2024 Meetings

NORTH SCARLE PARISH COUNCIL

DRAFT Minutes of a meeting held on 13 November 2024 at 7.30pm in North Scarle Village Hall

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting at 7.30pm.

PRESENT

Cllr D Jennings                                                 Cllr K Coram

Cllr W Tucker                                                   Cllr A Walsh       

Cllr S Walsh                                                     Cllr K Ward

Mrs H Broderick (Clerk)

1 parishioner attended.

Open session:

Parishioner asked when the old notice board would be taken down. Clerk confirmed it had already been done and she is trying to arrange for the scrapman to collect it.

761        APOLOGIES

Cllr R Pullen

762        TO RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Coram declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 8 Village Hall and Playing Field.

763        MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11 SEPTEMBER  2024

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

764        PLANNING

Applications - comments submitted to NKDC after collation of email responses due to timescale and in accordance with Standing Orders

24/0956/FUL – proposed replacement warehouse - Cranswick Pet Products, Lodge Farm, Wigsley Road. No objections (all in favour).

Decision Notices - for information only

24/0793/HOUS – single storey garden room extension to replace existing conservatory – Brookfield House, Spalford Road - application approved.

765 MILL DAM DYKE AND WATER COURSE

No one from FANS was present but they had sent a report - see end of Minutes. They had requested an alternative use for the money previously agreed for a solicitor’s action but this was not agreed as the request wasn’t received until the date of the meeting, no one from FANS was present to answer questions and more information is required to the PC from FANS.  Cllr S Walsh proposed that PC should use a FOI request to try to obtain the modelling report done by the EA in 2020 and this was resolved.

PC had received a letter from Dr Caroline Johnson MP and a reply had been sent asking her to put pressure on the EA to have the silt removed.

766        SEWERAGE WORKING PARTY UPDATE

Cllr S Walsh read her report and it is at the end these Minutes.

767        FINANCES

A schedule of payments made between 1 September 2024 and 31 October 2024 was circulated to the Parish Councillors ahead of the meeting.  Cllr Coram queried timing of cemetery grass cutting invoices.  Clerk explained that contractor’s invoices aren’t always received when work has been completed so payments are irregular but amounts are correct There were no queries and invoices paid were signed and countersigned.  Individual payments made in the period which exceeded £100:

768        VILLAGE HALL AND PLAYING FIELD

Bruce Coram had provided various information to the PC ahead of the meeting and spoke about the financial and administrative situation of the VH&PF.  There is some confusion about relationship between VH and clubs, no contracts, cost agreements etc. Trustees are concerned about their liabilities. Committee is currently looking at an Options Study involving changing to CIC/CIO (details are not known at the moment). The VH&PF are requesting financial help from the PC but there was some question about why the VH&PF weren’t spending their own funds before asking the PC for support and was there a danger that money provided would, at some point, be clawed back by the Charity Commission.  Rebuild cost is £780,000.  Cllr Walsh commented that there is a lot of funding/grants available.  Bruce says that the PF actually belongs to the PC and they should be more willing to take on its maintenance, Cllr S Walsh pointed out this would result in the Charity losing income from the PF. Trustees are currently considering whether or not to continue with the PF lease. PC can’t agree to give the charity money without knowing if they are going to continue to lease the PF. Cllr S Walsh proposed that there was a lot to consider, and a decision couldn’t be reached at the meeting without further consideration and this was resolved. Chairman asked how much cost is involved for PF maintenance and asked that Bruce let us know.  Bruce is not happy with the terms of the lease – no mention of footpaths, traffic, bridge maintenance.  PC need to consider this and costs involved.

769        PINFOLD

As previously discussed, the sumac trees are becoming overgrown and encroaching on neighbouring land.  It was proposed by the Chairman that these should be removed and this was resolved. Chairman will make arrangements with the handyman.

770        CEMETERY

Charges were discussed and it was proposed by Cllr Ward that a 10% increase should be applied to all charges from 1 April 2025 and reviewed again in 12 months time and this was resolved.

Used nitrous oxide cannisters have been found on several occasions in the cemetery car park. This had been reported to the police and notice put on Facebook.  It will be included in the magazine. Situation will be monitored.

771        WARRANTY FOR SIDS

Elan City had offered an extended warranty for the SIDs at a cost of £199+VAT per SID per year.  It was felt that this was expensive and Cllr Ward proposed that a local electrician be asked for a quote and reconsidered at the next meeting and this was resolved.

772        CHURCH

The Chairman had reported that one of the Church gates needs repairing and proposed that this should be done with a maximum cost of £120 and this was resolved.

773        VE DAY EVENT

Clerk had had only 1 person come forward to volunteer to organise an event.  The advert will be repeated in the magazine and Facebook.  The volunteer had attended the meeting, she knew of someone else who may be willing to help and various event suggestions were made.  No financial backing was requested at this stage, just logistical help. Chairman suggested she come up with firmer ideas before the next meeting.

