2020 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

BIGBY PARISH COUNCIL 

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

HELD ON TUESDAY, 8th DECEMBER, 2020

CHAIRMAN – COUNCILLOR D. COWLING

PRESENT: Councillors – L. Bishop, D. Cowling, B. Orr, C. Wilson

Also in attendance: - 

Mrs. A. Hannath – Clerk to the Council

Cllr. Paul Howitt-Cowan

BUSINESS TO BE TRANSACTED

62 Notice convening the meeting.

Taken as read and approved.

63 To Receive Apologies and Reasons for Absence

Cllr. Peter Hannath

64 a) To Record any Declarations of Interest by any member of the council in respect of the agenda items listed below.  Members declaring interests should identify the Agenda Item and the type of interest being declared.

None

b)  To Note any Dispensations given to any member of the council in respect of the Agenda Items listed below.

None

65 Police Matters

November newsletter forwarded – no issues in the Parish

66 To Receive any Correspondence (for information only).

Letter received from Councillor Peter Hannath to tender his resignation with effect

from Wednesday, 9th December, 2020.

67 To Receive the Clerk’s Report and Update on any outstanding issues.

a) Customers services at LCC arranged for the Clerk to speak to the Highways Officer for this area, Joe Phillips.  This allowed her to explain fully the issues throughout the village with blocked drains.

He was very apologetic for the slow response times and is going to look into this.  He is concerned that the drains in the village need some serious maintenance and is going to try and sort this out first.  He was due to undertake a site visit in November to have a good look at the farm track, with the view that the stones arriving on Main Street do constitute a Highways related problem.

Joe Phillips agreed to ring back within the next 3/4 weeks to give an update. The Clerk has sent a reminder about this.

However, the Clerk is pleased to report that the drains have been cleared as promised.

68 To Receive any Questions from Members.

None notified

69 Public Question Time

There have been no requests for a zoom invitation to the meeting

70 a) TO RECEIVE AND APPROVE THE MINUTES, AS CIRCULATED, 

OF THE MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, 20th OCTOBER 2020

It was resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 20th October, 2020, having been circulated should be taken as read and approved.

Proposed: Cllr. B. Orr Seconded: Cllr. C. Wilson

b) TO RECEIVE AND APPROVE THE MINUTES, AS CIRCULATED, OF THE MEETING OF THE VILLAGE HALL COMMITTEE HELD ON TUESDAY, 20th OCTOBER 2020

No meeting took place on this date

71 ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT 

a)   To Receive the following Financial Report and Approve the Accounts for Payment: as at 30th November 2020 (Statement of accounts enclosed)    

Appendix 1 – Schedule of Payments

It was resolved that the accounts for payment listed above and the Statement of       

    Accounts be approved.

    Proposed: Cllr. D. Cowling       Seconded: Cllr. L.Bishop

72 PLANNING APPLICATIONS AND DECISION NOTICES

Members are reminded that applications can be received after the deadline for the publication of the agenda. The clerk will forward any further applications to you before the meeting for your consideration.

None notified

73 TO CONSIDER AWARDING A GRANT TO THE CITIZENS ADVICE WEST LINDSEY

It was resolved that a grant of £ 25.00 be awarded

Proposed: Cllr. B. Orr Seconded: Cllr. Lee Bishop

74 TO CONSIDER ENTERING INTO THE PARISH AGREEMENT WITH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL FOR URBAN HIGHWAY VERGE CUTTING FOR 2021/22

Cllr. C. Wilson suggested that given the final agenda item on WLDC’s Climate Consultation, the Parish Council should consider not cutting the verges to maintain biodiversity.  WLDC Councillor, Howitt-Cowan advised that this was a good idea, but to plant the verges with wild flowers need ground preparation.  LCC Highways should have some advice on this and he will report back at the next meeting any useful information he can ascertain.

It was resolved that the Parish Council will once again enter the above agreement, but over the course of the next year will investigate the possibility of pLanting wild flowers on the verges.

