2023 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

OSGODBY PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held  Monday 13th March 2023, commencing at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. 

Start time:  19.30hrs End time:19.40hrs

Number of parishioners present: 5

One parishioner highlighted the concerns regarding parking outside the school. 

A concern was raised regarding the cycle pod, which seems to have been padlocked for months, however it was noted that this has now been removed.  It was suggested that the policy for the management of the cycle pods were reviewed.  

The speed device at Orchard Close will be turned around, to monitor the speed of vehicles leaving the village.  

1.   Present Cllr M Bowley (Chair), Cllr J Trafford, Cllr A Boyles, Cllr K Fox, Cllr A Wilkinson, Ms S Harvey (Clerk). 

2.   Apologies for Absence - none received. Cllr Bunney - arrived 20.11hrs. 

3.   Chairman’s and Councillor’s remarks - nothing to comment. 

4.   Councillor Vacancy - to review and agree co-option of interested applicant. The parishioner who had expressed interest was not present, therefore the co-option did not go ahead. 

5.   To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the 2011 Localism Act and to consider any requests for dispensations - none declared. 

6.   Reports from District & County Councillors, Police and the Village Hall, if present.

Village Hall - Coronation celebrations, will include the Big Help Out on Monday 8th May 2023 - litter pick and tidy the grounds and nature reserve. Teas/coffees will be provided and people were invited to bring along a picnic. The village hall committee are to decide where to place the Jubilee benches. The AGM will be on 3rd April 2023 at 7pm. 

Clle Bunney outlined that £7.5m has been placed in the highways budget to focus on specific areas, but this is for the whole county. The police budget was also reduced.  There is a strong need for lobbying for more funding. Roads are also in need of additional finance, including the A15. A higher percentage of council tax is being allocated to drains, which are resulting in areas of flooding. Parking at the school/bus lane markings - discussions are ongoing regarding who’s responsibility this is. The completion of the school works has been held up slightly. The footpath from Pegasus to the road, then does not carry on to the school, in front of the lay-by, and it was suggested whether the parish council would consider funding this, using CIL money. 

Washdyke Lane - one of 5 similar situations in the Market Rasen division.  Highways are saying that they are prepared to look at the pipework and they will repair this if necessary. They are trying to find out why the gully keeps blocking. Cllr Bunney is working with agencies to resolve the issue and he is meeting again with them this week.  Shared Prosperity Fund - available funding for parish projects over the next 3 years, emails should be coming out soon, so the council need to think about community projects to spend the money on. 

7.   Minutes of the meeting held on 13th February 2023 to be approved as the minutes - approved as the minutes. 

8.   Clerk’s report on matters outstanding - nothing to report. 

9.   Planning Matters - none received. 

10.   Correspondence - To note general correspondence as per the list provided

i.   Parking outside Osgodby Primary School. Information was circulated from a Parishioner and the response from Safer Road Partnerships. Action: It was suggested that this is included in the Agenda item for next month. 

ii.   Washdyke Lane update - Provided by Cllr Bunney - ongoing. Cllr Bowley to look at contacting other social media outlets regarding the issue. 

iii.   Civility & Respect training for Councillors - information was circulated. Action: Cllr Bowley to review report back at the next meeting. 

iv.   Lincolnshire County Council - notice of application for a modification order in respect of footpath 91/1 Main Street, Osgodby (reference Osgodby/DMMO606). A Parishioner explained the purpose of the notification, which is to request to change the access of permissive footpath to a public footpath.  The Parishioner had spoken to WLDC and this can be expedited, but this would not happen for 6 months.  This was due to a previous request via the Ramblers Association. If the application was successful, this would de-value the property over which the footpath runs (currently the permissive footpath). Action: Parish Clerk to contact LCC. 

11.   Arrangements for the Coronation May 2023 - to discuss any arrangements in conjunction with the Village Hall Committee/Pub without a pub. The Parish Council has been asked to publicise the help out event. Action: Parish Clerk to advertise on the Website/Facebook. 

12.   Planning for forthcoming elections - there is a briefing via Zoom on 15th March 2023, but information has not been released.  Action: Parish Clerk to chase this via LaLC. 

13.   Financial Matters

i.   Financial Report

Accounts are up to date, awaiting 31st March to close these off and get these Audited by Rosemary Cade.  VAT claim needs to be made. 

Bank account balances: 

Current account ***7600   £2511.74
Business reserve ***6471 £8698.71
Business reserve ***6996 £580.04

Income: 

Current account ***7600  £1071.62 (1044.00 transferred from business reserve to pay legal fees)
Business reserve ***6471 £ 6.32
Business reserve ***6996  £6.77

ii.   Ratification of payment schedule.

iii.   To agree on the subsidised payment to the Village Hall and Hillbury for the Defibrillators for the coming year. Cllr Bowley proposed that this would be £15.00 per payment, agreed unanimously. Action: Parish Clerk to arrange payments (these were added to the payment schedule). 

14.   Review of Village questionnaires and collation of information.  Cllr Bunney brought along a number of completed questionnaires, that had been collected by a member of the public, who had not been given approval by the Parish Council to carry out this activity, despite a letter being sent. This was discussed at length and a number of options considered.  Action: It was proposed by Cllr Wilkinson that the questionnaires handed in via Cllr Bunney are scrutinised and any comments removed. It was further proposed that a follow up letter was sent to the Parishioner, regarding the outcome of the survey and how this will be managed.  All agreed. Cllr Wilkinson gave an overview of the responses collated from those questionnaires that had been collected from the post office. 

i.   To resolve and agree on actions to be carried forward as part of the development plan. Action: Cllr Wilkinson to collate the information onto a spreadsheet, to form an action plan to be discussed at the next meeting. 

15.   Management of planters on the village green.  It was agreed that a budget of £35.00 was set to purchase plants. Action: Cllr Fox will speak to a parishioner who sells plants at the roadside, Cllr Trafford will plant these.  A parishioner offered to water the planters on a regular basis. 

16.   Update regarding the Deed of Easement for Red House. There is one issue still outstanding, regarding the maintenance of the piece of land between the two gates, and this was discussed and resolved.  

i.   To resolve and accept the agreed document - Cncllrs will need to meet again before the end of March to agree the entire document, once this had been received. 

17.   Update regarding the Gigabit Scheme. A survey is currently been undertaken by OpenReach and we are awaiting the results.  1 new parishioner may be interested Action: Parish Clerk to drop information into the parishioner concerned and confirm with Openreach that they can join the scheme 

18.   To receive an update regarding the vacancy of Parish Clerk/RFO. Action: Cllr Bowley & Cllr Trafford to contact applicants to arrange interviews for w.c 20.03.23

Closed session:

19.   To resolve on whether the Council will go into a closed session to consider the following matters Should the resolution be passed the public (and press) will be required to leave the meeting at this stage. This was agreed. 

i.   Review tenders received for grass cutting for the coming year 1st April 2023 - 31st March 2024 - war memorial, village green, cemetery. 

ii.   To agree and award the tender. It was proposed by Cllr Trafford that quotation 1 was awarded the tender, Cllr Boyles seconded.  All agreed. Action: Parish Clerk to advise the contractor and send the contract, which would be awarded for a 3 year period.