March 2024 Minutes
PUBLIC FORUM
• Residents spoke in the public forum with regards to their objection to National Grid’s intention to bring pylons from Grimsby to Walpole going through the boundary of Utterby. It was noted that the parish council had minuted their objection at the February meeting. It was noted that the long survey put people off completing it, but that there was also an email address you could send objections to.
• A member of the public informed the Council that they and another member of the village had rodded the drains on Grange Lane and that it looked as if the flooding was being made worse by blocked ditches and drains in the field on the opposite side of the road.
Record of Members Present:
Present - Cllr Matthew Wright (MW) (Chair), Cllr Tina Bryan (TTB), Cllr Terry Buckley (TB), Cllr John Mackin (NM), Cllr Nicola Mackin (JM), Cllr Alan Woodward (AW) and Cllr Jackie Woodward (JW)
Not Present – None
In Attendance – Clerk: Maria Vincent, Cllr A Hall, (LCC) and 5 members of the public.
72 Apologies Received
None
73 To receive any Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011
None.
74 Minutes
a) It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of Parish Council Meeting 7th February 2024 as correct after the amendment to ‘15 members of the public present’ and that ‘Cllr A Hall was also in attendance’. The Chairman signed them.
75 Council Matters, Actions and Communications
a) Chairman’s Remarks The Chair reported that following he and his wife (JW) leaving the village of Utterby in February, he would be standing down as Chair in the following agenda item, and that over the last five years and previous years on the Parish Council they had achieved some successes, including the village sign, noticeboard, planters and that the Council continued operating via Zoom during Covid. The departing Chair thanked the Clerk for all her work over the years.
b) It was RESOLVED to elect Cllr Matthew Wright as Chairman of the Council. Cllr MW signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
At this point in then meeting Cllr MW took the Chair.
c) It was RESOLVED to elect Cllr Terry Buckley as Vice Chairman of the Council. Cllr TB signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
d) Clerk’s Report: Nothing to report.
e) Clerk’s Appraisal: It was RESOLVED that Cllr AW would undertake this, but then due to his resignation at the end of the meeting, this would have to be referred to the following meeting.
f) Consultations: LCC Bus Clearway – It was RESOLVED to support that the bus pull in on the A16 opposite Holywell Lane be established as a clearway.
g) Communications were noted from: Resident complaint regarding bird scarer (on agenda under urgent ELDC), application by Chyrsador production Viking CSS pipeline.
h) Annual Parish Meeting - It was RESOLVED to create a flyer for the Annual Parish Meeting - 6pm on Wednesday 8th May 2024 before the Annual Parish Council meeting to be hand delivered to residents.
i) Policy Documents - It was RESOLVED that updates would be made to the Council Information document and that other documents listed would be updated with regards to date and changes in Chair where applicable.
76 Finance and Budgets
a) It was RESOLVED to approve the following payments for March 2024:
1. (David Buckley) D H B Gardening Services, Village Green hedge November £90.00
2. DW Gibbs, March 24 Bus shelter and phone box £30.00
3. Dave Skells Traffic Management Erection of notice board £210.00
4. Clerk February salary and expenses £290.42
5. HM Revenue and Customs Only120PX00376161 February 2024 tax £9.00
Total payment £629.42
Income - HM Revenue and Customs VTR, Tax Refund £213.25
b) Insurance – It was RESOLVED that quotes for a 3 year period would be sought with no change in the insurance cover.
c) Bank account signatories - It was RESOLVED that:
Cllr Terry Buckley and Cllr Matthew Wright would remain as signatories, that Cllr Tina Bryan and Cllr Nicola Mackin would be added as signatories, that Cllr Alan Woodward and Cllr Jackie Woodward be removed.
d) Audit- It was noted that the document folders had been taken to the internal auditor for inspection.
e) VAT Refund – It was noted that an application for VAT refund has been made which is much reduced from the previous year due to less purchases. This had now received shown on the payment schedule £213.25.
f) Village Projects – Nothing to comment on any projects for the 2024/25.
77 Planning
a) Ref N/192/02430/23 LANGDALE, CHURCH LANE, UTTERBY, LOUTH, LN11 0TH has been approved by ELDC. There were no urgent planning applications to consider or any other updates.
78 Parish Council Amenities (bus shelters, village green, etc)
a) Welcome Pack – Clerk to report if a new resident comes to the village and Cllr MW will take a welcome page.
b) Village Green and Verges – It was unknown if the pest control had been to set traps as yet.
c) Trees – Due to weather the replacement trees would be planned in for September/October 2024.
d) Bus shelters – Nothing to report.
e) Telephone Box – Nothing to report.
f) Kissing Gates – Following an email to LCC to check any requirements for staggered barriers, they had replied that due to policy, the entrances must either be left clear, or the kissing gates be reinstated/refurbished. It was RESOLVED that the Clerk would get prices for reinstating/ refurbing kissing gates each end based on the current build.
g) Bridlepath Church Lane, builder’s bags - It was RESOLVED that the Clerk would write to the owners of the house that were now placing builder’s bags onto the path (which was a LCC bridleway) and ask them to move them back onto their own land.
79 ELDC/LCC Services (Streetlights, Bins, Highways, Verges, Footpaths, etc)
a) LCC Public Notice of Speed Reduction. This was noted and had been displayed on Facebook and on the noticeboard.
b) Benson Court – Following a further letter of complaint regarding the containers and lack of planning permission, ELDC had replied confirming that Platform Housing thought they did not need Planning Permission for them. The Clerk to write to ELDC Enforcement to see if they would confirm that this was the case.
c) Dog Bin - The dog bin that had been removed had now been returned. No reply received from ELDC.
d) Any urgent issues or updates – Flooding - The Clerk read out a notice from LCC regarding flood investigation work they were carrying out in the county. Bird scarer – Following complaints, the Clerk has spoken to Environmental Health, and the bird scarer (which ELDC said was going off 5 times every 9 minutes) was a nuisance issue and they were now writing to the land owners.
80 Notifications
Cllr AW and Cllr JW resigned at this point in the meeting as Councillors. The Chair thanked them both for all their hard work over their time in the council and wished them well.
81 Date and time of Next Meeting
a) It was noted that that the next meeting was on Wednesday April 3rd 2024 at 7pm in the Village Hall, Utterby.
Meeting finished at 8:15pm.
Signed ___________________ Date________________________