Minutes of the Annual Heckington Parish Meeting held in the Pavilion, Howell Road, Heckington on Tuesday 9th May 2017 commencing at 7.00pm.
Attendance:
Chairman and resident - Cllr Mrs J Palmer
Minute taker and resident – Julie Hudson, Clerk
Other residents, including 5 Parish Councillors, and 2 District Councillors – 21
Non-residents, including Police representative speaker and County Councillor - 3
7.00 pm – start time
- Welcome and opening remarks by the Chairman
- the location of fire exits and emergency procedures.
- that the meeting was being audio recorded for minute taking purposes.
- that the meeting was not a Council meeting.
- that due to General Election ‘Purdah’ restrictions, there had been amendments to both the original content, and the order of the agenda. Unfortunately Ms Richards, NHS and Mr Tweedale, Deputy PCC were unable to attend, but it was hoped they can attend a future meeting instead. Inspector Gee had kindly offered to speak on behalf of the local Police and would speak first this evening.
- Guest Speaker – Inspector Gee, Sleaford Police Station
- Last year’s cuts in funding together with natural wastage had reduced the number of PCSO’s in Lincolnshire to 149. It is expected to reduce further to 117.
- The new Chief Constable is Mr Bill Skelly.
- There has been an increase in traffic cars.
- The police will to continue to focus on rural crime.
- In the North Kesteven area, there are 72 Parishes which cover 356 square miles, including 3 RAF bases and figures show that on a nationwide basis, NKDC actually have the least crimes per head of population.
- The 5 community beat areas have been reduced to 3, as more focus is put onto solving cyber crime, phone scams and child sex abuse.
- To cover the North Kesteven area there are 2 Sergeants (1 x Sleaford and 1x North Hykeham), and a total of 12 PCSO’s.
- When incidents occur, other officers are drafted in.
- Incidents may be reported on-line.
- Superintendent Housley is in charge of rural crime, and PC Martin Green is the rural crime officer for the North and South of the County.
- Heckington is classed as a low crime area.
- Recent reported incidents include Anti-Social Behaviour in the area of Heckington Manor, 4 shed break-ins and 1 attempted shed break-in.
- A reminder to all residents to securely lock property, and beware of/report cold callers.
- Last year’s Heckington allotment break-ins resulted in the charging of 2 people, both of whom are awaiting trial at Crown Court.
There being no further questions, the Chairman thanked Inspector Gee for his time and participation.
7.20 pm - Inspector Gee left
- The Clerk advised that although apologies were not necessary, they had been kindly been given by residents Mr Martindale and Mr Collins, and CouncillorMrs C Hewitt, also a resident.
- Chairman’s Report
Once more it has been an extremely busy year with the usual ups and downs of public service.
The year started off badly with the deaths of two Councillors - Cllr Alun Israel and Cllr John Little. I paid tribute to Cllr Israel at the last annual meeting. Alun, as many of you know was a native of Wales, so we have now planted a tree (AlunusGlutinosa), which is a native Welsh tree, as a memoriam to him. I would like to thank Pat Banister for his advice on this matter.
Cllr John Little - there is so much I could say, as John was the quiet man who did so much, not only for this Council but also for the village as a whole. There are many organisations that have had to find a volunteer replacement to look after their accounts. John did this all very quietly, but his work was such a vital, unpaid part of the running of these things. On the Council, he again offered sound advice on many matters, and could always be relied upon for support, often ringing when things weren’t going too smoothly to offer words of encouragement. We will be dedicating a seat to John’s memory which, in agreement with the Mill Committee, will be placed in the Windmill grounds, the nearest available place to where John spent so much of his life at the Crossing Cottage. A gentleman, sorely missed.
These sad events led to an election at a cost of some £3500.00. Six people had put their names forward to be co-opted, which would have been done in an interview style selection and saved the parish the money. However, we subsequently welcomed Cllr Chris Hewitt and Cllr Dave Couzens to the Council.
