September 2020 Minutes
Minutes of Woolsthorpe by Belvoir Parish Council Meeting
Date: Thursday 21st September 2020
Venue: Virtual Zoom meeting at 6-30 p.m.
Councillors present Cllr T. Packer – Chairman, Cllr S Remzi – Vice Chairman, Cllr M. Bradshaw, Cllr P. Randell
Also Present County Cllr M Whittington, District Cllr P Bosworth
Clerk & RFO Mrs Emma Wilson
Due to the current Covid-19 Coronavirus situation, the Parish Council had this meeting via Zoom; detail of some agenda items were sent via email to councillors to enable some background and pre-decision making and followed up with confirmation detail during this meeting.
1. Chairman’s Welcome Remarks
The chair thanked those attending and welcomed all to this zoom parish council meeting.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr J. Salmon due to IT technical issues. Reasons for absence were noted and accepted.
3. Disclosure of interest in agenda items – Nil
4. To approve Minutes of meeting held on the 25th June 2020
The draft minutes having been circulated prior to the meeting were agreed and proposed to be a true and accurate record. They were passed as approved by resolution of the Council and recorded as so at the meeting.
Plans were put in place for the clerk to meet with the Chair to get a physical signature on the documents. The minutes were duly signed and dated accordingly by the Chairman on 5/10/20.
5. Playground
a Covid Sign purchase - Update Clerk
Just to confirm sign is up now kindly done by Cllr Bradshaw.
b Regular Safety Checks - Update from Cllrs Remzi & Bradshaw
Nothing to report
6. Parish Speed Check- Cllr Bradshaw (quotes for an additional reactive speed sign)
The clerk confirmed the outcome of the vote done via email was to go ahead with purchase of Solar equipment.
4 out 5 votes received. 3 of those 4 votes for solar option, 1 was opposing purchase. Clerk had then asked Cllr Bradshaw to get an updated quote sent to clerk. Cllr Bradshaw confirmed he had in fact spoken to Unipart Dorman today; he confirmed he would send to the new quote.
Cllr Bradshaw had been to check that the solar option will fit on the existing street furniture and the quote will be slightly adapted to accommodate this if required, Anthony Rylance from Unipart will confirm.
Action; Clerk will reaffirm costs and specification with Cllr Bradshaw before finally going ahead.
7. Grounds maintenance comparison costings - Update Clerk and discussion
As we know Mr Hughes had been given a supply of blank invoices and Cllr Packer had confirmed the payments would be made in two instalments, roughly half the annual charge in each. Unfortunately Mr Hughes and then submitted an invoice for the full annual amount. Cllr Packer confirmed he would contact Mr Hughes again to get the invoice cost amended to £575 leaving a remainder of £500 to be paid in March 2021. Going forward they will be paid in September and March of each year.
Action; Chair will action the above and confirm at the next meeting.
8. Query costs new Parish Noticeboard - Update Clerk
As per action from last meeting clerk confirmed she had received an official quote and a mock-up of the proposed sign which has been circulated to all councillors. This option being: 2 x A1 display option (16 A4 sheets) - £830 plus VAT. This is for an aluminium weatherproof noticeboard.
Cllr Randell then suggested that we should perhaps get a quote from a local furniture maker who lives in the village to give a quote for wooden option. This was briefly discussed and Cllr Randell agreed to give the gentleman a copy of the mock up received and ask him to prepare a quote.
The Chair, asked that this be actioned a soon as possible as we should be conscious to be able to get the notice board to allow us to share all the information locally about the proposed surgery closure.
Cllr Bradshaw then gave feedback regarding his review of possible location in the village to site the new board. The site in front or adjacent the village shop is not an option. He suggested that only possible sensible option would be at the ‘ring tree’ as it is the centre of village. He went on to say he has reviewed this site and suggested it would likely fit at the back or indeed to the side facing up toward the GP surgery. Cllrs Remzi and Randell concurred with this conclusion. It was noted that we would still be able to continue to use the shop notice board in addition.
Cllr Bosworth said that she wished to remind and indeed offer support on this. As with all district councillors she is allotted a £1000 grant to be gifted to projects that benefit the local community and as she had not at this point had any substantial request for this by other parties she was happy to offer £500 from this allowance to the weatherproof noticeboard. Cllr Whittington also commented that he may some allowance left at the end of the year potentially available.
