28 September 2023 Minutes
THEDDLETHORPE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the monthly meeting held on Thursday, 28 September 2023 at Theddlethorpe Village Hall, Silver Street, Theddlethorpe All Saints.
Chair: Cllr K Simpson
Vice Chair: Cllr N Barker
Parish Councillors present: Cllrs L White, R Aldrich, S Goodley, A Beet, A Spink, M Crookes, D Sear, H Cox, B Swift
Also, present County Councillors: Cllrs N Sear
Parish Clerk: Mrs S Bristow
Public Forum
No questions were received in advance or asked on the night.
District and County Councillors’ Reports
Cllr Hesketh’s report was circulated to the Council in advance and summarised verbally to the public gathered.
Cllr N Sear warned all of telephone scams taking place and advised the public should ring Trading Standards for help if they think they have been scammed, Cllr McNally should also be emailed as he is the LCC Lead on this matter. No schools in our area have been affected by the RAAR scandal. A £10 million pot of money for highways has been made available. Noted Kent Avenue hedge issue could be escalated to LCC if the local council’s approach to the landowner was unsuccessful.
Item 09/23-01 Chair’s Welcome
The Chair opened the meeting at 19:40 and welcomed 6 Parishioners to the Village Hall.
Item 09/23-02 Apologies and acceptance of absence
None from the Parish. Cllrs Hesketh and McNally did send apologies.
Item 09/23-03 Declarations of Pecuniary Interest from members in accordance with Localism Act 2011
None
Item 09/23-04 To Resolve as Minutes the record of the Monthly meeting on 27 July and the Staffing Committee meeting on 11 September 2023
The minutes were RESOLVED and signed.
Item 09/23-05 Chair’s Report
Tabled and emailed to members; summarised verbally on the night.
Item 09/23-06 Clerk’s Report
Tabled and emailed to members; summarised verbally on the night.
Item 09/23-07 Parish Councillors’ Reports and Matters Arising
i) Adoption of Policies: Vexatious Complaints, Subject Access Requests, Social Media and Electronic Communications: all three were RESOLVED for adoption with minor amendments.
ii) Update regarding Community Speedwatch scheme: Cllr Aldrich remarked that the LCC training for this will take place at the Village Hall on 11th October at 6:30pm- neighbouring villages have been invited to join in as the training resource is scarce. The clerk will produce signs to advertise the event for the noticeboards.
iii) To receive an update regarding trees in St Helen’s Churchyard. Noting the Diocese meeting scheduled for later in October, this item is deferred until October.
iv) To consider a quotation from Fattorini for refurbishing the Livery Collar (£748.30 Net): This proposal was LOST on vote.
v) Grass Cutting tender- initial discussion and consideration of areas to include: this item is tabled until October to allow for the Diocese meeting to take place.
vi) Update on community led plan: a brief verbal summary was given with the data printed for the public to take with them; this same information was previously emailed to members. The numbers who took part was unfortunately below that of statistical significance.
vii) To consider uses of the Community phone box: suggestions will be made and sought online with a decision item to be made on the October agenda.
viii) To hear a request for training and travel costs from Councillors (Cllr Cox £40 inc VAT, Travel costs from the Chair and Cllr Beet for the IGPP Conference in London on 8th November): RESOLVED to reimburse Cllr Cox up to £52 for her conference; the IGPP conference item is deferred until October to allow Cllr Beet time to assess her availability.
ix) To consider a request made to the Chair regarding Remembrance decorations: the meeting was closed at 20:18 to allow the requestor of this item to remark that LCC Highways had given their approval. The clerk and Chair advised that was all that was needed given that the Parish do not own any of the locations where the decorations expect to be hung. The public gathered were reminded that the public forum is the time they should make representations regarding items on the agenda. The meeting reopened at 20:19.
x) To consider provision of a Chair’s allowance (£100-£200): RESOLVED to allow a £200 per civic year allowance for the Chair, to be paid on a receipted reimbursement basis.
xi) Lincolnshire Coronation Coast National Nature Reserve (NNR) update: Cllr White noted this was the first of 25 new NNRs being created and that there are 7 bodies involved in the process. She noted coastal path access would not be infringed upon and invited the public to direct queries to her on this topic going forward.
Item 09/23-08 Financial Matters
i) Overview of Council finances: an up to date spreadsheet was tabled to members and the Clerk noted that H1 reconciliation and an update on 2023/24 Budget heads would be given at the October meeting. She thanked Cllr Spink for verifying the 2022/23 reconciliation.
ii) Approval of September Payments according to schedule: RESOLVED.
Clerk Wages (Sept), Printing scheme Q2 £14.97 and Paper £5.25 £226.14
T Taylor Grass Cutting (5 invoices) £500.00
Clear Councils (formerly BHIB) Insurance £734.22
Lincs Signs via Cllr Crookes £40.00
iii) Approval for payment of items resolved, if applicable, in Section 7: RESOLVED £52 reimbursement for Cllr Cox once the VAT receipt was produced.
Item 09/23-09 Planning Matters
N/180/01678/23 Planning Permission - Erection of a garage with annexe above and construction of a vehicular access. THE COTTAGE, BUTT LANE, THEDDLETHORPE. The Council RESOLVED to support this application.
The council noted the Approval of N/179/02267/22 for the Vintage Car Centre at THE HALL, LOUTH ROAD (THACKER BANK), THEDDLETHORPE
Item 09/23-10 Highways / Footpaths / Lighting Matters
Cllr Goodley noted submitting two additional reports to LCC since the last meeting. A Footpath Walking group has been formed and are walking paths and preparing reports on a fortnightly basis. The footpaths representative from LCC visited the group and it was determined that the parish council needs to decide on the priority footpaths to push forward with. This will be added to the October agenda.
Item 09/23-11 Parish on-going issues
i) Gas Terminal Future Use: the Vice Chair advised of the last NWS/Ward call at the beginning of September. Highlights included noting the Test of Public Support taking place within 4 years and that they are looking to fix a date. Doorstep surveys are underway on a part time basis and it is expected that a new interested site will soon be announced. Attendance numbers from the NWS events was disputed and CP members were encouraged to visit the site in person. Finally, the rail link report was still not ready and earlier today Allerdale was discounted as a site based on geology.
Item 09/23-12 To confirm the date of the next Parish Council Meeting as 26 October 2023
Confirmed.
Item 09/23-13 To resolve to exclude the public and media to discuss confidential items relating to individuals and confidential financial matters in accordance with The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960
A) To hear a report from the staffing committee regarding the Clerk’s contract and wages: The council noted the Staffing Committee’s approval of an increase in the Clerk’s monthly hours to 20 and RESOLVED to revise her contract in line with the NALC/SLCC model and increase her hourly wage to align with the 2022/23 NJC pay scale as Point 15.
The meeting was adjourned at 20.58.