Allotments meeting announced
A meeting of all villagers interested in having an allotment at the Aveland School site is to be held at 10am on Saturday 6th February at the Village Hall. The meeting will aim to find out who wishes to rent an allotment, who wishes to be on an Allotments and Garden Society Steering Group and who would like to help with constructing the allotments.
Information will be given about what is involved in renting and keeping an allotment.
Grant application made for new Play Equipment
We have made a grant application to South Kesteven District Council’s Community Fund for new play equipment for the children’s play area. This is aimed at the 5 to 11 age group for which there is little provision at present. It would also fill the physical gap where the swings for older children used to be.
We undertook extensive research with the three primary schools of Billingborough, Horbling and Pointon and a total of 231 children were involved in selecting their preferred package of equipment. Four options were available and Option 4 illustrated below was by far the most popular choice.
Play equipment is expensive to purchase and install safely and although we can part fund the project we are dependent upon a grant for it to go ahead. There is considerable competition across the District for this fund. We thank the schools for their involvement and we hope that the children taking part will not be disappointed.
The dog fouling problem returns
After the success of previous campaigns in the village the problem of dog fouling on footpaths has returned especially in one particular area – this is Church Street, “The Hill” jitty, Low Street, Brewery Lane down to Whiteleather Square and back along the long Whiteleather Square to Low Street jitty. It seems to be the walking beat of one particular dog owner.
It is unfair on our community cleaner to have to deal with this. We believe it is taking place after dark but this will not stop us monitoring it with the possibility of the naming and shaming and instant fining (£75) of the offender.
Improvements at the Recreation Ground
The entrance gates and height restrictor bar at the Recreation Ground have finally been restored at no cost to the Parish Council. The owners of the courier van that caused the damage have admitted liability and the cost should be recovered from its insurers.
The vandalised gate to the Bowling Green has been replaced and the Council is grateful to the bowls club members who made and erected the new gate when we could not get a satisfactory contractor to do it.
Budget and Council Tax approved
The Parish Council has agreed a budget for the year April 2016 to March 2017 and at the same time agreed to leave the small share of your Council Tax, which funds us, the same as the current year. This is about £20 for the year for a Band ‘D’ home.
Nevertheless the budget sees more expenditure than for the current year by carrying over some spending and drawing on our reserves.
The main items of new expenditure envisaged are:
- Preparation of the allotments area ( bear in mind that the access road, car park, some of the fencing and water supply will all be paid for by Lincolnshire County Council)
- A new more sustainable metal skateboard ramp (“half pipe”) at the Recreation Ground. These are costly and the expenditure would need to spread over the following year as well
- Refurbishment of the tennis court at the Recreation Ground
We have also budgeted for continuing with the planters at the three signed entrance points to the village with summer flower displays following the current Spring ones. We will welcome feedback on these and review their success or otherwise at the end of the summer.
Planning Application for housing behind Pointon Road/Brewery Lane
The Parish Council is consulted by South Kesteven District Council on all planning applications in the village. The majority of these we have no objections to or will positively support them. Occasionally however we have good reason to object. Just such an application is the current one, no. S15/3457, for Outline Permission for four dwellings on land behind no 5 Pointon Road ( the east side). You can look this up on the SKDC website by typing in the application number.
This site has a planning history and was put forward for housing along with many other greenfield sites around the village at the time of preparing the current Local Plan. These sites were all firmly rejected and subsequently we have seen a surge of planning permissions on brownfield sites in the village including Aveland School site, the southern part of Grimer’s transport yard and the land on West Road behind the Co-op. These permissions amount to some 72 dwellings which represents the largest permitted increase in housing that the village has seen for decades increasing the size of the village by some 12.5%. We believe that this represents enough development for the foreseeable future especially considering that further brownfield land (eg. the northern part of Grimer’s site) may well get permission.
We are not in favour of ‘backland’ development as in this application nor the village unnecessarily encroaching on to surrounding greenfield land, but nevertheless there will be an opportunity soon for this site and any others to be considered under the new Local Plan.
If you wish to object to or support this application then please do so on an individual basis and do not just rely upon the Parish Council to do so. Much goes on the number of individual comments.
Black Sluice Pumping Station
You will remember this consultation from the Environment Agency in the autumn and the day long session at the village hall. All the comments from the public can now be read on the Environment Agency website https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk ; scroll down and look under “Managing flood risk in the Black Sluice Catchment”.
We do not know how long it will be before we know the result of the consultation upon on-the-ground actions.
Contact Us
Our Parish Clerk, Michelle Free, is our first point of contact. She can be contacted by e mail or on our dedicated phone 07415 842591.
Parish Councillors
We have appointed a new parish councillor – Councillor Paul Jepson and welcome him aboard. This brings our complement up to our full quota of nine councillors.
Our Parish Councillors are: Mike King (chairman) 241005; Bob Free (vice chairman) 07833 431377; Margaret Cummings 240128; John North 241034; Peter Pocock MBE 240837; Roger Stafford 240136
Andy Bain 07787 193329; Matt Peace 07940 073793; Paul Jepson 240448
The next Parish Council meeting will be:
On Monday 7th March at the Primary School with the Open Community Forum starting at 6.50pm. This is when any resident can raise an issue or idea. This will be followed by our business meeting at 7.00pm or when the Forum is finished.