January 2019 Minutes
MAREHAM LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 16th January 2019
Mrs S Millen. (In the Chair)
Councillors Present:
Mr P Chilvers
Mr R Cox.
Miss P Fytche
Mr A Hawkes.
Mr J Huggins.
Mr A Pinder.
Miss L McLachlan did not attend the meeting
37 members of the public also attended.
The Chairman reminded members of the public that they were not allowed to make any comments during the Council meeting.
2767 Apologies for Absence.
Apologies were received from Mr C Wentzell who was working.
2768 Declaration of interests.
There were no interests to declare.
2769 Minutes of the meeting held on 21st November 2018
The minutes of the meeting held on 21st November 2018 had already been circulated to the Parish Councillors. It was proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Hawkes that the minutes were approved. All voted in favour of this, they were signed by the Chairman.
2770 Matters Arising.
All matters arising will be dealt with under the relevant items on the agenda.
2771. Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting held on 8th January 2019.
These minutes had also been given to the Cllrs. It was proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Hawkes that the minutes ware agreed. All Cllrs voted in favour, the minutes were signed by the Chairman.
2772 Matters arising from minutes of extraordinary meeting.
There were no matters arising from these minutes.
2773 Correspondence.
A Parishioner had suggested that the dates of Parish Council meetings should be advertised in the Mareham News.
2774 Response from Parishioners to the Parish Council letter regarding the petition received.
Letters and emails from the Parishioners were read out at the meeting. These were discussed and it was agreed that comments made in this correspondence would not require any response. However, all questions contained in these should be dealt with. These are as follows:
Q. Has a room been booked for future meetings?
A. The Community Centre will be used for meetings for the next 6 months.
Q. Why was it considered necessary to mention the Enforcement notice and were the Parish Council entitled to divulge this?
A. When the letter was sent this was considered to be a potential safety issue and considered relevant when looking at the venue for meetings. The Enforcement notice was published on the ELDC website which was available for all to see. The enforcement issue had now been dealt with and the notice withdrawn so is no longer relevant.
Q. Does the Parish Council Support the Community Centre?
A. The Parish Council were unable to use the Community Centre because they had already paid in advance to use the Bowls Club until the end of 2018. The issue of where meetings should be held in 2019 was discussed at the October 2018 meeting and a motion was passed that meetings would be held in the Community Centre for a period of 6 months to assess its suitability.
2775 Vote of no confidence in the Chairman
At the last Parish Council meeting the Clerk had been asked to add this item to the agenda. Cllr Chilvers suggested that this should be deferred until the report had been received from the Monitoring Officer. The Chairman said that even if the vote was successful, she would remain in office as she had been advised that, death or resignation aside, her term of office continued until the May elections and no amount of votes of no confidence would change that. It was proposed by Cllr Hawkes that the item be removed from the agenda altogether; seconded by Cllr Fytche. 4 Cllrs voted in favour of this, 3 abstained. The proposal was therefore carried.
2776 Planning.
S/114/01682/18 Outline planning permission has been given for the erection of a dwelling on the site of the existing village hall which is to be demolished. There was a list of conditions which will have to be complied with.
2777 Report from the local police officer.
The PCSO had not attended meetings or send a report for some time. The Clerk will contact the police officer and ask if anyone would be able to send a monthly report or attend any meetings. If this is not possible the item will be removed from future agendas. Proposed by Andrew Pinder, seconded by Cllr Hawkes. All voted in favour.
2778 Finance.
The following items were presented for payment:
R H Hobson & Sons £108.00 flailing dyke and trimming hedges on the allotment.
Mareham le Fen Community Centre £42.00
D Lawrence £165.00 grass/hedge cutting to 31st December.
HM Customs & Excise £150.00 tax on Clerk’s salary.
Mrs S Hendy £226.76 Expenses to 11.01.19
It was proposed by Cllr P Fytche and seconded by Cllr A Hawkes that these were paid, all voted in favour.
Precept
Cllrs inspected the figures for expenses incurred during the previous year. The Chairman had spoken to an official at ELDC regarding the figure of £3000 which had been allowed for lighting and had been informed that Parish Councils were not now going to be responsible for footway lighting as ELDC had changed their Policy. This means that no provision is necessary for lighting. In addition to the unknown cost of landscaping the Cemetery extension it was suggested the Parish Council should look at where money could be spent in the Community to repair or improve facilities. It was also suggested that a fund could be set up to help people and organisations in the Community. It was therefore agreed by all that the Precept should remain the same as 2018/19, i.e. £11,000.00.
