January 2023 Minutes
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 10th January 2023 at 7pm in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllr R Elliott, Chairman
Cllr R Barnard
Cllr P Bussoopun
Cllr C Turner
Mr Geoff Cleworth, Clerk
APOLOGIES
Cllrs T O’Callaghan, J Willis D/Cllr J Ellis
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th December 2022 had been circulated to all councillors and were proposed, seconded and approved by all Councillors.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Jubilee Park
There had been no progress on the new Springies and Soft Pour tarmac. Cllr Elliott will chase Richard Bingham and the Council awaited developments.
Highways
There had been no progress. The Clerk will chase D/Cllr Ellis for an update.
Christmas lights
The meeting discussed the reply the Clerk had received from Northern Powergrid and decided not to pursue unmetered connection through them, due to the likely high costs. The Clerk will make enquiries with Total Gas & Power – who are suppliers to Lincolnshire CC regarding unmetered supply.
Parish notice boards
Cllr Barnard had effected a repair of the faulty lock on the village hall notice board, but there had been no progress on renovation of both notice boards.
Ron Gee/Parish Dinner
Mr Gee had not yet been able to determine a venue. The Clerk had not made non-committal enquiries with the Lord Nelson at Winthorpe regarding whether they can accommodate a gathering of 16 people, but will do so shortly.
D/Cllr Jane Ellis Councillor Initiative Fund
D/Cllr Ellis had confirmed that the grant could be retrospectively applied to the cost of the Christmas lights and the Clerk had received WLDC’s remittance advice of payment of the grant.
Marking out of burial plots
The Clerk had looked through the file relating to the cemetery which he had inherited from Mr Gee. It was felt that this provided sufficient guidance to enable the satisfactory marking out of plots.
Update of website
There is to be a course run by LALC in April on the management of websites. It was decided that the Clerk would undertake the course and the website management handover deferred until this had happened.
LOCAL POLICING ISSUES
The Police crime report for December had been received. Only one incident affected the Parish, the theft of 500 litres of diesel from a farm in Kettlethorpe.
TREE WALK
Sir Edward Leigh MP had agreed to officiate at the opening. D/Cllr Ellis was unable to attend. The Clerk was asked to chase Mr Fowler regarding delivery of the plaque. The meeting discussed unveiling the plaque and whether the image of the plaque should be on the publicity leaflet. Attempts will be made to involve Newton on Trent School. The WI will set up the Viallage Hall the day before the event.
The posts and barbed wire surrounding the tree guards will be installed after the opening. Cllr Barnard had obtained a costing of £412 + VAT for this.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for December/January to date had been distributed to all Councillors.
PLANNING
Application reference 144120
Nothing further had been heard with regard to this issue. The Clerk was asked to submit a complaint to Severn Trent Water as a result of lack of progress.
Application reference 145587
The applicant addressed the Council prior to the meeting to outline the amendments to the original application. The meeting discussed the amended application and felt that many of its observations on the original application still applied. Despite a reduction in the height of the building, this was felt to still be excessive for the use it would be put to. The lack of ventilation in a building to be partially used for storage of hay was a fire hazard. The applicant had met the planning authority and assured them that the building would not be converted to residential use in the future. It was felt that this should be a condition of any planning grant. The gate giving access to the site should be at such a distance from the A1133 to permit a vehicle and trailer to completely leave the road before passing through the gate.
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoices for December/January to date were agreed by the Council:
F5 COMPUTING – invoice 11620 Monthly charges - £40.86; YESTER HOME LTD t/a SIGNCAST – invoice for tree walk plaque £462.00; HSBC bank charges for December - £8.00; ALL ROUND GARDENS – invoices for final two grass cuts of season £460.00 and hedge trimming in cemetery £160.00
CLERK – PAYE AND SALARY
Following the agreement of the payment of expenses to the Clerk at the December meeting, he had discussed this with the Chairman and submitted a revised claim of £41.90 for expenses to the end of November.This was ratified by the meeting.
PARISH ACCOUNTS
end of November – balance £12667.4; expenditure £15725.69
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
The Clerk produced forecasts of likely expenditure up to the year end and a budget for expenditure in 2023/24. These were discussed by the meeting in conjunction with a discussion of the Precept for 2023/24. This was set at £10500. Although this is £750 higher than the precept for 2022/23, much of this would be taken with expenses for the Election.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
The Clerk had obtained a quotation from All Round Gardens for 2023 which is the same price as 2022. It was agreed to proceed.
The Clerk advised the meeting of a tree branch overhanging Jubilee Park which was on the point of dropping from the tree. This was of concern as the Park is a public space and the branch is of a size that if it fell on a member of the public there was a risk of serious injury. Cllr Willis had offered to deal with the branch and the Chairman will consult with him and the landowner whose tree it is to rectify this and possibly address the trimming of other overhanging branches.
The Clerk ahd received an e-mail from Parish.UK Network requesting the sharing of information about the Council and Councillors to their website. LALC are aware of this throughout the Parish Council network and it was decided to wait for their guidance.
The Council has received an offer from Mrs M Gourlay to trim overhanging trees in the Parish cemetery. It was decided to decline with thanks, but the Chairman will consult Cllr Willis regarding what work might need to be done.
LCC are canvassing views on the level of Council Tax increases. This was left on the table, along with WLDC Parish News and Clerks and Councils magazine.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
This will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall at 7pm on Tuesday 14th February 2023.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.30pm.