Minutes of meeting April 2024
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 9th April 2024
in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllt C Turner Chair
Cllr R Elliott
Cllr R Barnard
Cllr T O’Callaghan
Mr G Cleworth, Clerk
Apologies Cllrs C McGowan, P Bussoopun, D/Cllr R Pilgrim
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting held on 12th March 2024 had been circulated to all councillors and were proposed, seconded and approved by the meeting.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Jubilee Park
Cllr Barnard was making little progress with Owen Improvements. He had obtained a price for the purchase of the tarmac and was looking into alternatives.
LCC had started work on the treatment of the fence panels.
The Clerk advised that the padlock on the large gate was inoperative. Cllr Barnard will investigate.
RoSPA report
The new bearing had been installed in the see-saw.
Cllr Bussoopun was aware of the need to complete the repair of fence panels
Rewilding of Cemetery
Cllrs Barnard and Elliott had examined the cemetery and produced a sketch map of the area. Cllr Barnard had arranged to meet Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust on 1st May. They will be able to advise on feasability and approximate costs and possibly available grant funding.
There may also be funding available from Nottinghamshire County Council, as Kettlethorpe falls within the solar panel catchment area.
Hedge trimming at The Gables, Main Road, Laughterton
This had been carried out.
Lorry movements at unsocial hours
There had been no progress.
Junk e-mails
The Clerk proposed two organisation for adding to the blacklist. These were agreed.
Village Hall
There had been no progress advised by the Village Hall Committee. It was felt that action needed to be initiated by the Council, as in the event of the Village Hall failing, we would be in the unwanted position of having to take over the management of it. .Cllr O’Callaghan is putting out feelers to try to find new people interested in running the Hall. The Clerk was asked to send a gentle reminder to Mrs Wilcox to ascertain if she had made progress in putting together a draft leaflet.
Blocked pipe on Kettlethorpe Road/Lane junction
Some work had been carried out in the area affected, but there was little improvement in the issue. It was felt that this might be related to the work on Kettlethorpe Road in Fenton as a result of poor quality work on the road under WLDC planning ref 144120. He will report this issue to LCC.
Water ingress to properties on Main Road, Laughterton
The reporthad been submitted to LCC, but nothing heard from them yet.
Laughterton bus shelter refurbishment
there had been no progress
noxious smell in Laughterton
there had been no progress
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for March/April to date had been distributed to all Councillors
PLANNING
Planning reference: 148034. This was considered and it was decided not to offer comments.
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoices for December were agreed by the Council:
already paid: F5 COMPUTING – domain maintenance £49.44; HSBC ,monthly charge £8.00; Clerk £156.28 re cost of materials for Jubilee Park fence treatment; Kettlethorpe Church £458.66 re our contribution to grass cutting costs
Cllr Barnard: £13.37 re costs of parts for see-saw repair in Jubilee Park. This was agreed.
Clerk – PAYE AND SALARY for March
Clerk’s expenses 1/7/23 to 31/3/24 £50.35. This was agreed
PARISH ACCOUNTS
end of March – income £12860; expenditure £11100.76; balance £10560.11
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
Following the receipt of the precept payment, the Clerk advised the meeting that a discussion at a previous meeting had suggested establishing a fund for future election expenses. After consideration, it was decided that this should be expanded to a general Contingency Fund and funded with an initial £500.
The Clerk advised the meeting that various documents relating to the AGAR external audit would need to be signed at the May meeting. Legislation also required the posting on the website of the AGAR documents. He suggested the period for this should be 3rd June to 10th July 2024 inclusive. This was agreed.
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
Cemetery
(a) The Chair noted that a personal representation had been made to the March meeting by a prospective lessee of a burial plot. She felt that this was unnecessary and it was agreed that an enquiry to the Clerk would be sufficient in the case of applicants entitled to a plot. The Council would continue to need to approve grants to non-qualifying residents.
Cllr Elliott had been investigating and had discovered that at the 1992 Parish meeting, it had been minuted that the costs of preparation of the cemetery for use had been shared between WLDC, Fenton PC and ourselves. This being the case, the entitlement to lease a plot should be extended to Fenton. There was a case for Fenton residents not to be subject to the 50% surcharge for non-residents, or alternatively, we could agree a small contribution with Fenton PC towards our grass cutting costs.
Once a way forward had been agreed, the Council will consider offering refunds to the two Fenton residents who have reserved plots, if it is decided not to apply the surcharge.
(b) Cllr Elliott advised the meeting that a parishioner Natalie Kirman had carried out a great deal of litter picking around the parish. The Clerk was asked to write a letter of thanks and appreciation to her. Cllr Elliott will offer materials from the litter picking kit he has.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be the Parish Council AGM and will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall on Tuesday 14th May 2024 immediately following the Annual Parish Meeting.
The Chair closed the meeting at 8.45pm.