HOBY WITH ROTHERBY PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2nd July 2007 AT 7.30PM IN HOBY AND DISTRICT VILLAGE HALL

Present:, Mr Terry Fleming, Mr Michael Tilling, Mr S Gregory, Mrs Diane Horsfield (Clerk), Mr Nigel Angrave (Borough Councillor) Mr Joe Orson (County Councillor), Mr Roger Eshelby (Community Support Officer) and 9 members of the general public.

Apologies: Mrs Grazyna Whittaker

There being 3 Councillors present the meeting was declared quorate & opened.

Annual Meeting

1.  Election of Chair & Vice Chair: Michael Tilling (MT) proposed Terry Fleming (TF) as Chairman & this was seconded by Stuart Gregory (SG). Terry Fleming proposed Michael Tilling as Vice Chair & this was seconded by Stuart Gregory

Terry Fleming welcomed Stuart Gregory, the new Councillor for the Hoby ward, to the Council. He then thanked the Sue Miles & Carole Clohsey, who had not stood for re election in May, for their work on behalf of the council & their contribution to proceedings. TF proposed that the Council purchase a gift for Sue & Carole, this was agreed & DH was asked to arrange gifts to the value of £25 for each of them.

2.  Brooksby Ward Co-opt to vacancy: TF proposed that Nicola Wheeler be co opted onto the Council to represent the Brooksby ward. This was unanimously agreed & Nicola Wheeler (NW) was invited to join the meeting.

3.  Adoption of New code of Conduct: The Council unanimously agreed to adopt The Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007.

4.  Acceptance Of Office, register of members’ interests etc: The Councillors present signed their acceptance of office forms & returned their completed register of members’ interests.

Parish Council Meeting

5.  Apologies: as above

6.  The minutes of the meeting dated 12 March 2007 were approved & signed.

7.  Declarations of interest: MT declared an interest in the planning application in respect of Amberwood, The Lane, Rotherby.

8.  Matters arising:

8.1 Hoby play area: care & maintenance continues with weed killing & grass cutting, the goal posts will be repaired by 1st July & a protective stain will be put on the furniture again over the next 2 weeks. The committee are to arrange a village picnic at lunchtime on Sunday 2nd September. This is open to everyone, is not a fund raiser & will be publicised via notice boards & the Parish magazine.

8.2 Brooksby quarry: TF reported that at the last liaison meeting Lafarge indicated that the quarry was running at 50% capacity & that 35 wagons per day were leaving the site. The sand extracted was not up to standard & was having to be processed. Although planning permission had been granted for the importation of sand & gravel from the Fosse Way site, they had not yet decided if this would actually happen. Joe Orson (JO) indicated that the decision to grant permission had been a close one with a 6 /4 vote. JO had proposed refusal & as a result of the ensuing debate a couple of extra conditions had been imposed. DH read the conditions that were attached to the permission. Lafarge still intend to submit a planning application for waste management & landfill at the site & this would probably be submitted in 2008. In the meantime various tests are being carried out in preparation. The site currently has a problem with flooding & Lafarge are consulting the Environment Agency about this. TF stated that the Parish Council would continue to fight the waste management proposals & that a team was in place ready to do this & funds had been ear marked to fund the campaign. Nigel Angrave (NA) reminded the meeting that Melton Borough Council (MBC) had declared their objection to the site being used for landfill.


8.3 Notice boards for Hoby & Ragdale: these were now in place & the quote for the Brooksby board was expected shortly.

8.4 Crossing on A607 at Brooksby: the report prepared by Leicestershire County Council Highways forum for Melton had concluded that the location did not meet the criteria for a controlled crossing. However the current pedestrian warning sign will be replaced by a School Children Crossing sign, the through lane widths will be reduced by widening the hatched central area & alteration of existing white lines, consideration will be given to widening the footpaths & additional lighting will be installed.

8.5 Tree preservation orders: further correspondence has been received from MBC confirming that they will not consider placing preservation orders on the chestnut trees at Brooksby.

8.6 Clean Neighbours and Environment Act (Dog Control Orders): the signs needed to enforce this legislation are now up & guidance is awaited from MBC as to the action required if dog fouling is an issue.

8.7 Brooksby Melton College: Tuesday 10th July was agreed as the date for the meeting with Annie White & DH was asked to liaise with Annie’s sectary.

8.8 Grass verges Rotherby: MT told the meeting that he had now met with the highways department at the site & had agreed that a passing place would be constructed with improvements to the road edges. Highways would also write to the owner of the land adjacent to the cattle grid requesting that the hedge be cut as this was now impinging on to the road. This work is likely to be carried out towards the end of the summer.

