March 2024 Minutes
STICKFORD PARISH COUNCIL
PARISH COUNCIL STATUTORY MEETING at STICKFORD Community Centre
Tuesday 12 March 2024 @ 7.30pm
MINUTES
No. of Residents present 11 Official attendees read Y for attending, N for non-attendance
Chairman Councillor Mrs Lesley Reeson Y ELDC Councillor Mr Terry Taylor N
Vice Chairman Councillor Mr John Howlett Y Lincs C C Councillor Mrs W Bowkett Y
Councillor Mr Clive Kingswood Y Parish Clerk Mrs Nicki George Y
Councillor Mrs Pam Bryant Y
Councillor vacancy
Councillor vacancy
Councillor vacancy
1. The Chairman opened the meeting and welcomed all present.
2. Apologies for absence – ELDC Councillor Terry Taylor – reasons accepted
3. There were no declaration of interest
4. Residents’ issues:
a) A resident reported that the new white lines along Hagnaby Road are not very straight in places. Councillor Reeson has reported this issue on Fix My Street. A van is being parked along Hagnaby Road which is forcing traffic to cross the double white lines.
b) A resident reported that the road sign for Hagnaby Road on the junction with Hagnaby Lane is being obscured by the hedge that it is set in front of. The clerk will report it on Fix My Street to see if it can be moved and brought away from the hedge.
c) A resident reported that the Witham Fourth sluice stayed open when the floods were happening. It has been reported and has now been cleaned. There are a few collapses which have been reported. Cllr Bowkett to follow up.
5. ELDC Report
None in the absence of ELDC Councillor Terry Taylor
6. LCC Report
MP Matt Warman has held a second pylon meeting, this was well attended with residents voicing concern for the huge pylons national grid are planning to go through our district.
Matt is working with his two colleagues, Victoria Atkins and John Hayes along with LCC and ELDC to object against the use of pylons and are campaigning along with many residents for them to go along the sea bed, the consultation ends on the 13th March.
Highways fixed 110,532 potholes in 2023 repaired 224 miles of roads, rebuilt 77 miles of footpath and cleaned 192,235 drains. For the coming year the plan is to fix 110,500 potholes, repair 290 miles of roads, rebuild 101 miles of footpaths and clean around 200,000 drains. We have added more than £19 million extra money to the highways budget, and Government have promised £253 million from the HS2 fund.
£4 million has been added to a flood fund to help with trying to alleviate surface water and drainage issues during storm conditions. There will be a further 4 jetters purchased to help with keeping drains clear, as well as a further 4 officers which will be a huge help in coordinating help to residents.
Anglian water continues to investigate issues within Stickford and in the coming weeks an update will be requested to what their findings and the proposed works to stop the issues residents have been experiencing. Further work has been done to put a larger pump in and works on both the Cul de sac, Hagnaby lane and Church Road.
If residents have suffered problems with sewage, toilets not working they can claim a refund off their annual water bill.
The doctor’s surgery is looking into the recent complaints of parking, and are trying to work a solution going forward, LCC are helping them to resolve the problems.
a) Potholes along Catchwater Bank are due to be repaired. There has been some confusion by LCC Highways re postcode but Cllr Bowkett has clarified the details with the relevant department and the work is on the schedule.
b) The Airfield caravan encampment has been visited by the Traveller Officer yesterday. The camper van has been abandoned, with tax & MOT.
c) The grass verge at the end of the Cul De Sac by the bridge is still muddy and difficult to walk over. Cllr Bowkett to follow up.
20. Co-option of New Councillor
All councillors agreed to co-opt on Tony French following a successful interview. Declaration of Acceptance of Office forms were signed and dated. Localism Act 2011 forms for Disclosure of Pecuniary Interests were given to be completed and returned to the Clerk.
7. Lincolnshire Police Report – The Clerk listened to a Zoom meeting on 20/2/24 re Road Safety. The Minutes of the meeting are available on request. Nothing to effect Stickford.
