May 2020 Annual Parish Council Meeting
Minutes of Annual Parish Council Meeting.
Held at 7pm on 07/05/2020 virtually on zoom due to COVID-19
Present: Mrs S Fraser (Chair), Mr P Inskip (Vice), Mrs E Inskip (Clerk), Mr F Hughes, Mr G Lohmann-Bond, Mrs S Mcfarland, Mr S Smith
Apologies: Mr J Sharpe, County Councillor Mr B Adams, District Councillor Mr C Benn
Chair’s Introduction: Cllr Fraser welcomed everyone to the meeting.
1. Chair and Vice Chair election. Cllr Fraser and Cllr Inskip offered to stay in their role of Chair and Vice Chair respectively for the forthcoming year. All Cllr’s agreed this.
2. Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on the 05/03/2020 were presented and approved (wet signatures to be obtained in the future)
3. Targets from previous years APCM:
• Parish Room Upgrade (ongoing).
• Speed Indicating devices (complete)
• Neighbourhood plan (ongoing)
• Path to school to be cleared (stage 1 complete)
• Speed limit by the Spinney (1st application denied)
• Cllr Vacancy (complete)
4. Actions from Matters arising from previous minutes:
• Slip hazard of footbridges: Clerk Inskip spoke with County Cllr Adams prior to the meeting. He requires a map reference for the two bridges to investigate further. Cllr Fraser will get the map references and send to County Cllr Adams. (SF & BA)
• Vehicle issues on the High Street: County Cllr Adams had informed Clerk Inskip that all Road Safety Staff have been assigned, in the main, to emergency duties at this time and therefore this issue will be taken forward. (ongoing BA)
• Sheep Dyke Lane issues due to Anglian Water: Cllr Fraser stated that the lane has dried out and as of Monday the lorries had stopped. Cllr Fraser will take this forward when it is safe to do so. (ongoing SF)
• Lorries in the village: County Cllr Adams previously stated that evidence is needed in order to approach the hauliers. Cllr Hughes has completed periods of observation next to a SID, and thus far, no speeders have been identified at those particular times. Cllr Fraser (all Cllr’s are encouraged also) will look to identify inappropriate vehicular activity such as mounting of kerbs by Quarry lorries. Cllr Hughes will continue to monitor this. Cllr Lohmann-Bond suggested we consider the Community Speed Watch programme. This has been previously discussed and it was decided that the initial steps were to get the SIDs installed and download the data, to establish if speeding was indeed an issue. Cllr Hughes and Cllr Fraser will look into this again when possible. SID data will continue to be gathered by Cllr Hughes from across Little Bytham. (ongoing FH & SF)
• Network Rail issues: Cllr Fraser is still awaiting the information from the parishioner before proceeding with this. (ongoing SF)
• Anglian Water: Due to present Government guidelines Cllr Fraser has been unable to meet with Anglian Water in order to progress this further. Cllr Inskip mentioned that he continues to send any complaints to AW and is presently in discussion with them regarding potential long-term solutions. (ongoing SF)
• Pathway to Spinney: County Cllr Adams had informed Clerk Inskip that this can be dealt with on the Fix my street App. As Cllr Inskip has had previous dealings with this and District, he will report this. (PI)
• Health & Safety policy: Cllr Fraser will send the initial draft copy to Clerk Inskip to be circulated to all Cllrs to make any adds and amendments. (ongoing All Cllrs)
• Bank update: Cllr Sharpe has been into the bank, Cllr Hughes will go in once it is possible adhering to current restrictions, then the form can be given to Cllr Fraser. (ongoing FH & SF)
• Speed Limits in the Village: After the initial knockback on all TRO’s to reduce the speed limits in the village, Clerk Inskip will continue to look into this once it is possible to do so. The Lincs Road Safety Partnership is presently closed and therefore this will be ongoing once these unprecedented times are over. (ongoing EI)
• Condition of roads in Little Bytham: All Cllr’s reported that it is pleasing to see the amount of work due to be completed on the roads in LB in the recent report. (completed)
• Section 19 report: County Cllr Adams gave Clerk Inskip the details of the contact to send any issues with sewage coming into a property to, and this is Paul Brookes. Mr Brookes can be contacted by email; paul.brookes@lincolnshire.gov.uk or by telephone; 01522 553036.
