Administration and Finance Committee

Administration and Finance Committee

It has been another very busy year for this committee with many changes, following a regrettable resignation from Cllr L Seviour in December, I was appointed as chairman of this committee. The committee has continued to strive to find cost efficiencies whilst ensuring the services we offer the parish are comparable or indeed improved.

The remit of this committee is unchanged and includes, being responsible for grant funding, risk assessment, health and safety policies, training, street lighting, the dog warden, war memorials, village seats, staffing and wages, the Parish Office, Local Access Point, liaison with North Kesteven District Council, contracts, CCTV, The Heritage Room, insurance, 50/61 Squadron, finance, cemetery policy and other day-to-day management issues.

The Parish Office continues to support a growing number of visitors (2009/10 saw 3,300 visitors, whilst April 2010 to Dec 2010 saw 4,113 visitors)

We continue to be able to offer grant aid to village voluntary and non-profit making organisations. This is done twice yearly and is advertised both in the CHATterbox magazine and on the parish website.

This year we have seen the introduction of an increase in the handyman hours. The Council hope to see a full year benefit of this next financial year. This should give rise to cost savings through not using external providers and will also enable the council to respond more efficiently to issues where minor works are required.

Also this year the Council has undertaken graffiti removal works and following the success of this has made allowances in the precept for the coming financial year.

Other costs we have dealt with include paying for ground maintenance, repairs to street lighting and paying for unmetered supply for those lights which are the responsibility of the Parish Council.

The internal and external auditors have again expressed their satisfaction with the Council’s management of its finances which remain in good order.

The precept for 2011/12 has been set at £86,360 which represents an increase of 2% or approximately 10p per household per month. At the time of writing this there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the funding that the Parish will receive for the running of the Local Access Point. The Council will continue to advocate, that due to the increasing visitor numbers and services provided, any cut to this budget would have a detrimental effect on the services offered at a local level.

Andrew Gant. Chairman
of the Administration and Finance Committee, and Finance Specialist

Planning Committee

The Planning Committee meets on average every three weeks to consider new planning applications, changes to approved plans and variation of conditions (this happens where North Kesteven District Council (NKDC) has imposed conditions which have to be met for a property to be altered or a new property built). The committee also considers applications for the removal or maintenance of trees which are covered under Tree Protection Orders which means permission must be obtained before any work can commence.

As stated in previous annual reports, the Parish Council Planning Committee cannot approve or reject an application. It only has the power to make comments and recommendations to the NKDC Planning Committee.

Recently, plans which were approved several decades ago have been revisited with a view to implementation. One of these is the development on Lincoln Road, where Planning Permission was granted prior to 1966. As some work was done on this site, including the construction of a sewer, then this permission is still valid. The Parish Council and NKDC are not able to stop such developments because work carried out means that the original approval cannot be overturned. The Parish Council can make comments if a variation is sought to change the number of houses proposed on such sites, the design of the proposed houses and possibly put forward suggestions, where appropriate, of any conditions which should be put on the developer either prior to development, during, or after the development is completed.

You can be assured that the Planning Committee will continue to act vigorously on your behalf to try to influence any building work within the village, so that it is for the benefit of the community as a whole, and for both present and future generations.

Jim Bennett. Chairman
of the Planning Committee

Estates Management Committee

I can sum up my year as Chairman of Estates Management Committee in one word – frustration. As a committee, we set out in May 2010 to be as proactive as possible, with new projects, only to find ourselves faced with obstacles at every move, mainly down to Health and Safety and lack of finance.

A small sub-group of Councillors, Andy Gant, Pat Jackman and myself, was set up to explore providing more leisure equipment for teenagers in the village. This was an age-group we felt were particularly lacking in facilities. We looked primarily at a bike track (unfortunately not a proper BMX one) and skateboard equipment. Health and Safety issues prevented us building mounds and dips for bikes on the Monson, and we found skateboard equipment to be very expensive; one main piece would cost £10,000. Some money had been kept back for two years for play equipment, and we were intending to use this, and provide the balance in this year’s precept to make up the £10,000 required, but events have overtaken us again, as local authorities cannot raise their precepts by this sort of amount at the present time. We will now have to concentrate on looking for outside grant-funding to provide skateboard equipment, but money will be tight everywhere this year. Leisure Connection brought the climbing wall and skateboard equipment to Skellingthorpe again in August 2010, and I persuaded them to bring the new POD, otherwise known as the Playbus, to Skellingthorpe as one of its first stops, and it also returned for six Fridays in January/February.