Action; Cllr Bosworth to forward grant forms, clerk to complete and submit the application for approval to SKDC.
Action; Cllr Randell to forward quote to clerk when received.
9. Community Cleaner - update clerk
Clerk updated she was pleased to confirm we now have our new community cleaner in post; Jayne Newman who started on 1st September 2020. She has a litter grabber and supply of orange bags. A new litter bag holder and gloves have been ordered which clerk will deliver to Jayne when they arrive. She has been set up on PAYE system. Jayne will submit a monthly summary of areas covered and report any issues on a feedback sheet.
The chairman wished to just summarise that the applicants were all very strong and both himself and Cllr Remzi who made the final selection found it quite a difficult decision to make.
10. Village GP Surgery
Action from the previous meeting was for the Chairman to contact the practice manager, and to ensure they were aware that the parish council had received several communications from concerned residents.
The chair opened this up to the meeting for suggestions regarding what actions we could and should take.
Cllr Remzi commented that she was still waiting like many residents for an official letter from the surgery informing her of the proposed closure.
It was noted that they would not be able to go forward with an official consultation if the people affected had not been informed. It appears that roughly 50% of people only have had a letter. The chair mentioned that in order to make any sensible challenge that we should have as much data as possible on this.
Main points made in the letter received are:-
The issue of the car park being declared unsafe as part of the reason for closure. The chair had received a response back from his query regarding this. Apparently somebody hurt themselves in the car park while attending a function at the village hall and it was reported. SKDC subsequently wrote to the GP surgery and other interested parties stating that the car park needed immediate remedial attention; not in fact that it was declared unsafe.
Issue that the reception/waiting area is too small to effectively ensure social distancing
There didn’t seem to be any other reasoned justification for the closure.
At this point Cllr Mark Whittington joined the meeting. He stated that he is a member on the Health Scrutiny Committee at LCC where this issue was discussed on 16/09/2020. Detail given at this meeting said that there are currently 1650 patients registered at the Woolsthorpe Practice and similar number at the Stackyard Surgery in Croxton. The plan is obviously for all Woolsthorpe registered patients to transfer over to Croxton practice.
Following the consultation period the matter will need to be discussed by the Lincolnshire CCG Primary Care. Cllr Whittington has asked an officer at LCC Simon Evans to keep him updated as to when this comes up on the agenda as this will be a public meeting but would get back to Simon Evans tomorrow to get detail of exactly when the consultation period actually ends and feedback to the parish council. It was also noted that in fact they are of course not obliged to necessarily take in to account peoples opinion from a consultation but moreover to inform and listen but not necessarily take notice and act on these opinions.
He went on to say that this will raise a number of issues, one being that all patients at the Stackyard surgery will actually come under Leicestershire, this would mean that if the Woolsthorpe patients are transferred over they would then move from Lincolnshire CCG to Leicestershire CCG. We are not sure exactly what the ramifications of this might be for the patient. In the NHS the funding for each patient ‘follows the patient’ i.e. Grantham patients can be seen in Lincoln for instance which is obviously in Lincolnshire but can equally be offered treatment in Nottingham which is obviously out of county. The danger for Lincolnshire is more money flows out of Lincolnshire in this way than flows in and this is one of the reasons why the NHS in Lincolnshire has such financial problems.
We are not aware of the referral patterns in place from Croxton for secondary care i.e. we do not know if patients are generally referred on to Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham or even Peterborough for example. There is concern that if contracts are generally with Leicestershire CCG it could be that if a patients needed to be referred for X-ray they could be sent over to Leicester hospital instead of Grantham perhaps which is a much further distance to travel for local residents.
It was suggested that locals should write and register their concerns individually as well as the through the Parish Council so that a true picture of how strong the opposition to these plans are and how they will affect parishioners.
Cllr Remzi commented that another possible concern may be regarding prescriptions. Every GP surgery is in effect a private business that is supporting the NHS and they have different contracts with different drug suppliers; so moving in to a different CCG could potentially mean that some of the drugs that patients are currently able to get may no longer be available under a different CCG.
The chair commented that there has been mention of an upcoming Zoom session advertised on the GP Practice website for the general public to join but as yet no detail is currently given as to when this this might be. People are also invited to write or email directly to the practice.
