DRAFT MINUTES: CORBY GLEN PARISH COUNCIL
Draft Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday April 14th 2021 at 7.30pm using video conferencing.
Present: Cllrs Lamming (Chair), Clink, Collins, Cook, Evans, Fox, Hargreaves, Muir & Walsingham
In attendance: Mrs. S. Woodman (Parish Clerk) 1 resident, 2 members of SKDC Arts, Cllrs Robins & Hill.
Open Forum:
One minute’s silence was held to respect the recent death of HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Declarations of Acceptance of Office were formally counter signed by the clerk and thus Mr Clink & Mr Evans were welcomed as full members of the Parish Council.
Mr Hollingsworth & Ms Nunn explained the objective & format of the Pop-up Arts Day planned for June 4th 2021. They were requested to provide an article for the Link Community magazine and a short piece for the web site / local social media.
Cllr Collins reported that representatives of SKDC had visited the social housing on Coronation Road. Significant and speedy improvements are planned, including solar panels, new heating and new windows. The accommodation will be monitored and used as an example. The residents and the Parish Council expressed their thanks to Cllr Robins for his help.
It was reported that the land in the centre of Mussons Close has now been put up for sale. As it is an Asset of Community Value, the community has 6 weeks to express an interest, and 6 months to raise money to purchase. To be discussed fully at the next meeting.
Councillors were reminded that the skip has been ordered for Saturday. A rota of helpers was arranged.
Cllr Lamming reported that she had met with Ian Astley and others regarding Corby Community Care. It had been agreed to continue as now for the present, but noted that the indemnity insurance is currently held by LCC. There are proposals for celebrating volunteers and recognising those who have used the scheme.
1. Apologies for absence: None.
2. District and County Councillors’ Reports:
Cllr Robins reported that elections and campaigning continue. The holes in Station Road have returned – bigger patches are needed.
Cllr Hill reported that the impact of schools returning on new Covid cases has been less than feared. Over 60% of Lincolnshire residents have received their first vaccination, and those aged over 45 have now been invited. He is cautiously optimistic, but the next 10 days – 2 weeks will be crucial.
On a local front, he is pleased that the Traffic Restriction Order regarding Laxton’s Lane is progressing; there are some footpath issues which need resolution; and he will maintain pressure on Highways regarding the maintenance of Tanner’s Lane.
3. The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on Wednesday March 10th 2021 were approved unanimously and signed by the chairman as an accurate record.
4. Councillors’ Declarations of Interest: Cllrs Hargreaves and Lamming declared an interest in Planning Applications S21/0588 & S21/0383 respectively. They will temporarily leave the meeting during discussion of these items.
5. Review of Action Log:
18/20 Lights between Barleycroft / Pridmore: New bulbs have been purchased; in progress.
77/19 Gallery Lighting: The bulbs have been replaced with LEDs of reduce wattage. Thanks to Cllr Fox.
71/21 Statistics for local elections: Cllr Robins had emailed as requested.
89/20 Trees on St Johns: All completed very efficiently. Received favourably. Thanks to Cllr Collins & her husband.
6. Clerk’s & Chairman’s reports on matters outstanding:
75/20 Superfast Broadband: Cllr Cook reported that we are approved and acknowledged on the Area 3 Scheme instigated on April 8th.
84/20 Laxton’s Lane – Traffic Restriction Order: In progress. Residents’ comments being sought.
89/20 Trees on grass area on St John’s Drive: All completed very efficiently. Received favourably. Thanks to Cllr Collins & her husband.
01/21 Pop up Arts events: see Open Forum.
09/16 Neighbourhood Planning: No update. Momentum lost, partly because of the pandemic. Cllr Lamming would like to see this moving again. Cllr Clink offered to join the group. To be discussed further at the next meeting.
Matters to be resolved:
13/21 Consider closure of War Memorial Fund: Mr Green & Mr Honeywood wish to leave the money with the Parish Council for any future maintenance or the purchase of Remembrance Day related item/s. It was agreed unanimously that the fund is to be closed.
7. Reports from:
Planning: to consider planning applications received prior to & after publication of the agenda:
S21/0588 8 High Street – Tree work: No objections. Agreed unanimously by the 7 councillors present.
