March 2021 Minutes
Minutes of Woolsthorpe by Belvoir Parish Council Meeting
Date: Monday 22nd March 2021
Venue: Virtual Zoom meeting at 6-30 p.m.
Councillors present Cllr T. Packer – Chairman
Cllr M. Bradshaw
Cllr P. Randell
Cllr S Remzi
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.
Open session
Cllr Randell introduced Debora Owen, Church Warden from The church of St James the Great, Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir who had requested to speak to the Parish Council in this open session.
Debora began by saying thank you for the opportunity to speak and that she wished to update the parish council about the current dire financial situation the village church is in and that it faces potential closure. The recent COVID situation sadly has had a direct impact on the planned fundraising events last year and this; the lack of this additional funding sadly means the difference between being able to carry on and not.
A little while ago to try and plan as best we could through the situation we were in talks with Lincoln diocese and they were very encouraging and a route of funding was devised through grants, however due to COVID this plan has been halted and we do not know when this situation may be alleviated. Plans included a more rounded ‘social hub’ as well as the spiritual platform, with planned group like mothers groups, crafts groups etc. as well as to have events like crafts fairs, arts events, music, coffee mornings, a fete and local amateur dramatics.
Further to the above as we now know that the village surgery is definitely to close there was the potential option to perhaps have a weekly surgery at the church but in order to do that we need to improve the facilities within the building with electrical work, better heating and toilet facilities.
There is a further complication in that as we understand it if the church stops delivering services that Belvoir Castle can reclaim the building back. This means that even if we temporarily close the doors we believe they have the right to take the building back and the village church will be lost to the village forever.
To sum up my purpose of being here is to obviously make the parish council aware of the situation and to ask if the parish council can offer any support or help in anyway. We have a website set up to go with just giving page and we are hoping we can post more information on there. We are hoping to mail shot the villagers to try and drum up support.
The chairman thanked Debora and asked that if she could you please put together some sort of written proposal or request then that would give something official for the parish council to respond to. We will then add that to a future agenda to discuss.
The chair asked for any further input from other councillors, Cllr Whittington did comment that SKDC do have a variety of community grants available, whether any funding for this would be suitable he was not sure and the church would have to apply through the correct channels. Cllr Whittington said a lady named Carol Drury at SKDC would be able to help you through the process. Debora said she would follow this up.
Cllr Randell then commented about the lack of certainty with regard to the social club being open, issues with the car park there and with the surgery closed, if the church goes the same way we will have lost what small amount we have of social infrastructure and village buildings available for the parish. The church is currently amalgamating with five other parishes to try and reduce costs; St James is now reduced to a ‘festival church’ which constitutes 6 services a year.
There is still a lot of potential with the church to make it a valuable community building; it is in good structural repair.
The chair closed off the open session by saying that perhaps when we have more detail one of the parish councillors could potentially join the churches working village support group to aid communication to the council and the village.
1. Chairman’s Welcome Remarks
The chair welcomed everyone officially and thanked those attending to this zoom parish council meeting.
2. Apologies
Apologies received from Cllr J. Salmon. Reasons for absence were noted & accepted.
3. Disclosure of interest in agenda items – Nil
4. To approve Minutes of meeting held on the 25th January 2021
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.
5. Playground - Regular Safety Checks - Update Cllr Bradshaw
Nothing to report. The weeds are starting to grow, playground not being used much now children are back at school. The clerk then commented that she had received communication from S Woodward asking should he continue and start grounds maintenance of the play area for cutting/ weeding etc. The clerk had advised to continue on a monthly basis unless he is notified differently. Mr Woodward had declined to quote for grounds maintenance of all sites in the village but is happy to continue with the current status quo. All present councillors agreed that this was acceptable.
6. Recruitment of new clerk - Chair
Following on from last meeting where Emma officially handed in her notice as Clerk & RFO prior to informing the chair informally. The post was advertised and applications received.
The applications were discussed and it was decided on a short list of two applicants. It was then agreed that Cllr Packer and Cllr Randell would interview together via Zoom.
