July 2022 Draft Minutes
Great Hale Parish Council
Notes taken at Parish Council Meeting held on
Monday, 4th July 2022 at Hale Magna Village Hall
Present: Councillor N Turner (Chairman)
Councillor G Cooke
Councillor M Barnatt
Councillor A Broom
Councillor L Mountain
Councillor N Dady
Apologies County Councillor A Key (Lincolnshire County Council)
District Councillor S Tarry (North Kesteven District Council)
Cllr J Cope
In attendance: Mrs Tracy Cooke – (Parish Clerk)
Public Forum
Public Forum.
The Public Forum Opened at 6.30 pm.
The chairman welcomed the public to the 15 minute Public Forum
1 member of the public present.
Member of the public said that he had received an email from Network Rail dated 16 June.
He stated that work is booked in for completion by the end Aug 2022 when the culvert should be rectified.
Bungalows on Orchard Close that are being built.
He questioned whether they were higher than their design. Neighbours of bungalows have said that new residents can see in to their bungalows. He questioned whether the footings were in deep enough.
Chair advised Member of Public to advise the residents to seek advice from NKDC Planning. He asked that the District Councillors be copied in too. There was also an issue with the fencing.
Cllr Broom asked about traffic being affected re work on the railway. Potential for 2 day road closure.
Cllr Mountain said this would be a huge problem for farmers and harvest.
The Public forum closed at 18.35hrs
The Chairman opened the meeting at 18:35hrs.
Official Business of the Council
1 Apologies (22/65 )
Council accepted apologies from Councillors Key, Tarry and Cope for their non-attendance.
2 Previous meeting held on 6 June 2022 (22/66)
It was unanimously agreed that the draft minutes from the meeting held on 6 June 2022 were a true record. The Chairman duly signed the minutes.
3. Clerk’s Report (22/67)
- Liaised with Churchwarden – very successful clearing of the Church grounds, which she was extremely grateful for.
- Work on updating the website with Pete Langford (Website Support)
- Poster from info from Cllr Tarry created and put on Noticeboards and website
- Correspondence with Churchwarden re ownership of the clock
- Litter pickers - Chat with Sally from the litter pickers. They are meeting this Tues (5th) and she will ask the others if it’s OK for a photo / article for Village magazine.
- Grant letter sent to Parishioner re Defibrillator. He completed and returned it for our attention. (Item 10.2)
- Email correspondence with Churchwarden and adjoining residents re overhanging branches in the Church yard (Item 10.6)
- AGAR form sent to PK Littlejohn (External Auditors)
- Numerous (unproductive!!) phone calls with Smiths of Derby!
- Posters from Anglian Water & Heckington Solar Farm displayed
4 To receive declarations of interests (22/68)
Cllr Cooke made a declaration of interests on Item 7
5 To receive reports from County and District councillors (22/69)
No County and District Councillors in attendance and no reports.
6 Planning Applications (22/70)
(6.1) Notification of Receipt of Planning Application Planning Application Reference: 22/0896/VARCON Proposal:
Application to vary conditions 2 (materials-change in materials) and 6 (approved plans- revised drawings relating to materials and floor plan change) following grant of planning permission 21/1874/FUL - Proposed replacement dwelling Location: Crow Lane Farm Crow Lane Great Hale Sleaford Lincolnshire
7 Finance matters
(7.1) To approve the June 2022 bank reconciliation and spend to date. (22/71)
Approved
(7.2) To approve accounts for payment (22/72)
Increase in fuel for grass cutting discussed and approved by Council as fair and reasonable.
It was unanimously resolved to approve the accounts for payment.
(8) Highway matters for discussion and resolution
(8.1) Speed calming measure (22/73)
Cllr Broom suggested speed awareness stickers to go on the side of bins. It was suggested by Chair that this might be something that Cllr Tarry may be able to assist with and advise on.
Action: Clerk to email Cllr Tarry for advice.
(8.2) Bench siting: (22/74) 41728212413
Cllr Broom and Cllr Turner met on Mon 4th July and sketched a plan for the bench.