S21/0383 ‘Timberacks’ – Cladding / Height of boundary wall: No objections. Agreed unanimously by the 7 councillors present.
S21/0650 4A High Street – Tree Work: No objections. Agreed unanimously by the 7 councillors present.
David Wilson Homes: The Council has received initial information regarding plans for the land adjoining the Larkfleet Homes development. Cllr Robins stated that SKDC is still awaiting the Master Plan for the whole development. There is concern that yet again the plans do not include any single storey dwellings. Further concern regarding pressure on local retail facilities and parking in the centre of the village if no additional out of village retail facilities are included. Clerk to feed back to developers that the matter will be discussed at the next meeting and seek further information.
Greens Working Group: See 07/21 below
8. Payments and Accounts
(i) Bank balances – monthly update approved as set out below
(ii) Invoices for payment – Councillors resolved unanimously to approve payments as set out in schedule below.
| Opening Bank balance from 1st March 2021 | £10,541.88 |
| Income received on bank statement | |
| Invoices cleared on bank statement S. Woodman – clerk’s wages S. Woodman – clerk’s expenses HMRC – clerk’s PAYE CDPC – Community cleaner LALC subscription | £243.55 £4.00 £61.00 £149.73 £272.57 |
| Closing Bank Balance 31st March 2021 | £9,811.03 |
| Cheques to be authorised/cleared: S. Woodman – clerk’s wages S. Woodman – clerk’s expenses S. Woodman – poo bags HMRC – clerk’s PAYE CDPC – Community cleaner Gallery Lighting | £243.75 £26.00 £41.00 £60.80 £149.73 £109.50 |
| Estimated remaining NatWest bank balance(excluding Defibrillator, Play Equipment & War Memorial funds) | £9,180.25(£8,420.78) |
| Defibrillator FundTotal banked to date (inc. VAT refunds): Purchases to date (inc. VAT):Fund remaining: | £2,383.80 £2,412.88£249.86 |
| Play Equipment FundTotal banked to date (inc. VAT refunds): Purchases to date (inc. VAT):Fund remaining: | £41,425.44£40,808.43£509.61 |
| War Memorial FundTotal banked to date (inc. VAT refunds): Purchases to date (inc. VAT):Fund remaining: | £3,429.54 £3,354.00£75.54 |
| Neighbourhood Plan Costs (to be repaid on receipt of grant funding)Costs to date | £504.79 |
9. Matters to be further discussed at this meeting:
| 07/21 Playground Equipment Maintenance: Cllrs Collins and Walsingham had circulated notes on the work required. It is all considered urgent. To keep costs to a minimum, the work could be carried out by councillors themselves, with the hire of suitable equipment.Councillors agreed to meet on Thursday April 15th at 5.30pm at the playground to assess the situation and agree a date to undertake the work. Cllr Cook agreed to purchase / hire the necessary materials and equipment. A budget of £300 was agreed unanimously. The affected parts of the play area will need to be roped off whilst work is in progress and workers will need to be covid-safe.Cllr Cook believes that although this work should allow the Toddler Tower to be used safely for the next year, the council should look to replacing it in the very near future. To replace it with something equally sturdy could cost of the order of £3,500, so it will be necessary to seek / raise funds. Possible sources were considered, including local organisations.Cllr Collins now has the key to the bin and SKDC’s orange bags. A spare key needs to be purchased.08/21 Election update: The Chairman formally welcomed the new councillors. They were thanked for coming forward. Both said a few words about themselves.Concern was expressed that an election, and the associated costs, had been necessary. It is not understood why the 10 residents had requested the election. Had the election not been combined with other bi-elections, costs could have been considerable. As the election was, in fact, uncontested, significant costs were saved, and the council is only liable for a limited administration fee of the order of £100.12/21 SKDC Planning Policy consultation: Review Statement of Community Involvement. Councillors had considered the document outside the meeting. No comments were made.14/21 Consider the implications of Face to Face Meetings from May 2021: The legislation to permit Parish Councils to hold remote meetings ends on May 7th and will not be extended. The outcome of the legal challenge to this will not be known until the end of April.Currently the May Parish Council meetings are scheduled for May 12th. The