Minutes

Minutes

Parish Council Meeting Held at Greatford Village Hall on Tuesday 22nd May 2018 at 7.30 pm Following the AGM

857/18 Present : Nigel Ashby (Chairman),

Parish Councillors: Ibis Channell, Jon Workman

Parish Clerk : Mrs. Lois Webb

Members of the Public : Mr Steve Dean, Mr Chris Granville-White, Mrs Elizabeth Ashby, Mr Jason Halsey, Mr Bob French, Mr & Mrs C. Gilbert, Mr Phillip Britton,

LCClr Rosemary Trollope-Bellew, and DCllr Kelham Cooke

845818 Opening of Meeting : The Chairman welcomed everyone to our meeting, and asked

if anyone present had any objection to their name appearing in the minutes/web site – no-one objected.

859/18 Apologies: Cllr David Anderson, Mrs Dani Wheeler, Mr Malcolm Wells, Mr Richard

McDermott, Mr Rod Campbell

860/18 Declarations of interest: None

861/18 Approval of Minutes of PC meeting held on 27th March 2018.

The minutes previously circulated were proposed for approval by the Chairman, seconded by Cllr Workman and signed.

Planning Issues: The following previous application/s have been granted:

862/18 S17/2489 Manor Farm, approval given.

863/18 S18/0733 Trees at Manor House Farm. The Clerk has circulated the plans for the 21 trees,

most of which to be taken down with a few to have heights and diameters reduced, and some replacements. Work has started.

864/18 S18/0378 Ash Tree along Carlby Road. An initial application to fell had been

granted to Mr C G-W. On receipt of an expensive quotation (which ruled out a public-spirited offer to fund the operation by Mr C G-W) a request was submitted that SKDC or LCC do the work and this was accepted verbally by a Mr. Craig Dickinson of SKDC. LCC subsequently consulted Land Registry: it showed Highways ownership of verge up to but not including hedge/tree line. Original plot diagrams of 1 - 3 Greatford Gardens are believed to show ownership of land in front of the properties to extend to the far side of the dyke but not including the hedge/tree line. Given this impasse Cllr T-B offered to explore a solution with Mr Paul Thomas, Executive Manager Growth & Development at SKDC.

865/18 S18/0918 Manor House Farm, Mr Liam O’Flaherty

This is an application of “approval of details reserved by condition 3 (Written Scheme

of Archaeological Investigation) of planning approval S17/2489 – discharge of Conditions (Planning). As the PC did not know exactly what this implied, the Clerk was asked to contact Daniel Allen, the case officer at SKDC Planning to enlighten us. It was thought it may have something to do with an archaeological survey.

866/18 Highway Matters

The Clerk had not yet pursued finding out costs of the 30mph red/yellow circled signs on the entrances to Greatford, the 30mph small repeater signs and speed guns, and the LRSP regarding putting forward a business case. She apologised for this, which was because of a mixture of technical computer blips, Easter Break and holiday. These will be followed up.

Cllr Channell asked Cllr R.Tb (following an item in her report at the APM) to confirm exactly

what is happening with regard to the switching off of street lights. Kelham again confirmed that NO street lights were to be turned off in SKDC. The only street lights being switched off after midnight were in LCC. LED lights were being substituted as needed. IF the village asked for street lights to be turned off at midnight, it would be considered – but for that village only.

86718 Potholes

The clerk had reported several potholes, and a missing drain cover (outside Gardeners Cottage on the main street) and had received official reference numbers for these to be actioned. Cllr Channel asked the question to the CCllr why some potholes were filled in whereas others nearby were left unrepaired. CCllr Rosemary Trollope-Bellew said the more urgent and dangerous ones were always done first, those considered not so bad were left for another time.

868/18 Road Bend Sign on Carlby Road

Mr Granville-White resurrected this again, his main point is that the sharp bend road sign is pretty useless where it is presently located (and in poor light conditions in the wooded area where it is located it is not as obvious to see as in this photo taken during bright daylight- photo on file).

He said it would therefore be more relevant and useful if it were to be moved closer to the sharp bend. The point on this was that when the road sign is in sight to a driver going up Carlby Road, the road first curves to the right before the sharp left bend comes into sight. The sign could therefore be more relevant if it were to be re-located closer to the corner where it would be more likely to draw attention to the corner coming up.

