PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
held on Tuesday
21st November, 2023
in the Village Hall, High St.
Present: Councillors; G Kirt (Chairman), H. Aylesbury, D. Batty, C Bysshe, S Jackson, R. Joshi-Boparai, L Rossouw, R W Randall, A Staines, & the Clerk, Mr J Haste. Two members of the public was also present.
MINUTES OF MEETING
856. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – Cllr. D. Lane sent apologies as unwell and the absence of Cllr. S. Singh was noted.
857. MEMBERS DECLARATION OF INTERESTS – None declared.
858. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION –
a) David Cowcill reported, for the record, that he had been pursuing land availability as agreed by the climate change group and so far without any positive responses.
859. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17th September, 2023.
Proposed Cllr. R Joshi-Boparai Seconded Cllr. D Batty
860. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES (information only) – None.
861. PLANNING
a) Status of current planning applications – The Clerk reported that of the applications considered by the parish council at previous meetings. The proposed development on the Manor Farm site had been withdrawn by the applicant. The notifications of tree works had been permitted. All applications for consideration at this meeting had been added to the schedule.
a) 23/01433/FUL – 5 The Green – Two storey dwelling and single storey double garage – This application is a replica of an approved application which has lapsed. We have no objections to make and would assume that the conditions applied to the earlier approval will apply if this application is permitted.
b) 23/01383/OUT – 38 Peakirk Road – Construction of two bungalows with access and layout secured and all other matters, (appearance, landscaping and scale), reserved. We noted that an earlier application for a single dwelling on the same site had been refused. We considered this proposal for two dwellings on the site is gross overdevelopment of the site, contrary to planning policies. The site is adjacent to the edge of the Village envelope and the development would be detrimental to the views of the village boundary. We unanimously agreed to vehemently opposed to the outline application and all the grounds of the previous refusal apply to this application.
c) 23/01483/CTR – Scotts Farm, 6 Peakirk Road – Complete Fell Sycamore- We have no objections to make and will support the Tree officer’s decision, but would ask that replacement trees be planted within the village.
d) 23/01505/CTR – Peakirk-cum-Glinton primary school – Norway Maple and Sycamore, crown lifts to 2.5m – We have no objections to make and will support the Tree officers’ decision.
e) 23/01539/CTR – Brook Farm House, 3 North Fen Road – Fell Laurel – We have no objections to make and will support the Tree officers’ decision, but would ask that replacement trees be planted within the village.
f) 23/01550/CTR – 29 High Street – Row of conifers reduce to 8ft and allow to re-establish as a hedge at
appropriate height and width. We have no objections to make and will support the Tree officers’ decision, but would ask that replacement trees be planted within the village. In addition, given the extent of work proposed, should the conifer hedge die; parish council ask that the hedge be replaced with an appropriate hedge of a native variety.
g) 23/01540/HHFUL – 8 Scotts Road – Single storey rear, side and front extensions to dwelling and formation of driveway and dropped kerb. – We Have no objections to the proposals in this application but do ask that if permitted, conditions are placed limiting the hours of construction and demolitions to normal working hours during weekdays and restricted hours at weekends. As usual we will support legitimate objections from neighbours.
b) Neighbourhood Plan (NP) – The Chairman reported on a number of meetings of the NP working group held since our last meeting. The main emphasis of the group has been the complete revision of the questionnaire seeking residents’ views. There is to be a further meeting at 5 Rectory lane on November 28th commencing at 7.30 with the intention of finalising the draft questionnaire to bring to the December meeting of parish council. It is hoped to circulate the questionnaire in the new year.
862. COMMUNITY MATTERS
a) Events – GlintonFest24 incorporating D-Day 80 Commemoration – The chairman reported that the as the school fete will now take on 7th July activities for children at our event on 1st June can be scaled back. A comprehensive schedule of free events is being planned for the afternoon followed by a paid admissions evening of music from a number of bands. The intension is to confirm all major aspects of the event by Christmas thus enabling the fine details to be put into place by the summer. Additional volunteers have joined the group making delivery of this and future events more secure.
b) Ashburn Close Play Area – The Clerk reported that he is due to meet legal officers on site at 3pm on 29th November to discuss the land registry title and to agree a way forward for the city council; to be in a position to transfer ownership of the play area to the parish council; failing which we will press the city council to replace the removed play equipment and reinstate the play area.
c) Playing Field
a) Strimmer protection – Cllr Randal had assessed the number of posts requiring protection as 77, requiring10 rolls of 5m x100mm. At the time of the site meeting these could be obtained from Amazon and sourced from China. Unfortunately, these are currently out of stock. Cllr Randall agreed to monitor the status of these rolls with a view to placing an order if and when they come back in to stock. We RESOLVED to allocate a budget of £350 tom enable cllr. Randall to purchase the 10 rolls of material required for the purpose.