The feeling of the council is strongly that the proposed closure should be opposed.
Suggestions for action:-
Option to write to the Belvoir Estate to ask for attention to the car park issues.
Petition available in both the Woolsthorpe village shop and at Knipton; Cllr Bradshaw to follow up
Cllr Remzi will try to get a list of patients that have not received a letter
Write to local MP
Write to local NHS Trust setting out our objections
Write to Earl of Rutland’s Trust for support
Action; Chair to put together a summary of our objections and concerns; circulate to all councillors before submitting to the agreed official representatives and professional bodies.
Action; Cllr Bradshaw to follow up on the petitions in Woolsthorpe and Knipton to facilitate submission before the end of the consultation.
11. Clerks Report
a. Annual Governance & Accountability Return 2019/20
The clerk informed the meeting that the Annual Governance & Accountability Return for 2019/20 was all present and correct and is published on the parish council website as required.
b. Bank Statement & Reconciliation – circulated prior to meeting
Circulated prior to the meeting, no questions raised. Agreed by resolution of the council and to be signed by the Chair.
c. Website
The clerk fed back that some additional hours are required for this as we are basically required to start from scratch with a new website under LCC and transfer information across but in a new format. All pages and documents have to be reformatted. She confirmed she had done some background work and training but more to come. Some councils have paid a professional to do it as it is quite complex. Clerk confirmed she would feedback to the parish council if she found she was struggling with this as time goes on. The chair said if it is required to employ a specialist to get this off the ground if necessary this can be brought to the parish council for discussion.
Cllr Whittington confirmed that there has been widespread ‘unhappiness’ from clerks and parish councils about this new format and increased workload for clerks. He asked that if the clerk found that she found difficulties to also feedback to him at county level.
12. Correspondence -circulated prior to the meeting.
a. Garden Tree query – for information
b. Charity Bin in village hall car park
A resident has informed the parish council that the charity bin situated in the car park next to the GP surgery has not been emptied and is overflowing. As this is situated on land belonging to Belvoir Estate it would not be appropriate for the Parish Council to take up any issue with this as we were not involved in any agreement to site it. The clerk confirmed she had informed the resident of this and forwarded this information on to Belvoir Estate to take any action they see fit. The charity it belongs to is The British Heart Foundation.
Action; Clerk to try and follow up with CHT
Action; Chair said he would mention it when he next had communication with the estate.
c. Village Bench (In memory) – Hagues Family
As documented previously the parish council have agreed to a request from the Hagues family to site a bench at Cobleas near the cemetery and they have now confirmed this should be in situ by the end of October.
Action; Chair to pen a letter of thanks
13. Planning - Nil
14. Documented Accounts paid - July
a. Clerks Salary, Exp. July 2020 £270.69
Total £270.69 100989
15. Documented Accounts paid - August
a. Clerks Salary, Exp. Aug 2020 £245.47
b. Reimbursement Viking Signs (COVID Playground Signs) £85.68
Total £341.95 100990
16. Accounts for payment – September 2020
a. Clerks Salary & Exp (incl. Ink), September 2020 £372.23 100991
b. Community Cleaner September 2020 (J Newman) £69.62 100992
c. HMRC PAYE Cont. Period 04,05 & 06 (2020/21) £211.00 100993
d. Zoom annual subscription (reimbursement to clerk) £115.10 100994
e. Stacey Woodward, Cut/Strim Playground area (July & Aug) £125.00 100995
f. J Bratton Internal auditor £60.00 100996
Total £952.95
18. Items for next month’s agenda/AOB
Cllr Whittington reminded the meeting that the new approved contractor for highways Balfour Beatty has now been in place since 1st April and LCC have extra funding. There are now 8 extra road repairing gangs so there is an opportunity to get some of the previously unfinished highways issues resolved.. He asked the parish council to go through these issues, list and submit to him. He will then reinforce and discuss these with Rowan Smith, Highways Manager. Cllr Remzi mentioned that recently someone has been and marked up some areas on Cliff Hill but we are not sure who that was.
Action; Cllr Remzi to do a survey, list and submit to Cllr Whittington what she thinks has been done and what is outstanding that requires attention
Next meeting Monday 30th November 2020
There being no further business the meeting closed at 7.50 p.m.