February 2019 Minutes
MAREHAM LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 27th February 2019
Mrs S Millen. (In the Chair)
Councillors Present:
Mr P Chilvers
Miss P Fytche
Mr A Hawkes.
Mr J Huggins.
District Councillor B Aron.
13 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.
2788 Apologies for Absence.
Apologies were received from Mr R Cox. Miss L McLachlan who was working, Mr A Pinder, who had to look after his children, Mr C Wentzell who was ill and County Councillor S Avison who had to attend another meeting.
2789 Declaration of interests.
No one had any interests to declare.
2790 Minutes of the meeting held on 16th January 2019
The minutes of the meeting held on 16th January 2019 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 duly signed by the Chairman.
2791 Matters Arising.
There were no matters arising from these minutes.
2792 Correspondence.
Mareham le Fen Community Centre Management Committee who said that Cllr Huggins had said that the Community Centre was “unfit for purpose” and that it was “illegal”. They asked why these statements had been made. Cllr Huggins said he had been unhappy with the lighting, which was a safety issue, this has now been dealt with by the Mareham CCMC and Cllr Huggins had spoken to the Chairman of the CCMC and was happy with the results of this conversation.
The Mareham CCMC also asked why Cllr Chilvers had felt it necessary to make enquiries about the Old Village Hall when he already knew the answers to the questions, and also enquired about the unnecessary cost of this to the Parish Council. Cllrs Chilvers and Huggins had visited the solicitor on behalf of the Parish Council to ask about the Covenant on the Old Hall. All other information was given by the solicitor to clarify the point and this information had not been asked for. No charge had been made by the solicitor.
Parishioners had emailed the Clerk to give their concerns regarding the condition of the Memorial Lawn and to ask if the Parish Council could take back control of the maintenance of the Lawn. The Parish Council is no longer the Trustee for the Lawn and the Mareham CCMC stated that they will be repairing the Lawn area when the weather conditions are right. The Clerk will write to the Parishioners and explain this and give also their concerns to the Trustees.
LCC had sent an email informing the Parish Council who could be contacted with traffic queries.
LCC notified the Parish Council of the contact details for highways problems.
The Booking Secretary for Mareham CCMC had confirmed the booking dates for Parish Council Meetings.
2793 Response from Parishioners to the Parish Council letter regarding the petition.
A Parishioner had written concerning the Petition sent out last year, the letter should have been read out at the last meeting but had unfortunately been missed. In his letter the Parishioner said that the Parish Council had approached every other venue and he felt that this was done in order to avoid using the Community Centre. Cllrs said that it was not their intention to avoid the Community Centre, they had a duty to explore all venues. The Parishioner also asked about the Parish Council’s rules on Declaration of Interest, whether a Cllr can vote as a private individual and have another vote as a Parish Cllr. These rules can be seen in the code of conduct which is now on the Parish Council website. Councillors can vote on issues at a Council meeting and also give an opinion as a Parishioner. The Clerk will reply to the Parishioner.
An email had also been sent querying the reply sent by the Parish Council to a previous letter. The following questions were raised:
Q) Does the Parish Council support the Community Centre.A) Yes, it does
Q) How is this support demonstrated? A) The Parish Council are using the Hall for its meetings.
Q) Does the Parish Council feel that reluctantly holding the meetings in the Centre demonstrate this support? A) The Parish Council had a duty to check all other venues before deciding where the meetings were to be held. This was not because they were reluctant to use the Centre.
Q) Does the Parish Council believe that the Community Centre is a facility that fulfils a significant role in the Community? A) Yes, the Community Centre is an essential part of the Village Community as are other organisations.
Q) Does the Parish Council feel that the Bowls Club is worthier of support? A) No.
