January 2020 Minutes
MAREHAM LE FEN PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on 15th January 2020
Chairman, Mr J Huggins
Councillors:
Mr P Bourn
Mr P Chilvers.
Mr R Cox.
Mr D Loveridge.
District Councillors Mr S Avison and Mr A Hall and County Councillor B Aron also attended.
8 members of the public attended.
2956. Apologies for Absence.
Councillor C Wentzell sent his apologies, he was working.
2957. Declaration of interests.
There were no interests to declare.
2958. Minutes of the Ordinary Parish Council meeting held on November 20th 2019 to be approved.
The minutes had already been circulated to the Councillors. It was proposed by Cllr Loveridge and seconded by Cllr Chilvers that these were accepted. All Cllrs voted in favour and they were signed by the Chairman.
2959. Matters Arising.
Matters arising will be discussed as items on the agenda.
2960. Correspondence.
An email had been received from the Community Centre informing the Parish Council that the plans and document relating to the planning permission of the Community Centre did not include provision for a path between the Community Centre and the Church. They reminded the Parish Council that they had been involved in signing the conveyancing documents, the Parish Council was a custodian trustee at that time. The trustees had provided a pedestrian gate, as a courtesy, in the hedge opposite the Church.
2961. Venue for Parish Council meetings.
The Clerk had contacted the Bowls Club and the Community Centre to ask the cost of hiring their halls. The Community Centre quoted £11 per hour, paid monthly and the Bowls Club £10, paid in advance. Cllr Loveridge suggested that the meetings could be held for 6 months at each venue, this, however was not approved by other Cllrs. Cllr Chilvers proposed that meetings should be held at the Bowls Club, this was seconded by Cllr Cox. A vote was taken, 3 Cllrs voted in favour, 1 voted against and 1 abstained. The Clerk will inform the Bowls Club of this decision.
2962 Freedom of Information request.
An email had been sent to the Clerk asking how many challenges the Parish Council had put forward to the Community Centre Trustees regarding planning related matters of compliance or any similar dispute regarding the business, structure or management of any kind relating to the new Community Centre. He also asked about the costs involved and the success rate of the challenges. He requested the conflict of interest disclosures relating to any member of the Council who received income from the contractors during the development.
This email had been anonymous but the Clerk had asked for, and received the name of the sender.
The Clerk had contacted Cllr Avison and LALC for advice on how to proceed with this request. The amount of work involved in checking through many years of minutes would be excessive. The Clerk was advised to give details of the District Council website so that the enquirer could check the DPI’s for the Cllrs and that if there was any evidence of corruption the details should be passed to the police. Parish Councillors had no knowledge of any such payments. The Chairman of the Community Centre said that their contractors had worked independently so no payment records of any kind were held by the Trustees. Cllr Cox had copied all the minutes on to a memory stick several years ago and it was agreed that he would make another copy of this so that it could be sent to the emailer. This was proposed by Cllr Huggins and seconded by Cllr Bourn, all Cllrs were in favour.
2963. Planning.
S/114/02131/19. Atkins, Station Road had been granted full planning permission.
S/114/02212/19. Sideways Lammins Lane. This was an alteration to an application already received. Cllrs had no further objections.
S/114/02359/19. Application for 3 pairs of semi-detached houses and 7 detached houses on land at Chapel Lane.
The Chairman asked for any comments from parishioners at the meeting, one of whom complained about the lack of housing included for starter homes and first-time buyers which would mean that the Village would not regenerate. All Cllrs were against the development, for the following reasons.
That it was accessed via a single-track road, the junction of which would have to be altered. The land was currently flooded, showing it was not suitable for building.
It is not on the Village plan.
Services are not adequate to deal with the sewage and flooding etc.
This is an ongoing problem, the whole system in the Village is already over capacity and the Village cannot cope with any more properties.
The Clerk had contacted the planning officer at ELDC in November to ask if he could attend a meeting and answer questions regarding the criteria for planning issues and how the Parish Council’s opinions were taken into account, she had contacted him again in January but he had still not responded. Cllrs Hall and Avison would chase this up.
2964. Benches for the Village.
Cllr Avison had offered a Councillors Community Grant to the Parish Council for the purchase of 2 benches for the Village. The Clerk had sent off the forms and the money would soon be available. Cllr Hall had also contributed to the grant fund.
2965. Cemetery.
The paperwork was with the solicitors. The Clerk will ask the solicitor for an update.
2966. Finance.
The following bills were presented for payment:
£165.00 H M R C tax on Clerk’s salary.
£163.25 Mrs S Hendy Clerk’s salary and expenses.
£157.50 Mr D Lawrence grass cutting November 2019.
It was proposed by Cllr Chilvers and seconded by Cllr Cox that these were paid, all voted in favour.
Cllr Wentzell will have to sign the cheques and they can then be sent off.
The Precept figures had already been circulated to the Cllrs. These were discussed and the Cllrs felt that the Parish Council should keep the precept at the same figure of £11000, the same as last year. This was proposed by Cllr Chilvers and seconded by Cllr Cox, all voted in favour.
The Parish Council agreed that they had plenty of funds so it was suggested that this could be used to help the play group purchase some equipment. Mr Beacham said that the Parish Council should contact Laura and ask her for some details of costs.
2967. Grass Cutting and Management.
The Clerk had returned the documents for the Parish agreement for the grass cutting.
2968. Co-Option of Parish Councillor.
Philip Roberts attended the meeting and he was asked if he was interested in becoming a Cllr, he agreed. The Clerk will bring the relevant documents to the February meeting for him to sign.
2969. Flooding in the Village.
The Parish Council had asked if any Parishioners wished to purchase flood sax. No one had applied for them. It had been suggested at the last meeting that 100 flood sax should be purchased by the Parish Council and stored for flood emergencies. It was proposed by Cllr Cox and seconded by Cllr Loveridge that these were purchased. The Chairman will send the Clerk details of suppliers and she will deal with it.
2970. Maintenance and Church wall.
Work had not been started at the Chapel and nothing had yet been heard from the Church Wardens regarding the cost of the wall repairs.
2971. Highway issues.
Cllr Aron said he would be meeting the head of highways and the area manager on Friday so will give them details of all the problems in the Village.
Cllr Bourn reported that the hedge on the road to Wood Enderby had now been cut and the pot hole repaired.
2972. Parish matters and items for the next agenda.
The notice board at Tumby Woodside was swollen where it had rained, and the handles, which had been stuck on, had come off. The Clerk will arrange for repairs.
The purchase of play equipment will be put on the next agenda
The meeting closed at 8.00 pm.
The next meeting will be held at the Bowls Club at 7.30 on Wednesday 19th February 2020.