March 2020 Minutes
A meeting of East Keal Parish Council Meeting was held on 18.3.2020 at Cracroft Village Hall, Boston Road, West Keal at 7pm.
Welcome. Cllr Grahame Smith welcomed everyone to the meeting for attending especially in light of the coronavirus situation.
Present. Cllr Smith, Cllr Thornley, Cllr Dromey, Cllr Ward, Cllr Crowson & Clerk to the Council, Mrs E Martin.
Public Forum. No issues were raised.
1. Apologies for Absence. Cllr Swanson, Cllr Aron & Cllr Kemp. The reason for her absence was accepted.
2. Notes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 29th January 2020 to be approved as the minutes. It was resolved that the notes be accepted as minutes of the meeting, all agreed and the minutes were then signed.
3. Reports from representatives on outside bodies:-
a) County Councillor. No Report.
b) District Councillor. Cllr Swanson had submitted a verbal report to the Chair which included:
i) ELDC Budget for 2020/2021. Total requirement for 20/21 is £82million. This equates to under £5 a year rise for band D households.
ii) Waste Collection. 20 new vehicles have been procured. This means there will be some changes to collection arrangements. All households have received a letter informing them of the new dates.
iii) Community Grants. Cllr Swanson will have approximately £150 to allocate to each Parish during 20/21. There is also an organisation ICS Support Services which helps write bids on a ‘no win no fee’ basic. Contact 01623 821587 or email info@ics-funding.co.uk
iv) ELDC priorities to 2030 are: Enable & supply homes, support town centres, natural environment, Healthy & Active Lives, Healthy & growing business environment, improve equality of opportunity, create income for quality services for residents including the use of technology.
v) Food Hygiene. A Skegness food operator has been fined and banned. ELDC Enforcement has stopped vehicles and taken action on illegal waste carriage.
vi) The Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoor Festival is set to launch on 2021.
c) Alert All very quiet.
d) Village Hall Committee. A discussion was held regarding the recent Coffee Morning. It was felt that it was a successful venture financial but the impact on the committee outweighed any financial reward. The Treasurer raised the positive/negative issues in regards to purchasing a ‘Music Licence’ which is due for renewal. Debate ensued but the majority agreed that not having a licence may impact negatively on the potential ‘hirers’ decisions, children’s parties etc. Additionally, music quizzes may need to play some tunes. It was agreed to renew licence. The quiz nights continue to be popular and there has been a slight increase in Village Hall bookings recently. The recent Murder Mystery Evening was very successful raising £125.00 and further fundraising opportunities were discussed. Suggestions include a Music night with tea and biscuits - Anne-Marie to contact Ukulele group to find out about availability. The date of the next meeting is 1st April 2020. Unfortunately due to the currant situation all future events being held at the Village Hall are postponed.
e) Village Groups
i. PCC. The Church has recently held a successful quiz, fish and chip supper. Again, due to the situation all forthcoming Church services have been cancelled and the Mothering Saturday coffee morning is postponed.
ii. WI. No Report.
iii) Garden Club. The recent meeting was very successful and membership is now at 49. Unfortunately, all future events are postponed.
v) Workforce. New planters have been built over the winter months by Sue and Alan Buckley and are now in place and planted. Cllr Smith thanked them for doing this and it was agreed a letter of thanks be sent. Clerk to undertake this. Other members of the workforce have already been cutting the verges and again Cllr Smith thanked all for helping. Forthcoming Litter Pick. It was agreed that now is not a suitable time to arrange such an event and residents are to be encouraged to pick up litter if they see any.
4. Declaration of Interest (if any) None given
5. Planning a. S/204/02323/9. The Council have responded – no objection.
6. Finance:
a) Payment of £17.50 to Cracroft Village Hall for 1 meeting 18th March 2020
b) Clerks expenses - £15.22 refreshments for Computer Course & postage.
c) Clerk’s Salary of £1125.60.
d) Clerk’s Tax of £281.40.
e) Reimbursement to Mrs E Martin of £150 for internet expenses. It was proposed by Cllr Dromey and seconded by Cllr Thornley that items a to e be accepted. All agreed.
f) Financial Report as at 18.3.20 and Bank Reconciliation statement. It was proposed by Cllr Dromey and seconded by Cllr Thornley that these documents be accepted.
g) Approve payment for 2020/21 of LALC Fees of £143.17 and LALC Training fees of £102.00 for year 2020/21 to be paid after 1.4.20.
