2023 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

CAYTHORPE AND FRIESTON PARISH COUNCIL
MEETING NUMBER 5
MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD WEDNESDAY 11th January 2023
Present:
Councillors: Crawley (Chairman), Roberts, Allen, Sandy, Betts & Milne 
There was 1 member of the public
Clerk:  Mrs D Manderfield

Item 1 – Apologies for absence
Councillors: Lee, Hall Fritzsche, Linforth, Spackman & Graham. All councillors had notified the clerk and the council Resolved to accept the reasons for absence.

Item 2 – Declaration of Interests under the Local Government Act
Cllr Crawley expressed a declaration of interest as a committee member of the Playing Field Committee  

Item 3 –  Approval of Minutes of meeting number 4 held on 9th November 2022
It was Resolved to accept the minutes as  a true record of events. They were signed by the chairman, Cllr Crawley
    
Item 4 – Parish Clerk’s Update on Matters Arising Since Last Meeting  
An email was received from Matthew Dodson, LCC Senior Planning Enforcement  Officer, in response to noise concerns expressed by the Parish Council, surrounding Mid UK. Email was forwarded to Cllr Spackman
Parish Online is continually updated with planning applications and decisions
Cllr Roberts marked out a grave for a local parishioner and all paperwork has been submitted
Please can all councillors ensure that their Register of Interests are up to date. Any amendments, please contact me
I recently attended a days training on ‘Council Powers and Procedures’ in Mablethorpe. All councillors are encouraged to attend as many training sessions as possible. There are zoom meetings available
The grant application to the Benefact Trust has been completed and submitted. This is for the electrification of the church clock, and we await their response. Initial quotes have been garnered from Cumbria Clock Co., Time Assured and Smiths of Derby. A quote for the necessary electrics has been provided by Carlton Electrical. 
As I am sure you will all be aware it is your duty as councillors to attend meetings. If a councillor does not attend meetings for 6 months, then the 6 month rule ‘kicks in’ and the councillor in question will lose their seat. This is why I have asked you all to inform me if you attend meetings at other times in your role as a councillor as these meetings will count. Please note it is months and not meetings that are key
There was an issue at the burial ground recently that could have been major but thanks to a couple of wonderful parishioners this was avoided. I have procured a large cross from Robert Holland for use as a marking out stake and in the better weather will visit the burial ground with the grave digger to mark out the remaining plots
I have requested an up to date electoral register, it will be postponed this year until after the District Council by election of the toller Ward on 15/12
The Village Hall Grant has been paid
According to the Police Crime Map there have been a total of 37 crimes reported in our Parish between January and September this year:
Anti-Social – 2    Criminal Damage – 3    Violence & Sex Offences – 16    Theft – 5    Other – 2
Vehicle Crime – 2    Burglary – 5    Public Order – 2
Further breakdown can be found on Parish Online

LALC & LCC emergency planning team are trying to establish the status of Parish Councils’ emergency plans. I have forwarded emails requesting information to Cllr Lee for comment
An email was received from LIVES requesting a donation towards their fundraising. Forwarded to Cllr Linforth for comment.
I recently attended, by zoom, a training on personal safety from the Local Government Association which was very interesting, I had previously emailed the invitation to all councillors
We have received a grant from The Benefact Trust for help with the church clock project. It is for £1500 so I will only deposit it into the bank if the project is approved, if not I will have to return it. 

Action: Clerk
Item 5 - Financial Matters
5.1 Authorisation of BACS/Cheque payments. 
Councillors considered the list, previously circulated, and Resolved to accept the payments
Please see Appendix A below

5.2 Review and Approval of CFPC accounts 
Councillors considered the bank reconciliations and the management accounts, previously circulated, and Resolved to approve both reports
Please see Appendix B below for management accounts 

5.3 Proposed Budget 2023/24
The clerk and the chairman had previously forwarded the budget to all councillors. This was duly discussed and accepted or the present, as there will be inevitably adjustments after year end

5.4 Proposed Precept 2023/24
Cllr Roberts expressed concerns about increasing the precept during the cost of living crisis, however it was generally accepted that all the councils costs will inevitably go up and that by not increasing the precept the PC may not be in a position to offer help to parishioners in need. It was Resolved to increase the precept by 7% to £34209.18
Action: Clerk