774        BANKING

Clerk had requested permission to apply for a debit card so that online purchases are easier.  The Chairman proposed agreement and this was resolved.

775        POLICIIES

Due to the length of time the meeting was taking, the Chairman proposed that this item be deferred to the next meeting and this was resolved.

776        LCC REPORT

Kime Lorries – Cllr Briggs is waiting for an appointment with the transport manager.

777        NKDC REPORT

Cllr Goldson had attended an Emergency Plan meeting and pleased we have one in place.

Witham St Hughs development – written to NKDC planning requesting information relating to water flow from WSH.

778        DATE OF NEXT MEETING.

It was resolved to provisionally agree the date of the next meeting as 15 January 2025 at 7.30pm.

779        CLOSED SESSION

It was resolved to move into closed session.

780        ALLOTMENTS

Clerk had obtained 3 quotes for removal of trees from the allotments.  These were discussed and it was proposed that the quote from D Smith for £975 be accepted and this was resolved.

781        HEDGE TRIMMER

The cost of a new hedge trimmer was discussed. This is required to enable the handyman to keep the cemetery and church yard tidy.  Options were put forward and discussed and the Chairman proposed that a Stihl model be purchased for £699 and this was resolved.

782        LAND TENANCY AGREEMENT

Tenant had requested an amendment which was discussed, Cllr Ward proposed that no amendment was needed and tenant should be reassured and this was resolved.

783        HERITAGE ROOM

Costs involved with the HR were discussed as well as potential changes needed to the tenancy agreement.  It was proposed that contact be made with the Postmistress to give polite notice that the PC is considering its budget for the HR.

The work required to replace the faulty hot water unit in the building was discussed and it was proposed that B Smith’s quote for £160 be accepted and this was resolved.

784        STAFF MATTERS

Change to the Handyman’s contract was proposed by Cllr Coram and after discussion, were resolved.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.55pm.

Item 765 FANS report

Whilst it appears the EA have cleared Mill Dam Dyke as promised, a very minimal unsatisfactory job has been undertaken using only manual labour on most parts and some machinery on the stretch beyond Besthorpe Road.

FANS have written to Sarah Hawkins (our contact at the EA) to ask for an update when they intend to carry out further work

A silt survey with a view to removing 4 years’ worth of silt.

Pull back slippage

Update on The Citizen Page

As of today we still have not had a reply, this is being chased regularly.

We have engaged again with Dr Caroline Johnson MP who has agreed to meet with senior management from the EA in the village to discuss the basic work that has been carried out on the DYKE to date and what further work needs to completed to bring MDD back to a functioning condition.  Date TBC

We have had a meeting with The IDB and discussed options that could take place to help prevent flooding again in the village. Many of the options at this stage are cost prohibited and political, however we are working with the IDB to try and overcome the problems.

The money you agreed to provide towards legal cost, we wondered if you would be in agreement to spend instead on having a condition report carried out on MDD. This would give us ammunition to show the EA the poor state of MDD and give Caroline Johnson evidence when she meets with the EA that more work is required to be carried out to bring MDD back into a decent and productive state. This amount would not cover the whole of the cost of the repot but we are looking at further avenues to raise funds.

Item 766 Sewerage Working Party report

Informal telephone discussions with Severn Trent. Monday 16 September 2024

ST responded to a message request for discussion.  (there had been emails and previous messages with no response.)

ST said that there had been no response as there was nothing to report (but this statement did not agree with what was outlined.

ST made comments that there is a lot of pressure within Water Companies at present due to sewage pollution of waterways. This is both from Public Pressure and pressure from Offwat.

Specific issues were mentioned, pigging of the line, and the flow monitor for Nobles.

ST responded. The funds have been approved for ice pigging of the line prior to August and it had been hoped to get the contractor in to do the works in August but the contractor was fully booked and this may now not happen until October. In addition, Severn Trent were looking to upgrade the pumps to follow on from the pigging of the line. ST talked generally that they would be, post pigging of the line, be looking at replacing the exiting 20 KW pumps with a 50 Kw pump.  The 50Kw pump would have a much greater pumping capacity and it was hoped it would keep the line to Eagle clear of silt. ST confirmed that the two 20KW pumps would be replaced with two 50KW pumps and one would be used as backup. The replacement pumps would be the maximum for the electrical supply of the pumping station. In North Scarle. ST confirmed that ST Central would immediately know if one of the pumps failed.

ST confirmed that it has not been possible to take any readings from the Nobles flow meter. The ST phones were not compatible at all and even personal phones did not have enough signal to download the information. The only solution would be to replace the whole flow monitor with one that was compatible with the Severn Trent system. There is no schedule for this.

The recent survey by ST in the village was in effect a repeat of work already carried out.  ST was double checking for surface water leaks into the system. ST also confirmed that it was seeking a number of water butts for the village for those who had previously connected surface water to the sewer system.  No time scale was given for the water butts. ST commented that ingress of surface water into foul only sewers was widespread throughout England and was the cause of major problems for water companies and by implication residents.