December 2020 MInutes
MINUTES OF THE ZOOM MEETING OF WELBOURN PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 9TH DECEMBER 2020 IN WELBOURN VIA ZOOM AT 7.30pm
PRESENT Councillors
Mr. Robert Cross (RC) Chairman
Mr. John Storer (RS)
Mr. Stephen Short (SS)
Mrs. Maureen Lunn (ML)
Miss. Harriet Huntsman (HS)
Mr. Chris Dixon (CD)
Parish Clerk - Miss. Sarah Brown
01.12.00 Chairman’s Welcome
01.12.01 The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Zoom meeting.
02.12.00 Public Forum
02.12.01 No parishioners had contacted with items for the public forum.
03.12.00 Acceptance of Reasons for Absence
03.12.01 Cllr J Beaty and Cllr K Stark sent their apologises for absence.
03.12.02 Cllr J Beaty’s and Cllr K Stark’s apologises were accepted.
04.12.00 Declarations of interest.
04.12.01 No interests to declare.
05.12.00 Notes of the Zoom Parish Council meeting held on the 11th November 2020 to be approved as minutes.
05.12.01 The notes of the previous meeting held on the 11th November 2020, copies of which had been circulated previously to members, were accepted as Minutes.
05.12.02 Proposed by Cllr. R Storer and Seconded by Cllr. S Short.
The chairman will sign the minutes.
Action RC
06.12.00 Matters arising.
06.12.01 The Chairman had looked at the broken bar on the fencing around Castle Hill and is going to attempt to repair it.
06.12.02 The clerk has emailed the handyman/grass contractor asking if he is available and for a cost to cut the moat banking next to the fence around Castle Hill, so the drainage pipes can be seen and checked.
07.12.00 District and County matters.
07.12.01 Cllr Lucile Hagues had already emailed a written report which had been circulated to the Parish Councilliors.
08.12.00 Planning Application
Reference: - 20/1542/HOUS
Proposal: Erection of a single storey side extension.
Location: - 13-14 The Nookin, Welbourn, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN5 0NE.
The Parish Council has no objections to the planning Application 20/1542/HOUS.
08.12.01 Tree works
Application: - 20/1532/TCA
Description of works: G1 Conifer – reduce conifer near the summer house to height of existing hedge, remove smaller conifers; T2 Walnut – target prune west limb away from neighbours’ garage 2-3m to suitable growth points, Crown lift by 3.5-4 from laurel hedge to allow for hedge cutting.
Location: - Meadowcroft, 10 The Nookin, Welbourn, Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
08.12.02 The Parish Council has no objections to the above tree works application.
08.12.03 Tree works
Application: - 20/1635/TPO
Description of works: - T1 Lawson Cypress – Crown lift 5m.
Location: - St Chad’s Church, North End, Welbourn, Lincolnshire.
08.12.04 The Parish Council has no objections to the above tree works application.
Action Clerk
09.12.00 Clerks report.
09.12.01 The Clerk reported that Highway’s repair work had been tested on Friday 4th December 2020 when we had had prolonged rain followed by snow. The Green had water leaking through the road surface and to the right hand-side of the road (as looking towards The Forge) the water on the left-hand side was running towards The Old Coop and then running down into the newly installed drains. The water on the right-hand side was traveling down the edge of the road and crossing the road at the corner, like a ford, where The Green and The High Street meet before running down the drains which are positioned to the side of The Forge. The Clerk has made Highway’s aware and has met with Mrs N Gault and thoroughly inspected all the Highways work in the parish. A team are being sent back as soon as possible to investigate the issue on The Green. The Clerk will continue to liaise with Highways and update the Parish Council and Parishioners.
09.12.02 Some residents had voiced concern about the section of work on Moat Lane as although the newly installed drains are working, they are working slower than expected. After looking at the drains and the ditches that they run into, the problem is believed to be caused by vegetation and built-up silt debris. The Clerk will contact those responsible for the ditches in the parish and remind them of their legal obligation to maintain them with a letter drawn up by the Chairman.
The Chairman and Cllr R Storer will investigate where and what condition the pipes are in that connect the Castle Hill Moat and the Clerk will contact Historic England for advice on the legalities of cleaning/maintaining the moat and outlets.
Action RC, RS, Clerk.
09.12.03 A resident had inquired about changes which will have affected the amount of water running down Cow Lane’s ditch. It is believed that only surface water on Cow Lane will flow into the ditch and that the level has also reduced due to springs moving position on the hill side above. The Clerk has liaised with Highways to check this information is correct and is waiting for confirmation.
10.12.00 Finances
a) Balances of the accounts as of 3rd December 2020
Client 611 = £3,282.60 BMM 772 = £11,174.12 Deposit 638 = £10,383.75 Community 677 = £1,737.46 Building Society = £8882.80
b) Payments paid and to be paid.
All numbers were reviewed and agreed by all the Parish Councillors.
Further invoices that arrived since the Agenda was printed, was from BT for £64.01 which will be paid automatically by direct debit. An electric bill for The Forge from Total Gas & Power had arrived for £8.19 and £40 for subscription to the I.C.O, was also reviewed and authorised to be paid.
c) To approve the budget for the 2021-2022.
After reviewing the current years accounts which are currently in line with the year’s budget and looking at previous years. It was decided that most costs would be similar with this year’s costs with the exception of 2 to 3k being needed for election costs, the Village Hall needed more budget, as after this year they will be down nearly a year’s takings but will still have incurred costs and require maintence work. It was agreed at the last meeting that the donation to the Royal British Legion for the Remembrance Day wreaths would be increased next year from £50 to £75. It was also agreed that Castle Hill would need more of a maintence budget as more tree work needs scheduling and the moat needs maintenance to avoid drainage issues, which could possibly be expensive due to the area being an ancient scheduled Monument and Historic England imposing restrictions to what and how work is conducted.
It was agreed that to cover inflation of the current costs and the extra’s listed above that the precept would be increased by 2.5%, which would give the Parish Council a total budget of £22,376.72.
It was also proposed that the money from the V.A.T returns would be put into the reserves to help replace the amount which was used to replace the Village Hall’s heating system in the 2018-2019 financial year. Out of this money it was agreed to earmark it for the following projects, Village Hall Carpark, The Forge and Castle Hill.
Proposed by Cllr. S Short and seconded by Cllr. R Cross.
The motion was carried forward.
Action Clerk.
d) To agree the precept for the 2021-2022 financial year.
The Parish Council agreed the precept would be an increase of 2.5% to give a total budget of £22,376.
Action Clerk.
11.12.00 Next meeting.
14.12.01 The next meeting will be via Zoom on Wednesday 13th January 2020 at 7.30.
There being no further matters to discuss the chairman duly closed the meeting at 20.07