January 2021 Minutes
Minutes of Woolsthorpe by Belvoir Parish Council Meeting
Date: Monday 25th January 2021
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 received from Cllr J. Salmon due to IT technical issues. Reasons for absence were noted & accepted.
3. Disclosure of interest in agenda items – Nil
4. To approve Minutes of meeting held on the 30th November 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 31/01/2021.
5. Playground - Regular Safety Checks - Update Cllr Remzi & Cllr Bradshaw
Nothing to report
6. Parish Speed Check Equipment - Clerk
As per action from last meeting clerk has emailed Anthony Rylance from Unipart to ask for updated proforma invoice for Option 2 signage of 'CHECK YOUR SPEED' REFLECTIVE SHEET (YELLOW#GREEN) BUT without the data collection and logging. Awaiting response to move this forward but have asked that it is completed this financial year if possible.
Action; Clerk will reaffirm costs and specification on invoice proforma then go ahead with the agreed order.
7. Ground maintenance - Update Clerk & Cllr Randell
Cllr Randell confirmed that he had received referral details from clerk for EnvironmentSK and had subsequently discussed the remit of the contract with them. ESK have promised to submit a quote over the next two days.
The clerk also confirmed the feedback from action of the last meeting, had requested and subsequently received an updated quote from Landpro who had also tendered last year; clerk confirmed she would send on copy of this to Cllr Randell.
After some discussion it was also suggested that the contractor who currently maintains the playground area should be asked to quote for the additional work. The clerk agreed to contact him and pass on details for him to discuss further with Cllr Randell.
Action; Clerk to follow up contact and refer on to Cllr Randell.
8. Query costs new Parish Noticeboard - Update Clerk
Clerk confirmed the proof of noticeboard drawings had been circulated again and approved. We have received proforma invoice with detail to accept 50% upfront as £495-94. Clerk mentioned that we are keen to get completed before the end of the financial year if possible and confirmation of lead time is 6 to 8 wks.
Chair then enquired if all the actions on this item from the last meeting had been fulfilled and cleared to allow us to move forward. Cllr Randell confirmed this was not the case; he also then queried about if we need planning permission as we are in a conservation area and talked about making the parishioners aware.
Cllr Randell has sent an email to SKDC Planning Dept. to enquire about permission and is awaiting a response.
The action to contact Highways re potential issues with utility services at the proposed site was then handed over to Cllr Whittington to contact highways and he confirmed he would do so the following day.
Cllr Bradshaw confirmed he had checked with ex-chairman Gilly Ward to see if he had any recollection about when the ring tree was sited and he just mentioned that it was tarmacked up to the site so could potentially be under the site also.
Action; Clerk to place order on hold.
Action; Cllr Randell to make further enquiries to SKDC Planning re permissions
Action; Cllr Whittington to email local Highways Manager re Electricity Suppliers and Anglian Water to make enquiries on the council’s behalf and feedback to Cllr Randell before the March meeting.
9. Village GP Surgery- Feedback information from any parish council members
Cllr Packer confirmed he had heard nothing further.
Cllr Whittington reported that at the last LCC screening committee the decision had been postponed from 13th January 2021 until 10th February meeting of the Primary Care Commissioning Committee.
Going forward the council will discuss and receive any feedback at our March meeting. In the interim the Chairman will try to contact Sarah Bates who is named on their website as available for questions prior to the February meeting.
Action; Chair to make contact with S Bates.
10. Highways (Report by Cllr Remzi to Cllr Whittington)
The chairman wished to note sincere thanks to Cllr Remzi for her detailed and comprehensive survey and report of completed and more importantly ongoing issues of road repair within the parish. Cllr Remzi the gave feedback as follows:- Out of 25 action she had requested,
- Chevron sign has been put back up at Brewers Grave.
- Village sign near to the crossroads is due to be re-erected imminently
- Two blocked drains are scheduled for clearing at the next clean cycle but no specific action date given
However the remaining 21 items requested have been recorded as Closed with no further action! Detail given says there has been an inspection (allegedly sometime between Christmas and New Year) and requests reviewed and considered no action necessary.
Both Cllr Whittington and the Chair asked for Cllr Remzi to forward over the feedback given re ‘No action necessary’ following inspection and Cllr Whittington will investigate this further with Rowan Smith from Highways.
Cllr Whittington and Cllr Remzi then set up a date of 5th Feb to meet to do their previously planned ‘ward walk’.
Cllr Whittington wished to remind all that there is a link on the LCC website to request replenishment of grit bins.
Councillors stated one sited near Cobleas, one near Belvoir lane, one at the entrance to Social Club car park near the surgery (which is locked and a key was held at the GP surgery as people were using it put in dog excrement).
It was noted that there was also one that was removed by the council at Hillside some 18 months/2 yrs. ago and we were not informed why that happened.
Action; Cllr Remzi to forward No Action feedback to Cllr Whittington and Chair.
Action; Cllr Remzi to check status on repair of 30 mph sign bottom of Cliffe Hill
Action; Cllr Whittington to investigate the ‘no action’ report further with Rowan Smith from Highways.
