Minutes - 26 November 2020
Minutes of Sedgebrook Parish Council’s Virtual Meeting
held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 26 November 2020
Present: Chairman C Wood, Vice Chairman G Mahoney, Cllr J Denton, Cllr C Warby, County Councillor Mark Whittington and Mrs J Bratton (Clerk/Responsible Financial Officer).
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Virtual Meeting of the Parish Council which opened at 19:09 hrs. The Chairman took the opportunity to acknowledge the Parish Council’s achievements during 2020 in thanking the Clerk, Vice Chairman, Parish Councillors and the County and District Councillors for their parts they played in keeping the fabric and infrastructure of the village going during very difficult circumstances.
The Community Cleaner had been carrying on providing a service to the village by keeping it litter free.
Clerk Action: to write thanking the Community Cleaner for continuing to keep the village tidy.
The Parish Council owed their gratitude to Sam Wade for organising networks and communications during the pandemic. The County/District Councillor were also asked to convey their thanks to their respective authorities for the refuse bins which have been emptied and the potholes which have been repaired and for all the work which has been done during Lockdown. Cllr Warby thanked the Chairman for his role on the Parish Council for all the work and time he has dedicated on behalf of the village.
Clerk Action: to write to the County Councillor and District Councillors P Bosworth and H Westropp.
1 Apologies for absence and reasons given – apologies were received from District Councillor Pamela Bosworth.
2 To receive declarations of interest on any item on the Agenda under The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 of the Localism Act 2011.
A declaration of interest was received from Vice Chairman Gill Mahoney on item 9.2, Planning Appeal - Land at Allington Road.
3 Notes of the last virtual meeting held on 22 October 2020
The notes of the last meeting, held on 22 October 2020, were approved, and will be signed by the Chairman at the earliest opportunity.
Chairman Action: to sign the notes.
4 Correspondence
4.1 SKDC had sent a Remittance Advice for the Community Cleaner Grant which had now been paid.
4.2 The Grant application form had been completed and sent to District Councillor Pamela Bosworth for processing.
4.3 SKDC – Planning Application No S20/1870 – Erection of annexe to rear of dwelling at Tanglewood, 29 Allington Road, Sedgebrook.
4.4 Lincolnshire County Council/Lincolnshire Community Foundation sent details of £20000 available to community groups from the Lincolnshire County Council Covid-19 Community Response Fund. It was noted that a copy had been sent to Sam Wade and the Clerk was requested to send a further email to see if the funding would be useful for the Covid-19 Volunteer Group.
Clerk Action: to email Sam Wade.
4.5 SKDC had issued details of a planning appeal – land at Allington Road and the Parish Council was asked if the comments made previously were to be amended or not.
4.6 The Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed the renewal of the data protection fee – the new expiry date is the 26 November 2021.
4.7 A revised quotation for the tree inspection and report had been received from Springwood Tree Services Ltd.
4.8 Environmental SK had also quoted for the tree inspection and report.
4.9 Letter and leaflet received from ElanCity regarding their speed signs etc. It was agreed to keep the details on file for future reference.
The Parish Councillors noted all the correspondence which had been circulated since the 23 October 2020.
5 Public Forum
5.1 The County Councillor reported that Lincolnshire had been put into Tier 3 even though we are well below the national average. The spikes of Covid infections and deaths have been in Boston, Lincoln and along the East Coast. The first review will be on the 16th December. Vaccinations will commence between the 9th and 16th December working down the priority list from Care Homes, NHS staff and then age related. A Covid Test Centre had been set up in the Car Park at the Queen Elizabeth Park in Grantham.
6 Highways - Update on Walkabout with County Councillor Mark Whittington on 28 October 2020 at 2 pm Following on from the information the Chairman had sent to the County Councillor about responsibilities, and the Walkabout with the Chairman and Vice Chairman, the County Councillor had written to the Local Highways Manager, Director of Services, Cllr Richard Davies, and their Legal Services. The Legal Services confirmed there was a legal duty under 41A of the Highways Act that, if there was an accident with the road flooding or there was ice on the road, LCC would be liable. Network Rail have now jetted out the culverts and pipe from the road gully at the railway bridge on Allington Road. It was found that a 60 metre pipe needs repairing – the cause of the damage was due to directional drilling which was probably damaged during the late 1980s early 1990s - about the time when the road started flooding. Landowners may not be maintaining drainage ditches for which they have a legal responsibility and this is a matter that the County Council as the relevant responsible authority will investigate further.
With regards to the water at the bend on Allington Road, the County Councillor will also chase this
matter which had been outstanding for 3 years.
Referring to the continuing flooding investigations the County Councillor is still waiting for a response from Paul Brooks (Head of Flooding). The County Councillor will chase this up again. When water enters into a property, it leads to a Section 19 investigation. Under normal circumstances there are 30 to 40 Section 19s in a year. From Spring 1919 to February 2020, when there was heavy rainfall, the numbers of Section 19s increased to 160 and the authority is still working through them.