Moving on to matters in the village. Sadly the paper shop closed and with it the facilities they had offered. We are grateful to Wilsons of Sleaford for taking up the paper delivery rounds - an essential service for many of our less able bodied parishioners. We now of course have the pharmacy, adjacent to the Co-op and in view of the nationwide closures of chemists, we should be grateful for the Co-op organisation providing this facility. Albeit, we still have issues with the new access.
Now of course, it looks like we are losing Lloyds Bank - an institution on the High Street for as long as our oldest residents can remember. I have written to all 14 of the Directors of Lloyds Group and the Chairman, Lord Black, explaining that Heckington may be a number to them, but we are a community and the loss of such a facility will have a major effect on the village in general. Dr Johnson, our local MP is also writing to the Chief Executive asking the board to reconsider. However, I have little hope of either of us succeeding in getting a reprieve as I have now received a generic letter, lots of financial statements (which I had already read) but also containing the information that our nearest Post Office is 0.1 miles away and the nearest ATM is 0.04 miles away. Last time I looked they were adjacent to each other in the same building! My point being, is that they haven’t looked as Heckington as an individual case, just a number. They further show their lack of factual correctness by saying Sleaford Lloyds is 4.9miles away. It may be as the crow flies. But having just watched the parliamentary debate on the closure of Post Offices, (April 25th 2017), I suppose we should be grateful, as one of the Cornish MP’s referred to information, from the PO, to her saying that the closure of the PO would have little effect on their community as there was another one close by – Yes, a round trip of 3 hours!!! The interesting thing for me was that most of what they were saying was much as we had said to Lloyds. Some MPs referred to excessive queues at PO, so much so that at one particular protest against closure, they had had to move - not due to public disorder but yes, you’ve guessed it, due to the queues in the actual PO. The consensus was that the closure of P Offices, was often following the closure of Banks (Alarm Bells!!!!! to us in Heckington), and more importantly was the start of the decline of communities. I am currently talking the P O here to try to get extra facilities to replace the loss of the Banks closure. Please, everyone use the PO, otherwise I fear we may be saying all this again in a few years’ time. The PO is not just for Christmas!
We will be inviting the speakers who could not attend this evening due to Purdah, to another meeting. It is my intention, having had discussions with the Post Office, to ask them to also join us on this occasion to highlight the services they can offer, particularly for the Lloyds Bank Customers.
Heckington has so much going for it. There are numerous organisations to join for all ages and abilities. Thankfully the magazine is going to continue and it is a valuable directory for all events and telephone numbers. The Voluntary Car Service do a sterling job of transporting people to Hospital and Doctors’ appointments. Again, it is very interesting to see each month in the magazine the amount of trips they make. An invaluable service for those unable to drive.
We need to congratulate The Mill - again this shows what can be achieved with a lot of voluntary effort…………..there has been funding given after a struggle, as the larger Funding bodies do not like giving money to voluntary organisations. So without doubt this would not have happened, without the dedication of a band of people who wanted to bring the Mill facilities up to 2017 standards……….and what improvements!!! Anyone who hasn’t been down yet really should…..An extremely valuable asset to our village.
To matters pertaining particularly to the Council -
Financially, we continue to support the Heckington Voluntary Car Service, The Swimming Pool, L. I.V.E.S. and The Blood Bikes.
The allotments are fully occupied and I am pleased that the allotments association has reformed and is thriving. The initial achievement is installation of the new gates and there is also research into a possible project, to encourage pre school children to learn about nature and growing things.
The cemetery is one of our major responsibilities. We strive to keep it to a high standard. A reminder that the Chapel is open weekdays 7.30am to 2.30pm for people who want to have a quiet moment of contemplation.
Heckington is always trying to provide more. The Chambers on St Andrews Street together with the library are evidence of this. The library is in constant use, all run by volunteers under the guidance of Vanessa Marshall.
It is quite normal for the library to have 300 users per month, so all the hard work of getting it has paid off - another great facility for our village. This was due to the Council being proactive.