8.9  Washstones Lane Rotherby: following the correspondence with highways about this lane the Council has now received a letter from Andrew Dudley the Enforcement Officer indicating that planning permission was needed for the change of use for the keeping of horses & the construction of the hard landscaping. No planning application has yet been received. From the floor Vic Alsop said that this land was kept in a ramshackle state & he urged the Council to keep at this item.

9.  Community Speed watch: TF told the meeting that he had attended a meeting at Leicestershire County Council about the community speed watch scheme. Under this scheme volunteers from the community are trained to use speed checking equipment & conduct speed checks in their villages. Roger Eshelby (RE) said that the police were supporting this initiative. It allowed communities to check speeds at peak times when the police usually could not. TF said that in order to qualify 20% of the population had to be in favour. MT indicated that speeding was not really a problem in Rotherby as it was not a rat run in the same way as Ragdale & Hoby were. DH reminded the meeting that Ragdale had raised this matter when publicity about it had it had first appeared. SG & NW said they thought that Hoby would support the scheme. TF said the Council would organise a letter for Hoby & Ragdale to test support.

10. Funding for Rotherby Church Clock; Key board for the Parish: the Council agreed to donate £120 towards the service for Rotherby Church Clock. The Council agreed to donate £500 toward the purchase of a keyboard for use by all the villages in the Parish of the Upper Wreake.

11. Structural condition of bridge over the River Wreake by the Water House Hoby: MT told the meeting that several people were concerned about the state of repair of this bridge & that cracks had appeared in the fabric & the brick work appeared to be moving. Sue Miles, from the floor, indicated that this bridge was on Warner Farms land & that she too shared the concerns. A survey last summer had recommended minor repairs but obviously things had moved on. Despite the fact that the bridge carries a footpath & pipe work not related to the farm, she had not been able to obtain funding for the repairs. Re-pointing would take place as soon as the nesting season was over as this involved removal of ivy. Sue indicated that a further inspection was obviously needed in view of the crack. MT said that the Parish Council would support any application for funding & would write a supporting letter when asked. TF suggested a FLAG grant, Sue indicated that she had investigated these & had been told the bridge didn’t qualify, however information supplied by John Coleman suggested that criteria may have been relaxed & further investigation might be worthwhile (see item 13)

12. Nuisance dogs on Rotherby foot paths: MT indicated that this item had now been dealt with but that there had been problems with a dog worrying sheep & chickens in the fields behind Rotherby Church.

13. FLAG grants: DH read out the letter from Leicestershire County Council announcing the scheme which was to run to 2008. Grants for community projects were available in areas where sand & gravel extraction took place. In the past these had only been available to rectify environmental issues caused by the extraction but now appeared to be available for a wider range of projects. Details were passed to Sue Miles, see item 11, & to Vic Alsop for Brooksby Church.

14. Financial matters:

14.1 Approval of Accounts at 31.03.07: The Council approved the accounts for the financial year ending 31st March 2006.

14.2 Annual Return of 2006/2007: the Council acknowledged receipt of Hacker Young’s letter dated 13th April 2007. The 2007 Annual return was reviewed & approved & signed by the Chairman.
14.3 Financial update to 30.06.07: the Council noted the financial position at the end of June 2007.

14.4 Invoices processed for payment since last meeting: the Council approved the invoices processed for payment since the last meeting.

15. Planning applications: DH told the meeting that 3 further applications had been received in respect of Hill House Hoby, 29 Main Street Hoby & Amberwood Rotherby. TF asked SG if he would deal with 29 Main Street as the owners were personal friends; TF & NW agreed to deal with the Amberwood application. DH told the meeting that the application by Brooksby College for lighting at Spinney Farm at been withdrawn.

16. Correspondence: various correspondence not requiring action were dealt with The Council agreed to renew it’s subscription to the Rural Community Council.

17. Any other Business: MT told the meeting that there was a fallen branch obstructing the bridge over the Wreake at the Old Mill on the Hoby side. SG said that there were also loose railings & missing slats on the bridge. DH said that several people in the village had commented on how quickly the trees that were blown over in the recent storms had been removed, despite the fact that they were blocking on through roads.

18. Open Questions: Mrs Stirton asked that the additional lighting mentioned under item 8.4 be shaded to cut down on the light pollution experienced in their property.

Several people raised the issue of the very noisy firework displays that had taken place at Brooksby 3 times in the previous week. TF agreed to bring this up at the forthcoming meeting with Annie White.

Mr Stirton mentioned the high number of thefts from vehicles that had taken place recently at the Spinney Farm car park. RE said that the police were aware & it was a particular problem when items were left on display.

Jean Morris asked if anything could be done about the car that was now frequently parked on Hoby Road in Ragdale as this caused vehicles to drive on the wrong side of the road just before the blind bend which was dangerous. DH was asked to pass this item on to Grazyna Whittaker.

19. Date of Meeting: 3 September 2007