7 District Councillor Funding – update on application for funding from the Ward Member Grant Scheme
The application form had been completed and submitted to District Councillor Pam Bosworth for a grant.
8 Recreation Field
8.1 Playing Field Sign – the refurbished sign has been erected. It was unanimously resolved to remove an old sign and an empty green plastic bottle tied to the post which had a stock of dog bags in.
Chairman Action: to take both the superfluous sign and the green plastic bottle off the post.
8.2 Additional sign been erected on the playing field regarding disposal of dog waste
Following a short discussion on the sign which had been placed on the Recreation Field, the matter will be taken care of.
9 Planning
9.1 Planning Application No S20/1870/HSH/CATSUT/PC1 – erection of annexe to rear of dwelling – Tanglewood, 29 Allington Road – the planning application was for a Play Room and it will be turned into a room for sleepovers for the children’s friends. It was unanimously resolved there were no objections to the planning application.
Clerk Action: to inform SKDC prior to the deadline of the 27th November.
9.2 Planning Appeal – Land at Allington Road, Sedgebrook – to amend comments?
The Vice Chairman refrained from commenting regarding the Planning Appeal discussion. The Chairman outlined that as a responsible local authority, the Parish Council would support sympathetic and sustainable development that benefitted the village and satisfied national and local planning policies. The application that was now subject to an appeal, was however, one that the Parish Council could not support. There are a number of significant matters that were highlighted in the original determination of the application by SKDC that despite the applicants appeal statement are still matters that concern the Parish Council. These include the basis of whether the development should have considered as 'infill' or an extension of the village envelope and hence an 'urbanisation' of the locality. Surface water flooding, the density of development with its internal layout that appeared to compromise road safety within the development and proposed access arrangements onto the Allington Road were other matters of concern. There was also information that indicated that a significant foul water asset of Anglican Water crossed through the site. Despite having time to develop their proposals and attend to outstanding matters highlighted in the original determination the applicant in their appeal statement was still only able to offer that outstanding matters of concern could be addressed by the use of suitable planning conditions as well as dismissing concerns about flooding as being merely the views of neighbouring properties who were objecting to the proposed development. The Chairman would draft a response to the Planning Inspector for approval of Parish Councillors.
Clerk Action: when the points had been agreed by the Parish Councillors, the Clerk to upload the comments on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.
10 Tree Management – Risk Assessment – quotations obtained for the annual inspection
Three quotations had been received from Lockhart Garratt, Springwood Tree Services Ltd and Environmental SK. Following discussion, it was unanimously agreed to accept Environmental SK’s quotation and request the survey is carried out.
Clerk Action: to write to Environmental SK accordingly. To write to Lockhart Garratt and Springwood Tree Services thanking them for taking the time to arrange a quotation.
11 Footpaths –
11.1 Footpath linking School Lane to Village Street – update
Andy Savage the Senior Countryside Officer had found that the footpath was in a good state of repair and couldn’t see any evidence of horses’ hooves along the footpath. He will, however, keep monitoring the situation in the coming months. Cllr Warby informed the meeting the footpath was currently muddy as it is being used more. The Parish Council would leave the matter with Andy Savage to monitor.
12 Finance (The Clerk)
12.1 Verification of Bank Statements/Bank Reconciliations – Cllr Denton had continued to verify the bank statements with the Bank Reconciliations via post up to the 5 November 2020.
12.2 Further discussion and final agreement on the Budget and Precept for the year ending 31 March 2022 – following the diligence of the Clerk in developing a number of budgetary scenarios and the potential financial implications that could arise from various liabilities the Parish Council have, Councillors, taking account of the current financial pressures on the community in general, unanimously agreed that a small 2% increase in the precept for 2021/22 would enable services to be maintained and liabilities met.
Clerk Action: to request SKDC Finance Department to send out the paperwork.
12.3.1 Payments – Community Cleaner – it was resolved to pay the Community Cleaner up to the 30 November 2020.
12.3.2 Real Living Wage increase in hourly rate – this had been applied to the Community Cleaner’s payments with effect from November’s pay date.
Clerk Action: to inform the Community Cleaner of the new hourly rate.
12.4 Payment – Parish Clerk – it had been resolved to pay the Clerk her basic payment up to 30 November 2020
12.5 Payment – P E Hempstead & Sons – it had been resolved to pay P E Hempstead & Sons £246.12 for October’s grass-cutting.
12.6 Payment - £228.00 to Rocket Global Ventures Ltd – it had been resolved to make the pre-payment for the refurbishment of the sign in the Recreation Field.
13 Items to be discussed at the next meeting – no additional item to be added
14 Date of the next “virtual” meeting:
Thursday 14 January 2021
The Chairman closed the meeting at 20.45 hrs.