His comment then was based on the occurrence a few years ago when a driver failed to get round the corner and hit a tree on the far side of the road. His suggestion was therefore to move the sign closer to the corner so that it would be more relevant to the scene ahead. He suggested that a suitable site for the sign might be on the grass verge outside the house at Meadowbank (pic 009 on file) and that they were willing for it to be re-located there.

When this was discussed at a previous PC some years ago Cllr. Martin TB said that such a move might bring the sign closer to the corner than is permitted in the road sign rules/procedures. Moreover, his (Mr G-W) suggested site for the sign outside Meadowbank might be unsuitable because the width of the verge might be less than regulations require. He, Mr G-W, therefore paced out the width of the verge at the proposed site for the sign, and the distance to the corner, and Martin T-B said he would check on this with Highways. Cllr M.T-B made the same points at the next PC meeting and nothing definitive was heard on the measurements, no clear decision was made by the PC and the subject was dropped from the Agenda. He (Mr G-W) had decided to let this topic rest, but two days ago on 17 May there was another similar accident when a driver failed to get round the corner - as indicated by the tyre marks in Pic 038 (on file) - and the vehicle flattened the Footpath sign to the left of the green gate. Fortunately there was no vehicle coming the other way or regular walkers starting up the footpath.

In the light of this further accident perhaps the PC should consider this topic again, and ask C Cllr Rosemary T-B or D Cllr Kelham Cooke whether moving the sign to a better site would be within the traffic sign regulations.

Based on his pacing, the max width of the verge outside Meadowbrook is 4m. The telegraph pole in the photo is c100m from the corner.

The Clerk was asked to report the incident to the Police for an Incident Number.

869/18 Accident along the Carlby Road

Mr Granville-White also mentioned that, about 10 days ago, a small car coming from the Carlby direction crashed into the telegraph pole across the road from Greatford Gardens. An ambulance arrived on the scene promptly, as did a Police car.

Pic 039 (on file) shows the location of this telegraph pole (No.1), witness marks on the pavement and an oil mark beside the pole. With the shock of the collision a wire at the top of the pole ‘twanged’ and broke. The BT engineer who arrived soon after the accident reported the broken wire but because the pole was now damaged he was unable to climb it on safety grounds.

The Clerk asked to report this also to the police for an incident number.

Finances

Report on receipts and payments since last meeting :

870/18 Expenditure: Cheques signed:

Clerk lmw May 2018 Inv. 0018/019 £180. 00 (first at new rate)

PJH Landscapes (2) inv. 119117 and 1193 £112. 80

Churchyard cut (new rate) inv 17 £40.

Lenovo Desktop Computer £549. 95 (re grant from LALC) will go on assets)

Annual Subscription to CPRE £36.

871/18 Income

Precept for 2018- 19 £3,300. 00

25% Play equipment Grant from SKDC * £1,094. 80

Community Cleaning Grant SKDC * £407. 16 April – September

872/18 The Clerk pointed out that the SKDC transferred direct into our Current account

£1501. 96, referring to two different amounts at * and has requested some paperwork from them for transparency (contact at SKDC Mr Martin Perry)

87318 The Clerk had transferred the £600. LALC grant awarded last year from the Business

Reserve Account to the Current Account in order to pay for a new Desk Top Computer £549. 95, with the balance of £50.05 to be spent on any necessary training on the new system, software, or any other related expense. Any extra expense will probably be in excess of this.

874/18 The Clerk would like to close the Natwest Account as this Bank has closed its

Stamford Branch, the nearest one now being Spalding or Peterborough. To make life easier she would like to open the Parish Council account in Lloyds Bank in Stamford. The PC members agreed.

875/18 It was suggested the PC subscribe to join LALC - £90.fee - for future assistance with

various compliances. The Clerk to organise this.

876/18 Play Equipment

A full report had been done on the old wooden equipment suggesting it be monitored.

DClr Kelham Cooke said that we may apply for more funding for any replacement bits for equipment in the future.

Now that the full grant from SKDC has been received, we need to organise a

publicity photo and write up of the presentation of the funding for this equipment from SKDC. Perhaps this could be done when / if there is a Fete in September or a separate picnic in the play park with the Clerk and Dani Wheeler getting the publicity cheque from SKDC for their grant contribution (i.e.80%) and put on the Web site and in the Stamford Mercury. Dani was thanked in her absence for all her hard work on this project and getting the new child swing seat.

