June 2019 Minutes
MAREHAM LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on 19th June 2019
Chairman Cllr J Huggins.
Vice Chairman, Mr P Chilvers.
Councillors:
Mr R Cox.
Miss P Fytche.
Mr A Hawkes.
Mr D Loveridge.
Mr C Wentzell.
District Councillor S Avison also attended the meeting.
County Councillor B Aron apologised for arriving late.
15 members of the public also attended.
2858. Apologies for Absence.
There were no apologies.
2859. Declaration of interests.
No one had any interests to declare.
2860. Minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held on 24th April 2019
The minutes of the meeting had been circulated to the Parish Councillors. Following the addition “Stan Avison” after “District Councillor”. It was proposed by Cllr R Cox and seconded by Cllr P Chilvers that the minutes were approved. All voted in favour, they were duly signed by the Chairman.
2861. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 22nd May 2019.
The minutes of the meeting had been circulated to the Parish Councillors. The time of the closure of the meeting should have read 7.30, this was amended. It was proposed by Cllr R Cox and seconded by Cllr P Chilvers that the minutes were approved. All voted in favour, they were duly signed by the Chairman.
2862 Minutes of the Ordinary Parish Council meeting held on 22nd May to be approved.
The following alterations were made.;
- 2854 This should read 2 Parish Councillors not 3.
- 2856 Cllr Hawkes name was replaced by Cllr Huggins in the second sentence.
It was proposed by Cllr Cox and seconded by Cllr Huggins that the minutes were approved. All voted in favour, the minutes were signed by the Chairman.
2863. Matters Arising.
Any matters arising will be dealt with under the relevant headings.
2864. Correspondence.
The secretary of Mareham le Fen Village Hall and Memorial Lawn wrote to notify the Parish Council that the decision had been taken that neither of the candidates nominated by the Parish Council to serve as Trustees was considered suitable. The Parish Council was informed that this was due to significant conflicts of interest. This will be included on next month’s agenda.
A Parishioner had again written to the Parish Council to complain about the state of the Memorial Lawn and to suggest that the Parish Council could again offer help to the Trustees with maintenance and financial help. The Cllrs were informed that the Memorial Lawn had been cut and looked much improved. The Clerk will write to the Parishioner.
2865. Planning.
Two planning applications had been received for Sideways, Lammins Lane.
S/114/00991/19 for extensions and alterations on the site of part of the existing dwelling this part is to be knocked down.
S/114/00985/19 is for the erection of a bungalow and alterations to existing vehicular /pedestrian access.
Councillors looked at these plans and there were no objections to the planning application.
2866. Finance.
The following items were presented for payment:
£58.30 Witham Fourth District Drainage Board. Drainage Y/E 31.03.20
£22.00 Mareham le Fen Community Centre rent of room May meeting
£428.25 Mr D Lawrence grass cutting etc to May 2019
It was proposed by Cllr A Hawkes and seconded by Cllr C Wentzell that these were paid, all voted in favour.
The Clerk brought the forms from the bank to change the signatories on the cheques. Mrs Millen will be removed and Cllrs Huggins and Loveridge will be added.
2866A. Co- option of Councillor
Mr Peter Bourn had written to show his interest in becoming a Parish Councillor. It was proposed by Cllr Hawkes and seconded by Cllr Wentzell that Mr Bourn was co-opted on to the Parish Council, all voted in favour and Mr Bourn was given the form for acceptance of office and the DPI.
2867. Dates and venue for meetings
Cllr Avison left the meeting, saying he had wanted to speak but not been invited to do so.
The Clerk had written to the Bowls Club to ask if the Parish Council could be given a reduced hiring rate if they paid in advance for hire of their hall. The were given a rate of £9.50, the Community Centre charge was £11.00. A discussion followed this. Cllr Loveridge proposed that the Community Centre was used again, this was seconded by Cllr Hawkes, a vote was taken and 3 Cllrs voted in favour. 4 Councillors voted against and 1 abstained. It was therefore carried that the Bowls Club was used again.
Following this decision some Parishioners left the Community Centre to show their displeasure.
2868. LALC should the Parish Council pay in advance for training?
Following discussion Cllrs decided that any training courses should be paid for as and when they were attended. Any Cllr wishing to attend a meeting should contact the Clerk.
