2024 Parish Council Resolved Minutes

Minutes of Sibsey Parish Council Meeting held Tuesday 6th February 2024 at Northlands Village Hall, Northlands, Sibsey commencing at 7.00pm

PRESENT:    Cllr I Watts presiding as Chairman 
        Cllr J Ladds        Cllr A Heath         Cllr S Barker                     Cllr J Adiotomre (arrived at 7.38pm)
                
Clerk – S Knowles

PUBLIC FORUM
There was one member of the public present to ask questions or make short statements to the Parish Council during the time allocated this being information relating to Pymoor Lane of which was informed that this was an agenda item and would be discussed during the meeting.

1.    APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND REASONS GIVEN
Cllr Limb had forwarded his apologies for absence of which the Parish Councillors were aware of the reason for not attending of which it was resolved to accept this explanation. No information had been provided by Cllr Carney prior to the meeting.

2.    TO RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LOCALISM ACT 2011, AND TO CONSIDER ANY APPLICATIONS FOR DISPENSATIONS IN RELATION TO DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS
Cllr Ladds declared a non-pecuniary interest to Item 6b on the agenda.

3.    NOTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 9th JANUARY 2024 TO BE APPROVED AS THE MINUTES
It was proposed by Cllr Ladds, seconded by Cllr Barker and resolved to accept these notes as a true and accurate record and thereby signed by the Chairman.

4.    OUTSIDE BODIES REPORT
Prior to this meeting no apologies or any reports have been received from ELDC Cllr Jones.

LCC/ELDC Cllr Ashton has sent his apologies as is at a meeting in London but has forwarded the following report for the Parish Council’s information:
•    Devolution -    The devolution consultation officially ended last week and now the last few paper copies have been added to the online results, and I am pleased to be able to tell you that we received 4048 responses across the area. This response rate is higher than other devolution consultations that have taken place recently in other parts of the country. Across Lincolnshire hundreds of people attend face to face events and the Council engaged with groups identified as needing targeted communication to ensure everyone had the chance to share their views. A detailed independent analysis of the results will be reported in a few weeks' time. The results will inform the next steps, and will be presented to, and discussed at Overview and Scrutiny Board on 12th March and Full Council will then consider the results on 13th March.

In my own view, while no-one is particularly keen on having a Mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, Devolution does come with an initial commitment of some £720million over 30 years with the ability to negotiate further tranches once the first is secured and the governance arrangements are in place. Also, those governance arrangements as agreed would ensure that the Mayor must work closely with the Combined Authority members who will represent all corners of Lincolnshire and ensure all get a fair share. For me, the possibility to work across Greater Lincolnshire on Flood Risk and Water Management issues has to be welcomed: the last few months have clearly demonstrated that a much greater amount of money will be needed to fund main river maintenance and resilience in the coming years.
•    North and Northeast Lincolnshire’s coroner area is set to be merged with the Lincolnshire County Council coroner areas in a move that will streamline the service and give better support to bereaved families. The merger proposals have been approved by the Ministry of Justice and current HM senior coroner Paul Smith will become the HM senior coroner for Greater Lincolnshire from 1 April, pending parliamentary approval. The new area will become one of the largest and busiest in the country and enable the service to work consistently across the whole of Greater Lincolnshire.
•    Flood Risk and Water Management - Following on from Babet and Henk, the County Council’s Working Group looking at all aspects of the preparation and response for these events will begin hearing evidence this month, with the final report due to go to the Flood & Water Management Scrutiny Committee before then first anniversary of Babet. As I have suggested, the core issue is the amount of money available locally for maintenance, resilience, and capital improvements and I am keen that Lead Local Flood Authorities (County Councils) are both here and across the country are given the same discretion as was afforded to Somerset in 2015 to fund a 20-year enhanced capital programme (perhaps a Rivers Fund?) aimed at preventing a repeat of the 12 breaches in Main River banks across Lincolnshire and the 880 homes which were flooded (not very many from breaches fortunately) during these periods of excessive rainfall. I am working with the Local Government Association and local MPs to try to progress this.
•    Highways - For anyone travelling to Lincoln via Bardney, LCC Highways officers have confirmed that Short Ferry road, between Fiskerton and Stainfield, is now open to all traffic and is operating under two-way lights. Following extensive work between the Highways Authority and the Environment Agency, water levels at Short Ferry are now at a level where the road is open – as long as positive weather forecasts are correct, and no unforeseen circumstances occur.
In Sibsey- the consultation for the extended parking restrictions at Frithville Road junction is now live. Once the consultation has concluded, this will likely come to Planning & Regulation Committee to be confirmed and the lines and signs will be contracted over the summer months.
•    Crowdfunding - The South and East Lincolnshire Council's Partnership's (SELCP) Crowdfunding platform, named 'South & East Lincolnshire Crowd' will open its next round of funding to support fantastic local causes across the sub-region. Working in partnership with Spacehive, the UK's leading civic crowdfunding platform, has already allowed the Partnership to support a range of grassroots projects in Boston, East Lindsey and South Holland through crowdfunding; including social and educational activities for the Lithuanian community in Boston, the restoration of a Church in Goulceby and a dog play paddock in Tydd St Mary.