The clerk was asked to liaise and set up interviews with the PC and the shortlisted applicants. Once interviews have taken place if we find a suitable candidate and references check out okay we can plan for hand over and set an official start date. The existing clerk agreed to carry on to cover end of year accounts and roll on to cover May meeting if required followed by handover hopefully by end June. It was also noted that there is a considerable amount of paperwork and boxes inherited from the previous clerk to sort out and quite a lot of filing and organising to do by Emma to ensure clear handover and that is likely this would necessitate some additional hours.
7. Parish Speed Check Equipment - Clerk
As per action from the last meeting an updated proforma was requested by the clerk, received and paid in February. Confirmed received payment for this order. Order number is now 35299880. The estimated completion date of this order is the 27.04.2021.
8. Ground maintenance - Update Clerk & Cllr Randell
Cllr Randell confirmed he had details from Environment SK along with the one from Landpro forwarded to him by the clerk. The clerk said that we had hoped a third quote might come from Stacey Woodward but he had declined the opportunity to quote for all grounds maintenance.
After discussion and comparison Cllr Randell’s recommendation at this point was to go with EnvironmentSK; however there would need to be adjustment to the quote to remove the playground area from this as it will continue with Stacey Woodward. It was decided that the two quotes should now be circulated to all councillors for their review and a final decision made at the next meeting.
Action; Clerk will circulate comparison details.
9. New Parish Noticeboard (on hold) - Cllr Randell/Clerk
Cllr Randell spoke to planning at SKDC and they confirmed we are within the limits with size for planning and as long as the board is not lit that will be okay.
On 4th March he spoke to highways and he is waiting for feedback from them (at this point the clerk confirmed she had had received an electronic form via email called ‘Erection of Structure – Parish Council Noticeboard’ sent which needs completing. The email says attached an application form to apply to erect a structure on the highway. The completed form must be submitted and the proposal will then be assessed and permission granted or not; we must submit a plan of the site and photographs of the site. It quotes there must be an area of 600 mm from the post base to edge of the road and then we must employ a NRSW approved contractor to install the board and ensure we have the correct insurance); in the short term Cllr Randell said he would have a look at completing and submitting the form if the clerk emailed it on to him.
Cllr Randell said his worry is that he feels people would stand in the road looking at the board, Cllr Packer queried that perhaps people would stand on the grassed area around the ring tree and that it should be sited as far back as possible to allow as much room as possible for people to stand safely off the road.
Both Cllr Randel and Cllr Bradshaw felt that there would not be enough room for this.
Cllr Packer asked if we should look then again at other potential sites for the board.
The clerk confirmed that she would follow up in potential preparation with the utility companies and forward on her findings and utility contact details to Cllr Randell to chase.
Cllr Packer asked for everyone to give this more thought for the next meeting and he suggested perhaps a socially distanced site visit.
Action; Clerk to email highways form to Cllr Randell
Action; Clerk to email utility contacts to Cllr Randell
Action; Clerk Cllr Randell to complete and submit the highways permission form on behalf of the parish council.
10. Village GP Surgery closure - Feedback information from any parish council members
Cllr Packer confirmed, as we will all have heard the surgery will officially close.
It was agreed that the parish council would monitor any further news on this and bring it to a meeting if required.
11. Highways - Updates required
Cllr Remzi confirmed that some items on the ‘to do’ list had actually been completed since the last meeting
Pothole opposite Vitamin Cottage has been done.
On the road down to the cemetery, tarmac put in the potholes.
The village sign over the bridge is listed as scheduled to be re done but no date.
Unfortunately everything else is still flagged as ‘no further action’.
Back on Feb 5th Cllr Whittington and Cllr Remzi did their village walk around and subsequently Cllr Whittington emailed notes and photographs taken that day to Rowan Smith in Highways. Approximately two weeks ago Cllr Whittington had a follow up meeting with Rowan about the division where he highlighted Woolsthorpe.
Regarding the ‘no further action’ records, fix my street records a job as a request and when FMS has processed the request it will mark it as ‘no further action’, apparently this is just to record that the information has been passed on for review and potential action by highways.
Cllr Remzi did question this as it would actually not follow this format from the records she has and that makes it unclear as to if Highways have commented as no further action or Fix My Street?
Cllr Remzi confirmed she would monitor the reports and feedback with actual action taken. The chairman suggested that as many people as possible to submit problems within the village as this will potentially put our problems to the top of the list for action.
Cllr Remzi will circulate the top 3 of her list to everyone and if they can then submit these as problems to FMS.
