March 2021 MInutes
MINUTES OF THE ZOOM MEETING OF WELBOURN PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 10TH MARCH 2021 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)
Mrs. Katie Stark (KS)
Mr. Chris Dixon (CD)
Mr. Jake Beaty (JB)
Mr. Kevin Dowling (KD)
District Councillor - Mrs. Marianne Overton
Parish Clerk - Miss. Sarah Brown
01.03.00 Chairman’s Welcome
01.03.01 The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Zoom meeting.
02.03.00 Public Forum
02.03.01 One parishioner attended the public forum to raise questions on two subjects.
02.03.02 The first question was “Change to the Conservation Area. We (the parishioners) need to see and understand NKDC’s explanation of the proposed changes to the conservation area. In what way will the villagers be able to influence the final decision? Do the changes conform to the Village Plan? What is the procedure for informing the villagers of these proposed changes?”
02.03.03 The Clerk has spoken to NKDC Principal Planning Officer and been sent the draft version of Welbourn Conservation Area Appraisal and given permission to share in the public domain, so everyone understands the reasoning for the Conservation boundary area review map that the Parish Council as been asked to comment on. The Clerk has been asked to make people aware the public consultation period is not open yet but is due to start in the last week of April and last for 28 days. NKDC will hold (and publicise) a 4hour Zoom call ‘slot’ comprising a Q&A session and presentation and where Officers will be available to take questions from the public. All this will be publicised in due course.
02.03.04 In terms of the legislation to revise conservation areas, this sites within the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, et reg. 69:
(1) Every local planning authority-
(a)shall from time to time determine which parts of their area are areas of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance, and
(b)It shall be the duty of a local planning authority from time to time to review the past exercise of functions under this section and to determine whether any parts or any further parts of their area should be designated as conservation areas; and, if they so determine, they shall designate those parts accordingly’.
02.03.05 The clerk had emailed the draft document to the Parish Councilliors earlier that day and agreed to email a copy to the Parishioner present and make available to other Parishioners who are interested in seeing the document.
02.03.06 The Parish Councilliors agreed to postpone the item until the next meeting so that the Parish Councilliors have enough time to digest the new information properly.
02.03.07 The second subject the Parishioner wanted to talk about was Welbourn Roads Condition.
“The village roads in certain stretches are in an appalling condition. Cow Lane is full of deep holes. The surface next to the recent drain repairs on The Green near the telegraph pole is breaking up. The surface to the entrance of Crosby Lane is very bad. Moat Lane is dreadful. Much damage has been done recently to the grass verges in many places, clearly by some huge vehicles with wide wheels. We need concrete kerb stones to prevent this.”
02.03.08 Cllr M Overton and the Parish Council are continuously reporting the issue to the County Council and on Fix my Street.
02.03.09
03.02.00 Acceptance of Reasons for Absence
03.02.01 No apologises for absence.
04.02.00 Declarations of interest.
04.02.01 No interests to declare.
05.02.00 Notes of the Zoom Parish Council meeting held on the 13th January 2021 to be approved as minutes.
05.02.01 The notes of the previous meeting held on the 13th January 2021, copies of which had been circulated previously to members, were accepted as Minutes.
05.02.02 Proposed by Cllr. S Short and Seconded by Cllr. J Beaty.
The chairman will sign the minutes.
Action RC
06.02.00 Matters arising.
06.02.01 After looking into the matter further the Parish Council agreed to obtain a freestanding dog waste bin, rather than one that attaches to a post or wall for The Green. An anonymous donor has agreed to fit/fund the fitting. The Parish Council is grateful for this act of community spirit.
07.02.00 District and County matters.
07.02.01 Cllr Marianne Overton thanked Cllr. R Storer and the Clerk for all their help with the flooding.
07.02.02 Cllr Overton reported that she has been asking for more budget to repair potholes, larger repair projects and to tackle flooding. A proposal for £10m increase will go to full Council. Council tax is likely to increase.
07.02.03 Fortnightly meetings are being held at 6pm regarding Covid. Please pass on any good ideas about spending some grant money on helping with Covid.
08.02.00 General village concerns, can the Parish Council do anything to help improve the condition of the roads or verges?