Running a digital crowdfunding campaign means groups will need to ask members of the public to support your project with donations via the Spacehive website. This is a new innovative way of fundraising for many. However, for those less digitally enabled there is a range of guidance and advice available, along with extensive one-to-one support. Organisations can apply for up to £8,000 from the Council's funding pots to go towards their funding target.
The Spring 2024 round will open with a project workshop held on Wednesday 15 February, inviting local good causes from across the sub-region to hear useful insights on how to get crowdfunding campaigns off the ground, what Council funding opportunities there are available and receive bespoke support. Registration is available at: https://southandeastlincolnshirecrowd.eventbrite.co.uk/  To find out more about crowdfunding opportunities for projects in the local area, please click here: https://www.spacehive.com/movement/southandeastlincs  Further introduction workshops will also be taking place later in the year, please contact Local Communities Officer, Maddy Eyre at Maddy.Eyre@boston.gov.uk  for more information 
•    Retrofit Survey available - The South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership wants to hear from local businesses and education providers to understand the challenges in terms of decarbonising domestic properties. Thet want to hear from those involved in delivering energy efficiency and low-carbon heating measures such as floor, wall and roof insulation, solar PV, air-source heat pumps, double glazing and heating controls alongside those whose business could be tapping into that market but has either consciously decided not to or is not interested at this time. They are also keen to understand from education providers and local businesses what the gaps are in terms of training opportunities to help people develop their skills in this area, either to broaden the current offer of a business, to retrain or to simply gain expertise within the domestic retrofit sector.
The information gathered from these short online surveys will be used to compile a report and development plan for addressing these challenges which will be submitted to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. A multi-million programme of support has been identified by the Department and could enable the local area to tap into funding to help address some of those challenges in the longer term if the need and be evidenced and solutions identified. A series of online workshops have also been scheduled over the coming weeks. If you would like to discuss this work further, please call Sarah Baker on 07917 337857. For more information and to take part in the survey, please visit https://loom.ly/Pbn5i24 

Queries were raised in relation to the Retrofit Survey – Why this not working with developers at the application stage to get this done at the time of building not at a later date.

During December 2023 seven incidences were reported on the Police.uk website
Three incidents were reported on or near to Northlands Lane
2 x Anti-social behaviour
1 x Public Order – Unable to prosecute suspect

One incident of Anti-social behaviour has been reported on or near to Dorothy Close

One incident of Anti-social behaviour has been reported on or near to Littleport Lane

One incident of Violence and Sexual Offence has been reported on or near to Lucan Close – Still under investigation

One incident of Anti-social behaviour has been reported on or near to the Petrol Station

5.    CLERK’S REPORT
There was no information to report.

6.    FINANCIAL MATTERS
a.    Financial Report
Since the last meeting £155.62 has been credited to the Treasury Account (£150 in relation Burial Ground Fees and £5.62 for reimbursement of Printer Ink from clerk’s other Parish Councils). Additionally, £2559.38 associated with all the clerk’s PAYE).

b.    To approve payments

It was proposed by Cllr Heath, seconded by Cllr Barker and resolved that these payments should be made.

7.    PARISH MATTERS
a.    Pymoor Lane
A meeting with the representatives from the committee at Pymoor Lane is scheduled for Wednesday 21st February 2024 to discuss matters associated with the area.

b.    Burial Ground
A meeting to assess the area was scheduled for Saturday 24th February 2024.

c.    Village Maintenance
i)    Litter Bins
The refurbishment work is still ongoing.

ii)    Noticeboards
Noone was able to refurbish the noticeboards so therefore it was considered to renew them instead. Several choices were presented to the Parish Council of which after deliberation two choices were made, one for each location.

iii)    Maintenance areas and ownership update for ELDC and LCC assets
To date no further information has been received.

d.    Play Areas
i)    Maintenance repairs in both Play Areas
Maintenance repairs had been conducted in both of the Parishes Play Areas. However, they had hit a little snag with the resurfacing of the swings at Amos Way. Whilst cutting out the strip of old rubber mulch the extent of the lack of base works was more than they had allowed for, therefore, they will need a further 8m2 of mulch to finish the job.