5.5 Fireworks
Councillor Betts clarified the proposal of the village firework display. For a budget of £3000 Galaxy Fireworks would provide a 12-20 minute firework display. The general consensus was that it would be best to have the event on Saturday 4th November rather than the Sunday and that revenue would be sought through crowdfunding, buckets on gates and the sale of glowsticks and/or similar. There was also a possibility that the Red Lion would provide food in the way of burgers etc and there would be some sort of profit share for the PC.
Councillor Roberts requested a recorded vote for the proposal that the Parish Council would underwrite this event up to £3300.
For: Councillors Allen, Betts & Crawley
Against: Councillors Roberts & Sandy
It was Resolved that the PC would underwrite the event.
Councillor Betts agreed that if crowdfunding hadn’t reached £1000 by the end of August then the event would have to be cancelled. He is also investigating cancellation insurance and whether Fulbeck Parish Council, and parishioners would be interested in getting involved.
Action: JB
Item 6 - Registers 
6.1 Risk Register – this was distributed previously.
After amendments, and updating on the website, It was Resolved to approve this document

6.2 Maintenance Register – this was distributed previously and reviewed.
Cllr Crawley pointed out that over £1100 had been paid so far this year to empty thd numerous dog bins. There was a general consensus that this resulted in less faeces on the paths.  It was Resolved to approve this document

Item 7 -  Project Register Update 
7.1 Neighbourhood Plan
Please see full update below

7.2 EV Charging Points
There was nothing to add to this project

7.3 Ownership of The Village Hall
Cllr Spackman has recently been in touch with Chattertons and has asked whether the Cardinus reinstatement valuation would be enough for registration purposes
Action: DS

7.4 Sunrise Club Bench
It is understood that the bench has been delivered the contractors will place the bench when weather permits
Action: NF

Item 8 - New Proposals. 
8.1 Playing Field Grant
The year end accounts have now  been presented to the PC . it was Resolved that the grant of £3500 be awarded
 Action: Clerk

Item 9 – The Parish Environment

9.1 Frieston Path – Letters
Councillor Graham has forwarded the letter to the clerk who will mail it out to all parishioners whose property’s boundary the path. 
Action: Clerk

9.2 Other Planning Issues
MID UK continues to be an area for discussion. Please see Councillor Spackman’s report below. The PC submitted its objections to this today

9.3 Report from Cllr Spackman – Planning Committee Chair
S22/1622 2 Hall Farm Barns , Church Lane, Caythorpe
Additional first floor internally within the existing barn space. Replacement of existing two storey old timber extension on the north elevation with new single storey entrance. The erection of solar panels on separate adjustable frame to be located in the open area of land to the north
Status  Approved conditionally   - No objection from the PC

S22/1911 Denver House, 10 Frieston Green. 
Repair and draught seal 6 original vertical sliding sash window frames, renew the sliding casements to pattern and fit 12mm slimline double-glazed units
Status  Refused  - No objection from the PC

S22/2042 65 High Street Caythorpe Lincolnshire NG32 3DP
Repair and draught seal 6 original vertical sliding sash window frames, renew the sliding casements to pattern and fit 12mm slimline double-glazed units
Status  Approved conditionally   - No objection from the PC

 PL/0137/22  E W Earth solutions 
For the installation of new internal plant, replacement external cladding and external doors, roof mounted photovoltaic panels and the retention of lean-to extension to accommodate materials recovery facility and variation of operating hours within Buildings 9 & 10.
There has been a lot of local interest in his application and I suspect there will a number of objections made directly. I also note that Alexander Maughan has been in touch with Debbie to acknowledge this and was making further investigations. I have left a message to discuss this with him, but feel we ought to discuss prior to responding. Hopefully AM will attend the meeting and it would be helpful if you could update following. 

