Meetings 2020-2021

Minutes Parish Council 24th September 2020

Chair: Cllr Simpson (DS)

Present: Councillors: Duncumb (JD), Gleeson (RG), Hunt (SH), Myers (PM); Michelle Moss, Clerk (MM).

Apologies: Councillor Turbin (WT)

Public Forum: 0 members of the public present. No comments made

1. Chairman’s remarks – DS welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked Wolds Methodist Centre for allowing the PC to use the room.

2. Apologies for absence and reasons given – WT for business reasons – unanimously accepted.  District Cllr Andrews also sent apologies.

3. Declaration of interests and requests for dispensations - To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and to consider granting dispensation(s), as per written requests received by the proper officer, to councillors under section 22 of the Act – SH declared a pecuniary interest in agenda item 8a and stated his intention to leave the meeting for the discussion.

4. To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 18th June 2020 – Unanimously approved with no changes.

5. To receive reports from District and County Councillors (if available) – None present.

6. To receive reports from the Clerk and Councillors on matters outstanding – MM noted that there were no matters outstanding which have not been included as agenda items.

7. To consider correspondence received since the last Council meeting:

a. LALC Annual report 2019/20.  To note.  Noted

8. Planning Applications

1. N/149/01398/20 | Planning Permission – Erection of a detached building to provide a triple garage with first floor storage over on the site of the existing agricultural building which is to be demolished. | THE GRANARY, INGS LANE, SCAMBLESBY

SH left the meeting 8.09pm.

It was noted that the application was to replace an agricultural barn with a triple garage, storage and erection of a wall.It was noted that the footprint of the proposed building is a similar size to that being removed and would be more aesthetically pleasing than the barn being removed.

It was unanimously resolved to support the application with no comments.

SH returned to the meeting 8.14pm.

2. N/149/01552/20 | Planning Permission - Alterations to existing dwelling to include the conversion of an attached garage to provide a home studio and utility room and the erection of a detached garage and potting shed. Existing sheds on site to be removed. | CAVENDISH, MILL LANE

It was noted that the new garage and potting shed are to be located to the Southern boundary of the property against the existing 6ft fence, the size of the proposed building is acceptable and no issues were raised.It was unanimously agreed to support the application with no comments.

9. Planning Correspondence to note:

1. N/149/01994/19 | Full Planning Permission – Erection of a detached building to provide a cattery. | 1 North Fields, Old Main Rd - Noted
2. N/49/00777/20 | Full planning Permission – Erection of 4 workers cottages in connection with existing race horse business. | Highfield House, Ings Lane - Noted

10. To consider planning white papers: Planning for the Future, Changes to the Current Planning System and Transparency and Competition; decide whether the PC would like to make comment; and appoint a representative to respond. DS noted that the white papers were very long documents setting out significant changes to the planning process.  It was noted that white papers are usually produced as the second stage when the Government wants to implement change and therefore a good indication that the Government is going to legislate.  It was noted that: the key object of the reform is to modernise, speed up the process, make it more data driven and less subjective with modular software, a smaller set of digitised plans and less information required to validate applications. Local plans will categorise land as Growth, Renewal or Protected. Growth areas will be suitable for development and automatically given planning permission;  Renewal areas will be suitable for some development and ‘gentle densification’ with a presumption in favour of development; Protected areas will be AONB’s, Green belt land etc and will have development restricted.  There will be more emphasis on local plans in the future. Penalties would be introduced where LPA’s fail to meet timescales and where appeals are overturned. S106 agreements and CIL will be replaced by and Infrastructure Levy, a flat rate which will also capture land value uplift.

It was agreed that the PC would not send a collaborative response to the consultation but that each Councillor should read the material and make individual representations as they felt necessary.

11. To review the community broadband scheme costings and formally decide whether to take the application forward to the next stage. It was noted that a significant amount of work had been completed in relation to the application, including: consultation with all villagers; research of suitable providers; in depth application; investigation of current speeds for all properties to be included; negotiation with provider to reduce potential costs by e.g. self dig.  The final cost for 83 properties was indicated as £283,700.  When the maximum possible grant was applied there was still a £130,000 shortfall, approx. £1,550 per household.  Having discussed this with the provider two major issues came to light.  Firstly, Onlincolnshire had originally stated that they would look to contribute to any shortfall, however the provider stated they would not accept third party funding to pay the balance, meaning that each household entering the scheme would have to contribute £1,550. Secondly, the application would need to be signed by an individual, making that individual responsible for the entire balance and responsible for collecting the contributions from individual households.  Following an assessment of the entire project and having identified these and several other issues, the Parish Council unanimously resolved not to proceed any further with the application.  It was noted that there are alternative solutions for individual households such as 4G and satellite solutions.  It was agreed that MM should include an update on the project on the PC website to ensure the village are informed.

12. To review progress made regarding the bank account signatories – It was noted that all Councillors have now completed the necessary process with the ban, and we are still waiting for confirmation of the signatory changes from the bank. 

13. To consider whether the Parish Council would like to adopt and be responsible for the Scamblesby Community Volunteers Facebook page – It was noted that RG had set the Community Volunteers facebook page up at the start of the COVID pandemic as a means to support the village, and had received feedback that residents would like the page to be retained as a useful community resource.  It was noted that if the PC take responsibility for the facebook page it would be subject to the rules which govern Parish Council communication and the responsibility for it would have to lie with the Clerk.  DS noted that a resident had already volunteered to take over responsibility for the facebook page and run it as a community resource, and that it would still be possible for the Parish Council to post articles or news on the page.  It was unanimously agreed that the responsibility for the facebook page would remain separate from the Parish Council.

14. To agree any possible action which can be taken with regards the recent arson attack on the bottle bank on Chapel Lane – It was noted that the recent arson attack on the village bottle bank was the 5th over recent years.  It was noted that after the last arson attack ELDC had stated that the bins would not be replaced again.  MM noted that she was waiting for a response from ELDC regarding possible replacement of the bins.

15. Financial matters:

1. To resolve to agree grants/donations policy, and agree to advertise for applications for grants/donations – It was unanimously agreed to approve the Donation Policy, and to advertise for grant applications for this year on the website, notice board and facebook.
2. To receive an updated bank reconciliation and projected vs actual spend from RFO – (Appendix 1&2) It was unanimously resolved to accept the bank reconciliation and projected spend report.  It was noted that there is a cumulative underspend this year which is also reflective of previous years.  It was noted that the PC should either consider reducing the precept or supporting more village initiatives to ensure the bank account balance is kept within acceptable limits per our Financial Regulations.
3. To consider and approve payments due including: Salaries - £286 to be paid 1/10/20– Unanimously resolved to accept all payments.

16. To receive the resignation of the Clerk and agree procedure for replacement – It was unanimously agreed to accept the resignation of the Clerk and to recruit a replacement.  MM will remain in post until 31st December 2020.  It was agreed that MM would draft a job description, person specification and advert, circulate to Councillors for review and the position will be advertised on the notice board, website, community facebook page and with LALC.  Closing date for application – 15th November; Interviews – end of November (date to be confirmed); Appointment – Mid December.

17. To agree date and agenda items for the next meeting – 17th December 8pm.  It was agreed that the meeting would be held face to face if possible and at the Wolds Methodist Centre again, if possible.

Meeting closed 9.50pm