Action; Cllr Whittington and Cllr Remzi to meet for ‘village walk around’ Friday 5th Feb at 10 am.
11. Clerks Report
a. Bank Statement & Reconciliation (circulated)
Circulated prior to the meeting, Balance £7,591.26, no questions raised. Agreed by resolution of the council and to be signed by the Chair 31/01/2021.
b. Precept 2021/22 – all members to discuss and decide
The clerk reminded member that last year’s precept was £8k and talked through the potential monies still to be paid from the current year. This could amount to just below £6000 contributing towards this of course is the speed signs at approx. £3k and the noticeboard at approx. £800. The Chair opened on this stating his personal opinion was that he would like precept not to be increased, particularly in the current climate and considering the financial pressures families are under during this ongoing pandemic. After further discussion all members agreed a figure of £7950-00, slightly under last year. This was proposed by Cllr Randell, seconded by Cllr Remzi and agreed by resolution of the council.
Action; Clerk to submit precept request to SKDC by deadline
12. Correspondence - circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting.
a. Parish Update - January 2021
b. Fake NHS Covid Vaccination Texts
c. Correspondence from parishioner (2 items)
Chairman will deal with any correspondence requiring response and reply accordingly on behalf of the parish council.
13. Planning
a. S20/1666 – Decision REFUSED - Change of Use from dwelling house (C3) to Children's Residential Care Home (C2)
Noted that this planning application was refused. Cllr Randell made comment that a parishioner had mentioned to him since this refusal and that the applicants are now applying via a legal route under a ‘right to build’. The Chair thanked Cllr Randell for the information and noted that we would follow information received via planning department and Cllr Whittington suggested that even under ‘right to build’ plans would have to be submitted to SKDC and the parish council would therefore be notified via this route.
14. Documented Accounts paid – Dec 2020 – Approved via email
a Clerks Salary, Hol. Pay Dec 2020 - £270.81 + Exp. Dec 2020 - £5.40 £276.21 101005
b. Community Cleaner Salary, Hol. Pay Dec 2020 £86.82 101006
c. HMRC PAYE Cont. Period 07,08 & 09 (2020/21) £174.20 101007
Total £537.23
15. Accounts for payment – January 2021
a Clerks Salary, Hol. Pay, Exp. Jan 2021(£243.02 + Office365 £85.39) £328.41 101008
b. Community Cleaner Salary, Hol. Pay Jan 2021 £86.82 101009
c. Wave (Anglian Water, Cobleas) £11.85 101010
d. Belvoir Estate (Playground Lease) 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2021 – queried by Chair post meeting and confirmed lease to end 2021, pay agreed by all via email. £78.76 101011
Item d not authorised at the meeting but subsequently agreed for payment
Total £505.84
18. Items for next month’s agenda/AOB
- At this point the Chairman asked the clerk if she would like to share anything with the meeting. The clerk agreed she would and confirmed she had notified the chairman prior to this this meeting that she would be handing in her notice as Parish Clerk and RFO. She mentioned that her contract committed her to a one month notice period but given the current circumstances she was happy to carry on to end of April to finish off the financial year and accounts, she said she may be available slightly longer if the council were unable to find a replacement quickly. This timeframe should hopefully enable a thorough handover.
- She went on to say she has been in post almost 5 years and thoroughly enjoyed the job but as her main employment is with the NHS and now working pressures are high she felt it was the right time to relinquish her post. She mentioned that if the parish council wished to split the job she may be able to continue just as Responsible Finance Officer and the Clerk job role be offered out. The Chair wished to place on record what a sterling job she had done over the past 5 years and what a pleasure it has been to work alongside her.
- Moving on from this it was suggested that the best way to recruit would be to advertise via the LALC who advertise clerk vacancies regularly and also potentially on the parish noticeboard but with a view to finding someone ideally with previous parish clerk experience. The clerk will forward on vacancy template ideas to the chair and submit to LALC on behalf of WPC when agreed.
- Cllr Bradshaw mentioned that when he went to bring up the green bin to the road for emptying from the cemetery he noticed that it was full to the brim and extremely heavy. He wished to highlight it as only a couple of days previously it had been only half full. Upon investigation Cllr Bradshaw noticed it was full with fir tree branches.
- Cllr Randell wished to record that the oak tree at the bottom far left corner at Cobleas cemetery has a large broken branch that has fallen down and he has organised for it to be risk assessed by a qualified tree surgeon to review trimming to ensure it is safe. Cllr Randell will feed back to the parish council with detail of advised action. All agreed this was a sensible course of action.
- Cllr Randell wished also wished to record (under his remit as church warden) that a major red cedar tree has come down in the churchyard as it had a major split high up in the tree and was not safe. There is a large section remaining from the tree which Cllr Randell is hoping to fashion in to a simple bench for use by the village.
- Cllr Bradshaw enquired if we had any news through regarding the proposed solar farms, the clerk confirmed we had not for the current one as it was not within our parish boundary. Cllr Randell agreed to monitor adjacent bordering councils for any news and feedback.
Confirmed date for next meeting is Monday 22nd March 2021.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.10 p.m.