2021 minutes

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held in the village hall on Tues 1st June 2021 at 6.30pm

Present 21-091 Cllr C Ashton (Chair), Cllr J Oldfield (Vice Chair), Cllr P Golding, Cllr C Hodgkin, Cllr M Kinning, Cllr F Parish, Cllr G Steele, Cllr C van Straubenzee , Mrs H Sandon (parish clerk) , LCCllr B Adams

Apologies for Absence 21-092 Cllr A White, Cllr S Lansdowne, SKDCllr D Bellamy

Chairman’s remarks 21-093

Cllr Ashton welcomed all Cllrs to the first meeting in person since March 2020, pre Covid 19 and lockdown.

Receive Declaration of Interests 21-094 none                                               

Public Forum 21-095 none

Reports from LCCllr Adams/ SKDCllr Bellamy 21-096 Cllr Adams advised that nothing much has happened this month, apart from LCC local elections and the return of face to face meetings for Councils. Pot hole issues in South Witham were raised again, with some still not being fixed 3 months on from reporting them on “Fix my Street, ”such as the large pot hole corner of Church Lane/ High St.

Notes of the Zoom meetings held on the 4th May 21-097

Annual Parish Meeting

Monthly Parish Council meeting

The notes of both meetings were approved by the Council and were signed by the Chair in acceptance of minutes.

Clerk’s and Councillors’ reports on; 21 -098

Vacancy on the Parish Council, clerk

Clerk advised that she had check with SKDC Electoral Services and no by-election had been called, therefore the Parish Council can now proceed with co-option to fill the vacancy. Clerk to advertise the position on the SWPC website and village notice boards. Cllr Kinning to post the notice on the SW FB page. Applicants will be invited to the PC meeting on the 6th July for a short interview.

Financial Matters, clerk

Monthly accounts (see financial statement below)

South Witham Parish Council - Financial Statement - 1st June 2021

Since the statement was produced, further income received - SKDC ½ Yr Cleaning Grant £694.98.

Further invoices received – C C Cleaning for bus shelter clean on 4/2/21 & 24/5/21, £40, The Garden Angel for cemetery mowing March to May 5 cuts at £75 a cut £375.00 , clerk to arrange payments. 

EOY 2020- 21 Accounting Return;

Approval of Annual Governance Statement 2020/21 (a) With all Councillors in agreement, Cllr Ashton

(Chair) and Helen Sandon (RFO) signed off the Annual Government Statement 2020/21

Approval of Accounting Statements 2020/21 (b) With all Councillors in agreement, Cllr Ashton

(Chair) and Helen Sandon (RFO) signed off the Accounting Statements 2020/21

Mr Andrews had completed the Internal Audit for the PC prior and accounting information had been circulated to Cllrs. Mr Andrews is to be thanked for giving up his time once again to perform the audit. In lieu of a fee he has asked that £30 is put into the PC memorial fund reserve, as per previous years.

Clerk to submit accounting return to the external auditors by the 30th June 2021 and to display the relevant notices and accounts (unaudited) on the village noticeboards/ PC website. 

Village Hall, Cllrs van Straubenzee/ Parish

Update on VH matters

Tim Smith has undertaken the roof repairs, invoice to follow. He also pointed out that the VH flat roof needs checking over by a flat roof specialist. Cllr Parish to look into companies to come and assess. Matt of MK Works has fixed the guttering to rear of VH, invoice to follow. Cllr Oldfield has painted the VH front door.

Play area monthly inspection/maintenance, Cllr Oldfield Cllr Oldfield has repaired the toddler area wetpour play surface and edging. A further small surface area has since been damaged, so he will repair this. He had also been asked to assess the toddler area bin to see how secured, Cllr Oldfield advised that there is a concrete base under the bin and all is currently in a good state, ie locked and not disturbed by moles.

Village Grit bins, Cllr Lansdowne

In the absence of Cllr Lansdowne, she had sent her report over to the clerk. The two new grit bins have now been installed by LCC, one on the junction of Templars Way/ Great Close and one by Thistleton Lane bridge. There are currently two bins that need a refill, one on the North Witham Rd, opposite Harrington Lagoon and one on the corner of Moor Lane/ Great Close. Clerk to report to LCC.  

Planning Matters 21-099

New planning applications received by SKDC for Parish Council comment

S21/0848, 7 North Witham Road, South Witham, Lincolnshire, NG33 5PN, erection of single storey rear link extension and erection of front porch no objections from SWPC

S21/0573, Priory Farm 28 Water Lane, Listed Building Consent for replacement windows, doors and roof to garden room and replacement roof to garage no objections from SWPC

New planning applications received by SKDC for Parish Council comment after publication of the agenda  none

SKDC planning permissions granted/refused none

Dangerous wall on footpath - Troughton Walk to Unwin Green 21-100 Emails received from LCC and SKDC state that neither authorities are responsible for this wall. PC agreed that the clerk should advise the resident to check their own house deeds and also do a land registry search to establish ownership.

Emergency arrangements for the village, Cllr Parish 21-101

Cllrs Ashton and Parish had initially discussed this and wish to put something formally in place to help in the event of an incident affect a village street / group of houses requiring evacuation. There is an ongoing arrangement for SW Academy to use the VH if needed and it is envisaged the VH would be used for any such village emergency, so that shelter and refreshments may be provided. Cllr Ashton welcomed input from fellow cllrs on this, particularly emphasis on who will be the keyholders and how to communicate this to the village / Emergency Services. To further consider at next PC meeting. 

Village clean up 21-102

Cllr Parish is to lead this event to be held on Sunday 27th June, 11am – 1pm. The large hall at the VH has been booked and the litter picking equipment has been booked out with SKDC. Cllr Golding will collect and return the equipment afterwards. Cllr Parish to organise the posters, clerk to display on the village noticeboards / SWPC website and Cllr Kinning to put on SW FB page.

Resident complaint re. noise disturbance- banger cars on Templars Way 21-103

The PC discussed the complaint and noted that the Local Authorities had been informed. 

South Witham Village Facebook 21-104

Cllrs agreed that this should only be used by the PC to place relevant notices for information, the link to the SWPC website will be detailed under notices, so that residents are aware how to contact the PC to raise any issues. PC contact details may also be found on village notice boards. Cllr Steele to approach Great Close Stores to see if it is possible to utilise one of the external noticeboards for PC display purposes.  

Correspondence 21-105

Colsterworth Rural Highways report, Lincs Environmental Awards 2021, LALC Enews 11/5, 18/5,25/5 & 1/6/21,  Environment Agency grass cutting - reducing flood risk, Lincs bus service updates - eased lockdown restrictions, Live & Local – Indoor & Outdoor Performances for Rural Communities & Living room. LCC PC Community newsletter. 

Additional items 21-106

There had been a recent malfunction with the allotment car park lock. PC agreed to change the code, clerk to inform allotment holders of this and ask that they only share the code with fellow allotment holders and under no circumstances make the code Public on the SW FB page.

Clerk had chased up re. flooding issue under Thistleton Lane bridge and was advised by LCC that it aims to do the remedial work in the current financial year. Great Close flooding issue is with Anglian Water Ops Team for further investigation.

Date of next meeting 21-107 Tuesday 6th July 2021 at 6.30pm in the larger hall of the VH.

Meeting closed at 7.55pm