November 2021 Minutes
NOTES OF OSBURNBY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Held on Wednesday 3rd November 2021 in the Village Hall
Public Forum: Two members of the public were in attendance. Mr Derek North advised the meeting that on Remembrance Sunday a small service would take place in the village square at 10.55 with the laying of a wreath followed by a 2 minute silence at 11 a.m.
There were no declarations of interest.
62. Apologies. There were no apologies, but the meeting was advised that Mr John Harvey had resigned from the council as he is moving and Mr Lawrence Camm has also resigned. Notice of Vacancy is currently being advertised for Mr Harvey’s replacement and if no election is called by 10th November co-option can take place. Mrs King has informed NKDC of Mr Camm’s resignation. It was agreed that once co-option can take place the vacancies will be advertised and interested people invited to discuss what is involved in being a councillor.
63. In attendance: Councillors Jackson (Chair), Baker, Baldwin, North and Wright. Mrs King Clerk.
64. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 1st September which had already been circulated were agreed. Proposed Cllr Wright, Seconded Cllr North.
65. Chairman’s and District Council Report: Cllr Jackson gave the following report:
Two surveys are available for participation:
Grantham Hospital
There is a consultation on services at Grantham Hospital here. (12 weeks, just started) and at Lincoln and Boston.
Fundamentally the consultation is about dropping the A & E at Grantham to care with no intensive care. Therefore, they can only take planned orthopaedics, where the patient is low risk. If they become high risk during the op, then Grantham will not be able to provide care and they would need to transfer to an alternate hospital.
Council tax support scheme
We’re inviting residents to share their views on the Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme for April 2022 – March 2023. This scheme is the way we support people who need help to pay their Council Tax.
The consultation is available on our website @ https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=163463753859
The closing date is 3 December 2021. Councillors will decide the final shape of the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2022/23 in January 202
North Kesteven District Council Lottery
Tickets on sale for the new Community Lottery that will provide much-needed funding to local groups and a £25,000 jackpot for players.
Tickets on sale yesterday Tuesday 2 November.
Each ticket costs £1 with 60p from every £1 played going to good causes in North Kesteven. The first draw is set to take place on Saturday 4 December and the chance of winning a prize is a tempting one in 50.
There’s already a new website set up especially, which can be found at www.nklottery.co.uk Maybe of use for local community groups.
So far 26 groups in the District have registered interest in becoming a good cause to benefit from the lottery.
Heckington Fen – Solar Energy Development
The Council received confirmation from Ecotricity of their intention to promote a large-scale solar energy development at Heckington Fen in early August 2021. Ecotricity currently have an extant wind energy consent under s36 of the Electricity Act for the same site.
The solar energy proposal would generate 500MW of power and at this scale it falls above the threshold to qualify as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and therefore is determined on behalf of the relevant Secretary of State at the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) by the Planning Inspectorate.
More info can be found here;
NKDC Electoral Review 2019/2020Parliament has approved the new electoral arrangements for North Kesteven District Council on 17 September 2021 which will take effect from May 2023.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) completed the review during 2019/2021 and concluded residents should continue to be represented by 43 councillors.
The electoral ward boundaries across North Kesteven have been redrawn to ensure every councillor represents a more equal number of voters. From the local elections in May 2023, there will be 24 District wards in North Kesteven (two fewer than currently in place), which will bring changes to 18 current ward boundaries with six remaining unchanged. There will also be a significant number of ward name changes.
Further details on the electoral review, final recommendations and maps are available on the LGBCE website - North Kesteven page on the LGBCE website.
The key changes are shown in the table below:
Current NKDC structure |
New NKDC structure (2023) |
43 District Councillors |
43 District Councillors |
26 District wards |
24 District wards |
12 x single Member wards |
9 x single-Member wards |
11 x two Member wards |
11 x two-Member wards |
3 x three Member wards |
4 x three-Member wards |
The electoral review was needed as several wards in North Kesteven had too many or too few electors per councillor than the average for the Council as a whole. There were 34% of wards with a variance +/- 10% from the average electorate for the District, two wards had an electoral imbalance of over 20% and one ward had an electorate variance of -30%.
What this all means for Silk Willoughby is that the ward will now include Helpringham and lose Wilsford, Kelby and Cultherthorpe. A map can be found here;
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/19591
Changes in Political balance at NDKC
In the past few months there has been a few changes to the pollical balance at the Council, of the 43 Councillors listed above the current makeup of parties is;
NK Administration Group – 27
NK Independent Group – 11
Unaligned councillors – 2
Vacancy – 3
Audio live streaming
We are delighted to advise that we can now broadcast live audio from formal council meetings for those agenda items considered in open session.
Digital Hub
Attendance remains low but still well used, after getting Councillors feedback I think we will lift booking restrictions.