2869. Purchase of new plot for the Cemetery.
The Clerk had written to Mrs Llorente at, Savills, to ask if there was any information regarding this purchase. She had received a reply saying that the client now had all the information required and Mrs Llorente hoped to be able to respond to the Council’s query by Wednesday. No information has yet been received.
Cllr reported that the Contractor had cut the area to be used for the new Cemetery.
The Clerk requested that a new plan of the grave plots was done. At the moment these were shown on multiple pieces of paper and it was very hard to follow. Cllr Cox took these to try to make a new list.
The Parish Council were undecided in what would be the best way to access the new plot, i.e. for coffins, mourners etc. A committee was set up consisting of Cllrs Bourn, Cox, Chilvers and Fytche. They will arrange to meet at the Cemetery and report back to the next meeting.
It was also suggested by the Chairman that the charges for the Cemetery were reviewed. This will also be put on the next agenda.
2870 Village News.
It had been suggested that items of interest relating to the Parish Council should be put in the Village news magazine. It appeared that this was free to organisations within the Village. Cllr Hawkes was asked if he would do this and he agreed. The copy will be sent to the Clerk who will forward it to the rest of the Parish Council before submission to the magazine.
It was suggested that if it was successful a donation could be made to the magazine, a donation will be discussed again at a later date.
2871. Standing Orders.
An informal meeting of Cllrs had been held to discuss the Standing Orders and the revised copy had been sent to all the Cllrs. Cllr C Wentzell proposed that these could now be accepted. It was seconded by Cllr Loveridge, all Cllrs agreed. The Standing Orders will now be put on the website.
2872. Email Policy.
Cllrs were reminded that all correspondence/emails must be sent via the Clerk. She would then deal with them accordingly.
2873. Grass Cutting and Management.
A Parishioner had contacted the Clerk to ask why the grass at the front of their property had not been cut, even though it was on the list issued by LCC and should be cut by the Parish Council. Cllr P Chilvers will ask the contractor to deal with this.
The contractor had sent an email to informing the Parish Council that a new area of grass that he’d been asked to cut required a larger machine to do the work efficiently. He said he was happy to purchase a new machine but was concerned that his contract expired in 8 months’ time so he was reluctant to purchase it in case his contract was not renewed. He asked if his current contract could therefore be extended. All Cllrs agreed that the work carried out by the contractor was of a very high standard and Cllrs had received very good reports from the Parishioners. They would be happy to extend the contract but needed to check whether or not they could do this legally without putting it out for tender. The Clerk will make enquiries.
The grass verge needs cutting so the Clerk was asked to contact Hobsons and ask them to cut them as soon as possible.
The grass at the telephone exchange had still not been cut. Cllr Chilvers will ask the contractor to cut it.
2874. Mareham Angels.
Cllr Huggins was currently making enquiries into the best deal for the cost of emergency buttons which could be purchased by Parishioners if they required one. He distributed a copy of sheets showing the age distribution within the Parish. Cllr Huggins will give a further update at the next meeting.
It was suggested that an advert asking anyone who was in need of help should contact the Clerk who would then pass this on to the relevant authorities. Cllr Loveridge suggested that a leaflet could be distributed around the Village informing people of this. Cllr Hawkes said he would be happy to include the information is his newsletter.
2875. Parish matters and items for the next agenda.
Cllr Aron reported that Ofsted had inspected LCC Children’s Services and reported them to be outstanding.
He said that the Gold Command emergency had responded well to the flooding problem at Wainfleet.
Cllr Aron was asked when the path between Mareham le Fen and Revesby would be cleared, he said that he would have more information following his July meeting, there was currently a problem with the machinery being used. The road signs at the junction between Watery Lane and Main Street had still not been replaced. The Clerk will send the job number to Cllr Aron and he will chase it up.
The parking on the grass at Revesby Corner was still causing a problem, Cllr Aron said that LCC could not deal with this, it should be dealt with by the landlord of the properties.
The hedge at Walnut Cottage was growing over the pavement. The Clerk will contact the owners and ask if they could cut it back.
The meeting closed at 8.45 pm.