Meetings to commence at a later time due to work commitments. Members of the Parish Council accepted his apologies for absence but feel that the meeting time is convenient for members and at this time there would be no change to the start time of the Parish Council meetings which commence at 6pm.
Item 1223/87 Declarations of Pecuniary Interest in accordance with LGA 2011
None.
Item 1223/88 To Resolve as Minutes the record of the meeting held on the 30th October 2023
It was proposed by the Cllr Mrs Day, seconded by Cllr Mrs Barton and resolved that the Minutes of the meeting held on the 30th October 2023 were a true record.
Item 1223/89 Parish Councillors: Reports/Matters to Raise/Training
Cllr Mr Lewis reported on the Financial training that he and Cllr Miss Stretton attended on-line via Zoom with LALC. Slides of the training had been circulated via email to Parish Councillors.
Cllr Miss Stretton said that there should be at least there clear days when the Agenda and draft minutes should be circulated before a meeting and for this coming meeting, best practice was not met.
The Agenda and Draft Minutes were sent out on Wednesday 29th November 2023.
Item 1223/90 To adopt Standing Orders/Financial Regulations/Code of Conduct/Complaints Policy/Equal Opportunity Policy
The policies had not been circulated to members. This will be done electronically and will be reviewed at the next Parish Council meeting.
Item 1223/91 To Consider and Approve Arrangements for the Following Items:
A) Grass-Cutting: No response from Bush Landscaping. The Chairman had spoken with both The Tree Guy & Tudor Grounds Maintenance. Tudor Grounds Maintenance had said that they were willing to cut the grass at the Churchyard if the frequency of cuts increased. Bush Landscaping would be chased up for a quote.
B) Defibrillator: Northern PowerGrid had been out to the Telephone Kiosk and confirmed that there was no feeder available to be able to connect to the Defibrillator. The power cable that was currently there was not suitable. A quote was provided for the works, this would involve digging up the road in order to gain power from the nearest source and install an appropriate feeder. District Cllr Mr Rickett had been in touch with Northern PowerGrid to see if any grants were available to assist with the works needed. County & District Cllr Mr McNally had spoken to the owners of Church Farm who were willing to have the Defibrillator installed outside of the property as long as the running costs were low. Clarification will be sought from the owners of Church Farm to confirm if they are happy to proceed. Mrs Benton mentioned how nice the re-build of the outbuilding at Church Farm is looking.
C) WhatsApp Group: The Parish Council resolved not to proceed with a WhatsApp Group.
D) Employment of Parish Clerk: The Clerk informed that Parish Council that this was her last meeting and that she would not be able to carry out any further work for the Parish Council. The Parish Council thanked the Clerk and were going to consider a ex-gratia payment to the Clerk however, the Clerk declined. Cllr Mr Lewis advised that his partner would be willing to Clerk on a temporary basis for 3mths with no pay except for any expenses incurred. Advertising for a new Parish Clerk had not been done by LALC as they were awaiting confirmation of the job description. It was agreed that the hourly rate in line with NALC would be £12.84 per hour, 14-16hrs per month with 6 meetings per year.
E) Website: The new website is up and running, further information will be uploaded via LALC. Cllr Mr Lewis advised that he had created a new Email account for the Parish Council: southsomercotespc@btinternet.com
Item 1223/92 Financial Matters
A) Current Payments to be Approved: LALC – Invoice: 14088 Annual Training Scheme £60.00. LALC Invoice 14089: Website Management £102.00. Clear Councils Insurance (Premium fixed for 3yrs) £414.93 (per year).
It was proposed by Cllr Mr Lewis, seconded by Cllr Miss Stretton and unanimously resolved to pay these invoices.
Miss Stretton requested that all future invoices to be paid are listed/detailed on the Agenda.
B) Bank Account Signatories: The Clerk provided the HSBC Form that would need to be completed. The Chairman, Cllr Mr Baker took charge of the form and will arrange.
C) Budget/Precept 2025-25: It was proposed by Cllr Mr Poulter for a 5% increase on last years precept. This was resolved unanimously.
Item 1223/93 Planning Applications:
ELDC Ref: N/162/02101/23 – Change of Use of Existing Equine Land to Site a Static Caravan for Holiday Use. Location: Alroy, Billingsgate, South Somercotes, LN11 7BQ.
The Parish Council considered the application and unanimously resolved to Support the application with no comments.
Item 1223/94 To Receive and Note Correspondence
Item 1223/95 Dog Waste Bins Request
A request had been made by telephone to the Clerk that more Dog Waste Bins are located in the village. The ELDC Litter & Dog Bin Policy was discussed and Parish Councillors agreed to submit a request for two Dog Waste Bins to be located at the far end of East Row (near to South Rd junction) and a further one on Billingsgate.
Item 1223/96 Next Meeting and Suggestions for Items to be placed on the next meeting Agenda
It was resolved that the next Parish Council Meeting will be held on Monday 15th January 2024 commencing at 6pm.
With there being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 7:19pm.