MINUTES
STOUGHTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 14thNOVEMBER 2017
(Cllrs) present: Mr Bob Battey (BB) - Chair; Mr Tom Richardson (TR) - Vice Chair; Mrs June Sparrow (JS); Cllr Paul Cresswell (PC); Mrs Tracey Mee (TM).
Also in attendance: County Councillor Simon Galton (SG); District Councillor Amanda Burrell (AB); Police Constable Stephen Winn (SW); Mrs Coco Connor (CC) and a number of parishioners.
015/17 Welcome and Introduction
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Police Constable Steven Winn, County Councillor Simon Galton and District Councillor Amanda Burrell.
016/17 Chairman’s Opening Remarks
TheChairmanadvised that a lot of meetings had taken place which would be commented on in tonight’s session. He also noted the land which has recently gone up for auction with Savills and advised that this would be covered in more detail during the meeting.
017/17 Apologies for Absence
There were no apologies for absence.
018/17 Declaration of Interests
There were no declarations of interest.
019/17 Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as a true record.
020/17 Matters Arising
●Meeting with LCC highways representative re. traffic calming suggestions.
Chairman BB advised that a meeting took place between himself, TR and highways representative James Whailing on 16th October 2017. He noted that the meeting was not all that helpful as it was discovered that orders were already in place in Stoughton which prevented a lot of things from being done. One of those things was the movement of the 20mph sign. The Chairman advised that he had proposed this be moved to a more sensible place and felt that a new order should be in place. Vice Chair TR advised that James was a good listener but he is also not sure how much will be done as a result of the meeting. Vice Chair TR advised that a positive to come from the meeting was that a traffic and speed survey will be done shortly to monitor the amount of traffic, which roads and what speeds are being seen in Stoughton and that the highways department will be able evaluate that information to see whether new orders are in fact required. TR advised that the positioning of the speeds signs on Gartree Road were mentioned but that James went away to check that these were in line with directives and confirmed they are are so cannot be moved. Vice Chair TR advised that James agreed that junction between Stoughton Lane and Church Lane is dangerous and that he would try to get appraisal for a give way sign to be placed there for safety. Chairman BB advised that he felt that the meeting had a disappointing outcome as the current orders in place are very old even if they do currently comply. He asked County Councillor SG whether a new order can be raised as it is very old and traffic has increased significantly in recent years. County Councillor SG clarified that the issue in question was regarding the 20mph being moved to a more appropriate place and Chairman BB confirmed this. County Councillor SG advised that national regulations state that the speed limit is 30mph wherever there are street lights and confirmed that there are no lights at the proposed new site for the sign. He advised that the sign can only be moved with an evidence based report being in support of this. He also advised that the County Council will need to justify whether they can make an order and it will be costly to do so as there is a £900 fee to pay to advertise with newspaper. County Councillor SG advised that if the County Council agrees that the sign can be moved, the Parish Council can pay this cost if they want to as the County Council may not be prepared to do so themselves. He advised to wait for the traffic and speed survey to be completed and then once the results are received, the Parish Council can enter into further talks with the County Council if they wish to do so. Chairman BB proposed to add to new agenda for the new year. This was seconded by the other members of the Parish Council.
ACTION - CC to add Traffic Survey to agenda for January 2018 meeting.
●Recreation ground grass cutting
Chairman BB handed over to Vice Chair TR for this matter who advised that the recreation ground grass is cut fortnightly during summer months and that the current contract with M&BG has now finished and cannot be extended further therefore we have to go out to tender this autumn for a new grass cutter to begin April 2018. Vice Chair TR suggested thatwe used the same format for invitation to tender as we did previously with updated dates etc. Vice Chair TR advised that the Parish Council requires 3 contractors to quote for the works and suggested the following: M & BG - who have been hired to cut the recreation ground grass for the last four years. Turneys Landscaping - who are currently employed to carry out the urban grass cutting in Stoughton and Burnt Oak - who have cut the grass in neighbouring Scraptoft for number of years without complaint. Vice Chair advised that a draft invitation has already been drawn up and passed to CC for distribution once the matter was approved. Chairman BB put this to a vote and it was seconded by the other members of the Parish Council.
ACTION - CC to invite M&BG, Turneys Landscaping & Burnt Oak to tender for the cutting of the recreation ground grass commencing in April 2018.