So, being the forward thinking Council that I like to think we are, our next major project is to build a new swimming pool adjacent to the Pavilion here and move the tired play area to the front of this building – keeping all the facilities in one area. The old play area would then be much needed extra car park for the anticipated increase in users of the area. We have no definitive figures yet, but we will need to secure funding for this. Once we have more precise detail we will issue the plans to keep everyone informed. The team here at the Pavilion, has already been awarded funding for the exercise machines, which would be placed adjacent to the play area and part of the proposed development. It’s a start and as the saying goes, oak trees grow from acorns.
After a period of several years, we have once more entered the Best Kept Village Competition, so please keep an eye out for posters giving information about various ‘tidy up’ events, and if you see some litter, please either pick it up or report it to the office so that it can be dealt with. The first round of judging will be done towards the end of May and the beginning of June.
I have to pay tribute to our staff. Sandra Scotney our Finance Officer has retired – having initially agreed to work for five years, she ended up giving 8 years of devoted service. We are most grateful for her loyalty, and willingness to see us through the troubled times we encountered. We have presented Sandra with an engraved vase as a token of this Council’s appreciation.
Julie Hudson, our clerk, continues to keep us on the straight and narrow. Laws affecting the Council are constantly changing and she does a magnificent job of making sure we don’t fall short. She also deals on a day to day basis with our parishioners enquiries.
Andy Ward, our caretaker is entering his eighteenth year of service with us and works extremely hard at keeping the village tidy, everything from emptying the dog bins to cutting the grass and much more in between. Heckington could not function without the dedicated staff we have, so on your behalf, I thank them most sincerely.
I would also like to thank my fellow Councillors, particularly Roger Woods, the Vice Chairman, who helps me run the council with some autonomy for day to day affairs. Also to fellow Councillors for their dedication, many of whom during this past year have ‘run’ with specific projects. So thank you all.
- The County Councillor and both District Councillors explained they were restricted in their speaking matter due to the General Election Purdah regulations. Residents are referred to their monthly reports at the meetings of Heckington Parish Council. In addition, the District Councillors passed the following report to the Clerk for information – (re-typed as given)
Key achievements during the year so far:
- We have built and let 19 business units at Blackwood Court, Teal Park, within eight months of the site opening. This follows the success of the Churchill Business Park, Bracebridge Heath, which was fully let and occupied within six months of opening.
- The average occupancy of our workshop portfolio is 95.93% against a target of 80%.
- Proactively engaged partners moving forward investments opportunities in Sleaford and North Hykeham.
- Helped to progress tourism growth in the District, including a £200,000 grant to fulfil the International Bomber Command Memorial.
- Above target for the number of businesses broadly compliant with food hygiene legislation.
- Grew the economic benefit of tourism to £120 million from 2.3 million visitors.
- Enjoyed another successful Made in Sleaford event, with more children engaged in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – than the previous year.
- Opened Grantham Road car park, Sleaford, where commuters can park for just £2 per day.
- Supported, with Partnership NK, the Pop Up shop initiative in Sleaford which has now welcomed its third store.
- Successfully bid for Heritage Lottery Funding to bring Mrs Smith’s Cottage in Navenby back into use.
Key achievements during the year so far:
- 373 new homes have been constructed against a target of 245.
- 89 affordable homes have been delivered against a target of 45.
- 20 empty properties have been brought back into use against a target of 20.
- Delivered our 175th new Council house and the county’s first super energy efficient social housing, the Passivhaus, as part of a development of 22 new homes in Heckington.
- Helped tenants to save more than £26,000 combined on their fuel and water bills in the last year thanks to our Affordable Warmth Service.
- Started work on the regeneration of Newfield Road, Sleaford; at £8.9 million it’s the Council’s largest ever capital investment.
- Transformed two former garage sites in Sleaford into five, two-bedroomed affordable homes.
