Mat 2021 Annual Parish Council Meeting
Minutes of Annual Parish Council Meeting.
Held at 7.30pm on 05/05/2021 virtually on zoom due to COVID-19
Present: Mrs E Inskip (Clerk), Mr P Inskip, Mrs S Fraser, Mr J Sharpe, Mr S Smith, County Councillor Mr B Adams (present for part of the meeting).
Apologies: None
1 member of the public was present.
1. Chair and Vice Chair Election: Cllr Inskip was put forward to take on the role as Chair and Cllr Fraser was put forward to take on the role as Vice Chair. All Cllrs agreed to this by a show of hands.
2. Welcome by Chair: Cllr Inskip (on behalf of all Cllrs and the Clerk) & County Cllr Adams wished to record their thanks to Cllr Fraser for all of her hard work in the last three years as Chair, particularly in regard to Anglian Water.
3. Declaration of member’s interests. No DOI’s were made.
4. Public section: Mrs E Hodgson was present at the meeting and had asked to be considered for one of the vacant councillor positions, that could now be co-opted. It was proposed by Cllr Fraser that Mrs E Hodgson be co-opted onto LBPC. A vote was taken by a show of hands and all Cllr’s agreed. All paperwork has been received electronically by Mrs Hodgson and therefore wet signatures for all relevant paperwork will be obtained by Clerk Inskip following Government guidelines on social distancing and sent to SKDC to register this co-option.
As all targets from the previous year and for the coming year had already been discussed in the Annual Parish Meeting, please refer to those minutes for full details. Cllr Inskip continued the meeting with present matters.
5. Approval of Minutes from previous Parish Council meeting held on 05/03/2021: All councillors had received a draft copy of the minutes prior to the meeting, these were agreed by all and approved.
6. Annual Governance and Accountability Return: All councillors had received this information in full electronically prior to the meeting.
• 6.1 Annual Governance Statement was discussed, approved and remotely signed. All Cllrs approved this by a show of hands.
• 6.2 Accounting Statements 20/21 were discussed, approved and remotely signed. All Cllrs approved this by a show of hands.
• 6.3 Annual Governance Statement Exemption was discussed, approved and remotely signed. All Cllrs approved this by a show of hands.
7. Matters Arising from previous council meeting:
• Slip hazard of footbridges: Cllr Fraser stated that the Anti-slip protection had been completed on these bridges. Clerk Inskip stated that she had reported the loose post on ‘Fix My Street’ and had received emails to say that this was to be investigated. (EI to follow up)
• Roads and speed issues in Little Bytham: Clerk Inskip had sent a letter to County Cllr Adams thanking Highways for the potential change to the speed limit by the Spinney and requesting that the National Speed limit signs be removed. County Cllr Adams had asked Mr R Smith at highways to look into this for confirmation. (BA)
• COVID-19 response update: To date no Cllr has been contacted. (SF, PI, SS)
• Sidewalk at the end of the village to Creeton: This will continue to be monitored. Mrs Hodgson noted that the pathway leaving Little Bytham towards Creeton is totally covered with mud. Cllr Inskip suggested that Mrs Hodgson use the ‘Fix My Street’ app to report this. (All Cllr’s)
• State of roads and drains in Little Bytham: County Cllr Adams will speak to the drains section again regarding the drain on Station Road by the allotments continually flooding. Cllr Sharpe suggested that it may indeed be blocked underneath the road. (BA)
• Anglian Water (AW) & Environment Agency: Cllr Fraser continues to communicate with AW, parishioners and politicians regarding the problems in Little Bytham with AW. Cllr Fraser stated that AW have now stopped discharging directly into the river, but this has resulted in tankers coming into the village to pump throughout the day and night. Several parishioners are extremely unhappy about this situation, which is causing a huge amount of both noise and air pollution. As man holes are being used, John Turner has suggested that AW use a rota system, so that all the burden is not on Little Bytham until a long-term solution is found. Cllr Fraser will write to the CEO of AW to suggest the rota system & confirm timescales as AW are surveying this month. The system is clearly overloaded, and Cllr Fraser re -iterated the associated planning issue. All Cllrs agreed with this approach. Cllr Inskip thanked Cllr Fraser for all her hard work with this issue & stated to reach out if any extra support was needed. (SF)
• De-fib POC change: Cllr Fraser is now the POC and will contact the ambulance service to ensure she is the POC with them also. (SF)
• Vacant Cllr position: Clerk Inskip had written to SKDC and the Parish Council are now able to co-opt for the 2nd vacant Cllr position. It was agreed that Clerk Inskip would prepare a notice and it would be put on the noticeboard and village hall window. (EI).
• Website updates: Cllr Inskip stated what a good job Intellitech Services were doing. He is very responsive, for example with the road closure info, condolences for HRH Prince Philip, minutes, agendas etc. Cllr Inskip sorts and then sends the information and he re iterated to send him anything that anyone wanted to put onto the site including photos, maps, events etc. (no further action as ongoing)
• SID maintenance and data analysis: Cllr Inskip wished to thank Mr P Fraser on behalf of LBPC, for taking on the maintenance and downloading of the information from the speed indicating devices in the village. Cllr Fraser stated that these will now be taken down and put back up in different locations. (no further action as ongoing)
• Glenside contribution: Clerk Inskip shared with the Cllr’s a letter of thanks from The Glenside for LBPC’s recent contribution. (no further action)
• Parish Council Flood Prevention offer: Cllr Fraser had spoken with some of the residents of Little Bytham who may require the sand bags and the need was not absolutely evident. Cllr Sharpe stated that he had received the sand years ago, but that the bags had now disintegrated. Cllr Sharpe offered to receive new bags and store them, in case they were ever required. Clerk Inskip is to write to the Flood Prevention officer requesting the bags. (EI)
8. Ongoing issues to be aware of:
• Parish Room (ongoing after COVID-19 restrictions ease)
• Vehicle issues on the High Street (on a Highways list, so there’s a need to stay aware of this).
• Village Entrances. (ongoing in Spring)
• Neighbourhood Plan (ongoing after COVID-19 restrictions ease: SF)
• Pathway to Spinney (on a list to be actioned, again need to stay aware of this)
• Risk Assessment policy: Cllr Fraser has written this and made any amendments requested. This will now be stored by the Clerk. (No further action)
9. Finance (as of 12/04/2021):
Current Account Balance: £21,399.08
Savings Account Balance: £254.91
Please note that the current account balance includes a £10k Grant received by LBPC. It also includes both general reserves which due to Covid are higher than normal and ear-marked reserves for projects discussed when budget setting.
10. Planning:
Application S21/0511: The Kilns, Creeton Road. Erection of single storey side extension, alterations to rear sun room including new sun roof and dormer loft conversion. Details sent to Cllrs on 01/04/2021, no representations made.
Application S18/0435: 3 New Estate. No notification received by Clerk for this as it is a Prior notification Under Part 1, Class A. Details sent to Cllrs on 20/04/2021 for information purposes. No representations sent to Clerk.
11. Other matters:
• It was agreed that the £500 contribution for grass cutting should be paid to the PCC, as this had been budgeted for. All Cllr’s agreed. Clerk Inskip will get a cheque sorted for this. (EI)
• Regarding the contribution for the bells, Cllr Sharpe raised the issue that several years back there may have been a problem with all 3 bells being used at once as the vibrations may be too much and the tower structure would not withstand this. All Cllrs agreed that Clerk Inskip would need to write to the PCC to confirm that this issue had been looked into before any discussion would take place about a contribution to this. (EI)
Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday July 7th 2021 at 7.30pm. The location will be determined closer to the time dependent on the Government guidelines in o