Action; Cllr Remzi to circulate the top 3 of her list to everyone
12. Clerks Report
a. Bank Statement & Reconciliation (circulated)
Circulated prior to the meeting, Net Balance £2,678.50, no questions raised. Agreed by resolution of the council and to be signed by the Chair.
13. Correspondence - circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting.
a. GSRR March 2021
b. Planning Statement of Community Involvement Consultation V 2021
c. News and events from InvestSK
d. SKDC Parish Update final Feb 2021
e. Parish Council Flood Prevention Letter Feb2021
After discussion it was agreed that logistically we do not have the facility to store one tonne of sand.
f. Household Waste Recycling Centres
g. Thanks letter
14. Planning (circulated)
a. S20/2176 Change of Use Greyhound Cottage – Decision notice REFUSAL OF CERTIFICATE OF
LAWFUL USE OR DEVELOPMENT (PROPOSED)
b. S21/0293 Reduction of conifers in rear garden by 2m Hadlee, Main Street, Woolsthorpe By Belvoir
c. Planning Application Reference: S21/0304 - Proposed solar farm together with associated equipment and infrastructure on Land within the Belvoir Estate, Grantham, NG32 1PE
Extract from Grantham journal re solar farm, no planning submitted as yet. The planning reference is to do with requirement of screening. Clerk questioned why it says the parish council have commented in the report when we had not even been sent the application; this was confirmed by SKDC to be an error on their part and ensured it would be removed. SKDC have said as and when it goes to planning we will be notified as an adjacent authority and we will then get the option to comment.
15. Documented Accounts paid – Feb 2021 – Approved via email
a Clerks Salary, Hol. Pay, Exp. Feb 2021 £287.30 101012
b. Community Cleaner Salary, Hol. Pay Feb 2021 £86.82 101013
c. Unipart (Reference : 20225732) DF11SC speed signage £3,532.80 101014
B Hughes, Final payment – Grass Cutting £500.00 101015
Total £ 4406.92
16. Accounts for payment – March 2021– Approved via email
a Clerks Salary, Hol. Pay, Exp. March 2021 £303.80 101016
b. Community Cleaner Salary, Hol. Pay March 2021 £86.82 101017
Total £ 390.62
17. Preparing for the possible return of face-to-face meetings/Risk assessment etc
From May 7th 2021, as face-to-face council meetings resume there will still be the risk to attendees of COVID-19 exposure. Councils should conduct a risk assessment in advance of a face to face meeting which should give consideration to what the council can do to reduce risk to councillors, staff and public. A discussion followed this excerpt which was part of a much larger document circulated. It was agreed that we would have one last virtual meeting on Wednesday 5th May, and then act accordingly before our next meeting which would not be until July/August when we would have hopefully a much better grasp on venues available.
Further to this it was highlighted that a proper risk assessment would need to be carried out at the social club if that was to be our future meeting venue as it was before COVID. The parish council will also need to sign off the draft main Risk assessment noted updated in July during lockdown. Financial Regulations need signing off after their review at the next meeting in May. Policies that are ready for review need to be planned in to next year’s meetings calendar as they are organised. It was noted how difficult it had been this year during Covid to accommodate all the regular requirements.
18. Fencing and new gates at the cemetery - Cllr Bradshaw
Cllr Bradshaw was contacted by a gentleman who used to work for Belvoir Estate and lived in Woolsthorpe. He now lives in Grantham and has his own business there. He informed Cllr Bradshaw that he had recently visited Cobleas cemetery and noticed that parts the fencing there were in some state of disrepair. He has very kindly offered to replace fencing and gate at his own expense as a donation to the village. Cllr Bradshaw will get back in touch with him with a view to setting up a socially distanced walk round site visit when Covid regulation allows and have discussion about what we need against what might be on offer Action; Cllr Bradshaw to contact the gentleman and feedback to the parish council with more information as available.
19. Date next meeting & items for next meeting agenda
Confirmed date for next meeting is Wednesday 5th May 2021.
Cllr Whittington asked to speak and commented that as elections were due early May it could potentially be his last meeting as our County Councillor and he wished to thank all parish councillors and what a pleasure it had been working with all. The chairman wished him luck and closed the meeting.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8 p.m.