Item 10 - Neighbourhood Plan – Report by Cllr Allen
A request for further information on some of the items in the plan was received from the examiner via Jake Horton on November 18th. The last 6 week public consultation drew responses from some of the ‘Interested Parties’, most of which required no action. There was also a 4 page response from SKDC requesting a number of changes. Some of these were minor corrections to the text, but they objected to our policy for off-street parking for new houses and also wanted LGS7 removed from the list of Local Green Spaces. This is the site to the west of Millfield Crescent, which has the remains of ridge-and-furrow cultivation.
The working group met to discuss the examiners queries and the SKDC document on Nov 23, and most of the minor changes were accepted. We have submitted a further argument to the examiner in support of the parking policy and the LGS7 designation, which went to Jake Horton on Nov 30. There has been no further progress since then.
Jean Allen
PS. I asked for an update from JH. He replied: ‘ I have been in correspondence with Andrew this morning and he has confirmed that the “fact check” version of the Examination report will be with us by the end of the week for review.’ I am not sure what this means, but I expect I shall find out in due course

Item 11 -  Community Safety. 
In September there were 6 crimes reported to the police, In October there were no crimes reported and in November, a total of 8

Item 12 – Community Activities by Portfolio Councillor – the following are reports written by the individual councillors.

12.1  Report by Cllr Crawley
12.1.1 Litter Picking and the Big Clean
The litter picker employed by the Council continues to assist in keeping the villages clean.
The Big Clean team attended the village on two occasions during November and have cleaned areas of roads and pavements.
Following a report of excessive plastic waste on Caythorpe Heath Lane between the crossroads and the Mid Uk site, I contacted Mid UK who sent out a litter picking party the following day.
12.1.2 Environmental Sustainability
I am still awaiting details of the tree replacement programme around the battery storage facility on Caythorpe Heath Lane. A new gate to the site access is due to be fitted this month.
I have approached the landowner of the field off Back Lane to scope the possibility of part of this being released as a new site for the village hall and playing field. This request has been turned down for the time being. I will raise this again should circumstances change.
Sites for new tree planting are sought as I have a number of trees that have been raised by myself and volunteers that currently have no destination once the rest of the A607 verges and Millfield Crescent green have been planted.
150 trees donated by Conservation Trust Volunteers were planted around the playing field before Christmas by myself and two volunteers .A subsequent Facebook post on the Caythorpe Village stream about this, drew much praise and positive comment. As a result of this publicity a local landowner has successfully applied for 950 trees from the same source and these will be planted in the spring on his land along a public footpath which runs adjacent to Caythorpe, just over the border in Fulbeck parish.
12.1.3 Playing Fields
The new trees will be maintained and watered as necessary and I will be pruning some of the hedging trees planted last year to keep them in check and encourage lateral growth. The Queens Platinum Jubilee hornbeam appears to have taken well.
There has been some graffiti sprayed on the grass which is being investigated.
Paper for grant support to the Playing Field Committee circulated separately.

12.2  Report by Cllr Hall
Nothing new to report

12.3  Report by Cllr Fritzsche
Nothing new to report

12.4 Report by Cllr Graham
Nothing new to report

12.5  Report by Cllr Sandy
Nothing new to report 

12.6  Report by Cllr Lee
Nothing new to report

12.7  Report by Cllr Betts 
12.7.1 Highways - Have raised pothole defects on Waterloo Road & Back Lane. I have reviewed fix my street this weekend and we seem to have a far larger number of open jobs in the village than we normally have. @alexander how can we escalate this with the highways team ?

We are still waiting for the yellow lines on the high street to be painted. Hopefully Alexander Maughan will have an update at the meeting with a date when they will be painted by a contractor.

12.7.2 Volunteering - Have sorted the planned volunteering and sponsorship routes we will adopt for the fireworks event in November if it is approved at the meeting next week.

12.7.3 Facebook - As per normal I have posted all pertinent applications and other matters on the parish council page. One parishioner has contacted us asking if the PC will be objecting to the planning application of the recycling centre and I explained we were feeding back our views to Cllr Spackman and then a consolidated view was being put forward to LCC.

Only other matter is the fireworks agenda / proposal item. I have had one response from David.S around whether we would be insured if on the selected date it was bad weather etc. I have asked the fireworks company these details. 
 

