November 2019 Minutes
A meeting of East Keal Parish Council Meeting was held on 27.11.2019 at Cracroft Village Hall, Boston Road, West Keal at 7pm.
Welcome. Cllr Grahame Smith welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Present. Cllr Smith, Cllr Thornley, Cllr Dromey, Cllr White, Cllr Aran, Cllr Swanson, Clerk to the Council, Mrs E Martin and three members of the public.
Public Forum. No issues were raised.
1. Apologies for Absence. Cllr Kemp had offered her apologies as she would be late arriving. Apologies were also received from Mr Kingswood.
2. Resignation of Cllr White. A letter was read to the meeting in which Cllr White offered her resignation due to personal commitments. A letter of thanks will be sent by the Clerk.
3. Proposal and Co-option of two new Councillors. Cllr Smith introduced Maxine Crowson who has agreed to stand for Council. It was proposed by Cllr Dromey and seconded by Cllr Thornley that she join the Council. All agreed. Cllr Smith then introduced Amanda Ward who is also willing to become a Councillor. It was proposed by Cllr Thornley and seconded by Cllr Dromey that she join the Council. All agreed.
4. Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 20.9.19. It was resolved that the notes be accepted as the minutes. All agreed and they were then duly signed.
5. Declaration of Interest (if any) None given.
6. Reports from representatives on outside bodies:-
a) County Councillor. Cllr Aron reminded everyone that they should be using online ‘fixmystreet’ to report potholes etc.
b) District Councillor
i) Christmas Markets. Cllr Swanson encouraged everyone to support the local Christmas markets. They are taking place at Horncastle on 8.12.19 and a Farmers market on 12.12.19. Louth Market on 1.12.19, a Food Market on13.12.19, and a Farmers Market on 18.12.19. No markets will be held between 25.12.19 and 1.1.20.
ii) Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel. This committee is due to meet on 29.11.19 at 11am. Councillors and members of the public are welcome to attend.
iii) Grant. 50 million is to be made available from the government for improving both Mablethorpe and Skegness. ELDC will be administering this grant.
iv) Redevelopment of Horncastle College on Horncastle Road. This site is to be purchased by ELDC. It is proposed that development of this site will include the moving of services from Manby, an educational site run by Boston College, a Police/County Council service hub and some specialised accommodation. The aim is to reduce the Council’s carbon footprint and give better service provision.
c) Neighbourhood Watch. There have been recent thefts of oil in Halton Holgate and Old Bolingbroke.
d) Village Hall Committee. The redecorating of the outside of the hall is complete. A grant of £240 has been received from Cllr Swanson’s fund and used to paint the internal doors. Grahame Smith has taken on the role of treasurer. It is hoped to develop some more fundraising events to help cover the cost of painting the interior of the venue. Traces of mouse dropping have been found and hopefully by now the situation is resolved. Forthcoming work will include tiding up of the hedge and repairing the hand dryer in the ladies toilet. Quizzes will continue on a regular basis.
e) Village Groups
i) PCC. The first phase of the work on the tower has been completed but the Stonemason found that some of the cladding higher up the Tower was not securely fixed. The PCC agreed that whilst the scaffolding was up it was sensible to have this repaired, so a grant has been applied for to help with some of the costs. We are waiting to hear if the grant application has been accepted before we can continue with this work. In addition, some work on the interior of the Church will be done. This work will have to be paid for from Church reserves. The recent Fayre raised approx. £1,200. Christmas services include a Carols by Candlelight on 15.12.19 at 4pm. Carol Singing around the village on 17.12.19 meeting at the shop at 6pm. More singers are always welcome. Money raised from these two events will go to Centrepoint in Boston and St Andrew’s Hospice for Children, 25.12.19 at 9.30am there will be a Christmas Day service. All welcome.
ii) WI. The Keals WI Book club and Craft group continue to meet on a monthly basis. WI members are now making heart shaped pillows for use in the Oncology ward at Lincoln Hospital. Members continue to collect donations of food for the Spilsby Food Larder, postage stamps for Bransby Horse Centre and also bottle tops for Lincolnshire Air Ambulance. A recent talk be James Forrester, warden of Snipe Dales, was well received, as was Neil Coe who runs an old fashioned sweet shop! The December meeting will be on 19.12.19. and will be the Christmas Lunch. Recently some members took part in a photo shoot to support ‘Women against Violence’. Committee members have now drawn up the 2020 programme. See EKPC web pages. As always, anyone who is interested in joining the WI would be made very welcome if they just come along and see what we are about. Our website also contains detailed information at info@thekealswi.org
iii) Gardening Club. Mr Kingswood’s report was read to the meeting. In it he said that recent meetings were very successful. The Christmas Lunch saw 40 members enjoy a Christmas lunch at Woodthorpe Garden Centre. 10.12.19 will be a games evening with mulled wine & mince pies
iv) Workforce. No report.
v) Newsletter. No report although a recent issue has been circulated to all residents.