Queries were raised in association with the swings and roundabout surfacing in Amos Way and drainage from them that was also required to be done. 

Quote had been received from J Portess for the drainage from the roundabout. It was thereby proposed by Cllr Heath, seconded by Cllr Barker and resolved that this work should be done in adjacent with the work by the Play Area Maintenance Team.

e.    Adoption of land in Amos Way from ELDC to Parish Council
To date no further information has been received.

f.    Land for Play Area at Northlands
A meeting with the Northlands Village Hall Committee/Trustees is due to take place on 27th February 2024 to discuss matters and concerns relating to this agenda item. 

g.    Summer 2024 Fete 
The Friends of the School are considering in having a Summer Fete on the 8th June 2024 to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of D Day. Therefore, a meeting would need to be held to discuss the aspects associated with this.

h.    Parish Handyperson
There is no current updated information in association with the agenda item.

i.    Correspondence received
The following correspondence has been received:
•    LALC e-news 12th and 26th January 2024 
•    ELDC News Release – Council’s Draft Budget 2024/2025 
•    LCC Town & Parish January 2024 Newsletter 
•    ELDC Town & Parish January 2024 Newsletter 
•    ELDC January 2024 e-messenger 
•    LCC Highways February 2023 Newsletter

An article in the LALC e-news was relating to the National Grid proposal of Pylons being erected across Lincolnshire. The Parish Council strongly object to this as the impact of the rural countryside, village and residential homes would be inappropriate with the a

8.    PLANNING
a.    Discuss all planning applications currently being reviewed for consultation
Since the last meeting two planning applications have been received and circulated to the Planning Forum for their observations
i)    S/152/00100/24 – Extension to extension of existing bungalow to provide additional living accommodation. Existing conservatory on site to be demolished – 12 Grange Meadows, Sibsey
If the neighbours had no concern with this planning application the Parish Council had no objections.

ii)    S/152/02183/8/23 – Erection of an agricultural storage building and extension to agricultural yard – Land adjacent to Willow Holt, Willows Lane, Sibsey
The Planning Forum were discussing this matter.

b.    Discuss other planning matters
Concerns relating to Proposed Site of mast adjacent to Bradgate House, Boston Road, Sibsey. The clerk has informed that she has requested a meeting with the company associated with this to be asked Why? This matter needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

c.    Report on any information received associated with Planning 
Approval of reserved matters has been authorized by ELDC in association with Outline Planning Permission S/152/01228/21 – Land North of The Rowans, Main Road, Sibsey

Full Planning Permission has been granted for change of use of agricultural land associated with Lauren’s Barn, Hurn Road, Sibsey.

9.    HIGHWAYS    
LCC Highways have recently received a request to review the existing restrictions on Frithville Road, Sibsey in the vicinity of the Primary School which their response is now out for consultation.

The clerk was asked to arrange a meeting with the Highways representative to discuss this matter on site prior to the end of the consultation.

Two Community Speed Watch sessions were done recently in Station Road.

1.    On 31st January 2024 between 2.30 and 3.30pm) – A total of 262 vehicles went past of which 10 were exceeding the speed limit + 5mph of which the fastest vehicle recorded was 41mph.
2.    On 5th February 2024 between 8.05am and 9.05am – A total of 256 vehicles went past of which 15 vehicles exceeded the speed limit + 5mph of which the fastest vehicle recorded was 47mph.

At 9.30pm it was resolved to extend the meeting by a further ten minutes

    Other matters discussed:
•    The Northlands directional sign has been knocked over and is not pointing in the correct direction.
•    The storm drains past Pymoor Lane have been cleared but not to the east side of Pymoor Lane.
•    Chapel Lane is becoming unsuitable for driving as well as a hazard to pedestrians.

Cllr Ladds informed that Anglian Water are looking at doing work along Station Road to Old Leake during August 2024.
    
10.    ANY OTHER MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION BY LEAVE OF CHAIRMAN
The following matters were discussed:
•    The footpath along the A16 from Northlands is invisible as the grass has encroached onto it and is unsafe for any pedestrians especially pushchair and wheelchair users.
•    Whilst at the recent Farmer’s Market at Sibsey Village Hall a representative from the committee asked the Chairman if the land at the side of the hall towards the Community Park could be used by a particular group who meet at the hall as parking spaces and access whilst the car park is being renovated – The Councillors agreed to this.
•    The PCC had asked if they could use the Nativity Donkey for a future event – The Councillors agreed to this.

11.    DATE OF THE NEXT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
The next scheduled Parish Council meeting will be on Tuesday 5th  March 2024 at Northlands Village Hall, Northlands, Sibsey commencing at 7pm.

There being no further business the meeting finished at 9.40pm.