2022 Meetings

Minutes of March 2022 meeting

NORTH SCARLE PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a meeting held on 17 March 2022 at 7.30pm in

North Scarle Village Hall

 

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting at 7.30pm. 2 parishioners attended.

PRESENT

Clllr D Jennings – Chairman                   Cllr S Walsh – Vice-Chairwoman

Cllr K Coram                                         Cllr R Pullen

Cllr D Russell                                        Cllr A Walsh

Cllr K Ward                                           Mrs H Broderick (Clerk)

Open session:

  • Parishioner asked if any highways works were due to take place. He had a constructive meeting with the School Headteacher regarding safety outside the school and commented that the mobile SID wasn’t positioned very well.  Chairman confirmed that new SIDs have been received and will soon be installed.

430     APOLOGIES

None

431     TO RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None. Chairman commented that he would be giving an update on item 10 on the agenda (Cemetery Car Park) but he doesn’t consider it a pecuniary interest and would not be making a DOI.

432     MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 19 JANUARY 2022

It was resolved to adopt the Minutes as a true record and they were signed by the Chairman.

433     PLANNING having already been circulated to Cllrs, were read aloud:

Decision notices – for information only

21/1275/FUL – North Scarle Cemetery – determined and approved.

21/1728/FUL – Aubourn Farm, Wigsley Road - – determined and approved.

20/1165/VARCON – Land adjacent to Sundara 43 South Scarle Lane – appeal decision - allowed

Applications - comments submitted to NKDC after collation of email responses and resolved at this meeting

21/1282/HOUS – 14 School Lane. 2 DOI’s, 2 no objections, 3 objections. PC objected based on information in the Tree Officer’s report and concerns re drainage in the area.

22/0080/PNAGR – Green Oaks Farm, Hives Lane – 6 no objections, 1 abstention. PC has no objection/comments.

Applications – resolutions required

22/0136/FUL – Field Farm, Besthorpe Road. All in favour - no objections.

 

The White Hart Inn – village consultation. Information received from Globe Consultants regarding a potential planning application was discussed. The following comments were made and will be passed on to Globe Consultants.

  • There are enough new builds in the village and we are already over the limit set by NKDC in the Local Plan.
  • There are drainage problems in that area. Where will the surface water go? The water table is too high to allow for a proper soakaway to be installed.
  • Would prefer the building to be in red brick rather than the proposed black.
  • Happy to see this infill site used rather than a greenfield site.
  • Will the parking situation on the High Street get worse if the proposed driveway takes up space in the car park?  Would prefer a narrower driveway for this reason.

These comments were made by one or more Councillors and do not represent an overall Parish Council resolution either for or against any potential application being submitted to NKDC in the future.

Mr Moffatt (the owner) said that the proposed site is an infill site and will therefore not expand the overall size of the village. He said the car park will be better set out as the plans will include marking out of spaces so will create a more organised layout. Plans will be available for parishioners to view in the pub soon.

Parishioner expressed concern that the Parish Council shouldn’t be consulted at this point but was reassured that comments made at the meeting didn’t equate to agreement or objection to the plans.  NKDC Cllr Overton also said that there was no harm in Mr Moffatt gauging public opinion.

434     FINANCES

A schedule of payments made between 1 January 2022 and 28 February 2022 was circulated to the Parish Councillors ahead of the meeting.

There were no queries. Invoices paid via BACS were signed and countersigned.

          Individual payments made in the period which exceeded £100:

                    For                                                                           Amount £

    Heritage Room electricity bills (total in the period)                   342.65

    Heritage Room rent (total in the period)                                   208.32

    New dog bin for Playing Field                                                  190.19

    Total wages in the period                                                         624.00

435     NKDC REPORT

NKDC Cllr Peter Overton reported:

  • Local Plan has been issued for anyone to make comments.

Still have proposal of 32,000 dwellings in central Lincolnshire. Cllr Overton is concerned that roads and facilities are lacking, and houses shouldn’t be built without services. Specific to North Scarle consideration should be considered to surface water, soakaways, water table etc. The plan has been tentatively approved

  • Insulation

NKDC trying to improve insulation, particularly in Council houses. NKDC policy is to carry out a small pilot scheme to get to zero carbon rating.

  • Energy for Central Lincolnshire

New approved policy will give green light to large land-based turbines and solar panels, but consideration needs to be given to location and quality of the land vs crops on land.

  • Planning Committee. Looks likely that the committee will be reduced to 15 people

436     SEWAGE WORKING PARTY

Cllr S Walsh read her report which is attached. She thanked members of the WP for their hard work.

437     VILLAGE HALL AND PLAYING FIELD COMMITTEE

The Chairman provided information regarding the current situation. Chair and Treasurer have resigned, and they don’t have a Secretary.  Our Chairman has agreed to be their Chairman for now.  There is a meeting on 31 March to try to get interest from parishioners and keep the Committee going.

438     HIGHWAYS

The Chairman read an extract from an email sent from LCC Cllr Mike Thompson to the Highways Manager  “However you are right about my priorities which include to pick up on issues in and around North Scarle with some remedial actions being put in please ASAP. I have to say that for a village street the state of Eagle Road is overall the worst within my villages. It is only a relatively short stretch and the Spalford Road junction was noted in 2018, but has not been progressed despite the recent culvert repairs. Again a short stretch but on a 60mph road.”

