Next year’s projects agreed

At its January meeting the Parish Council agreed its budget for the year April 2015 to March 2015. We hope to be able to carry out most of the following projects although for some of them we will be in other bodies’ hands:

  • New children’s play equipment - we have not been able to get this project underway in 2014/15 and we are still hoping to double our budget of £7,500 with a grant from Lincolnshire County Council but competition for limited funds is stiff. The grant rules require demographic research, evidence of needand detailed consultation with users.
  • Two electronic speed detector signs, with data recording – one for Folkingham Road and the other for Pointon Road or Horbling Road
  • Repairs to the concrete edging of the Spring Wells pond
  • Two circular picnic benches for the recreation ground
  • A flower planter for Spring Wells and a start to providing planters for the three entrances to the village – we still have doubts about this project because of concern about the long term maintenance of the planters - we would like to hear from any volunteers who would plant them up and clear and re-plant them twice a year.

We intend to fund these projects together with our regular maintenance tasks with only a slight increase in the ‘precept’ - the amount of your Council tax that we receive. This increase is only £126 for the whole village or about 25p per household! We are able to do this because of the increase in rent we receive for our agricultural land and the use of some of our reserves.

If you wish to see our full budget we hope to publish this on our website but in the meantime you can obtain one from the Parish Clerk.

Sand and sandbags

In connection with our Emergency Plan we want to be able to take up the offer from South Kesteven District Council of sand and sandbags; but we have been disappointed by no offers of storage space for these in the village. We have therefore reluctantly agreed to explore purchasing a standard lorry container at an expected cost of around £2,000. We will need to agree where to site it and although it will not look attractive it is seen as a matter of necessity. We hope to resolve this before the end of March and within the current year’s budget.

Dog Mess

After our previous campaigns against dog mess in the village the problem largely disappeared but there is now some indication of it returning. Can we remind all dog owners of their responsibility to bag their dog’s mess and take it home – it can be disposed in any general litter bin or any black bin. We have invested in new bins at the village edge on Pointon Road and Folkingham Road. There will be eight parish councillors and the District Dog Warden looking out for offenders. Offending can attract a penalty of up to £400.

Chipping and Tagging! A date for your diary

On Sunday 29th March Bourne & Billingborough Neighbourhood Policing Team will be offering two free services at Billingborough Police Station:

  1. Dog chipping by The Dogs Trust Charity so that lost or stolen dogs can be identified
  2. Property marking and an Immobi Tag Service to enable cycles to be traced

Why not be our new Community Cleaner?

We need a new community cleaner! The role has been increased to four hours input per week and expanded to not only include regular litter picking in the centre of the village but also dog mess removal ( there shouldn’t be any) and the occasional removal of weeds,leaves, debris and overhanging vegetation from the seven jitties or ginnals in the village.

For this we will pay the Living Wage – currently £7.85 per hour on a self employed basis.

If you are interested or have any questions please contact the Parish Clerk (see later for details).

A smaller cleaning job!

A cleaner is required for one hour per month for the tiny Billingborough Police Station – negotiable minimum wage. If you are interested please Contact Janet Allenby of Lincs Police on 01205 312305 or

Planning

At the time of writing we are not impressed with the developers of the West Road site, behind the Co-op, proposed for 11 apartments because they have commenced the clearance of the site. Public comments have only just closed and the application will not go to the SKDC Planning Committee for a decision until the end of January at the latest. The Parish Council has notified various concerns about the proposed scheme.

We have become concerned about the planning application for the Aveland School site (limited housing, allotments and playing fields) becoming stuck. Our chairman and District Councillor, Mike King, is facilitating a meeting between the applicant, Lincolnshire County Council and SKDC Planners to try to speed matters up.

New Parish Councillor

We welcome Andy Bain as a new co-opted parish councillor. Amongst other tasks he will take over project responsibility for the new children’s play equipment.

At the same time we have to say goodbye to Helen Charity who is leaving the village and to thank her for her time as a parish councillor.

We expect that the next chance for councillor appointments will be at the election on 7th May – the same day as the general election and the District Council election – when all existing councillors and any new candidates need to stand.

Contact us

Our Parish Clerk is Steina Bishop

Address: 35 Cloven Ends, Langtoft, Peterborough PE6 9LF

E mail:

Mobile: 07597 565962

Our Parish Councillors are:

Mike King (chairman) 241005;

Bob Free (vice chairman) 07833 431377;

Margaret Cummings 240128;

John North 241034;

Helen Charity 241212;

John Ewens 240178;

Peter Pocock MBE 240837;

Roger Stafford 240136

Andy Bain 07787 193329

The next Parish Council meeting will be:

On Monday 2nd March at the Primary School.The Public Forum will start at 6.50pm. This is when any villager can raise any issues or proposals. The formal Council meeting will commence at 7.00pm or after the public forum.