January 2020 Minutes
Notes/minutes of OSBOURNBY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Held on Wednesday 8th January 2020 in the Village Hall
Public Forum: Marian Birks attended the meeting in her capacity as part of the Road Safety Group for the village. She reported that two training days had been arranged for the Community Speed Watch and these will be taking place on Saturday 11th and Tuesday 14th in the village hall. 20 volunteers have been recruited to date. It is anticipated that 3 volunteers per session will be required and the watch will be along The Drove and High Street as well as the London Road.
Paul Norton and Marian met with members of the Road Safety Partnership to ascertain what the problems were in the village and what could be done. This included volume of traffic, speed of traffic, crossing points across the London Road. They were informed that secret boxes had been installed in the village to look at speeding issues and were informed that it was felt that speeding was not an issue in the village. Marian had advised them that when either the A17 or A1 were closed the A15 became the thoroughfare and this caused lots of problems for the village. The Road Safety Partnership did feel that, because the school was set back from the main road, many road users were unaware that there was a school in the village. It was felt that a school flashing sign was needed. The RSP will be taking this to LCC and the Police to see if they could be fitted. They can be programmed so only come on when school is opening or closing. There had also been discussion about a 20 MPH advisory speed limit. The Community Speed watch appears to be the most successful at reducing speeding in villages. Letters are sent to those caught speeding and in the case of commercial vehicles the company involved is written to. Cllr Jackson advised the meeting that all the equipment for the Community Speed Watch had now been purchased and would be available for the training sessions.
The possibility of white gates both sides of the road at both ends of the village had been discussed. However funding would have to be sought for these. Mobile flashing speed signs had also been discussed, again these would cost approximately £2,000 so again funding would need to be sought.
The RSP had advised the Osbournby Road Safety Group that obtaining statistics was the most important outcome as then they are able to liaise with LCC Highways and the Police regarding safety measures.
Cllr Jackson thanked Marian for all the work she had put into this.
72. No Apologies
74. In attendance: Cllr Jackson (Chair), Cllrs Camm, Harvey, Baker, Wright, Baldwin and North. County Councillor Hagues and Libby King (Clerk)
75. Minutes of previous meeting which had already been distributed were agreed. Proposed Cllr Wright, Seconded Cllr Baker.
76. Update from Road Safety Group: This had been covered by Mrs Marian Birks at the public forum.
77. Chairman’s Report/District Council Report: Cllr Jackson reported that budget setting was being undertaken at NKDC. An email has been received regarding possible changes in electoral wards and Mrs King will forward this on to all councillors. The District Council is also looking at broadband black spots and a digital voucher scheme is being started.
78. Clerk’s Report: Mrs King reported that a letter had been received from Rick Webster Ground Maintenance saying that Streetwise Environmental Trading Limited had bought them out on 4th November. Rick will continue to oversee the contracts and works.
An email had been received from a local history group and an open meeting is to be held on Saturday 8th February at Aslackby Village Hall. Mrs King has put the notices in the notice boards and will forward the email to councillors.
Mrs King had had an enquiry regarding the sheds by the bungalows at the back of High Street. She had been in contact with NKDC and although they own the land the sheds are privately owned. Due to data protection NKDC were unable to tell her who owned the sheds.
The path/road outside the Cottage and by the bus-stop on the London Road has been flooded for many weeks. The resident of the School House has been in touch with Highways and Anglian Water but nobody was taking responsibility. Cllr Hagues agreed to take this up with Highways.
Mrs King reported that incidents of dog fouling were being reported, including one in the cemetery. Cllr Jackson will put a notice on the village Facebook page regarding this. It was also agreed that it was time for a newsletter and this would be a part of it. Mrs King asked all the councillors to email any suggestions for inclusion in the newsletter to her.
79. County Council Report: Cllr Hagues reported that an additional £14m had been agreed to be spent on flood prevention and highways in the County. A further £8m had been agreed for new equipment for fire fighters making Lincolnshire one of the best equipped Fire Fighters in the country. Debbie Barnes is now the new Chief Executive of LCC.
80. Budget Setting for 20/21. A copy of the proposed budget had been sent to all councillors prior to the meeting. Cllr Harvey queried why an amount for elections had to be included in the budget. This current year the amount budgeted for the election was £2,000 when in fact only £73 was charged. Mrs King advised that if the parish council election had been contested the charge would have been much higher and this has to be shown in the budget. Although unlikely there would be an election this year, Parish Councils are advised to put an amount in the budget in case of such an eventuality. The budget for 2020/21 was agreed.
Mrs King advised that for the current year the precept from NKDC had been £5,000. For a 0% increase in Council Tax for the Parish Council in 20/21 the precept would need to be set at £4,942.53, a decrease of £57.47. If we were to request £5,000 the increase in Council Tax would be 1.16%. Following a vote it was agreed that the precept would be requested at £5,000.
Mrs King had prepared a Spend against budget. The cost for the repair of the churchyard gates of £4,632.82 had not been budgeted for. (The actual cost of the gates was £3,352.44, after taking off VAT and the cost of the repairs to the cemetery gates).
Following payment of tonight’s cheques the bank balance for the Parish Council stands at £3,776.89. It is anticipated that the balance at year end will be approximately £3,000. Reserves are down on what the Parish Council has historically held and it was agreed that a more frugal year is needed.
The balance in the cemetery account is £39,955.23.
81. Planning Matters: No planning applications had been received.
82. Digital Hub Update: Cllr Jackson reported that the digital hub had been quiet in the run up to Christmas but had a good number of both volunteers and supporters. Cllr Jackson has been requested to help set up digital hubs in two other parish councils.
83. Village Skip: The village skip had once again been a big success and was quickly filled up. The weather had been particularly wet that day. Thanks were given to Cllr Wright and Mark Baldwin for manning the skip.
84. Donations: A request for a donation had been received from LIVES. As at September 2019 a total number of 10,864 calls had been responded to across Lincolnshire with one of those being in Osbournby. It was agreed that a donation of £100 would be given.
85. Correspondence: No correspondence had been received which had not been discussed.
86. Payments: A payment of £312 was paid to Bourne Skip Hire on 3rd December.
Payments tonight:
HMRC - £55.60 (Tax for Mrs King)
Mrs E King - £259.59 (salary and reimbursement)
Rick Webster - £252.00
YMCA - £48.00
Osbournby Village Hall - £18
Osbournby DCC - £19.04
R. Jackson (reimbursement for Community Speed Watch Equipment) - £305.87
£40 had been received for inscription for William Gadd headstone in cemetery.
87. Date of Next meeting: 4th March 2020
Following a closed meeting and there being no further business the meeting closed at 8.15 p.m.