PCM 14th October 2013

WADDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD ON 14TH OCTOBER 2013

IN THE VILLAGE HALL

Present: Councillors: Mrs Barnshaw, Gallagher, Mrs Garner, Gibson, Mrs Hopkins,

Hills, Mrs Mason, Orford, Pridgen, Sharpe and Ms Thompson,

Clerk: Mrs Smith,

OFFICIAL BUSINESS OF THE COUNCIL

1.  Apologies for absence. (Reasons to be given to the Clerk in advance of the meeting)
Apologies were received from Cllr’s Mrs Cooke, Cooke and Sievewright.
2.  Declarations of interest for any agenda item.
None.
3.  Signing of the minutes. To accept the Clerk’s notes from the meeting held on 9th September 2013.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Cooke that the minutes of 9th July 2013 were a true record of the meeting and they were agreed to be signed.
9 agreed, 1 abstentions. Carried.
4.  Matters arising from the last meeting. Only for discussion.
None.
5.  Planning and Environment Committee. To receive the minutes of the meetings held on the 2nd July 2013 and 13th August 2013.
It was proposed by Cllr Mrs Cooke and seconded by Cllr Cooke that the minutes of 2nd July 2013 and 13th August were a true record of the meeting and they were agreed to be signed.
All agreed. Carried
6.  To receive and accept a letter of resignation from Cllr Firth.
A letter of resignation had been received from Cllr Firth. Cllr Hills asked if the letter could be read out and if he could have a copy.
The Chairman had the letter of resignation and her being absent from the meeting the item was deferred to the next meeting.
7.  Election of a new Vice-Chairman.
Item was deferred to the next meeting.
8.  To review the sub-committees.
Item was deferred to the next meeting.
9.  To further discuss the Cairns Way Playground.
The site visit at the playground at 6pm had been helpful. Although the site visit had been to look at how to improve the playground, the residents had been informed that a cut through from the playground to Sidney Hall Field was the reason for the visit.
Cllr Gallagher informed the residents that the Parish Council had not discussed a cut through and were looking at the playground following some emails from residents regarding football being played in the playground.
Some play equipment was suggested such as a slide, trim trail, toddler swings.
It was proposed by Cllr Hills and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they go out of sessions to allow the residents to speak.
All agreed. Carried.
A resident from Cairns Way informed that the playground is used by children ranging from 3 to 12 years old and that they all play nicely together. She informed that they play games like British Bull Dog and Football and that a trim trail would prevent them from doing this. She thought that maybe a higher fence would be helpful to stop the ball going into gardens.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw that they go back into session.
All agreed. Carried.
It was proposed by Cllr Gallagher and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they produce a questionnaire to ask the residents what they would like for the playground that should be delivered to the roads nearest the playground.
All agreed. Carried.
10.  To discuss Britain in Bloom.
The item was deferred to next months meeting.
11.  To receive and discuss a letter from a resident regarding the Parish Council land on Bar Lane.
The Parish Council own a piece of land on Bar Lane that around 5 cars can park on, which is used by the residents. 4 residents of Bar Lane, who do not have car parking places near their property had asked if the Parish Council would consider allowing them to rent a car parking place on Bar Lane from the Parish Council.
It was proposed by Cllr Orford and seconded by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw that they do not change the way the land is currently used.
All agreed. Carried.
12.  To further discuss the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee – Site Allocations: Stage 1 Preliminary Engagement.
Cllr Gallagher declared a personnel interest and left the meeting.
It was proposed by Cllr Hills and seconded by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw that Cllr Ms Thompson chair the item.
It was agreed that as it is just at the early stages the Council have no comments at this time.
Cllr Gallagher returned to the meeting.
13.  An update on the Youth Club.
The Clerk informed that they had been successful with the borrowing approval and now everything was with the solicitors.
It was proposed by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they give the Clerk approval to go ahead and deal with the progress of the purchase of the Youth Club.
All agreed. Carried.
14.  An update on the Bus Shelter.
To be able to put the bus shelter on Budgens land the wall needs removing and then making good once the bus shelter is in place. A company had been contacted at the request of Budgens and the cost for the work will be £1800.00 + VAT.
It was proposed by Cllr Cooke and seconded by Cllr Orford that they go ahead with the quote for the work.
All agreed. Carried.
15.  Clerk’s Report and Correspondence.
We have received notification from NKDC informing that we have two people from Waddington have been shortlisted for the Community Champion Award. Joan Chester – Community Spirit Award and Georgina Rainthorpe – Contribution to Health & Wellbeing
LCC have been sending out letters to residents in Waddington regarding overgrown hedges and we have received copies for our information.
Cllr Cooke commented on the condition of the Millers Road Hedge and the house opposite the Village Store. The Clerk would look into the ownership of the Miller Road Headge and would inform LCC accordingly.
Cllr Cooke also commented on the condition of Viking Way and how nice the new section by Far Lane was and would we be able to have the rest of Viking Way done the same. It was agreed that before next months meeting they would have a site visit at the Millers Road entrance to the Viking Way.
A letter from EON regarding Street Lighting and they have highlighted 5 concrete posts that need replacing, each will cost £486 + VAT to replace and £369 + VAT for electricity reconnection, a total of £4,275 + VAT.
It was proposed by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they go ahead and replace them all.
All agreed.
We have received the LALC Annual Report and notification of the AGM on Tuesday 15th October 6pm, cost of £5 per delegate.
I have received a phone call in the office from a resident regarding Redwood Drive Field and balls being kicked into her garden, she has contacted us previously.
It was agreed that the Redwood Drive Field comes under the remit of the Playing Field Trust and therefore should be passed to them to deal with.
The Clerk had been getting quotes for the trees / hedges round Sidney Hall Field, however only 2 companies had come back to her.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw that they go ahead and look at the 2 quotes received.
All agreed.
It was proposed by Cllr Orford and seconded by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw that they go ahead with the quote for £2,600 + VAT, subject to checking that they have the proper permits.
All agreed. Carried.
16.  Finance
(a) Monthly finance report – to receive and accept the monthly finance report.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Cooke that the finance report be accepted.
All agreed. Carried.
(b) Signing of cheques. To resolve to sign cheques listed by the RFO. And certify invoices.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Cooke that the cheques and invoices could be signed.
All agreed. Carried.
The Clerk informed that she had received the invoice from Lindum Security but that she was not happy with some areas so she had not put it on the list of payments. Areas of concern were that they had said it would take 2 ½ weeks but they had dragged it out over 7 weeks. They had not kept the office informed when they would be going into the office and had set the alarm off on one occasion when the assistant had had to come back to the office. They then did not keep the office informed when they were going into the Village Hall and then they were in when the Sunshine Club were in and 2 children’s parties. They have apparently finished but they have left several tiles missing from the Main Hall Roof in the Village Hall and cables hanging and camera 4 in the office is not working.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they write to the Managing Director informing that they are not happy with the points above and what we would like them to do.
All agreed. Carried.
17.  Urgent matters for attention – Items which the Chairman is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency due to special circumstances.
None.
18.  ‘In Camera’ item.
It was proposed by Cllr Ms Thompson and seconded by Cllr Orford that in view of the special /confidential nature of the business about to be transacted it is advisable in the public interest that the press and public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw.
All agreed.
a.  Staff
It was proposed by Cllr Mrs Barnshaw and seconded by Cllr Cooke that they employ Mrs Wilson on a 12 months contract to be reviewed after 6 months, to work as the project officer for 6 hours a week.
All agreed. Carried
19.  Date of the next meeting. The next Parish Council Meeting will be on Monday 14th October 2013 in the Village Hall
Meeting closed at 8.50pm

Open Forum

The open forum was run by the Clerk to the Council as there was no Chairman or Vice-Chairman present at the meeting.

Police

PC Hanson informed that during the period 1st July 2013 to 9th September 2013 there had been 11 crimes.

·  3 x Theft – Shop theft from Budgens of jars of coffee, shop theft from Budgens of air freshners and fairy liquid and theft of money from a house on Brant Road.

·  3 x Criminal Damage – To St Michaels Church, a house on Station Road and a mail box on Grantham Road.

·  2 x Theft from motor vehicle

·  1 x theft of motor vehicle – a sprinter van

·  2 x damage to motor vehicle – on Bar Lane and Station Road

Residents

Mr Cavanagh from 23 Hobart Close asked when the hedges on Sidney Hall Field would be cut back as he had previously asked in his email.

The Clerk informed that she had to get three quotes for the work and take it to the Parish Council for them to decide, so the quotes would be looked at tonight’s meeting.

Mrs Palmer from 29 Hobart Close asked if any decision had been made regarding toilet facilities at Sidney Hall Field as there was concerns about the hedgerows being used as toilets.

The Clerk informed that the sub-committee had not met yet so no decisions had been made.

Mrs Palmer informed that she had received some figures regarding the mobile Skate Park use for last year 2012, they were:

16 May at the Village Hall 6

27 July at Redwood Drive 21

21 November at Redwood Drive 16

She commented that she had received a copy of the noise report which she commented was for Porthcawl in 2010, she commented that in an email to her husband from Tanya Wilson she had said that a man from maverick had stated that at 100 metres there would be no problem with noise was this correct.

The Clerk informed that she had met a man from Maverick at the field and that he had measured the field width to be over 100 metres and said that at that distance the nearest house should have no problems with noise from the Skate Park.

Mrs Palmer queried the process by which the contract had been decided and asked if the Council had received 3 quotes for the tendering process.

The Clerk informed that the process was slightly different to normal in that we told the companies that we wanted a Skate Park for a budget of £100,000 and they came up with some designs for the budget, but yes 3 had been received.

Mrs Palmer also commented that she had written to her MP and he had replied and enclosed a copy of the Clerks reply to his letter, could the Clerk inform her why her husband and Cllr Hills been singled out and mentioned in the letter.

The Clerk informed that as she did not have a copy of the letter with her she could not comment and would have to get back to Mrs Palmer on that.

Cllr Hills asked if he could have a copy of the letter.

Mr Cavanagh commented that yes he agreed they would not hear any noise from the Skate Park usage but they would from the people using the Skate Park. He remembered when they played football on the field once a week and how they could clearly hear people shouting etc.

The Clerk informed that it was a public field and so anyone could congregate on the field now if they wanted to.

Mr Cavanagh replied yes but currently they have nothing to go onto the field for but they will once the Skate Park is there. He also asked about the drainage ditch on the field and the condition of the field.

Cllr Gallagher informed that as a member of Upper Witham Drainage Board he could inform that they were actually behind with the work but that Sidney Hall Field was programmed in to be done and that the Council had already agreed to have the drainage ditch cleared out twice a year in future.

Mr Hill from 15 Hobart Close asked when the work on the Skate Park was due to start and finish.