June 2024

Meeting Minutes – 26th June 2024

19:00 in St. Bartholomew’s Church

Present

Cllr Michael Priestley  (Chairman)                  Cllr James Pask (Vice-Chairman)       

Cllr Gill Ikin                                                      Cllr Alan Gilbert                     

Cllr Jonathan Fisher                                        Cllr Sarah Trotter (SKDC)

Apologies

Cllr Martin Hill (LCC)

1. Apologies for Absence

Roel van Aken (Clerk) due to covid. Cllr James Pask kindly covered for this meeting as is allowed under NALC guidelines.

2. Confirmation of eligibility, quorum and Declaration of interest

All councilors present are eligible, the meeting was quorate and no declaration of interests declared.

3. Public Representations

The public were allowed to be in attendance, but on this occasion no parishioners attended.

4. Minutes of previous meeting

It was resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting dated 15th May 2024 were an accurate record of the parish council meeting and were signed off by The Chair.

5. DPI and Acceptance of Office forms 2024

Forms were duly signed.

6. Flooding Issues

• Blocked drains: no indication of date from Rowan Smith as yet. Cllr Mike Priestley offered to chase.

• Welby Emergency Plan: signed by all councillors.

7. Solar Farm Proposals

WPC is aware of the following 3 proposals:

• S23/0587 – S24/0360: Church Lane: no further updates available.
• S23/2235: ASH Tree Solar Farm: no further updates available.
• S23/1845: Pasture Farm, Welby: diggers have finished. No archeological report available as yet.

8.   Reducing speeding through Welby

• Speed watch: no sessions have taken place.

• SID: review results to date: SID will move again early July and the report for the current location will be available for review for the next meeting.

The possibility of installing a new pole closer to the village boundary on the eastern side has been investigated. Graeme Butler from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership visited Welby and 2 new locations for 2 poles were identified on Main Street and Church Lane. LRSP will fund these. The old extension pole on Church Lane (unusable) needs to be taken back. A total of 6 new speed watch “30” signs will be put up around the village.

9. County and District Councillor Reports (if Councillors present at meeting)

• Update from County Councillor Martin Hill on Lincolnshire County Council matters: no update available.

• Update from the District Councillor Sarah Trotter on South Kesteven District Council matters:

Extra Planning Meetings have been scheduled due to the number of applications. National Trust have submitted a letter re Ash Tree Solar Farm (Belmount Tower).

In some areas bins have been an issue.

So far WPC have not received any new PCC updates since the January report. This will be fed back at their next meeting.

Cllr Sarah Trotter will also contact LCC re any updates wrt addressing the flooding issues in Welby.

10. Correspondences

To receive a report from The Clerk on relevant correspondences received and action taken since last meeting.

11. Planning Applications: 

Planning applications to consider with the following planning applications received:

12. Highways

Update from The Clerk on highway faults including those reported by WPC to LCC Highways and SKDC.

13. Village Matters

a. Repairs to bench and village sign:

    * village sign: metal post needs sanding down and repainting

    * park bench near bus stop: will need repainting at some point in the future.

b. Community Orchard Funding: WPC will further investigate this to see if something can be done in a corner of the village green where currently the compost heap is. Autumn is probably a better time for tree planting. A minimum of 3 trees would be required.

c. Village Gates: Cllr Alan Gilbert will strim around the Church Lane Gates and Cllr James Pask will strim around the other 2 sets of gates.

d. Hedges near Cricket Field and near the High Dyke junction need trimming. Will look into getting these done once nesting season is over.

14. Finance

Current bank balance stands at £4,609.88.

Since last meeting the following income has been received:

Since last meeting payments made from bank account:

Cheques raised during meeting:

The Chairman signed off Cashbooks as a true record after agreement from Councillors that both bank statement and cash books were accurate.

15. Urgent business

To consider any urgent business.

Please note if it is “urgent” only because it was not notified in time to appear on the agenda, it should be left till the next meeting. If it is genuinely “urgent”, that is it was too late for the agenda and it will be too late for action if left till the next ordinary meeting The Chairman and The Clerk need to decide whether an additional meeting should be called or actioned during this meeting.

16. Decide next meeting of the parish council.

The next ordinary meeting of Welby Parish Council will take place on Wednesday 4th September 2024 at 19:00 in St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Signed: ……………………………………………………………..   Chair

Dated:………………………………………………………………..