7. Welcome booklet – Residents are moving into Keal Manor. Cllr Smith will deliver a pack.
8. Annual Parish Meeting. This event is now postponed. Cllr Smith offered to cancel the speaker. It was agreed to assess the situation in May and if there is no improvement then Cllr Smith will write a report to be printed and this will be circulated to all residents.
9. New LCC Website. Cllr Smith and the Clerk attended an LCC training session about the new website that is to be launched soon. East Keal web site is part of their site so it was felt that this is the ideal opportunity to update our pages. Councillors were encouraged to view the site and share ideas as to how they feel the content could be better organised. The Parish Council do have to, by law, display certain statutory and financial documents but then we can add our own information.
10. Update on the leasing of land owned by the Council. The Council own 11.27 acres of land which give an income of £850 per year. This figure has not been increased recently. After some discussion Willson’s wrote to the client and the outcome is that we have accepted an increase of £150 per year. Willsons kindly did not charge us for this service. The agreement has been duly signed by both parties and copies filed with the Clerk, Willson’s and the client.
11. Council 4-year plan
a) Broadband update. High Speed Fibre Broadband to the house is now available in East Keal. Do speak to you provider if you wish to upgrade. Clerk to notify all on Email group.
b) Setting up a local history group. Sadly this is now postponed.
c) Computer and technology course. Two session have been held and those attending have found them most informative. The trainers are responding to the needs of those attending and to date emails, photos and security have been discussed. Additional topics were requested and they were able to offer the Council an additional 4 sessions. Sadly all are now postponed. It is hoped to reschedule them for the Autumn.
d) Decorative Gates. Cllr Thornley has obtained a quote from Everton Construction stating that the cost of installing gates will be £1350.00. This includes the concrete and road management. We still have to purchase the gates. It was agreed that the Council will only go ahead with this project if funding can be found. Cllr Thornley had also contacted ‘Awards for All’ but could not take the grant application forward as they needed this to be completed by the Chair.
12. Highways
a) Fallen Tree on Blacksmith’s Lane. This has been reported to LCC Highways as the owners cannot be located. It has been issued a job number.
b) Spring Water on School Lane and Fen Lane. These have been reported to LCC and a job number issued.
c) Speed Limit possibility of a reduction to 30mph on the Main Road. There is currently a proposal that part of the A16 through the village have a 30mph applied. This is due for discussion by LCC Highways in May/June. It is hoped that the Chair will attend the meeting and be able to speak.
d) Concerns regarding the length of time it is taking to repair potholes. Cllrs and residents are most unhappy that it is taking up to four months to get some potholes repaired.
13. Concerns regarding bins at the side of a property on Church Lane. The situation has been clarified that the resident does have a licence to site an industrial bin there. 1
14. Community Engagement Strategy. This document has been circulated prior to the meeting. Two slight amendments were made and the review date amended to four years. The acceptance of the document was proposed by Cllr Dromey and seconded by Cllr Ward.
15. Concerns raised regarding dates of village events. Cllr Smith was concerned that the village was holding 3 quizzes within about two weeks and wondered if organisations could liaise. He then explained that the new LCC website might be able to give access for groups to enter event/view dates in an effort to avoid clashes.
16. Any other matters for discussion only or next Agenda.
a) Wildflower patches. Cllr was asked to see if they could identify suitable sites for consideration.
b) Social Area. There is a possibility of a piece of land in the village being donated to a charitable trust. It could be made available for the benefit of the parish. It is hopeful that a councillor could be one of the trustees. The aim would be for it to be used for the benefit of the Parish.
c) Land for Sale. The plot of land between the garage and Fen Lane is now on the market.
d) Resilience Forum. LCC have set up a resilience forum to enable Parishes to share information with them as to where individuals might need extra help or where communities are able to self-help. In an effort to support those in the village who need or might need in the future a document has been circulate to all residents asking these questions. Vulnerable residents have already been identified and in some instances, Cllrs have already tried to contact them, with varying degrees of success. A spread sheet with this information is being held by the Council. LCC are requesting regular update as to the situation in the village.
The Parish Council have been informed that we can set up a team of ‘trusted’ volunteers to help those requesting help. In fact, it is the Councillors duty to support their residents. They stated that in these extraordinary times we cannot DBS check all volunteers and we must let residents help. To this aim the information on the spreadsheet will be used to link volunteers to those who are requesting help. No doubt this situation will change quickly. Any offers of help/or need of help please inform a Cllr or the Clerk.
17. Date of next meeting 20th May 2020.