7. Proposed Budget for 2020-21 and precept. The Clerk gave a report regarding the Council’s finances and explained the process to new Councillors. After a discussion there was a recommendation to reduce the amount allowed for ‘training’ by £22.71 to give a balanced budget. This would ensure that the precept figure would remain the same as last year, £2,200. A revised budget document will be circulated to Councillors. This was proposed by Cllr Kemp and seconded by Cllr Dromey. All agreed.
8. Presentation of Council’s plan. All residents have recently received a questionaire asking for their views and comments regarding the village and if the Council could make any improvements. There were over 100 responses. These comments have been written into two documents. The first is the Councils four-year plan. The second is a document containing all single responses. After a short discussion it was proposed by Cllr Dromey that the plan be accepted seconded by Cllr Thornley. All agreed. A copy of both documents will be circulated to all homes in the village.
9. Update on proposal for village gates. As explained earlier in the Meeting that this had never been agreed as Council policy. It was first instigated by Mr Dines in his village magazine. The Council have now included it in their four-year plan and will continue to try to take this forward. Possible funding could be ‘Awards for All’. Cllr Aran to forward details. A meeting in the New Year will be arranged with highways, who have given consent for these to be erected. The gates need to be installed by licenced contractors and Cllr Aran offered to forward details so costing could be produced.
10. Finance:
a) Payment of £17.50 to Cracroft Village Hall for 27.11.19.
b) Payment of £25 to Royal British Legion for wreath. Payments of a & b were proposed by Cllr Dromey & Cllr Crowson. All agreed.
c) Half year Audit Report. This document was read to the meeting stating that a half year audit had been satisfactorily completed and no issues were raised. Cllr Smith thanked Mrs Keal for undertaking this audit.
d) Financial Report as at 20 th November 2019 and bank reconciliation statement. Acceptance of the documents was proposed by Cllr Dromey and seconded by Cllr Kemp. All agreed.
11. Report from Broadband Information day. A meeting was held recently and issues and disappointments were shared by all village communities who attended. Comments are:- The mobile phone connectivity should improve when companies are told to allow other suppliers to use their masts, probably in 2020. Broadband have applied for Lincolnshire to be one of the 5G test areas. Fibre broadband is expected to be connected in December. The suggested date is 18.12.19 and it is hope that this dated will be confirmed shortly.
12. Welcome Booklet These are needed for Belvoir Lodge, Brayford House, (Cllr Dromey to deliver) The Willows, and Eversley (Cllr Smith to deliver).
13. Report from Remembrance Service. This service was attended by approx. 70 residents. All felt it was an exceptionally well led service and thanks were expressed to Rt Rev Rossdale and those who organised the event.
14. Any other matters for discussion only or next Agenda – a) Concerns were expressed about the Catchwater drain and who should be maintaining it. Cllr Aron suggested that the Drainage Board or Environment Agency be contacted for further information. b) Cllr Kemp informed the meeting that she is now on the LALC committee and due to attend her first meeting. She asked if the Council would like a report. It was agreed that we would like to know all about any items of interest.
15. Date of next meeting –29th Jan 2020 at 7pm.
Post meeting report submitted by Mr Dines The Parish Magazine will be out in the beginning of January 2020. Any copy for inclusion let him have by 12.12.2019. At the moment he is hoping to continue looking after the village with Alan Buckley and the rest of the workforce volunteers, although he will not be living in the village. He has purchased another 5500 daffodil bulbs to be planted also he has bulbs and winter pansies for the tubs. The metal bench, on the view, still needs rubbing down and painting and the bed there needs tidying up. He has another information board to be placed on the view, in the New Year, it will be half the size of the one in the centre of the village. The planters at the Spilsby end of the village also need repairing. The plant, bulb and garage sale made a total of £337 which he felt was a little disappointing. So far he has spent Daffodil bulbs £165 PA System £50 Pansies £20 Wood to repair planters £38 Petrol/diesel £40 This leaves £24 left to spend in the beginning of January. The Parish Council did pay for the paint and brushes for the benches. After Christmas the workforce will tidy up the village banks, footpaths, junctions and the laybys etc. The hedge opposite Pete Foster's will be cut in Jan/Feb and this will be paid for by the bungalow residents.