2018 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held in the Village Hall, Kettlethorpe, on Monday 3rd December 2018 at 7.40 pm 

Present 

Cllr Richard Elliott, Chairman
Cllr Richard Barnard
Cllr Tony Scawthon     
Cllr Catherine Turner
PCSO Glenn Patchett

Mr. Ron Gee, clerk.

Prospective Cllr: Mrs Lauren Flinders

1. APOLOGIES

Cllr David Byrne, Cllr Tim O’Callaghan,  PC Martin Doherty.

2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the November meeting had been circulated to all members and were proposed as a true record by Councillor Richard Barnard, seconded by Councillor Catherine Turner and agreed by the meeting.

3. MATTERS ARISING 

3.1 Local Policing issues – The November Crime Report listed 2 burglaries, 3 thefts, 3 vehicle crimes and 2 criminal damage, but no reports had been logged of any offences in Kettlethorpe Parish.   

PCSO Glenn Patchett said he was visiting Councils in order to introduce Speed Watch which is a method of speed control consisting of a purchased, handheld radar gun, pop up signs and an electronic speed indicator, similar to Smiley Sid.  The system requires a minimum of three volunteers to operate, but not all need to be Council members, although he said it would help if a Councillor was on hand to give advice.  The volunteers must undergo training by Lincs Road Safety Partnership in the operation of the equipment and on health and safety issues.  Any vehicles logged as speeding, would be reported, details recorded and all information forwarded to the Speed Watch co-ordinator for action. An advisory letter will be sent by the police and the statistics gathered to improve safety issues.

Glenn said that if there is any interest in setting up Speed Watch, he would e-mail the cost and Richard thought that another meeting with L.R.S.P might be beneficial.  Catherine felt that we would probably have to commit to buy before someone would come along. The Chairman suggested that there could be an initial surge of enthusiasm, but had doubts about the continuity of volunteers.  Richard echoed his concern and said he knew of three villages working together with shared equipment, where the dedication to the scheme died after a very short time.

Tony asked why the Police / Safety Partnership van, seen at a variety of locations in Marton and Sturton cannot visit Laughterton occasionally.  He understood the ‘only if there has been an accident’ ruling, but felt that if the van were to park at the top of Marsh Lane, it would be a good, visible deterrent to speeders.

3.2 Jubilee Park – i.  Painting – fence panels & exit barriers. This work is to be carried out when conditions and other works permit. 

3.3 Highway Matters –  Dumped rubbish on “their lane” had been referred to Severn Trent in accordance with their request at a recent meeting. 

i. - “Tesco, Bags of help”  –  Tony is currently checking to see if the organisers of this scheme would   consider awarding a grant to help the Council purchase Speed Control Equipment
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ii. New grit bin for Kettlethorpe  – a request, forwarded by the clerk, which included a map of the proposed site, asked for a filled grit bin to be provided adjacent to the Kettlethorpe bus shelter.

iii.  Main Road and vibration – a letter of thanks has been sent to LCC complimenting them on the   quality  of the staff who carried out the road resurfacing through Laughterton.    A further letter to   LCC was sent by post to Councillor Richard Davies to complain about vibration from heavy lorries   disturbing some Laughterton residents throughout the night.  Load / speed  restrictions were requested   from the hours of 7.00 pm to 7.00 am, but as no response has been received so far,  it was suggested   that the same letter should be sent again, this time by e-mail.  The clerk was asked to seek advice from   Lincs Road Safety  Partnership about road markings, rumble strips etc for the new road.

iv. Dog bin – A request submitted to WLDC in November for a replacement dog bin on Sallie Bank  Lane has now been met and  a new bin provided

v.  Dead branch – Lauren has dealt with the dead branch near to the Kettlethorpe bus shelter reported by Richard at the last meeting.

3.4 Vacancy – Mrs Lauren Flinders has accepted the invitation to join the Parish Council and her co-option was proposed by Councillor Tony Scawthon, seconded by Councillor Catherine Turner, with the full agreement of the meeting.  The relevant papers were passed to Lauren for signature and eventual return to the clerk.

3.5 Flower troughs –The Chairman had recently purchased a selection of plants - stocks, cineraria, and polyanthus (see Finance item 6.2) that have now been planted above daffodil bulbs in the troughs by  Tony and the Chairman.

3.6 Parish Council Surgery – the P.C. Surgeries, organised by Catherine are to be held on the ‘middle’ Mondays of each month, starting in January.  Residents will be invited by means of fliers produced by Catherine and distributed by all members. Speedwatch may be mentioned on the leaflet and advertising space offered to the pub if they are interested. A small minute book is to be created in which to take rough notes to bring to the next PC meeting for discussion and resolution afterwards. 

