November 2024

Meeting Minutes – 13th November 2024

19:00 in St. Bartholomew’s Church

Present

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

Cllr Gill Ikin                                                      Cllr Jonathan Fisher

Cllr Alan Gilbert                                              Cllr Sarah Trotter (SKDC)

1. Apologies for Absence

Roel van Aken (Clerk)

Cllr Martin Hill (LCC)

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 4th September 2024 were an accurate record of the parish council meeting and were signed off by The Chair.

5. Flooding Issues

• LCC plan of works: a team came in August and spent about 3 weeks inspecting and clearing drains and manholes / covers. The road surface was marked at various locations and several areas were identified needing future work. These included collapsed drains, removal of tree roots and installation of some additional drains. No report has been received as yet. Cllr. Mike Priestley will chase LCC.

• Welby Emergency Plan: a final session is planned for Wednesday 8 January in Lincoln.

• SKDC Town Hall session: this was attended by Cllr James Pask and the Clerk in Bourne. SKDC provided an extensive overview of all the services SKDC provide and how to access them. The session was led by Ashley Baxter, council leader and attempted to reach out to all parishes to improve connectivity with the Town Hall.

6. Solar Farm Proposals

WPC is aware of the following 3 proposals:

• S23/0587 – S24/0360: Church Lane: planning permission refused – appeal has been lodged.
• S23/2235: ASH Tree Solar Farm: planning permission refused.
• S24/1040: Pasture Farm, Welby: awaiting decision by SKDC.

7.   Reducing speeding through Welby

• Speed watch: no sessions have taken place.

• SID: latest report for West End (Aug – Oct) was presented. The usual trends were identified with incoming averages lower than outgoing averages. Some noticeable spikes in both directions were recorded. One set of batteries seem to have developed a fault. The possibility of purchasing a solar charging option will be investigated. Otherwise a new set of batteries may be required. Costs could possibly be covered by a Community Fund application.

8. 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:

SKDC have opened a new Customer Service Centre in Grantham.

PWOG barracks will close in 2028. Details can be found here including details of a local consultation: https://princewilliamofgloucesterbarracks.co.uk/

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

b. Village Green tree canopy: another tree trimming will be necessary. Following an inspection by a specialist company WPC have arranged for some tree maintenance work to take place on the village green on Tuesday 17 December. This will consist of some sympathetic pruning and crown raising of several trees. Also the rowan and the oak next to the millenium oak will be removed altogether and their stumps ground down. A quote has been obtained and work will take place on 17 December. The work within Crimson’s report was summarized and agreed to include the stump grinding of the 2 trees to be removed. It was reiterated that this was for improving the health of the surrounding trees and to allow more light into the centre, which is more widely used for events.

c. Village Green: corner compost heap area and the 2 overgrown shrubs have been cleaned up with thanks to Jonathan for his help.

d. SKDC Community Fund Application: consider applying for financial contribution towards Christmas tree and new Christmas lights. As we don’t meet some of the requirements we cannot proceed with this. Welby Weekenders have purchased a new set of outdoor Christmas lights.

e. consider annual payment of £75 to the Church for use during parish council meetings: approved.

13. Finance

Current bank balance stands at £4,331.12.

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.

15. Decide next meeting of the parish council.

The next ordinary meeting of Welby Parish Council will take place on Wednesday 15th January 2025 at 19:00 – venue to be confirmed (due to possible inclement weather).

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

Dated:………………………………………………………………..