●Urban Grass Cutting
Chairman BB handed over to Vice Chair TR once again for this matter. Vice Chair TR advised that the urban grass cutting relates to the verges on the road within the 20mph limit signs, which differs from the rural grass cutting which is outside of that and is Leicestershire County Councils responsibility to maintain - he commented that he is aware that this has still not been done following the last meeting in September. Vice Chair TR advised that 8 cuts were done this year and that Stoughton is part of consortium with Houghton, Thurnby and Sraptoft to increase purchasing power. He advised that this contract is now due for extension - not re-tender and that we have the option to extend for another 2 years. He noted that at the consortium meeting which took place on 11th September it was agreed that performance was generally of a high standard after a few teething problems and it was unanimously agreed by steering group that they feel an extension is appropriate. He advised that each Parish Council now has to approve the recommendation and then contact Turneys to agree this before the end of December. Vice Chair TR advised that Stoughton usually have 6 monthly cuts per year April to September whereas Thurnby and Scraptoft have an extra 2 cuts; one in March and the other in October so we can request these additional cuts also if we feel its necessary at the time. Chairman BB put this to a vote and it was seconded by the other members of the Parish Council.
ACTION - CC to confirm to the clerk to the Grass Cutting Consortium Sue Bloy of Stoughton Parish Council’s agreement to extend the current contract for a further two years.
●Submission to HDC re. Harborough Local Plan
Chairman BB advised that Stoughton Parish Council made their submission well in time of the deadline given and that weawait the outcomes regarding this. He advised that Stoughton Parish Council supported the submission that HDC is making which gave a green belt all around Stoughton and put a restriction on building and developments in the area. He advised that an additional request was made that if an agricultural building was taken down it could only be replaced with a like for like building and he looks forward to a response on this proposal. Chairman BB noted that Stoughton Parish Council have had many successes in the past in halting planning requests and that he looks forward to future success in this area also. Chairman BB handed to County Councillor SG to comment. County Councillor SG advised that he is expecting landowners to try to chip away at the green belt around Stoughton and said that it is important that individuals to also respond to the Local Plan Submission personally and in particular, the question regarding the green wedge policy. A parishioner asked for clarification on this and County Councillor SG advised that the Submission date has been further extended to 5pm on Friday 17th November 2017 and that individuals are welcome to respond personally online. Chairman BB also strongly encouraged that parishioners do this.
ACTION - Await a response from Leicestershire County Council re. our submission. Parishioners to respond to the New Harborough Local Plan personally if they want to.
●Chairs meeting with Manager of Stoughton for Wellcome Trust and the Co-op
Chairman BB advised that he had met with the Manager of Stoughton for Wellcome Trust and the Co-op and that he had raised certain issues one of which was the hedge cutting. He advised that the meeting took place approximately a month ago and that it was agreed that the hedge would be cut within a fortnight of the meeting and it has still not been done. Chairman BB advised that he would follow this up it the hedge was not cut in the next few weeks. He noted that the other issue was that Stoughton Parish Council feel that no new building is necessary in Stoughton but that the Manager of Stoughton for Wellcome Trust and the Co-op had commented that it would be nice if we had 4-5 detached houses where the barns currently are. Chairman BB advised that his response to this comment was that we will have to see about that in the future but he confirmed at the Parish Council meeting this evening that the Parish Council will reject any further developments in Stoughton - including this.
ACTION - Chairman BB to pursue the cutting of the hedge if not completed in the next few weeks.
●Local community policing
Chairman BB introduced Police Constable Stephen Winn (SW) to the meeting and asked him how we as a Parish Council can deal with speeding in Stoughton. Chairman BB advised that we have already installed a portable sign and asked whether or not the 20mph limit can be enforced and can the police do this? Chairman BB also noted that crime had risen in Stoughton recently and asked Police Constable SW to comment on this. Police Constable SW took to the floor. He advised that Stoughton is a quiet area for crime in general when compared to other areas of Leicestershire. He advised that in the last 3 months there were a total of four crimes committed;two of which were vehicle crime, one was damage to a padlock and the other was burglary. He advised that of the two vehicle crimes, one was theft of a vehicle an the other was theft from a vehicle. He advised that Oadby and Wigston have suffered an increase of burglaries and as a result have increased policing measures which unfortunately has hit other neighbouring villages with criminals going further afield to commit crimes. He advised that Thurnby & Bushby have had few burglaries in a short period of time recently but that the theft from work trader vehiclesnow appears to have tailed off. Regarding the burglary issue in Stoughton, SW advised that a number of people were arrested and no further incidents have occurred since. SW advised that although an increase in crime may have been felt by locals to Stoughton, there was certainly no force-wide or regional issue of crime increasing currently.
