December 2023
MINUTES OF THE HOGSTHORPE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY 7th December 2023
Present: Cllr Chris Rolph (Acting Chairman) Mary Banks, Ellen Smith, Stephen Day
Clerk: K Hayes
Also present: Dist Cllr Colin Davie, Dist Cllr Roger Dawson and 3 members of the Public (1 leaving during public forum)
PUBLIC FORUM
i) A member of the public drew to the attention of the Parish Council that some Charity Farm land was in the process of being sold to Owners of Hillview Caravans. It would appear that this has been sold privately without informing the villagers or putting it up for auction. The Parish Council had not yet been informed of this transaction. The person concerned had not been able to get hold of the original lease or minutes and asked the Parish Council to help stop this as it was of great concern to the residents of the village. Cllr Banks sits on the charity trustee committee and stated that she had objected to the sale but was outvoted by other members of the committee. The Parish Council will write to the Trustees asking for clarity on the legalities of the charity and stating their concerns that this land will be used to increase caravans in the village.
ii) A member of the public stated his concerns about the ratification of the planning permission regarding the land at Manor Farm. The neighbour was very concerned that the raising of the land by four feet meant they were now overlooked by the site and the new property gardens would be half way above their back fence. It would also affect the possibility of flooding in their property. Dist Cllr Dawson will look into this with the Planning Department. The council would respond to the Section 73 amendments with their concerns.
1. APOLOGIES - Cllr Les Wildman due to illness.
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST - None
3. APPROVAL OF NOTES OF MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting of the 3rd November 2023 were unanimously approved and signed by the Acting Chairman.
4. CLERK'S REPORT
The clerk read out her report. Discussion took place on the funding for the picnic area in the playpark See Item 8(iii)
5. REPORTS FROM OUTSIDE BODIES
i) Cllr Davie reported on the status of the Devolution programme and noted that he believed this would be of great benefit to the county not only for the extra funding that would be available from Government but that the county would have more power to make their own decisions. He urged that the council and members of the public respond positively. The clerk will put up posters in the notice board.
ii) Cllr Davie also reported that LCC had been taking up the issue of flooding with the Drainage Board.
iii) Cllr Davie also reported that there was much concern with the flood defences on the coast as they were crumbling they were looking into this and large funding would be required.
iv) Cllr Davie reported that a new building was planned for Skegness for minor surgeries. There was concern from the councillors as to how this would be staffed.
v) Cllr Banks reported that there has been no meeting of the Village Hall Committee.
vi) Cllr Banks had already stated her position with regard to Charity Farm sale of land. She reported that everyone who had applied for a grant to the charity had received one.
vii) The clerk reported on the meeting three councillors and herself had had with a representative of YMCA. In order to get larger grants for the village, it was necessary to find out what the village wanted. YMCS offered to help to connect with the community to gauge their response and bring the communities together.
6. CORRESPONDENCE
Devolution information had been received and was displayed for everyone to see. Posters would be put in strategic places.
7. FINANCIAL MATTERS
i) Budgets. All councillors had received a copy of the budget for the year 2024/25. The clerk asked for one alteration to be made in that the grasscutting contract be increased from £2800 to £3200 (explanation in Item 10). It was unanimously agreed to accept the budget as presented including a 3% increase in Precept to take account of the inflation increases.
ii) Confirmation of Clerk s salary. Notification had been received from NALC of the rises in the base rates of clerk s salary by 1 per hour from 1st April 2023. This salary was unanimously approved and would be implemented together with back-pay over the next 5 months.
iii) Clerk reported that the external audit report from AGAR had been received 3 months later than expected because of confusion of where it should be sent to. She noted that the report stated that the External Audit had complied except for the note that under Section 1, Assertions 1 and 2 had been incorrectly completed, the correct response should have been 'no' in consistence with the Internal Auditors Report. The clerk explained that 'yes' had been answered to these two questions as it was believed that matters had been rectified by the year end of 31st March 2023.
iv) Payment of cheque to PKF for External Audit of £252 had been send prior to the meeting as this was very overdue. Cheques were agreed and signed for £191.02 to P Strawson for purchase and delivery of Christmas Tree, £516.67 to K Hayes for salary, £129 to HMRC for PAYE, £51.94 to K Hayes for homeworking allowance and stationery, £228.19 to Fran Wilson for Heritage Garden plants, £300 to Charity Farm for Allotment Rent for the coming year, £27.84 to Sid Dennis, and £45 for hire of Village Hall.
8 PLAYPARK
i) Payment of account to Wave for £102.18 was signed.
ii) Clerk reported that the bank balance stood at 2508.95 at present. She confirmed that there would be no income until the Spring.
iii) The lowest quote for the picnic area groundwork had come in at £5750 + VAT. A District Councillor Grant was available for £650 but this nowhere near covered the cost. The council agreed three to one that £3000 of the S106 money allocated for the cost of new village sign should be put towards this cost but a further grant would still be required. The clerk will look into this.
9. HERITAGE GARDEN
Clerk reported that a letter had been sent to Fran Wilson on behalf of all the councillors together with a voucher paid for by the councillors to thank her for all the work she had put in to looking after the garden. She had replied that she was pleased to do this and had been donated Christmas lights from HGNS to make the garden festive.
10. GRASSCUTTING
The clerk reported that she had spoken with the contractor who had confirmed that there was a further year to run as agreed. On questioning the quality of the grasscutting for the 2023 year, the contractor had explained that because of the amount of rain and the very wet ground, he had not been able to cut the grass as per his contract. There were still two cuts left for the year and he was instructed to complete these before the year end of 31st March. The council were only charged for the cuts which had been done. The contract runs from April to October for 14 cuts and it was suggested that a further three cuts be available outside of this period if there is a need. It was agreed to allow three extra discretionary cuts if needed. It would be agreed with the contractor that cut grass would be removed. Clerk to confirm with contractor.
11. CHURCHYARD REPORT
i) The fallen tree in the churchyard had been moved it is not known by whom.
ii) Churchyard maintenance responsibilities. The church warden had indicated to the clerk that the church held documents relating to the passing over of the churchyard to the Parish Council. After discussion it was agreed that the position should be clarified with the church. The clerk noted that after research she had found that handing over of closed churchyards to councils became the responsibility of the council for all work previously undertaken by the church authorities. It was noted that the church had planted a tree in the grounds which the parish council had been unaware of. The clerk noted that she had put her concerns to the church warden about this tree being planted too near the wall making it a future problem with drains etc. which the Parish Council could not be responsible for. She had agreed and would take this on board.
iii) Regarding the grey bin in the cemetery, it was agreed that this was to be removed as soon as a sign was ready to ask people visiting the graves to put their rubbish in the bin provided at the entrance to the churchyard.
iv) A further notice was being prepared to ban dogs from the cemetery grounds. It was pointed out that a legal order would be needed to stop dogs from entering the cemetery and also that it may be that someone may want to visit a grave with their pet dog. It was agreed that the notice be amended to request that dogs were held on leads at all times and respect be given to those buried clerk to amend.
12. VILLAGE BENCHES
Only one quote for £446 has been received out of five requested. In the absence of any others, this quote was accepted. The clerk would put in for this together with church benches for a District Councillor grant. It was agreed that a memorial plaque to Councillor Paul Smith be put on the bench. The clerk asked for clarification of where exactly the bench at Thames Crescent was to be erected. There was still some confusion on this and councillors needed to look at the grass verges to agree where the bench should be placed.
13. PLANNING
i) Mayfield It was agreed to object to object to this planning application on the grounds that the entrance lane is too narrow and was not suitable for more traffic, there was only room for 1 vehicle parking against each van, there was no suitable lighting, the entrance was on a dangerous bend in the road and there was no need for further caravans.
ii) Manor Farm - already discussed under Public Forum.
14. COUNCILLOR TRAINING
Cllrs Rolph and Cllr Day could not attend a Zoom course.
15. SETTING OF DATES FOR 2024
The dates were confirmed as per the schedule handed out by the Clerk there would be no meeting in January or August.
16 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would be 1st February 2024 commencing at 6pm for Public Forum
17 ANY OTHER BUSINESS FOR NEXT AGENDA
Cllr Rolph wished to draw attention to the information received from the Speeding cameras. Over the past year there could have been 100,245 words of advice from the police, 30,639 fixed penalties, and 8,596 sent direct to Court. In total there were 139,408 speeders in the year (381 per day). He would be taking this up with the Crime Commissioner as to why there had been no response by them in this village.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.30 pm
2023/12