We feel strongly that the saved money should be used this year, and not kept back again. To this end, a piece of play equipment, which has apparently proved popular elsewhere, called a cone-climber has, been ordered. Again, due to the high cost of play equipment, we have only been able to purchase one of the smaller pieces, suitable for younger children, and this will go into the under-8’s area. We are also planning to put a playhouse in the under-8’s area.

It is not all doom and gloom thankfully, and we have worked on visual improvements including a clean up of graffiti and more litter picking, as well as ensuring extra grass cutting was in place as necessary, with the Parish Council taking on areas previously cut (or not cut) by the County Council. In response to requests from residents, a new dog waste bin was installed alongside the public footpath joining Woodpecker Close and Magpie Close, which was a particularly bad area for fouling. The new bin is well used, but unfortunately has also been a target for vandalism.

The Estates Management Committee has demonstrated the need for more handyman hours so that litter picking, in particular, can be increased, and more hours have now been allocated.

The Pavilion, unfortunately, continues to be an eyesore and a challenge for the vandals, who it must be stressed again are only a minority of our young people. It has been proved to us that nothing is entirely ‘vandal-proof’, as they have found a way of getting in under the fence. It can only be hoped that the energy used for this exercise, together with the satisfaction of ‘beating us’ means other areas are left alone.

I would like to thank my fellow Estates Management Committee Councillors for all their hard work over the past year; they never give up trying to improve things for the residents, even though challenging times are ahead. Special thanks also to Marie Gumsley, the Assistant Clerk, who does the work for the Estates Committee.

Shirley Flint. Chairman
of the Estates ManagementCommittee

“From the Chair”

Once again, as you read the various Committee reports above, you will see that your Parish Council has been very busy during the past year. Not every resident will agree with every Council action, but together, the Council strives to act in the public interest, and for the benefit of the community as a whole. We are, of course, restrained by legislation and regulation, to quite a narrow field of activity. But we have tried to be a “go-ahead” Council, doing all we can to make this village and its neighbourhood a good place to live and work, and a viable, sustainable community.

The various committees have described how we are also hampered by the present financial climate. We had hoped to be involved in more activities that foster “community cohesion”, for example, seasonal decorations and an “event” to mark Christmas. But financial stringency has beaten us. I had hoped that we might be able to improve the poor surfaces on some of the public footpaths within the village, which are well-used by every sector of the community; but again, cost has been prohibitive. But you will see that we have maintained and improved our street-lighting; we have continued to develop the Monson recreational area; we are extending our activity in keeping the village clean, tidy and trimmed (for example by taking on responsibility from the County Council for more of the grass-cutting). If anyone in the village has ideas or observations that might improve our environment, please do not be slow in coming forward, at the Annual Meeting, or at any time.

We have maintained out links with the RAF Veterans Association, who were connected with RAF Skellingthorpe, and their reunion weekend is as ever a high point in the year. We have endeavoured to support local activities at every level.

Perhaps the most important of the things that we do, is the provision of an almost full-time office, open to the public, providing a “one-stop shop” for Council business at Parish, District and County levels. In our two clerks, we have excellent and friendly service offered to all who call, with an enormous variety of enquiries and calls for help. This has been partly funded by the District Council, and sadly some of this funding is being withdrawn in their financial cutbacks. However we will endeavour to maintain this valuable resource in this far-flung corner of North Kesteven. Although Bus Passes are now being handed over to the County Council to issue, we still offer information packs and advice, and can still help with other benefit enquiries, or any Local Government business.

For this reason, I want to thank both Carolyn and Marie for performance “above and beyond the call of duty”.

Under the Government initiative towards “Big Society” the country is looking more locally now for much of the support activity that we need. Some of this can only be done by more local expenditure. It may be that from time to time your Parish Council may approach the community for permission to increase spending on local services. Spread over every household, the shared burden is not very great. As you will have read, a 1% increase in our spending budget amounts to approximately a shilling a house a month. (Five pence, if you are under 40.) But this has to be with your support.

Please continue to support your local Parish Council in the years to come, as it strives to serve you, and the next generation. The Council members, and the Council officers are dedicated to that end.

Richard Billinghurst. Council Chairman