With regards to speeding in the village, SW advised that there is no definite answer unfortunately.He advised that police teams have been made smaller and that the demand has increased with a record breaking number of incidents being reported nationwide which has unfortunately meant that the number of incidents now outweighs the number of police officers available on the force. SW advised that speeding is not treated as a priority and that hand held devices and speed vans don’t operate in 20mph areas. SW applaudedStoughton Parish Council for their own efforts and advised he will support by spending 30-60 minutes a few times a week monitoring traffic speeds in Stoughton and and then reporting this back to Leicestershire County CouncilHighways department. SW advised that funding and finance is a definite issue and often even if an issue is found by the police, Leicestershire County Council will have an independent report and will find that there isn’t a problem.
SW opened the floor to questions.Councillor TM advised that approximately 2 weeks ago there was a police car parked in Stoughton for a number of hours with what appeared to be a Police Community Support Officer sitting inside with 4 members of the public. TM wondered what this had been about as nothing had been reported. SW advised that Police Community Support Workers are encouraged to be visible and to engage with public and that this incident would have been related to this. He advised that the person should have made more of an attempt to make contact with public and shouldn’t have stayed sat in the car for the entire time. He noted that he would feed this back when he returned to the police station. Councillor TM asked whether or not the police can make the public aware next time that someone comes so that members of the parish can approach them if they want to. SW advised he would also feed this back on his return to the station.
Chairman BB noted that the number of police cars speeding with flashing lights on Gaulby Road has increased significantly and that they appeared to be using the road as a shortcut. SW responded to this by saying that satnav will send the patrol cars the quickest way to an address whereas they used to rely on local knowledge. He advised that there was no answer to this as unfortunately police officers now cover much bigger areas and therefore local knowledge can no longer be used.
A parishioner advised that they have been campaigning for lighting within the cul de sac on old charity farm and was told that police could have an input on the decision made by Leicestershire County Council. SW responded to this by saying that the police can complete a written a report to support it if they feel it is necessary but that this would depend on a significant increase in crime in the area happening during currently non-lit times. He advised that even then, the final word on the matter lies with the highways department of Leicestershire County Council. County Councillor SG noted that the current policy is that lights go off at 11/12pm and that they are now wireless controlled. He advised that if there is a spike of crime there would be a request made to the highways department who will check if there is a report from police to support the lights being switched back on overnight. He advised that they then go to an independent inspector at the police headquarters for advice before going back to Leicestershire County Council with their recommendation.
Vice Chair TR commented that he has noticed the 7.5tonne limit enforced within Stoughton has been ignored and lots of large HGVS have been cutting through Stoughton when they have no connection to the village. SW advised he is more than happy to spend ½ a day to a day to enforce HGV limit and will see if this makes any reduction to the number of HGVs cutting through. Chairman BB asked whether it would help if locals took photos of the offending vehicles but SW advised that the law cannot be enforced retrospectively so this would not help. He did advise that if anyone was able to get the name of the company vehicle, date and approximate time that he would be happy to contact the company informally to remind them of the restrictions in place. No further questions were asked. Chairman BB thanked SW for attending the meeting and at this point, SW left.
ACTION - Parish Council to continue to monitor HGV situation and liaise with police if necessary.
●Painting of play equipment
Chairman BB handed over to Councillor TM for this matter. Councillor TM advised that she has inspected the play equipment and doesn’t feel that the painting has been finished to a high enough standard. She advised that she had asked the previous clerk Tom not to pay the painter until the work had been inspected and wanted approval to raise the matter with the painter directly. TM advised that she has spoken with the painter directly who advised that he did not quote for the works that TM is unhappy with but TM remembers walking him around the play equipment pointing out all of the areas which needed painting and feels that these areas in question were covered. CC advised that invoices were paid a few days before TM had emailed Tom to request to hold off payment. CC produced a copy of the invoices which were submitted by the painter back before the works were completed. Upon inspection of the invoices it does appear that although the areas in question may have been discussed verbally, they were not included on the written quote. Chairman BB recommended that TM ask for the additional work to be completed and for a further invoice to cover this. This was put to a vote and was seconded by all other members of the Parish Council.