2779 Councillor’s visit to Solicitor.
Cllrs Chilvers and Huggins had visited the solicitor to ask for clarification on a Covenant regarding the old Village Hall. This Covenant is still on the Land Register and stated that the Hall should be kept in good order and made available to all, however, the Solicitor said that the Covenant was between the original owner and the original Trustees so unlikely to be enforceable.
2780 Use of emails to send information to Councillors.
During the last weeks there had been excessive use of emails, some of them lacked respect to others. Cllrs discussed this and it was agreed that in future only very important items would be sent and Cllrs would receive copies of letters with their agendas. Cllr Chilvers agreed to draft an Email/Communications policy for consideration Proposed by Cllr Chilvers and seconded by Cllr Hawkes, all voted in favour.
2781 ‘Mareham Angels’ to discuss Community help proposal.
Cllr Huggins had prepared a document giving ideas of how vulnerable members of the community could be helped. Cllr Hawkes said he thought that this was a good idea but Cllrs would have to be very careful how they dealt with vulnerable people. Cllr Pinder agreed with Cllr Hawkes and also said that a lot of care should be taken when setting up such a scheme. All Cllrs agreed that it was a good idea, The Chairman suggested that a working party of 3 Cllrs should be set up to discuss the scheme in more detail. This was proposed by Cllr Millen and seconded by Cllr Huggins and agreed by all. Cllrs Cox, Millen and Huggins agreed to form a working party and Parishioners would be encouraged to join the venture. All Cllrs agreed that an advert should be put in the Mareham News telling Villagers about the scheme and asking for their participation and opinions on this idea and that non-Cllrs could be asked to join the working party as deemed appropriate.
2782 Cemetery to discuss Cemetery Memorial safety Policy.
The Clerk had contacted the Clerk at Conningsby regarding care of War graves, as suggested by Cllr Avison. She had sent some phone/email addresses which Conningsby Parish Council had found helpful. The discussion on the Cemetery Memorial Safety Policy was deferred until the February meeting.
2783 Freedom of Information policy.
The Parish Council should have a Freedom of Information policy. It was decided that a policy should be set up, proposed by Cllr A Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Huggins. Cllr Pinder will look into the rules which apply to this. A proposal was made by Cllr Cox and seconded by Cllr Fytche that the Clerk should be authorised to reply to questions relating to the Freedom of Information Act without a meeting having to be called, all agreed.
2784 Grass Cutting and management.
The Contractor was still cutting the hedges at the Cemetery, he had been unable to burn the cuttings because the wind had not been in the right direction. The Chairman had spoken to the contractor on site regarding the height and width of the hedge on Horncastle Road and the Contractor agreed that it would be a beneficial to reduce the height and width of the hedges, as it was really getting too high and its width was beginning to encroach over some of the memorial kerbstones. It would still be thick enough so that the birds could nest in it. It was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Pinder that this was done, all voted in favour. Cllr Chilvers was asked to talk to the contractor to ask him for details of the rates he would be charging for next season. And ask him to deal with the hedges.
2785 Code of Conduct and Standing Orders.
New standing orders have been issued, the Chairman will send copies of these to the Cllrs and they can be discussed at the next meeting. The Clerk will print copies of the Code of Conduct for all Cllrs, they will be attached to February’s agenda.
2786 Verge Cutting.
It was decided that the verge cutting should be put out to tender for 2019. The Chairman will draft a letter for the Clerk to send to Contractors.
2787 Parish matters.
Cllrs Chilvers and Cox had visited a resident who complained that trees at the front of her property had still not been cut back despite being reported last year. Cllrs will investigate ready for next month’s meeting.
It had been noted that the footpaths in Revesby had been cleared. The Clerk was asked to contact Cllr Aron to make enquires about clearing the path between Mareham and Revesby.
There is still some concern about the amount of dog waste in the Village.
It was also requested that bus stop repairs on Fieldside bus stop and road safety were put on next month’s agenda
The meeting closed at 9.38.