May 2024

Meeting Minutes – 15th May 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 Martin Hill (LCC)

In Attendance 

Roel van Aken (Clerk)

Apologies

1. Apologies for Absence

Cllr Sarah Trotter (SKDC)

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 20th March 2024 were an accurate record of the parish council meeting and were signed off by The Chair.

5. Flooding Issues

• Blocked drains: Highways are scheduling a jetter and repair team to check and repair the drains in the village as necessary. Currently no dates have been provided for this work. LCC have a new jetting machine which will make this work much easier. Cllr Martin Hill will chase this up.

• Welby Emergency Plan: a draft version has been shared with the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum for comment and review. No feedback as yet. Cllr Martin Hill has offered to investigate.

6. Solar Farm Proposals

WPC is aware of the following 3 proposals:

• S23/0587 – S24/0360: Church Lane: A full planning application has been submitted. A public information session was held on Tuesday 26 March in the church which was attended by around 30 villagers. WPC have submitted comments on the planning application.

• S23/2235: ASH Tree Solar Farm: A briefing session outlining some of the proposed changes was held and attended by WPC on 23 April 2024.

• S23/1845: Pasture Farm, Welby: A briefing session outlining some of the proposed changes was held and attended by WPC on 14 May 2024. A full planning application is expected to be submitted later in May. WPC do not plan to hold another open forum as there does not seem to be any demand for this.

7.   Reducing speeding through Welby

• Speed watch: no sessions have taken place.

• SID: review results to date: results from the bus shelter location were reviewed. A clear difference emerges between traffic speed towards the SID vs. away. Higher speeds still occur in both directions but a higher average is in the "away" direction (i.e. towards High Dyke). The towards direction appears to have good compliance at this location when the SID is present. Traffic flowing towards the High Dyke is substantially higher than flowing towards Oasby. The possibility of installing a new pole closer to the village boundary on the eastern side will be investigated. Existing BT or power poles are not allowed to be used for this purpose.

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

• Update from County Councillor Martin Hill on Lincolnshire County Council matters:

LCC budget is in good shape and substantial additional funding has been allocated to Highways for road works.

Devolution: the position of mayor is still to be approved with elections likely in May next year.

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

No additional update provided.

9. Correspondences

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

10. Planning Applications: 

Planning applications to consider with the following planning applications received:

11. Highways

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

12. 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.

     * Name plate on notice board was restored by Cllr. Alan Gilbert as it had weathered badly again during the last winter.

b. Village green hedges: most of the hedge was planted with doubles but a small section was planted with singles. Additional plants have now been planted to augment this section. These have been very kindly donated by Cllr. Jonathan Fisher.

c. 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.

d. Welby Weekenders are aiming to organise a Picknick on the Green event in September. The same weekend an art exhibition may take place in the church.

13. Finance

Current bank balance stands at £4,574.73.

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.

14. 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 AGM of Welby Parish Council will take place on Wednesday 26 June 2024 at 19:00 in St. Bartholomew’s Church to be followed by the ordinary meeting.

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

Dated:………………………………………………………………..