council considered finding a venue large enough to hold the meetings face to face which could accommodate the public in a covid-safe manner or moving the meetings a week earlier to fall within current legislation and holding the meetings remotely.It was agreed unanimously that the May meetings (which include the Annual Parish Meeting, the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council and the regular May Parish Council meeting) would be re-scheduled to Wednesday May 5th, a week earlier than planned.15/21 Consider whether / how the village might choose to celebrate VE day (8 May) this year: It was concluded that given the covid situation, no village celebration was appropriate. However, residents would be requested to decorate their properties with Union Jacks etc via the Link Magazine, Next Door & the village web site.16/21 Great British Spring Clean: It is considered that the Community Cleaners keep the village relatively litter free and private landowners have also made an effort recently to keep their properties clean. The Council is not minded to take any further action at this time.17/21 Highways issues – Tanners Lane, Support for Road Safety, Fix my Street: Tanner Lane – see County Councillor’s report; Road Safety – speeding to be discussed further at next meeting; Fix my Street – residents to be encouraged to make personal use of this facility rather than reporting issues to councillors.18/21 Need for pruning shrubs on Laxton’s Lane: It is believed that the shrubs in question are on Highways Land. Cllr Walsingham offered to pass a photograph to Cllr Hill who will take it up with Highways.19/21 Determine appropriate action for wreaths: Cllr Walsingham was thanked for removing the wreaths. He will store them for the time being.20/21 Consider a Youth Council: Cllr Walsingham had been approached by a resident. Clerk to pass on the email to councillors for consideration at the next meeting.21/21 Consider paying Data Protection Fee by Direct Debit to obtain discount: A £5 discount on the Data Protection Fee is granted if paid by Direct Debit. It was agreed unanimously that the clerk should action this. Authority to be signed by 2 councillors. |
10. Next meeting:
The next meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th May 2021, via video conferencing.
Meeting closed at 9.19 pm. Mrs. Sue Woodman – Parish Clerk
Action Log 14th April 2021
| Ref | Action | Responsibility | Date by |
| 07/20 | Activate new email addresses – assistance to be provided by Cllr Fox (to be deferred until meeting in person is possible) | All / Cllr Fox | |
| 07/20 | Communicate councillors’ new email addresses to SKDC; update CG web site | Clerk Cllr Fox | |
| 18/20 | Arrange for work on lights between Barleycroft / Pridmore | Cllrs Fox | 11/11/20 |
| 55/20; 77/20 | Speeding in the village: Add to meeting agenda following May election | Clerk | 05/21 |
| 88/20 | Flag flying schedule: Procure a lock for the flagpole with 2 keys. | Cllr Cook | 10/02/21 |
| 01/21 | Pop-up Arts Day: Distribute Link article to councillors Post short piece on web site / local social media. | Clerk Cllr Fox | 05/05/21 05/05/21 |
| 09/16 | Neighbourhood Planning: Add to May Agenda | Clerk | 05/05/21 |
| planning | David Wilson Homes: Feed back to developers that the matter will be discussed at the next meeting and seek further information. Add to May agenda. Re-send email to Cllr Evans | Clerk Clerk Clerk | 05/05/21 15/04/21 |
| 07/21 | Playground: Meet to assess the work needed – 5.30pm Organise equipment / materials Carry out remedial work Purchase spare key for litter bin | All Cllr Cook All ?? | 15/04/21 tba tba ?? |
| 15/21 | Celebrating VE day: Request residents to celebrate VE Day (May 8th) by decorating their properties with Union Jacks etc via the Link Magazine, Next Door & the village web site | Clerk Cllr Fox | asap asap |
| 18/21 | Pruning shrubs on Laxton’s Lane: Send photograph to Cllr Hill; Raise with LCC Highways. | Cllr Walsingham Cllr Hill | 05/05/21 05/05/21 |
| 20/21 | Youth Council: Pass on the email to councillors for consideration at the next meeting. | Cllr Walsingham Clerk | 05/05/21 05/05/21 |
| 21/21 | Paying Data Protection Fee by Direct Debit: Set up DD for data Protection fee – authorization to be signed by 2 councillors | Clerk | 05/05/21 |
| Land in the centre of Mussons Close: Add to May Agenda | Clerk | 05/05/21 | |
| Fighting Cocks Pub – Asset of Community Value: Add to the May Agenda | Clerk | 05/05/21 |