12.8  Report by Cllr Linforth
Nothing new to Report

12.9  Report by Cllr Roberts
Nothing new to Report

Item 13 -  Items of Urgent Business
There were no items of urgent business

Item 14 - Arrangements for Next Meeting 
The next Parish Council Meeting Number 6 of 2022/23
 will be held on Wednesday 8th March 2023 commencing at 7.30 p.m. in the village hall.  

Open Forum
There was one member of the public:

The parishioner wished to speak about the church clock. The church is unable to justify the cost of electrifying the winding of the clock but the parishioner expressed deep concern that if the Parish Council weren’t to step in then the clock would simply fall in to disuse. The clerk pointed out that the PC were not able to donate funds to the church, however there is a power to provide public clocks under section 2 of the Parish Councils Act 1957.
Although it was not possible to vote on this matter there was a general discussion and Councillor Roberts volunteered to write a proposal to be considered at the next Parish Council meeting.
It seems the church has submitted a faculty to the diocese proposing the work and the clerk has managed to procure a grant providing the proposal is successful.

Report from Penny Milne - SKDC
Happy New Year to you all.

SKDC Draft Budget for 2023/2024
The coming years budget is being prepared and the draft is available on the website. Here are some salient points should the draft be approved at Full Council 0n 26 January:
Council Tax: 
There will be a £5 increase on Band D properties equating to a 3.95% increase – the maximum allowed under the current government cap. This is an additional £356,000. 
Cost of Living and Support 
The government will provide households on means-tested benefits with an additional £900 Cost of Living payment in 2023/24. Pensioner households will receive an additional £300 Cost of Living payment, and individuals on disability benefits will receive an additional £150 Disability Cost of Living payment in 2023/24. 
Business Rates 
From 1 April 2023, business rates bills in England will be updated to reflect changes in property values since the last revaluation in 2017. A package of targeted support worth £13.6 billion over the next five years is intended to support businesses as they transition to their new bills. It is stated that local authorities will be fully compensated for the loss of income as a result of these business rates measures and will receive new burdens funding for administrative and IT costs. 
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief - support for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses is being extended and increased from 50% to 75% business rates relief up to £110,000 per business in 2023/24. 
Departmental Spending 
Councils are asked to absorb the inflationary pressures within their budgets.
Housing Rents
The government is limiting the increase in social housing rents. Under current rules, rents could have risen by up to 11.1% – but now they will only be able to rise by a maximum of 7% in 2023/24.  The % difference will need to be absorbed by the HRA business plan.
Resulting Financial Context
Standstill settlement expected for 23/24 with no real terms additional funding to meet rising costs of utilities, inflation and pay
Anticipated budget shortfall for 23/24 onwards 
Council tax increase assumed (to the maximum available)
Recommendation is to use budget stabilisation for achieving a balanced budget for 23/24 up to £1.5m
Key considerations
Retaining current levels of grounds maintenance budgets of £1.016m 
Pay award increase of 3%
No borrowing assumed over 3 year period 
These actions will still require use of the stabilisation reserve by up to £1.6m (one year only) in order to balance 23/24
General Fund approach:
Essential asset maintenance expenditure only
Vehicle, bins procurement only
Wholly grant funded schemes only (FHSF, DFG, UKSPF, HAZ etc)
Strategy is to avoid incurring borrowing costs, inflated contract prices and preserve reserve levels in order to secure maximum interest income
Therefore no assumed progression of Depot project until further affordability modelling and the waste review has been completed  
Additional Investment income £500k
Other extra cost pressures:
Fuel £30k   Utilities £900K   Pay award £300k
Housing Service Bids of £2.329m 23/24 (£2.594m 24/25) received but have needed to be reviewed and reduced to £1.359m as limited headroom in the Housing Financial Business Plan to include additional expenditure 
Member Allowances
Agree to the increase in members allowances by 4.04% as per member allowances scheme 
‘that allowances continue to be linked to any annual salary increase awarded to South Kesteven District Council Officers and that such index-linking continues until the next Independent Remuneration Panel’s report or for a period of 4 years, whichever is the sooner’.