CommunitySpeed Watch
No update
66. Clerk’s Report: Mrs King report that Pete Langford is now managing the Parish Council website. Mrs King sends reports, agendas, minutes to Pete and he puts them on the website. It would be nice to have some more photos of the village on the website and this to be looked into. It was also agreed to put the Councillors names on the website, but with no address or telephone number.
Mrs King also reported that LCC were offering 1 tonne bags of salt. James Sharpe had agreed to store this in his yard, however on looking into the bins they were at least three quarters full so it was decided not to take up the offer this year.
Finances: John Harvey was a signatory on the bank account. Cllr Baldwin agreed to become a signatory and Mrs King to arrange this.
The budget against spend is in good order, the only overspend is grass cutting and this is due to the fact that the cost of each cut was increased from £70 to £140 in the middle of the season. The overspend on grass cutting is therefore £232 over budget. However all agreed that Streetwise do a very good job of cutting the grass.
Bank balances after tonight’s payments are: Parish Council £7,318.05
Cemetery Account: £37,366.24.
67. County Council Report: As Cllr Hague not in attendance there was no report.
68. Update from Aswarby Estate: Mark Jones was unable to attend the meeting but had sent the following information:
The Whichcote Arms – A let has been agreed subject to a few final points. In relation to the proposed tenant, they will be undertaking a number of repairs / improvements during 2021/2 with the aim to re-open in Autumn 2022. They will focus on the pub, restaurant and B&B. In addition there will be a planning application to reuse the existing outbuildings to create a village shop, workshop / small unit space and café seating / building. The courtyard will be landscaped and used in conjunction with these. Designs are currently being prepared. Mr Jones wished to know if the Parish Council would support such an application, subject to seeing the plans
The Drove – Mr Jones understands the site has been sold although the estate has not been in contact with the purchaser. As soon as he has any details they will be passed on. Hopefully, this will see the site developed shortly, releasing contributions to the School and for play equipment.
Allotments – Mr Jones advised that it would be helpful to understand timings associated with the Drove development first as this will release funds for play equipment – and the Estate would prefer to have a joined up approach for village investment. If all goes well, play equipment locations would need to be discussed with the PC which could in turn affect the position of any allotments. Mr Jones must also address any potential locations with the estate farm tenants, so suitable location are being looked at, but whether or not these can be provided by the Estate is not yet known.
Following discussion it was agreed that the Parish Council would have no objections to a planning application being agreed to re-use the existing outbuildings at the Whichcote Arms.
With regards to allotments Cllr Jackson agreed to contact those members of the village who had started the request for space for allotments advising them that currently we are no further forward, but that the Parish Council is still working with the Aswarby Estate to try and identify some land.
69. Cemetery Risk Assessment: This has now been carried out. Only one grave was found to be slightly loose (Frank Wilcox) and it was agreed that this would be monitored to see if it became more unstable.
70. Church Path/cemetery wall repairs: It is agreed that the cemetery wall is in need of some repair or possibly even complete replacement. Cllr Baldwin is to try and get builder Andrew Burgess to look at the wall and suggest the way forward with possible costings. With regard to the church path it was agreed that Simon Ballard would be asked if he is able to repair this by laying paving slabs. The previous quote was for approximately £1,000 but as the damage is now more extensive this could be more expensive now.
71. Village Skip: This has now been booked for Saturday 20th November from 8.30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Cllrs Jackson and Wright have ageed to man the skip. Mrs King to include this in the newsletter and also to put up posters advertising it. Information will also be put on Facebook and on the Parish Council webpage.
72. Newsletter: Mrs King had started preparing the newsletter. Once complete Mrs King to circulate prior to printing and delivery.
73 Bus Stop: Cllrs Jackson and North, Mrs King and Tracey Richardson had met at the bus stop to look at the extent of the work required and to discuss Tracey’s art work. Mrs Richardson would be unable to do any work on the bus stop prior to the spring, however before that time it needs a renovation and painting. It was agreed to put information in the newsletter asking if there were any residents willing to help with this.
74. Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: This will be held on 3rd June 2022. Suggestions are for a street party in the square. Mr Derek North has agreed that his field could be used for a bonfire/beacon. Suggested that other organisations in the village would also get involved in this. It was agreed to bring this back to the January meeting for more discussion.
75. Planning Matters: Planning application had been received for the conversion of barns and cart sheds into a residential dwelling in The Farmstead to the rear of Spanby House, Mareham Lane. After discussion it was agreed that the Parish Council would have no objections to this work taking place. Mrs King to inform NKDC.
76. Correspondence: No correspondence had been received which has not been discussed.
77. Donations: No donations had been requested.
78. Payments: The following payments were made tonight:
Cheque No. 892: Alan Drury: £130.00
Cheque No. 893: Osbournby Village Hall: £18
Cheque No. 894: Streetwise: £168
Cheque No. 895: Bourne Skip Hire £363 (This is in readiness for the skip on 20th November to be handed to the driver)
79. Date of next Meeting: It was agreed that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 12th January 2022
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.25 p.m.