2024 Meetings

NORTH SCARLE PARISH COUNCIL

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

The Vice-Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting at 7.30pm.

PRESENT

Cllr S Walsh                                                                     Cllr K Coram

Cllr R Pullen                                                                    Cllr W Tucker

Cllr A Walsh

Mrs H Broderick (Clerk)

12 parishioners attended.

Open Session:

Parishioner asked if a speed bump or 20mph limit would be possible on Church Lane.  Vice-Chairman advised that these options had been discussed at previous meetings for various locations and the PC had been told that LCC won’t support either option.

Parishioner asked if a response had been received following the survey of residents in the village. Clerk said that nothing had been received. Vice chairman suggested this may be covered in the flooding item.

686        APOLOGIES

Received from Cllr Jennings and Cllr Ward.

687        TO RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None.

688        MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 JANUARY 2024

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

689        FLOODING

The report from the Flood Action North Scarle (FANS) can be found at the end of the Minutes. Vice Chairman requested that FANS include PC in their correspondence. The FANS declined this request. PC is concerned about receiving inadequate information but FANS assured them they would report back to the PC at each meeting and inform PC between meetings of any significant developments.  FANS also agreed to send the Clerk a résumé after each of their meetings. FANS will oversee all aspects of the waterways in North Scarle, including riparian ownership, blocked culverts and catchment.  Any queries regarding Mill Dam Dyke, flooding etc should now be addressed to FANS instead of the PC.  Parishioner pointed out that he had been in touch with the various agencies raising many issues and had never received responses. EA team working on the dyke is new. Vice Chairman said it was important that EA are made aware of these historical problems and FANS agreed.  Cllr Walsh said that the PC have had promises from the EA before which have come to nothing.  LCC Cllr Briggs had provided contact details of people dealing with the S.19. He has asked someone to visit to look at the blocked culvert on Besthorpe Road although there is some confusion about who is responsible for this.

Letter dated 2004 received by parishioner and provided to PC was discussed but this is now part of FANS work.

Cllrs discussed the previous resolution to employ a solicitor, following receipt of Special Resolutions from Cllrs in light of new information and advice from LALC. Consideration was also given to the fact that the EA have now suggested work will be done, hopefully before mid-July. It was proposed by the Vice Chairman that the “solicitors letter resolution” should be “kept on the table” until the meeting in July and after discussion this was resolved.

690        EMERGENCY PLAN

Ken Hall and Cllr Tucker provided an update. Focusing on flooding risk but will extend to wider issues. They have taken advice from Eagle Parish Council’s emergency plan. They are collecting information and resources at this stage to build a plan for North Scarle. They are sending a leaflet out to residents and advertising in North Scarle Matters. They have already had some good feedback from businesses who are willing to support the Plan. For now the Plan is being created independently of the PC but with their assistance if needed.

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

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

24/1046/FUL – Application to vary condition 2 (floodlight usage) of planning permission 21/1046/FUL (formation of a menage).  Rear of 43 South Scarle Lane.  The Parish Council objected to this application.  There were 6 objections, 1 in favour.

692        FINANCES

A schedule of payments made between 1 November 2024 and 29 February 2024 was circulated to the Parish Councillors ahead of the meeting.  Invoices paid were signed and countersigned. There were no queries.

Individual payments made in the period which exceeded £100:

693        ALLOTMENTS

Inspection of the plots.  Clerk has created a check list based on the tenancy agreement which had been circulated to the Cllrs.  Cllrs Alan and Sue Walsh volunteered to carry out the inspections in the summer.

Tenancy Agreements.  This was discussed and it was resolved that no amendments were required.

694       HERITAGE ROOM

NKDC’s Legionella Risk Assessment was discussed.  Further information had also been received from NKDC and Cllr Tucker had looked in detail at the Assessment and consulted various experts.  Following discussion Cllr Tucker proposed that the hot water tap doesn’t need replacing but will require weekly flushing, annual temperature checks and cleaning of the spout and this was resolved. It was proposed by Cllr Tucker that the PC should purchase a thermometer and logbook which would be provided to the Post Office tenant along with information on how to use them and this was resolved.  Cllr Tucker to source items and speak to PO tenant.

695       PO BOX ADDRESS

Cllr Tucker had suggested PC think about alternatives to the PO Box address.  However, following discussion it was clear there were no feasible options.

696        PARISH LAND MAINTENANCE

Nothing to discuss.

697        LCC ENQUIRY RE LOCATIONS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGERS

After discussion it was proposed by Cllr S Walsh that we suggest the pub and village hall as possible locations and this was resolved.  Clerk to let LCC have contact details.

698        LCC REPORT

Nothing further to add.

699        NKDC REPORT

District Councillors had sent their apologies.  No report.

700        DATE OF NEXT MEETING.

It was resolved to agree the date of the next meeting as 15 May 2024 at 7.30pm preceeded by the Annual Parish Meeting at 7pm.

701        CLOSED SESSION

It was resolved to move into closed session.

702        STAFF MATTERS

Handyman’s holiday entitlement was discussed and it was resolved that the Clerk would amend his contract accordingly in accordance with LALC’s advice.

703        NKDC LEASE FOR HERITAGE ROOM

In anticipation of the renewal of this lease, it was discussed in general terms.  No decisions or resolution were passed.

The Vice Chairman closed the meeting at 9.18pm

Item 689 Flooding

FANS Report

Update from flood action N skull to the parish council on Wednesday 13th March 2024.

The latest update is that Frank, Alex, Simon and myself met with three members of the EA this morning.

We walked from Besthorpe Road bridge (Hunts Bridge) to Swinderby Road bridge. We discussed many aspects of Mill Dam Dyke flooding, history but most of all what we want for the future.

It was an extremely useful and positive meeting.

It has been agreed that the IEA will carry out maintenance work on the Dyke as follows.

1             3 grass cuts on both sides of the embankment on the top.

2             one in channel weed cut which does include some silt removal.

3             one minor tree and bush work.

4             any major tree work will be programmed in and communicated with us.

5             monthly check blockages on bridges.

6             investigate a further silt removal.

7             overhanging concrete on Chapel Lane.

8             other channels that feed into Mill Dam Dyke/riparian ownership.

They asked that if anything urgent is noted to contact via the incident hotline 0800807060. If anyone in the village wants to contact the EA to do it via the Flood Action Group or via emdinquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk or 03709506506.

We have been doing some door to door inquiries with residents particularly on the High Street where gardens were affected in Storm Babet. There is a lot of anxiety among the village of future flooding. We encourage everyone to attend the drop in session next week on Thursday 21st of March in the village hall from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM there will be representatives to answer questions and give advice.

 After the North Scarle Matters have been distributed we are planning on doing a leaflet drop to inform the residents what flood action North Scarle are doing.

We are also in regular contact with District Council and our MP to keep the momentum going and to keep North Scarle in the spotlight.

We are also investigating what impact there is upstream in the catchment area of North Scarle, such as new development, land drainage etc to learn if there are any precautions we can take to stem the volume of water that comes through the village during heavy rain.

Section 19 was instigated long before the Action Group was established.

We have a next meeting on Monday 20th of March and would like to take this opportunity to thank the Parish Council for paying for us to use the meeting room in the village hall.

We will continue to update the Parish Council at each PC meeting on the work we are doing.

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