NEW SKDC Offices
The new open plan modern offices above The Picture House are now in use and will be officially opened on 26 January. The plan is to sell the old offices. There is an estimated saving of £350,000 pa.

SKDC Local Plan Review will commence consultation Feb/March 2023.
I understand that no land has been offered for Gypsy and Traveller use following a call for sites and the completion of a needs assessment. This will be considered as part of the review process.
Of note, the site alongside the A1 at Foston for 7 pitches, 12 touring vans, 11 statics, 10 utility blocks and 7 stables has been refused:

Noise arising from traffic using the A1 would have a harmful effect on the residential amenity of occupiers of the proposed accommodation, such that the development fails to provide appropriate living conditions. In addition, insufficient information has been submitted to fully assess the impacts of air pollution from traffic using the A1 on the quality of life of occupiers of the site. As such, the application proposals are contrary to Local Plan Policy H5(a), EN4 and DE1, and Paragraph 130 of the National Planning Policy Framework. Other material considerations, including the need for traveller pitches in the District are not considered sufficient to outweigh the identified conflict with the development plan

On the basis of the current submission, there is currently insufficient evidence to determine that the site would not be at an unacceptable risk of flooding, and would provide an appropriate drainage strategy to ensure that it does not give rise to any additional risks of flooding at the site or within the surrounding area. As such, it cannot be determined that the site would accord with Local Plan Policy H5(d), Policy EN5 and Section 14 of the Framework in respect of issues of flood risk and drainage.

 The Applicant has failed to enter into a planning obligation to secure the necessary financial contributions to education and healthcare provision required to support the development, contrary to Policy H5(e) and ID1 of the adopted South Kesteven Local Plan.

The Shoot
The application for clay pigeon shooting to be extended from 50 to 150 days was unanimously refused by the planning committee with the fall- back situation being up to 50 days shooting and not open to the public.

It has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that the shooting noise management plan will reduce adverse noise impact to a level which would be appropriate to justify the proposed use of land for 150 shooting days. The noise impacts associated with the current position and fall-back position are acknowledged, however, it is considered that the proposed increase in the number of shooting days would result in an adverse impact on the amenity of local residents. The proposal is therefore contrary to Local Plan Policies SD1, E5e, E7c, EN4 and DE1b, Stubton Neighbourhood Plan Policy NE1 and the National Planning Policy Framework paragraph 185.

S22/2466 Night time processing Recycling Centre.
I understand that noise is the biggest consideration and that LCC are using an Independent Noise Consultant. I would suggest you point out the need to include the impact of the openness of the area where sound travels with little or no mitigation, the effect of the wind to carry the noise and air pressure. You could request that a noise management plan is put in place and check on how that would be monitored.

Eastcliffe Garages
No further update

Right to Buy comments from Assistant Director of Housing:
We would consider the buyback of any property through discussions at the Housing Development working group where such options are discussed frequently. If we agreed to pursue the purchase, we would complete a red book valuation and then make a decision on whether to make an offer on the property.
The decision was taken some time ago to de-designate these bungalows from our supported/sheltered stock. The only way that we could ring fence such properties from the right to buy currently would be if they had significant disabled adaptations within them.
The housing register has many applicants young and old with a bungalow/ground floor dwelling need and these are all managed equitably through the housing register and allocations process.

Sherwood Centre
There is no further update.

Glebe Field
From the Enforcement Officer:

I’ve been out on site and it does appear that the well has been covered with a steel sheet and then concreted, they’ve also put up a sign warning that the well is beneath it. I knocked on neighbours doors to see if anyone had information as to who did this work, and I’ve been given an address that I will be contacting shortly.

I’ve done some checks and the well is not listed nor is it classed as an ancient monument, which means that covering it over is not a criminal offence – it is still a breach of planning control however, and I will consult with the conservation officer for comments. I appreciate their desire to make the well safe, but I think there were other ways to do this that would have helped preserve its history.

I’ll update you once I have conservation comments and once I’ve started discussions with the owners.

A further update is awaited

{Electronically signed}
D Manderfield 
Parish Clerk 
Appendix A

Appendix B
Caythorpe & Frieston Management Accounts as at 31.12.22