March 2019 Minutes
MAREHAM LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 20th March 2019.
Vice Chairman Mr P Chilvers (In the Chair)
Councillors Present:
Miss P Fytche
Mr A Hawkes.
Mr C Wentzell.
District Councillor S Avison
9 members of the public also attended.
The Vice Chairman reminded members of the public that they were not allowed to make comments during the Council meeting.
2811. Apologies for Absence.
Apologies were received from Mr R Cox, because of a bereavement. Mr J Huggins and
Miss I McLachlan who were working, Mrs S Millen, who was helping an ill family friend. County Councillor B Aron who was attending another meeting and Mr A Pinder.
2812. Declaration of interests.
No one had any interests to declare.
2813. Minutes of the meeting held on 27th February 2019
The minutes of the meeting held on 27th February 2019 had already been circulated to the Parish Councillors. Cllr Chilvers asked if the comments made by a parishioner at the February meeting could be included in the minutes.
Cllr Chilvers had been accused of fly tipping by the parishioner and was concerned that this could affect the forthcoming election and could also affect his business. All Cllrs present agreed that this should be included in the minutes, following this inclusion it was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Fytche that the minutes were approved. All voted in favour, they were duly signed by the Vice Chairman.
2814. Correspondence.
Community Lincs, who deal with the Parish Council’s insurance, had written to notify the Council that, in future, the insurance would be dealt with directly by Zurich Insurance.
Team Know How contacted the Clerk to ask if the insurance on the Council laptop should be renewed, Cllrs decided not to renew it.
2815. Planning.
Outline planning application for one dwelling at Rhodes Garden, Mareham le Fen PE22 7RA. Cllrs had not all checked the plans on the website. The Clerk asked that Cllrs check them and notify her of their opinions, she will then forward these to the planning department. Comments have to be sent by 28th March 2019.
2816. Report from the local police officer.
The PCSO notified the Clerk that the police would no longer be sending out reports to Parish Councils and gave details of the website which could be used to check on events. Cllr Avison said that the website was currently 3 months in arrears. This item will be taken off the agenda.
2817. Finance.
The following items were presented for payment:
£254.82 LALC annual subscription.
£42.00 Mareham le Fen Community Centre rent of room to 28.02.19
£575.00 LDTBF allotment rent to 06.04.19
£224.00 Mr D Lawrence hedge cutting etc to 28.02.19
£150.33 Mrs S Hendy clerk’s expenses to 31.03.19
It was proposed by Cllr P Fytche and seconded by Cllr A Hawkes that these were paid, all voted in favour.
2818. Mareham Angels.
Cllr Huggins was unable to attend the meeting so this item will be deferred until the April Meeting.
2819. Email policy to be signed.
The email policy had been approved at the February meeting so, following the adjustment agreed at last month’s meeting it was signed by the Vice Chairman.
2820. Freedom of information policy to be discussed.
The Chairman had prepared a freedom of information policy for Cllrs to discuss. It had been circulated to Cllrs before the meeting. It was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Wentzell that this was accepted. All Cllrs voted in favour and the document was signed by the Vice Chairman.
2821. Annual Parish meeting.
It was decided by Cllrs that the meeting should begin at 7.30 as usual. There would be no parishioner’s question time, any comments or questions could be asked at the A P M. The booking secretary had informed the Clerk that the room in use for the ordinary meetings would only hold 40 people. Cllrs felt that this would be large enough for the meeting. The Clerk was asked to contact the various Clubs and organisations in the Village and ask them to attend the meeting and give a short report if they wished.
2822. Grass cutting and management.
The contractor had been asked to prune the trees at the rear of the bus shelter and he would do this as soon as possible.
2823. Standing Orders for discussion.
It had been hoped to hold a special meeting to discuss the standing orders but this had not been possible. It was therefore decided to defer this item until it could be discussed fully.
2824. Verge cutting.
The Clerk had sent out letter’s for tenders for verge cutting but so far, she had only received one reply. This item will be included again on the agenda for the next meeting.
2825. Review of Clerk’s salary.
The Clerk was being paid monthly in arears by standing order. She was currently paid for 20 hours but had been working for 30-40 hours. It was decided that the standing order should remain the same and the Clerk claim monthly for any extra work.
2826. LALC Training Scheme.
This will be deferred until the next meeting.
2827. Repairs to bench, bus shelter and notice boards.
Local builders had been contacted to ask if they would give a quote for repairing the bus shelter, only one reply had been received so this item was deferred until the next meeting the Clerk was asked to contact other builders for quotes. The Clerk reported that the notice board at Tumby was broken and was no longer in the ground properly and the Perspex in the notice board at the post office was broken. The Clerk will contact Tunby Parish Council to ask them to contribute towards the cost of repairs and ask local builders for quotes for repairs to the notice boards. The Chairman had sent details for several benches which could be used inside the bus shelter. All Cllrs preferred the benches with backs so the Chairman will be asked to find out the prices for these.
2828. Parish matters and items for the next agenda.
The contractor has complained to the Council about the amount of dog mess on the grass at Revesby Corner which is making the mowing difficult and unpleasant. The Clerk will contact the dog warden.
There had also been complaints that cars were parking on the grass in this area. Cllrs will investigate and report at the next meeting.
The Clerk will contact Cllr Aron and ask if he can speed up the repair to the sign post at the bottom of Watery Lane which has deteriorated further since last month’s Highway’s inspection.
The meeting closed at 8.00
Meeting 20th March 2019
During Parishioners question time a Parishioner had accused Councillor Peter Chilvers of fly tipping on to the Community Centre land. The Parish Councillors felt that this accusation was serious enough to be included in the minutes of the meeting in case it was needed for future reference.
Councillor Chilvers said this accusation had caused him personal distress and could affect his nomination at the forthcoming elections and, as he was self-employed, could affect future work enquiries.