3.7  Christmas Switch-On   –  In all, this was a noisy, and hugely enjoyable fun evening as the tree lights were switched on.    The children, whose singing brought the true feeling of Christmas to the whole event, had a marvellous time and were especially excited when Santa arrived on his big red taxi  with the siren blaring. The floodlit play area was as popular as ever, as the children searched for  Xmas tokens to exchange for chocolates with Santa who was in sparkling form, ably assisted by Lauren who received a special thank you as “Santa’s Little Helper”.   

One disappointing aspect though was the poor take-up of the food. Despite the numbers, not  many people could be tempted.  The sum of £88 was banked later by the clerk.  Richard suggested for  future reference, that a new children’s game may be needed next year to replace the now familiar  Treasure Hunt.

Thank you letters are to be sent to Santa for his sterling efforts; to Interlac, for the loan of     the floodlights and to C.M. Phil Siddall for his help with the big red taxi.  In addition, a cheque for   £25, (proposed by Cllr Scawthon and seconded by Cllr Flinders) is to be sent with a thank you to the   Head Teacher of Newton School, Mrs Aimee Riley, to her staff and the children.

3.8  Npower £75  –  When there was no noticeable response from Npower, help was sought from the       Ombudsman, but in an e-mail received this week (Correspondence item 4.6) the power company said   that the ex gratia  payment of £75 had been deducted from the value of the most recent electricity bill.       Something unfortunately, that the company did not see fit to advise this Council, or make apparent   on the bill.

3.9 Parish Facebook –  Despite helpful advice to the contrary, it seems that the only person who can de-  activate the original Facebook is Alex and a number of methods are to be tried in an attempt to contact   him.

3.10 Parish Council Dinner – It was thought that Tim had already made approaches to the Friendship about hosting the Parish Council Annual Dinner, but Catherine is to make further enquiries and a date of Friday 8th February was agreed.

4. CORRESPONDENCE 

4.1 Police Crime Report for November

4.2 Hosted Post Office in Parish – The clerk was asked to respond, that this will not be needed

4.3 West Lindsey Citizen’s Advice – application for funding - declined

4.4 Northern Powergrid – request for details and timing of Christmas equipment connected

4.5  Npower – complying with data protection - information only

Items received after agenda printed.

4.6 Npower – power account

4.7 LCC -  Parish Agreement – Urban grass cutting

4.8 WLDC – Potential election costs

4.9 WLDC – Re: Community Infrastructure Levy Forms

4.10 MKS - Raised flower beds

E-mailed  items – see list appended to these minutes

5. PLANNING 

None

6. FINANCE

6.1 MKS Groundcare – the agreement with MKS to extend the present contract prices to 2021 was discussed by the meeting and its adoption was proposed by Cllr Richard Barnard, seconded by Cllr Catherine Turner and approved by the meeting

6.2 Plants for flower troughs – £55.00 Reimburse Chairman -.Reimbursement of £55 was  proposed by   Cllr Tony Scawthon, seconded by Cllr Richard Barnard and agreed by the meeting

6.3 Food for Switch-on £101.13 – Reimburse Councillor Barnard.   It was proposed by Cllr Catherine   Turner that Cllr Barnard should be reimbursed for the purchase of meats and bread buns. Seconded by   Cllr Tony Scawthon and agreed by the meeting

6.4 Drinks / sauces for switch-on - £26.18 Reimburse Councillor Turner -  It was proposed by Cllr Tony   Scawthon, seconded by Cllr Lauren Flinders and agreed by the meeting that Cllr  Turner should be   refunded the sum of £26.18

6.5  PAYE / Salary - for end November - It had been proposed and seconded at the start of the year, that   these items should be paid each month and consent was given by the meeting for their payment.

6.6. Parish Accounts – for end November.  The sum of  £6,023 had been spent to date, with £13,022      remaining in the bank, as confirmed by the bank statement and the Parish Accounts’ Sheet.    Consent was given for the Chairman and the clerk to sign the accounts

7. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION  

7.1 Schedule of e-mails  - Members accepted the clerk’s suggestion of appending the list of ‘e-mails sent’ to the minutes, to make the information more accessible if / when needed.

7.2 Tree Lights – Richard had been doing some research into different types of tree lights and had found a company on the internet that appeared to be marketing just what the Parish needed for next Christmas. The firm is lights4fun.co.uk  who are selling 60 m of lights in 6 x 10 m lengths at a cost of only £45. They are powered by 3 x D type cells which should last for 30 days and can be operated by a timer.  Item to be placed on next month’ agenda.

8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

This will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall on Monday 7th January 2019 at 7.40 pm  

As there was no further business, the meeting closed at  09.35 pm