GLINTON PARISH COUNCIL
PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
held on Tuesday
16th April 2019
at the Village Hall, High St.
Present: Councillors; D Batty, J Bell, J Holdich, OBE (Chairman), G Kirt, R. Johnson, D Lane, R Randall, E Spendelow, C Wilde and Mr JV Haste (Clerk). Also present 11 members of the public.
MINUTES OF MEETING
155 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – Cllrs Bysshe & Skinner both with prior commitments
156 MEMBERS DECLARATION OF INTERESTS – None
157 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION –
a) Rob Hill, Assistant Director: Public Protection (Peterborough & Cambridgeshire) addressed the meeting on the city council policies regarding Traveller’s encampments. It was acknowledged that the preventative gates in Helpston road had not been securely installed and that there had been a short stay by travellers. Travellers had now moved on and the gates had been welded at the hinge and the lock had been shrouded to prevent use of bolt croppers. Rob hill went on to explain the limitations on powers of the city council and the need to apply to the court for authority to act. The process could take 7 days or more. City council co-operated with the police, who had greater powers in certain circumstances, subject to assessment of risks. The basic message was that if residents felt threatened then the matter should be reported to the police. Without complaint or evidence the police assessed risk would be low and result in no action. Rob responded to questions and suggestions from members of the public present.
b) A representative of National Grid expressed concerns over the planning application by Buffingham kennels. In particular the access road passed over two high pressure gas mains pipes
c) On behalf of a resident of Rectory lane parish council were made aware of concern over the actions of residents of the Kisimul establishment; naked sunbathing and occupation of the toddlers play area in particular. The clerk was asked to write to the manager expressing those concerns and encouraging engagement of Kisimul Management with the parish council
158 MINUTES OF MEETINGS dated 19th March 2019 – we unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes, to be signed by the chairman
Proposed by Cllr. Randall and seconded by Cllr. Kirt
159 MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES (info only) –
Cllr. Spendelow asked if there had been a reply from AMVC agreeing a meeting date. The clerk would write again requesting a meeting and inform the chairman when he did so
Clerk & Chairman
160 PLANNING –
a. We noted the update, circulated with the agenda papers, on the current status of planning applications, validated or decided /since the last meeting.
b. 19/00545/CTR 10 Lincoln Road – Lime tree – reduce to previous points which is 2-3m off upper crown and 1-2m off outer crown. Cllr Johnson referred to past tree management reports and was of the opinion that the tree is on parish council owned land. We have no objection to the applicant trimming our tree.
Post Meeting note The chairman invited councillors to withhold mention of ownership pending clarification of land deeds. Furthermore the application is to reduce the size of a LIME tree, our tree management plan never recorded a lime tree on the northern boundary of the playing field. Planning were therefore advised, specifically, that we have no objection to size reduction of a Lime tree.
c. 19/00559/CTR – 14 Lincoln Road – Sycamore tree – raise crown by 2-3m that is overhanging 10 Lincoln Road Parish council has no objection.
d. 19/00307/FUL – Buffingham Kennels, Waterworks Lane – Proposed continuation of use of land and siting of mobile home in connection with, and use of the land, kennels and associated fencing as licensed establishment for breeding dogs – We have been invited by the case officer dealing with the application to clarify our position should the officers be minded to approve the application. We considered alternatives and were of the opinion that any extension to the temporary permission should not exceed two years. We also heard from a representative of National grid (NG) expressing concerns that the access road to these premises crossed two high pressure gas main pipelines and would possibly require a concrete base to protect those pipelines. With those concerns in mind we agreed to ask that the application be referred to the planning & environmental protection committee so that any legitimate concerns of NG might be given due consideration.
161 PLAYING FIELD LITTER – Cllr. Bell raised concerns over the litter bins being inadequate and surrounded by litter. Crows had been observed by councillors to scavenge the bins and may be partially the cause of litter by the bins. We asked the clerk to obtain prices to replace the existing bins with covered bins of a suitable size Clerk to obtain prices
162 REPORTS – standing item – Councillor batty reported on the attendance of Councillors Batty and Randall, together with the clerk at the city council parish liaison meeting at which there were presentations on education policy in the city; the Home Service delivery team; Castor PC Way warden scheme and the city council “Stronger for Longer” campaign to reduce the occurrence of falls.
163 GOVERNANCE MATTERS
a) Annual Governance statement we considered in turn each of the statements in the annual governance return. The clerk referred to the singular comment of the external auditor in respect of the date of signature on the previous annual return. We none the less RESOLVED to answer questions 1 – 8 in the affirmative and noted that we do not have any trust funds referred to in question 9
Proposed Cllr. Randall and seconded Cllr. Kirt
b) Bank reconciliations – We received and noted bank reconciliations for the months since previously reported and noted in particular the reconciliation for the combined deposit and current accounts for financial year end.
c) Receipts and payments – we received a report (appended to these minutes) of all receipts (£30214.84) and payments (£27623.76) since last reported including totals for the financial year which accorded with the bank reconciliation. We also were advised that these statements were available on the parish council website in compliance with the spirit of transparency.
164 GRANT APPLICATION – To consider a request from the unit leader of Glinton Rainbows for a grant of two hundred pounds to meet the costs of new regulatory requirements coming in to force later this year. We noted that as an alternative the costs would have to be met by an increase in membership fees payable by the families of the rainbows. The applicant also drew attention to a previous grant gratefully received. We do not have a time limitation on repeat applications and noted that the rainbows participated in parish events. WE accordingly RESOLVED to grant £200 to Glinton Rainbows
Proposed Cllr. Spendelow seconded Cllr. Randall
165 HIGHWAYS – to note observations of councillors –
a) The style at the Lincoln Road end of the footpath was reported as rotten and unstable
b) Green wheel signs need to be replaced.
c) Cllr. Johnson requested Parking in North Fen Road be placed on the June agenda, to allow the impact of Rectory Lane restrictions to be assessed.
d) The unofficial no parking sign outside Balcony House is to be reported to Highways.
e) We noted that the Traffic calming in Lincoln road had been replaced.
166 DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Tuesday 21st May, 2019 at 7.15pm in the Village Hall.
Meeting closed at 8.55pm
Clerk/Proper Officer,
18th April, 2019