8. Approval of Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 09/01/2024
All agreed
9. Matters Arising from previous meeting
Tonight’s Parish Council meeting was posted on the Stickford Community Page and Next Door for a wider outreach.
10. Finance Report
a) Authority for Payment:
1) £875.00 Clerks Salary (January to March 2024)
2) £170.82 LALC Annual Subscription
3) £216.00 LALC Website Maintenance Annual Subscription
4) £216.00 ECBS new printer
5) £90.00 Stickford Ladies Social Circle (uncashed cheques from last 2 years grant monies)
6) £806.16 Roadware Sand bins - Stickford Village Resilience Plan (ELDC Grant £800 recd)
7) £35.00 Jayne Bonsor – Interim Audit
8) £40.00 ICO – agreed by all to pay when received – request is due any day by email
9) £40.00 Community Centre hire – 9/1/24 and 12/3/24
a) Bank Balances to end of February are : Current account £5962.59, Savings account £8179.64. Budget Report update, including payments in section a were handed to all Councillors to examine. Clerk explained the different sections and accepted by all Councillors. VAT refund claim is to be submitted by the Clerk before the end of March.
3 quotes were obtained for a new printer. HP Officejet Pro 9010e : EBay £204.99, used once and £219 inc vat , £180 + vat from ECBS. Printer purchased from ECBS as set up and support included in price.
3 quotes were obtained for 4 new sand bins : Roadware £179.95 + vat, Workplace Stuff £181.69 + vat, Tanks Direct £233 + vat. Roadware quote was chosen as each bin was a little cheaper the more you bought, and included lockable lids. The final price paid was £167.95 + vat for each bin.
£800 ELDC Community Grant received in January 2024 for the 4 sand bins.
The mower needs its annual service. All agreed for it to be taken to the same company that serviced it last year in Alford. The expense will be under £100.
11. Clerks Report
a) The Clerk notes that when the insurance is due for renewal in June, quotes need to be obtained including the current insurer Zurich. The assets need to be updated with the new bus shelters and noticeboard. The old noticeboards will be removed as no value. The two on the main A16, one on Hagnaby Road side and the other on Fen Road side both need to be demolished. The noticeboard at the entrance of the Church grounds will be donated to the Church. The new printer will also be added.
b) Allotment letters have been hand delivered for payments due on 1st April 2024.
c) The clerk asked for advice and suggestions as to the best way to communicate with the village i.e. emails, texts, Facebook, Next Door. It was decided to continue with Facebook i.e. Stickford Community page and Next Door, along with the website and noticeboard ufn.
d) D-Day commemorations – 6th June 2024 – 80 years anniversary. The clerk asked for suggestions as to how this can be remembered in Stickford. The councillors decided to ask the vicar for a service at the War Memorial clock.
e) The clerk asked for posters / information on any events within the village be sent to her via email or paper form for the events to be advertised and publicised on the website and noticeboard.
12. Allotment Rents
Allotment rents are due for review (March 2024)- the councillors have asked the Clerk to find out the price per acre to rent. Suggested to contact William H Brown Estate Agents in Boston and Robert Bell & Co in Horncastle.
13. Grass Cutting of the Churchyard
Contractors have been employed to get the 1st & 2nd cut done which is being paid for by the Church. The Friends of the Church group will then take over responsibility. More volunteers are being sought. A shed has been erected with the kind permission of a nearby resident in her front garden in which the mower, strimmer, health & safety equipment and paperwork will be kept under lock & key.
14. Stickford Village Resilience Plan
£800 ELDC Community Grant has been received to cover 4 x 500 litre plastic bins to hold sand, plus 2 tonne of sand. 3 quotes have been obtained for the sand bins. (see section 10 Finance Report for details). 4 bins have been purchased from Roadware with lockable lids. Sand needs to be purchased along with 8 padlocks (1 key will fit all 8 locks). All agreed to these purchases as under £100 expenses. Each of the 5 Councillors will have a key, along with one at the Community Centre. Empty sandbags are being stored with a couple of residents around the village. It is proposed that these bins will be sited at the end of Church Road where the recycling bins used to be.