• Website: Cllr Inskip continues to update the website regularly with COVID information and Agendas/finances/minutes. He will be adding a privacy statement imminently. Cllr Inskip awaits details on the training for the new website, but continues to be in contact with the relevant department. (ongoing PI)
5. Finance (as of 09/04/2020):
Current Account Balance: £10,999.46
Savings Account Balance: £254.78
6. Annual Governance and Accountability Return:
6.1 Annual Governance Statement and the Certificate of Exemption were discussed and approved by a show of hands by each Cllr. Cllr Sharpe who was not present at the meeting had seen the statement and approved it prior to the meeting. A wet signature abiding by social distancing rules will be obtained.
6.2 Accounting Statements 19/20 were discussed and approved by a show of hands by each Cllr. Cllr Sharpe who was not present at the meeting had approved all accounts prior to the meeting. A wet signature abiding by social distancing rules will be obtained.
7. Planning:
7.1. Planning Application S20/0533. A replacement garage at 4 New Estate.
7.2. Planning Application S20/0501. Extension of an existing agricultural building to incorporate office, W.C, kitchen & store area at The Grange, Little Bytham.
No objections or queries were raised. All Cllrs approved with a show of hands.
8. Targets for coming year:
1. Continue to fight for the speed limit by the Spinney to be lowered. (EI)
2. Pathway to school to be completed. Cllr Inskip managed to get District to do what they could in this area, he will now look to County to finish this job. (PI)
3. Formulate a report regarding speeding in the village utilising data from the Speed Indicating devices. Cllr Hughes will generate a plan for collection of data. This will involve setting aims for the speed device ‘programme’ and providing data against these more specific aims, for example, targeting the Spinney area to show actual speed activity with a view to providing evidence to support a future change to the speed limit in this area. (FH)
4. Neighbourhood plan; attempt to get a group formed and plan organised in order to protect what LB has.
5. Parish Room Renovations. Cllr Smith will survey the Parish Room to see what immediate works are required. Cllr Hughes questioned what it is used for and why it needs renovating. Cllr Smith confirmed that this will be maintenance work and not renovations and needs to be done as LBPC are responsible for the building. For background, this is a building bequeathed to the PC and it cannot be disposed of. It was previously used as a Village Hall until the new Village Hall was built and then it became more of a storage area. It was stated that any alternate use would take income away from the Village Hall and would incur insurance issues. Maintenance is required. (SS)
6. Anglian Water issues to be resolved (SF)
9. Other Matters:
1. Cllr Fraser thanked the Clerk for all of her hard work over the last few years and all Cllrs agreed that the clerks wage should be increased to £1000 pa.
2. Clerk Inskip was given permission for the insurance to be paid for the coming year for the Cllrs and the parish room. Clerk Inskip will sort and get a cheque for this, whilst following the present Government guidelines. Clerk Inskip mentioned the need to change the postcode of the Parish Room on the insurance documents, now it has been confirmed what the actual postcode is, which may incur a small fee.
3. LBPC response to COVID 19: LBPC registered with LFRS, but to date no referrals had been received by any of the Cllrs. The details on how to contact Cllrs for information has been posted in the Glenside, on the website, noticeboard and posters around the village. It was noted that other local community groups were volunteering in the area and providing support where needed. The local community, as expected, were helping neighbours informally too. Councillors received confirmation no cases for concern have come to light in LB and the community needs presently appear to be met. All were reminded that information should be collated centrally should any issues arise to ensure appropriate support and investigation of possible additional needs can take place.
Cllr Fraser thanked everyone and the 1st official virtual meeting was drawn to a close.
Date of Next Meeting: Thursday July 2nd at 7pm. The location will be determined closer to the time dependent on Government guidelines in operation at that point.
Signed (Chair)………………………………….
Signed (Clerk)………………………………….