Proposed: Cllr. B. Orr Seconded: Cllr. C.Wilson

75 TO CONSIDER TENDERS FOR THE URBAN HIGHWAY VERGE CUTTING IN THE VILLAGE OF BIGBY AND THE GRASSED AREA IN FRONT OF PINGLEY PARK

The council considered the quotation from the current provider, JB Rural Services.

Cllr. B. Orr commented that the verges had been very well maintained this year and that JB Rural Services actually cut further along the A1084 than officially required  in order to maintain vision for cars as they pull out of Main Street.

It was resolved that given that there was no change in the price from last year, ie, £65.00 +VAT per cut, the Clerk was not asked to seek further tenders, and the contract was awarded to J.B. Rural Services.

(Previous contractor quoted £73.30 + VAT last year)

As this year, the frequency of cuts to be determined by summer weather conditions.  (10 cuts were undertaken this year.)

Proposed: Cllr. B. Orr Seconded: Cllr. C. Wilson

76 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM COUNCILLOR TURNER ON COUNTY COUNCIL MATTERS

The Clerk advised that Cllr. Tricia Bradwell has agreed to be the point of contact for LCC matters as Cllr. A. Turner is unwell at present.

77 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM COUNCILLOR HOWITT-COWAN ON DISTRICT COUNCIL MATTERS      

Cllr. Howitt-Cowan gave a brief report on WLDC matters.

a) WLDC has paid out around £500,000 in business support grants during the current pandemic.

b) The Government is currentlyfunding the maintenance of public footpaths, the money is being channelled through the County Council.

c) The Census is to take place on 21st March 2021

d) WLDC has employed 10 Covid wardens who are working in the Market Towns.

e) WLDC is also working on its Cultural Strategy.

78 PRECEPT REQUIREMENTS – FISCAL YEAR 2021/2022

The Clerk’s recommendations were noted.  This gives a budget of £11890.00, including expenditure from the Community Infrastructure Levy.

b) To Determine the Precept to be levied for the Fiscal Year 2021/2022.

It was resolved that a precept of £6500.00 be set.

Proposed: Cllr. D. Cowling                       Seconded: Cllr.C. Wilson

79 TO CONSIDER QUOTATIONS FOR SIGNAGE WITHIN THE PARISH.

The Clerk provided the following figures for signage within the Parish:-

Plain Street Signs to include signage for the Village Hall, Orchard and defibrillator £100 +VAT

Village Signs similar to those for Redbourne £500.00 - £600.00 + VAT

Installation £100.00 + VAT per sign, although there may be a discount dependent on numbers

It was resolved that a working party be set up to look into the various options.  The working party is to consist of Councillors Bishop, Cowlling and Orr

Proposed: Cllr. D. Cowling                              Seconded: Cllr. B. Orr

80 TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE FROM THE CLERK ON THE NEW WEBSITE.

The Clerk advised that the new website, which meets the new accessibility requirements is now up and running.  This has taken the Clerk over 26 hours to do. This may mean that these extra hours will need to be paid for at the end of the fiscal year.

LCC staff have an expectation that past agendas and minutes will also be uploaded.  This is no easy task, as to make them accessible they cannot be simply pdf downloads of the original minutes, but must be changed into text documents.  

The Clerk thinks it’s reasonable to go back to the start of this Civic Year, but to continue beyond that would be too time consuming.  She plans to put a simple message on the website to the effect that past minutes can be supplied on request.

81 TO CONSIDER A RESPONSE TO THE WLDC CLIMATE CONSULTATION 

A short discussion took place mainly concerning the provision of cycle lanes to encourage people to ditch the car.

The Clerk advised that residents are still frustrated by officially not being able to use the NLC Recycling Centre at Melton Ross.  Cllr. Howitt-Cowan is very aware of the problem and will raise it at the next WLDC meeting, especially as the problem isn’t specific to Bigby, Grasby etc., but is also an issue where WLDC borders Kirton-in-Lindsey.

The meeting closed at 8.00 pm