- Turned a former land-locked site in North Hykeham into 12 bungalows for the over 60’s next to Kesteven Court. The new area is called Holland Court.
Key achievements in the year so far:
- Delivered the ONE NK refurbishment project, including the country’s first interactive selfie flume.
- Built use of NKDC’s indoor sports and leisure facilities to 517,553 against a target of 490,000.
- Invested £250,000 into the Natural World Centre and Little Darters at Whisby Nature Park. The Natural World Centre now benefits from a new exhibition and conference space as well as the Otter’s Reach play area which has proved popular with toddlers. Little Darters has been moved and extended with a new octagonal tower, look out and mini assault course.
- Engaged with 298,578 visitors through our cultural venues and ArtsNK programmes against a target of 290,000.
- Maintained for the third year running the District’s status as the safest place in the country.
- Pioneered the county’s strongest response against fly-tipping, including Fixed Penalty Notices, CCTV on vans and signs in places where people have been successfully prosecuted for the offence.
- Recognised as having England’s highest levels of life satisfaction.
- Invested in Sleaford’s CCTV system, bringing it up to date with state-of-the-art technology.
- Approved a Public Space Protection Order for Metheringham Airfield to prevent cars congregating, practising dangerous stunts and causing a nuisance.
- Continued with the Winter Wellbeing Scheme to make sure older and vulnerable people don’t go without food when the temperature drops.
Key achievements in the year so far:
- Maintained one of the lowest Council Tax rates.
- Set up the Council-owned housing company Lafford Homes to meet the needs of affordable housing in the District.
- Cut our carbon footprint by 40% four years ahead of target.
- Chosen to pilot national obesity programme – on of only four District Councils handpicked by Public Health England to take part.
- Approved a Sport and Physical Activity Strategy that has the vision ‘Inspiring everyone to be more active, more often’.
- Signed up to a Hate and Mate Crime charter to help protect residents from these types of offences.
- Adopted the Community Plan 2016-2021, which considers how to promote and improve the economic, social, environmental health and wellbeing of the area.
- Public Participation
- Q1 - Was the swimming pool, part of a proposed new project discussed at recent Council meetings, going to be an indoor or outdoor pool?
- A1 – The aim of the project includes the potential to provide swimming pool facilities all year round.
- Q2 – Would the project have an effect on the provision of football or cricket facilities currently available?
- A2 – No. All current facilities will continue to be available. The pitches will not be reduced in size and a safety fence would be installed around the play areas as an additional safety precaution.
- Q3 – Who will maintain the new swimming pool?
- A3 – It is intended that The Heckington Community Swimming Pool team will continue with their responsibilities for its maintenance, whether or not the move from Diocese owned land to Parish Council owned land is a successful project.
- Q4 – What will happen to the trees in the proposed area?
- A4 – The big lime tree is already the subject of a separate and still awaited work’s report due to its ill health and potential safety concerns which had previously been raised last year. The other vegetation in the area is considered to be untidy brash and bushes.
- Q5 – Why have the reported surface issues in Houlden Way not been addressed, following their damage by a utility company.
- A5 – These issues have been reported on a number of occasions, however the Clerk will furnish the County Councillor with specific details so that he can look into the matter further.
- Q6 – Can anything be done about the fencing that is falling down from the boundary of the Ferdowse Clinic along Fishpond Lane.
- A6 – This matter will be reported again.
- Q7 – Can a Resident’s Association be set up and started, to include the conducting of a Resident’s Survey? And can it be added as an agenda item for the Full Council meeting to be held in June?
- A7 - A survey was conducted some years ago, but because the cost was some £10,000-£12,000,the proportional lack of responses suggested it had not been an effective project at the time. The Councillors who had been involved, tonight offered their help and experience for any future survey etc and the Clerk agreed to the request from a resident to add this as an item to be discussed at the agenda for the Full Council meeting scheduled for 26th June 2017.
Name ______Signed ______Date ______
Annual Parish Meeting - 9thMay 20171 - 2017 Initials :