September 2023 minutes
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 12th September 2023
in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllr R Elliott, Chairman
Cllr R Barnard
Cllr P Bussoopun
Cllr C Turner
Mr Geoff Cleworth, Clerk
APOLOGIES
Cllr T O’Callaghan
D/Cllr R Pilgrim
Cllr Elliott chaired the meeting at Cllr Turner’s request.
Mrs Constanza McGowan was co-opted to the Council
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting held on 11th July 2023 had been circulated to all councillors and were proposed, seconded and approved by all Councillors. There had been no meeting in August as this is the holiday month.
PROGRESS REPORTS
New councillor vacancies
The Chairman had spoken to Mesdames Constanza McGowan and Lizzie Smith , who were interested in becoming councillors. Mr Willis had decided not to offer to be reco-opted as a Councillor, thus increasing vacancies to two, one being filled by the co-option of Cllr McGowan. . .
The election of a Vice-Chairman for the coming year was deferred to the next meeting. Cllr Barnard offered to chair meetings on an ad hoc basis if the Chair was unavailable.
Jubilee Park
Cllr Elliott had spoken to Mr Bingham regarding the renewal of the soft pour tarmac which it was felt needed to be addressed before the onset of winter. He is willing to undertake the work, but no timescale was given. Cllr Bussoopun pointed out that there had been a scheme publicised earlier in the summer whereby a group of contractors would provide volunteers to undertake small projects. The Clerk will investigate.
Christmas lights
The exterior power socket had been installed at the Clerk’s address. The only issue now was the safe running of the cable from the socket to the site of the lights.
The date of the lights switch on was arranged for Sunday December 3rd. Cllr O’Callaghan had already booked Newton on Trent school to attend. Cllr Turner advised that she might not be available on the date. Cllr Barnard will investigate installation of fencing round the lights.
Grass cutting
There had been a report of part of the areas covered by our agreement with All Round Gardens had not been cut during July. The complainant had been asked to provide photographic evidence if this occurred again
There had been a complaint about the length of the grass in the Parish cemetery. The Clerk had taken photos and circulated them among councillors, and it was felt that the complaint was not justified.
Logs on grass verge in front of Church Farm
These had now been removed.
Cemetery
Following the comments made by D/Cllr Pilgrim at the July meeting, the Clerk had referred the matter to LALC, who had confirmed his view that title to burial plots are perfectly capable of transfer to beneficiaries/successors. He had also done a rough calculation which revealed that the cemetery is unlikely to fill up in the next 200 years. It was decided to leave cemetery arrangements as they are.
The Clerk raised the issue of the likely cost for rewilding of the cemetery grass. He will enquire with the Woodland Trust and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust regarding the possibility of any grants.
Speeding
Lincolnshire County Council had agreed to impose a 30mph limit on the road into Kettlethorpe village. As the Police were in regular attendance in Laughterton, it was decided to allow this to continue with no further action from the Council at this time.
website
The Clerk updated the meeting on the current situation. The tidying of the website had been done by LALC, which had unwittingly provoked the issue of Councillors’ addresses being advertised with easy access via the link to WLDC’s website. This had provoked exchanges of emails between WLDC and several councillors. Cllr Turner will take this up with WLDC.
Post election paperwork
Cllr Turner completed the paperwork needed in respect of her re-election and assumption of the Chair post.
inspection of propeller memorial
there had been no progress. Cllr Elliott will process
pavement repair - Laughterton
the Clerk had been advised by Lincolnshire County Council that they will not be taking further action on this matter.
LOCAL POLICING ISSUES
The Police crime reports for July and August had been received. In both cases, there were no incidents affecting the Parish,
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for August/ September to date had been distributed to all Councillors.
PLANNING
no new business
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoice from July to September to date were agreed by the Council:
already paid: F5 COMPUTING – 2 x invoices re monthly charges - £43.50 each; All Round Gardens £230.00 x 2; HSBC monthly charge £8.00 x 2; Clerk’s expenses Dec 2022 to June 2023 - £77.89; Cllr Elliott -bedding plants £32.00; LALC – website management £204.00 and website management training for Clerk £66.00; Martin Flinders Electrical – power point at Clerk’s house £144.00; Kettlethorpe Village Hall rental April 2022 to March 2023 £220.00; RoSPA – fee in respect of annual inspection £111.50
There was an as yet unpaid invoice for £58.50 from F5 Computing relating to a query raised by the clerk and the removal of Mr Willis’ domain address.This was agreed by the Council.
Clerk – PAYE AND SALARY for July and August had been paid.
PARISH ACCOUNTS
end of July – income £11876.49; expenditure £5310.08; balance £15367.03
end of August – income £11898.65; expenditure £6145.08; balance £14554.19
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
(1) The Clerk had received the report from RoSPA following the recent inspection, which had been circulated to Councillors. He will summarise the findings in order of seriousness and circulate this before the next meeting.
(2) The Clerk had received from LALC the most recent model financial regulations and standing orders for parish councils. He will cross reference to the existing documents adopted by the Council some years ago and report back to the next meeting.
(3) The meeting authorised the Clerk to purchase a suitable wreath for Remembrance Day from Royal British Legion.
(4) The Clerk had received two unconnected reports of lorries accessing agricultural units at unsocial hours in contravention of the planning permission grants. In each case, he had asked the complainants to keep a diary of occurrences for a month and provide these to him to assist in taking the matters up with WLDC.
(5) Cllr Bussoopun offered his apologies for the next meeting.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall at 7pm on Tuesday 10th October 2023.
The Chair closed the meeting at 8.25pm.