Proposed Cllr. Randall seconded Cllr. Kirt
b) Steps to the Junior Slide – The Clerk reported on the exchange of emails about the dilapidated state of the wooden steps and the options available to us. Subsequent to those earlier email exchanges the city council had removed the hazardous steps and sown grass seed in their place. We noted the current situation and were of the opinion that young children may not require steps and therefore we agreed to take no further action at the present time.
d) Village Sign – Cllr. Randall reported that the sign had been ordered and that he is in possession of the company pro-forma order for consideration to complete the order process. The manufacturing process is intricate and the hand made sign could take around 15 months before delivery. Payment required on delivery
e) Climate Change – The chairman had circulated notes from the previous meetings of the group there is nothing further to report other than the group are scheduled to meet again the day after this meeting of parish council.
f) Biodiversity issues – Cllr. Staines reported continued dialogue with Anglian Water but little evidence of real progress in delivering the agreed signage.
g) Village Hall working party – The chairman reported chasing the architects and specifically requesting +/- 20% improvement data on thermal efficiency in their proposed measures and given the data possible grant applications to fund the work
h) Kisimul – Cllr. Kirt reported continued noises emanating from the Kisimul Property and the complete lack of acknowledgement or response from the directors of the company. We still await the inspector’s decision on the Kisimul appeal.
i) Community Engagement – Cllr. Jackson reported on the growth of both the parish council page and the events and social media Facebook page. Cllr Jackson reminded all those present to keep feeding him material to post on those pages as it is the continuous flow of such matters that encourages the increase in followers.
863. REPORTS – Standing item –
a) Cllr Batty reported on the meeting of the Parish Liaison Group (PLG) and the interesting contribution om defibrillators and the maintenance requirements together with the options for registration in order for the ambulance service to have visibility of all available equipment. Cllr Jackson had also attended the PLG meeting
b) Cllr. Mrs Bysshe reported that she had attended a meeting at Clare Lodge (CL). Numbers of residents were up to 7 and CL had received a “good” OFSTED report. Cllr Bysshe reported on an open day event to be held on Wednesday 13th December and invited anyone interested in going that day to let her know so that arrangements could be put in hand. We agreed that support of CL was vital and in the best interest of the village.
864. GOVERNANCE MATTERS
a) Replacement Notice Boards, New Defibrillators and Resiting of a sign – Cllr Kirt reported that the installations had been completed and that Spalding Fencing had done a good job and had cleared away the old notice boards as well.
b) Roll of Freedoms of the Parish – The Clerk reported on further exchanges with our preferred supplier and the options of header designs whether or not to incorporate the existing parish council website logo. We asked the Clerk to inform the supplier to leave a space for a new logo to be finalised in 2024. We also agreed to some amendments of the wording to exclude duplication of “parish council”.
c) Precept and other financial matters.
i) Those members of the Finance Working Group present agreed to meet at 7.30 on Wednesday 6th December to consider the budget and other financial matters with a view to making recommendations to the December meeting of parish council.
ii) Budget – The Clerk asked for guidance on preparation of the Budget and asked all councillors to forward request for projects and sums to be included in the draft budget for consideration by the Finance working group. We asked the clerk to prepare the draft for our consideration and keeping any rise in the possible precept in line with inflation.
865. OFFICIAL NOTICES AND CORRESPONDENCE –
a) The Clerk reported on a request from Deepings Leisure centre for a grant to help fund the reopening of that centre. The grant requested is £3320 based on £2 per head of population and would equate to a £5.38 increase in the council tax on a band d property. We agreed seek evidence of the level of usage of the centre by Glinton residents and to take no action on the request unless soundly based evidence is provided.
b) The Clerk reported a recent request for a memorial headstone for the late Peter Henry LATTER. We unanimously agreed to approve the design and asked the Clerk to inform the stonemason accordingly.
866. HIGHWAYS & other issues within the village –
a) Cllr. Mrs. Bysshe referred to the dirty road signs around the village and a wish to form a working party to clean them up in the new year. In the meantime, we asked the Clerk to write to the city council asking that the signs be cleaned as the responsibility of the highway authority.
b) The chairman asked that the promised litter bin by the stone bridge in North Fen Road be pressed again with the city council.
c) Cllr Randall referred to the sign by the post office which is permanently alight and not functioning as intended.
d) Cllr. Staines referred to the mud patch in front of the poo bin on the playing field and we agreed that this will only get worse in the winter months and asked the Clerk to pursue a solution
867. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS –
i. Signage Plaques, information boards and Village Pump
ii. Climate Change working group
iii. Grant Funding – recruiting a fund raiser
I) Date of Next Meeting – The next scheduled meeting of the parish council is to be held on Tuesday 19th December reverting to a start time of 7.15pm
Meeting closed at 9.30pm,
Clerk/Proper Officer,