All agreed that this was a good place to locate the bench and should be submitted to Highways for planning permission.
To include a concrete base for the plan to save mowing underneath.
Action: Clerk to submit plans to Highways.
9 Orchard Green
9.1 Inspections (22/75): The weekly inspections were completed with satisfaction, and all was in order. Cllr Mountain said that the grass was a good as she had seen it. It was cut shorter and looks good. The basket swing has a hole / dip in it – possibly from where people are pushing it. There is lots of bird poo on zip wire. Little bit of rubbish but mostly good.
Action: Next month’s inspections – Cllr Dady
10 Other matters
(10.1) Costing of repair materials for bench Church St / High St corner (22/76)
Cllr Broom has made a detailed proposal re the costing of refurbishing the bench.
It was unanimously resolved to approve the payment to Cllr Broom for materials
Action: Cllr Broom to purchase materials and undertake repairs.
(10.2) Defibrillator (22/77)
The grant application form Member of the Public was discussed.
Proposal currently is that we give an initial grant of £250. £125 to be released immediately, with a further £125 to be released when further pads are required. If more pads are needed, then a new form should be submitted.
Action: Clerk to send £125 and inform Custodian of the Defibrillator of Council’s decision.
(10.3) Time of the monthly PC meeting (22/78)
Cllr Barnatt asked for the meeting to be moved to be slightly later as 6.30pm is a rush. After some discussion, it was agreed to move the start time to 7pm from the September meeting.
(10.4) Photographs for website from the community (22/79)
After the tidy up and refresh of the Great Hale Parish Council website, it was suggested by the Webmaster that photos could be requested from the community to go on the website front page. Council would then select the photographs for them to be uploaded. The website should not become cluttered.
Action: Clerk to write for Village Natters requesting photographs of Great Hale for the website
(10.5) Tender for the Jubilee Garden (22/80)
Cllr Turner referred to his plan that he had emailed earlier today (Mon 4th July). Cllrs Turner and Broom had met and created a plan for removal of stumps, shrubs etc and then for the area to be seeded.
They have contact number of the new owner of the adjoining bungalow. Need a conversation with the new owner to remove the old fence and replace with a chain link to make secure from footballs etc. New owners to put up a privacy fence on their side if they wish. Proposal is for a 6ft high chain link fence.
Cllr Turner is happy to meet any contractor on site to discuss in detail.
Tenders to be submitted to the Clerk directly.
(10.6) Overhanging branches in Churchyard (22/81)
The walnut tree overhanging a parishioner’s garden from the Churchyard is causing an issue with the residents concerned. The resident has previously maintained the tree themselves but is now unable to due to ill health.
As the tree is in the Church Yard it is subject to Faculty Jurisdiction therefore permission will be required to be obtained, a tree surgeons report will be required before permission can be applied for.
Clerk to engage a Tree Surgeon to undertake a tree Survey and report together with a quotation for any required works report on the tree.
Cllr Turner to meet with residents to explain the process.
(10.7) Clerk’s IT (22/82)
It was explained that the current laptop used by the Clerk is extremely slow, shuts down randomly, has only one USB port that works and won’t back up. It was unanimously agreed that the Clerk, in conjunction with Chair, liaise and to purchase a new laptop and software up to the value of £1000.
(10.8) Parish Council Facebook Page (22/83)
It was suggested and discussed whether Great Hale Parish Council should have its own Facebook page, as it had been seen that Heckington had their own, and were using their page to share Agendas, invite members of the public to meetings etc
Chair requested that advice should be sought from the LALC re having a Facebook page and ask for feedback.
Also, to promote the link to the official website re Agendas and Minutes.
Action: Clerk to message LALC and seek advice
11 Future agenda items (22/84)
(11.1) Wheelie bin speed stickers
(11.2) Network Rail works
(11.3) Overhanging branches from Churchyard
(11.4) New NKDC Code of Conduct
12 Date and place of next meeting (22/85)
Monday 5th September 2022 @ 19:00 hrs in Hale Magna Village Hall.
The Chairman thanked all for attending and closed the meeting at 19:50hrs