March 2022 Minutes
KEXBY PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of a meeting held on 9th March 2022
Present; Cllrs. R. Gore (Chair), C. Hunt, S. Farrow, C. Cuckson, L. Hoggarth, D Forrest, D Edwardson
In attendance; Cllr. J. Milne (WLDC)
Apologies; None
8/22 Minutes of meeting held on 12th January 2022 had been circulated and were approved.
9/22 Matters arising;
a) Fibre Broadband – a drop-in session had been arranged for Saturday 12th March for which Quickline had agreed to leaflet all properties, send someone round to knock on doors and erect some banners. Of the eight residents at the meeting only one had received a leaflet, and two had received a personal call, there was a banner by the village hall and one in Upton. The Clerk would notify Hayley Silvester of Quickline although it was too late to do anything in time for the planned session. The Parish Council had advertised it on Facebook, the village website and in the parish magazine.
Action GP
b) Parish cottage – the annual renewal was due, the Chairman agreed to action this.
Action RG
c) Platinum Jubilee – the Clerk was asked to contact parents who had notified the Parish Council of children under 16 that mugs would no longer be presented, instead a commemorative pack would be presented to every household. These packs would be delivered along with the notice of the Jubilee event prior to the weekend celebrations. The joint meeting of the two parishes to discuss arrangements had not come to a conclusion about how the finances would be managed. It was agreed that, once any grants from WLDC had been received, it would be better for one parish council to manage the accounts rather than try to split the costs between the two. Kexby would be willing to take on this responsibility if required and the Clerk was asked to contact the organisers and Upton Parish Council to make this offer. The question of what would happen to any surplus funds was raised, it was felt that, since the money had been donated for a community event, any surplus should go to community projects rather than to an external charity. The renovation of the children’s play area was suggested, this would be passed on to the organisers.
Action GP
A cake had been ordered for the V.E. Day 75 celebrations which had been cancelled due to Covid restrictions, the deposit had been retained for use at a later date. Cllr. Hoggarth offered to get in touch with the organisers of the Jubilee event to see if they could make use of this.
Action LH
d) Public Footpaths – the overgrown paths had been cleared but the tarmac path down Kexby Lane was in a very poor state making it dangerous for walkers and unusable by people with pushchairs or wheelchairs. The Clerk was asked to report the matter on “Fix My Street”.
Action GP
e) Post Office – the service was still unsatisfactory; the Chairman had written to Sir Edward Leigh but had received no response to date. Cllr. Milne asked him to supply her details of when the communication had been sent and she would look into the matter.
Action RG/JM
f) Fly Tipping – still a problem on Glentworth Road, the Clerk had reported it on “Fix My Street” as had Jack Bowles (who was working as a volunteer picking litter as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award). WLDC had responded at the end of February to say that the delay had been due to staffing issues but that they would employ contractors to resolve the problem.
g) Potholes – Cllr. Cuckson reported that she had received complaints about these, particularly on Glentworth Road. These had been reported and some work had been done but this was far from satisfactory and the Clerk was asked to follow it up once again.
Action GP
10/22 Financial Report – the final budget for the financial year was presented which showed a fairly large surplus largely due to the fact that expenditure on the parish cottage had been minimal due to Covid limiting access.
11/22 Revised Code of Conduct – this had been circulated prior to the meeting, its adoption was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Cllr. Hunt and agreed unanimously. Councillors were asked to sign their agreement and Cllr. Milne offered to return these to WLDC. The Clerk was asked to have the new code added to the website.
Action JM/GP
12/22 Correspondence
a) Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils – the annual subscription of £143.04 was approved.
b) Gate Burton Energy Park ¬– the Parish Council had received a copy of a letter which a resident had sent to WLDC. Cllr. Milne had written to the Minister of State to object to the proposal. Sir Edward Leigh had also raised the issue in the House of Commons, an account of this was available on his twitter feed which Cllr. Milne recommended people to read.
c) Pay Scales – the National Association of Local Councils had circulated the national salary awards for 2021/22, the Chairman proposed that the clerk should be paid at point 6 on this scale (currently £10.42 per hour) this was seconded by Cllr. Hunt and agreed unanimously.
d) Jack Bowles – was currently volunteering to collect litter as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. He reported having collected 66 bags in 18 weeks which was a significant reduction on the 117 bags he had collected in 18 weeks the previous year (but still far too much). He suggested approaching WLDC to ask for an additional dog waste bin to be sited at the north end of High Street (where the public footpath crosses the fields to Upton). He also suggested asking them for a general waste bin to be sited near the seat in front of the village hall. The Parish Council were happy to support these ideas and acknowledged the effort that Jack was putting in to the care of the environment around the villages of Kexby and Upton. The Clerk was asked to write to him accordingly and to offer him the opportunity to address the Annual Parish Meeting should he wish to do so.
Action GP
e) WLDC Customer Experience Strategy – WLDC were in the process of putting together a new strategy to plan how they would deliver services and deal with customers over the next five years. The Parish Council had been invited to take part in a survey, the Clerk was asked to respond on behalf of the council.
Action GP
f) Central Lincolnshire Local Plan – advance notice had been received from LCC of their intention to hold an eight-week consultation exercise on their proposed submission Local Plan. Information would be available on their website www.central-lincs.org.uk.
13/22 Clerk’s Pay and Expenses – these had been circulated prior to the meeting and were approved unanimously.
14/22 Any Other Business
a) Post Box – it was reported that this was getting rather shabby, Cllr. Hoggarth offered to contact Chris Petty to see whether he could re-paint it.
Action LH
b) Jubilee Tree – Cllr. Milne, as the District Councillor, had a Whitebeam tree to present to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. As it was intended for both Upton and Kexby a central location was required, the sports field being the obvious location. As it was only a very small tree it was felt that it would be better grown on in a pot for a year to give it a better chance of establishment. This would allow time to identify a suitable site for planting in the autumn. Cllr. Hoggarth agreed to arrange to get the tree and look after it until planting time.
Action LH
15/22 Time and Place of next meeting – the next meeting would be held at 6:30pm on Thursday 19th May to be followed by the Annual Parish Meeting at 7:30pm. Jack Bowles would be invited to address the Annual Parish Meeting and the WI would be asked to provide light refreshments. The Clerk would consult councillors electronically nearer the time to agree the meeting format.
Action GP