877/18 Flood Warden’s Report:

Chris G-White gave a short overview of current issues and developments with flood risk-reduction activities.

Periods of Heavy Rain

During late March and early April there were three periods of heavy rain, two of which brought the height of water in the river at Shillingthorpe up to just over a metre – but still short of the Flood Alert level of 1.18m and Flood Warning level of 1.32m. On two of these occasions a Flood Alert was declared downstream of Greatford for ‘Lower Glen and the Bourne Eau System’ but this was not of direct concern to Greatford.

The small water course around Greatford Gardens and on to the river ran freely following the clearance work through last Autumn and the clearing of some fallen branches in one section during the day before the first of the rains. The Environment Agency (EA) was prompt and active in clearing away branches jammed at the Greatford Sluice and against Hare Bridge in Church Lane.

Tree down from Greatford Hall onto Steadings bank

During strong NE wind in late April a tree was blown down across the river from Greatford Hall land onto the bank at the Steadings. This was soon inspected by the EA to assess how best to clear the obstruction.

EA Flood Risk Reduction Study Work - Capita Initial Assessment

The EA Partnerships and Strategic Overview team (which develops cases for capital interventions to reduce flood risk) is looking to progress a capital project in Greatford. The focus is to find a solution which provides a cost-benefit ratio of greater than one. The work is presently exploring one of the options, as well as reviewing the costs of an earth bund closer to the village to intercept overland flows. At the end of Feb it was estimated that work on the costs for the option being examined should be completed during the following 3-6 months (ie. in the timeframe June-Aug).

The Chairman thanked Chris G-w for his detailed report.

878/18 Reports from Cllr Rosemary Trollope-Bellew and District Cllr Kelham Cooke as per the APM earlier

879/18 Parish Plan.

The Chairman read out the email from Richard detailing the update as follows:

“A brief update on the progress made on the Parish Plan. The survey is complete and c.50 responses received. We are in the process of analysing the data and pulling together the draft document. The contents of the plan are being developed as follows: 1) Introduction and purpose. This will be drafted with the Chair of the Parish Council and will set out Aims and Goals of the Parish Plan. 2) Section two will be on the History of the village. 3) Planning Context (including local demographics, conservation area, flooding etc). 5) There will then be a section explaining the results of the Parish Plan Survey (including methodology) and results (including graphs and bar charts etc). 6) We will then use this information to draft a set of Recommendations for this group and of course the Parish Council to discuss and agree when the plan is presented at a future meeting. Also if anyone has any collections and suggestions of photos and images (high quality) especially ones that relate to village as it is now and it’s history/past then that would be great too - I guess we are looking for 25-30 to choose from and we may use the best 12-16 or so if these. We propose to complete the draft in June and present the draft to a forthcoming Parish Council meeting and allow for consultation and therefore comments more widely.”

The Chairman thanked Richard and his team for all their work so far.

Any Other Business:

880/18 Big Clean

The Clerk asked Dcllr Kelham Cooke if the road railings belonging to Highways, alongside the dyke adjacent to the road outside the Hare and Hounds, could be shot/sand blasted by the Big Clean Team, also what the correct type of undercoat is so that our community team could do the painting. He said he would find out but likely to be what they use for painting park railings. He also suggested the clerk should email the Big Clean and ask them, as it would probably be agreed.

881/18 Community Cleaning Grant.

The money granted to the P.Council via Bob French for community cleaning would be used to purchase equipment such as about 10 more litter pickers,and hivis jackets etc, and then we can organise our own dates to collect litter to suit us instead of the SKDC. They provide gloves and orange bags, and collect the rubbish at a collection point when informed it is ready.

883/18 The Clerk was reminded to contact the Environment Officer at Cemex about the possibility of planting a tree barrier at the possible Gravel and Mineral site at the East end of the village on King Street (although no planning has yet been applied for).

884/18 The Greatford Garden signs are in need of attention (action: Clerk to ask Highways)

There being no other matters, the Meeting closed at 9 pm

The next PC meeting will be held on Tuesday 24th July 2018.

Signed (Chairman) Nigel Ashby

Signed (Clerk) Lois Webb