Q) Has the Parish Council provided any funding to the Bowls Club? If so, how much and when? A) The Parish Council gave a grant of £2000.00 to the Bowls Club in January 2011 for the purchase of land for a new bowling green. Cllrs pointed out that the also paid £3000 a year to the VHMV for the maintenance of the Old Hall from July 2002 until July 2015, (which included the Parish Council’s rent for meetings). This was discontinued when complaints were received that the money was not being used for maintenance as was intended.
Q) Does the Parish Council agree that attendance at meetings has increased? A) yes.
Q) Does the Parish Council feel that this is a good thing? A) Obviously, The Parish Council welcome a higher attendance at their meetings and feel that greater Parishioners engagement can only be a good thing.
Councillors discussed this letter in detail and said that they hope a line can now be drawn under this issue. Clr Hawkes that it would be beneficial for the Mareham CCMC and the Cllrs to meet and discuss any problems when they arose and try and work together for the good of the Village. Cllrs all agreed that this would be a good idea and a meeting should be arranged when the new Council is elected. This was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Huggins.
2794 Planning.
S/114/00102/19. Detailed particulars relating to outline erection of 38 dwellings and associated garages at the field north of the A155. Cllrs looked at the plans and felt that they had no objections. Cllr Fytche asked if some landscaping and planting could be done around the open areas and round the pond before the properties were built. Cllrs agreed with this, saying that this would help soften the affect of the houses. The Clerk will contact ELDC and ask this.
Cllr Fytche said that an application for a Section 106 Agreement could still be made at this stage if anyone was interested.
2795 Report from the local police officer.
The PCSO was unable to attend the meeting but sent the following report:
1 abandoned call. (Children playing with the phone)
2 suspicious circumstances. 1, A white vehicle in the area. 2, a suspicious email received.
1 report of hare coursing.
Report of a vehicle parked on the pavement.
2796 Finance.
The following items were presented for payment:
£225.00 Mr D Lawrence hedge cutting to 31.01.19
£13.45 Wave water to 08.01.19
It was proposed by Cllr P Fytche and seconded by Cllr A Hawkes that these were paid, all voted in favour.
2797 Bus shelter at Fieldside bus stop and road safety issues.
The Chairman and Cllr Fytche had been to inspect the bus shelter and said that the main issue seemed to be the mud around it. The verge is owned by LCC so if any work is done it must be carried out by a contractor approved by them. It was suggested that the area of hardstanding around the bus stop was cleared to see how big it was before any decisions were made.
It was also suggested that a bench could be put into the bus shelter (bolted down), the Chairman will get some costings for benches. The guttering, facia, the metal bench and the tree at the back of the shelter are all in need of work. The Clerk will ask local maintenance firms for quotes and Cllr Chilvers will ask the gardening contractor to trim the tree.
2798 Problems with dog waste in the Village.
It had been reported that there was a problem with dogs fouling in the Village, owners are not clearing up behind their animals. This problem is worse in the School Lane/Ormsby House Lane area and all along Fieldside. It was proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Hawkes that the Clerk should contact the dog warden and ask also ask if they could attend a Parish Council meeting to help combat the problem.
2799 Large and overhanging trees near Mowbreck Farm and generally
The Chairman had accompanied District Cllr B Aron and Officials from LCC Highways department around the Village. She had shown them the trees which were causing a problem to a resident and asked if they could be dealt with. The Highways Officer Mr Andy Ratcliffe said he would contact the tree officer so that it can be put on the Highway’s list to be dealt with as soon as possible. The Clerk will write to the resident and inform her of this. Cllr Aron will chase it up with the Highways department.
2800 Mareham Angels to discuss Community help project.
Cllr Huggins had been researching this project and gave the Cllrs some details of his suggestions, which included splitting the Village into different areas and appointing a volunteer to deal with each area. Cllr Hawkes said he still had reservations about this and was worried that some residents would think it would be too intrusive. Cllr Hawkes said he still thought that a card put in a window would be the best way to summon help, Cllr Huggins said that he wanted the scheme to be used for help in other areas as well such as transport, shopping etc. Cllr Fytche asked if the scheme was to be funded by the Parish Council but was informed that the Parish Council would only be supporting it and not funding it. Cllr Huggins said he would find out details of insurance etc and then find out any legal implications there might be. He would also set out a framework of how it could be set up so there would be more details for potential volunteers.