The Chairman suggested that a “drive around” with Cllr Thompson and the Highways Manager was the best way to get the message across about the state of our roads and it was resolved that the Clerk should contact Cllr Thompson to make arrangements and find out if any works are currently scheduled for North Scarle.

Also from Cllr Thompson “re HGVs there is a waiting list for Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) weight restrictions and new applications are at present on hold”.

Comments were made that parking at school has deteriorated the verges on School Lane.

439     CEMETERY CAR PARK

The Chairman had made enquiries with NKDC about a minor amendment to the proposed plans. The intension is to reduce the kerbs to edgings and less material to be taken away. Awaiting response from NKDC before any proposal can be put to the Parish Councillors.

440     PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATION

Plans coming along nicely. There will be another meeting on 21 March 2022.

441     LCC REPORT

LCC Cllr Thompson was absent but had provided a report (attached).

442     DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was resolved to agree the date of the next meeting 11 May 2022 at 7.30pm.

443     CLOSED SESSION

It was resolved to move into closed session.

444     HERITAGE ROOM DOORS

Efforts had been made to obtain three quotes but one two had been received. After discussion it was resolved that the quote from Additions Building Services for £2,976 would be accepted. The Clerk will find out if the quote includes a letterbox, length of warranty and timescale for delivery/work.

445     CLERK’S PAY SCALE

The Clerk left the room. After discussion it was resolved that further information was required from the Clerk and Cllr Coram would collate the necessary information.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.25pm.

 

Item 436       Sewerage Working Party Report

Working Party update for PC meeting on Thursday 17th March 2022

We recently received an update from Karl Wilson at Severn Trent regarding works that had been carried out since the last PC meeting.

We would like to thank Karl for all of his continued hard work. He was on site at the pumping station on 25th January when the ‘ice pigging’ was carried out to cleanse the outward sewerage pipe to Eagle (12,000 Gallons of ice was pumped through the rising main.) An amount of debris was removed including an amount of egg shells.

The pump station team were also called in to complete some further maintenance at the pumping station, which included replacing the impellors on both pumps which all resulted in a 50% increase in flows. The result of the ice pigging has been a great success and even after the recent wet weather the system recovered well and managed the increase of volume entering the sewer.

We continue to follow up the installation of a flow meter down School Lane; Severn Trent have reported some delays with the procurement but are hopeful that this will be delivered within the next few weeks. We will be asking ST for a further meeting to update on the flow meter

Severn Trent have posted out letters to inform all residents in the village about wet wipes and fat being discharged into the sewage pipes and the effects that this has on the system. We are in discussion with Severn Trent, regarding a meeting with residents as they are wanting to issue homes with gunk pots for fats, oils and greases and a small bin for non- flushable items etc. This will be announced on the PC Facebook page as soon as a date is determined.

Susan Walsh

Chairwoman of the Working Party

 

ITEM 441      LCC REPORT

I note that the roads issue is on the agenda. I am waiting to arrange a catch up meeting with Joe our local highway manager. He was away last week but please find extract from email which I sent awaiting his return. Please feel free to circulate. In the absence of any meaningful response or timescale to resolve both these issues I intend to ask a question about this at the next (May) meeting of full County Council. Re HGVs there is a waiting list for TRO weight restrictions and new applications are at present on hold. Update on other LCC follows on.

However you are right about my priorities which include to pick up on issues in and around North Scarle with some remedial actions being put in please ASAP. I have to say that for a village street the state of Eagle Road is overall the worst within my villages. It is only a relatively short stretch and the Spalford Road junction was noted in 2018, but has not been progressed despite the recent culvert repairs. Again a short stretch but on a 60mph road.

County Council full council meeting held on 18th February 2022

The main item of the meeting was to debate and vote on the proposed County Budget for 22/23. It had been proposed that the increase would be limited to a 3% rise for Adult Social Care which had been deferred from 2021. The withdrawal of £12M funding by central government from LCC Highways grant had been made up from council reserves to enable repairs to continue but could not be repeated. 

To maintain the level of road maintenance and other services, without substantial reduction,  a 2% increase in general council tax would be required. Council recognised that residents will be affected by this, but road maintenance is considered a priority by communities and the additional increase was agreed by majority recorded vote. LCC was actively campaigning for the funding to be restored but has been unsuccessful. LCC council tax remains one of the lowest of shire counties and the LCC increase equates to £1 per week for a band D property.

ULHT Public consultation on Nuclear Medicine services

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is running a 12 week public consultation into the future of its nuclear medicine service.

The service is currently provided from three hospitals in Lincolnshire: Lincoln County Hospital, Grantham and District Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital, Boston. The service sees around 2,500 patients per year for very specialist tests.

The service has long faced challenges around staffing, aging equipment and sustainability, and therefore it has been deemed unsustainable in its current format.

The consultation has been launched on identified options to reduce the number of hospital sites that the service could be delivered from in future.

The options which have been developed by hospital clinicians, and shaped by patient representatives are:

  • Option 1: Centralisation of the service at Lincoln
  • Option 2: Centralisation of the service at two sites – Lincoln and Pilgrim

Feedback can be provided in the following ways:

Survey form -

https://nhslincolnshire.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9AA8h9CoAvknTf0?Q_CHL=qr

Come along to a virtual consultation event on Microsoft Teams, details below: