January 2025 Minutes
MINUTES OF OLD SOMERBY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
HELD MONDAY 27 January, 2025 7pm AT THE FOX AND HOUNDS OLD SOMERBY. DRAFT
PRESENT: Cllrs: Vicky Lowndes (Chairman) Nigel Percy (Vice-Chairman), Cllr Peter Burrows,, Parish Clerk, David Holmes. SKDC Councillor Sarah Trotter.
Also present 3 members of the public.
The Meeting had been re-arranged from 28th January 2025 to today as the Fox and Hounds was not available.
PUBLIC FORUM.
During the Public Forum the following issues were raised by residents present:
a) Issues concerning the 6 Bungalow Site on School Lane, Old Somerby: replacing of the trees and hedges that had been removed; the footpath not yet completed; the location of the telegraph pole; the grit bin etc. ACTION: The Clerk was asked by Cllr Trotter to arrange an on-site meeting with the Planners, LCC, Cllr Trotter and Parish Councillors and if possible a representative of Invicta.
b) Issues concerning the review of the Neighbourhood Plan; the National Planning Policy Framework; Freedom of Information;
1. The Chairman welcomed everyone present.
2. APOLOGIES: Cllr Betty North had given her apologies due to illness and Cllr Vron Stephens had given her apologies due non-availability she had another engagement: Both noted and Accepted;
3. DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS/APPLICATIONS FOR DISPENSATIONS: None.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the meeting held 28 October, 2024 had been circulated. They were unanimously accepted as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. ACTION: Clerk.
5. CLERK AND COUNCILLORS’ ACTIONS AND UPDATES/LATEST.
a) Cold Harbour issues: Cllr Percy confirmed there were no new issues, some potholes on the A52 had been filled.
b) Next Parish Newsletter; pending;
c) The Bus Shelter frontage; repair is in hand;
d) Community Emergency Plan: The clerk had been active in setting up a meeting with clerks and councillors from nearby parish councils to work together. Cllr Trotter suggested a contact be made with the clerk at Welby PC who had already been working on their plan.
e) Hazard sign on first bend into Old Somerby. It was agreed now that the ivy had been removed the signs themselves were clearly in poor and damaged condition. ACTION: Clerk.
6. LOCAL COUNCILLORS UPDATES: a) Cllr Trotter was present and gave her report verbally. A copy of her report is attached to these minutes: ACTION: The clerk.
Cllr Charlotte Vernon was not in attendance.
7. POSSIBLE PURCHASE OF LAND NEAR MIDDLE PATH: The holding of a Parish Meeting to discuss the opportunities with the Electorate was discussed. AGREED to hold the meeting at the Fox and Hounds at 6pm on Monday 17 February 2025. A flyer to each household to be distributed.: ACTION: Cllr Vicky Lowndes.
8: FINANCE:
a) The current Financial Report was circulated by the Clerk which had been signed off by Lead Councillor Finance – Cllr Peter Burrows - on the 23 January 2025. The Report was noted by Councillors and accepted: ACTION: Clerk –Copies of the report to be attached to these Minutes and published;
b) Solar Powered Speed Indicator: - This had been approved previously and the cheque for the first year cover was signed at the meeting in the amount of £238. Also signed was another cheque for Krystal Hostings for Domain Renewal in the amount of £9.59.
c) Budget 2025/2026: The fixing of the Budget for the year 2025/2026 to be dealt with at the next meeting: The Precept 2025/2026: The Chairman proposed the precept be set at £3,950 (an increase of £190 for the year (4.5%): Unanimously agreed: ACTION: Clerk. At the request of the councillors the clerk had applied to Lloyds Bank for on-line banking which had now been approved. The clerk is not a signatory to the account by choice:
d) Funding application from Parochial Church Council had been received as in previous years. After a discussion the application for £200 funding was approved unanimously: ACTION: Clerk.
9. PLANNING:
a) National Planning Policy Framework: The Framework had now been published.
b) S24/162 Planning application regarding Blue Harbour House, Cold Harbour – Refused by the Planners: c) S24/1853 Planning application re erection of garden building –retrospective for The Brambles - Refused by the Planners.
d) 6 Bungalow Site, School lane. See Public Forum re on-site meeting. ACTION: Clerk.
10. REVIEWS:
a) Neighbourhood Plan: The Clerk had prepared a report dealing with the issues dealt with under “Monitoring and Review “on page 56 of the OSPC Neighbourhood Plan. He had spoken to the contact at SKDC and also at LALC who confirmed that the recently published National Planning Policy Framework would have little bearing on the OSPC Neighbourhood Plan. The Councillors agreed that at this time no review seemed necessary.
b) Prince William of Gloucester Barracks: Cllr Percy had attended the consultation. It seemed certain the army will leave the barracks come 2028. The expectation was that housing building would occur likely before 2028.
11. CORRESPONDENCE: a) The Webmaster had revamped the OSPC Website to make it more user friendly: b) SKDC had now in place a damp and mould team to help tenants.
c) Cllr Stephens is setting up a Friends of Old Somerby Group. Please contact Vron on vronstephens12@gmail.com to let her know of your interest and email contact details.
12: DATE AND TIME OF THE NEXT MEETING:
Fixed for Tuesday 8 April 2025 at 7pm at the Fox and Hounds. The Meeting closed at 20.15.
DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORT
Some weeks ago Lincolnshire Resilience Forum declared a major incident in response to the recent adverse weather
Confirmation that 16 private properties were evacuated in Billingborough where the Parish Council has set up a support centre in the village hall.
More than 20 properties in Belton Lane, Grantham, are being evacuated and we have also provided sandbags to protect properties in Tennyson Road threatened by surface water in nearby fields.
For full details go to: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/alerts-and-warnings/lincolnshire
To clarify the SK position regarding provision of sandbags for the recent and any future flooding events:
South Kesteven do not and cannot supply sandbags for private residents; the correct agency for this is the Lincolnshire County Council Flood Resilience Team.
SKDC however does have responsibility as a landlord and has a limited supply of sandbags for council house tenants if they are at risk of inundation from flood water.
In respect of Town and Parish Councils; the Council has tried to encourage parish councils to develop emergency plans and some villages (eg Greatford) have emergency plans in place which should include a stock of sandbags.
SKDC will continue to help with flood response and recovery but it remains the responsibility of residents to defend their properties from flooding.
English Devolution White Paper
An early Christmas Present from the national government was the announcement of Local Government Reorganisation. In a nutshell, the Minister intends to abolish two-tier authorities before the next Westminster election. This will mean that County and District councils will be replaced by Unitary Authorities. In most cases these new authorities will need to be much bigger than any of the existing Districts of Lincolnshire. The government has indicated that the population of a new council will be at least 500,000 although there may be some exceptions.
Since the announcement, I have spoken to a number of Council Leaders in Lincolnshire as well as Rutland CC, Newark and Sherwood DC and Fenland DC. The conversations have been friendly and speculative because no-one is sure about the rules of engagement for creating a new unitary authority of a suitable size. We do not know whether the new borders will be aligned to ancient county boundaries or devolution areas or economic hubs or anything else but clearly change is a-coming. We expect some clarity from a letter promised from Jim McMahon, Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, which should have arrived this week but has now been delayed until the end of January, but still no word from Central government. Mayoral elections take place on the 1 May.
The government has suggested that some authorities will be fast-tracked to the new governance arrangements if they submit proposals by Friday 10th January. I have been told that the Leader of Lincolnshire is hoping to be part of this tranche which would mean County Council elections would be delayed. However, I have also been told that Lincolnshire will not qualify for the new tranche. Rumours abound but I suppose we’ll find out soon enough
Lincolnshire Police placed in enhanced measures by HMRC
• the force needs to attend calls for service in line with its published target attendance times; • the force needs to improve how it allocates, supervises and carries out investigations to make sure victims get the support they need; • the force needs to make sure that it has the capacity and capability to manage the risks posed to the public by registered sex offenders; • the force needs to improve its understanding of demand; and • the force doesn’t have adequate strategic plans in place.