08.02.01 The Clerk is liaising with Highways. We have unclassified roads which are not prioritised. We need to keep reporting potholes on fix my street and residents can send photographs to the Clerk when they get deep and dangerous who will forward them on to Richard Fenwick at Highways directly.
08.01.02 After discussing the extent of the damage to the verge on The High Street and looking at photographs showing vehicles driving/turning when on the verge. The Clerk was asked to contact the farm owner who owned/contracted the vehicles, in writing and ask if they would consider re-instating the verge?
Action Clerk.
09.02.00 Can the internet connection in the village be improved for parishioners?
09.02.01 The Parish Councilliors agreed that as a lot of parishioners have experienced problems, that it would be a good idea to approach Openreach to see if the provisions is enough? The Clerk was asked to email Openreach to ask them to survey/improve our service to the village.
09.02.02 Cllr M. Overton has already contacted Openreach to aid with repairs, but we still need further support. Cllr Overton also suggested getting back in touch with BT as well to investigate the matter.
Action Clerk.
10.02.00 Does the Parish Council Noticeboard outside the Post Office need repairing or replacing?
10.02.01 The Chairman said he will review the noticeboard and see if we can repair it. Also, to review if we need to move it to the bus shelter next to the other noticeboard?
10.02.02 The Clerk has been asked to get replacement quotes in case we decide we need to replace it. All to be reviewed and the Parish Council will decide at the next meeting.
Action RC, Clerk.
11.02.00 Drainage/Flooding update – what is planned, and what can we do further?
11.02.01 Highways are returning to repair drains in The Green and if weather allows extend the pond on the A607 from 22nd February 2021. For more information see the clerk’s report item 13.
12.02.00 Application Reference: - 21/0105/TCA
Description of works: T1 – T3 Conifer – fell
Location: - 4 Castle Hill, Welbourn, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN5 0NF.
12.02.01 The Parish Council has no objections.
Action Clerk.
13.02.00 Clerks Report
13.02.01 The Clerk had circulated the following report by email to the Parish Councilliors prior to the meeting.
I have spoken to our Highways contact today, they have not heard back from Anglian water regarding clearing the blockage or moving their mains pipes which are obstructing Highways drains so is going to chase that up again.
We are currently still on schedule to have the team come back on the 22nd February to investigate the issue on The Green and repair the damage to the road and if it is dry enough to work safely extended the pond on the verge next to the A607. I expressed concern about the potholes where the water has been breaking up the road on The Green and have sent photographs but with the road being unclassified it will not be a priority until the potholes become deeper.
Same for the potholes on Dycote lane, they are not high priority until deeper and Highways have 80days to fix as unclassified road.
I asked about the clearing of the drains on Mill Hill and Hall Lane etc and asked if we could have a date as so far, we have been told its going to be completed on the next scheduled maintence/drain clearance (which I believe is twice a year at present).
Sadly, Highway’s is waiting for details herself from the team as they are overstretched and have a back log of work to complete.
Another bit of sad news is that Highways tree officer has inspected the Horse chestnut on The Green next to the phone box and as expected is on borrowed time. He believes it is not an immediate risk but gives it approx. 2 years, so we need to start thinking of what we would like to replace it with.
I have asked that the tree office at Highways makes suggestions as I suspect that we will not be able to plant the same species for fear of disease being transmitted from planting in the same area.
A new invoice has come in for Total Power and Gas for the electricity at the Forge for £15.64 since the Agenda came out.
Please take care of each other and stay safe
13.02.02 No questions were raised from the report, although the Clerk was asked to put the Conservation Area and Census update on the Agenda for the next meeting.
14.02.00 Finances
a) Balances of the accounts as of 5th February 2021
Client 611 = £3,282.60 BMM 772 = £9,674.47 Deposit 638 = £10,384.01 Community 677 = £668.86 Building Society = £8882.80
b) Payments paid and to be paid.
All numbers were reviewed and agreed by all the Parish Councillors.
Cllr H Huntsman proposed that the Clerk’s salary is paid by Bacs by Cllr R Storer.
15.02.00 Next meeting.
15.02.01 The next meeting will be via Zoom on Wednesday 10th March 2021 at 7.30.
Wednesday 14th April 2021 at 7.30.
Wednesday 12th May 2021 at 7.30.
There being no further matters to discuss the chairman duly closed the meeting at 20.38.