15. Anglian Water
The cleaning of the gullies has been carried out. There has been a lot of activity around the village by Anglian Water who are currently sending out letters to the residents that have been issued with Section 19’s.
16. Community Centre
The Clerk has been in contact with Chattertons who confirm that the Community Centre is registered under 2 different title numbers. One relates to the car park, access and the grassed area behind the School House and one relates to the old school building itself. Both titles belong to Stickford Parish Council. They have sent Mapsearchs of these areas and confirm that the Parish Council hold the titles for Stickford Village Hall (presumably now Stickford Community Centre. The car park title was registered in 1990 after the 1990 Conveyance. The later title, for the building itself, wasn’t registered until 1992. The 1990 Conveyance relates only to the car park etc and states that the 1984 Lease is as a result of the 1990 Conveyance merged and extinguished in the freehold, so it no longer exists as far as that title is concerned.
The Clerk has a copy of the 1990 Conveyance but not the 1984 Lease. She will search in the historic paperwork for it and look to contact Lincolnshire County Council if unsuccessful in locating it. Chattertons have confirmed that there will be a cost involved in the work they have done in preparing this information – invoice will be sent to the Clerk. A valuation needs to be ascertained too which should be in line with the insurance valuation for a rebuild. The clerk will investigate this too.
17. National Grid - Pylons
The Parish Council has submitted an objection along with individuals to the planned construction of Pylons by the National Grid through our area to move electricity from Grimsby to Walpole in Norfolk. Councillors have attended Consultations to keep up to date with the plans.
18. War Memorial Clock update
Cllr Howlett has been in communication with Time Assured to explain the sequence of events leading up to and following their latest attempt to get the clock working. They are able to get it working but after so many days it stops working. Time Assured have been asked to return and investigate further. All agreed to ask Time Assured to extend the current guarantee taking into consideration the length of time that the clock has not been working.
Plans are in place to site the bench that was purchased last year within the garden of the War Memorial clock. The ground needs to be prepared for the siting.
19. Planning – discuss planning applications.
The Croft, Back Lane - a planning appeal has been lodged by an agent/consultant on behalf of the applicant which has been determined as a valid appeal. A planning inspector is to be appointed for the formal appeal process to start. As we commented on the application we will be contacted by the inspector.
Shenzi - the Planning Officer for ELDC has been contacted as on the planning portal the case is still showing awaiting decision whereas the application should have been decided in January. The officer said the application is with the Head Planning Officer to decide whether or not it is to be placed before the planning committee. There has been a call in request. If not then it will be a delegated decision. The officer did say that her recommendation would be to grant the application.
The Cul de Sac - it is a few weeks since contact has been made with the planning officer. A drainage strategy has been lodged on the planning portal by consultants on behalf of the applicant and neighbour objection comments made. A resident mentioned that in a recent conversation with the officer she said that the applicant and/or his agent were now pushing for the application to be placed before the planning committee for a decision. It was also mentioned that Section 19 Flood and Water Management Act 2010 flood investigations are currently being carried out by consultants on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council in the village arising from the floods from storms Babet and Henk. It was agreed that our planning officer would write to ELDC'S planning officer with a formal request that the application is not progressed any further until the Section 19 investigations are concluded and a report is made available.
20. Co-option of new Councillor – see item between 6 & 7
21. Correspondence received for this meeting – not covered on the agenda
Email received to advise that residents along the Cul De Sac are experiencing disturbance from the bird-scarers on land belonging to Craven Transport. The Environment Agency has been contacted and photographic evidence demonstrating the frequency and loudness has been submitted. They awaiting an update.
22. Other Business – matters for next Agenda
1. Community Centre – Constitution & add to Asset List
2. Stickford Village Resilience Plan - update
3. War Memorial Clock - update
4. Removal of old noticeboards
5. Allotment Rents
Date and time of next meeting: 14th May 2024 at 7.30pm – Annual Meeting of the Parish
The Annual Meeting of the Parish Council will be held on 21st May 2024 starting at 7.30pm.
Meeting closed at 9.01pm