2801. Cemetery to discuss Cemetery Memorial safety Policy.
The Cemetery Policy had already been circulated to the Cllrs to look at and check. It was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Chilvers that the policy should be accepted. All Cllrs voted in favour of this. The Chairman said that a copy of this should be put on the website, on the notice board and at the Cemetery. The Clerk will deal with this.
2802. Freedom of Information policy.
The Chairman presented a specimen Freedom of Information Policy for consideration by Councillors at the next meeting. She asked the Clerk to copy it and take it to all Cllrs before the next meeting.
2803. Petition Policy.
A draft Petition Policy template had been prepared and was discussed by Cllr and adjustments were made. Following these adjustments, it was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Fytche that this policy was adopted. All voted in favour.
2804. Email Policy to receive and discuss draft email policy.
Cllr Chilvers had prepared an email policy which had been circulated to the Parish Cllrs. Cllrs suggested a couple of suggestions were made for additions to this policy. The Chairman made a couple of suggestions which were approved by all the Cllrs. The Clerk will prepare the finished document for Cllrs approval at the next meeting.
2805. Parish Council Elections
The Clerk had attended a meeting held by ELDC regarding the forthcoming elections, she told the meeting that nominations had to be taken, by hand, to Tedder Hall at Manby between Tuesday 12th March and Wednesday 3rd April. And gave other details regarding detail of nominations. Some nomination papers were distributed at the meeting and the Clerk said that anyone else who required the forms or any help should contact her.
2806. Dates for Parish Council Meetings, should they be advertised in the Mareham News.
These dates are already included in the Village Diary in the magazine so no action was required.
2807. Grass Cutting and management.
Several Cllrs had been approached by Parishioners who said how nice the Cemetery was looking and praising the work done by the contactor. The contractor had asked if the Parish Council could arrange for the hawthorn hedge (at the side of the football pitch) to be cut by contractors with a flail mower. This will be arranged.
Mr Lawrence had been asked to continue with the Village maintenance for another year. He wrote to say he would be happy to do this but his charges would have to be put up. This was approved by all Cllrs, proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Chilvers. The Clerk will write to inform Mr Lawrence of the decision and also ask him to repaint the Cemetery gates.
2808 Code of Conduct and Standing Orders.
The Code of Conduct had been approved at the last A G M. The Clerk had already issued all Cllrs with a copy.
New Standing Orders had now been issued. All Cllrs had been given a copy and Cllr Hawkes proposed that an informal meeting was held to agree any alterations, this was seconded by Cllr Fytche and all Cllrs agreed.
2809 Verge Cutting.
The Chairman had drafted out a letter to send out for tenders for cutting the verges around the Village, they were circulated to the Cllrs for approval and will now be sent out by the Clerk. This was proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Hawkes, all voted in favour.
2810 Parish matters.
Cllr Aron said that he was pleased that the Highway officials had been able to see first hand the problems in the Village. He said that there was to be a consultation on Heritage services. He reported that Council Tax would go up, Lincolnshire County Council would be allowing 2% more for adult social care and there would also be a 2.9% general increase.
It was reported that the footpath between Mareham and Revesby was on the list for clearing but was not a priority so would not be done in the near future. Some of the potholes would be repaired but others would be left until a later date.
Cllr Fytche reported that the bench at Revesby Corner had been bent and needed painting. This will be put on the agenda for the next meeting.
The signpost for Wood Enderby is on the list to be done by LCC but Cllr Aron said ELDC were responsible for the road sign for Watery Lane so the Clerk will report this again.
The Chairman asked if the following items could be put on next month’s agenda;
1. Review of the Clerk’s salary.
2. L A L C training scheme.
The meeting closed at 9.20